Vindekarr

Goldfish. Clearly proving that Astrology is bogus. I mean, I can't believe I have the same spirit animal as Eric Clapton and book-burning, commie-hating Senator McCarthy.

Skyrim looks as amazing 3 years later(with mods) as it did when it was new. It still manages to have all the same raw impact, which is amazing. Not many games can say that. Halo(the original 2001 release) EVE Online(You'd never guess it's 11 years old) Crysis Warhead and Ace Combat 4 for me all still have massive graphical "wow" factor. Halo may look very dated now, but for 2001 is looks incredible and the levels still feel big by today's standards. EVE Online is staggeringly immense and has so many little tricks that it never ceased to impress; many of the stars in the skybox are actually playable locations and their positioning perfectly matches their map location. Crysis Warhead still looks damn good all these years later, as does Ace Combat 4. Both games also hold up pretty well on gameplay considering they're five and ten years old respectively. EVE Online: it looks and plays like it came out last week. In reality it's over ten years old, pre-dating even World Of Warcraft. http://web.ccpgamescdn.com/newssystem/media/65345/1/Kronos_wallpaper_2560x1440_EN.jpg

I know exactly what you're talking about Kool, I'm currently playing EVE Online, which has a lot in common with Dark Souls. You see a lot of ragequits-some people just can't cope with the stress. EVE is a very complex game, and requires a lot of reading. It's a game where cognisance, common sense and a willingness to learn trump any level of elan, aggression or reflexes. Everything has consequences; the community largely self-governs, and nearly every aspect of the game is player controlled. Learning how the world works is crucial and many older players have trained atleast a few newbie pupils. The problem is, not everybody wants to learn, and that's why some people simply implode(or explode) in EVE just as they do in Dark Souls. The first thing EVE teaches you is "don't fly what you can't afford to lose" A lost ship doesn't respawn, and the best ships offer solid performance at a bargain price. Smart pilots only use expensive high-power ships in PVE; PVP is generally fought using cheap, expendable Cruisers and Frigates. And yet for reasons beyond my comprehension I frequently see hideously expensive(and often hideously vulnerable) ships lumber into PVP and get smashed, with the aggrieved owned ranting for hours afterwards on every forum they can find about how unfair the game is.

Can confirm, Arma 3.

I like the idea, but on one condition: you occasionally have to show up to deliveries in your undies. Afterall, the NPC couriers often show up in their tightey whiteys, it's for authenticity(and humor) http://gamesfiends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/courier2.png

Nice! although knowing what I do about dogs, a Chihuahua is too stupid to ever worry about anything. The savage little shits consider everything alive to be viable prey. As for me, I met a very interesting new guildmate in EVE today. The guy's been playing since the original game was launched in 2003, and is quite a famous player. Specifically for stealing 200 billion credits from a former guild, and subsequently laying the groundwork for a massive guild-war. EVE is a wonderful game; it's lack of rules means it tends to create it's own very human storylines in a way no other MMO can. This guy's been the star of quite a few of them, and it's been fun hearing a few from someone who was actually there. Here's the actual story, as it originally aired: http://themittani.com/news/titan-down-vengeance-past-theft

Ooohh, that brings back memories. :laugh:

Or possibly do both. But you're right, Ubisoft's got a terrible history with female characters, and IMO their writing tends to be extremely predictable in general.

Witchcraft.

Excellent.

It sure has been a good day today. And I don't just mean the 50% off men's pants sale either, or the fact my EVE Online guild won it's first war. I don't think I've ever seen this many disturbing, alarming world news situations come to a "good end" in one day. Nouri Al-Maliki stepped aside peacefully, the Peshmerga and US rescued the trapped Yazidis and got them to safety, and the Fergusen riots came to a peaceful end. The public media seem to have run out of depressing things to report; that's a good day in my book.

As a quick refresher: everybody gets killed off. Everybody.

I think you'd like them Pagafyr. George Martin is a very intelligent and creative writer, and the books themselves are quite complicated. Complex plots and sophisticated characters.

Not a movie per se, but I'll be watching Game Of Thrones tonight. It's very movie-like but was made as a TV series because the books are simply too long to turn into movies. We're several whole series into the TV show, and there's still a few books to go.

I'm Gen Y; I came into Star Trek with the films in the late 2000s, and the audio struck me almost immediately as a very strong element. It added hugely to both movies, Into Darkness especially. From my experience, people like noisy machines, particularly vehicles. I'm only guessing, but I'd think it's because it gives the machine a "voice" ands makes it easier for us to connect with it. Or maybe we just like loud noises. As someone who likes cars, for me(and most car enthusiasts) a pleasant engine note adds a lot of extra character. The Mini Cooper is a great example, it's deep baritone gurgle makes it sound about twice as big as it actually is.

