metadigital

I wouldn't be surprised if AMD-ATi do the X1800 thang with the X2800, too, and release an X2900 a month afterwards, too.

Too many mindless MMO, that is. I've yet to see a MMO concept that could appeal to adults and not to some asocial teens. The existence of countless adults in World of Warcraft and EVE kind of contradicts what you see, Morgoth. Being adult doesn't mean grown up. WoW doesn't use any adult or compelling themes. It's just, as theslug pointed out, a waste of time and money without any intellectual reward. You forgot to address EVE.

Hmm. I might have to play Starcraft, as I thought Warcraft III: Chaos Throne Thinggy was pretty good.

Maybe the designers are aiming to make the realistic point that combatants (read: the PC) need to avoid being hit by enemy fire? Sort of an enforced stealth modus operandi.

But ... this cannot take into account DX10 gaming, as there aren't any DX10 games out yet.

I didn't read the article. I expect the new Vista design will fruit as soon as a threshold is reached (probably a critical mass of DX10 games).

^^ Tr00 dat.

My "welcome pack"s arrived today.

Good idea. Who or what did they "sell out"? As far as I can tell Blizzard have produced very well finished games, from the standpoint of bugs as well as general artistic production, which have been popular successes. Not sure why you would be upset with any company that does that ...

Meow! Actually, I don't mind either way, I was making a philosophical point. Firstly, the difference between a plus two sword and a plus three mace is almost negligible. Sure, I hanker after the shiniest gear like everyone else (well, except perhaps the most hardened "low magic" purists), but the amount of magic equipment my DnD characters accumulate after a typical dungeon crawl I probably wouldn't even notice if a thief stole a few of them. Secondly, I'd like to see a thief steal a cuirass off the person it is strapped front and back to ..! For it to work, PCs would need to have realistic encumbrance (if only to assist with the run-away and chase scenario), and there would need to be a realistic correlation of item theft. In other words, stealing boots off a player standing IN them would be almost impossible (though it would be different if the victim was asleep), whereas stealing a purse would be very simple. Stealing a magic, glowing sword (especially of Anime-proportions!) would be pretty difficult ... and ESPECIALLY if the item was a particular favourite of the player (so there could be personal modifiers, too, in this example). Morrowind has (and the Ultimas had, for that matter) a workable penal system. Certainly petty larceny would be a fine, murder would be jailtime (thief trying to bribe / escape from jail would be an interesting, variable instance side-quest). And don't tell me all those Paladins aren't game to be telling other players how to behave ...

I'd be surprised if you didn't like them, even though they may not be your perfect turn-based game.

Well, I guess TOMBS counts as an MMO that appeals to (some!) adults and not (just?) asocial teens ... "

I would expect that the degradation rate be factored into the difficulty level, or its own configuration, so that on the easiest setting it would be almost unnoticeable, or set according to individual wants.

I imagine the extra GPU power (yeah sure, plenty of that) will be put to use after DirectX10 games are catered for ...

That solves it, but not satisfactorily. After all, what's the point of being a thief if you can't steal stuff of people (that includes other PCs). What stops people from thieving IRL? Deterrent. If the fighter could outrun a thief, and then knock them into next week, then the thief is going to be very careful who they target ... thieves would be seen hanging around lower level areas, in packs ... but then a good system of law with a great reputation system (and NPC lawkeepers?) would help manage this ...

It sounds like you are playing the game for the journey, not the destination. As irritating as it is to load a save from hours beforehand, I think it is in keeping with the spirit in which you have been playing. After all, when you finish this game, I would expect you to just restart another ...

Do you want to try that again, in English?

A thief could use their cloak of invisibility to hide.

People have too much time on their hands. Is that an effects soundtrack from one of the films? Also, why is the guy walking with a limp, holding his arm, whilst shrugging his shoulder which is meant to be holed?

I remember the description of the Boomers. :D

Great, thanks.

I wonder if MMOs will ever solve the PvP thieving dilemma. (I.e. PCs with thieving skills want to steal stuff from other players, but non-Thief players become apoplectic when their PC has their Item of

The Hinge Factor (Erik Durschmied)

Don't eat weeds. Also, finished my latest book today.