Nonek

Second moral of the story: More countries need a slight addiction to tea developing amongst their elderly! Edit: Good man Mr Meshugger.

I thought i'd open a thread here for the lighter and better side of humanity to be demonstrated as opposed to all of the war, migrants and demonisation of ones fellow man that are currently in vogue. Nothing controversial or negative, just simple examples of some good being done. To open I thought i'd start with a little story my good lady wife pointed out to me the other day, a potential rapist in Sheffield (the wifes home town) was left beaten and battered by his intended victim and shortly after picked up by police. The lesson learned, one should probably not try it on too much with northern women, from personal experience I believe there is still a little Shieldmaiden within the meekest. http://metro.co.uk/2015/12/02/would-be-rapist-left-battered-and-bruised-by-victim-5538914/ It left a nice taste of some good being left in the world, as opposed to the 24hr news networks constant alarmism and overblown reporting on what are at the end of the day rare events. Of course this thread does not have to be merely news posts, personal stories of positivity and goodness affecting posters would be even more welcome I think. If the mods feel this should be merged with another thread i've not found, please feel free.

I'd be fine with a small scale (in relative terms) Fallout made for an isometric engine, the original Fallout is quite a small game, very tightly designed and all the better for it. Reasonable profits from a few hundred thousand sales would mean a more reasonable investment, and perhaps a stable franchise dealing with and continuing the classic (as Bethesda terms it on GOG) series. Avoiding the boom or bust sales mentality might be an attractive quality in and of itself for cerain investors?

Any word on Mr Avellone's novella by any chance?

I quite like Humbugs, my grandfather used to hand them out when we'd go walking with him as children. Boiled sweets seem to have died a death in this modern age of confectionary, a pity. Edit: I'm afraid i'm far too attached to my avatar, and after all what can change the nature of a man?

Trawling through the code of Severance: Blade of Darkness in my clumsy attempts to edit the game more to my liking and I have found a few strange things: The tutorial area is a lot bigger than seems to be necessary, and there is a rather copious amount of information devoted to sneaking through it, I have to wonder whether this might have been an alternate gameplay mode at some point in development? Looking at the various maps I can see where sneaking might be extremely useful, and it would certainly fit the style of the combat.

I'd add another yes vote, along with most of the cautions used above, the game is hard but it is also fair. There are high points to the game and low points, for instance the siege of Targos is very much one of my favourite areas and moments in a game, the build up, the effect you can have on the course of it and the interesting combat. However there are simply tiresome slogs and grinds made to pad the length of the game, and the game sometimes rubs that in your face, which is not exactly a welcome thing to do. All told i enjoyed my time with the game, and at some point mean to replay it, so i'd recommend it to anybody else as well. I still think the story begun there has room to continue, and there seems to be several hints made along with groundwork laid in the game. It is also quite reverential towards the original game, and others set in the AD&D multiverse, see if you can spot yet another incarnation of Ravel Puzzlewell?

Severance: Blade of Darkness. One of the underreported aspects of this game is the atmosphere: The music, the fantastic shadow work, the graphics and setting all add that certain gloomy magnificence that makes this superior hack and slasher so memorable. I just wish there were a way to learn different combat styles, for instance Tukaram weilding Naglfar or Sargon's weaponry, as lets face it the Barbarians equipment becomes frankly ludicrous after a few levels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTPSYbeNaa8

You do realise this is heretical thought crime don't you? To be terrifying and impressive a boss must be a large pool of hit points to be slowly ground away for a few hours, with no convenient save point nearby to create artificial difficulty, this is fairly basic knowledge. Perish the thought of the game providing multiple ways of dealing with an antagonist like say the Master in Fallout, "Arronax" in Arcanum or the Transcendant One in Torment, what possible satisfaction could there be in that? Having no way of dealing with the threat at all, and only a slim chance of survival, well that's just crazy talk Sir.

Exactly what Darth Sion, Lord of Pain did in the Sith Lords if I remember correctly.

