Gorth

Cat-Music

If they had just left out that stupid dancing minigame! The fencing was bad enough in the c64 version... why add more trash minigames to an otherwise good title? Love the little sea shanties when departing and the "international" language when talking. Overall a good, fun little game.

With the Heir to the Throne expansion, EUIII is almost a different game Have you tried EU - Rome? The focus is very much on politics/family (nepotism) besides economy and empire building. There was a Demo at some point in time. Romance of the Three kingdoms? Not sure what version is the current. Matrix games have the old War in Russia available for free (best run in DosBox). At 3mb it is not a large download. Has a bit of a learning curve, but then, manuals are for whimps. War in the Pacific - Admirals Edition (some commitment, time and effort required) I've never tried the Anno 1xxx series, but heard a lot of good stuff about them. East India Company (plus expansions)... Ok, not really Empire/Civilisation building, but they are unfortunately becoming a rarity. You still get to build a merchant empire though. I bought a game, Sword of the Stars a while ago, but I haven't had time to try it yet, so I don't really have an opinion on it

I don't know if you are into HoMM III style games, if so you might give Disciples II a try. It's dirt cheap at the moment (since Disciples III is now on pre-order). How detailed do you want your management role to be? EU III style (my current favourite balance between strategic and operational management)? Hearts of Iron style (mid level detail)? Victoria - an Empire under the Sun (suicide by micromanagment) style? Edit to add: Historical, Scifi, Fantasy preferences?

Come guys, be nice. The message may have been delivered at the wrong address, but it may still be well meant. @eljefe187: If there had been such a thing as an official Fallout: New Vegas group, chances are that the owner of the property (Bethesda) would be running it

It's 38c here, and it's 7:00 pm! Brits are such heat wusses! (j/k) Anything more than overcast, biting cold wind and a slight drizzle is hot for an Englishman. They probably turn to dust if hit by UV light

I remember it did become a little more entertaining towards the end, w/a rather ambiguous ending (ie not Hollywood-happy), but whether that means it 'got any better' would be highly debatable. The beginning, when they were in the apartment etc., was truly awful. I didn't think Godzilla (the more recent remake anyway) was very good either, tho. Not very good, but I found it decent. At least it had Jean Reno and Humour in it. Big Monster thrashing City movies are a "hilarious" idea, so they just feel more natural in the company of humour rather than attempting to create drama. Anyway, what killed the movie from the outset for me was the bad camera. Handheld cameras never added anything to movies, they only detract. It had the feel of something made by people straight out of art school, who haven't found their own style yet, so decided to experiment a bit (and failed)

To quote myself from elsewhere...

Sorry Wals... 25 degrees is when people here start considering a t-shirt That reminds me, I promised the family back home to take pictures from a bus stop some day. They laughed when I told them that at 15 degrees, the locals will wear mitts, scarves and beanies and do a little jogging on the spot trying to keep warm when waiting for the bus

Bought some movies on a special sale, 3 for $20. Watched the first one, an animated Resident Evil movie. Not outstanding, but not horrible either. Watched the first 30 minutes of the next one, "Cloverfield", but gave up on it. A boring Godzilla rip off with none of the charm of the original. Uninteresting people, bad acting, way bad camera... Does it get any better? I think I'll just save an hour of my life there and be grateful that it only cost me $6.66

Eyecandy is in the eye of the beholder

I believe it is possible too, but I don't believe the allies are seriously trying at the moment. Looks more like (seen from the outside) that the strategy applied by western governments is one of trying to maintain status quo so they can get their own guys disengaged from the conflict. Something like the Marshall plan and "Entnazificierung" looks more like what is needed. Better infrastructure, exposure to the outside world and a motivation for change is required. It might be cultural "genocide", but frankly, there are days where I am a bit of a culturual fascist and consider some aspects of some cultures inferior. As for the Boers... when you stick close to 100% of a people in either concentration camps or remote island penal colonies with excessive mortality rates (more than 50% of the entire "under 16" population died in the concentration camps), burn down their homes and farms, salting the soil, poisoning the wells etc. to make sure those who escaped the camps have nothing to eat. If that isn't a war of extermination, then I don't really know what would qualify?

So, with everything up and running smoothly, fast and quiet... my old Zalman Reserator 2 decided to die on me. Turns out that there is s design flaw in the flow measuring gadget and as a result the product has been pulled from the market. No spare parts available either All that nice hardware is now sitting and gathering dust, due to lack of cooling. I already started ordering alternative cooling solutions. One EK-CoolStream RAD XT (360) and 3 NB Blacksilent XLP - PWM 120mm fans plus barbs and mounting brackets. That still leaves me with a decision to make on reservoir and pump. Currently in my sights is the RP-1000BK combo product.

The last time Britain was successful against an enemy that relied on guerilla warfare was the Boer war. The remedy to win is blatant genocide, concentration/elimination camps, scorched earth (if necessary with the inhabitants still there) until they are all dead. Fighters, civilians and their livestock all together. That is going to be a hard thing to sell to the public in this day and age.

Thanks, I almost choked on my coffee!

The developers probably think that those rustling noises coming from their garbage bins at night is just the wind or rats

Wasn't it only the servants of the Nobles who lived on the "Marsh" side? Maybe we have to build a model town of Magritta

Fighting something that has a gazillion hp, immune to everything and kills you when it hits you is frustrating. Tests of patience are rarely fun. Fighting something with a clever AI, even if it has the benefit of prepared positions, ambush etc. is way more fun. You feel like you are fighting your way out of a situation, not getting punished by a designers laziness. Speaking of AI, the best one I've ever run across was in an old Commodore Amiga shareware game, Mech Warrior, which made excellent use of terrain, weapon choice (range/damage type/heat) etc. often putting up a convincing fight.

Had the "surreal" experience of having my credit card info pilfered somewhere and people using it to draw money from my account. Luckily it was discovered right away by the bank who contacted me, wondering why the heck I suddenly started spending lots of thousands of dollars worth of services (car rental, insurance etc.) in US, Canada and the UK. Got the transactions cancelled and all my money transferred back, the card blocked and fraud investigation underway. I think in the future, I'm not going to let go of my card when checking into hotels My otherwise excellently performing PC is standing still at the moment The external pump/reservoir combo broke down and I'm now on the hunt for a new cooling system. I don't think I'll ever get something as nice and quiet as the one I had though (the product has been discontinued). Time to check out other manufacturers

Beautiful place down there For a bit of fun, gather some Aussies and Kiwis in the same room and ask who invented the Pavlova

On this glorious day, the twenty fourth day of the sixth month of the two thousand and tenth year according to the current calendar, yet another Israel thread went down the drain Closed as it seems to have turned into a mine is bigger than yours contest... Good enough for daytime TV I suppose?

Environment Artist on Storm of Zehir?... I found the SoZ environments gorgeous. Ymmv of course

How do you explain TeX and LaTeX to the unwashed masses? That is the only "true" word processing system I know (and used for years). Most people want something they can watch in colour and go Ooh and Ahh

He's preaching to the choir. Ok, so not really, but at least this one listener nods his head sagely, having been campaigning against the atrocities that are minigames, qte's, boss fights etc. in crpgs since more than a decade (depending on when each lack of imagination feature was introduced the first time). Nice to know I'm not the only person in the world