Keyrock

Good on you. I wish had that luxury, I wish agent K and agent J erased my memory of that garbage,

I think it's pretty assured that none of us recognize it as being the same entity it was back in 2000 hahaha. Oh, I'm quite certain anyone and everyone here recognizes that, at least I hope so. That said, it's still sad... no, depressing.... no, soul crushing, that the team that made this piece of garbage is carrying on the Interplay name.

Dream Theater's one big commercial hit, Pull Me Under. Not nearly their best song, not even close, but a good track none the less. It's amazing it became a MTV hit despite having a pure instrumental intro lasting a good 2 minutes. I think it speaks to the incredible musicianship of bands like Dream Theater, that they can entertain the masses that won't listen to something for more than 15 seconds without (nonsensical) lyrics with pure (amazing) instrumentals (and this is before Jordan Rudess). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKhfkfnbAMQ Edit: Also, here is Liquid Tension Experiment (which is basically Dream Theater minus vocals) with Acid Rain. This song kicks so much ass that I don't even need to wri... Why am I even still writing? Just listen, thank me later: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edqH0ofRQrM Listening to the crowd cheer after that got me thinking, that's not even close to enough. How do you even express appreciation for something as transcendent as that? Rip out a vital organ and throw it on stage? Edit 2: Here is one more from Paradigm Shift from Liquid Tension Experiment, because I'm feeling generous: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFZXfKrFWF0

Interplay and Black Isle are still around ... technically. I would rather they weren't for they are grotesque dopplegängers of their former glorious selves, much like Sierra On-Line, post 1997.

Good win for the Sawx today against arguably the best team in baseball, the Dodgers. More importantly, it's the second straight dominant start for Jon Lester. He pitched 7 1/3 and gave up 1 ER, last time out it was 8 1/3 with 0 ER. Last time it was against the Giants who are pretty ****ty this year, but now he backed it up with another dominant start against the hottest team in the majors. Once upon a time Clay Buchholz was arguably the best starter in the majors and Lester was a dominant #2 that would have been an ace on 95% of teams. Since then Buchholz has been injured and Lester fell into mediocrity. Now, Lester is showing signs of ace form again and Buchholz is scheduled for a rehab start tomorrow. Combine that with Lackey pitching quite well, he pitched a great game last night, with a 2 run shot being the only blemish, but lost because he got no run support, ZERO, and Peavy having pitched well in 3 of his 4 Sawx starts (with only 1 win to show for it) and you potentially got a fantastic 1-2-3-4 going into September and October. On a side note, Xander Bogaerts got his first hit in the majors today. Also, this brutal road trip is 1 game away from being over. The Sawx have spent 15 of the last 18 games on the road and have 1 more road game to go before going on a 9 game challenging home stand that will do much to define the ultimate AL East standings.

It's funny how much the industry has changed. These days, if a game doesn't get crazy sales in the first month or two it's a failure, plain and simple. I remember when Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of Lounge Lizards initially struggled and seemed like a flop, months later sales picked up and kept going and going and it became one of the best selling games of the time and one of the prime building blocks of the Sierra On-Line empire that ruled an entire decade+. (Sierra On-Line, I miss you so much, I shall post a Ken & Roberta Williams pic to honor your memory)

Listening to some Paul Di"Anno Era Iron Maiden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Kmn_9CILtM

The Morrigan body pillow ain't got nothin' on the Cyber Dwarf body pillow (I couldn't justify dropping $100 to get to that tier, but I kinda wish I had):

Rowdy Roddy Rhonda Piper in action: http://youtu.be/Oqs9m_b7AkU

There's something extra satisfying about running around Cyber Steelport and doing ridiculous wrestling moves to people while wearing a Rowdy Roddy Piper outfit. If only they let me slap the sleeper hold on enemies.

