Hurlshort

Ok, Halo is not my cup of tea. Sorry Nick and Llyr, it was just boring me to death. Things were moving around so fast, I barely knew what was going on, and I really didn't care all that much either. Looks like I'll be sticking to Carcassone and TMNT. I ll give that rocket raaaaace thing a try, I suppose, but I'm really glad I didn't buy a copy of Halo 3.

I love my 360, and I've had absolutely zero glitches with it.

Pop speaks truth about Ho Chi Minh. China never really got on well with him because of his nationalism. He was a very interesting character. But don't forget that the US evacuated a lot of Vietnamese people before the NVA marched south. To those folks, the US being in Vietnam was a blessing and they've now established their own small communities in states across America. There is always about a dozen sides to any story, I suppose.

You could take headphones with you... I imagine that makes it harder to pretend you are working...

Impossible to tell yet. I'm 12 hours in at Mass Effect and i only played The Witcher about 20 minutes or so. Maybe by xmas i will know They are incredibly different RPG experiences. I'd say Mass Effect is a more polished product overall. It's got a great engaging story and fun, fast combat. The Witcher is a deeper game though, with a very dark atmosphere that really engaged me. It requires more strategy before a fight, whereas ME is about responding in the fight. I don't know, they are both jut awesome.

I now have Halo 3, got it this weekend. Unfortunately I'm addicted to ME, so I've yet to try it out. Maybe this weekend if we have time I can get into a MP match.

Wow, there is some bad history being preached in this thread. Seriously, there are some great books out there on Vietnam, I highly recommend them to people. Stanley Karnow's Vietnam is a good source. Also, "4 Hours in My Lai" is a must read, although it's a bit off topic.

It's pretty much impossible to put into words how I feel about my daughter. It's not easy being a parent in the least, and I know the hardest years are yet to come, but it's a complete shift in mentality. I see the world in a very different way now, my priorities are completely re-arranged. It's the most rewarding work ever.

It's my daughter's first Christmas. I'm extremely excited, and I'm enjoying every moment with my little family unit of me, my wife, and my daughter. On a less exciting note, my sister wants to have Christmas Eve at her place, and she lives a couple hours away from the rest of the family. The problem is my Grandma's health is failing, and it's unlikely she can travel that distance without being really uncomfortable. I'm pushing for us to do something at our Grandma's house, but my sister has 5 kids and she's not happy about it. We had the same conflict last year, but it was my Grandpa who's health was failing. He died recently, so that was his last Christmas and he didn't get to be a part of the big family event. Sure, we all visited him on our own, but it's not the same.

This is also a problem with taking a pen and paper ruleset and putting them into a hardwired game. In a PnP game, the DM can adjust rules as they see fit. But it requires some hefty programming to do that in a video game. I see the D&D ruleset as a bit of an impediment to a good video game. Considering the pace of leveling and speed of a video game, a simpler format like SPECIAL is easier to jump in and understand.

Mass Effect, lots of Mass Effect. Every spare minute I have, I load this game up. Driving around on the planets is awesome, although the physics are pretty bizarre.

Christianity is a major religion in the US. The whole holocaust-denier argument is ridiculous and insulting to a large portion of people on this planet.

I'm not in the know, but I'm guessing proof of concept is a very early stag in development, meaning this game is at least two years out. Good to hear it's in the pipeline, though. Also interesting that he referenced the original and not the sequel. Sounds like they are aware of the contempt people have for it. Oooh, we have spell check!

The ESRB is about a thousand times better than the MPAA. If you are a gamer in the US, you should be extremely thankful we have the ESRB, because they are one of the few things that allow the game industry to consistently shut down attempts at government regulation. If we want our industry to grow and not get stonewalled by major retailers, we need the ESRB or an equivalent source of information on content in games.

Huh, I'm not really feeling threatened out here in the US. Sure, there is the threat of a terrorist attack, but I don't foresee an invasion a la Red Dawn anytime soon. Maybe I'm being naive, but I don't live in fear because of 9/11. It was a terrible tragedy, but it happened in 2001 and there hasn't been any follow up. In regards to domestic policy, I'm not quite sure where you are going there.

*cheerfully* ...Because clearly an aggressively expanding communist bloc could have been expected to stop at Vietnam, and not go on to take over Laos and Cambodia, followed by Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia... Australia... India... that would have been just fine. Isn't that right, my unfeasibly 1920s friend? If a country is not strong enough to stand on its own against those that transgress it then it doesn't have the right to exist. Geez, does that mean nobody should help other countries against aggressors? That would change history a bit.

I'm extremely into the game. I find pretty much everything fascinating. I'm also terrible in a firefight, I chose and engineer and I just hide and let my minions do the dirty work. Exploring and surveying is awesome.

While I agree that there is some good progress being made, there still is a long way to go before I'd say Muslims aren't face discrimination in the US. In the summer I often teach adults, and they know a lot less about Muslims than my middle school students. Maybe in ten years we will have a more educated public in the US, I sure hope so, but I'm not sold on it being there now.

Actually during Desert Shield/Storm we did have "cultural sensitivity" training. It usually was just about what not to do so no one got offended. Dont drink in public, don't swear, dont leave porno mags out where they could be seen. We were in the middle of nowhere with nary a drop of alcohol to be found so there was small chance of getting into trouble there. But I heard the Saudi miltary guys would pay as much as $100 US for a recent issue of Hustler. That's good to hear, I know a few veterans I've talked to from Vietnam felt that was a huge flaw in their time there. They were often expected to fill a police type role but they had little knowledge of the citizens and their culture.

Because they're being lied to. Though "lied" may be too harsh. Dissemination of faulty or biased information isn't always intentional. What? You don't think the xenophobia that the average American has towards Islam might have a little to do with it? Geez, the guy is accused of attending an Islamic school like he spent a year in a terrorist training camp. We send troops to Iraq and Afghanistan without even training them on the culture of the people they are supposed to be helping. We have politicians who probably don't even know what the Qu'ran is. Islam is the second largest religion in the world, and it's growing faster than Christianity, so maybe the US should stop treating it like something evil.

Gee, I wonder why so many Muslims have an issue with the US?

This is remarkably well-said.

I hear the multiplayer is awesome, particularly the hardcore servers. It's on my Christmas list.

Paycheck? Bleh, that's one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I actually like Ben Affleck, and I still barely made it through that trash.

It's got Thomas Jane, he just might make it watchable.