metadigital

At least Terry Wogan will get to go to a beach next year. I wonder where in Greece they will hold the contest? :cool:

If we are drawing up a wish list for Santa, I would like the Half-Life 2 engine with the gameplay of Deus Ex. Add some lightsabers as an optional extra (or not) and I'm happy. ... What was the question? "

History teaches me that "politically expedient" tends to equate to longevity in the international scene; for example Rhodes practically raped the African continent, and yet we barely recognise that nowadays. The end justifies the means in geopolitics, probably because there is no authoritative global government (and, as we all know from committees, group responsibility equates to no responsiblity). I wish it were different. I wonder what would happen if the global famine were halted and trade were free? I wonder what the rich nations would do? Where does an economic war end and traditional gun battles begin? The future will also see a further divide, between the knowledge-haves and have-nots. Information is power, so there is another hegemony in its infancy.

Um, as JE is not ever going to be a PC title, then I would think Dragon Age is a better comparison. Even so, I ain't played JE, and DA ain't out yet, so I'd have to reserve judgement. :D But I wasn't particularly critical of the KotOR engine; the sequel managed to skew the balance by inflating the combat bonuses attributed to level and reducing the gameplay required to level up. Fix those (minor) issues and I would rather the effort spent on writing: I don't care if Revan is part of the story (although I feel more empathy to "my" Revan than my Exile character).

Hmm, I wonder how you would keep the fires of industry burning, if not with oil? I'm not condoning the Second Gulf War in Iraq, mind, but there is a definite imperative for a nation to protect its industrial base, and the US moreso than most (as it has poor oil production and reserves and is highly reliant on the stuff). And the US economy is keeping the rest of the global economy, at the moment (although the Chinese are out to change this soon). In a perfect world the US government would break the oil cartel (using the Sherman Antitrust Act, as before, on the Standard Oil Trust, in 1911) and force the resultant companies to invest in renewable energies. It is expected, for example, that the Water Wars will begin in the next twenty years or so in North Africa / Middle East. All it would take is for Ethiopia to damn the Blue Nile in their country, simply to allow them to better feed their own people, and Egypt has already stated it will invade ... work out the morality of that conflict!

Actually, the primary point of the correction was not to judge your aptitude for syntax (woeful as it is); it was to point out the hypocrisy and ludicrous nature of your blatantly flawed and insensitive comments. Or did you not expect Aurora to respond to your trolling? Business pov? For an amateur project being completed by a brave group of fans for free? While most are doing finals? WTF? Even if you choose to measure their efforts so, they have thus far exceeded all expectations. Get a life, imbecile. You will never get a mention in a magazine by being a naysaying troglodyte.

Don't ever be afraid to ask a question: it is much better to appear foolish and ask a question now than try to akeep face and be a fool forever. We all didn't know about Malta and George Crosses before we asked, for example, so everyone has to follow the same procedure. As for Viktor Yushchenko, I wonder if Leonid Kuchma has read / watched The Young Poisoner's Handbook ...

LA/OE are stating that the ending was as they intended, and was not rushed. I say if that is the case, then the production values are woefully less than I am prepared to accept. There were numerous obvious shortcomings, like the map elements that were visible but not reachable (stand up and be counted, prison cells!) and the total shambles that was the Remote / G0-T0 / HK-47 and Hanharr / Mira subplots: WTF? What happened toBao-Dur, and why was it not important enough for us to see? What happened with the Remote and G0-T0? What happened to Mira? It was not just a cliff-hanger, it was an unfinished plot, with no ellipses. I am still waiting for the other shoe to drop ... And any talk of a third game is very premature, certainly there can be no idea what the over-arching plot for the trilogy is, and that means that the ending was more a logistical device than a dramatic one. Which sucks. That said, I did like Kreia's character, I did like the muddied morality and aversion to paint the plot in black and white; none of that occurred in the conclusion. If, as has been mooted here, if your PC was LS, and if the ending reflected some of the choices made during the game, then I would have a totally different view. But I don't.

Salt of the Earth, the Maltese; only country with a George Cross.

A real contest? What for? I've heard better singing, for the most part, by drunk patrons in fake Irish pubs on a dodgy karaoke night. I think Eurovision serves a much better purpose by measuring the relative popularity of countries by their neighbours; perhaps that might help us all avoid a major war in Europe this century.

