Hurlshort

Ow, there's like a million people trying to get into beta too. Feel free to PM me your login info

I've already ordered the Collector's Edition and a digital copy for my wife. I just ordered the CE edition last week, it took me awhile to decide if it was worth it. I've been fairly non-attentive to the progress of this game up until about a month ago, but the more I read and watch the more excited I am about it. The CE edition is a big splurge, but my wife said she's count it as my Christmas present. I knew I'd play it, I was just surprised how great it looks at this point. It had the holy trinity of stuff that I love: 1. It's an MMO 2. It's from Bioware 3. It's Star Wars Two of those makes me happy, but all three mean it's a day one purchase. As for the WoW comparisons, I guess that would be a problem if a person hated WoW. I enjoyed WoW for a couple years, so I don't consider it a bad thing that they are borrowing elements from the most successful game in the market. It looks to me like the storytelling will be well above WoW though. Companion characters are intriguing, and having a neat ship as home base is awesome too.

With TOR getting pretty close to release, I figured a dedicated thread was a good idea, as the random news thread is fairly random. I'm guessing the NDA will be lifted by the end of November at the latest, so that will free up anyone who beta tested it. For now we can stick to speculation. I would ask people not to whine about MMO's in general and the fact this isn't KotOR 3, but then this thread would probably be empty, so feel free. There was some discussion about how KotOR 2 was going to be handled lore-wise in TOR, and some folks thought it wouldn't get much play. I have seen a fair amount of news to contradict that. There was also some complaints about the third TOR book that is coming out by Drew K (something or other.) The book is about Revan and there were some complaints that the Exile is retconned. Here is the author's response to that: Interesting stuff. I don't get too crazy over lore, but hopefully that soothes some of the folks that do. At least until the book is actually released.

Well he's right.. it's all just energy, the only real problem arises from getting more than you use. His post was a fact, but Asol was simply sharing the title of a book.

Protip: There's no such thing as a "good calorie" and a "bad calorie." Energy is energy. Have you read the book? Or at least looked at a summary of it? Because otherwise your response comes across as uninformed and presumptive.

Condolences as well Enoch. It's really good to hear your wife is doing well. It's amazing what they go through compared to us guys.

Seriously. You would think that if the US were help anywhere in the world, it would be the country they share a gigantic border with. I know they are helping though, and the situation is very complicated, but it doesn't make it any easier to watch. I just hope there is a corner to be turned here soon, I keep reading about cartel leaders getting killed or arrested, so hopefully the progress is worth the cost.

What about when Matthew Broderick almost started a nuclear war by hacking into the Department of Defense's supercomputer?

It says "High-definition widescreen LED-backlit" I don't really know what that means, but isn't this stuff pretty standard nowadays?

Yeah, I would hope the resolution is decent. It has an Nvidia GTX 460M GPU, so I would imagine so. Gorth, I'm pretty sure that spiel is standard for most retailers about the software. I don't pay it much heed, I've got my own copy of Office to install on it when it arrives. Best Buy is a pretty solid store, I've always been happy with my purchases from them. I'm a bit concerned about 'refurbished' though, I've never gone that route with a computer.

Technically I think you can still buy your own tanning bed and let your kids go wild with the melanoma. I see this as a pretty easy public health choice. There isn't any reason that a kid needs to be in a tanning bed, they can earn their skin cancer the hard way by being outside.

I finished the SW: The Old Republic book "Deceived" and thought it was pretty decent. After watching the trailers for the game, the book did a nice job of fleshing out the events. Now I'm reading a murder mystery novel set in Medieval England called The Abbot's Gibbet. So far it is a fun read.

I thought this was a pretty clever clip from SNL http://www.hulu.com/watch/287088/saturday-...stie#s-p2-sr-i1

I put a link to it in the tech forum. I hope it's a good choice.

I tried to get into Dragon Age 2 again last night. It had been a few months since I started it, I was only about 3-4 hours in. It wasn't too hard to get back in the swing of the combat. The story is still bothering me, but I'm hoping I'll get into it eventually. I also find my companions annoying. Ah well, I played the original, the expansion, and read the two books, so hopefully it will click for me at some point.

I ordered this a little bit ago. It looks like a pretty good deal for a laptop that can handle games and has a decent screen size. I was locked into Best Buy because of their great financing options, but I think I made a good choice. Anyone see any red flags? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Factory...p;skuId=3105157

I just bought a laptop for my wife. It's an early christmas present. It's a bit more than I wanted to spend, but it looked like a good deal and it will play games pretty solidly. Still kept it under $1000.

Yeah, that's always a bit of a shock. I can keep my weekly groceries to around $120, but every few months I have to go all out and pick up a bunch of the bigger stuff. Usually I hit $400 when I go to Costco, but I try and only go there a few times a year.

Well, he is clearly former military.

So far it's fairly different. I had trouble with the pistol in BC2, but it seems to pack a good deal more punch in BF3. After I got past the whole browser interface, I really started to dig it. I'm not sure how to fully explain it, but BC2 never felt quite as good as BF2 for me. BF3 feels like it has recaptured the magic. Oh, they seem to have borrowed the movement stuff from Mirror's Edge. I feel like a parkour expert out there jumping, sliding and crawling to avoid bullets.

I would spend more time on your studies and less on nitpicking Star Wars lore.

Damn, I am so jealous of you folks in the TOR beta. I'm hoping I get in for at least one of the beta weekends.

The Battlefield 3 Open Beta has a new map this weekend, and it is one with vehicles, including jets. It was glorious, I had a nice round where I got a couple kills with my pistol.

IMO, education had a far larger affect in reducing smoking than the taxes ever did. Ive never known one person to quit smoking because it was too expensive, only for their health. Now that I think about it, Im not sure Ive ever seen anyone quit any vice due to cost. Ah, but don't the taxes pay for the education campaigns?

I've been watching the Republican primaries play out a bit more, and it is looking like the crazies have faded a bit. The top candidate is clearly Mitt Romney, right now it's hard to imagine anyone getting over him. I know folks were clamoring for Chris Christie, but he has made it clear he has no intention of running. I don't know a ton on Christie, but I like that he is committed to the original job he was elected to (boo Sarah Palin) and I've always thought the best choice for president is the one who doesn't want the job. No reasonable person would. Anyways, no reason to talk about him further until he actually runs. So on to Mitt Romney. I've learned a bit more about him. Apparently the big knock is that he is too willing to compromise with democrats. Given that our country is in dire need of some bipartisanship, I think that's an absolutely crazy criticism. Herman Cain is an intriguing candidate that has picked up steam lately. Word is he doesn't have the funds to make a real push, but his fiscal conservative policies have some promise and he's got a fantastic background story. I think if he could end up as the VP candidate, that would be a pretty strong ticket.