BruceVC

is he chubby, can you post a pic or two?

Not at all, I'm a DA supporter which is the main opposition party in South Africa. But just because I don't vote for the ANC it doesn't mean I automatically agree with any criticism they receive or think its justified. And in the case of Marikana they cant be held responsible for the massacre. The real "enemy " in the South African political arena is the EFF who believe in nationalization of the banks, mines and taking land away from white farmers with no compensation. They are populists and suggest economic policies that are tantamount to economic suicide for South Africa

Send a PM to Fionavar (head moderator) and they will fix this situation for you. Can I change my name to Gfted2? That way people will hopefully think we are the same person and since we share so many common interests, like campaigns around SJ issues, it just makes sense?

Cyril Ramaphosa. What's happening in Ferguson is mainly just 'respect my authoritah' from police who have got used to people kowtowing because anything else is too much bother and want to intimidate the resistance out of anyone who doesn't. It's crappy for sure, but they haven't actually been using their AR15s etc for direct personal gain or to attack the crowds with live fire with 'proper' bullets. OTOH Cyril Ramaphosa, deputy President of RSA- and board member and large shareholder of the Marakana mine's owner Lonmin- called on the police to end the strike. On August 15. The mass shooting's date? August 16. Of course, it's possible that those dates are coincidence, but if so it's one hell of a coincidence. I'm impressed, but its not the first time you have had some relevant knowledge of South Africa especially around unusual political and social events Many people do blame Cyril for the massacre, in fact at the moment the lawyer representing the slain miners at the special court around this matter called the Farlam Commission say he needs to be charged with murder http://www.lonminmarikanainfo.com/rep_farlam.php#.U_SfCU0cSpo But these accusations are based on political grandstanding and a way to undermine the ANC because the lawyer representing the miners is a prominent member of the EFF which is an opposition party in South Africa that espouses nationalization as a way to transform the economy The truth is Cyril was on the board of Lonmin and he did say the protracted strikes need to be ended. But anyone who understood how harmful the strikes were also said the same thing, we have a massive problem in South Africa with intransigence around what the Trade Unions want and expect. And they don't care if they drag the countries economy down with there unrealistic demands Also what Cyril said to the Police didn't change the facts that the miners had killed several people, they were extremely violent and they genuinely believed bullets wouldn't effect them which made them think they could challenge the police with impunity http://www.enca.com/marikana-miners-families-face-mr-x

I saw this, but the way I see if people are stupid enough to ruin the story for themselves before the game has been released then let them. I won't be doing it so everything will be exciting for me

Funny you mention that because that is exactly what I was thinking about. People are saying the USA police are being heavy handed but in South Africa 2 years ago we had the Marikana massacre which is what you are referring to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marikana_miners%27_strike But I don't have too much sympathy for the miners who were killed as there are parts of the story you probably aren't aware of. Firstly the miners for weeks were making the area and the mines ungovernable, secondly before the actual " massacre" the miners had death squads which were responsible for the deaths of 10 people that included Police officers. Then the miners were being manipulated into believing that the more mayhem they caused the more likely there strike demands would be met so they were very pugnacious. And finally, and this is weird part of the tragedy, is that many of the miners are uneducated people who still believe in superstition and magic. Witchdoctors had convinced them that bullets wouldn't harm them and they had nothing to worry about from the police So all these factors cumulated in the perfect storm. on the day of the "massacre" you had thousands of hostile and armed miners who were facing up against maybe a few hundred police. The Police were obviously concerned for there safety as some of there colleagues had already been hacked to death by the miners and you also had the miners thinking that bullets wouldn't effect them, they charged the police and police opened fire. Who do you blame? I blame the miners and the trade unions for encouraging violence. This was on them, the Police were defending themselves, I don't blame them

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-08-20-atari-is-rebooting-alone-in-the-dark-and-haunted-house This seems to be a time where older games are getting rejuvenated. Not a bad thing I suppose

I agree with all of that. So far the combat has been the least enjoyable part of the beta for me. I am trying to avoid too much information about PoE but when you say combat is frenetic can you not pause the combat to plan your strategy, or is this not how it works?

Bottle could be full of acid, something flammable or even just piss. Unless the cops have psy-operators who can divine the contents of every liquid-based missile hurled at them. I suppose so. But this also seems to linked to there policy around zero-tolerance according to CNN And sometimes where you have a sensitive situation where the crowd can easily be incited then zero-tolerance may not be the most prudent course of action ?

Oh yeah, I forgot. Aren't PB games banned in Australia because of there extreme violence?

Most of us haven't played it yet which is why we aren't in a position to discuss it

I have just seen something live on CNN, one of the protestors threw a water bottle at the police and it immediately invoked a reaction from the police to the point where they brought in an armoured vehicle. Isn't that a bit heavy handed? It was just a water bottle. What would be the reason for the police responding like that to a thrown water bottle

How can i even go to sleep tonight? This is more interesting than try to guess who shot JR in Dallas. Would the Codex actually ban people just for discussing this topic? I didn't think the word "ban" actually existed in the Codex's vocabulary

You funny

That's a very good point, what was it called? The phantom forest or something similar...why did they not include it ?