I think a good dose of Terry Wogan is just what the Doctor ordered. As has been said, Mr Wogan takes -- very seriously -- the attitude of NOT taking the Eurovision Song Contest seriously. This is a very important lesson that will enable the rest of the nations competing to understand the pressure-valve nature of the show.

You're still treating Eurovision as a song contest and not a political litmus paper. Really, can you honestly say that the popular votes of the Balkans represents any sort of meritocratic score? Or the Greeks voting for Cyprus and vice versa? And the Scandinavians all in bed together? (Except this year Sweden's effort was so poor Norway only gave then une point.) I'd say that the UK should enter devolved entrants from Wales, Scotland, England and the Channel Islands, except that none of those contries would vote for England anyway. :D

I believe there's a region in Greece called Macedonia. Greece is hostile to the formation of an independent state with that name, which is why we always talk about "The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", not just "Macedonia". I don't know which region has better claim to the name or which Alexander came from, though. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yes, I am aware of the blood-feud between the two countries over the name, hence my comment ... Still, the population of the Afghanistan probably has more genetic hereditary commonality with AtG than the current population of Greece. "

... and it would be regarded as cheating, so no Jedi should do it. (Sith can please themselves.)

No. You can target the left/right arm / leg at any point in the game; criticals generally refer to head shots (of those opponents with heads); it just requires you to check the attempt versus the probability for the character (friend or foe) to be successful. Well, if you are a LS character and you run around killing opponents arbitrarily then you should be rewarded with Dark Side points; that way you will either remember to treat combat as a last resort -- and the sanctity of life as paramount -- or you will fall to the Dark Side. And How much more tedious would it be than to kill every enemy within two rounds?

Um, I'm not sure what you mean: it's only ever been done in RPGs, e.g. Neverwinter Night. It's just an additional To Hit score, similar to a magic resistance calculation before the effects of a, say, a fireball spell on a d

So you're not Macedonian, then, like Alexander the Great ... "

I see this as yet more confirmation that GL should not be allowed to comment on anything in the SW universe as he is just not qualified. This represents his attempt to make a clear distinction to enforce the "love = possessive = wrong" leitmotif. While I agree that love entails giving allegiance to your lover above all else -- which is generally dangerous and may even be specifically untenable -- I would also point out that few people seem to get this and see love in more selfish terms (i.e. self-gratification rather than giving). And also, as has been stated earlier, fighting for love, truth, justice, etc is a very good way to focus one's efforts in the fight for light. The problem comes when a general conflict is turned into a personal hostage scenario, where loyalties may be divided, or compromised with regard to vengence.

"Come back here and I'll gnaw your legs off!" That's the point: it makes the fight more difficult because you have to target a specific spot (it's called "named shot" in NwN, for example, and there is an additional "to hit" score rolled to calculate the attempted precision).

It seems to be a European disease to have some sort of regurgitated US/UK Pop as the popular music for their countries (yes this means you France, Italy, Spain, etc). At lesat the Italians did the honorable thing and retired from the contest years ago in protest of the total lack of musical merit ... then again I see the Eurovision as more a politcal barometer than a song contest.

The winning Greek singer was born in Sweden. Then again, the Swedish presenter was very cute ...

I was born in the sixties, you do the math. And the guy I was referring to was born well before I was. Secondly, as I have already stated, sex appeal is not just skin deep. There are many women who are not recognised for their striking beauty, yet feature highly on "most-sexy" lists (especially in the UK, for some reason). Perhaps excruciatingly beautiful women intimidate most males ... Thirdly, it's a shallow, one-dimensional measure. Portman would have trouble displaying less charisma if she were somnambulating or dead: and I'm not into somnophilia nor necrophilia. It's for her next role, I believe. Either that or she's taking fashion advice from Sionade O'Connor. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Or Persis Khambatta "

No, can't say I have. I must also admit that I never finished the Foundation series, either. I got a little bored after Foundation and Earth (I think it was), when Daneel Olivaw turned up. (Not that I don't like Daneel, he's a dude -- for a robot. :D ) I really liked the whole psychohistory concept: of all the soft sciences this strikes me as the best candidate to yeild "hard" scientific results. After all, the mob mentality seems to be quite constant. I think anyone who hasn't read Nightfall should do so now (even if it is the short story that gave Asimov his big break, not the novel made from it, recently). Other than that, I really liked the Robot novels because they were (again, pertinent to this discussion) genre-spanning; combining SF with mystery writing. I wonder if I will ever create a sub-genre? :cool:

The combat still looks a little worrisome. <_<