BruceVC

America americaned over america. America americaned america in america. America america america america. I am not trying to sound too judgmental but what concerns me the most about his thesis is how inaccurate its going to be or rather how myopic the foundation of his thesis is. To write anything around the Internet and its general trends and to not consider the fact that these types of statistics would obviously contain international information shows a profound lack of understanding on what constitutes Internet data. So imagine if he goes for a job interview and when asked about his thesis, "Yes I graduated and got a very good grade on my thesis which was about gaming reviews on the Internet. I know it was accurate and provides insight because it only included feedback from Americans living in America because they represent the gaming industry". Its fine to be America-centric but not around discussions about obviously international topics that require accurate feedback and content

That's because he knew how to play the game. If you want to create stability in a poor country, you need 2 things. You need to be seen cracking down on corruption (whether you actually do it or not) and you need to offer people hope of upward mobility (whether real or not). As long as you can do that, people seem to be generally docile and go along with whatever other excentricies you may have. Looks like they failed on one or both points in Brazil. Edit to add: Slightly tangential, but I think (imho) that corruption is the single most contributing factor holding back emerging and third world countries. Well said Gorthfucius, the corruption point is paramount and also I would say the upward mobility is part of education. That's how you uplift people, you let them uplift themselves through education. That's the biggest issue in South African at the moment. Uneducated people and people who finished grade 12 but are unemployable. Sometimes they can't even speak English PS : You don't often comment on our political discussions, you sagacious and oracle-like insight is good to hear

"3am in the morning - it's bright and birds are singing"... 3am and the sun is shining, I still can't quite get use to that concept Its 5:30 am in South Africa now and its pitch black outside

But surly you are aware these forums are visited and frequented by people outside the USA like every other forum? You do know the Internet doesn't just exist inside the USA?

That graphics card will have over 3.5 times the compute power of the entire Xbox1-80 on its own, very few people buy cards that expensive, and very few people would spend more than $450 on a console. If you look at previous generations, and the current competition, $500 is expensive, and in a territory that's only been successful with the PS3 which can be explained by the Blu-Ray player since you'd be paying more than a PS3 for a Blu-Ray player. For a lot of people, especially with the charge per month to play online (that's going to be $45-60 a year). $500 is above the range they're willing to pay, and there are two competitors that will be better priced, despite what Nintendo say, they will be dropping the price of the WiiU. I'm convinced we in South Africa are over charged for PC hardware, how much does a Geforce GTX680 SOC cost in your country. We pay $780

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/23/us-usa-security-russia-flights-idUSBRE95M06320130623 Wow, now he may be going to Venezuela,. That is really going to piss the Americans off especially since they have such a strained and tenuous relationship with Venezuela already

Don't you guys think people will buy the Xbox1 because only certain and newer console games will run on it, especially as time go's on? $500 is what PC fans can spend just on a Video Card and we buy it for the enhanced visual experience. So I don't think $500 is unreasonable for a persons improved gaming experience

@ 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