Nepenthe

I just scanned this thread and some articles, but looks like it's safe to say that I'll be going with PS4. Either they are in denial or it's the same kind of hubris Sony had after "winning" the previous generation...

Mmh, wonder when the decision was made vs. becoming familiar with Unity. Well, let's hope that PE etc. will allow Obsidian to produce enjoyable games that play to their strengths. Maybe at the time it was a matter of finding a balance between convenient pricing and quality. True, true. From what I've read from the different Kickstarter projects I've backed, a lot of people have actually been positively surprised by what you can actually do with Unity.

I sent about 50 applications over the past couple of years and I was gearing for another similarly sized set when I was suddenly offered the job at the current place... But yeah, the Ministry of Labour runs a national system for job offers that carries all public sector stuff and a sizeable part of private sector jobs. But obviously, connections is always going to be important. I work for a commission now, albeit with an ok guaranteed salary. I just adopt the attitude that I'm going to get paid my normal salary and be happy if I get anything over it... Of course with the idea that if I don't start succeeding in this, I will move on sooner rather than later.

"Ad omnia paratus"

Have you considered nipping to the nearest military surplus then issuing each household member with their own mug, knife, fork, spoon? Or just a mug and a spork! There's a new Swedish one that also has a knife integrated!

It's the nature of academic work that you will constantly feel incredibly unproductive. You either learn to live with the feeling or choose to seek employment anywhere - hopefully with your degree - like I did. :/ Thinking about what you've written here I'd suggest the central problem with much (not all) academci work is that it is moderated and marked by someone else. There's precious little opportunity to move beyond what makes sense to people older, more cowardly, and less up to date than you are. Of course I would hold the same is surprisingly true of all other work. I'm not sure that's entirely it: I mean, you're right in that the peer review politics is what eventually pushed me over the edge, but the nature of the work is such that (at least I and a lot of people I know) always wind up feeling like you haven't achieved what you (theoretically) were capable of during the morning/day/week/month... My adviser described it as having had that feeling you haven't done your homework for ~40 years straight. It's less related to the marking aspect and more the combination of broad projects, independence and a general lack of support.

Sure, like my LT used to say about the AA MG, it doesn't do much anything against anything modern that flies, but it's pretty ****ing good on infantry! That said, I believe even the US Army is eyeing smaller calibers like the (Finnish-designed) .338 Lapua Magnum as more efficient long-range anti-infantry weapons.

There's also been a supposed leaked internal Microsoft memo of what the new 'box should be able to do when offline, which includes watching blu-ray movies and playing single player games... so there's some info to the opposite there, as well. Always online would be an unnecessary annoyance since in my current (as described by Walsingham) Northern Exposure type abode I'm getting very regular dropouts. Re: locking to accounts, couldn't care less, I have just as little inclination to sell a game as to buy one that has already been pawed by one of the little monkies I see hanging around at the local Gamestop.

Mmh, wonder when the decision was made vs. becoming familiar with Unity. Well, let's hope that PE etc. will allow Obsidian to produce enjoyable games that play to their strengths.

Who bastardised the proper military vernacular of materiel into "material"! Even wikipedia can't seem to keep it straight, where's the language police hotline?

It's the nature of academic work that you will constantly feel incredibly unproductive. You either learn to live with the feeling or choose to seek employment anywhere - hopefully with your degree - like I did. :/

Hot chillis, ginger, and whisky! I've always said that a flexible ginger will cure any ailment.

My condolences, as well. Still, there's something inherently impressive in going out "Indian Chief Style".

A so-called Siberian Tiger? The birch pollen allergy thing has me cooped up for the moment as my new apartment is fairly airtight... Happily my order including season 1 of Person on Interest on Blu-ray came through on Friday, so that took care of the weekend nicely. So no trophy scars from the weekend to me!

I find Malcador's superciliousness vastly more annoying, tbh.

Isn't it called Trolling? But I know what you mean, I genuinely think he does believe what he posts Sufficiently advanced trolling is indistinguishable...

I can easily answer that. While in the DA:O days unfinished content like a Shale would be delivered free for buyers, in modern day BW they happily cut out chunks of fully finished content, like that DA2 party member or in this case the Cathar to give you something more to pay for... They aren't even trying to hide it under 'it benefits first-buyers above second-hand buyers' anymore... everyone gets screwed. I'd agree, except that I got the DA2 party member (as well as the ME3 one) included in my game package. So it's delivered free to (at least some) buyers...

Yeah, I found both the driving (unexpectedly) in GTA IV to be terrible in addition to the (expected) deficiency in the shooting parts. That, and the needy "friends".

While not a veteran, i'm at least a reservist with reasonable arctic light infantry training and obviously deal quite a bit with the nastier side of life in my line of work. And I'm quite ok with not being able to have a rifle, pistol or M72A5 LAW (aka 66 KES 88) around the house. I do have Mace, though. Nothing like it to give the Freedom Fries a little spice.

Special request from your employer?

Hi Nep Don't forget those Russian models you met and got the photo taken with Those weren't Estonian, but, indeed, Russian. And they wanted their picture taken with me, not the other way around.

There's a lot of QA sweatshops around, so the conditions can vary depending on the position in the food chain, as well.

Sweden & Ystad. I'm surprised it even made news!

Last time I was in Estonia was in October 1992, so I think my countrymen above have a better picture of it. OTOH, the Estonian-Russian Mafia (Obtshak) is a fairly big player around here.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Blood Dragon. Early days in the latter, but the music is carrying it over the gameplay so far.