Amentep

Everything old is new again, I guess...

Hobby Lobby is a privately owned corporation, owned and run at the top by a single family. The family are conservative Christians who believe that specifically the mandate that would require the company to cover "day after pills" or emergency contraceptives that, essentially, abort a fertilized egg would force them to be a party to the killing of babies. The government's argument, that Hobby Lobby could hire a private insurance company and they wouldn't have to be responsible for what that company did, was rejected as still being essentially that the family would be forced by the government to do something that their religious convictions said was immoral. To be fair, no one is forcing an employee to work for Hobby Lobby, as far as I know. As far as I know the issue was never contraceptives, in general, but the emergency contraceptives that would essentially do an abortion, from the family's perspective.

I think for me that while I know some women gamers, they're not of a unified opinion on game content1 and I'm not sure - not being a woman - I'm in the position to best judge what anyone outside of myself would think. I can, however, still judge an argument on the merits of the argument that don't presuppose certain gender-specific knowledge. For me, the article linked here was built on weak arguments - for example it pre-supposed that the games the author is against are "****ty" which immediately is a set up to imply the people who like ****ty things are also ****ty. Others may feel differently. Which gets to the heart of the problem, in my eyes, that often these complaints are brought up in a vacuum, without any attempt to contextualize or understand the intent of the creation or storytelling.2 1Heck, I know women who disagree about online actions that I find kinda creepy and that can't even be classed as "game content" controlled by the game maker - some dislike the unwanted attention, others don't care. So which side am I to fall on regarding guys messaging women, in game, a/s/l (or the modern equivalent) much less what's actually in a game - with respect to the female gender? 2For me the ultimate justification for game content is the game itself; I think a lot of these problems could be side-stepped if a developer could just step in and say "we chose to do this because of..." and then use the game or game creation aspect of why that choice was made. There may still be disagreement over whether the choice was right, but at least there's a defensible position that's already been thought about because a choice was made rather than becoming something that exists without thought or consideration within the game.

And people still complained about it.* And Lanfear complained about her inclusion in the game (and, IIRC, left the boards) because of the execution. *heck there are people in the PoE forums here complaining that people who pledged more money in the pledge tiers than them got the ability to make stuff in the game and how this was unfair to them, being that they were too poor to pledge more but wanted to create stuff in the game. And that to be fair, Obsidian should also raffle off design space to the poorer forum members.

Was it really bad? I had a tough year in school when BG2:TOB came out and was not on the boards much. Strange, I thought that was a great cameo. This is why we cannot have nice things. Well I think it was the other cameos (like the Lanfear one) and the people who were all "Why didn't I get a cameo?" that proved to be the problem, as opposed to the Gromnir one. RE: The article - I think the signal gets lost in the noise the author throws around.

Not while I was a mod (doubt it'd be different when I wasn't a mod).

Do you taste the Tabsco flavoured Ice-Cream, or does the Ice-Vream flavoured Tabsco taste you?

Well it looks interesting. I'll probably wait for some reviews, but I did enjoy what I saw in the trailer.

Based on the interview (from a Square or Collective representative) there are two roles the publisher plays with the collective; the first is in potentially distributing the products of the collective, the second is being available to provide support during the development process including providing assistance in the form of staff from their existing studios. If so, the publisher isn't receiving money but providing nothing (else why would anyone go to the collective in the first place?)

Could be worse, he could be wearing a a beret basque and a red kerchief on his neck

It was leaked online and - as far as I know - removed to copyright heaven.

I'm still reading, I'm just not so good at posting! Spamming is what gives BISers their power. It's an entropic field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the forum together.

Made by Obsidian Isometric, RTwP, party based game unique setting Loads of class/race combinations potential for non-combat skills to really be useful through the whole game Have to wait until December So many Class/Race combinations will mean I'll restart a lot potential for increased utility of non-combat skills to make combat undesirable deep stash sounds like a potential solution to packratitis but could also be a mess but this is more "wary" than true negative I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell

I'm in the middle of moving house! We move two weeks tomorrow. So, I am currently spending a lot of time lamenting the fact that I have so much stuff to pack... Ahh, again eh? I'd help you if I could. Well we just got our final approval yesterday on a house that we've been negotiating buying for the past week. We have all that packing to look forward to now. Garage sale time: Oak dining set anyone? Wrought iron daybed? Got any comic books, preferably pre-1957?

w00t! I still have a memory.

Yeah, some of those places are fun. I've always wanted to go to some of the remaining route 66 roadside attractions.

I thought it was a bear or something for some reason.

Well, I remember back in high school here in the US when Princip and the entire Black Hand were dismissed as "anarchists". So in some ways what I'm seeing now is more informational than those days (as I think from my limited readings on the subject that only Cabrinovic (sp) - the bomb guy - self-identified as an anarchist) albeit I don't think history is ever told without an angle to it.

Would you consider yourself a verbose person? I've never met a simple sentence I could not make into something far more complex, convoluted and less easy to read and understand the intent of, despite all my efforts to achieve the clarity of crystal spring water.

IIRC if you talk to Isabella enough you find she comes from a hedonistic culture, one in which sex is free and saying no is un-thought of. So I'd agree ultimately the character is a hedonist. I'm not sure it makes her a bad character, though. The real reason why the Mage registry and relocation to a Circle is enforced - free access to STD cleansing.

I thought it was Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria/King of Hungary who annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina, not his nephew Archduke Franz Ferdinand. IIRC Franz Ferdinand actually disagreed with Franz Joseph on the treatment of Serbia (although I believe to what degree was always unclear) and some have speculated his stated desire for more autonomous rule for distinct ethnic groups in the empire (I recall Czechs and South Slavs were mentioned) might have been sign that had Franz Ferdinand lived and taken the throne from Franz Joseph (already 84 and only to live two more years) that a reunited Serbia might have been achievable via diplomacy (not sure I buy it, but it's certain an opinion I've seen espoused more than once). All this to say, I think Valiant Hearts is using WWI as a backdrop for the story as opposed to really be about fighting WWI.

It's probably the final chapter, just like there originally were only going to be three Mass Effect games (but hey, if there's money to be had... I don't really blame them for milking their franchises btw, it makes perfect business sense). No, Dragon age is open-ended, but since the pc changes, there are other obvious differences, too. IIRC, though, Dragon Age is a set time frame and they were near the end of it when the first blight happened (isn't it like 100 years). Eventually they'll end up having to end Dragon Age because of the Age naming system (to be followed by some other "Age" series - "Reborn Old God Age"?). http://www.ign.com/games/final-fantasy-tactics-advance/gba-480116 is not pc, but is only ff game we could recommend. we would prefer to eat a sandwich filled with aluminum foil shavings than play ff rpgs. we tried to play ff 7. *shudder* HA! Good Fun! Final Fantasy VI is the best one; I don't think any of the ones before or sense have managed to be as compelling. But then I did enjoy 7, so... IMO, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is worse than (and a generally poor sequel to) FFT which itself isn't as good as Ogre Battle: Let Us Cling Together.

I think I visited this town in a D&D session.

RIP Eli. He's great in THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY, but also good in THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. He was the third Mr. Freeze in the 60s Batman (following George Sanders and Otto Preminger) but honestly his credits are too numerous.

Hucksterism 101: The rubes don't pay to see worthless, un-notable items. I realized upon re-reading this it could be seen as me calling Hurl a rube, not really my intent. I think these roadside shows can be interesting if you know what you're getting into. But the ballyhoo is there, regardless.