Nepenthe

:D I haven't seen it yet, but I considered the first two to be rather ok, albeit seriously overrated. I'm almost tempted to posit the heretical idea that Bardem in the new Bond channels crazy better than Ledger did... I have "Safe" on my list, next, but I haven't been able to do anything more intellectually challenging than watching (American) football in the past ~2 weeks. Well, at least I can claim to be Dr. Joe Sixpack, if this becomes a permanent state.

Ok, I see your point. I've never dated a gamer nor do multiplayer games in any significant degree, so that thing doesn't really exist for me. But I can see why. Too bad HD's become so prevalent. "Wanna see movie x in HD?" used to be a perfectly valid way of luring young ladies to casa Nepenthe. Now I have to think of new excuses to offer them. There you have it my little piglets. Sadly, it doesn't matter. Hardware was never the PC's problem, as a platform. Now that my PC has aged beyond what a reasonable upgrade would fix I'm seriously considering switching to consoles more or less permanently because: a) I don't have time for long stretches in front of the monitor anymore and my future job will likely consist of starting at the computer screen for 8 hours per day anyway b) comfort, no back pain on the sofa eh c) the social side - with consoles I can spend time with my gf/friends and engage in my hobby at the same time. You can't do that (in general) with one PC d) money. A top of the line PC costs almost twice as much as a console. Its a far better tool but I don't really use it for anything other than games and internet, and a console can do that almost as well now I'm sure that plenty of people feel the same way, and if they do, the PC is going to stay the red headed stepchild for the forseeable future. The only question I'm asking myself is - which next gen console to invest in. Wii U is out of the question. I sure see reason for a,c and d, buuut could someone tell me what holy writing says "thou shalt not sit comfortably while using PC"? I have heard this many times from console users but I don't quite understand why it is imbossible to own a good chair. While I have seriously good chairs at work and at home, I have an extremely long back with arms that are more proportionate to my overall (5'11") height. Accordingly I've never been able to use arm rests... Not that I would use them while gaming, either, but I find that no matter how good my office chairs are, I prefer to... "pig out" as our colleague put it above on a sofa when I have the option. Used to have a sofa in my office at the old place. Of course, I also had to sleep there more often and not due to the crunch hours...

Funny how people start seeing things your way when they are in the same situation, I could've sworn I've written a,b and d myself in the past (I'm not really seeing C, but I've been mostly console gaming for 8 years now so I could just not see the connection) You're lucky that you're getting off with 8 hours, though. I know I'm not. And even now that I'm starting to be reasonably well off, I can't really rationalise a good gaming PC, since with the local price structure I'd be looking at 3-4 the console price, the last I looked. Re: what console to pick. I recommend that you look at what the feature set is rather than the games. I went with PS3 because I needed a blu-ray player... Of course, I did also pick up a x360 later on for the few exclusives, when I could get one for ~200 the buy-in cost was so low that it was worth it.

Depends mostly on what the Republican House of Representatives will do. They obviously adopted the tactic of blocking everything they could during the first term so that they could claim what you're saying (but in different words...), whether there will now be an actual interest in bipartisan cooperation remains interesting. Certainly the fact that some prominent teabaggers were left out, that the Democratic candidates are going to be entirely new next time (as in the VP isn't going to step up) and that it was, in the end, quite close, at least gives me some hope that common ground can be found.

Good point, the only FPS I've played several times is Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

You've just gotten more jaded in between.

Some of the flashpoints tie into the story in a way that makes them worth doing at least once, but IIRC that wasn't exactly a problem.

I was tempted to point that out, but decided not to since there were some pretty neat things there, in any case. Bioshock's one of a very small group of games that I've liked on the first playthrough, but have been completely unable to replay ever after. I hit a similar point with DAO after a couple of playthroughs, most games I own I could just pick up and play again...

Sigmund Freud once wrote “A man with a toothache cannot be in love" Pretty true isn't it? I saw a documentary on Hitler's dental work a while back. Let's just say that it explained a lot. I also started flossing religiously afterwards.