I remember you just fine, how's it going?

There is already what's arguably a lumberjacking simulator available on Steam. It's called Spintires. I've actually played it, and strange as it sounds, it's not a bad game. Very sophisticated physics. You run out on content and fun very quickly, but if somebody modded it into an exploration game I suspect it would be brilliant. What's interesting about Spintires' physics is the deformative terrain. As you drive, a set of physics algorithms calculate the truck's inertia, weight, distributed weight, traction and the ground's firmness and wetness. Based on these factors, you have to drive quite carefully so as not to risk getting stuck. Too much gas will spin your wheels and break the ground(stuck) too slow and you sink(stuck) so there's quite a bit of thinking involved. If you applied that to a map that's actually worth exploring, and added in some Camel Trophy style challenges, I think you'd actually have a really fun, if very unusual, new game.

I know this doesn't really have any bearing on the topic you want to discuss, but that kid's facial expression made my night.

Started the second season of Game Of Thrones tonight. There's a different director and it's pretty obvious that the budget was atleast double that of season #1. The quality remains however, and I'm still really enjoying it. GOT is one of very few Hollywood adaptations that can actually duke it out with the book it's based on; the films have the advantage of a cut-down and much more "concise" story, which has a much better flow and sense of cohesion. It's also nice seeing Hollywood relying on stuntmen more than CGI. There is still a lot of CGI present, but it's mostly reserved for backgrounds and a handful of magical creatures(like dragons and direwolves) The fight scenes are just that; two blokes bashing eachother silly, and that's a nice change from Hollywood's usual tendency to over-blow fantasy worlds. The fights look a lot like Medieval Recreators in action, and I really approve of that. Adds a lot of authenticity.

Heh, Perth could do with that system as much as America. It's got just as many unfit lounge-lizards per capita I swear, and unemployment could always use some work.

Wow, yeah that's very impressive audio quality. Definitely a recording of the real car. I'm just praying the rest of the game is done to that level of quality and authenticity. I still vividly remember Space Marine: it had one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard from a Shooter, but the game itself was abysmal-a total failure on many level. Space Marine's OST was superb: dark and spectacular with a slightly melancholy undertone. Unfortunately despite that, the rest of the game was awful. EDIT: the middle is the best part if you're short on time.

True that, will amend article.

Warhammer 40K: Space marine was, depending on who you ask, either a very obscure third-person shooter with some major faults, or blatant foul heresy worthy only of execution of all involved. And yet for everything it did wrong, it had a beautiful musical score. Think Star Wars, but with a darker, sadder undertone. Dark, brooding and melancholy, it suits the universe perfectly, and fans couldn't have asked for more. The music was arguably the highpoint of a very poor game; colourful and interesting while everything else about it was either grey or brown. If the writing or artwork could have matched the audio's gothic qualities it would have been a masterpiece, not a disaster. EDIT: This song takes an absolute century to get going, but it really sums up the whole soundtrack: dark, melancholy strings performed beautifully.

Stepping around the issue of race is really difficult. For me, I try to treat everybody as "people" and race-neutral, but that isn't always going to work. I don't think there really is a perfect solution; "person of colour" could easily be construed as polite or racist as much as my attitude of neutrality. The same thing happens with gender identity. You can treat people as gender-neutral and eventually somebody with a particular gender identity will scream at you. Sexual identity is even worse because no matter how polite you are, no matter that you don't actually feel any conscious prejudice, some "demisexual" or "quasi-sapiosexual" is going to scream at you for refusing to acknowledge them. People are a game of minesweeper even if you aren't a particularly prejudiced person. I'm a moderate, centrist person who doesn't have any prejudices that they're aware of and who's politics favour an equal society with as few borders as possible. And I get yelled at all the time-often by the exact groups people I've protested for. It's just the way life is, you can't really be universally polite however hard you try, and your actual politics rarely make any difference.

Anybody living in/near Australia probably saw this on the news today; a man was boarding a train when his foot became stuck. A total stranger saw what happened and ran along the train, alerting the driver that a man was stuck. Once the train was immobilised... well see for yourself. These things are not light; they weigh about as much as a main battle tank, and here we see a crowd of ordinary, slightly chubby Perth residents tilt one without much trouble. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-06/man-freed-after-leg-trapped-in-gap-on-perth-train-station/5652486 So; people power. What is it? conventional physics? cumulative force applied to an object overcoming it's mass and pushing it normally? Or something juicier? Debate! EDIT: link is totally safe BTW, it links to an Australian taxpayer-funded news network.