blue

As illustrated by this very thread. Nice pickup, Laozi.

Haha! Fair enough. Thx, Jason, and best of luck.

Rosebud

I agree. I'm also aware that 2d art can be resource-intensive. There's not a lot of incentive for gaming companies to pursue 2d crpgs in this graphics-obsessed world. So I'm curious about what motivates someone to put his $$ where his mouth is by trying to publish a product for what may be a niche market.

Thx, Jason. My low-tech goggles glazed over a bit there, but I appreciate your replies. Another, if I may: can you speak to your decision to pursue 2d design? How much was this was a matter of convenience vs. a more deliberate aesthetic choice? Did you consider creating a 3d WeiNGINE (if such a thing is possible)? Care to speculate about the resources required for your 2d art production compared to that hypothetical 3d WeiComotive? Are you satisfied w/yr production schedule & the availability of artists? Also, how would characterize Planewalker LLC: as a full or part-time business? (For both you & Wes.)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought one of the administrative strengths of WeiDU was that it made installation order less important -- especially when working with WeiDU-designed content. Heirarchy issues crop up with the massive mods and esp w/non-Weidu adaptations. No?

Retrospection doubles the IQ. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I did caveat with my following comment ... after all, if he was seriously thinking about writing a new engine, he would need to scope it, and that would have been part of the process, so I tend to think it was more of a "let's see how much we can do in this engine" rather than "let's do this project to completion." <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I should have quoted you in full. My comment partly referred to Wes' learning curve -- ie, "experience teaches these things." Hopefully now Wes is as experienced as Wistrik. Question for Wistrik (or anyone): did the ToEE Circle of Eight modders use Weidu or another system?

Retrospection doubles the IQ. Hourglass shows promise not because of (and maybe in spite of) the 2d graphics. Documents published on the Planewalker website suggest a commitment to developing a unique and textured story, cast and ruleset. Yes, the term "commitment" is typical PR boilerplate, but the publication of original short stories & other background material suggests an active interest in developing more than pretty screenshots. Whether this indie studio can pull it off remains to be seen. I'm skeptical about the company's business model and their ability to publish a polished product, but given the past success of Weidu -- a stable, efficient and flexible system that's become something of an industry standard for 2d modders -- I think they're building on solid ground. Good luck to them.

It's great because it moves me. Uniquely. It's as simple as that. The narrative is unreliable, and that's all very interesting, but for me the technique is scaffolding to a story about love and loss. The style works because it helps depict the complex ways in which one kid deals with his confusion and grief. I'm not talking about figurative loss. There's that too--that clumsy "loss of innocence" stuff teachers love to preach about. I mean death. It poses the central question in all of Salinger's novels: how do we deal with it? How do we mourn -- especially the loss of a family member? How do we make sense of senseless suicides or (in this case) the death of a child? For me, the story of Holden trying to cope with the death of his brother ranks as one of the most honest pieces of fiction I've read. Holden's reverence for Allie is intimate and profound. How can you not be moved by this?

You probably know this but fyi just in case: The film was adapted from James Ellroy's bestselling novel. Ellroy built his story around a few basic truths of the Elizabeth Short murder, but the book is otherwise entirely and deliberately fictional. He chose the subject for many reasons, including a sense of psychological connection to the case (Ellroy's own mother was murdered in a similarly unsolved fashion). More importantly, the tragedy of Elizabeth Short is L.A.'s definitive murder mystery: scandalous, lurid and unfathomable. Hollywood loves these RL plot hooks -- no matter how disingenuous the stories become. Btw, I found the film terribly disappointing--but not because it was fiction. It failed for me on nearly every level; it was by turns ludicrous, melodramatic and lifeless. For a much better Ellroy adaptation, rent "L.A. Confidential." Or else pin your film noir hopes on Ellroy's upcoming "White Jazz" or "The Night Watchman."

True. But I wasn't comparing basketball and hockey. I once attended an 18-inning baseball game. Tiresome, yes, but it played like an adrenaline shot to the heart compared to time wasted with 'Dungeon Siege.'

It's 1/3rd through the NBA season and there have been 3 triple overtimes, inc 2 over the holidays. Last season Phoenix alone played 2 triple OTs and almost went to a 3rd. There have been multiple quadruple overtimes in NBA history. Not common, but they happen. Basketball is a turn-based game, and extended periods are not uncommon when teams score a measly 7 or 8 points per OT.

I just checked the ToEE folder in my "Patches & Mods" folder, and these are the files I have: Circle_of_Eight_Mod_Pack_4.0.0.exe TempleFrontend.exe TOEE_PATCH1_ENU.EXE TOEE_USA_ANY-PATCH2.EXE ToEE_Fan_Fixes_V3-0-4.zip I loved the TB combat, and I never thought that would happen after JA2 ruined all TB combat games for me. Not a game to play for the story and characters, coz those are crap. Can't beat 2 bucks, though. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That's helpful, thx. Recent crpgs sometimes leave me feeling more like spectator than participant, so I'm ready to micromanage 2d tb combat. It's not my usual cup o' joe, but a dozen hours of a decent crawl is all I expect for 2 bones.

