Zoraptor

My government is actually passing its mass surveillance law at this very time, as some inconvenient, corpulent German and a recalcitrant judge- god bless her- managed to show that our spy agencies had broken the law 80 odd times over the past few years. It won't be mass surveillance, though, because despite having nothing written into the law to prevent it (and given the way other countries have used their unlimited legislation to target reporters and Iceland with their Al Qaeda volcanoes, Banks and MMOs) the PM- who presided over the 80+ law breakings- has promised it won't happen, much as he promised he wouldn't raise GST and the like, and implemented a strong new oversight policy of him and someone directly appointed by him; having already installed an old school friend as head of the GCSB (=GCHQ, for you) and claiming he barely knew him. And anyone who has looked at the Snowden leaks knows he's flat out lying because New Zealand is listed as using PRISM etc on the slides Awesome Ed leaked. It'll be passed, with the help of two MPs who are only in parliament because the ruling party did not campaign against them. There's literally no point writing anything to any MP about it except Peter Dunne, and he won't change his mind because he wants to be minister again and wants no Nat campaigning against him. He's also got no party... except it got reinstated recently, along with the allowance he gets for it. The Nat MPs will lose their job if they vote against it, the two other MPs will lose their seats if the Nats campaign against them, everyone else is already voting against, every single opinion poll shows it's already opposed by a strong majority, and every expert asked has opposed it so much so that the government has not been able to provide a single local opinion besides its own supporting it. The really ironic thing is that Dunne had his emails and phone records illegally seized when he leaked a report on the GCSB which is why he's no longer a minister, yet is so concerned with saving his own skin and getting the ministerial post back that he'll still vote for it. I guess there's some sort of plus in that it didn't get rushed through as part of the emergency response to 180 odd people dying in an earthquake, as they did last time, but if not using the tragic deaths of your countrymen to pass unrelated legislation with no oversight or submission process in an afternoon because it's unpopular and shonky law is a plus then the democratic barrel bottom has been well and truly scraped, and you're well through the floor below. And all to stop terrism, in a place where the only international terrist act was carried out by the asterisking French Government nearly 30 years ago. A fairly decent summation, from our online equivalent of the Daily Mail of all people, for anyone interested and made it through the diatribe. The whole thing is an utter disgrace and there is completely and absolutely nothing that can be done to stop it, short of praying for a politician to grow a conscience. Well, if you're going to wish might as well make it something truly improbable.

Can I enslave nations through necromancy? I've been waiting for that for, uh, Ages. Go on Bioware, mildly amuse me.

Bro, it is a junta. Just because Al-Sisi has appointed a civilian face does not mean that the civilians have any real control, much as just because there were theoretically independent judiciary under Hos that they were not also a rubber stamp. The civilians in the government were selected by and serve at the sufferance of the military. You may see some civilian's lips moving, but it's the military talking with the civilians being just a sop. The main reason the military dropped Mubarak was because he got too big for his boots and wanted to turn the presidency into a hereditary title for Gamal, something the military with its parallel power base did not want. Not some sudden crisis of conscience and discovery of democratic principle.

Because he was picking up material from a source, for The Grauniad. That that material was going to inevitably be embarrassing to the US, or Britain, is irrelevant unless you think 'anti american Marxist rags' are terrorist. The detention was under an anti terror law auspice, not anything else, and it clearly was not anything to do with terrorism. You could try imagining if it was Coulter/ Beck/ Hannity/ Limbaugh's partner being detained in that style and under those justifications, instead...

It's amazing how many people like her given that she was arguably the most ruthless and manipulative character in the game. A little cleavage and a lot of charisma go a long way. I think it has more to do with being a quality character. I like Jon Irenicus, as a character, he's well written and excellently voiced; that he screwed a virtual avatar of me over and was not a pleasant person is completely incidental to that. Neither he not Philippa are particularly sympathetic, they're just well written antagonists in a world where most game villains are cackling or moustache twirling cliches. (Well, arguably both the examples there are cliches too, they just have enough meat on their bones for it not to define them)

So, you're trying to prove that you won't and don't abuse your powers granted under the guise of anti-terrorism. How to do, how to do... I know, we'll detain the partner of a journalist for nine hours under anti terror laws, when there isn't even the slightest indication he's even tangentially related to terrorism That's sure to prove how responsibly we use our powers!

