BruceVC

Guys listen to this, its a remix of Goldfish Moonwalk Away. Its brilliant but it is a dance song just so you know

I normally wouldn't say anything to dispute this type of post but because I think my comment is constructive I'm sure you won't mind, you not suggesting that real journalism is dead? You mean gaming journalism ?

Wow, nice story. Fond memories for you as well Imagine going in time to the mid 1980's and trying to explain to people the concept of online gaming or how games would develop to this massive multi-billion dollar industry....they would think you were smoking some good stuff

That's a cool picture, I remember back in the mid 1980's we couldn't get anything like D&D in South Africa because of sanctions but my dad use to travel overseas for work and he bought me a similar D&D boxset to that one but it was newer. It was the picture of that single fighter taking on that massive dragon on that gold pile. That picture blew my mind and that was my introduction to D&D and I became a DM. We didn't really understand what RP was as we were use to Steve Jackson books so I was waiting for the rulebook to tell us what to do, not realizing everything happened in our imaginations. Only a few months later did we start realizing what RP was and how you organised a proper campaign. Great memories

But DA2 didn't let you use it, IIRC. Then again why do you need a whorehouse when you have Isabella, same number of VDs. That's nasty to say anything bad about the angelic, virtuous and noble Isabella...she was so beautiful

You can indeed still attempt to buy love with supposedly superficial trinkets, but I'm sure you also have to be nice to people in dialogue options. Can you be nice to NPC in dialogue options Gfted1? If so then true love awaits thee Are you saying that I cant bring the pimp hand and then drag her and her sister into my tent? ROLEPLAYING IN NAME ONLY! Funniest post of the week, definite winner of the much respected " BruceVC funniest post of the week" award

Good post, there have been several polls around age but nothing wrong with another one. Demographics change, so always interesting to see the results. But Indira is right your 36-40 option is broken, please fix so us "old-timers " can update the poll correctly

Interestingly enough with the arrival of DA:I just around the corner and that game having Romance it will soon be time to start discussing how we feel about the implementation of Romance in DA:I and will it be relevant for PoE 2? So good reminder Lilly

You can indeed still attempt to buy love with supposedly superficial trinkets, but I'm sure you also have to be nice to people in dialogue options. Can you be nice to NPC in dialogue options Gfted1? If so then true love awaits thee

He can use his blades as knives. To be fair its not a verdict where the race made any difference, if anything its based on wealth as Oscar basically got the best defence attorney money could buy. But even that couldn't get him off without real jail time or even better a " not guilty" verdict of all charges. Also his career is over, he will never run again. I can't see him getting a job on any kind of South African TV or radio show so I'm really not sure what he is going to do with this life after he has served his time? He could get into coaching but this trial has really tainted the image and perception of him for many people so the whole " motivational speaker " avenue is also not an option for him? So to

Indira are you happy that there is Romance in DA:I, do you follow Romance arcs or is it inconsequential for you ?

As I indicated in my past post my thinking, or rather that survey, is not naïve. Its based on fact that Western countries have the happiest citizens due to how there governments provide services and how stable the governments are Also you guys obviously didn't read the report that on the original link, its called World Happiness Report 2013 (PDF) The report is based not only on the GDP of countries but many socio-economic factors contribute towards this data So maybe read that report and tell me what parts you disagree with? In this case ideology just means the Western style system of governments and how they manage there countries. I should have been more clear on this, I apologize You did not respond to any of the points I raised. (Exception: You did define what you mean by ideology, which is helpful.) Explanation: I did not seize on GDP as a particularly problematic or representative metric, so I am not sure what you are responding to. The fact that it measured 'many socio-economic factors' does not actually answer anything here. My questions apply to all of their independent variables, because it is a question about the methodology itself. To clarify myself again, then: you have raised the argument that (1) Western nations are objectively happiest, and (2) this proves the objective superiority of Western ideology. In that case, the burden of proof is on you, not us, to show: (A) Objective evidence that they are happiest; (B) Rationale as to why A is a valid measure of happiness; © Rationale as to how logically A can prove 2. You have done A, but instead of moving on to B and C, you are repeating A again and again and again. Hence, I ask: where is B and C? I can go into detail and dig into the actual measures they used (including problems of self-reporting and variable aggregation in this kind of research), but it is better to deal with the basics first. Do you think the survey is a good index of happiness? If so, how so? And then, how do you go on to make your own inference that this proves the superiority of Western ideology? If someone says to me " are you happy living in South Africa " my answer would be "yes" But the answer "yes" is not based on my mood on the day I was asked or how I am feeling because I just got a promotion. Its based on a number of factors that could include corruption within my country, state of healthcare, economic opportunities, political stability , gdp per capita, do government services work and other points. So what I would do is weigh up the good and the bad and decide what is most prevalent, in my case the good outweighs the bad so I am still happy overall. Many of these considerations are based on the government being directly responsible for them Now you can say " none of these things might matter to someone's happiness" but that's not what the metrics of these surveys are based on. The assumption is that if you are living in a country and all these things are positive you would say you are happy. If you go to your average African person and say "what will make you happy ", the standard response will be something like " I want a job, a stable government and a future for my children ". And that's perfectly reasonable, because that would most make people happy So going back to the metrics of the survey that's what the socio-economic questions are based on. So to address your A and B questions A) Objective evidence that they are happiest : I have said I am happy based on the questions and considerations around the answers B)Rationale as to why A is a valid measure of happiness : That's been explained as these are things that directly would impact our happiness ( in other words thinking your government is profoundly corrupt is not going to make you happy living in such a country ) C) Rationale as to how logically A can prove 2: The two are directly related and I have explained the connection So then we get to conclusion " I am happy living in South Africa " and then I need to accept that this happiness is directly influenced by my government and its policies Now going back to the original point, the top 10 countries that have the best quality of life for its citizens are Western countries. Therefore why is so difficult to accept that Western governments are better than non-Western governments? Also do you have an issue accepting that Western countries have the happiest citizens or the point that this means Western government are the most effective governments in the world?

