Hurlshort

Most of the aggressive tendancies of Christianity and Islam stem from the fact that initially both Christians and Muslims came under heavy attacks from polytheists. In order for the religions to survive, they had to be adapted to protect themselves. They were pretty effective too...don't see many polytheists anymore.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051104/ap_on_sc/vatican_science I was pretty glad to hear this. Clearly the Vatican is keeping an open mind about some stuff. This was almost as great as when the Vatican admitted that homosexuality has a genetic link and people should not be condemned because they are born this way. Of course, they later backtracked and said if you are born homosexual then you need to live a life of celibacy and repentance.

Archmonarch, thanks for that wonderful post on the Jewish relationship with Jesus. It was extremely informative. :D Random Evil Guy...are you actually looking at the sources you direct us to? http://www.infidels.org/library/historical...eally_live.html doesn't strike me as the best website to make spiritual decisions with. Honestly, I don't trust most churches, but I trust that website even less.

The Catholic church has all sorts of crap on Jesus, but they don't like to share. I've studied a lot of History, not necessarily religious, but I did get a degree in it. It's extremely unlikely that there was not a prophet named Jesus. There are just too many stories about it. Stories change over time tremendously, but at the root there is always some source. Was he the son of God? Only Christians believe this. Muslims and Jews just see him as another prophet. Jewish people who know there history don't even have any ill will about him. Anyways...lot's of religion on these forums

Id imagine if you liked Silent Storm, you'll probably enjoy Hammer and Sickle. Same game engine, but with a focus on story and espionage. Sounds like a great combination to me. The only thing I'm worried about is the translation. It's a Russian developer, so if the story isn't translated well, it could really hurt the experience. I also hope they hired a professional writer. Silent Storm had an ok little plot, but it was really just about the individual missions. If they want to have interesting characters and an engaging plot, they need a real writer.

Night Stalkers? I think it's still in development. It is supposed to hit in spring '06. It's the super hero version of SS. edit: whoops, Nightwatch...stalkers is a bad TV show

I wonder if this is an international release? The US never got Silent Storm Sentinels released, so I'm a bit worried. Hopefully it'll hit the States in December as well, or I'll have to order it from the UK.

Venture capitalism is a huge part of the business world, and it doesn't usually lead to a take-over. It's typically a group of people who have way too much money. They look for companies that have a good chance of thriving with a cash infusion, and they throw money at them. You also won't see much interference, because clearly Bioware and Pandemic know what they are doing when it comes to games. They'll just adjust their business model to enable better preofits.

I find the whole idea that EA is some evil entity to be a bit bizarre. They are running a business. They are seeking profit. They aren't trying to destroy the game industry. Their fault is that they stifle creativity, because cheaply produced sequels have a better bottom line. This is why we need small development houses that can work separate of a publisher's influence. This deal between Elevation and Bioware/Pandemic does just that. It give the publisher very little control over game development. This deal could be the one to weaken EA. It's never been done before, so only time will tell. You have never seen a deal like this in the video game industry. It's more similiar to movie deals, like what Pixar does. Right now I'm positive about it, just because it's a different way to do things and it might change the way the industry is going. I agree that EA and major publishers are hurting the creativity of games. I don't know how that makes all people involved with EA evil, but I'm sure someone will try to explain it.

From the articles I've read, I don't see anything about a merger. It looks like the two development teams will stay separate and just recieve financial backing from the same source. Bioware and Pandemic will still be separate entities. Keepin mind that all developers need to work with a publisher eventually, unless they become one themselves. This actually creates a middle man between the developers and the publishers.

Pandemic is resposible for Destroy All Humans and SW: Battlefront II. What's with the Star Wars connection? It looks like they are trying to invest in quite a few companies. This smells like venture capitalist money to me.

Ok, since the other thread became a pissing contest about Jade Empire, I want to have a clean conversation about what this means to the gaming industry. Bioware and Pandemic have given majority stakes to an investment firm named Elevation Partners. Elevation is not a game publisher. They will bankroll the game, and then broker a deal with a publisher. Bioware and Pandemic are two successful studios. Let's not argue that. Let's talk about whether this relationship will give developers more or less freedom to make good games. Has this ever been done before? Being bought by a publisher, like EA, is a different scenario. Elevation states that this will allow quality development studios the time and money to create masterpieces, rather than rushing to meet a deadline. Will it work? They are not replacing ther company leadership. What are the expectations? What if they aren't met?