Yeah, that could work. Jane Fonda circa Vietnam or Sean Penn circa Iraq War copped a lot of flak over their stances. I doubt either was anywhere near as entrenched or influential as the monarchy in the UK, but it is fictionalised so some sort of Beiber/ Moore/ Penn/ Snowden (probably combination of one or more) populist might work quite well. It'd be a bit of a shame if more aren't made, the Urquhart story trilogy had some very nice symmetry to it.

Well yes, but how is the situation now actually different from that? I rather doubt, for example, that the current regime is going to allow the courts (heh, like they'd need to worry about the Mubarak appointed judges anyway) to limit their power and not rule by decree, they look set to release The Hoz from custody and a bunch of other reactionary and counter revolutionary stuff too. I'm not sure why removing the prosecutor general is exactly bad except that it's Morsi doing it- that PG was presumably the one who presided over rampant detention without trial, torture, and rubber stamped and wrapped Mubarak's rule in its veneer of respectability, and was appointed by Hoz as well. If El-Baradei had won the election and done the exact same thing he'd have been applauded for 'sweeping away the last vestiges of totalitarianism' and the like, and the only reason would be that he could be relied upon to put someone with his political slant instead of Morsi's into the job, he'd still be doing the exact same thing. There will only be elections if the military can guarantee the right people get elected. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, same as the older boss... probably back to before Khufu. Well yes, I can see how Nobel Laureate El-Baradei might say that. I wonder what failed presidential candidate, who didn't even make the second ballot, El-Baradei has to say on the matter? I will give him credit for bailing on the junta when they killed >650 people in a single day, but people would not take a tweet from Barack Obama- also a Nobel Peace Laureate, lest we forget- saying that Republicans in the US would reinstitute serfdom as being anything other than a political stance because he's also Barack Obama, POTUS.

A right can still be a right if it's granted as a matter of course. Driving a car is a right, but you wouldn't want habitual drunk drivers, those who are sufficiently bad drivers to fail a test repeatedly or the blind to be able to drive- as others have the right to safely use the roads as well. It's all in the application of the law but so long as it doesn't end up with something ludicrous like "asians have a disproportionate number of crashes, don't issue them licences" or similar it works fine and pretty much everyone agrees it's a good idea. Whether owner licencing/ background checks would work well in the US where there are more guns and a lot more illegal guns is questionable though, as it would rely on most gun owners being responsible and reasonable and a lack of illegal alternatives.

I was actually going to use Thatcher as a comparison- since, from a certain point of view, she ruled using parliamentary tyranny with 43% support of those who voted, went after and specifically targeted groups and regions that didn't support her, had policies benefiting those who did support her, was running massive deficits and inflation, had a precipitous collapse in support; up until the Falkland's War, and still had enough antipathy towards her that people came out and celebrated her death despite her being out of power for two decades. And, of course, from another point of view she was a hero who saved Britain.

Yeah, I've never understood the urge to take an interactive media and put everything about it on rails. I guess they look at CoD and the like and decide that the on rails sells, and it makes designing easier as you don't have to try and anticipate players going away from what you wanted. For certain games it is a valid approach but for Thief- even Deadly Shadows, though the small level sizes hurt it a lot in that regard- they always gave you a bunch of tools that you could use any time and goals that you were free to tackle as you saw fit, with certain qualifiers usually at higher difficulty levels. Sometimes you'd fail at it, but that was part of the fun and made actually succeeding all the sweeter. The cutscene in which Garrett loses his eye didn't need full mocap and QTEs to make it memorable, all it needed was the investment in the character made over the previous levels, a modicum of imagination, and the ability to recognise a holy asterisks! moment when you see one.

