BruceVC

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

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/20/world/americas/opinion-brazil-simoes Guys this is big news and worries me. One of the reasons being that Brazil is considered a paradigm of how emerging markets should grow there economies and how to address social issues like poverty and unemployment. In South Africa we are constantly told how we should be more like Brazil. But these intense riots actually highlight that there economic resurgence has major systemic problems. The riots were originally started by people unhappy with the bus fare increase that was implemented to help pay for the football World Cup next year. But then grew as people vociferously objected to other social issues like general corruption in the government, ineffective health-care and issues around education. One million people rioted in Rio De Janeiro today. Brazil faces some serious civil unrest Anyway the link gives the background to these riots so read that for video's and more detailed information

Man, that's one seriously ridiculous 'Murica **** Yeah Cannon. What I love about Saint's Row is that after the first one they realized that if they continued to try to straddle the line between comically over the top and gritty realism they would just be another GTA knockoff and nothing else. So they abandoned any semblance of relism and just went for ridiculous over the top madness. Each successive iteration has just gone ahead and pushed the absurdity envelope further. I pray they still have the female Russian accent voice option in this game. The part where the protagonist and Pierce are driving down the road in Steelport and singing Sublime ~ What I Got in SR3 is so hilariously awesome with the Russian accent. That's an accurate assessment of the Saints Row franchise . I don't think they are as good as GTA but still very entertaining

That's good to know, very big relief

Meh... the itnernet is geting over-sensitized. More and more forums seem like they are run by natzi's. It's liek people have nothing better to do with their life other than look for things to be offended about. I just recenetly got banned from BSN for posting a DA meme in hte DA meme thread. Because the meme contained hte word "F***". Becuase nudity, sex, violence and sacrificing children to demons is OK, but saying the forbidden word? OH MY GAAAAAAWD! You are out of control Trashman, completely OUT OF CONTROL !!!!

You missed your calling my friend, you should be a comedian And you have a way with words that I can only admire

An interesting read but I question its validity. End of the day, as AwseomeOcelot mentioned, those games are shooters and are about killing people. The gratuitous amount of killing may be something to look at but I don't think so. Those games would lose part of there appeal, and sales figures, if you couldn't kill large amounts of enemies. And then when he gives examples of games where you don't kill people he mentions Arkham. Well Batman doesn't really kill anyone ever so that's not applicable. Shooters are called shooters for a reason. You need to play an adventure game or an RPG if you object to the nature of a shooter

Having Liam Neeson in Fallout 3 didn't make it Schindler's List. Why was that comparison made around Fallout 3? I think the point is having recognized actors can only add value to the overall gaming experience but you right, Witcher 3 won't win an Oscar.

I want to share with you a guys a bizarre and funny dream I had last night. Remember that dreams are just your subconscious mind trying to rationalize the various thoughts you are having. So a dream doesn't have to make any sense or mean anything as you'll see in this case As I mentioned I go to Vegas every year for a Technical symposium. In this dream I was in Vegas but I was staying with Hurlshot and he was showing me around Vegas with his wife. But he looked like he did in his Avatar picture, not in real life. We were also life long friends. He took me to all these clubs and in this one club I met a school friend who I haven't seen for a while, a guy called Mike. Anyway Mike started talking to me about "what I was doing in Vegas" and then he came back to Hurlshots house and we all had a barbeque. I woke up and the first thing I thought was " surly Hurlshot doesn't know Mike". I then realized that I also have never met Hurlshot and the whole thing was just dream. But it felt so real

I hear you, that's probably what happened. I am hoping Steam support will just update my German version with an English one. I am not sure of the logistics but I can't imagine its that hard to do?

That is relevant technical information, thx