Monte Carlo

Double post, sorry.

Good link Wrath. I like this: It encapsulates the problem in two sentences --- i.e. Karzai is part of the problem and not the solution and the military bit that works is the time-honoured nutting of the enemy command and control by the hooligans in your SF. I suggest a proper, full-on protectorate.

A question for the devs --- is DS3 intended to provide that Gauntlet feel, frenetic action multiplay against hordes of enemies? Or is it going to be paced differently?

Remember the bit in Silence of the Lambs where Clarice, armed with an agreement to give concessions to Lecter in return for intelligence, offers him a new prison? On an island (an ex-chemical weapons facility, IIRC)? Lecter looks around his cell, sniffs the air and considers the offer of an hour a day outside. "In a truly civilized society," he says, "you'd execute me." We are doing the same thing. We offer these small, low-intensity wars to solve big problems, i.e. religious terrorism based partly on the collapse of the Soviet Empire almost twenty years ago. These wars are like the ones in Orwell's 1984, they provide a small, inobtrusive struggle far away where we pretend to offer our demons an hour's exercise a day in a secure facility of our choosing. If we genuinely wish to wage war on Terrorism (although, as Terry Gilliam said, you can't declare war on an abstract pronoun) then have one. Yep. Conscription, mobilization, objectives, offensives, rationing... have a war and win it. But nobody wants that. I don't. I'm fairly sure you don't. War's little brother, the nine year old insurgency campaign, is in the ascendant instead and it doesn't appear to be working. Between 1939 - 1945 the entire world had a scrap and actually nuked a country. Twenty years later they were enjoying peace, democracy and economic prosperity. Hell, by WW2 terms we should have won in the 'Stan in about 2006, just when it was hotting up, and three whole years into reconstruction. Instead we see Iranian-backed bomb-makers murder more of our troops and stick our fingers in our ears and say Nyah Nyah Nyah. As I say, I am heartily sick of Afghanistan. In a truly civilized society we would either retreat and make our peace, or prosecute war.

Modern warfare tries to be humane, as if rules of engagement will persuade your medieval, religiously-indoctrinated guerilla foe to put down his RPG and stop making IEDs. The more you 'peace-keep' the longer you prolong the agony. The Balkans. The Iraq insurgency. Lebanon. Africa ad nauseum. Wars are actually an efficacious way of resolving disputes. Side 'A' wins and imposes reparations on side 'B'. We need less UN and more Vienna convention. Talleyrand would be spinning in his grave. The principles Wals articulates are the apogee of Blair school 'Chicago Doctrine' which I suspect will be seen as a low point in late 20th Century Western foreign policy. If only we can build enough schools'n'clinics these people will be just like us! No wonder they hate us. If you invaded my country and built a Starbucks in my village when I didn't want one I'd be getting the family rifle from underneath the floorboards. Leave Afghanistan alone, with a friendly warning: let those terrorists back in and we'll send in the Predator drones. Pakistan? Seal your borders or we will apply sanctions and unleash covert warfare on your home-grown terrorists. Apart from that, please crack on and build your countries as you see fit. We'll support the NGOs and aid and all the other things that keep Scandinavian liberals in long and well-pensioned careers. Just don't expect us to sacrifice the best of our young people, our blood and treasure, on trying to build nations when the foundations are built on shifting sands. I am heartily sick of Afghanistan.

I see both sides of the argument, but the fact is that the games industry is freaking massive, can only get bigger and makes money for UK tax coffers greater than the initial tax-break. Our overseas aid budget is ring-fenced, and all that gets spent on seems to be Mercedes for corrupt dictators. Go figure.

With RPGs it's often down to character builds --- i.e. this time I'm going to play a stealthy character, or a tank etc. With FPS it might be different weapon types, or using a certain vehicle, or stealth versus heavy weps. With RTS / Tactics it might be this time I'm not going to use tanks, why not try infantry swarms... Etc. A good game that allows you to re-play it using different character types or methods that aren't too easy is challenging and fun. One that relies on meta-knowledge or a certain key 'Win' button is frustrating.

Too busy firing generals who complain about going for dinner in Paris.

How emo, as I think the young people put it. Go clay pidgeon shooting, drink a couple of bottles of claret and smoke a Romeo Y Julieta (a No. 2). If you are going to listen to music, the drums and pipes of any decent Scottish infantry regiment should do the trick. For God's sake, grow a backbone you lot.

:: sigh :: Italy were my second team. Serie A has as many structural problems as the English Premiership, yes their diving and play-acting was an embarrassment. Mind you :: cough :: Argentina :: cough ::

LOL Virumor pwned by the dreaded 403!

