Hurlshort

Wow, this is intense.

I'm holding onto all my orange gear for now just to be safe. It's hard to keep the mods up to date with my level.

GD brings up a lot of points and it would be tough to address them all, but I will say that you could create a dirty laundry list like that for any president. For example, I can say for Reagan: -He increased our debt from 1 trillion to 3.5 trillion. -Closed down a ton of mental health hospitals -The Iran-Contra Affair The thing is, I'm actually a fan of Reagan. I think he had a more positive impact than negative. But he definitely stepped over the line more than a few times. So did FDR, Lincoln, and every great president we've ever had. Now I'm not saying Obama is a great president. I think he's been ineffective. The thing about crossing the line is you need to get results. For example, health care is broken. If a president steps over the line in order to fix it, then so be it. But Obamacare doesn't look like it is going to fix the real problems, and it doesn't even look like it will survive the upcoming legal battles it has to face. Ineffective. Come on GD, that's crazy talk. That's something radio hosts say so they can increase their ratings. I get that people are unhappy, our country is in a tough economic slump. But it amazes me that the people complaining the loudest in the media seem to be extremely wealthy and well off. The people that say they don't recognize their country need to take off the rose tinted glasses and really look at the history of our country. We've been through worse. Seriously, our founding father would laugh at our problems today. The only thing I really agree with you on is the debt. It is insane. I want someone who is going to clean house in the government. I don't think Romney is that guy any more than Obama. But both parties are the problem here. The entire congress should stop getting paid until they figure out how to balance a budget. The only candidate running that has real experience balancing a budget is Gingrich. He's a terrible person. He will probably overstep his power repeatedly if he becomes president. But if he gets results, that is what matters. We also have a lot of things in place to make sure no president can become a total tyrant, and I trust in those as they've protected us for centuries.

Played a good bit of Saint's Row 3 today, customized a pretty sweet ride and did some fun missions.

I read that Xcom is already in its alpha stage, meaning it is playable from start to finish. Amazing how quiet they kept this, I remember rumors of Firaxis doing it years ago, but they were never confirmed. I can't wait for this release in the Fall.

7 days since the 20th, looking at it that way I guess I am overplaying though. I don't mean to sound critical or anything. I'm just going to be bummed if a bunch of you guys drop this game like a hot potato in a month and I have nobody left to talk about it with. I've also known a few folks that put in 8 hours a day for years in these games, leveling alts and running end game content, so that does work for some. I just know it is easier for me to enjoy MMO's long term when I only play a few times a week.

By rushing, I mean putting in more hours than a full time job. It just leads to burnout eventually

I'm enjoying a few different characters at the moment, but I'm not entirely happy with the social groups I've been involved with. I joined one guild with a real world friend, and they are a pretty competitive bunch. They talk about min/maxing and gear all day, but there isn't any talk about real life stuff. It's just not really my idea of socializing. I also joined a couple friends on an RP server. They decided that they didn't like the game, which was a bummer because I enjoy playing MMO's with them. The server itself is a bit odd, so far I've grouped with two people, one tried to cyber with me, and the other seemed to be roleplaying someone with a brain injury. Ah well, the same thing happened with Lord of the Rings Online. I played by myself for about a year before I stumbled upon a group I really enjoyed talking to. It's tough to find the right mix of casual gamers that are on fairly regularly and mature enough to have a real conversation. I guess it's the same reason I never leave these forums

I doubt we'd get dirty cyberpunk from Blizzard, they have a core audience to reach and they like gnomes with pink hair.

I know I'm a bit of an oddity in that I rarely hit the level caps in MMO's, but I really think some of you folks are overdoing it here. Slow down and enjoy the ride, hitting the level cap in a month is actually a bad thing.

I will remember that in 3-4 years when this baby hits the early alpha stags of testing! Seriously though, that would be ideal for me. I'm pretty sure I will get about two years out of TOR before I need something new, so hopefully I'll have a new major MMO to drool over by then.

Aren't you in England? He said very clearly he is a pasty old worlder and cannot vote.

No. Blizzard confirmed that Titan is an entirely new IP. Interesting, and is Titan an MMO? I can see them going the scifi route, even if it isn't the Starcraft universe. Maybe a Steampunk IP. WoW already has some characteristics of that with all the goblin stuff. I just wonder how far out it is. They take forever on this stuff, but they are also super secretive about development. So it could be far along already. I would think releasing it somewhere around the 10 year mark for WoW would be a good idea.

I'm a little curious about what Blizzard is planning on the MMO front. I know they have a WoW expansion in the pipeline, but WoW is like 8 years old at this point. They've got to have another MMO in development at this point, but I wonder how far along it is and whether they are ramping up development on it? Will it be WoW 2, or will it go another direction? Maybe they'll mention it in 2013.

