metadigital

They have DIRECTLY stated that the game isn't on a wire; rather than being linear (one dimensional), it is an area to explore and act in as the player sees fit.

I really hope this is a complete fabrication, an exaggeration, or there were other facts (like some real firearms). Otherwise these people should be locked up.

He obviously doesn't like you.

Now I'm scared. And scarred. Children of Sand ...

Beneath the Planet of the Apes!11!!

I don't think the comparison is still valid. A game like Diablo is extremely tricky to pull off, no matter how simple it is to play. Lot's of companies have tried to emulate the game, and most of them failed. Fair enough on the first, and true enough on the latter. But again, I wasn't implying Blizzard sells junk. 'Fast food' is a somewhat humourous label I call the entire action-rpg genre as a whole. So if you don't think the phrase is a valid comparison in terms of describing the gameplay of/the genre itself, I'll agree to disagree. But it meant nothing - I repeat nothing - as a quality reference aimed solely at Blizzard as a company or Blizzard vs. another company, or how hard/not hard it is to make such games. Actually, I think everyone is being particularly pernickety with your useful analogy, LC. No-one in their right mind would dare suggest that McDonalds, for example, isn't ferociously popular ("over ten billion served" or whatever), and, though I'm not a regular customer, I have eaten their food and (when I was very young) more than enjoyed it.

It would be in keeping with the nuclear apocalypse theme to have most of whatever major city, especially the District of Columbia, almost completely obliterated by a direct strike. In fact, there would have to be a good reason why the major military targets, like Capitol Hill, would escape a direct hit, as they would certainly be a primary target. So, yeah: That sounds about right.

But mine is an IBM. AN IBM!!11!!one!1

I doubt VERY much Madeleine was abducted for sex-slavery. She is a member of a British family vacationing in the Algarve, where abduction is almost completely unknown (read: HI PROFILE). Sex-slavery preys on the weakest, the defenceless of society; those that cannot fight back are easy pickings. (Driving down the cost of supplies is a cornerstone of capitalism.) This is more likely a crime of opportunity, though it does seem to have been executed with considerable care (or a lot of luck). Edit: latest development

That's pretty cruel.

She's much more likely to die in a car accident before she reaches twenty.

I think that sums up the issue nicely.

The reason (well, one of them, anyway) that I have a pile of books to read is based on the times when I have seen a book that interests me, and I haven't purchased it. Only to find later that I couldn't find it. The best example is the book I am currently reading: 1759. After deciding that it was worthy of reading, I decided I would "buy it later", only to forget its title and author ... so it took me probably more than two years to find it again (by British Museum Search of every bookstore I went into, which is a dangerous activity for someone who nearly always walks out of a bookshop with a handful). The lesson I learnt from that (and other instances) is that it is much better for me to have a pile of books from which to choose my reading, at leisure, than to be irritably looking for something good to read, especially something that I know I want to read and can't have. Now I pick up a book from my pile(s) and, no matter how long ago I got it, I know I will enjoy reading it for some reason.

Oh, you're talking about the original post. Yes, yes.

My current rig is a laptop. My next, imminent purchase will be custom.

IIRC AMD-ATi have the best cards for each of the DX9 price categories, so they aren't out of it by a long chalk, even if there first DX10 card is a stinker. The jury is still out on the next gen CPU, though, I hope they do better.

Too late! :D

Who "they"?

Yes.

Excerrent.

I'm no lawyer, but just because someone settles out of court doesn't test/prove the precedent. Novell were just limiting all expenses: no long drawn-out court battles and counter-suing with Microsoft and (most importantly) each other's customers. Proving patent infringement is almost impossible, save for direct code theft (as you intimated). And it is quite comical that Microsoft are upset at people infringing their graphical interface, when Apple did it a decade before them, and the Palo Alto Lab invented it a decade or more before them! It's all sabre-rattling. As an aside, oh how far Novell has fallen ... from having over 80% of the Network OS market in the 90s, when Windows was just elbowing onto the stage ...

^^ Scottish Protestant Puritan. Also, no Italian would ever cook with Spam. They would eat scorpion poop first.

What about that live-action tv series ... was that Clone Wars?

You get a gold star from petty cash.