Hurlshort

I don't need mini-games. Just some collectibles and maybe some point to exploring the far reaches of the town would be enough. I jumped over a freeway in the demo and it was super anticlimactic. I need stats and a pat on the back!

So I decided during my short prep time in between classes to rush over to Best Buy. I was making good time, until I got pulled over. I was going 49 in a 35. The cop was pretty nice about it, but I'm way bummed out. I hadn't gotten a ticket in ten years, and now this is my second in 6 months. There goes about $250 and now I'll have my first point on my DMV record. I don't think it will change my insurance premium by much, but it is still very upsetting. I told my wife she is going to have to chauffeur me for the next 18 months. edit: Never made it to Best Buy, either.

After playing the demo a few times, I did decide not to buy Mafia 2 because of the lack of a real open-world stuff. I was amazed at first, but I can see where the knocks are coming in. It kinda portrays itself as a possible sandbox game, I mean it's a beautiful world with a ton of car variety, but apparently it is really just about the story. That is good and all, but I'll spend the whole story looking out the window sighing that my exploration urges aren't being satisfied. Give me giant numbers flashing across the screen when I blow stuff up and fly through the air at least! I'll go back to Just Cause 2, I suppose.

Do you have any evidence to support that claim? The problem I see with that is the Church did very little to address the inequalities in the secular world for centuries. As a historian, it is also going to be very difficult to track down the first concept of equality. It is an idea that has many different layers, social, legal, racial, and gender equality all have quite a bit of history, going back much further than the advent of Christianity.

I'm not quite sure how it would even be possible to nerf the offline content. I don't have my PS3 hooked up to the internet, it would be pretty difficult for a publisher to get at it without going into my house and smashing the DVD with a hammer. By making it so you have to connect online to use it, I'd guess, so that once a disc has been activated for use once it can't be used again and always being online to use it. Again, its the alarmist in me talking. So I may be wrong/crazy. I am a lot more concerned with Activision's policy of making you always be online to play games that really have no need of an internet connection. You definitely aren't wrong that the idea is out there. I just think that these specific comments by the THQ guy have been blown out of proportion.

Why not? Because the game company decided you shouldn't? No, because online content is an extra. If you folks want to stick with the car comparison, think of it as a manufacturer's warranty. There are a lot of reasons for this. If we are talking about multiplayer games with servers, that is an extra cost for the developer/publisher to run. They work that into the price of a new game. They have no obligation to provide that service to people who do not buy the game from them. Why would Madden 2010 or SvR have multiplayer servers? Seems to me if you're going to use servers and charge to use them, you'd be better off using a MMO model (which I don't have a problem with). But again my BIG protestation over this (just like with EA) is that I don't think its going to just stay on "extra" online content. Madden does use servers to host multiplayer games and offer extra content like alternate jerseys and junk. It offers them free to people who pay for the game. I have bought Madden used. I honestly have no problem with the idea that I would not be allowed to take part in the online component. That is just one aspect of the game, and if you really want to play it that way, then you should buy a new copy.

I'm not quite sure how it would even be possible to nerf the offline content. I don't have my PS3 hooked up to the internet, it would be pretty difficult for a publisher to get at it without going into my house and smashing the DVD with a hammer.

Why not? Because the game company decided you shouldn't? No, because online content is an extra. If you folks want to stick with the car comparison, think of it as a manufacturer's warranty. There are a lot of reasons for this. If we are talking about multiplayer games with servers, that is an extra cost for the developer/publisher to run. They work that into the price of a new game. They have no obligation to provide that service to people who do not buy the game from them.

Geez, folks are really jumping on THQ for this. Let's look at the actual quote: "I don't think we really care whether used game buyers are upset because new game buyers get everything", THQ's creative director for wrestling titles told Gamasutra. "So if used game buyers are upset they don't get the online feature set I don't really have much sympathy for them". He is clearly answering a question here, although that was conveniently left out of the article. People are making a mountain out of a mole hill here. He is right, when you buy a used game, you should not expect to get all the same online stuff.

That is flat out wrong. The ideas of equality don't take fruition until the humanist movement, which was secular in nature. The Catholic Church was all about feudalism until the Reformation and the Renaissance, when Martin Luther successfully broke away from the church. His idea of equality before God wasn't new, but he was the first one to avoid getting killed and actually get some royalty to back him. Feudalism served the needs of Christianity very well early on, it allowed them to gain a considerable amount of power.

Thomas Jefferson's letters were laced heavily with Deist ideals from the Enlightenment. James Madison and John Adams were more publicly deist, but the fact is the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and and the Constitution are all suitably vague about religion for a reason; they were not endorsing a specific denomination, nor do they address Christianity in general at any point. That being said, the Bible clearly plays an important role in Western Society. I am finding it interesting that WoD can be extremely critical of Islam but seems to lack that same discerning eye when it comes to Christianity.

It's a very common misconception that America was founded by Christians and based on Christian values. The founding fathers were Deists. And it really doesn't matter much if it was, because our nation has changed considerably over the centuries for the sake of tolerance and equality. Just like Christianity itself has changed, and just like Islam has changed.

That isn't what he said at all. He said don't complain that you aren't getting the fancy online stuff if you aren't buying new.

Yeah, and that seems like a more messed up thing than the second-hand market. Maybe publishers should put the screws to Gamestop a bit. It really annoys me that I can go into Gamestop on a day that a game is released, and find zero copies available unless I pre-ordered it. They are a business, they are supposed to keep a stock of in demand items. There is no other industry that makes you go in and promise to buy a product before it is released so that you can get it when it is. I honestly try and go to Best Buy whenever possible for that reason, and the fact that Gamestop has abandoned the PC market.

Used movies are also being sold typically by rental companies like Blockbuster. Blockbuster buys a ton of new movies every year, and they offset some of that cost by selling them when they are no longer popular rentals. The question here is what does Gamestop do with all the extra games they order every year?

It seems as if he is responding to a question about online features. His argument is that if you buy second-hand, don't expect to get the same online features. That seems completely reasonable. His use of the term cheating is silly, but it sounds like this is purposefully being blown out of context.

I'm pretty sure if we read between the lines on WoD's posts we would get "Everything Islam is evil"

Uh, what? That isn't even what the article is about? You are just making up stuff now.

I tried to think of a protest against being a dwarf monk, but then I realized it fit me pretty well.

Ah, you must be a youngin' HoMM is not M&M, just a spin-off with a different genre.

Wizardry 8 is awesome, so I definitely would love to see that.

I'm pretty sure we have not had enough time between the last debate over immigration, so lets stick to arguing over Palin for president.

Palin has very little chance of ever coming near the presidency. She has become more of a celebrity than anything else, her ability to actually be taken seriously by voters seems severely limited. Rush Limbaugh would have a better shot at getting votes.

Either that, or your reading comprehension is not very good and you don't really understand the quotes. My options seem to be that either the US State Department if full of morons that do not understand what Rauf is saying, or WoD does not understand what Rauf is saying. Hrm...