BruceVC

I was more curious about what "wait for a few hours" would accomplish. I already know Im choosing that option. I was thinking that picturesque setting would be the perfect place to have a dialogue option similar to "Spend time courting attractive female party member".....but then I realized that there is no Romance in PoE and despite promising myself I wouldn't get sad again I did

Fair enough, it was probably nerves. Because I do agree for a technical position basic arithmetic needs to be important

Part of the issue with the old Eclipse engine is that there was no real concept of level streaming (some aspects could be prefetched and streamed in as whatnot), meaning that for the most part every entity in the level needed to be loaded into memory and that places a pretty large burden (especially on the older consoles) in terms of load times and so forth. I can't speak much to the overall length of the game (I'd expect that Mike's estimate includes some degree of additional buffer for exploring, given that aspects of exploration feed into the critical path - and that it's also a best guess "average" among the entire gamer base rather than an absolute hardline minimum amount of time required). I can say that the amount of traversable space is higher than DAO because of the Frostbite engine. Granted, many (most?) people will probably be taking a "straight line" approach and won't traverse every single square foot, but the levels are pretty big. Mounts aren't going to be a particularly huge part of the game. They can be a rabbit hole (they've been explored for virtually all of the games) and exist more for a degree of fantasy fulfillment and a way to quickly travel. Don't expect things like mounted combat and stuff like that. There are some small snippets of the Tactical Camera/Pause and Play system in various E3 videos. It likely won't look too different on the different platforms, but yes it will be available on all platforms. The only place I might see differences is in how high/low the camera can go on older consoles, although this would be scene specific (i.e. would happen on places that are a perfect storm of potential performance issues) and while paused performance thresholds can be higher so it may not be an issue. The system involves the usual "give orders" though it doesn't have a queue (wanted it, but opted to focus on getting the base implementation working. Could be expanded on in future games), although your character will move to targets for melee abilities. It differs from DA2 in that you can use an "engage" mode which has the time move forward, but keeps the camera detached from any particular party member. It has pretty decent range, though is tethered to the party (for level streaming reasons). Hi Alan "waves" Nice to have you posting again

What did she look like, presentation and perception is very important to the image you want to project as a company. To be perfectly honest I know many people who aren't that great at basic math but still play an important role in corporate structure. Besides Malc this is Canada, you guys allow major's who are caught smoking crack to stay in power so who cares about people who don't understand math

Or in other words, they aren't actually ISIS insurgents however the media simplifies things, but a generalised sunni insurgency. In many cases they're the same secular sunnis who either supported Saddam/ the Ba'ath party right to the end or the tribal groups who fought against al-Qaeda when the US was paying them to and Zarqawi and his successors had peeved them sufficiently. As always, they'll start fighting each other once/ if they actually achieve their military goals because the only thing that unifies them is antagonism to the central Iraqi state and their long term goals are largely antithetical apart from that. Stick a fork in Maliki, he's done. He might linger on for a bit as a lame duck because, frankly, who would want his job at this point- but he's lost everyone's confidence outside Iraq and the army's capitulation has destroyed his credibility inside. Will be interesting to see the reaction if Iraq breaks up though, whether it will be a 'travesty', 'against international law' etc etc. Probably yes if it's ISIS doing it, probably not if it's the Kurds- especially now they've taken advantage of the situation to grab their one major outstanding territorial desire, Kirkuk. And associated oil fields. Or in other words, they aren't actually ISIS insurgents however the media simplifies things, but a generalised sunni insurgency. In many cases they're the same secular sunnis who either supported Saddam/ the Ba'ath party right to the end or the tribal groups who fought against al-Qaeda when the US was paying them to and Zarqawi and his successors had peeved them sufficiently. As always, they'll start fighting each other once/ if they actually achieve their military goals because the only thing that unifies them is antagonism to the central Iraqi state and their long term goals are largely antithetical apart from that. Stick a fork in Maliki, he's done. He might linger on for a bit as a lame duck because, frankly, who would want his job at this point- but he's lost everyone's confidence outside Iraq and the army's capitulation has destroyed his credibility inside. Will be interesting to see the reaction if Iraq breaks up though, whether it will be a 'travesty', 'against international law' etc etc. Probably yes if it's ISIS doing it, probably not if it's the Kurds- especially now they've taken advantage of the situation to grab their one major outstanding territorial desire, Kirkuk. And associated oil fields. I agree with most of what you are saying. But within the ranks of ISIS there are elements of a more fundamentalist Sunni element that do want an independent ISIS state within Syria and Iraq. They are primarily foreign fighters. I find it very hard to imagine Iraq breaking up, this is not what Iran wants and I have come to the realization that we shouldn't underestimate the influence of Iran in the region. Also on a personal level I'm not sure if this would be the best thing for Iraq despite the sectarian violence?

Dude, that's stoner logic...what are you saying and how is that relevant to the EU

It's why I usually wait 2 years to buy the Ultimate Edition with everything included at a heavily discounted price. If it doesn't have everything, I don't buy it. I'm obviously not the target audience and corporations don't care about one lost sale (having worked for multi-nationals in the past). And it's probably why I haven't bought a BioWare games since DA:O, only because they billed it as a spiritual successor to the BG series. Otherwise I wouldn't have bought it. Prior to DA:O was NWN. I think FO:NV Ultimate Edition was the last game I bought which had everything. I guess as you get older you realise you don't need to have the game on Day 1 as your priorities often change. Maybe not for everyone, but it has for me. Hiro it upsets me when you dismiss your personal importance to multi-billion dollar corporations. You matter Hiro...you matter. You just need to believe !!!!

