Agiel

So... caved and put down $80.00 on Command: Modern Air/Naval Operations (remember, it is a Matrix Games joint). Aside from putting such crucial questions to rest, like how many Su-35Ses can a flight of four F-35As take on their own in sterile battlefield conditions at once (Answer: Fourteen), it really does give you an appreciation for the evolution of aerial tactics and technology. In particular, when you try the scenario of one of history's most famous (at least, in the military aviation and enthusiast community) air operations, the Iraqi strikes on Iran's oil facilities at Kharg Island (Yes. it is a real place and not just a Battlefield 3 map). You realise that the air forces of the coalition only made Desert Storm look easy (and as General Chuck Horner, the lead planner of the air campaign, insists, it was not) and that Iraqi pilots (when not being micromanaged by a murderous, megalomaniacal idiot with no comprehension of operational art) were in reality no jokes when you consider that they successfully undertaken such daring raids of such hellish complexity.

Gabe Newell on why Valve isn't "churning out Half-Life sequels": http://www.gamespot.com/articles/gabe-newell-on-why-valve-doesn-t-churn-out-half-life-sequels/1100-6416920/ You know Valve, you weren't exactly churning them out in the first place, and if the next Half-Life game was the last Half-Life game you ever made so you could put a rest to all the "Where's Episode 3?" calls, I would be okay with it if it ended as conclusively as Portal 2 (hell, even Portal 1 before the retcon) did. Because clearly you guys have lost all interest in making goddamn Half-Life, and pushing people into making something they don't want to make typically doesn't work out too well for all parties involved. Tom Chick's post on Quarter to Three is also quite apt: "What's most depressing about this (Valve investing so much into multiplayer micro-transactions) is that Valve has some folks over there who do an incredible job with narrative. It's a shame all this talent seems to be going into promotional stuff -- admittedly funny, but still just promotional stuff -- for Team Fortress or whatever. Why aren't the folks who told us the stories in Portal and Half-Life telling us more stories? Why isn't Valve putting out more smaller projects like Double Fine? Why aren't they using the enormous commercial success of Steam, TF, and DOTA to take creative chances?"

While I waited for a migraine to pass before a gaming session, I glanced through my Steam list and checked to see who else on my friend's list had played the games I had. I found in a library of about 117 games, a frightening amount of them I was the only one I knew who played. So I thought I'd start a thread for people to let their eccentricities shine. Those who have a fairly good idea of what I'm about shouldn't be surprised by a few I had: ----------------- 688(i) Hunter/Killer Bientôt l'été (I do not strictly speaking have it on Steam, though it is available, and I'm 110% certain I'm the only one I know who has it, and actually kind of likes it). Bloodrayne 2 Cargo! The Quest for Gravity! Cryostasis Dangerous Waters Fallen Enchantress (however, some other people I knew had played the expandalone, which is more of a testament to their savvy and my stupidity) Fleet Command Jade Empire: Special Edition The Path Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific (and the U-Boat Missions) Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic Sub Command (Eagle-eyed readers may have spotted a theme) Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Island Thunder Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 and expansions Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (I have had these since launch, but bought them on the cheap so I didn't have to worry about losing discs) The Void ---------- Now enough of me sounding like a lunatic with my taste in games, what are yours?

Contemplating getting Command: Modern Air/Naval Operations to make up for the fact that I hadn't spent an extravagant amount on Steam sales unlike previous years. Unfortunately, it being a Matrix Games joint, you are paying the deficit of a small developing country for something that looks like this:

Watched "Her" tonight. Another great Spike Jonze film. Think it hits a little too close to home for a lot of folks here though?

Because the conscript system has been working out *sooooo* well for the modern Russian military's needs: http://en.ria.ru/military_news/20130313/179984970/Over-240000-Russian-Men-Dodged-Draft-Last-Year.html http://russiandefpolicy.wordpress.com/category/conscription/ http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1888238,00.html

Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year

The M16A1 that was in service at the time did retain a full-auto capacity. There were also many cases on the Eastern Front of the Second World War where both German and Soviet troops found something to like in their opponents' arms. I've seen a whole lot of photos of Soviets using MP-40s and their German counterparts using Shpagins and SVT-40s.

Something neat from Viktor Suvorov about the AK: "I adore weapons. Of every sort. I love military equipment and military uniforms. One day I shall open a small museum... (An) exhibit in my museum will be a Kalashnikov automatic assault rifle. Not one of those the terrorists used to kill the Olympic athletes or the one I had with me in Czechoslovakia or one of those the Communists killed doctors with in Cambodia. No, it will be one of the thousands captured by the American marines in Vietnam and used in their desperate attempt to halt Communism and to avert the calamity which threatened the Vietnamese people. American soldiers in Vietnam often mistrusted their own weapons and preferred to use their Kalashnikov trophies. This was not so simple, for they could hardly expect to be supplied with the proper rounds for these weapons but they used them nevertheless, capturing more ammunition as they fought. What is the secret of the Kalashnikov? It is uncomplicated and reliable, like a comrade-in-arms, and these are the two qualities of greatest importance in a battle." And from Mikhai Kalashnikov himself: "I'm proud of my invention, but I'm sad that it is used by terrorists ... I would prefer to have invented a machine that people could use and that would help farmers with their work — for example a lawn mower."

