Randox

Off to Disney World tomorrow for a week, massively looking forward to it. A glorious week without snow or school. Mostly without the snow. Helped my brother move today. Their new house isn't done yet, so round two was playing tetris in the storage locker. Fun times. They also seem to exclusively buy furniture that is heavier than it looks, though I can't say I begrudge the exercise. But yeah, very excited. And the contruction they were working on last year in the Magic Kingdom is complete now I think, so even get some new sights.

I did enjoy that video. And I know it's a small thing, what the console looks like (if that's how your making your choice, perhaps it's time to go back and take a long hard look at your priorities), but not having a picture to show is kinda funny.

I got Dead Space 3. There are things I can't say I am terribly fond of, and I haven't figured out the ammo system yet (if it's 1:1 for every single weapon, machine guns are going to suuuuuuuuuuuck). At first the game felt almost cartoony because they made actual living people fall apart (and I do mean "fall apart" not "be dismembered"). The necromorphs are also unsatisfyingly resilient to being dismembered and I don't know why, because dismembering necromorphs is the entire point of the flipping game!. I also have issues with the number of regenerating enemies in the game (any number greater than one constitutes a war crime in my books), but that's a personal issue, and on the up side, I might actually get over my fear of this type of enemy, or at least learn to chill out when facing one, which would boost my enjoyment of the entire series. I also hear the game has a lot of cut scenes, and if true, I am going to find this endlessly amusing. In Deadspace 2, it was a stated goal to have as few cut-scenes in the game as possible. Whenever they could, they instead used scripted events, and way more quick time events than should be allowed (still, not even close to being in the same league as resident evil). I actually like the cut scenes, especially if it means less quick time events, but I feel like I did going from the second to third harry potter movie. It's like they changed directors, the games are quite different as a result, and I'm not sure I like it. All that aside, it's actually a great game, and they did keep a lot of the stuff that made the others great. They are still doing an amazing job with the atmosphere, and the screaming people made a return from the second game (witnessing the panic right at the start of it hitting the fan) which I was very happy to see. The game still feels a bit weird, but it's a deadspace game through and through. I also sincerly hope this is my last EA game ever, because the DLC for this is the most infuriating combination of things you want and the equivalent of the oblivion horse armour. Unfortunately, I think at the end of the day Deadspace 2 will still be my favourite. It only has one regenerator, dismemberment is a bit more satisfying, and it doesn't have a love triangle.

The being wattered down PC's makes for an interesting topic. On the one hand, these are standalone systems, and not needing to worry about compatibility and capability of different setups gives you a lot of freedom to do some things that PC's might not like, or many PC's would need more power to do. They already do this of course, but I expect there is a lot more room to get more creative when your not dealing with a modular system. But the more different the consoles become from each other, and the PC, the harder it is to develop a cross platform game, and some of the developers have already failed quite spectacularly, such as Bethesda and Rockstar. Anyway, I cant say I see enough information to make any kind of judgement about the PS3. So far I've learned the controller has a touch pad, the vita can be a controller, and it plays pretty cut scenes. And I don't mean that in a condescending way, I just mean Sony hasn't really shown off the system at all, just talked about it's power and games, so no one knows how it runs yet. EDIT: Did find the specs. That actually looks pretty decent (as in, modern gaming rig descent), and a massive step up from the PS3.

Fluorescent lights. I can't stand being in rooms lit only with fluorescent lights for extended periods of time. I seem to be one of those people who get's really stressed out without a more complete light source, normally in 30-60 minutes.

Whenever the temperature outside is really different from the day before, I am reminded that my room has no thermostat. Temperature control is based on how much I open the radiator, and it was not open enough this morning. Not too bad though, it's snowing so it isn't too freakishly cold outside. Realized I have once again totally stopped paying attention to anything related to gaming news, because I didn't notice deadspace 3 being released. Kinda dropped the ball there, been waiting for that game for a while now. And I can't wait for study break. Going to Disney World again, and I could use a vacation right about now. Also, direct flights this time, which is awesome because I am never returning home through the Montreal Airport again. Based off the last couple trips through there, I'm pretty sure the next escalation is a plane crash. Actually, I'm not sure we'll ever have to pass through TSA security at all, just customs, and quite frankly, american customs are a lot more fun to deal with than the TSA.

I didn't even notice that she confused your and you're :P I also didn't the notice the spelling mistake, probably because I've heard it said that way often enough that it doesn't sound off. Out of curiosity, why don't you like it when girls are your height or taller? I know height is a fairly common criteria, and I'm no exception, but for some reason it's always been on that intrigued me. I assume it has some basis in the protector-protected dynamic. For me it's also an issue if I want to dance with someone (as in Latin and Standard dancing, not normal dancing). Need a guy who is ideally 1-3 inches taller.

