Slowtrain

Good point. If someone hasn't played SS2 then they might find Bioshock new and exciting. Unfortuneatly I have played SS2 so many times that I found Bioshock really little more than a shadow of SS2. I think Levine's decision to attempt to recreate SS2 pretty much point for point but in a streamlined form hurt my experience of the game. I am hoping that Bioshock's sequel attempts to do something more original than redo SS2. I would probably enjoy that more. It would also need to either bring the FPS gameplay up to a higher level of quality or add more rpg goodness or surival horror back into the mix.

Extreme boredom of course not being a decent reason.

If you've got a nice new high-end pc, sure why not. You'll be able to enjoy the graphics in all their glory and if aspects of the gameplay bother you, there's lots of mods. (Just remember Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul aka OOO) Also make you find and install the unofficial Oblivion patch in addition to whatever official fixes you need for whatever version you get. I never read the book, but from I understand its really really LOOSELY based on the book, so don't expect a lot of similarities. But its a solid FPS with a lot of atmosphere and solid exploration. Make sure you install the updates if your version needs them. You should note that enemies respawn. This bothers a lot of people. I happen not to be one of them, but you might be. The art direction is the best thing about it, but that is pretty subjective as to whether you like the heavily stylized vision. (I didn't particularly). But a lot of people do like the game, and it should look good on your system, so might as well give it a shot. Its fun for the first couple levels at least. For me it just went downhill fast after that.

No real comparison between MW and Oblivion. I know people who hated MW and loved Oblivion, people who loved MW and hated Oblivion, people who loved both, people who hated both. But some aspects of the gamelay are similar as they were both developed by the same people. I find it to be a pretty boring game; it looks pretty though. Its all right. A pretty standard FPS with good graphics. I enjoyed messing around with the suit Don't expect a coherent plot. But its got a lot of atmosphere. The FPS gameplay is above average. Exploration is fun. No need to wait for Clear Sky. If you plan on playing both, I would play STALKER:SOC first. A solid crpg, though a little primitive in places. Some people seem to find its non-directed aspects tiresome. The game doesn't really hold your hand and tell you what to do next and is fairly complex so it can feel a little like you are wandering aimlessly from time to time. SS2 meets Fallout? I don't know how you got that. Its more like SS2 streamlined to the point of boredom. Didn't finish it though. Stopped fairly close to the end (I think) because nothing seemed to matter and I didn't care. Maybe the ending makes the whole thing worthwhile. Highly doubt it though.

Well, I kinda liked Bloodrayne. But some of the others, not so much. House of the Dead was seriously one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I don't know how Uwe got Jurgen Prochnow to star in it. Uwe manages to get a lot of reasonably credible actors in his films. Its pretty cool.

I tend to respect people who go their own way and do their own thing despite people putting them down all the time. Uwe doesn't make really good movies, but to me that's secondary to the fact that he really seems to love what he does and keeps doing it regardless of what people think. I think that's pretty awesome.

The mind boggles.

Is it kind of like American History X? Which was a pretty good movie imo. I always found it amusing that when he went on his "racist" rants that I pretty much agreed 100% even though it was intended to cause the opposite effect. No, they are pretty different, besides the obvious similiarities of skinheads and naziism. Romper Stomper is more about what happens to the gang that Crowe leads. And they are all just kids, really, you know, even Crowe. There's a certain innocence to all of them despite what they do and who they are. It reminds me more of Trainspotting, although much different in tone. Romper Stomper is a pretty bleak movie.

Romper Stomper. One of Russell Crowe's early films in which he plays a neo-nazi skinhead gangleader in Melbourne. Not exactly the kind of movie that one would rave about loving but it is certainly compelling and uncomfortable and disturbing. A worthwhile movie to watch if you don't mind disturbing and morally ambiguous films.

Exactly. WHich is why it is somewhat important to see the non combat aspects of FO3 before we can make judgements. I really want to see three or four consecutive dialogue screens from a main story quest conversation. The fact that we haven't seen anything yet like that is hardly helping Bethesda hype me on their product. CRPG combat doesn't have to be good because there are other things going on. So lets see those other things.

At first, I was admant that FO3 would be a fun game, along the lines of STALKER, but now, as the game gets closer to release I am less and less convinced that it wil be worth playing at all. Funnny, ha ha?

I don't really care about Fallout canon though. I just don't want the gameworld to be as bland, empty, lonely, and meaningless as Oblivion was.

Well, to be fair, I can't pronounce aluminum, but I still know what it is. Sorta.

I'm trying so hard to be positive here! Damnit. A gun that shoots Teddy Bears? Jesus Christ, I was unaware that Bethesda was taking the time to model the ballistics of Teddy Bears. DO they need a smoothbore or can they be fired from a rifled barrel? Are you sure you are not making this up, Jae?

Stop it. You're freaking killing me here, Jae.

Barbie's post-apocalyptic house dress-up! I wonder if NMA will post a headline saying "We are sorry Rosh. You were right." I admit that stuff like this doesn't sound good; what it sounds like is that Bethesda is taking all their dumb Oblivion ideas and shoving them right into FO. Which would (does) suck. But we have no context (due to Bethesda's cone of silence on non-combat gameplay in FO3) in which to place these things. They may just be like little Oblivion seeds scattered in a huge field that is much like FO and therefore aren't really significant when viewed within the context of the entire game.

We still haven't seen any part of the game really outside of combat. Despite my dislike for Oblivion I'm still not writing of FO3 as a lost cause yet.

That's really the key question to the whole thing. The combat is pretty much what one would expect. How much of the game is not about combat though.

That bothered me a bit too. Early on I was really careful in choosing how I distributed my talents. I ws under the impression that once I reached level 10 I would receive silver talents instead of bronze and any skill I hadn't developed through the early levels would be unlockable from level 10 on. I was quite surprised when at level 10 I received silver talents + the bronze talents. At that point I realized that skill choice was really artificial since I would be able to max them all eventually. That kinda bummed me out a bit. I like it when you really have to pick and choose your skills and for every choice you make there are 2 or 3 you leave behind for good. Not a hideous problem, but I would have prefered a slightly more stingy talent alotment.

The Witcher has more infos to discuss. lol.

By June 18, I meant the date on which that line was posted. The release date is in September. Awesome. That's a bit of good news for the day then.

Ferelden spelled backward is Nedleref. I kinda like that better. Fantasy place names and people names always crack me up. WHo comes up with such a bewildering array of jumbles of vowels and consonants?

From the original news post on The Witcher's official site. I hope they haven't changed their minds about that.

Hmm sounds like it's worth me buying. I hate saying "yes, it is" to statements like that. lol Everybody's tastes are different. Check out some reviews. Its not a perfect game. In some ways it is kinda primitive, for example, you can't jump and your feet always kind of roll along the ground, so you can't climb certain slopes or embankments, you have to kind of go around them. But for me personally, its positives far outweigh its negatives. I've ha a brutal itch to play it again for the last couple months, but I'm forcing myself to wait for the enhancements.