BruceVC

@ LadyC and Keyrock ( and any others playing this MMO) Have you guys been on any of the Foundry user created quests? In this review they mention this and it sounds more challenging than normal quests http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/10443-Neverwinter-Review-Welcome-to-D-D-Infinite

Don't worry these evening's of hedonism have a tendency to present themselves fairly regularly Oh and Happy B-day

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1267261/snowden-leaves-hong-kong-commercial-flight-Moscow Interesting but Snowden is now on a plane to Russia. It appears this makes sense and he can now fly to Iceland. He probably did this as it means he wouldn't have to land in any country that does support extradition back to the USA. Apparently this suits Hong Kong perfectly as this was becoming a real political bugbear for them with all the understandable pressure from the USA. I wonder if Iceland will be his final destination

I'm watching the TV series The Following, it stars Kevin Bacon who has to stop a cult of people who have aspirations to become serial killers. This cult all idolize a real hardcore serial killer who directs and influences them surreptitiously from his jail cell in a maximum security prison. Its been entertaining so far I also like the fact we are seeing more and more Hollywood actors now starring in TV series. Its testimony to the hard economic times I suppose. Some examples of this include Kevin Bacon in this series and Kevin Spacey in House of Cards (now that's a good series )

What !!! Never Keyrock, not you. You are a veteran of gaming, a bit like the survivors of the horrific battle of High Wood during the Somme in the First World War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Wood You just need a 30 minute break and you'll be back to your normal positive and interesting updates around gaming

That has been one of the most interesting posts around PE I've ever read. Nice one Sensuki I think everything is looking great, I'll leave the technical analysis to people who know more about the IE than me. I just want to play this game like yesterday !!!

I'm sure you understood what he meant though. It's the internet. Understanding is like facts: manipulated to suit the poster's view Good one

Yeah its part of our culture And to make things better South Africa and Samoa and playing Rugby at 5 pm so there is sport to watch as well

Facts can be manipulated to suit a persons point of view. The fact is alien life can't be proven, does that mean you don't believe in extraterrestrial life? Also since religion can't be proven you must be atheist. While I don't believe all game journalist are paid by publishers(did Sony pay off everyone for Last of Us), I do believe that they can be influenced like anyone else. In the end the best person to decide if you would like a game or not is yourself, not a journalist and certainly not some random person on the internet. Yes I'm not religious and I have never seen any alien so I can't say with certain that they are real. I would say the chance of extraterrestrial life is possible due to the size of the universe and the fact we know so little about it

The Putin octopus made me laugh Oby are you telling us that Putin is an alien who wants to take over the world? I always thought something was wrong with him .....

Yes its Afrikaans

I'm having a braai (barbeque) today at my house. Despite the fact its winter the sun is out and the weather is very pleasant. I have pork chops, boerewors( like a sausage), homemade potato salad and cheese and chilli garlic bread. Some friends are coming over, we'll have some drinks and smoke some weed so it should be a good Saturday

Nowadays, anyone who believes in some conspiracy theories is like an atheist in the middle ages. Conspiracy theories are the only source of real information. Anyway. Seeing how Nolan managed to get hundreds of thousands of imdb accounts and rate 90%+ his every film (even if critics only gave it 70%), I don't see why it's impossible to keep a few gaming journalists on pay. It's so easy really. And yeah, why would I read some guy's opinion? He's not me. I'll just get the game and see how it goes or watch a gameplay video on youtube. Critics, pfah, what a joke. I don't generally believe in conspiracy theories, I prefer the facts and what can be proven. But I do get my gaming review information from user reviews and what certain websites gaming journalists say. And to be honest I'm seldom disappointed

Good call. CK2 is a good introduction into what Paradox strategy games are like. Once you know what you're in for, CK 1 and other title are there for you r purchasing enjoyment. That's exactly how I see it, I'll get use to these types of games through CK2 before I try something too ambitious

Good points, it has almost taken the attention off the Chinese and there state sponsored hacking of US businesses and government institutions. But from what I saw Snowden will still fight extradition through legal routes and apparently there is some legal autonomy that Hong Kong has from China so it will be a protracted extradition

While I prefer CK1 I wouldn't recommend it unless the person I was recommending it to has very high tolerance for the learning curve and was able to cope with frustration. It's a brutal, unforgiving game that makes CK2 look like a walk in an age restricted park with an escort of heavily armed special forces by comparison. Closest RPG equivalent would be something like Gothic (CK1) vs RIsen (CK2). There's certainly no need to play CK1 first. Okay that's an appropriate analogy, I'll stick to CK2

You right, I didn't realize that its going to cost $499. That's about a 30% increase relative to previous versions. But as you mentioned it should have some enhancements so I suppose it can be justified

Latest news is that Snowden has been charged with espionage. The USA will also be asking for his extradition and Snowden himself is asking for asylum in Iceland. There are people that are ready to fly him from Hong Kong to Iceland the moment this asylum is granted. It seems in Iceland he is considered a hero, I just don't think the Icelandic government would want to annoy the Americans by granting the right to live there? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/21/edward-snowden-charged_n_3480984.html

Either or. CK2 has a slightly less brutal learning curve, if that does anything for you. Okay thanks, I have only ever played one RTS before and that was HOMM 6, I kept getting defeated in the second chapter. I got frustrated and gave up so I'm clearly not very good at RTS But I want to get into the genre as most of you guys seem to really enjoy them and I feel I'm missing out in someway?

"Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our Admiral Anderson, but they'll never take... OUR ROMANCES!" ~ speech from Bioheart Very clever

Guys would you recommend playing CK1 before this game, or just start on CK2?

I also completed the survey, I must say it open's the proverbial can of worms around the various conspiracy theories on the role of gaming journalists and how objective they are. I imagine some people on this forums will have a field day answering these questions

I find it interesting that you're characterizing these protests as "riots," when Brazil's president Dilma Rousseff has publicly endorsed/backed the protesters. Ignoring the now-cancelled bus fare hike (which would have been a significant financial burden on Rio's many, many poor slumdwellers,) the people involved are essentially the first generation of Brazilians raised in an environment open to freedom of expression after the end of the military dictatorship in 1985. This is a country rife with festering socio-political-economic problems which haven't been addressed. I don't care for CNN as a news source (public radio and the BBC are where I go,) but even they aren't characterizing the situation as "riots." Riots\Protests\Civil Unrest, you can call them what you want. Lets not debate semantics And the story about the Riots\Protests\Civil Unrest is the same on BBC, Sky and Al-Jazeera so I'm not sure why you don't find the CNN link credible?

Its good to see Microsoft hasn't been exorbitant and has been consistent in there pricing around the Xbox

You are right Brazil has made some excellent social improvements. But that's not what I am concerned about. The riots in Brazil are basically a class war, the rioters are people that represent a large percentage of people that probably don't earn much money and that feel they don't have many economic prospects. But for the last 20 years Brazil has been quite vocal about doing everything they can do about uplifting the indigent and they seemed to have achieved the perfect result. A growing economy and middle class and effective social services for the poor. But that's not enough it seems. And if the rioters are asking for major changes then what has been the real impact of Brazil's economic reforms? We face similar challengers in Africa where there are large numbers of impoverished people. So imagine if the poor of Africa take to the streets and demand change like in Brazil? There would be bedlam as certain governments are doing all they can do address the social inequalities in Africa but it wouldn't be enough. These types of riots would bring the economic powerhouses of Africa to its knees. Of course this is unlikely to occur in most African countries but its a concern nonetheless. I want to see how this Brazilian instability plays out