Diogo Ribeiro

Translation: here comes a sucky firstperson shooter. Deal with it because it's hardcore.

So if the content is still present in the Xbox 360 version, then it has to be sanctioned in the same way. Otherwise they are admiting to the difference - and the problem itself - being related to the end consumer, of his own volition, deciding to alter his copy of the product in a way that it no longer subscribes to the same rating.

No, because I'm not aware of any reasons they might have had for doing so. I could speculate all night but it would be worthless for the discussion at hand since it's not about trying to justify the presence of mature content, but to question why should this content be detrimental to a game's rating or perception of it when it never is a part of the gameplay experience until the end user decides it to be. So the ESRB were either atrociously lax in their duties or are using selective ratins when it comes to what type of content gets analyzed. An 'abuse of the ratings system' would imply that Bethesda shipped the game with hidden content with the clear intention of circumventing or illuding the ESRB, and I honestly doubt that they'd do so for a couple or reasons, chief among them that the mediatic nature of Hot Coffee has been enough to alert game developers to avoid doing this. I'm much more inclined to believe the inclusion of this content was either a lapse, naivety in believing that it would not be accessed at all, or the lack of concern for the existence of content which does not in any way alter the final product out of the box no matter what ratings it gets. It leaves a bigger loophole in regards to ESRB's own standards and actions, as they are arbitrarily defining what type of content determines a game's final rating from game to game; are using misleading and alarmist ratings which due to their limited nature fail to explain the entire situation to the end consumer; and are showing their own system, for some or other reason, isn't as accurate as it is supposed to be which in turn just questions their usefulness in regards to an objective rating of videogame content.

Can't wait to spinepunch poorly portrayed oriental types.

Which, until having been unlocked, virtually did not exist. No one to the best of my knowledge is putting into question if the content was already there or not; its exististence in the game's code has been made aware. What is being questioned is why is content which is never seen in the game, unless through the actions of parties not affiliated with, nor supported by Bethesda, being used to rate it? I doubt the ESRB understands exactly what it is they're doing. The whole point of ratings is to provide an independent and objective view of what is available in the game, not in the game's code. The whole situation is nonsensical for various reasons and just leaves unanswered question. The ESRB reviews several areas of content which make up the bulk of the game, but not the game's code as it is not a part of their rating agenda nor is it relevant at all when it comes to alerting the consumer to the game's content. It's simply not objective to state a game has mature content when said content will never be displayed by the game under any normal circumstances. Why are they doing this with what appear to be a select few? Also, if they know what they are doing and evaluating then why did Oblivion had a non-mature rating prior to the one that is being suggested now? The game went under the ESRB's scrutiny (which ocasionally includes that members of it play the very games they analyze) and nothing in the game was found that merited a Mature rating. Now, it suddenly does because the ESRB decides to go beyond its boundaries and is now evaluating all the content a game has, wheter it will be a part of the end consumer's experience or not. Again, the very same nonsense that happened with San Andreas. Either they adopt new standards that involve analyzing every last bit of content a game has to offer and developers roll with it, or they stick to evaluating the available and official content out of the box and come to realize that unused content is neither representative of the final product nor is it contributing to a different gameplay than what is advertised and/or rated.

I don't particularly agree that unused content should be left in the game code for a couple of reasons, but what's exactly being subject to ratings? The final game build as is, or the final game code as is? If the point is to rate videogames based on the game that is played out of the box, then hidden or unused content which, under normal circumstances, never surfaces in the game shouldn't come under scrutiny.

"Xbox only" usually just means "Xbox only until we decide to milk it for all it may be worth".

This isn't the same as talking about something like references, easter eggs or secret gameplay elements which are hidden in the game's code and are supposed to be found through various means by players. Even if it was there's a fundamental difference between then. Easter eggs are present in the final game experience; unused content isn't. And in this case, much like Hot Coffee, the content is not present in the game experience. You have to manually temper with the game's files - or code - to see or experience them. It's definitely not the same.

