Raithe

Could Casablanca ever be re-made?

Tropico 3.. Sometimes, you just have to run a banana republic..

Which is worse.. the guy who fakes being a pilot or the guy who fakes being a doctor? One has the potential to kill a whoole bunch of people quickly, the other might just take a little longer to do the same... I guess if you don't have the full official training, you're going to pay a lot of attention to the safety issues though...

And teachers making lesson plans according to the curriculum they're set to teach from... and the books they're told they have to use..

The Philadelphia Story - a classic of it's time. (and definitely better then the musical version Bing Crosby did a few years later). What's interesting is how some of it was improvised.. especially the "drunk" Jimmy Stewart having a talk with Cary Grant, you can see them nearly cracking up off each other. Heh, but I found the Cary Grant DVD Collection Boxed set reduced from

And one of the driving forces behind it is a woman who doesn't trust the school system, and has educated her own kids at home and in private christian establishments.... I think the scary thing about this, is how it could have that roll on effect across America.. Since most states use books published to meet the Texas curriculum... http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/1...ites-us-history Of course, while she's all for asserting the constitution "the way they meant it", is she giving any thought that under "the way they meant it" (re: the Constitution) women don't get to vote/be represented?

That's no way to talk about Darcy...

Hm, and some nice shots of Taipai....

Hm, maybe I gave up on it too soon. I caught the first half a dozen episodes and it just seemed like such a ..frat house version of Sunset Strip. It might have just clashed with the disapointment over that being cancelled.

I never did figure out why they cancelled Sunset Strip.. only to have 30 Rock turn up 4 months later.. Hm, maybe 30 Rock tends to be more.. I'm not sure how to put it without coming across as snobbish but.. juvenile humour compared to Sunset Strip. Sunset Strip always seemed to be funny in a smart way without needing to go for the cheap laughs... and 30 Rock seems to me to be practically the same setting, just only using the cheap laughs. Not that I have anything against cheap laughs and pratfalls. I just like to have smart and witty dialogue. Maybe it's my nostalgia for that old school repartee. Ah well.

Tried to ponder how to get into the work place after spending the last 8 years being the primary carer for a disabled family member... Dang it.... Skills out of date, and you can't exactly put "disabled mother" as a reference on your cv...

Endings wise, wasn't it said that there's something like 5 principle endings.. but each one of those has variations within it.. sort of 1A, 1B, 1C, 2A, 2B, 2C etc.... So that's going to be where all the choice & consequences blend in together on the ending... If you think about it, they've been pumping it more as the choice & consequences having an effect in the middle (ie, during the playthrough) more then for the big finale and how it ends..

And apparently Amazon have a pre-order bonus now.. . But it's nothing that will actually effect in-game play apparently. Just a 24 page "Field Guide" that provides hints, tips and advice on the weapons, skills and abilities of AP....

They all seem quite interesting.. But I think Saudi being the first hub that you have to do to start the storyline might take away some of the "travel around as you wish".. but it should still be some fun... We've seen a fair bit of Moscow in the trailers.. so I think I'm interested in seeing how Rome and Taipai really turn out...

Of course, you never know when that full formal embassy party you're attending will get crashed by goons in full combat gear....

What I find kind of interesting is that they're opening up a touch more "choice & consequences" in it compared to the GTA games... The fact that there's an "honor" system or some such that keeps track of how you act, grows your legend, and changes how people react to you when you visit places and encounter npc's....

Why do I get the feeling I'm going to go freelancer first playthrough....

Just the natural talent of raw oner-awesome?

You get the choices of clothes / armor as you go through. Whenever you're in the safehouse I believe you can swap and change... Different types of armor relate in things like being able to carry more tech gear or having more effective armor..but then you have a downside of less stealthy. If you go for stealthy armor, you can't carry as much guns n gear... Things like that. Also civilian wear is available, and you can choose it for the appropriate venue... As was mentioned wearing heavy duty armor in the wrong places will get it mentioned and possibly effect how people view you... Lets hear it for .. Choice & Consequence people

Hm, well the 4 years of Deutsche I took at school about 15 years ago didn't stick.. since I understood bloody little of that.. But I have to say, that's the sharpest and crispest I've seen AP looking in any of the trailers/previews so far.. Really don't see why people have been having issues with those graphics..

How many used exclamation marks in the titles? Or were they all saved for the reviews comments?

Yeah, in the UK a period always marks the decimal point.. while the comma is used to highlight the 1,000 mark and large numbers beyond.. A single space between one integer and another always suggests seperate numbers...

The return to Civ IV and Beyond the Sword... My, it's amazing how much time can suddenly get sucked away when you planned to just "pop on and do a couple of things...."

Dang it.. the trailers and such for this really give me a jonesing for some serious Western action.. but I'm going to have to wait the extra year or two before they get around to releasing it for the PC... Ah well. c'est la vie.

The DRM on AP barely gives you a glance over. From the sounds of it, it's simple, smooth, non-invasive, and easy to deal with if anything screws up. You can't really compare it to the horror show that some DRM is these days... Although that's always a worrying yardstick to use.... "it's not as bad as other things" .. but seriously, I don't really see why people would have any problems with it. Especially after the whole "in 18-24 months we should be putting out a patch to remove the DRM."