A worrying development, Russia have been reverting to typical Cold War posturing and military gamesmanship in recent years, and they really need to knock this on the head. Hopefully the Turkish response will drive the inherent danger of this into them, because if it does not then I fear an escalation of sudden and terrifying proportions.

I usually prefer the more organic style of William Hobbs (The Duellists, Rob Roy, the Musketeers, Robin and Marian etc.) to Bob Anderson's strictly enforced routines, but the Princess Bride stands out here, maybe because of William Goldman's exhaustive research into fencing for his novel.

Perhaps a mix of Bob Anderson lending experience and verisimilitude to the original trilogy, and George Lucas having lost "it" in the prequels.

Time to re-watch Office Space tonight Mr Jazz? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9wsjroVlu8

Ulysses 31 used to have one, great cartoon, have to introduce the kids to that as a cheap segway to Homer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ4c1X5ene8

To me it's just too little, too late from Kotaku. They have had numerous chances to be journalists and buck the system they helped create, they chose not to do that and insist that they don't need ethics, and that sleeping with, paying money to or living with developers is perfectly fine. Whatever they do now, they're tainted by their previous actions. I can't take them seriously whatever they do, as they have brought themselves and their profession into disrepute repeatedly, and their motivations are as always suspect.

Major Kira certainly has an Elvish look to her features doesn't she? I do like the Cardassians.

Not for a smeghead! No in all seriousness there are probably masses of them around for the IE games, simply resize them to Poe and I think they'd be fine. Good luck.

You fellows were right about Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, this is I think a worthy successor to the original series, the situation is quite delicate and thus interesting while the cast are fairly unique and well "placed," they have room to grow if you know what I mean, though knowing Colm Meaney's acting chops I really think they're underusing him. The fairer sex are not exactly hard on the eye either. This certainly has potential if they're daring enough, which usually i've found with Star Trek, they're not. Quark and Rene really relish their scenery chewing don't they?

Perhaps this is not blacklisting, perhaps it is simply a developer/publisher deciding that they don't really have to deal with a publication which is corrupt, unethical, hypocritical and incapable of doing their job. I am hardly the biggest fan of Bethesda, this is fairly obvious, they get a free pass for no reason other than blind fanboyism, as we have seen in the latest round of reviews, but one has to ask whether being accountable to Kotaku of all publications would make them any better. We all know the answer. There are changes that need to happen in the industry, in the publisher - developer relationship, in the model of this changing entertainment form, and in how consumers are treated but I don't think Kotaku should play any part in that: Indeed they should be cut out like the harmful matter which they are, along with RPS, Polygon and many others.

Put your hand around her wrist quite firmly, on the pretext of affectionate flirting or what have you, make a mental note of where your thumb meets your finger and mark afterwards for later referral. A good jeweller should be able to work off this i've found. However after three decades of marriage I find it far simpler to ask the wife directly, she usually works out what i'm about long before I present her with a present, and this avoids disappointment and I am usually pointed to far more suitable retailers.

Had a lovely surprise foisted on me an hour ago, apparently Mrs Nonek has secured tickets to the local premiere of this latest Star Wars for all our little darlings. Well I guffawed loudly and stated, "Rather you than me!" I'm not a crowds persons, make those crowds screaming children whom I don't have to like, at the busiest, most rude and ignorant season of the year and and i'm positively anti social. "Oh no you're taking them dear." The light of my life trills, "You've a day booked off on the 18th if you remember." Gentlemen, there's a lesson to be learned here, always lie to your other half, whatever the ocassion, and no matter how small the matter. Hoisted on my own Petard, for shame.

You do know that you'll explode eventually don't you? Just found out that Jonah Lomu died a couple of days ago, at the age of forty no less, a shock for the Rugby world and a real eye opener. I met the gentleman once, and gentle was an appropriate descriptor, terrifying, fast and strong on the field but smiling, fair and humble on or off. A shame for the world and of course his young family.

Seems appropriate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5muY64Oyp10