^ And, folks, there is the grace and good-will in defeat for which our Antipodean cousins are justly famous

I saw the cover of that King's Bounty: Armored Princess game. Not only does it have the lamest name of Any. Game. Ever. it also has some of the most egregriously sexist cover art of any game I've seen. Don't get me wrong, I think Germaine Greer is a type of breakfast cereal and I like my Megan Fox screensaver as much as the next bloke, but the iron balconette that poor woman is wearing is just wrong. All properly trained artists study anatomy first for a reason. Cheers MC

This is sage advice indeed Hurlie. In fact I think it's on law school 101, 1st Semester.

England - Germany is always a good match, even for a disinterested old cynic like me. I just think that the Germans in this case will wipe the floor with Ing-Er-Land. There is a wild card, though, nothing gets the plucky Dunkirk spirit up like a game against Der Fatherland.

If DS3 is a bit like SoZ in spirit then this callsign will be quite happy.

Dungeon Siege had the attractive red-head in full armour, albeit tailored for the female form. A non-issue for me.

The Yankees are missing a trick - if they put their backs into it they could have a world-class soccer team and rule the soccer universe. I think, culturally, though you will need dynamite to wean them off baseball and American football. Plus, a 'World Series' where the players only come from one nation is an understandably appealing sporting comfort blanket.

I think US Law Enforcement is too fragmented / balkanised to be able suggest one career route. For example, I think a lot of Federal LE personnel will have law degrees but OTOH you can do a basic policing qualification and spend the rest of the time pootering about as a deputy someplace rural. I knew a top-notch lawyer once, he'd been a detective in a large UK police force - he took it as a post-retirement gig and his operational experience made him very sharp around the (criminal) law. He did his legal training in his spare time, a pretty good investment in himself. The question is that most coppers probably don't want to join the police to become a lawyer when, er, you can just become a lawyer! My advice, having worked around lawyers during my career, is stick to non-criminal law if you want to make some half-decent money. Another aquaintance is an employment lawyer, she loves her job and is very, very good. She earns a commensurate sum of money.

Yes, it is. America should be pleased with themselves, coming at the top of their group and winning favourable terms for Saturday. The England hyperbole will go into overdrive after this modest win, honestly they still look mediocre. Germany will eat them for breakfast if they ever meet.

That's because you're not a real man. REAL MEN AREN'T ASHAMED OF WEARING FUNNY HATS IF THEY HAVE POWERFUL STATS! AS I DID IN DRAGON AGE! ROAAAAAAAAAAAR! I didn't need a vanity view to be impressed by the Dragon Age Funny Hats. The wizard hats in dragon age looked like condoms with teeth. Sorry to get all Dave Cronenbourg on yo' ass.

In the UK the Military Police isn't seen as the corps of choice and the military legal services are where you go if you can't get a pupillage in chambers. OTOH, the US military got with the programme about veteran career development, pastoral support and post-service opportunities after WW2 with the G.I. Bill, something this country is just starting to get it's collective head around. Having worked with law grads in non-legal or para-legal roles I'd still say it's a useful degree. 1. You develop an analytical skill-set 2. If you can master stated cases and torts, then most other vocational rules and processes are pretty easy 3. There's a bit of self-discipline involved in a law degree, the single most crucial virtue in any career Lastly, law is something you can always return to. The career field you worked in will have a directly relevant legal equivalent, be it software development or entertainment or corporate law. And I speak as one who isn't a fully paid-up member of the lawyer's fan club.

Ha, Wrath I was going to link to that! The article is interesting on several levels: 1. The General's naivety in media management (best encapsulated as 'The First Rule of Fight Club is: You don't talk about Fight Club') 2. The coruscating sense of truth that comes out of the article, the idea that Afghanistan is a towering piece of foreign policy bull****, we are sucked into it by default, it's hopeless and the best thing we could do is police it like 1920's Mesopotamia, from the air, with bombs 3. The idea that people I know and value are risking their lives for people like Karzai 4. The shiney-eyed faith of the General's posse in their doctrine, reminds me of reading about the 'True Believers' in Vietnam 5. Although I will admit to be being taken with the General's macho, no-BS, I've-got-nun-chucks-in-my-bag attitude, if I'm honest I like my generals to be a little more cultured and cerebral 6. The journo's assertion that this is a totally US affair despite the ten thousand British service-people in theatre - we really do need to leave the Americans to Chuck-Norris their way out of this one I'm afraid. Pakistan is going to be a failed state, and yet all we do is it give her money. It's the politics of appeasement, personally I'd be aggressively forging strategic alliances with India, the safest and most progressive nuclear-armed state in the region. Cheers MC

Rome: Total Realism is excellent, but a bit of a culture shock for fans of the vanilla game. Try it out, I liked it.

^ Purk, check out Hackmaster, the humorous pen and paper Hack'n'Slash RPG based on 1E AD&D. It is waiting for a computer game version.