I doubt many constitutions have a mechanism for peaceful removal of a president when his party controls the legislative branches. eg the US system is effectively approval by both houses of congress, if I remember the (laughable) Clinton impeachment correctly. Certainly, in a situation in which the judiciary has been appointed by Mubarak you cannot rely on them. I have no doubt at all that the violence is not entirely one way and it often isn't peaceful dissent in the way that most western marches and the like would be, but equally it's clear that the protesters are not- generally- armed and there is a lot of 'counter dissent' from pro military groups who aren't exactly being peaceful either. Then again, I also have very little doubt that the Syrian protests were not quite as peaceful as they were made out to be.

Meh, I'm not having a go at you particularly and no doubt I sound grumpier than I actually am so I'll have a go at rephrasing- though I do tend to grind my teeth at the term 'islamofascist' as being loaded and cheap- much as some loathe the term 'Bliar' as being loaded and cheap (which it is, of course). We even agree on certain things, quite apart from the religion in state issue I doubt anyone here supports shooting unarmed protesters. The poll thing is intended as a counterpoint, every politician has drops in popularity, sometimes even precipitous ones yet that did not result in and would not justify a coup in those cases. Mainly I'm annoyed at the double standards in the media where democracy is sacrosanct- unless the wrong person gets elected- and a democratic mandate is sacrosanct, if it's in the west and unless someone tries to do something 'bad' with it. The military had by their own figures killed more people in a day than the Syrian conflict killed in its first five+ weeks, and the exact same excuses have been trotted out by the Egyptian authorities right down to the letter, yet one is brutality and the other is justified. And the general consensus among the talking heads is that Egypt didn't vote for an Islamist approach when they clearly did by dint of electing Islamist parties as the two largest by a significant margin, plus an Islamist president. I'd also say that we don't generally get a good view of what Egyptians really think, because everything is skewed towards the more liberal and pro west/ secular areas. A poor farmer or labourer has every bit as much right to vote and have their vote respected as someone who is net literate and can write well in english, and there are a lot more poor people as well, yet we can only hear from one group and tend to think that they represent the consensus as a consequence. There are only three things that can come out of this. A military dictatorship, elections which are outright fixed to make sure the 'right' people win (status quo circa Mubarak/ military with a civilian frontman) or elections which are soft fixed with the MB being banned, and the salafis getting even more votes as a consequence. None of those are any good for 'democracy', and make me think that people are far more interested in exporting western sensibilities than western values- the veneer and appearance of propriety, rather than propriety itself.

It ain't factual, it's an opinion based on an interpretation of facts, and one you happen to agree with. For examples, on the issue of polls, and also 'factual'... Approval rating for George W Bush 25%, on 3 occasions. Better coup him as he's under the critical 28%, clearly not fulfilling the mandate he was elected for etc etc. Dave Cameron? As low as 21%, hope the Paras step in soon to End The Madness. The poll results are facts (well, 'facts' given how easy it is to manipulate polls), that they'd justify anything is 100% opinion. Also: The 'religious loonies' AKA 'islamofascists' AKA the MB and salafists won more than 2/3 of the parliamentary seats, the presidency and the shura council which would be, for example, enough to write amendments into the US constitution (well, excluding states' approval, which Egypt doesn't have). They have as much 'democratic legitimacy'- might as well be roflcopter cred, for all that phrase is worth- as a western government. Again, when the constitution came to be written the MB could write it for the majority of the people who voted for Islamist parties- whose core belief is the integral role of Islam in government- or the minority that didn't. They went with the majority, which is democracy in action. Facts, with an opinion conclusion. Not actually one I agree with as religion should not be written into constitutions imo, but then I am a secular westerner. In Tiannanmen Square, some guy with shopping bags went and stood in front of a tank. The Chinese Army, well known upholders of human rights and fairness, didn't run him over or shoot him. Same thing in Egypt? Kapow, dangerous terrorist and religious zealot dead live on TV, good job, mission accomplished by brave defenders of freedom, high fives all round 1.5 billion dollars secured We Have Always Been At War With Islamofascists. Same thing happen in Syria? OMG BOMB ASSAD THE MASS MURDERER MY TENDER SENSIBILITIES HAVE BEEN ASSAULTED WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ALLIED WITH RELIGIOUS NUTJOBS OMG RUSSIA AND CHINA SUPPORT HIM EVIL EVIL EVIL. And that's a mixture of fact and opinion, obviously designed to justify a certain position. Though actually the Russkies should troll like a pro and submit the Libyan resolution to the UNSC with Egypt substituted, for epic lolz. Yeah, the MB is banned in Saudi as its type of islamism isn't extreme enough. MB is a Qatari client too, while the people who will benefit most from the MB's inevitable banning will be Saudi's own clients, the salafists. Good news all around for them.

