Monte Carlo

^ It sounds awesome. I am getting it.

Red Orchestra 2, Stalingrad, is looking quite groovy. It's out Q1 2011, probably March.

Here in the south of England there is no snow (yet) but it is bloody cold. I have been out getting logs for the fire and am now building it.

^ I was acutely aware that NATO infantry battalions in Germany in the event of WW3 had about a 48 hour life expectancy. I think the whole concept of operations was to blunt the Reds long enough for the thing not to go strat-nuke and allow the politicos to figure something out. It wasn't all bratwurst and trying not to get my Small Metal Gun dirty

I watched The Dirty Dozen again the other night. It hasn't aged particularly well, but it's still great fun and Lee Marvin was Chuck Norris before Chuck Norris even knew what a round-house kick was.

I couldn't care less about DA2 and I couldn't care less about Bio's new game, which looks ME orientated (and I couldn't care less about ME either).... But before you say "but why are you posting in this thread you dolt?" I will admit to being utterly intrigued by the game they make after that. The design curve of Bioware games over the past ten years has been fascinating if you are interested in the industry. For me, Bioware has become like that chick who writes emo vampire fiction - I hate the content but I'm fascinated by what's going on under the hood. Bio's next fantasy RPG, after the DA cycle is complete, will be either brilliant or dreck. It will be an existential battle between the forces of good and emo.

I remember digging trenches in Westphalia in 1988 as part of NATO exercises simulating a SOVIET INVAYSHUN! LOL. Can't wait to tell the kids about that one. Anyway, we had lovingly crafted ORBATS of the enemy disposition showing legions of Russki death-dealers. Our AT platoons were told chilling stories about the reactive armour capabilty of the T-80 and the squadrons of attack helis driven by commie robots that would hand us our asses if doomsday ever came. Guess what? It was a medieval conscript army running on about half-a-dozen working radios, drinking anti-freeze, selling their kit because they hadn't been paid for six months. They were a freaking shambles. North Korea's army, I am inclined to believe, will be little different. Drop some instant sunshine on them and find out.

I predict that you will one day do something illegal so I am fining you now. Because I am manly and not a wuss. Half-wit. They fired artillery at South Korea a couple of days ago.

by "copied" you mean didn't buy it? because as far as writers go (the real ones), they don't care, the more people read it the better, right? or am I alone in this? You're wrong. Professional writers rely on sales like any other working creative. The internet and advent of Kindles and other digital media devices is seeing the dead tree publishing business hit in the same ways as games, music and movies. Every time somebody steals the IP by downloading it (news to all the self-appointed legal eagles here = it's illegal, copyright theft is still an offence in most jurisdictions) then the writer loses their cut of the royalties from that book. Most professional writers are on modest incomes, writing isn't a financial win button for many. So they are as affected by this issue as games developers or the music industry. Obviously, I'm not speaking about the hippy-in-a-garret poet style writers or up-their-own-arses literary novelists who've already made a million and can afford not to care anymore.

Because their perspective is no different from mine if some dude stole my car stereo.

Ironically you could cream NK if you launched a pre-emptive attack. I would imagine the US Navy has enough air assets to take out most NK arty in situ. Sadly, we are now wusses in the West and will await the NK to attack first.

Dude it's a thread about piracy, not an advertorial for Bioware.

^ Yes, Steam is shocking in that respect.

We need a cyber-vigilante group that launches massive DoS attacks on piracy websites. It's stealing.

^ Dozens of times. Literally.

If we all sit around in a circle and sing songs, maybe smoke something herbal, then the whole militarised regime will, like, crumble man. Alternatively we could drop some J-Dams on the regime C&C and have done with it.

It's not particularly serious and it's very loot oriented. Those are both win buttons for me. Are there tunnels?

If we made A-ha and Abba take part in an all-night endurance eating competition, the food being typically Scandie fare (i.e. hard scratchy biscuits, pickled sea monster and weeds O' the forest), who would win? Curious minds need to know, Morten Harket looks like he could eat herrings all day, not too sure about Bjorn and Benny.

I don't know much about Borderlands, is it good?

I am an AFV nerd, seriously. That scene was so good I never even noticed what kind of tank it was, I just assumed it was an M1. Getting AFVs wrong in war movies = fail. Getting it a bit wrong in a zombie horror show? So what?

I know a couple of FPS enthusiasts who are digging this game a lot, even though it isn't an FPS. But it has enough familiarity for them to get in it, they are loving the quirky setting and Mad Max vibe. A full-on PA FPS would be a big hit.

I've had one CTD. One. Anyhow, I reiterate the OPs sentiments, bravo Obz and many thanks for FO:NV.

And in another scene I think they used a fake zombie, a Mk. IV when we all know real zombies are MK. X You said it!

All I can think of is the last twenty minutes of Team America: World Police.

No offence to the Scandies but if it's a toss up between the Balearics and The Frozen North I'd go to Spain, although the Hot Blonde comment is on the money. But, look at it like this... London is full of Hot Scandinavian blonde girls, especially in the summer. It's a Win / Win.