Heh, my weakness is the log in screen itself. Forget the rest of the old game, the old log in screen was special, and is technically even part of the game lore itself (a magical gate allowing people to move between dimensions to shouting their name and a special, personal, phrase) compliments of one of the God letters. Seeing them again brings back some of the anger when they took that away from us. I have some great memories from the '06/'07 era in particular, but if I stop and think, the best memories have nothing to do with the game. Not for me. No, that was the time when I was very bored with the free game. It was the people I hung around with way back in the early days, friends who, if I could, I would rub a magic lamp and bring them all back into my life somehow. I actually still have, intermittent, contact with a couple of people from the old days, a couple being the only others I know of who actually still have any involvement in the game after all these years. One logs on about as often as I do, one is an administrator for another fansite, and one is staff on another runescape related project. And when I think about it, the game has for me always been as much about the people I played with as the game I was playing, and moving to the fansite world from the clan world seems to have led to my playing the game less. Now the people are here, so I am too. Just a thought about this.

The house is part of your save game. Removing hearthfire unfortunately wont remove the information from the save game itself, unless someone wrote a program that modifies saves to remove it. There might also be a console command for it I suppose, it would make sense to me to have them for adding and removing hearthfire stuff for testing purposes. If not, then you would have to go back to an earlier save >.> EDIT: Took a look, and there is at least one way to remove the house from your save. Uninstall Hearthfire (I imagine just disabling the hearthfire esm probably works for this) and save your game. The hearthfire data will no longer be part of the game, and so your house wont be included in the new save. You'll obviously want to loot your house first, and it would probably be a good idea to move anyone living in your house to another location that is not part of hearthfire rather than rely on the game to handle the problem gracefully. I am guessing this will also reset your adoptions.

The weird thing is, 2cm in NS is normally not a big deal at all. Not enjoying all the wind though, though it was kind of fun last night since the shaking of the house can be kind of soothing.

In truth, I've been using the detailed cities and outskirts mods for so long (being some of the first I ever got) I don't remember what the vanilla cities look like. And just to be sure, the one I use is this one, which is quite light compared to most. Less forest and more a tree or shrub here and there to make the cities and their immediate surroundings (with the partner mod) a little less barren. I also took a closer look at the mods I am subscribed to, and which ones are active. It looks like the whiterun mod is being totally overwritten by the other set, since the picture of what it should be doesn't match at all what I have, so I guess I need to turf that one (if it weren't being overwritten, I would have removed it too, a bit over the top for me). The Hearthfire houses are...interesting. You can't remove a wing, and you can't properly preview anything, which I find quite annoying. If you haven't already, look it up on one of the wikis (such as this page, which gives an overview of each extension and what it covers). My House has an Enchanters Tower (west), Trophy Room (North), Armour (east). In truth, the only room I am really happy with is the armoury. Of note are the Library, Kitchen, and Greenhouse. The Kitchen and Greenhouse each have a uniqe feature (oven and plant growing). The Library is the only room other than the main hall which has a proper bookcase, and the hall only has one, so if you want to display a lot of books (more than 72 I think), you either need a library or you'll be making piles. If I could, I would probably replace the enchanters tower with a greenhouse, for something a bit different and kind of cool, and either keep the trophy room as well, or replace it with the alchemy tower just so that I still have a tower at all. That said, I am happy with my house, which is slowly being completed, and the armory makes up for everything else. My weapon collection has actually expanded into the rest of the house.

Best to keep it to criticizing each others opinions when and where it's relevant. That discussion was just heading strait into personal insults territory, and I'd rather not deal with all the paperwork :P

Guys. Chill and move on. This thread is not a sounding board for your issues with other posters. There is no thread for that. To help out, I've removed a few posts before things go any further to places they ought not to be going.

I've tried the Enhanced Cities and towns, but I removed most of them. I have kept the one for whiterun though, as I found that one to be pretty reasonable. I also kept riverwood enhanced for a while, but it actually has a graphical glitch in it near the sawmill and it makes it very difficult to find your way around, since that one goes all out rain forest on you. If your looking for something to spice up the cities a bit without going overboard, try detailed outskirts and detailed cities. It's the same sort of idea, mostly adding some fauna and what not, but the author of those mods was a lot more subtle about it. I still have those ones going and quite like them. It's a shame that there isn't a lot else that can be done, aside from redesigning the kits that the cities are built from (which could be quite cool, but an insane amount of work to do properly).