This was in my local newspaper today as well. The spin is that it allows Bioware and Pandemic to NOT rush development because they have a ton of financing available. The current market puts a lot of control in the publishers hands, and supposedly this changes this. I don't know if it will turn out this way, but I don't think it's the end of Bioware. Pandemic and Bioware generated 800 million over the last few years, so I don't think they have financial issues, but they don't want to become publishers. This might actually be the key to keeping talented development studios from turning into publishers.

The thing I like about a few of these young guys is they look like they are about to fall down, and then they somehow make an improbable shot and it goes in. They aren't the fastest or most skilled, but by pure determination they somehow get the puck in. Reminds me of Fluery in his heyday.

Now that Chicago has a decent goalie, I think they'll be making some good waves over the next couple seasons. Those young guys still need another season to mature, but they are definitely on the right track. Ruutu is awesome too! Him and Jonathan Cheechoo are the most exciting players I can think of.

I can't believe Bure is the new GM of Russia's Olympic team. It's a shame that he has to retire so young, 34 isn't that old. He was by far the most talented sniper in the league for a few years. Still, maybe he'll help revive Team Russia.

I played the beta test. Honestly it stunk. It wasn't the atmosphere, that part was great, it was the gameplay. In Battlefield 2, when I open up on a guy with a gun, it's clear I am hitting him. Explosions are well done and obvious. The game engine lends itself to a realistic battlefield experience. In Battlefront I couldn't tell what I was hitting. Every once and awhile, people would collapse, and grenades would explode, but there wasn't any real relatioship between the two. My opinion is that Battlefield 2 is a much better product. I know it's not Star Wars, and maybe you'll enjoy Battlefront II if you haven't played Battlefield 2, but I can't recommend it. I also played it about 2 months ago, so they might of enhanced it a bit, but I'm not holding my breath.

If you are looking for a MMORPG that you can play solo...you really need to think about what the two M's mean. Every MMORPG allows you to solo for a bit, but if you expect to solo all the way through, you really need to go buy a single player game.

It took you 200 levels of WoW to realize it was a boring game? It sounds like you invested a lot of time in the game, I'm sorry you feel it was a waste. Personally, I've had a lot of great yimes in WoW. When I get bored, I'll stop playing, but I won't look back on that time with animosity. MMORPG's aren't for everyone, but WoW is by far the best on the market right now. But it's also a game that is what you make it. If the social environment doesn't do it for you, then you'll get bored pretty soon. It's a static game, as are all games, but single player games have an end, and MMORPG's need to go on infinitely. Diablo has serious atmosphere. The Butcher, the music, the weaponry...it was pretty far ahead of all the competition at the time.

I wrote: Hades_one wrote: Why do you post? That's a total waste of time. Are you going to argue that they were not successful games? Do you think your personal opinion is shared by the rest of the world?

People use the term "fanboy" where you live? Do you live in the internet? I've never heard that term in real life.

Is this for the PC only? I say go get some hall of fame mods for NWN. Did you play Morrowind? It's a different style, but a lot of people love it and it still looks great.

I really do like Demitra, even when he was on the Blues, but I need the Kings to meltdown soon. I'm sure they'll have a bus accident where there top three lines gets injured soon. At least, that was the story the last couple of years. Different cast, but I'm counting on a similiar story. They lead the Pacific.

I couldn't go to the game because I was actually playing, but it sounded awesome! This is the third game in a row that the Sharks have scored right at the end. They ties Dallas with 30 seconds and won it in OT, they beat LA 5-4 with 3 seconds left, and they beat Calgary in a shootout after being down 2-0 with 5 minutes left! Serious clutch playing going on. I think I said Cheechoo had a chance to be a huge player this year, and he's proving me right. Marleau has been racking up the points as well. It's a shame about the goalies, but honestly Toskala looked horrible and the rookie Shaffaer is playing solid, plus I think the D are supporting him better. Oh yeah, redemption for Ekman! PS I was watching the LA game last night, and I spent the whole third period pacing and screaming at the TV. It was awesome.

The only reason I don't think Starcraft 2 is right around the corner is the fact that Ghost is set in the Stracraft universe. But I agree it's the most needed of their three universes. The fact is Blizzard takes a long time to develop games...but they've never had a failure. And before any of you sour pusses object, don't bother, just because you don't like a game doesn't mean it's not successful. It sounds like they are trying a Guild Wars idea with Diablo, if the rumors are true. I can see that working. GW really is not a MMORPG, so that will keep the action fans happy.