metadigital

Umm... no. The PS3 will not die just because a has-been game maker has moved to microsoft. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Quote from the article to demonstrate that the Square Enix deal actually reiterates PS3's superiority: ... If the day could be summed up in a microcosm, it would be Square Enix' story that explained events best. Yoichi Wada, the firm's president, made two stops today. At the Sony conference, he was one of many developers presenting stunning tech demos - in his case, a truly stunning real-time recreation of the opening to Final Fantasy VII, using characters almost as high quality as those seen in the forthcoming Advent Children movie. Within a matter of hours, he had another stop to make - this time with a headline billing at the Microsoft conference, where he revealed that Square Enix will be supporting Xbox 360... With the release of a four year old massively multiplayer game that's already available on PS2 and PC. ...

Much as I hate to regurgitate hype and gossip (as I haven't seen any of the next-gen consoles), I believe that the PS3 graphics are quite far advanced of the Xbox 360 (based on reviews of E

Are you aware of Spore? That's exhaustive! Yeah, me too. :D <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I have read about it in a recent gamer magazine. It sounded pretty ambitious and very intereesting. I must say I like the sound of Victoria. Is this the game?

Even though this has been covered in adequate detail previously, I have a comment, too. There are precious few games where the protagonist is a serial killer. (I never played "Man Hunt", nor do I wish to; even that "Hitman" series is mostly offensive for commoditizing murder (of undesirables), much the way a vigilante might, and I found that too limited to play, too). GTA, for all the hype, is about being a better criminal, which, ironically, helps remove the criminals from the cities. (So you could argue that the protagonist could always do an Al Pacino in The Godfather Part III and exercise contrition to become a reformed repenter. :D ) Murder is a staple, but we are constantly killing d

Darth Sirius, you nailed it right on the head. One of the biggest holes in the game is the relative lack of the "non-bully" DS path. Some will argue otherwise but I think they are wrong. If you want to be so DSed that you get Force Crush, for instance, you ain't getting there with dialogue alone in this game. So that means if you are playing a smooth, diplomatic, manipulator-type character, you are not going to benefit from nearly as much DS stuff as THE BUTCHER who is always saying SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP! ... the first (LS), third (DS-BULLY) and fourth (NEUTRAL) of those they already have. what they need to add is DS-MANIPULATOR. That simple change would add so much more believeability and depth, even if you don't actually use it yourself. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I concur. There is no "Chaotic Evil" option, whereby a character employs misinformation, in the form of deliberate deception, to engineer an outcome without direct, front on assault. When faced with overwelming opposition, a Sith Lord in KotOR is only permitted a "Lawful Evil" frontal attack! More realistically would be a more Kreia-like method of divide-and-conquer, planting seeds of fear, uncertainty and doubt in the inds of the enemy, atacking their alliances and morale before their defences. This would, of course, require a lot more thought and effort in the writing stage.

Weapons of this sort have been banned by the >insert EU geek reference here< mutual treaty (similar to the Geneva Convention). Naturally, the True Sith haven't signed the treaty (and probably wouldn't even if they got the chance) so it is entirely possible that they might use such devices if given the chance. That said, my Exile was able to use Force Breathing (or whatever the stupid thing was called), so my wings are like a shield of steel.

Well, I was referring to the power of information, just like the power of gunpoweder, or the British Navy, or oil. That is something I hear rather often. While information is indeed power, it is not power in or by itself. Ultimately, it is economic strength that dictates the rise and fall of powers, as it has been through History. I don't see that changing with the advent of the era of the information the same way it didn't change when we discovered how to split the atom. After all, it wasn't a nuclear war that ended the USSR. It was clever economics. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Sure, but information is another weapon in the arsenal. (Clever economics? Hmm, it's a bit early to say whether Mr Regan was lucky, made his own luck by being utterly unflinching in his Supply-side Economics, or truly brilliant. Still, it worked, so the debate about whether he knew what he was doing is moot.)

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 ... "