Humodour

You'll see the most games ported to the Mac before that happens (as all big-name titles are already e.g. Blizzard, ID Software, Epic titles), so I wouldn't worry. Oh come on, why using a Mac? Still way too expensive compared with a PC that has the same power. Good point. I had forgotten that Macs are generally expensive. I've never actually owned one. However, replace Mac with Linux and you're point is still valid. Its definitely a thought. I'd hate to have to learn a whole new OS, but without games forcing me to use Windows anymore, it would be nice to do something different. Form my experience, Ubuntu is easier to learn than Mac OSX, so if you were willing to learn how to use a Mac, Linux shouldn't be a problem. But as I said above, Mac has the Windows games list, whilst Linux doesn't yet, so that's a good reason to choose Mac instead, for now (unless you plan to do gaming on a console). The vast array of non-gaming software and options that linux and mac simply don't have. And no... 30 different text editors in linux or 6 different versions of itunes or ipod related apps I do not consider a valid counter argument Holy ****, you've really never used Linux, have you? One day you should sit down with a Debian-based distro and actually bother to take a look through the package repositories to see how wrong you are. As for Mac - I can't really contain my laughter at your claim that it lacks applications. Anybody with half a brain (and a Mac) will be able to contradict you on the domestic front. And in fact there are areas of industry that Mac is really the only OS used (e.g. audio, visual media, CGI) because Windows just doesn't have enough high-quality tools for the job.

It never ceases to amaze me how bad your tastes are.

I find it hypocritical that people are offended by the message. You see similar ones for religion all the time.

And what is your in-game job description?

Actually, NOLF does. The dialogue is rarer from memory, as are the times you're told not to make a mess of things with civilians and such. But what's arguably as strong as in Deus Ex is the scripted one-liners of the civilians and enemies. If you have the patience to listen instead of going in guns ablazing. I don't generally call NOLF an RPG (an RPG-FPS hybrid at most). Same for SS2 (because while it has stats, skills, inventory, backstory and datapads, it does not have much non-linearity, has no branching dialogue, no NPCs which you can interact with, and no quests). Deus Ex, however, strikes enough bells in every category to qualify for a blanket 'RPG' qualifier. Anyway, you're not saying anything I disagree with.

Yes, it's quite common. Especially amongst kids and deadbeats.

Rubbish. This is XP vs Vista, nothing to do with Linux, and I use Mac, Linux (Ubuntu), and Windows (XP & Vista) in roughly equal measures on an average day (computer labs). Anyway, Linux is growing. It's marketshare doubled since Vista came out. Maybe I should be thanking Vista. Because people like XP. Vista breaks enough things and doesn't improve enough things to make an upgrade unwarranted. Why should people even be forced to pay for a new operating system they don't want anyway? Indeed, some people request money back from their manufacturer because they don't want Vista shipped with their comp. When refused, they take it to court. None of them have lost yet. If the differences do turn out to be small, it's likely that Microsoft's revenue on it will be, too. People aren't kidding when they say they'll stick with XP, as the 68% of people who still use XP shows (c.f. 20% who use Vista).

You seem to have skipped Windows ME. And that's a far better comparison for Vista: a useless piece of crap that was widely ridiculed and swiftly replaced by new a Windows version (XP) which boasted actual improvements that people thought they were getting in ME. Seems history is repeating itself: Windows 7 looks to be to Vista what XP was to ME. Except it's not at all evident that people particularly care about leaving XP, compared to 98; the gains are not nearly as worthwhile.

No, the reason Vista "bombed so badly" is because everyone decided it was bad - mainly based on the fact that people with crappy PCs tried to run it. No, the reason it bombed so badly was because it it offset its performance gains with increased resource usage and and cut out more than 50% of the market in doing so. MS fanboys would then go on to accuse normal users of "trying to run it on a crappy PC", yet the internal Microsoft emails from the 'Vista Capable' lawsuit show that MS was well aware of Vista's faults but targeted it at these machines anyway to make a quick buck. It's ludicrous to accept, let alone expect an operating system to get ever more bloated with each version. Oh look ma, on a computer that's twice as fast, Microsoft's next OS is no faster than the previous one because it consumes, proportionally, the same amount of resources! Now that's progress, ma!

Hamas just started firing phosphorus rockets at Israeli cities (why exactly are they still trying to kill Israeli citizens when they've got an entire army down their throat?).

I'm sure Microsoft arrogantly thought the same thing, too. Which is probably part of the reason why Vista bombed so badly.

On a slight tangent: http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/14/0012255 American bi-partisan government panel finds the Internet is no more dangerous for children than real life and that the biggest risk in both virtual and real life is child-to-child bullying, not sexual abuse.

Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator load faster and searching for files is easier. Is that really beneficial though, since it Vista basically uses twice as much CPU and memory to begin with?

Please don't leave Alex! I will destroy you.

Have you heard of Ubuntu? Version 9.04 will come out in April. I'd suggesting that you get it in May or so (to ensure bugs are ironed out). Ubuntu is basically THE Linux operating system for new people. It has a simple and largely familiar desktop environment, and an immensely large and powerful package repository system. It's run by a millionaire from South Africa who started Canonical to oversee development, so it's more focused and user-friendly than other distros. Generally any software that you need from Windows (including drivers), you can find a free, constantly updated version of in the repositories (you type in a word and it does a search for similar matches). If you can't find one, or don't like it, then sure, try WINE. WINE would probably work. The only major problems I have with WINE is trying to play 3D computer games. It's hit and miss. I recommend you use a dual-boot. Have Windows XP on backup in case you can't do something on Ubuntu (e.g. a computer game). Look, the best advice anybody can give you is: try it. Try it for a month and then decide. I'm here if you've got questions, but the Ubuntu forums are very comprehensive and friendly and a Google search of your problem almost always has an Ubuntu forum thread as the first result where somebody asks the same question as you and others have solved it for them. There are things Ubuntu is better at then Windows, and vice versa. The beauty of Ubuntu is that it only ever gets better, it's always the same programme (not Windows ME or XP or Vista etc), it's more secure than Windows by virtue of the way it's built, it updates every 6 months (including the nuts and bolts - the kernel), programmes update all the time, as do security fixes, and best of all, it's free. Edit: you can get 8.10 now if you want. I'm on 8.04 personally. I just suggest 9.04 because that way you won't have to upgrade (which can sometimes be unstable). Here's an example of why I'd choose Ubuntu over the others (the simplest reason would be that it's the most supported, and has the growth trend on its side): http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu%2C+f...=all&sort=0 Edit 2: I run Icewind Dale 1 fine on WINE. Same with Fallout 1. It's simple. You install it, you run it (double click). If it doesn't work, you can try and fiddle a bit, but if you don't like doing that, just switch to the XP boot. The Ubuntu Live Cd makes it REALLY easy to make a dual boot (e.g. XP) when you're installing Ubuntu.

Ho boy. I'm sorry but it's absolutely ridiculous to hear about somebody fudging server-side scripting with VB and then actually advocating it to others as a replacement to PHP!

That looks eerily like that Giles dude from Buffy.

I want blue. I want to pretend I'm a Twi'lek.

Your website is based on VB? lol

This is a ****ing epic suggestion.

You can tell me, guys. I'm good for it.

J.E. is prominent in our thoughts because he communicates a lot with the fanbase, but as I undestand Obsidz' setup, he's nowhere near a "co-leader." The corp has 5 founding officers (F.U., Monahan, and the Chrisses Parker, Avellone, and Jones) who I assume hold the bulk of the equity interest. Josh is an employee with some management responsibility (and good for him for not exploiting that responsibility by asking co-workers to help on his side-project), but he's still just an employee. I get that. I know he wasn't even there when Obs split from Interplay, but he's still been with them as long as anybody, overall, and must have some serious connections there. You can get talented people you know to help you out without it being exploitation of your position, Enoch. Unless he's a ruthless tyrant I imagine quite a few people at Obs would be willing to help him on Black Hound if he broached the matter, purely for the interest of doing something on the side. That said, I fully understand why he'd prefer the game's assets to be distinct from any ties to Obs - I was mainly just being facetious.

Oh god, mate. Can I just give you one tip? If you learn any programming language, let it NOT be Visual Basic (or any of the BASIC line). I highly recommend something like Python instead. Java is less fun and more obfuscated but also comes highly recommended. Both see massive use in the tech industry (from gaming to Google). You could always dive in the deep end and start with C, then move on to object oriented design from there (C++). I wouldn't recommend that, but some would. http://www.python.org/ Here's 'hello world' in Python: print("Hello, World!") Here's a factorial function: def factorial(number): answer = 1 while number < 0: answer = answer * number number = number - 1 return answer #you could also use *= and -= above #alternative version with recursion: def factorial_rec(number): if number == 0: return 1 else: return number * factorial_rec(number - 1)

You don't know what you're talking about. Use of WP against enemy targets (including soldiers) is not banned by the Geneva Convention, nor is it classified as a chemical weapon by the Geneva Convention. Oh, hey, Yuusha, I've got one for you: Calax: False. America's use of WP was completely legal.