Was actually thinking about the lack of micro, which would be a real attraction for me. I'd pay a few extra dollar a month to be in a live server without that junk. Hedge, you might have a point with it serving as something of a dump bin for certain activities. If they really take off, then one could hope they will draw fire from the real game, though in reality I think you will see the RWT industry expand, not divert. They'll just do their best to ruin both games at once, and I hate to think how much trouble it would be to try and bolt the, not entirely effective, anti bot system to that ancient version of the game (because it uses an entirely different game engine). I am also finding myself tempted to vote for that first month free, which is more than I need. Without the GE, or the current graphics, I won't play. I'm not squinting at that tiny fixed pixel screen ever again (someone with a 2040 screen please take a picture of the 2 inch game window!), now am I bank standing. But I wouldn't mind taking a toddle around for old times sake, and I'm not interested paying what will probably be $5 for one hour. But I also despise being bribed. Anyway, took a look for myself, saw we are getting the servers (now I know why people keep posting lists of numbers). Not at all surprised, though I was expecting it to take a little while longer to break 100k. I figure it will have to break 250 by the time this ends, but like others, I can't see it getting to 500, or even that close. I wouldn't expect the number to much more than double the initial rush, and that's over now.

Either you haven't been paying attention to guard's rambling, or a mod removed that message for you, or you haven't been living in cities long enough :P Or perhaps I think you're all frothing at the mouth with crazy (watch it, the next time I play every single guard is going to ask me if my sweet role was stolen). If I had to guess, it's tied to one of your skills or a faction alignment. For example, I would never get a comment related to a high alchemy level because the last time I made a potion was summer of last year. In the same vein, I would never have heard a comment from thieves guild association (which, if I had to guess, is probably what this comment comes from) because I have never done more than the intro quest to completion. I mostly get combat style questions, comments about some of the quests I have completed. I haven't even gotten arrow to the knee or that other something to the something comment in several hours worth of play. My guard comments are full of other things. Any maybe I have gotten the roll comment once or twice and forgot about it, but it's certainly not a common one, or I would know. I doubt it's a mod, since I don't run any mods that affect gameplay at all. Every one of my mods deals with textures or other visual effects. Oh, and if it were only common in certain cities, I visit Windhelm and Solitude to near exclusion of the others. I don't like a lot of the people in other holds, and if I had my way, Markarth, Falkreath, and Windhelm would have all lost their royals (where Riften would be short everyone except the Yarl who is the only honest resident). I've literally never talked to anyone in Winterold, except getting into the colledge.

I agree that underage prostitution is a distinct issue in and of itself because of the largely unique circumstances that drive it. That said, if you take the core issue which is a lack of (perceived) support system, you'll find adults to whom it applies as well. Take a chronic drug abuser. Perhaps they have no family, or their family has decided they no longer want to fund the drug habbit. They can't get social assistance because again, they keep spending the money on drugs, and they can't afford rehab (and/or don't want to go). Prostitution is a great job for junkies, being that job where people with very serious issues can turn to without the disproving eyes of society and the law starring down at them. Prostitution seems to be something that at least partially is driven by the failings of child services and social services (for an added bonus, read this report by Sen. Nancy Schafer on DCFS in 2007, especially the two stories at the very end, and tell me you don't think...well, I'm not even sure you can call them people). When your trying to keep a roof over your head, or in more extreme cases, a roof over your child's head, you'll do just about anything, including selling your own body. Having these people be afraid of every arm of the law doesn't help. Getting arrested could mean the difference between having a roof over your head and not having enough to both eat and pay rent. If DCFS catches you, your child will disappear into the foster system forever. By making these people criminals (or just bigger criminals), we force them into a world where they are beyond help, and I just don't think that's right. These are the people society has failed. Oh, and I have an extremely hard time believing any escort is not just a high end prostitute. Your paying for a presentable prostitute you can take to parties. It's still a brothel service, just off the books.

An example of people who prostitute for survival are the underage prostitutes who are living on the street. Minors in this situation who for whatever reason do not want to talk to the authorities (generally because of the situation they would be placed into if they do) have very few options. Anyone who could help them is legally obligated to report to child services, which is just as good as waling into a police station. They also can't beg on the streets, because someone would phone the police or child services within minutes and they'd be picked up. Prostitution is a means for someone in this situation to make money without immediately getting picked up by the police. And my source for this is a man who spent quite a bit of time homeless himself, in the city I live in, and now spends his time helping others get off the street and running a homeless shelter.