If you aren't smart enough to get around the age ratings, you probably shouldn't have access to adult content. It's just like keeping a low profile when you are at a casino underage.

Yep. I'm curious how that customer service call went

I thought Boo had a console?

if it's the same as in the leaked files, it's a train wreck Yes, because leaked files are always how I judge the quality of upcoming releases. It's very trendy to hate on Bioware right now, but the fact is I enjoyed ME1 and ME2 tremendously, so they've earned my money. Heck, ME2 is the first game I've even bothered with DLC for. As for the rest of the games this year, I'm sure towards the end of it I'll be ready for a bunch of new purchases, but I'm extremely happy with my current stock of games that came out at the end of 2011. TOR is a big one, but if I want a shooter I've got BF3. If I want a sword swinging sandbox I've got Skyrim, and if I want to run people over and buy up real estate I've got Saint's Row 3. Even Minecraft released officially in 2011. I've also got Batman: AC for whenever I want something new.

Xcom is a definite day one purchase. Other than that, it's too early in the year for me to tell. Hopefully TOR will keep my attention for most of the time and keep me from spending too much on new games. edit: Forgot Mass Effect 3. That's a day 1 purchase, I'm excited to see how they wrap it up.

In regard to Gingrich, he may be a major mudslinger, but when he was Speaker of the House he got things done with Clinton. They balanced budgets and reformed welfare. He has the experience to get things done. I'm not saying I'm in love with him, but the pickings are slim and he's the only proven entity. To address the Ron Paul statement, the big problem I see is that a president doesn't really have the power to make sweeping changes. I keep hearing the Right Wing media make a big hullabaloo over what Obama has done and how he is turning us into socialists, but I just don't see it. He hasn't done much of anything that I can see. The Health Care reform is the closest thing to a big change I've seen, and that looks destined to get hung up in congress and the courts for years. So it's good to have Ron Paul visible and promoting his unique values, but he's basically the Ralph Nader of the Republican party. Oh, I voted for Nader over Gore and Bush I love the guys who mix it up.

In regards to the ethics stuff, I've already said he probably has no chance of winning against Obama because of it. But it doesn't personally bother me. As a politician, he reminds me of Nixon. That might sound like a terrible thing, but Nixon was a rather brilliant politician. He was effective, and that's what I want out of a president. They both seem to be willing to ignore morality to get the job done, which realistically is what you need in a leader. As for Romney and the Bain Capital Investment stuff, I can't say I know enough to speak on it. My problem with Romney is he seems to be willing to toe the party line under any circumstance. Gingrich has his own policy ideas and he doesn't care if they are popular, only if they are effective.

I have no idea, it depends on how effective they are when they reach office. I really look at what I think is the main problem in our country and try to decide who will be best at fixing it. For example, it was bad to have GW Bush as president when we really needed a strong foreign policy leader. We were in two wars and the global economy was starting to meltdown. Then Obama started his term needing strong economic policies to fix a sinking ship, and he was not able to handle it. As a counterpoint, Reagan came into office with perfect timing. He fixed a badly damaged image of the President and rebuilt American confidence. Clinton was also well-timed, he was very good at foreign policy when our economy was flourishing, leading to global implications. Both of those presidents were also capable of working with the other party. I see that as our number one problem today, the two parties spend so much time and energy fighting each other that we aren't getting anything done. I think Gingrich may be the best candidate to restore that working relationship. But yeah, I'm not sure he can avoid getting roasted by the media, and he lacks in the charm department.

This primary is definitely taking some odd turns, I really thought there would be a clear frontrunner, or at least be down to two at this point. Romney really seems to be unable to seal the deal here, and I don't think his tax returns are going to help his cause. Most of the nutjobs have dropped out, Rick Santorum is the only one left. Santorum might be the worst of the bunch though, he's hardcore religious and that makes me nervous. He's been losing that initial steam fast, so I don't think it will be an issue. I've really had trouble figuring out Ron Paul, he keeps getting that Libertarian title and he's got that loyal constituency, but I still feel like I know little about the guy. So that leaves Gingrich and Romney, it seems. I gotta say, I prefer Gingrich. He's smarter and seems more equipped to play the political game. We need a politician that can bridge the party divide, and I haven't seen anything out of Romney that says he can do that. Unfortunately Gingrich brings a fair amount of personal baggage with him, so I'm not sure if he could win an election against Obama. It will be interesting to see how this pans out. It's been a total circus so far.

Yep, I'm a big fan of that. I don't really need a bunch of DVD's and CD's sitting around if I have easy access to almost anything I want to hear or watch.

Fascists... What a moron. I don't really have sympathy for him. He made a stupid post on the official forums, there are repercussions to your actions, whoopie