Cantousent

I don't think LIVE is a bad service. Microsoft just handled its cancellation policy poorly.

I prefer being a hero, but a couple of friends wanted to play it. I think CoH/CoV is a great game. If you're ever on the Pinnacle server, find the hero Eldara in Paragon City or the villainous Dark Thel, Aristes, or Eldara's Evil Sister in the Rogue Isles. I wrote a long account of my CoH experience here: http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=1874&hl= I wouldn't modify much of what I said, and that was over a year ago. I team with Calax fairly often and Shadowstrider once in a blue moon. I put in most of my time on CoV right now because of family/friends who want to play that one, but I'll probably do more playing on CoH after the novelty of being a damned villain wears off. Mileage may vary, but I recommend the City of Heroes and City of Villain combination to anyone. You still have to buy both titles to play both games, but the monthly fee is the same price whether you have one or both. One thing I didn't mention in my initial review is that the support team keeps adding new content. Some of the additions are minor, but some of them are rather major. You don't need the CD to run the game, so I loaded it on my Brother in Law's computer and all he has to pay is the monthly fee which, considering how much enjoyment he gets out of the game, he doesn't mind paying at all. Finally, it's easy to cancel and restart. I know because I did exactly that. When things were too busy for me to play computer games, I cancellled the service to stop paying for it. Unlike XBOX LIVE, I only had to go to the website for the request. When I had more time, I went back and signed back into the service. I was gone for three months, but my characters were still there and all my server-side settings were still in effect. Very nice.

Great Quote, Wintersun. At first I thought they were disgruntled Christians, although stealing beer and soda doesn't sound very Christian. I read the article, though, and the only group they supposedly represent was "Santarchy?" What the hell?

You know, to cancel my City of Heroes/Villains account, I have only to go to their website. To cancel XBox LIVE, I had to call an 800 number and wait to talk to someone who wasn't particularly friendly. He wasn't particularly rude, mind you, but it's not like he sounded like a happy camper. Hey, working the phones at 9pm PST probably isn't everyone's idea of fun, but that's not the point. Anyhow, he asked why I was cancelling. I said I've enjoyed my XBox but that I don't use the XBox LIVE feature enough to warrant the expense. He didn't argue with me, but I think this was a mistake on Microsoft's part. After all, while making it a pain to cancel keeps the lazy customer around for a while longer, but imparting the lasting impression that cancelling the service will be a pain in the backside keeps the lazy customer from trying your service again. I know that I'm not very likely to give it a try any time soon. Also, they charge yearly. They should put it on a monthly basis. Hell, if it works for online games, it should work for console online. XBox LIVE is a great idea. I have used it and, if Microsoft didn't have such a weird setup, I'd try it again. Too bad they want to make it hard to quit because it makes it all that less likely I'll start it again in the first place.

All nations work for their own self interest. If they don't, they fall under the influence or control of more active nations. If you are destined to fall under the control of one nation or another, you're better off with the United States. No other nation has wielded so much power with so much restraint in the history of the world. No other nation has held so much relative power with so much overwhelming restraint as the United States. I'm a great admirer of the United Kingdom, our older cousin. It sought to keep markets open while preventing European Hegemony. It was smart to do so. Would it have been any different if they had planned for failure by assuming that they would face a sharp decline after the catastrophe of World War I/II? Sure, nothing worldly endures. All things are fleeting and someday our country will face a world in which US power is on the decline. Fair enough. In the meantime, we should do everything in our power to ensure our long-term interests. To do otherwise is foolish. I look at these statements and shake my head. Look at Battlewookies ridiculous comments. ...And I've always been on good terms with BW. I just can't see how he really believes in these fringe conspiracy theories. You know, Christian extremist draw a lot of anger from folks around here. That

I didn't know Dolph played He-Man.