From my understanding they are not rating the game based on third party mods, but rather the hidden art content in the game which can be unlocked by third party mods. In the end it's still a lousy reason just as it was with Hot Coffee, as the hidden content is not a part of the final product.

You mean breaking games.

But Volo, if people support this game it might just give Atari enough funding to do Baldur's Gate 3!

But do the young who conform to the these standards are doing so because they see the merits in them or because they are being manipulated to follow the whims of a handful of mouthpieces of some self-aggrandizing circle jerk society?

Some Metal Gear Solid parodies. Part 1 Part 2

I could never get past the Al Gore boss

Quick, take the memory implant out of your system before they realize it!

For me it's a mixed bag. He seems coarse and drab. On the other hand, I can't help thinking I wouldn't mind being manhandled by him.

.... I thought I was your secret crush

You could kill him the first time you meet him, or you could kill him later at the request of the Athkatla paladins. This was also their last Paladin stronghold-related quest. Either would result in saving Garren Windspear's whelp. However, you could also double cross Garren and tell the Big Red that you didn't care for Garren's whelp, but would recover the land deed and give it to Firkraag. This resulted in Garren's child being killed and you having to get the deed from Garren. Thievery or murder were just fine, and stupidily enough didn't seem to incur in any penalty. You could also help him than betray him, or ignore him, but in a way that's possible in a great number of quests anyway, even if betrayal just means "do quest for NPC than stab him right after". Funny thing is, if I worked for Firkraag or just ignored Garren's assistance early on, no Paladins ever chased me for having killed the Paladin group that approached me the first time I reached the Windspear Hills. Ha ha.

I noticed that too about cover not working in Direct Control. That's something I really like about the game, the ways in which soldiers can interact with the environment such as sticking to a wall and ocasionally looking to the sides to exchange gunfire. The very way in which I handled that small lighthouse area was very cool (if not cinematic for some): after swimming up to the small island, I whiped out the Welrod and shot the guard then quickly went prone and took his machine gun from his corpse. When the other soldier came by, I also killed him with the Welrod. After that it was a pretty tight gunfight with the others patrolling then I made a break to the house. I had the soldier provide distracting fire against the two men mounted battery until I readied a grenade. He then threw it at them, killing them off. I eventually went prone again and headed for the battery, all the while looking at the movement patterns of the two guys on the boat. When they turned their back I mounted the battery and just killed them off. Of course, the nightmare began when reaching the shore. But thankfully that's gone now.

Well, it's also got multiplayer, available mods (for those that care about them), an incredibly intuitive control style and a genuinely spiffy graphic engine. But frankly, I don't care much for graphical quality, the mods or the multiplayer so Space Rangers 2 wins out for me. Besides, SR2 has very competent graphics as well and they don't detract a bit from gameplay. I understand the multiplayer component of Freelancer is an attractive option, judging by alanschu and jags' ocasional screens. I would be tempted to join them were it not my computer suffers from random bursts of a digitial version of PMS. That, and I don't have the game.

Yup, all the way. I realized it was a necessity when I noticed AI-controlled units aren't as responsive or accurate as when they were controlled by me.

Thanks for the help, I'll be sure to ask for it when the time comes. I'm not even saying "if" it comes because I'm sure it will

Ha ha. I (unknowingly) bought this Sold Out range version (I thought I had purchased the original version) and these versions have the latest patches either already applied to the executable or are automatically installed right after the game has been. However since I don't recall it having been installed that may be the case - for reference, the version I currently have is 1.0.28.0. I'll look around for possible patches. I did use the pause and slow motion. They really help but the problem is that sometimes the characters are destroyed by a combination of death by superior firepower (cannons against one puny soldier? oh dear) to enemies being somewhat resistant. However I did manageto finish that Lighthouse mission yesterday (unsurprisingly thanks to having captured the main cannons in the camp, hah ha!) so we'll see what's up next

I'll take Dan over any candy.

Comes as a free bonus in the DVD of Space Rangers 2 :cool: EDIT: Go here, buy it, and never look back!