Is for stoners, so its kind of a good thing you didn't Hey, you're in America now, so you just imply it

Well it's not for everybody, and it appeals to the same crowd that watches "Adventure Time." The guys who came up with the title of that episode ("Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future") however deserve a Nobel Prize in Literature

'Tis the season:

That WoW still has a huge audience probably speaks to how Blizzard did something right with the MMO formula. I think the big reason that every "WoW killer" has failed so far is because it has lasted so long and it has been so instituionalised that to ask its players to commit to another MMO means to give up up to nearly 10 years of work and potentially even friends and acquaintances they've made in that time. Not only that, I'd bet you anything that no matter how much EA and Bioware spent making TOR, it was nowhere close to how much Blizzard and Activision spent on making and (more significantly) updating WoW; there is absolutely no game that at launch that could offer enough content to sate most players coming off of WoW. It's a real shame. As probably the biggest MMO-head here, virtually every supposed "WoW killer" I've played had a lot of things that gave them he up on WoW (Warhammer Online, Aion, Rift, Guild Wars 2, Tera) and had most players kept at it I think they could have grown into things that were very special and we wouldn't have a genre totally dominated by just one game.

Interesting visual take on "Get Lucky."

I like the quote about him of "The best and the worst things you hear about him are both true."

Isn't the usual Russian Federation strategy focusing on Zerg rushing opponents? Believe it or not, Russia isn't exactly in a position to do this anymore for a host of reasons: 1. Despite being the "largest" SSR of the Soviet Union, it only comprised half of the entire population of the USSR. Thus, Russia now has a much smaller pool of recruits to draw conscripts from. At the moment, they have an even smaller population than Bangladesh. 2. Adding to this, Russia has had *negative* population growth ever since the break-up of the Soviet Union, a trend that's not set to reverse until 2017 at the earliest. 3. Further adding to this is the fact that they've reduced the obligatory service time in the armed forces from the two years in services that are not the navy (three years) from Soviet times to eighteen months following the break-up to a single year. In addition the retention rate for conscripts willing to re-enlist is astoundingly low, and where voluntary service is seen as a sign of fidelity and dedication for other militaries, contract soldiers (especially NCOs) are viewed with some contempt by commissioned officers and military brass. 4. *Adding to this* is the fact that there exists many ways for those of legal age to get an exemption or deferral (oby) from military service. There being a growing number of Russians getting a college education who have aspirations for other things and the institution of corruption being what it is in Russia, I don't think I have to paint you a picture. All that said, the MiG-29K is significantly smaller than the Su-33, which does mean they can fit more of the aircraft on board the Kuznetsov. With the Su-33 as its sole fixed-wing aircraft, the Kuznetsov had a very small complement of fleet-defense fighters (fourteen at max, as compared to the 64 F/A-18s of varying types normally carried on board a Nimitz)

Actually that would be a hand-me-down Kiev class refurbished into a full-on CATOBAR aircraft carrier. Credit where it's due... to the Indians, they were smart enough not to take Russia's Yak-38s off of their hands, which were infamously Hanger Queens at the best of times and Widowmakers at the worst, and stuck with a testament to British engineering, the Sea Harrier. At any rate, they're in better shape than Russia's naval aviation. With the lion's share of procurement dollars for fixed wing aircraft going to the RuAF, the Su-33 navalised Flanker has been left in sore need of refurbishment as compared to its terrestrial brothers. Instead, the Russian navy has opted to procure the MiG-29K, which is arguably a huge downgrade on a per aircraft basis.

A piece from the Atlantic on America's drone war by Mark Bowden, he of Black Hawk Down, Killing Pablo, and Guests of the Ayatollah fame. Another fantastic piece from one of investigative journalism's most lucid and elegant straight shooters. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/09/the-killing-machines-how-to-think-about-drones/309434/

Back into a little winter blues, I've loaded up Tetsuo: The Iron Man again (No, not THAT Tetsuo, and no, not THAT Iron Man). That movie will never cease to be amazing: It's kooky, it's aggressive, it's challenging to watch, let alone understand. Just what I needed to boot this dogged rut. Spoilers, and *maybe* semi-NSFW.

That line of reasoning seems to imply there's a degree of trolling that's intellectually acceptable

Greeeaat... that first ED-209 scene from Robocop waiting to happen then: http://youtu.be/ubEJAsywG4Y?t=54s

Ever wonder if he will ever respond to criticism, constructive or not?

I don't know about that. When cats lay their eyes upon something half their size, isn't their natural instinct to kill it faster than you can say "Mittens"?

It certainly is a fascinating community, for the reason I give here from the "Weird News" topic in the Off-Topic Forum: