Amentep

Two opposing sides with roughly the same number of pieces as chess on a light and dark board. Movement limitations based on directionality was replaced by movement limits based on squares, and back row pieces had more power than front row pieces. They added the extra wrinkle of light vs dark having an advantage on light vs dark squares and fighting for squares. I seem to remember (but admit the memory cheats) the original manual even describing it as being like chess. I played it like I did chess as a kid, the difference being I won a lot more at Archon (although in retrospect maybe that was my problem playing Chess - I played it too much like Archon! )

We all remember how the original game box shipped with one empty cd slot. Coincidence? Where else were you going to keep the expansion disc when it came out?

Yeah, the outlay of his options are pretty...one sided, but not that far from general teenage thought in my experience. There have been some schools that wouldn't let boys wear kilts. Not that that's what you're talking about, its just your mention of skirts made me think of it.

So will this DLC be available to purchase down the line in a hard form (like Fallout 3's for the 360?) Or like "Bring Down the Sky" was for ME1 when the 360 "Platinum Hits" release came out? I haven't been able to tell based on what I've read so far.

I'd rather have them actually trying to run a radio station, but constantly getting in fights and insulting each other on the air. "No that song is stupid, play something else! All your music sucks! *sounds of a fight in the background while the song is still playing* Raider sketch comedy program Raider amateur hour Raider point and counter point Raider DIY segments The list is endless!

Yes, having to dig a mile long tunnel is totally as easy as waltzing across an open border. And there are ways of detecting tunnels also. When someone doesn't want to solve a problem, there are always a million excuses for why it can't be done. My point is crossing the border via tunnels is already happening with the current border; I don't see building a wall stopping that. And yes they still find the tunnels which doesn't stop them being made. In general while a giant wall might be a deterrent to some, I think evidence exists that it would stop the problem. The debate could be whether it'd significantly drop the numbers, but it wouldn't stop it.

I dunno, the information seems weird. At first glance it seems like they're wanting to take the game away from its chess roots. Still if its good, I'd be willing to give it a shot.

Yes, but the key here is "flamboyant" attire. Based on the video from the local ABC(US) affiliate he was dressed rather conservatively, but they do try to argue that he wasn't on the last day he attended. And having that said, there have been other examples in the local news about crossdressers being allowed to go to school with no problem, so... One must note that Escobar attended the school a grand total of 3 days; was there significantly more attention drawn to him than any other notable transfer? I'm not sure. Would the fervor have died down given time? I think so. There's also no clear evidence in either the AJC article, the AOL article or the ABC footage as to why a conclusion was drawn that he was responsible for fights occurring those days.

Curiously, which law did they break exactly? Since you seem to be so keen to speak authoritatively about this law, one would expect you have a thorough understanding of it. Otherwise that would be rather hypocritical, no? Something in here, I believe.

The shade of gray is that the US government and the state governments has allowed these people to remain in the US, offered them education and services without deporting them. Which means either the law is unenforceable or the federal and state governments have not done their part in enforcing the law. The end result is a significant population of people who are free to be exploited by US citizens and US companies with the federal and state government tacitly accepting - if not approving - of that exploitation.

But there's a fallacy in your argument - they're not citizens, second class or otherwise. If they were citizens they'd be legal immigrants. Not being able to vote and being in fear of the law deporting them (because they're breaking the law) allows the unscrupulous amid the US citizenry to exploit these people instead of turning them to legal immigration. (Someone mentioned a wall to block people getting into the US - but that won't help when people use tunnels to get through already). Mind you none of this would be an issue if our government and Mexico's would just agree to make Mexico a state already.

This is what I'm thinking.

I didn't have a computer that could play Bloodlines when it came out.

When it comes out I'll get it still. That was my attitude before and its my attitude now.

I loved Archon and MULE, and played a good bit of SCoG and RDS (and Mail Order Monsters - I've been trying to remember the name of that game for ages!!!) Wasn't Sentinel Worlds sequel Hard Nova? And Mars Saga was remade as Mines of Titan? I seem to remember reading an interview with Danielle Berry that Ozark was working on a sequel/update to M.U.L.E. for the Sega Genesis, but she disagreed with what EA wanted added (guns and bombs) to update the game and ended up dissolving the company (I think all four of the people ended up doing other things in the industry).

Lol, I wish that was the case, current sales tax in the city of Chicago is 10.25%(maybe even 10.75%) That was just going by the states, not the city's taxes, so it is a bit misleading. Chicago is 10.25% - 6.25% for the State, 1.25% city, 1.75% county and 1% regional transportation authority (+ an additional 1% Authority tax on food and beverage when one eats out for 11.25% for that particular instance). This leads the country in total sales taxes. Memphis, Tennessee is I believe next at 9.25% - 7% for state, 2.25% for local tax (but there is no State Income Tax, whereas Illinois is going up to 4.5% this year, from what I've read.) New York and Los Angeles are next around 8.5% I think.

No I don't think it ever presented as a "create your character exactly as you want him or her"; of that Obsidian was very up front. Which I think is great since there was never any illusions about what the game wasn't going to be. I am in general against offering one gender (when both are playable) certain options the other doesn't have. To use romance options, your example is one or when the male PC gets three romance options but the female gets two. That said SOME difference - in how NPCs react and such should be there or why the point in allowing gender selection.

I'd love to have wider use of the repair skill or more versatility in it - and I'd really, really like for condition degradation to degrade slower - but I can't say the idea of being forced to go back to town rather than continue on because all of your two century old equipment broke doesn't add in some way to the RPG experience.

Sometimes though they are just better models (although in many cases, they are not) than what the original game had to offer. I the characters in morrowind looked horrid without modelswaps. Was such a long time since I actually played that game though, I cant remember where I got my replacements from. That (and the better clothes and armor that came with the better bodies) was the only reason I got those things in Morrowind. Ah but my character looked good when I was done!

I wouldn't be here if it weren't for JRPGs. In fact if it weren't for Final Fantasy III/VI, I'd probably have gotten out of video gaming entirely. Which would have meant that all that money I've spent on video games/consoles/PCs since then I could have been putting into my savings account.

An approach which worked very well in Deus Ex. SO it's hardly a bad thing. Invisible War, which allowed a sex choice in character creation was a massively inferior game, so there's really no correlation that such a choice makes a game better. I don't think there's any hard coded "this is good, this is bad" approach. Certainly for me, I like being able to make my protagonist be whoever I feel like making at the time of playing, including name and gender. That's my personal preference. I'm also very likely to restart any RPG I play that allows me to define any part of my PC as I try to play around with character options (not in a min-max way, but in a "who do I want this character to be" way), so I might not be the norm anyhow. And there are a lot of games - good games - I've played that don't allow you to change...well anything about the character. You start as a given character with a given appearance and a given gender and a given class and you have to run with it. I say this all to say that I can understand the reaction of the OP (even if it is a drive-by complaint) to being a forced gender character. I understand the same complaint from a number of people whose opinions I respect about Planescape: Torment. I loved PST, volunteered to moderate the BIS forum for it. But I also understand the appeal of having total control to define the visual and gender elements of a character and how some players can be put off by it lacking in a game. Would the ability to change gender or name be a sole reason to buy a game for me? No. But it is a part of the total whole in my completely subjective evaluations about whether I want to spend money on a game or not.

Let's be clear. You can't change the name of the character, or his gender. You can however change his abilities, and to a large extent, his appearance. Saying we don't have character customization is not accurate, nor is it fair to all of the team that worked hard to make sure players can enjoy making their own Mike Thorton. I'm sorry, that was poor choice of words in my case making my point unclear; I was not trying to make light of the effort that has went into the game. The lack of name/gender changeability was what I was referring to; Initially it did drop my interest as its something I've - for better or worse - come to expect in modern RPGs (at least those not developed in Japan). But I didn't lose total interest in the game. I kept up with the development in a vague way and the things I heard - the ability change abilities to make Mike Thorton the spy you want him to be and the unique dialogue system re-interested me in it. Certainly whenever the game comes out, it'll be one that I'll pick up. I'm not against a character who is defined to a certain extent (greater or lesser depending on the game) if the game is good enough to warrant it, and I like what I've seen so far from Alpha Protocol after my initial reaction to the early word on the game.

In this case, I had a reason to look up ST based RPGs (before deciding to wing-it).

Spectral Force 3 and Operation: Darkness were tactical jRPGs and I believe neither got very good ratings. Wasn't Eternal Sonata turn based? I seem to remember it getting pretty decent scores/reviews. I think The Last Remnant was turn based and received mixed reviews. Besides FFXIII I think Square-Enix is going to publish a new Front Mission (Front Mission Evolved) which - I'm guessing based on previous entries - will be turn based.

I would just drop it. Repairing weapons and armor has never been that important to a good crpg. However, the repair skill SHOULD be used in the gameworld, for dialogue checks, quest options, item modifications etc and so forth. But Bethesda has never been about that. their concept of a repair skill has always been nothing more than busywork. At least in Oblivion and Morrowind the busywork wasn't terribly annoying. In FO3, it is. I kinda know where you're coming from - I hate games that have an eating requirement (which explains why I've never finished MotB) as I always feel like I spend all game trying to make sure I have enough food to travel 2 foot from town. I didn't feel the repair stuff was that bad, since it didn't result in my starving to death every 30 minutes. That said I'm all for more use to skill checks. I know there was some talk about adding Gambling back into the game, and to me if it were added as a skill, it would be a good example of a skill which to make reasonable to add would have to have some utility beyond the obvious. Sure you can use it to help the odds in gambling, but it'd be neat to see it applied in other situations as well. Like being able to add gambling to certain skill checks giving you the potential to do really well or really bad at them (with a higher skill lowering the chances of the really bad).