A reminder to everyone that insults, explicit or implied, are not allowed, especially during arguments about controversial subjects where tempers are prone to flaring. Likewise, discussion of and admitting to the use of private servers is not allowed. While the administration recognizes how such discussion is relevant, it's not working out. Admidding to using a private server is as against the rules as ever. The petty insults need to stop. Arguments such as "the community would be better off without x" or implying a user is trying to win the douche bag grand prize, and fanboy arguments are included. Again, we recognize that this is an issue which is going to bring a lot of strong emotions to the table, and we will make efforts to be reasonable people in this regard. However things are starting to get out of hand, and it would be great if people could take a few deep breaths, maybe go watch an episode of your favorite TV show (a comedy would be fantastic), and just chill out and come back to the table with a clear head before more warnings and bans need to be issued.

I discovered that eating a lot of sugary candy after being awake for a few hours and eating nothing else, then watching a movie, is a terrifically stupid idea. The shaking, and anxiety, that followed let to me eating most of a 2.5 lb lasagna, and I'm about to polish off the last of it and go grocery shopping. Never again. In other news, I checked a stale dated cheque I deposited last week. It's cleared, which I figured it would (based on the issuer), but I am a bit relieved since it was a nice sum compared to the rest of the deposit. It's enough that I can cover my own grocery bills again without issue. Going to be a feast tonight.

Exactly what I was thinking TT. Open warfare doesn't make particular sense. The United states is a physically large country, which makes bombing or invading it a tremendous pain, especially when you have to ship that invasion to it by sea. More likely would be economic warfare which isn't hard if you could convince say, Canada, who supplies 25% of your oil to not do that (good luck) would cripple the economy leading to massive civil unrest. A fortification of the Mexican and Canadian borders and the country would tear itself to pieces. Open war would lead, if not to nuclear strikes, then probably chemical and biological weapons usage which is potentially just as bad. If the Americans found the disease that took out 96% of North America way back, much worse. As for other species having our intelect. Under the assumption they arent very happy with humanity, and it's occupation of so much of the world, you don't need thumbs to compete with us. We are where we are on the food chain because we are tool users, and have no organized, unified opponent. Assuming we can protect our food and water, which we can't, we are particularly vulnerable to small creatures, especially if they fly, in the sense that most of our weapons that would work on them also work on us (chemical). Africanized Honey Bees are an easy one, since they are already above us on the food chain if we open the door without a flame thrower. Japan has some Giant Hornets which are also known to kill humans. For a ground base assult, the soldier ant would be absolutely devastating (you may remember them from Indian Jones and the Crystal Skull, which was much less exaggeration that you'd like to believe), though at least they can be bombed. Oh, and all the bees have to do is stop polinating our crops and we all die, so that's bad. Then you have your rodents and birds, which have already invaded our cities. Then everything that carries disease and so on. If nature wanted us gone, and got organized and used tactics, everyone who doesn't live in the arctic circle on a munitions depot would be dead inside a month.

New Brunswick right? Would expect them to be a bit more on top of that seeing as you get more snow than Nova Scotia does, though like here I spend most of my time if not in the city, than not too far away. Aside from that freaking private road I found a few weeks back there in Moncton. In their case they contracted the plowing to the province, who plows them once they are done taking care of all the public roads (which does make sense, even if it's a huge pain for the businesses there).

I am immediately thinking of the show The Glades (crime drama), which I love dearly but is obviously sponsored by Kia to the point where the writers themselves wrote a joke about it into the show ("I think you sound like a car commercial"). It doesn't hurt the story, except for the 10 seconds of actual diologue, since they are good about writing the car commercials into the exposition segments, but every time it happens (once every few episodes) I actually want to leave the room or mute it because it's so unnatural and awkward. While SoF and Solomon break immersion too by being outside the lore, at least they tend to break immersion outside the actual game, except for that stupid little ad you get logging in. With product placement, it's always in the game, and you get that unnatural break from the game world constantly. Product placement only works when it's natural. It should be limited to things you would expect to see anyway (though it's nice when a movie is sponsored by more than one car maker. I distinctly remember a move where I realized every single car on the road was a Ford), and attention should not be called to those objects in an unnatural way, like the shoes that shall not be named in I Robot or the Kia in The Glades.

Yeah, it's really not that much work. They found an intact copy with the game, so all they really have to do is interface the old game with the current systems because the modern log in servers will be using a different structure by now. It's coder work, so it wont impact updates. I also have to say, being part of the game when it's brand new, with no resources and no intact economy. That would actually be really cool to be there during a beginning.

How are you trying to redirect it? Does steam have some ability to do this that I didn't notice or is a symbolic link not working?