Hurlshort

I haven't actually decided. On the upside, it's because I like both candidates this time, unlike the year I decided Bush and Gore were both lame and threw Nader a vote. Being in a Union and a teacher, I tend to favor democrats. But McCain has always been a favorite of mine, he's not going to just do what makes the party happy, he'll look for the best solution regardless of the politics. Everyone says Obama reminds them of JFK. I'm not sure how that's a good thing, JFK made some pretty big mistakes in his first couple years (i.e. Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis.) But Obama does have a certain charm and it would be nice to re-establish a positive identity with the rest of the world. I don't blame our domestic problems on Bush, but I do think he's blundered with his world image. On the other side of the coin, I dislike both VP candidates. You've got plagarising Biden on one end and no sex ed. Palin on the other. Ra Ra.

He said he knew you! He said you guys game naked together all the time, and it was totally normal! Or maybe he was Krook's friend, I can't recall.

DRM is probably here to stay, but there are many different levels of DRM. EA has already backed off on a lot of restrictions. There should be a compromise that makes both publishers and paying customers happy, and hopefully we'll find it soon. I'll be honest, the ultra-whining against any form of DRM just makes me more sympathetic to the publisher's cause. I'm no fan of DRM in it's current form, but EA is making some steps to improve the system and people are still overreacting.

I can't tell if Krezack is calling me a moron or not...

We are all having too much fun playing the Be a Pro mode, but I imagine we will get some games going when that wears off. I played a fair amount of GTA4 online with folks. I played a session with Kor and Pixies, and knocked out a bunch of missions with a friend of Nick, Wiipwnd.

Yay, another DRM thread. I use Rhapsody for my music, and I get two activations, I believe. But I can go in and un-activate a computer and then activate a new one. Would anyone have a problem with that, if EA went that route?

Have you seen it in action? I'm not arguing that it is high end, it certainly doesn't match up with Age of Conan or even LotR Online, but the activity on a field of battle is pretty impressive. I'd say it is functional.

HD-DVD lost the battle, so all the major studios are shifting to Blu-Ray. Blu-Ray is a pretty safe bet for the future, I'd say. It's just a matter of time. HDTV's get cheaper every day.

Hey guys, I just heard that the 3 installs limit actually refers to 3 different computers. That means that you can re-install unlimited times on the same computer, and it's only a problem when you get a new computer. Is that true? I'll be honest, if it is true, I'm going to find these arguments against DRM pretty absurd. How many computers do you go through? Even if you buy a new one every year, you are still looking at 5 years worth of installations, and they've also now talked about deactivating it after a certain time.

I think moving to Cormyr would be great. The Vast Swamp could be a fantastic area for a game. But to be honest, I'm happy moving away from D&D altogether for a bit.

Hmm....starnge. I'm playing it with Vista too, with no issues whatsoever. Now I know that sounds silly, but just make sure to have everything updated (OS, drivers). It might be fixed since the small patch a couple days ago, I just haven't worked up the nerve to test it out. It's definitely more stable overall for me. I updated my video card drivers, I'll have to look and see if there is anything else as well.

The Inevitable City crashes my computer like crazy. And something about Vista causes it to be a full lock up, rather than a CTD.

Geez, I hope I never end up with Moatilliata as my superior officer!

I don't think the Leafs will be horrid, Ron Wilson knows how to coach teams to play defensive hockey. They just won't be very exciting to watch.

250k of pure mystery! That's awesome! Doe anyone remember the Tex Murphy series of adventure games? That was a great series, it's funny how I always think about Lucasarts and Sierra, but those Access software games were huge for me. "Countdown" started off in a mental hospital, and I still remember getting caught and being given a lobotomy.

It's a good deal more warlike and violent than WoW. There are a lot of explosions and bombs going off all over the place, and stuff is on fire everywhere. Still, I loved the graphical styling of WoW, so you might not like it if you hated WoW graphics.

Yep, there are mods that are much better, like Diedrianna's Lives! and Urban something or other.

Grats taks, 9 years is a good mark.

The first game I remember being really in love with was The Black Cauldron by Sierra. It was on my Dad's Atari ST and I was amazed when he told me he finished the game. He told me about it like a story, and I spent the next few months trying to complete it as well. We had a few other games that we played together, Crime Wave and Mean Streets being my favorites. I got an NES at some point, and I enjoyed it, but I still think my best times were on the PC. My dad later got a 386 (DX I think, but I forget). He bought me Monkey Island one year for Christmas, and that was a huge surprise. I remember looking at the box and thinking it was going to be no fun, boy was I wrong. When we finally got a sound card, I replayed Monkey Island first and it was fantastic. My family even took a trip to the Sierra company office near Yosemite. I got to see Quest for Glory III in development. In 7th grade I got into trouble with my grades. I was playing Space Quest III at the time, and I lost my computer access during the weekdays. It was a very smart decision by my parents, it motivated me to improve my grades, and it got me excited to rush home on a Friday to play games. I'd say that taught me discipline as much as anything else. I remember the first game I purchased with my own cash was Wing Commander.

Do you mean rose colored? We are talking about video games here, not national security. It's hard to take these discussions too seriously. At the end of the day, EA is a company that develops and publishes GAMES. They aren't a weapons manufacturer and I don't really buy the whole Evil Empire label people love to give them.

I like McCain's idea of suspending the campaign to do his job, but if congress is saying stay away, then he should heed that.

That's a really good point. I keep waiting for a new game that will enthrall me for more than a month, but it just hasn't happened in the last few years. The only recent games that I've played over a longer period is Civilization IV.

So with EA reversing many of the decisions that people are complaining about, are any of you anti-EA people going to get off the negative train? Or is it a situation where, hey, I've already boarded the train, I might as well ride it to the end.

Well, that's great for you, but, personally, I like revisiting old games. I like to revisit games too. That's why I've really enjoyed my subscription to Gametap. For $10 a month I can go back and play a lot of older games, and they are easy to run on the Gametap player. Modding is definitely an issue, but MMO's allow certain mods, like custom UI and mapping utilities. So I imagine modding games under this subscription type model would be possible.

That's an awesome idea. I'd easily pay $20 a month to have access to all the EA games every month. I really don't need to own a game. I play the game, and then I'm done with the game. edit: I do agree that they need to keep the standard buying model active. I just personally like the idea of a flat monthly fee for a library of games. It's why I dig Gametap.