Drowsy Emperor

I wonder what's wrong with the people behind DA's graphics. They looked a generation behind everything else. CDP's modified Aurora engine looked equivalent or better than DA (without even going into its superior design). Comparisons between TW2 and DA2 aren't even worth going into. You have the ME team on one hand doing a great job with graphical design, and the DA team making an game that's arguably uglier than almost any RPG released in the last half of the decade. Even MMO's like Age of Conan make DA look like a fan project. And why the obsession with the washed out reds and browns in the color palette?

I take my hat off to GoG for this sale and for the free Torchlight. I'm hoping to see the W2 on a daily deal for a few bucks less than it is now. I only have 9$ on my card so I'm 0.99 short :D

The US is a major supporter of the terrorist Albanian KLA (and others) so that point is moot and irrelevant.* How would it destabilize the region, please explain? The Israelis and Iranians wouldn't be able to use nuclear weapons against each other, and the Iranians would have nothing to gain and everything to lose by using them against any other major power, or indeed against anyone. *As early as 1998, the U.S. State Department listed the KLA as a terrorist organization financing its operations with money from the international heroin trade and funds supplied from Islamic countries and individuals, including Osama bin Laden. This did not stop the United States from arming and training KLA members in Albania and in the summer of 1998 sending them back into Kosovo to assassinate Serbian mayors, ambush Serbian policemen and intimidate hesitant Kosovo Albanians. http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/BIS111A.html Quote is by former Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Albania, James Bisset

The brutal human rights abuses the Kurdish people suffer in Turkey don't count then? Why doesn't the rest of NATO intervene to free the Kurds from Turkish oppression? The situation around the Kurds in Turkey is complicated and its not as clear as the atrocities that Assad has committed against his own people Ah, that's good to know.

I know, I couldn't find the proper model but its the same in all respects. Maybe its just a new revision with a DVI port...

I have an Acer V223W or an equivalent. Its a decent monitor, I got it for 140$ at the time since Acer was giving out promotions and its served me well so far. The only significant difference in quality I've seen is the jump between mid range monitors and the premium ones but the price increase is steep indeed. The best monitor I've ever seen (not that I've seen much) is an Apple one in a local copy store. Its something like 30 inches and the contrasts are incredible.

That game's environments are really ugly. Maybe not ugly, just very much 2003. If all the content for each MMO is stored on every PC why can't they look any better? Doesn't the information the PC needs to use the internet connection for in an MMO amount to just the actions of other players?

What's your position on nuclear proliferation then? Seems hypocritical not to allow Iran to have a nuclear program when Israel has one. Same applies to North Korea naturally.

Sadly my 22inch monitor only has a SVGA port. I got it when the whole craze with the large monitors started. A friend of mine has a DVI one but I didn't see much of a difference in picture quality to be honest. I use a converter obviously... Well, I'll try hooking it up to the TV.

How will it calm the situation down if the illegitimate rebels can draw out the conflict longer?

The brutal human rights abuses the Kurdish people suffer in Turkey don't count then? Why doesn't the rest of NATO intervene to free the Kurds from Turkish oppression?

The C2D E6300 isn't a bad machine. Win 7 and most apps fly on it with no problems. Its still many times better than a regular office PC, which in itself isn't too shabby for a 7 year old piece of hardware. I have a question. The 7850 has a HDMI slot at the back, what can I do with these slots? Can I play games on the TV then? And since the HDMI transmits sound does that mean the TV speakers would play the audio as well? And what the hell is the DP slot?

I'm playing Beyond Good and Evil. I quit this game twice on the PC for various reasons and this time I tried it on the PS2. I'm struck by how damn good this game is. Sure, the gameplay isn't anything to write home about, but the visuals, world building, characters, even the story all of it good enough to send any recent AAA project to the trash heap of history.

Well I really do wonder what the root cause of these riots are, I don't see them escalating to a revolution without either foreign funds (and a lot of them too, like with any revolution) or the typical Turkish scenario of the army overthrowing the government. I don't think either is likely to happen. I'd be glad to see Erdogan replaced by a more secular leader, he's been actively competing with the Saudis over influence over the Balkan muslims and meddling where he shouldn't be, helping drive the muslim population towards a more radical interpretations of Islam and overall driving the whole region and his own country backwards.

Yeah I used to love C&C games to death back in the day. Generals was the first one that that signaled the death of the series. I still pine for a sequel to Emperor of Dune, because I think there's a potential to make a better strategy game out of it.

They really did order a hit on themselves with that last Hitman game. ... Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

I thought you weren't into MMO's? How good is Rift, since it went F2P I might jump in to try it out...

Yeah, that's a bit better than what I've got now (if you're talking about the IntelCore2Duo series). I'm not expecting a radical performance boost, but at least the games wont freeze due to overheating.

I actually like it more than the Geralt from the second game. They tried too hard to make him look like a bad mofo and that's a turnoff for me. However he's probably more angsty in the trailer for W3 than necessary. They're blinging him out too much. I think the first one still looks best, a combination of cool, relaxed and ugly. And the nice, toned down armor and elegant sword (until the end of the game anyway).

Well, when I get around to playing it I'll just use my PS2 DualShock I suppose.

Does anyone know if they made a PC friendly version of the inventory for TW2? And has anyone played the game with a controller?

The UN is there to serve the interests of the world and its members. But maybe you can explain to me how letting Syria decline into a country where millions of its citizens are displaced, tens of thousands of its people are killed and its infrastructure is destroyed is in the interests of anyone? And to make things worse Western countries aren't asking Russia and China to support them with resources in Syria they are just saying "allow us to intervene" Not that China or Russia would assist in any military conflict unless there national interests were threatened of course. Does the US not want to intervene because of its national interests? Are you suggesting their motive in this is pure altruism? If they indeed want peace, why not support Assad along with Russia and China? That would restore order in a fortnight. Please don't use the "dictator" excuse. The west has propped up a lot of dictators and authoritarian regimes and continues to do so. And why would Russia and China be enthusiastic about supporting the illegitimate rebels (or the west in their support of them), and any other side other than the legitimate government? That goes against the UN charter. Use of force according to the UN charter is allowed to counter a threat to world peace, not to intervene in internal issues of other countries. Is the conflict in Syria a threat to world peace? It does not appear to be. It is in fact, an internal conflict. Under the UN charter, the legitimate government of Syria is fully within its rights to fight the rebellion the quickest way to end the conflict would be to help it do so efficiently. What is not helping, is supplying the rebels with arms because that brings them closer to the capabilities of the Syrian army, which in turn means the conflict is more likely to stalemate.

I ordered the ATI Sapphire Radeon 7850 1GB version. It showed up on a dicount... It should be arriving in a day or two. Finally I'll be able to play something without the graphics card imploding.

But you do know you're a troll, right? An ice troll from the Finnish wastes to be precise. Nah, I don't post to sow discord and provoke arguments, I post (in part) so that you and the other gaming hipsters wouldn't start thinking that your opinions represent the objective truth or that anyone who doesn't share your views on gaming is an unwashed and uneducated teenager from the basement. Of course, mostly I just post because I like Obsidian games. And this is their forum, not a gaming superiority complex club. But they obviously didn't teach you in law school to respect your own disclaimers. Actually everyone is pretty well behaved here, sure there's the occasional pissing contest, but its still a zen garden compared to gamespot forums, ign, codex, whatever.

If its legitimate for the US to demand action its also legitimate for China. Russia etc. to be against it. The UN isn't impotent, is serving its purpose by not allowing drastic action without legitimacy and consensus. Is the UN there to serve US/EU interests or is it there to serve everyone equally?