Hurlshort

Picked up Assault on Dark Athena after I heard they updated Butcher's Bay and included it. So far I'm really digging Butcher's Bay, I look forward to playing through both of them.

I believe there were four total. I know I finished the first three, and got most of the way through the last one before an annoying mini-game drove me nuts. The first one is simply a masterpiece though.

That reminds me of a Nixon story. In '60, the election between JFK and Nixon was extremely close. It was such a small margin, that many people were clamoring for a recount to be sure. Nixon got up and conceded instead, and when asked why, he said he didn't want to look like a poor sport. Interesting perspective from a fairly cutthroat politician.

I've always supported the argument that the difference between an A and a C is not all that important. What is important is completing the degree program. That shows you can follow something through to completion. Companies don't usually look up your GPA when you apply for a job, they just want to know you finished.

I think Mesh did a great job on his analysis.

I think the mods I used for Oblivion made it too hard. It took forever to get to level 2, and I'm getting whooped on. I probably should have done more research, I like my games easy. I'm using the OOM or whatever it is. I think I'm going to give up for now.

Going in to Afghanistan is actually a huge deal to me, the Taliban are rotten to the core and should never be allowed to control an entire country again.

I suppose the same can be said about watching horror movies in a group.

I've never actually had to use voice chat with someone who I wasn't already familiar with.

Yes, I disagree.

I'm not quite sure if you are saying you can get away with it in America or not. We have neighborhoods all over that support foreign languages. In the US you can pretty much go your whole life without learning English if you want. But we also don't have an official language in our country.

LBJ had very low public opinion numbers due to Vietnam, he didn't have a fancy degree, and yet looking back I think he was the most effective single term president in History.

In response to taks bringing up Carter: I would probably agree with you that Carter's presidency was ineffective. But Carter himself has been fairly effective as an ambassador. Much like John Quincy Adams, he has created a solid legacy outside of the White House. Bush might end up doing likewise, only time will tell. However Bush had 8 years, and he oversaw a major economic decline and two major conflicts that haven't been resolved. I'm not the type of person to judge a president until well after the fact, so we can take into account the long term planning, but the Bush administration has an uphill battle to break the top 30. Still doesn't make him a fool though. It's the toughest job in the US, possibly in the world. I have nothing but respect for any individual that survives it.

That's really why Stone has zero credibility with me. I've read a few books on the Kennedy assassination and there is simply no evidence to support any conspiracy theories. Kennedy was killed by a disgruntled Lee Harvey Oswald. Bush is no fool either. I don't think he will be remembered as a good president, and he's not a scholar, but you don't get elected twice by being a fool. He's a crafty politician. We've had worse, just not in the last 100 years.

Game one to Detroit. It looks pretty much like Chicago doesn't have the defense to win this. I'd be glad to be wrong.

Lost Vikings MMO.

I would be surprised if they used the same engine as WoW. It looks good for its age, but it is pretty far behind other recent MMO releases. I know they don't go with the bleeding edge of technology, but there is a limit on how long they milk an engine.

Well, I played the original on the 360, which I now don't own, so I'm bummed. But I don't imagine it can affect the storyline too much.

Well, the US has been a big mixing pot since the beginning, so I'm sure it's a bit different than European countries. Not to mention we are huge, so it's really just a matter of finding a community that you are comfortable in as an immigrant. The "is Islam compatible with Western views?" is a pretty loaded question. Of course they are compatible, if both sides are being tolerant and accepting of one another. The US has a huge Muslim community, and in many cities that community is active in politics, city improvement plans, and education. I call that integration. But to be fair, we probably have a very different type of person immigrating to the US. It is fairly expensive to get over here from the Middle East, and so we are getting more of the Middle Class demographic.

I tried hard to like Terminator, but the time travel aspect of it just bugs me. The movies are good because it happens once at the beginning, then they avoid time travel the rest of the way. Chuck rocks, as does Burn Notice.

The world is ending in 2012, so you are both wrong.

Your synopsis is correct, but I enjoyed the storyline and characters enough that the combat and gameplay weren't a big deal.

I loaded up Oblivion, since I just finished Arcanum and won the World Series in MLB 09. It's a nice little game, but every NPC makes me want to punch them in the face. I haven't played it since Fallout 3, and I have to say, Bethesda made a huge amount of progress on their NPC's. It is just a completely different level of quality.

Hmm, I still think this Blizzard title is way off, WoW was in production for about 8 years before it released, I believe. I'd say KotOR Online is still going to be a couple years before a new Blizzard title. In other MMO news, the books by George RR Martin have just been licensed to a French developer. A Game of Thrones could make some pretty compelling source material, but I'm hesitant to trust any unknown developers. They are the same team making the next Blood Bowl game, so I guess that will show us what they've got.

Hit a two-run shot in the playoffs on MLB 09, but then the power went off and wiped out my game!