Return On Investment, ROI, FFS! Some of you couldn't make a hot dog stand profitable, yet assume to be able to run a behemoth the size of EA better than they do.

spoileers...

I'm sure it'll fail according to your objective criteria. :D

That one, you're welcome to all by yourself. The fragrance of a nice cigar can be pleasant from afar, but I never got past the whole "this smoke burns my throat, why would I want to deliberately inhale it?" thing. You're supposed to enjoy the aroma, not inhale it

I found this an interesting analysis that puts into words a big part of the way things appear to be to us on the other side of the pond: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/scocca/2012/11/mitt_romney_white_vote_parsing_the_narrow_tribal_appeal_of_the_republican.html

Let's just say that if they **** this one up, they'll be out of excuses. Is probably just a touch, a smidgeon, a tad overstated in the reverse direction. I felt like using big words. I don't get to do it a lot now that I've defended. So, from a hypothetical bias in the designated target demographic, you extrapolated a behavioral pattern? I empirically observed a psychological phenomenon and grossly overstated its societal impact by adding an ill-thought expression.

Is probably just a touch, a smidgeon, a tad overstated in the reverse direction. I felt like using big words. I don't get to do it a lot now that I've defended.

The whole concept of canon is (even more) ridiculous (than usual) when it comes to G Lucas and his Retcon Wars.

I for one have no idea what you are talking about! *sips on Bruichladdich 18yo* *Checks liquor cabinet* Dammit, you've got me beat by 2 years on the Bruichladdich! It's pretty good stuff, unpeated, so it's nice and subtle, I think it benefits from being more aged due to it. In fact, I'll light up a cohiba to celebrate that. Since, y'know, I can smoke them legally.

While I have fairly liberal views when it comes to homosexuality and have several gay friends, I still make it a personal mission to interrupt circle jerks whenever I see one. My personal opinion is that the ludicrous amount of hate directed at Dragon Age 2 is the most abhorrent example of groupthink I have ever witnessed, as every person I've seen approach it without prejudice has found it at the very least tolerable. The fact that most people pontificating about it's failures a) believe they are the center of the universe and thus b) have their opinions represent the universal truth just reinforces this line of thought. Re: the game. I found it tolerable, even enjoyable in the sense that I play games to have a good time, not write essays on ze internet while frothing in the mouth, and it delivered on that front.

I for one have no idea what you are talking about! *sips on Bruichladdich 18yo*

According to that it's considered a "great financial failure", like how video games that might a slight profit are and not huge are deemed such and then fired afterwards. Sadly, that's the idiotic reality of today. I blame the stock market and shareholders. MacDonalds only made 1.45 billion profit, last year 1.5 billion in that time. Massive crises! Stocks are plumeting over the bad results. Hello? 1.45 billion PROFIT isn't profit anymore? What the hell? Anyway, back to the story at hand... it's absolutely ambiguish yet wheter this is an improvement or not. And screw EU. Please let VII overwrite and obsolete all of it, right where it belongs. Adhering to it religiously will only hurt Star Wars as franchise at this point. As usual, I recommend you guys look up "return on investment" and its cousin "profit margin". Profit as a raw number is worthless. Unless you want to use it as a reason for "taxing the rich" (see my comments on this in the other thread) .

I TLDRd most of the last few pages, personally, when you're writing footlongs as every other post in a thread, it no longer matters what the **** you're saying, you should just go out and smell the fresh air. I'll illustrate this with the appropriate xkcd and then go enjoy all the games I can with my unrefined tastes:

We wouldn't want the drinks discussion to get too classy, so here's a shot from last night. It's called "Nagasaki", normally they do it without the bottle so you have the burning mushroom from the inverted champagne coupe, but, hey, if you go trashy, go all the way.

Been really tired the whole week (post-dissertation blues, I assume), but today's been the tops. 7 hours and the sum of things I've achieved is lunch with coworkers and picking up my (personal) laptop from the service centre. Really should make a meeting report from some notes, but totally unable to do anything even that mechanical. Ffff.