It has become game related as soon as it got out that some of her dalliances were with her boss and members of the gaming media that put her on the public radar. More over there is another scandal about boards and website censoring any topic related to it and the fact that she has used her relationships to further her career. It also puts the entire SJW journalism thing under the microscope since now we don't know who else has done this. Also; being Bruce is suffering. Initially I was going to say "you guys are just raising this to try to undermine the feminism movement" but then I researched this event a bit further and read this excellent article http://www.geekenstein.com/what-qualifies-zoe-quinns-personal-life-as-gaming-news/ So what is wrong is not that she slept around, its the fact she claimed to be totally against cheating on your partner, and she espoused this as one of foundations of the feminist cause. She is a hypocrite and is the same as those ministers who are opposed to homosexuality and say things like " all gays must burn in the fires of hell " and then later they are caught with a male prostitute. So she has no more credibility IMO. But don't let this taint the greater cause of feminism, there is still good and relevant work many people in the movement do The problem is that these are some of the people and websites that have championed the movement within the industry and now that their character comes into question their whole work comes into question. I also love the bit about the contest to get more women into making games that she sabotaged. Honestly Bruce, I do respect your opinions even if I don't agree with them but I've always though you had been backing the wrong horse. These people are the worst champions that your cause could possibly have.You should throw your name on the next election for SJW king; support BruceVC! " SJW king; support BruceVC! " I also respect your opinion, I use to think you were just being dismissive for the sake of it but after you explained your perspective I realized there is a lot of logic and objectiveness around your points. I remember when you explained to me the logistics behind an indie developer being expected to have female characters in a game just to pander to some of the fan base, and you were right. Sometimes its just not practical to try to support some of these SJ issues if you are making a game and have a limited budget. I get that and understand that. Also after my thread about feminism I have decided on a personal level not to call myself a feminist anymore because of the negative connotations, rightly or wrongly, that exist around the word I now say I support the cause of gender equality

It has become game related as soon as it got out that some of her dalliances were with her boss and members of the gaming media that put her on the public radar. More over there is another scandal about boards and website censoring any topic related to it and the fact that she has used her relationships to further her career. It also puts the entire SJW journalism thing under the microscope since now we don't know who else has done this. Also; being Bruce is suffering. Initially I was going to say "you guys are just raising this to try to undermine the feminism movement" but then I researched this event a bit further and read this excellent article http://www.geekenstein.com/what-qualifies-zoe-quinns-personal-life-as-gaming-news/ So what is wrong is not that she slept around, its the fact she claimed to be totally against cheating on your partner, and she espoused this as one of foundations of the feminist cause. She is a hypocrite and is the same as those ministers who are opposed to homosexuality and say things like " all gays must burn in the fires of hell " and then later they are caught with a male prostitute. So she has no more credibility IMO. But don't let this taint the greater cause of feminism, there is still good and relevant work many people in the movement do

What !!!! You joking right? This is unacceptable !! Okay back to the " SJ tar and feather Ubisoft parade " , our work isn't done

Argh! Your simpleminded statements just kill me! This "independent" media channel belongs to Russian oligarh Aleksandr Vinokurov. This guy is very-very tied with some factions in Russian government. http://www.acg.ru/english/impact_of_crisis_on_russian_oligarchs_examined Actually this is quite dirty story. http://ru-facts.com/news/view/30438.html Okay, can you provide me of a list of independent news channels in Russia that aren't state owned or controlled. I am not saying there aren't any I just want to see some so I can do my own research about how independent they are. My point is a simple one, how do you expect Russian citizens to get an objective view of world affairs if the Kremlin ultimately controls the information?

Probably not as quickly

what's so bad about having female characters as protagonists? if it was up to me, all games would have female heroines Well, when it's done as a result of foot stamping by those that see this an actual "social justice" issue and hand wringing game "journalists" lecturing it's a bit eye-roll inducing, as opposed to just being done by itself. And it looks good to people like Bruce, so good PR there. I suppose the salient question we need to ask is '" would Ubisoft have been so concerned about gender representation if there wasn't such a furore in the first place around the lack of fair gender representation in there games" ? So I see the foot stamping as having a positive outcome, wouldn't you agree?

Nonetheless this is progress, well done Ubisoft for realizing the importance of fair gender representation in your games

what would you like to know? I could ask my friends from Russia. Don't you think there is a massive propaganda campaign within Russia that helps to shape Russian opinion in favour of Putin? Have you ever watched RT, what are the independent news channels in Russia that give a different view to what the Kremlin wants? Check this link out, this is about the only independent channel in Russia according to the article...see what happened to them http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/10/world/europe/independent-news-station-feeling-kremlins-wrath-asks-why.html?_r=0

You think the US is popular in the world now? You must be watching different news sources than I am. I'm getting the distinct impression most other nations think us weak and indecisive. So we went from being overbearing and a bully to weak and indecisive. The former is really bad and the latter is not an improvement. Personally I think North and South America should draw a line down the Atlantic east of Brazil and west of Guam and tell the rest of the world this is our side, that is yours. But since I'm not in charge of anything I'd settle to a Pre-WW2 stance of non-interventionism. You see this is where I think there is a misperception from people who live in America and how the world sees the USA now under Obama and how they viewed the USA under Bush, there is a vast and more positive difference Firstly there will always USA haters, no matter what the USA does this perception won't change. I am not talking about them. But you can ask any member on these forums about what most of the world thought about the USA and its foreign policy decisions during the Bush era, it was generally bad. Some of this criticism was justified and some wasn't but for the majority of people outside the USA they considered the USA a country that just wanted to bomb and invade any country that it had any disagreement with. Plus there was the whole Iraq invasion and the false reasons we were given to justify that invasion I will maintain that Obama has done loads to improve the perception around the world for the USA and the role that the USA can play in military intervention. Has he been perfect? Of course not but what president is

Wow Volo, you seem very aggressive today. My intention was merely to reduce your stress, you always go on about how much think the Witcher is a terrible game so I was just suggesting you make an unequivocal statement similar to " I won't be playing Witcher 3"....that way you can won't get so worked up. But that's the last time I try to help you, all I seem to get is criticism for being concerned about your wellbeing