Monolithic0117

Indeed I do. It's a great series, one of the best around. SE4 was all around very good, save for several bumpy moments.

It takes place during the events of the Fall of Reach book.

ESRB ratings don't help nowadays... you see 10 year olds buying games like Assassin's Creed 2, which are obviously meant for adults. The retailers really don't enforce the "adult games for adults" idea either... they're more or less indifferent. For example, I was at a Future Shop the other day, and I saw a 12-13 year old kid buying The Saboteur, an M-rated game. Of course, children these days are exposed to ample amounts of violence and sexual content... just take a look at what's on daytime television. The content children are exposed to nowadays is significantly different than, say, 30 years ago. I also object to the ESRB's bias towards adult content. The ESRB will (on most occasions) only rate a game AO if it has sexual content. Intense, graphic violence is less adult than sexual content? I don't think so. Of course, most video game players being teens these days, certainly they would be bigoted towards ratings of any kind... what child would want a pesky "M" rating to hamper their access to their favorite games? So in this context, if you were making a serious verdict, you wouldn't excogitate the opinion of non-adults - they are incontestably biased.

Banning GETbacon for bumping this thread.

Judo.

Banning thrillex for having a smiley as his/her avatar. I dislike smileys.

This is groan-worthy - another Halo game? Looks like Bungie is looking to squeeze the Halo franchise completely dry.

Banning brophy for (I assume) imitating Bob Marley.

One word. Richmond.

Heheh, posting about some of my particular obsessions would probably get me banned... :ninja: Some of my milder ones: - a love for fancy, expensive drinks and food - coffee (black, at least one cup a day) - my revolver collection - my schedule (I incorporate seconds as well) - a hatred for tidiness (must be caused by my horribly tidy childhood) - my video game collection (I keep many boxes and bookshelves in my basement to hold all of them)

Banning jaosals for having a storm trooper wearing a Santa hat as his avatar.

Well, not exactly. People tend to forget that the brain isn't just responsible for the obvious thinking and remembering, but also handles all motor and most biological functions, constantly adapts for new memory and stimulus, and maintains several processes which are constantly reading, caching, and writing data. All the while, being able to react to any sudden change instantly. Most of those subconscious process are what is necessary to make you, you. Sure, you could use all that space for conscious processes, but you'd probably have the personality of a steamed cabbage and get really tired of having to manually regulate your own body temperature, bloodpressure, heartrate, and gastric functions just to keep on living. Just because it's there and you can't normally take charge of it doesn't mean it's going to waste. Even those parts that do go to waste (such as losing sight) often end up being re-used for other things. In short - allocating brain processes such as the sensory systems to mental functions won't end well. Indeed, but intellect is not actually being enhanced - hypnotherapy just places people in a beneficial state of mind. The extent to which that state "boosts" intelligence is limited.

No, genetic engineering should be the last option for serious healing. If you want more intelligence, you could try hypnosis or something to improve our subconscious brain (it's 90 % of our brain). Do it and you'll be a genius. You should know, the "we only use 10% of our brain" thing is a myth. We actually use 100% of our brains. This page should inform you all about it: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/tenper.html And using hypnosis to improve intelligence is impossible. Hypnosis' applications include pain management and weight loss, but improving intelligence via hypnosis is inconceivable.

It's console only, no release for the PC is planned. (Straight from the developer's mouth)

Veteran.

Banning shadow for making dubious assumptions.

I've pre-ordered the Dante's Inferno Divine Edition from GameStop, and I highly anticipate its release. We shall see if its a God of War clone, or not.

Banning Pronam because all this talk of vodka and liqueur reminded me of Sabra liqueur, which I am greatly fond of. :iluvff: Which reminds me, I should order a bottle for Christmas.

Banning Pronam - vodka is one of my favorite alcoholic beverages, along with liqueurs of all kinds. Sacrificing Subway for it is no big deal.

Technology.

Uh, waiting until the economy improves to pursue gene therapy/genetic engineering instead of continuing the existing research (if that's what you're saying) won't really make a difference... besides, as Vagrant said, you can't just set some geneticists on this and expect results yesterday. And guys... genetic engineering is not some miracle medicine that you can administer to anyone and everyone. It has its ramifications, and those ramifications are more complicated than you think...

Banning Derkins because I can't remember seeing him here, and I've been around for most of this thread...

Banning Pronam because that avatar is hurting my eyes.

How would such a monstrous being that would result from the procedures you speak of be able to survive in normal society? I can't see a half-bird, half-human with an 8-foot wingspan walking around a mall, can you?

That's not the point I was trying to make. Even if, by some tiny chance, you were able to implant an embryo with the proper genes to allow growth of wings successfully, the result could not fly. Sprouting a pair of wings from our shoulders/limbs will not allow us to fly. Our bodies are not designed for flight. In order to fly, our bodies would have to be very similar to a flying animal's. You cannot achieve this by just inserting several genes, and even if attainable, the end result would ultimately be pointless.