Which ToEE fan patches did you use? (I've never played but at $2 I might.) And please define "immensely." Was it large enough for your "special place?"

Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown. The overlong 'Mononoke' grew redundant & tedious -- moreso than Miyazaki's recent works. They're all visual treats, but I enjoyed 'Spirited' more. Its plot, pacing & mood felt more engaging, more evolved, and it lacked the preachy excess of 'Mononoke.' This weekend: .. was supposed to see the acclaimed 'Children of Men' but I got sick and settled for a rental of "The Sentinel." Should've re-watched "Bad Santa" instead of this cheerlessly derivative crap. 'Thank You For Smoking' - Eckhart is brilliant in this sharp & witty character study. A film that made me smile even as Ebola consumed my flesh.

I'm entirely irrironic.

it's short & generic

El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) - an absolute classic Lola Rennt (Run Lola Run) - smokin' Franka Potente narrates, sings and runs & smokes and runs & rawks & smokes some more Tristram Shandy - it's neither Stoppard nor Sterne but it's passably clever In the Bathtub of the World - dysfunction according to Caveh Zahedi. Oy. Junebug - disassociation as theme and experience Zardoz - Ridiculous, cheesy & overlong. In other words, it's a '70s scifi classic. P.S. Zardoz stars a young and freckled Sara Kestelman (the voice of Kreia in KotOR2) in all her naked glory. It also features a mind-bendingly gorgeous Charlotte Rampling (one of the most beautiful women who ever lived), but these beauties pale next to the blinding sun of Sean Connery's dayglo underwear. Connery as a pistol-packin' neanderthal assassin prancin' around in in a bright orange thong? God, what's not to like?

Not necessarily. While certain courts have held that some forms of persecution require intent (e.g. genocidal intent), many high courts have specifically ruled the other way, declaring that the definition of persecution does not need to include punitive intent. This has popped up in US, UK, UN & other decisions related to refugee law as well as prosecutions involving threats to life, liberty or bodily integrity.

That's what I meant to say. (Also, in my previous msg I erroneously credited Pop; I meant to cite Alan re:perception. Sry.) Anyway. The history of the Great Hunger is too complex for some generalizations. It's worth noting that many British figures in & out of gov't were sympathetic to the Irish and actively worked to save lives--helping create food lines or shipping in grain even as Ireland exported more than it took in. Kroney's right in that the suffering wasn't simply a conspiracy orchestrated by the British elite. Here's an alternative: the Irish were persecuted by the bureaucracy of the British Empire. Not sure there's a practical difference.

People have felt that way for centuries--under colonial rule in India, Africa, America and Ireland. If anything emotions have cooled over time. Except perhaps in Belfast. The sense of persecution is almost inevitable in regions with occupying foreign gov'ts. The level of outrage is often proportional to economic and/or humanitarian hardship. Must acts of persecution be overt, coordinated and deliberate? So what if historians can't discover incontrovertible proof of malicious intent? Pop's right: what matters is perception, and in the broadest definition persecution simply means persistent oppression--often because of race, religion or nationality. I doubt your narrow definition would have been acceptable to early 20th-century Irish nationalists whose hatreds were partly fueled by the memory of British soldiers escorting Irish crops out of their country. To many Irish, the famine became a national catastrophe not simply because of fungus and mismanagement; families needlessly starved because of political and economic choices made by a British government that (they felt) viewed the Irish as a degenerate race. To this day there exists the perception that the British gov't quelled crop export protests because Irish lives were less important than the financial concerns of British landlords. Britain so valued its colonial economy that it withheld monetary aid (deliberately, some say), fearing that Irish revolutionaries would use money to buy guns. As with most foreign occupations, dead peasants were considered collateral damage. (Nothing new here, folks. Move along.) Also, it's been suggested that some Irish moved to Britain because they were hungry. For many, starvation trumps politics.

Sorry, it sounds like Nvidia doesn't support the GO line of 6800 laptop cards: Other 6800 updates for XP available here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_93.71.html Also worth considering: Driver Cleaner Pro. http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Uninsta...fessional.shtml

A smart strategy. To date, it seems the developers have bungled a public relations opportunity by releasing flawed patches, rollback scripts and poor download support. I'd wait for a stable, non-beta patch that doesn't require you to rely entirely on the app's online update mechanism. You might be waiting a while, tho. Word is they might not release a critical rebuild. That said, the game runs very well on my mediocre rig. I've yet to patch for fear of creating problems. The changes that have been publicized in v 1.03 sound useful, but I'm not sure any are revolutionary enough to significantly impact my experience or opinion. We'll see. Oh, and hi Crashie.

I assume he felt he was tidying up .. importing an off-topic comment from another thread.

Is that the title of the next Obsidian project?