I doubt it, I don't think you are allowed to represent your country if you have this type of criminal conviction?

Here is the thing, as Monte alluded to you would be silly to not start getting excited and recognising that DA:I is looking impressive. Bioware is really taking this game seriously and wants to deliver the entertainment factor that many of us have been asking for from there games Plus you throw in Romance and its just faaaaaaaantastic

The part they're disagreeing with is that while a German would curbstomp a Brazilian in every socio-economic standard (health care, life expectancy, GDP, crime rate, poverty rate, etc), if you were to stereotype the two countries and try to represent the average citizen of both, the German would be grumpy and obsessed with rules while bitching about how people don't live correctly (aka his way) while wanting to be left alone, whereas the Brazilian would be cheery, friendly, and wanna throw a samba party. Yet according to that same list, Germans are happier people. That list does nothing to review the culture of the various countries and name which culture is most geared towards happiness, it focuses solely on the opportunities it's country provides it with. Yes those are nice, but I would still bet money that if we took a German and took a Brazilian and asked them to rate their satisfaction with life on a scale of 1 to 10, the Brazilians would beat out the Germans a lot of the time.....well maybe not this year since we kinda embarassed their national team in front of the world on their home turf, but you get the point. Yeah I do get the point and you probably right. Your average Brazilian may be happier than your average German even if the services that the German government provides are better

Well that's the thing, technically he didn't murder her intentionally So the charge is murder through negligence. Its the same as someone getting drunk, having a car crash and killing someone. They won't be charged with premeditated murder. That's culpable homicide and carries a lesser sentence which I understand? You mean there was no proof of intent, because his bs story was bought hook-line-and-sinker? Basically yes But as you know Nep a court case result is based on what the prosecutor can prove, not what we personally think should be a valid sentence Personally I think he did know she was in the bathroom and in a fit of rage and anger he fired shots to get her to come out of the bathroom and obviously he ended up killing her But the prosecutor despite doing an excellent just couldn't prove that Oscar knew Riva was behind the door

Well that's the thing, technically he didn't murder her intentionally So the charge is murder through negligence. Its the same as someone getting drunk, having a car crash and killing someone. They won't be charged with premeditated murder. That's culpable homicide and carries a lesser sentence which I understand?

Also some people love to see celebrities fail and fall from grace so some of the calls from the South African public to punish Oscar severely was more from an emotional perspective than looking at what the prosecutor could really prove during the trial Like when Paris Hilton came to watch the Football World Cup in 2010 and she was arrested for smoking a joint in the stadium, a big deal was made about "people that come to South Africa and don't respect our laws" ( basically anti-Western diatribe ) despite the fact that smoking weed is rather common throughout South Africa even though its "illegal "

Wow, he does sound rather arrogant. Lets hope he takes criticism objectively

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscar-pistorius-sentenced-five-years-740263 So he received 5 years for the charge of culpable homicide, some may think this is not severe enough as the maximum sentence in South African law for this crime is 15 years but I think its fair considering the circumstances I always wanted justice to be done and I think it has been. He will probably be out on parole in 2 years but trust me South African jails aren't a picnic especially considering the fact he is a celebrity So I am happy with the sentence overall

The designer (handle is Darth Vader) is a longtime and well known in the Total War community for his Rebalnce and gameplay mods. The guy is a bit of an ass and egomaniac though. Still he modded in some really quality stuff from Rome 1 to Shogun 2. Interesting, that's relevant to how good this game may be as the designer is experienced in the field

Yeah the details look amazing, let me know what you think once you play it. I have never really played a RTS before so this may be a good way for me to start

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/10/20/ultimate-general-gettysburg-release-date/#more-243001 Guys has anyone got an opinion on this game? Its a RTS, I am fascinated by the American Civil War and this game looks like a real comprehensive way to play the famous battle of Gettysburg

Good news, Nigeria has been declared Ebola free. We do loads of work in Nigeria so this is very reassuring http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/20/us-health-ebola-nigeria-idUSKCN0I90T620141020

These people are commonly referred to in layman's terms as "f***ing ridiculous." So people who commit suicide because of Internet abuse are being silly? You don't think real depression can be caused from the Internet and trolling?