Thief certainly seems to have been one of the worse managed games recently, and one where they probably would have been better doing what they wanted to do without the baggage of calling it Thief. Long dev cycle, multiple different visions and conflict over its direction, the whole Thi4f debacle. The only comparable title I can think of is the XCOM fps which has been relaunched three times and been in development since before Bioshock (1!) was released, let alone the XCOM strategy remake. And at times their PR has been downright bizarre.

Well, I guess the city looks nice enough. If I'd had the sound muted and drunk enough to destroy my short term memory I might even have thought it was a decent trailer which showed promise.

Meh, I find the whiff of 'poor naive egyptians, didn't know what they're voting for' a bit unpalatable, that is all, as it can equally be applied to a whole bunch of europeans buying into stuff naively. That, Wals, is why I used the Cool Brittania/ Tony Bliar dichotomy. People buy into the Blair myth, and when it gets punctured it becomes the Bliar myth- and it's always the same person, same political party, same political philosophy; and often interested in the most trivial guff even when there's far more important stuff to deal with. If the Egyptians in general bought into the MB myth- which no doubt some did, it's only the numbers which would be in dispute- then they're no more or less naive than anyone else. But as I say, I don't find the theory that a large proportion of people who voted for the MB did so under a misapprehension or because they were naive very convincing since the MB's agenda and philosophy was very well known. It'd be like claiming that westerners are astounded if a typical right wing party cuts benefits and privatises stuff, they're a right wing party, it's what they do. An Islamist party believes that Islam is the fundamental bedrock of a state, that's what they do, writing Islam into the constitution is as natural to them as an environmental agenda is to a Green party.

Don't know about that. Certainly, there are a lot of people saying that, and saying that the military has majority support, but I'm sceptical on the numbers and extent just as much as I'm sceptical when I'm told any such figures, because they're very easy to say but far more difficult to provide real evidence for, let alone prove. They're suppositional and assertive only, the only objective measure is how many people voted for the various parties. Might as well claim that Obama or any other western leader's election is illegitimate because their broken promises and unfulfilled pledges means a proportion of people voted for them under false pretences, and thus any military coup against them was justified. Simply put, the MB was always honest about being a Big I Islamist party and if you were an Egyptian liberal or anything else and voted for them thinking they were anything other than that then you were an idiot, plain and simple, and you'll probably vote idiotically next time as well. That is, after all, what happens in mature western democracies as well, people buy into the dream of Cool Brittania and end up with Tony Bliar a few years down the track. Mainly though, this whole set up is only going to benefit one group long term, and it isn't the army or liberals. The people who voted MB- for the sake of lack of argument, the committed supporters- are unlikely to vote for Ahmed El Iberal or Mustafa Ah Mefan after all this is over and the MB is banned again, they'll vote for another Islamist party, and likely the second largest elected party in the just dissolved assembly- the Salafists. Who'd like to turn Egypt into a clone of their paymasters in Saudi Arabia, not some fluffy western daydream of tolerance. If even half the MB supporters do that you end with them in the position the MB was holding.

It's all a bit murky. The Egyptian 'constitution', such as it was, was established under the military with the understanding that it would be rewritten by the elected officials after an election. The MB won sufficient seats to be able to write the constitution without needing to rely on those they were ideologically opposed to. There is, of course, an argument that they should have written a more inclusive constitution anyway- but equally there is an argument that Egypt was getting exactly what was voted for. 2/3+ of the parliamentary seats were won by either the MB or Salafists, their argument would be that they could write their constitution for the 2/3+, or for the remaining 1/3-, not both. Ultimately the problem is that any overtly religious party whether it be muslim, christian, hindu or whatever claims it's mandate- ultimately- from their religion rather than the voters. And you also have situations like the minaret referendum in Switzerland, for example, where it was the christian majority making the law, or the headscarf ban in France that was worded neutrally, but clearly intended to enforce a dress code on muslims.