Against Pixies... you're probably right. Dammit.

ooooooooo! I'm going to get payback, pixies, you swine! Just wait. :Eldar's dipping his pen in the poison ink-well and sharpening his daggers icon: bwahahahaha

Do you mean Trias' sword? (Which is funny, he is chaotic good himself, IIRC) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> No, he's lawful good according to the game.

By the time someone gets to RIP, they're probably already "brainwashed," if that's what we want to call it.

Yes, but linguistic or ethnic, it sure as hell isn't a race. Lord, I hate the very term. Folks are so mixed up that it isn't funny. Even Thucydides identified the problem with claiming purity. People have been invading each other, intermarrying between tribes, and otherwise mixing up genetic material for so long before written history that it doesn't make any sense to claim that strong a tie to the land for either side.

I gave Commissar an eloquence of 4. I have since reassessed his eloquence as 5. This score comes as a result of reading his arguments, some with which I agree and some not. Also, I give him the supplemental epithet: straight shooter.

You know, the indoctrination sounds bad because of the way it's used. For that reason, it sounds creepy. ...But the word doesn't mean brainwashing. It used to be a euphemism for brainwashing. Because of that, it has a bad connotation. It's basic meaning is still "to teach."

Interesting article regarding the accuracy of Wikipedia. I will let you read and draw your own conclussions. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10478207/?GT1=7516 I will only say that, while I don't cite Wikipedia as a source, I often use it as a quick way to familiarize myself with a subject.

Hell, Lucius, I'd just offer you a tankard and then set you loose on the neighbors. I know you vikings, slaughtering one folks is as good as slaughtering another. Then I'll baptise you while you're passed out. :Eldar's sly smile icon:

My favorite part was redeeming the wretched fellow. The player actually has some lattitude in regards to his actions for being Lawful Good. That makes sense. PS:T is the only game that got alignment right. SP and I have had pages and pages of fights over it, but it makes a lot more sense than the stupid PnP alignment rules.

I agree about the whole indoctrination thing. It gives me the willies. Not that I think its bad. It's just that it sounds like something out of the Gulag.

I finished the vast majority of my games as Lawful Good. I just did everything I could consider "good."

Damned Danes! Lucius is bad enough, but nooooo, we get Ros and Jan as part of the bundle. I better watch out. You guys know where I live. :ph34r:

Yes it came out in 2004 <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I laughed out loud at this.

Very good! I think Rangers are the best rough and tumble regular unit in the Army. It really took down the quality of special forces when they stopped making Ranger School a prerequisite. You're the bomb, friend!

pixies, you really make me shake my head sometimes. Then I just think... whatever.

By your reasoning, the Jews deserve Israel because they currently inhabit it.

That quote is total comedy. Damn man, that was funny. "wait 'till hte majority of us current members die..." I don't know why I found it so funny, but my wife thinks I'm nuts, sitting here laughing at the computer.

I'd agree except that the Republicans captured a majority of the seats since then. Their tactics hardly backfired, and the fervor with which fundamentalist America embraced Bush's conservative values platform attests to the effectiveness of demonizing/praising the President based on moral values. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> We disagree on a number of issues, but I've always appreciated your arguments. Even better, I've found some of them irritating. :Eldar's wink and grin icon: However, in this case I just think you're wrong. Clinton came into office at the back end of a recession. The first two years of his administration were marked by mistakes and mismanagement. It was during his mid-term election that the Republicans gained the senate and the house. After that, the Republicans steadily lost ground, but not overall power. It wasn't the fact that the Republicans kept flogging Clinton that they kept power. It's simply that power is easier to keep than to take. Moreover, the impeachment proceedings were a big mistake on the Republicans' part. Now, I'm sure many of them, perhaps even most, really believed that the impeachment was necessary. Some of the Democrats, perhaps even most of them, thought that the impeachment was entirely unfounded. As a political issue, it didn't seem to help the Republicans that year as they actually lost seats during the mid-term elections of Clinton's second term. The demonizing is useful to rouse the base, but let the general public hear too much of it. It really isn't a winning strategy unless there's truly irrefutable evidence.