This is interesting but I can't see Iraq being carved up with the Kurds getting there own state or the marginalized Sunnis getting the same. I am finding the political dynamics of the ISIS crisis very interesting and some new bits of information have come to my attention, these include The ISIS fighters also consist of alienated powerful Iraqi tribal Sunni's who don't actually want an independent ISIS state but more recognition in the Maliki government The USA can definitely assist through airstrikes but then they are indirectly assisting Assad is Syria as he is also grappling with ISIS and this is something the USA understandably doesn't want to do Its makes a weird but refreshing change to see the USA and Iran collaborating on what to do to prevent ISIS from completely destabilizing Iraq Whatever the end result I think Maliki has done an abysmal job in managing the country since the USA pulled out. He has failed to properly incorporate the powerful but small Sunni minority in his new government so I expect to see changes in his policies going forward if he wants to ensure economic and political stability in for Iraq

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/135500-Ubisoft-CEO-Says-Company-Will-Work-to-Extend-Diversity So it looks like Ubisoft will be paying more attention to inclusivity in the future You see guys all this discussion, criticism and awareness about Ubisoft did have a positive outcome

I agree, PC should look better than the PS4 so I am very excited

Reminds me, I'll have to dig out the last post counts and share them.... Another thing, remember those stupid popularity threads? All the nominees pm'ing everyone to vote for him or her. I must have sent DOZENS of pm's promising special favors if they'd vote for me. LOL!

Woldan why don't you ask her out for dinner and get to know her better?

Guys you seriously have to take a look at this and see how much better GTA V looks on PS4 than PS3 http://www.destructoid.com/grand-theft-auto-v-on-ps4-looks-amazing-next-to-ps3-version-276685.phtml

Well, for me at least, it was mostly the sense of kinship with people who had the same interest. To really get a good understanding you have to know I grew up in a really small town in Oklahoma (My highschool graduating class was 27 kids.) So while most of my friends were hunting, fishing or driving trucks around in mud, I wanted to slay dragons and look at elven boobs (Well I was a teenager.) I found the forums after Baldur's Gate came out, so some time after 98 I can't exactly remmeber when but I was maybe 15-16 at the time. I always had friends in highschool but the forums were really a place I could just be my goofy nerdy self without fear of judgement. I bought my first webcam and started using MIRC just so I could chat with the people from those boards. While we all shared a love of gaming and typically DnD we just talked about stuff regular people talked about. We had fun hangouts where we could act silly together, we had a hottub to relax in. I had my first embarassing internet crush (Ravenskya where are you!) I never really got too into politics and there was no such thing as social justice back then. It was mostly just a space for me to have friends and goof off. I tried my best to avoid drama on the boards, and there was some real **** back then too. I think what made it special was it was a much smaller place, so if you were a regular "everybody knows your name." I sort of started to grow apart from the forums and internet life when I got into college. I had less free time for it and was able to find people close to me with whom I shared interests (plus you know, real boobs.) So they demanded more and more of my time and with other personal stuff going on I just faded away. Thanks for sharing, that's another personal and interesting post around the gregarious nature of the BIS forums

All of the above! But in their proper forums for the most part. I must be honest and say that I tended to hang out in wwot 95% of the time, and TMC (toms music corner). Fun and games. LOL. We had your typical topics and questionaires... but we also had several inns and a psych ward (Dalla's psychward iirc) and some rps going on. We had our battles, but you're right, we ARE fond of each other. I think what it comes down to is we are family. Each and every one. I love these people, even the ones I don't!!! Someone else could probably tell you more about the other forums though. Thanks GM, that's very sincere and informative response

Both very funny answers, but seriously what did you use to talk about ?

I have to be honest I am very interested in this thread because you guys all seem genuinely fond of each other and its great to see What did you use to discuss back in the day? What were the pertinent discussions, was it about gaming, social justice issues, politics..the reason I ask is I am fascinated by what was possibly one of the salient reasons for your kinship

That frog is quite cute

In a game there is a huge difference between highlighting the horrors of rape during war and giving your character the ability to rape people because "rape is realistic". Both can be demonstrated differently and only the former would make most people feel uncomfortable This is out of the question. The former will never happen. However I can not believe that the later done right will people not uncomfortable. Of course not everyone but the ones who actually identify with characters and their stories during a game. When these situations occur even in movies it is not about the victim but rather a symbol how bad or terrible the antagonist is. But what if you go the different route and focus on the victim and his struggle and not about the crime itself. Done right could this be very powerful. My bad, I meant to say "only the latter would make people feel uncomfortable"

In a game there is a huge difference between highlighting the horrors of rape during war and giving your character the ability to rape people because "rape is realistic". Both can be demonstrated differently and only the former would make most people feel uncomfortable

Pray tell what does your wardrobe look like now ?

Well I have say that is one of the few really good examples I have heard of how you could incorporate the issue of rape into an RPG without it making most people feel uncomfortable but having an emotional impact. Good post

That list of games is almost exactly what I'll be playing

. Of course fun is also important but if I want to relax I rather play a mindless jump and run or indy game. Story heavy heavy games are great for also showing a different vibe in games. Same goes for movies or TV series. Why do so many people watch stuff like Walking dead or Game of Thrones? Not because it is cool but because they want emotion and literally feel bad. It is part of human nature. I don't think people watch a series like Game of Thrones to feel bad, I don't think that's a valid reason for most people. They watch the series because its an exciting and epic fantasy saga where we become attached to various characters and the story. And we want to see how the various plots develop. These are positive and typical reasons why people generally follow popular genres like fantasy. But I don't get why you would feel bad by watching Game of Thrones?

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/06/17/torment-tides-of-numenera-interview-1/#more-213605 For those that aren't familiar with the some of the important game design decisions around the new Torment game here is the first part of a detailed interview from RPS