Hurlshort

I'm not sure where you can make the argument that Oblivion isn't an RPG. It may not be the style of RPG you like, but it's a pretty pure role playing experience. You are open to play the game in any fashion you choose. You can be good, bad, neutral. There's hardly anyone you can't kill. It can be a completely non-linear experience, which is not the case in most RPG's. You don't even need to choose a specific class, you can create whatever you want. Heck, you could spend the whole game wandering around drinking skouma. Granted, none of those things necessarily make it a good game, but it definitely lets you play a role of your own choosing.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/w...p&type=lgns ROID RAGE!

Glad I saw this thread. I'm also planning on getting a new notebook, although I'll be waiting until next summer to make the purchase. My budget is around $1500. What is a good place to order a laptop from? I bought my most recent desktop from Alienware, it was pricey but it is a pretty sweet rig. I made the switch to Vista and found it fairly easy to adjust to. I've also been able to play all games, including Jagged Alliance 2. I even kept the user controls on, as I find it protects my PC from my wife effectively. I had to refrmat XP once because ofsomething she downloaded.

That article comment was comic gold. :D

Congrats to Cammi Granato for being the first woman in the Hockey hall of fame. Women's hockey has grown tremendously over the years and she has been an excellent ambassador for it. Hopefully we'll see more women in the years to come.

Damnit

Wow, it really is. I was skeptical when they were fighting the brown bag characters, but when they reached the black native looking ones, I had to agree with her.

My wife lost her fist teaching job for pretty similiar reasons. She was teaching in a fairly wealthy community, a lot of white kids living in million dollar homes. She's a PE teacher, and PE has changed quite a bit over recent years. It's no longer coaches sending kids on laps and having them play dodgeball all period. She has a degree in kineseology and she expects to use it in the classroom. She expects to teach concepts about human movement, not just hold recess. The problem was she couldn't even get these kids to dress out. How hard is it to wear PE clothes? It's not like these kids can't afford it. Then when she started failing them, she got tons of flak from the parents and no support from the administrators. She know in her first month that she wasn't going to be brought back for another school year. She finished the year out and happily went on to teach in a downtown school where the kids have real problems and no t make believe ones. When her kids don't dress out now it's very likely that cost IS the issue. And her current kids actually appreciate the fact that she is teaching, not just holding recess. Funny thing is, the school that let her go is under governmental review for not teaching to the standards. My wife was the only teacher they had with the proper credential for her subject, and they let her go.

That doesn't answer the question at all, but it's a very nice response.

Parenting is a HUGE factor here. Some days it seems like there are only two type of parents out there, the ones who barely exist in their child's life and the ones that coddle them so much that the child is overprotected.

I used to date a girl who was an expert on Caucusus. Good times. What are we talking about again?

Missing in melee can be a little lame. You've got this big weapon, and you are standing right next to the person. It's one thing if they dodge or parry, but I always thought it was ridiculous how often you missed in the early levels of many games. I can understand lowering damage if you aren't particularly skilled.

NHL95 was great. NHL 08 is also great. Given that they are 13 years apart and utilize incredibly different graphics and gameplay, I don't see the need to argue about it. Leferd, have you tried NHL08? It really is a treat for hocky fans. The skill stick takes a bit of practice, but it's very good when you get used to it.

Why do you always hurt the ones you love Volo?

Bleh, technology is going to change every sport sooner or later. Sure, we could do everything like they did 100 years ago, but that wouldn't leave much room for progress. Records were made to be broken.

Decided to make my list, since I hadn't yet. 1. Jagged Alliance 2 - I still play through it year after year, and it always pulls me in. 2. Xcom - I'm still hoping that someone will recapture the magic of this game. 3. Quest for Glory - The VGA version was one of the first games I played through more than once. 4. Monkey Island - Guybrush Threepwood rules 5. KotOR - Captured my attention after a couple years of ho hum gaming. 6. NWN PW ALFA - This persistent world really captured my imagination and gave me a PnP experience I missed from High School 7. Asheron's Call - Huge epic world filled with fun events. I made friends in this game. 8. LotR Online - Has really captured my attention over the last year, I think I'm in it for the long haul. 9. Heroes of Might and Magic - 1-3 were just a lot of fun to play hotseat games with friends, and they were easy to learn. 10. WoW - I really loved the early game, it was brilliantly done and the art direction still impresses me.

Word. Actually 2 words "Shadow Invasion". I loved Asheron's Call as well. I only wished more MMOG's would learn from the good things this game provided. AC was awesome. It's the game that got me into MMO's. Turbine is still pulling off some pretty impressive stuff in LotR Online.

The 2k edition used to be dead even with EA's version, but with the implementation of the skill stick, it's hard to imagine going back. 2k is supposed to be using a type of skill stick this year, though, so I'll keep an eye on it. It's not something I'll pick up on release, but it might be worth a try down the road. I'm pretty stoked about the make-a-player this year in 09. You get to take him through the minors before he reaches the big leagues. I loved the fact that they implemented all the minor league teams last year, even though the execution was a bit clunky.

He's not really a saint in American Psycho.

EA's NHL 09 is my top dog right now, so I'm not too interested in the 2k series. 08 was insanely good, and I know we've got quite a few folks planning on picking up the 09 edition.

That's great. I think the reason the opening ceremony was so fantastic was that it really highlighted all the amazing accomplishments of the Chinese people over the last couple thousand years.

What company? Have you read anything about this game? It was one guy, as I just told you. I enjoy games in general. That's why I hang out on a gaming forum. But that isn't the only factor that goes into my game purchase. I understand that YOU buy games for different reasons than I do. That's wonderful, we are all entitled to our own reasons for purchase. But there isn't a right or wrong reason for a games purchase. You buy games for your reasons, and I buy games for my reasons. You don't need to argue about it.

I really like that kid, he's done some great stuff. He's much scrawnier than Ledger though. I watched "Reign Over Me". It was pretty emotional. I was very surprised at how many comedic performers managed very serious scenes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings Hmm...

"They" is an independent software developer named Jonathan Blow, who enlisted the help of a webcomic artist for the aesthetic style. They were probably not too far away from qualifying for welfare when they created it, although now that they've been supported by Microsoft they are probably doing much better financially. My post was in response to Llyr, who was on the fence. When you buy a game you are supporting the creators. I don't know why you are debating that. That is how I evaluate many of my purchases.