Not everyone. For example, I'll never even try the game based on the fact that it's subscription-based. I'm probably not the only one that feels that way, in fact based on comments I've seen in various places, I know for a fact I'm not the only one that feels that way. Conversely, I tried Neverwinter Online for the exact reason that it was free to play, and lo and behold I wound up playing it for several months and even spending some of my money on microtransactions ($30 to date). I don't begrudge them trying to make money off the game, they are a business it's their goal to make money. I get that. However, there is making money and there is gouging your customers. Trying to cash in on both the subscription model and the microtransaction model feels like gouging to me. If you gouge your customers, in my experiences, you may get more money up front, but you alienate you customer base and lose business in the long run. If this works for them and makes them lots of money, more power to them. They ain't getting a red cent from me.

My lappy meets the "recommended" settings. Yay! There's pretty much no chance I'll be able to run at max settings, but I think I'll still be able to turn a good chunk of the bling on. When I build a new desktop rig approximately a year from now, I'll almost certainly be able to max this. If it's anything like the previous X game, I'll still be playing this at that time.

In DA:O both rogues and warriors could be competent archers, but rogues had better potential as archers. In Awakening, however, warriors could actually potentially be better archers than rogues. The reason, in both cases, basically came down to gear. I have no problem with classes overlapping other classes. I enjoy the ability to build a rogue-ish warrior or a warrior-ish rogue.

Can't you override AA options through you nVidia or AMD graphics card control panel? Well...I should have thought of that. From what I can tell, there's also forced high-def rendering in the distance, but I'll fiddle around in the control panel and see what I can do. That's not to say that it absolves Ubi from the oversight of not including the ability to turn AA on or off, but at least the nVidia/AMD control panel usually means a way to work around the problem. I usually wind up using the nVidia control panel to go in the other direction. For example, Gothic 3 has no way to turn AA on in the settings, or an ini file to the best of my knowledge, for that matter. While I usually see AA as overrated and a superfluous resource hog, there are a few exceptions and Gothic 3 has horrific jaggies and forcing AA on the game does wonders.

Its a floor wax AND a dessert topping! Order within the next 20 minutes and we'll include a combination keychain, garden hose, and magnifying glass. Promise to tell a friend and we'll even include a handsome deluxe genuine pleather carrying case as our free gift to you.

Can't you override AA options through you nVidia or AMD graphics card control panel?

Elder Scrolls Online to Be Both Subscription-Based And Include Micro-Transaction. Their greed level, it's over 9000!

Great xenon ships look like that, when I can't pilot them..... Come on X universe modders. The X modders are pretty good. The X-Tended mods for the X3 series were awesome. Granted this game is brand new built from the ground up, so there will be a period where they have to learn the new engine, but I'm sure the modders will hook us up. I'm hoping Egosoft themselves or modders make other races playable. I generally play like a Teladi, so I might as well play an actual Teladi, rather than a human acting like a Teladi. Profitsssss.

So I found this little gem on RPS. The most trailer trailer that ever trailered: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht_csZlgz5M dubstep - check slo-mo - check shaky-cam - check shaky lettering - check seizure inducing screen flashing - check bits and pieces spliced together so fast it's hard to actually see much of anything - check

What kind of companion is Aranea? Healer? Striker? Defender? Wizard?

They changed the launcher so it's no longer Chesty McCleric on it. They managed to replace her with an elf warrior bearing just as much cleavage. I've yet to come up with a snazzy nickname for her. Chesty McWarrior just doesn't have that same ring to it.

Automatic pilot:

I'm sure part of that was THQ in its death throes, but yeah, it will be on sale in not too long.

The QTEs in the Kraken fight I could live with, trying to climb that piece of destroyed bridge, on the other hand... That's the main reason I never tried Insane Mode, because I knew damn well I would die at least once trying to get up to the top of that bridge section.

50s land was amazing. I love the driving instructions they give you: Press RT to accelerate slowly to a safe driving speed, Press LT to slow down and come to a full stop at stop signs. And the super cheery walk and the pancake eating QTE, everything was fantastic. I have a feeling there is a lot more ridiculous stuff like that in the game.