Iraq and Afghanistan made those agreements while under US military occupation, not of their own free will. Lebanon, Syria and Sudan have all been bombed by Israel in the past few years without retaliation. Lebanon in particular had Israel running around the south- having their tanks getting comically blown up in a 'safe' area in front of the world's media, even, and flattening suburbs in south Beirut- and the Lebanese state did literally nothing about it.

Yeah, it's not as if the MB actually won an election or anything. Two, actually, given they won the Presidential and Parliamentary elections, both handily. Brave crusaders for democracy and right, so long as the right people win the election, of course. If the roles were reversed it'd just be different people shouting about the 'glorious martyrs for democracy and freedom' rather than the 'glorious martyrs for democracy and the Muslim Brotherhood'. Funny too, how when it was Syrian security forces killing considerably less people that was heavy handed mass murder and the claims of police being killed was 'propaganda', yet when it happens in Egypt... brave coppers fighting brutal civilians! Have you seen what their thuggish heads and extremist chests did to the brave and patriotic bullets fired at them? Just needs the claims of foreign mercenary gangs for it to be complete... oh what? The military has already blamed Hamas you say? Well, I'll be damned!

The first third of Gaidar's comment is spot on. The second part is... needlessly inflammatory and contradictory. The worst objective thing about Twitcher2 was the "I romanced Shani in TW... Oh no you didn't!" situation which stuck a large silver sword in verisimilitude. If you aren't going to make the choices you offer count and be taken into account, then just don't offer them. There's no absolute requirement for all those characters to turn up, it shouldn't be like the BG/2 transition where no matter how many times I chopped that cretinous ranger into minscmeat in BG1 he always turned up in Irenicus's dungeon, things really have moved on from that. And if I happen to miss out on some content due to offing the wrong person (or, for that matter, leaving the wrong person alive) then diddums; choices and consequences, I'll just have to deal with it -> (with thanks to Gorth) style. I guess at least it won't have been the current PC who'd done the killing, but that's small mercies. I'd make an exception for someone who is genuinely plot critical- like potentially Leliana- and who therefore has a very good reason and explanation for their survival, but if it's just to have fan service and say hi to the Warden's/ Hawke's buddies then just leave it out (or include alternatives) if they're dead.

Well, you agree with me then. Indiscriminately slaughter some guys and that's fine and doesn't make real life slaughters less serious or anything like that as it's a game. Right ? I guess all the righteous SJW anger will come up tomorrow. How will RPS cope? They loved the original Hotline Miami and now the sequel has a rape in it. Oh, the dilemma! I'd guess the reason for the difference between how murder is viewed and how rape is viewed in video games basically comes down to; if you really don't like murder in video gaming then you probably don't play many video games. But most people simply don't think of conquering a city in Civ as being your bunch of soldiers raping and pillaging in an expansionist imperialist fervour, or killing a guard in Thief who has a new born child he's raising alone and working two jobs for and who will now end up in the Shalebridge Cradle Orphanage, or pirating in Elite being murdering someone for their goods. It's a bit more difficult to make the mental gymnastics necessary to justify/ ignore a rape though, as it's... more personal than offing Joe Random#23664 in an fps. It also has the reputation for being a 'cheap' shock when used in television, used to boost flagging ratings.

You might think that, Walsingham, you might very well think that, but I could not possibly comment. I haven't seem the US version yet and how much it follows the brit one/ books but since the second was 'To Play the King' I wonder how they could have had a plausible US version/ 2nd season.

Like Lebanon, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Sudan et alia, perchance? I broadly agree with the rest, but one of the big problems is the attitude that other countries only ever provoke Israel without reason, while Israel has to retaliate to this provocation. Or the reverse, Israel only ever provokes and all its enemies do is retaliate towards that provocation- who wouldn't in their position? Both circular arguments.