Posts by twiz

  • Fallout 3

    i really, really like fo3. its pretty much what I'd imagine an fps fallout would be. You still spend 90% of your time picking through boxes/desks/etc to find loot. Also it makes exploring more fun, instead of just random encounters(which I almost always just ran away from in FO2). You can actually just roam around and find shit, buildings and raider camps and such. Definitely a lot of fun!

    I really don't think the graphics are all that bad, sure they're not like crysis or whatever but for a game of this scale I think they did a hell of a job. Sure its very brown but.. its a post-apocalyptic wasteland, I think if it was much more colorful it wouldn't look right.. thats what happens when shit gets dirty. It turns brown.

  • What have you purchased recently?

    Quote from Bic-B@ll

    A college student season pass for mount snow, vermont. If bought before Nov 1st it's 295. A 1 day lift ticket is 75 dollars so thats four days of skiing right there. An amazing deal for a pretty close, awesome mountain. I plan on going on many-a-trips next semester with whoever will go. Plus im on the market for a ski rack for my car.[Blocked Image: http://www.mountsnow.com/images/trailmaps/main_map.jpg]

    Mount Snow is awesome

  • Far Cry 2 review

    Quote from Zyndrome

    Ok, so I guess it's completely normal that a ratchet wrench behaves like this:[Blocked Image: http://i35.tinypic.com/ngx7iq.jpg]

    Notice how the small pin just keeps turning back and forth.

    YES I AM COMPLAINING ABOUT A SIMPLE ANIMATION ERROR. NOW BE GONE,

    I HAVE A SCRIPTED EVENT TO KILL TONIGHT IN THE WORLD OF AZEROTH.

    I noticed that too Zyn, and it does bother me a bit... Not only does it not ratchet, but he grabs the extension at the wrong time! Usually a person would grab/hold the extension stationary during the ratcheting portion of the motion, not during the driving/torquing portion.

    But what bothers me even more is.. if your car gets shot a bunch of times, all that happens is the big bolt(!?!) on the top of your radiator comes loose? Crank that bitch back down and bam! Car's fixed! But I understand that there really isn't a good way to represent the gameplay mechanism they're trying to create, because it isn't realistic at all. It is a good idea though, and a I wouldn't want them to take it out.. maybe make the cars a *bit* tougher but other than that its fine. Thats what the upgrades are for I suppose.

    A lot of the game is driving, but hey, the driving is fun, at least I think so. Especially with the dune buggy off road! Trying to avoid rocks and such(and zebras, damn things are always trying to get run over!! And side note on the wildlife, you hardly ever see an animal by an established road, go cruising out in the jungle and you'll see much more of the wildlife.. I know its africa, but its not like africa is packed coast to coast with lions and zebra).

    The missions do get a bit repetitive, mostly go here, get this/blow this up/kill this guy; but hey, thats what I expected. The story is okay, I get kinda lost with it all, sometimes I don't really know why I'm doing something.

    I also agree with Erratic.. The fun in the game is trying different approaches.

    A few things that I really dislike about the game:

    the AI seems to vary wildly. Sometimes I'll be walking about and a guy won't see me until I'm ten feet away from him.. but once he sees me, he can shoot me at a hundred yards when I'm crouching in neck-high grass and shrubs. This hurts the whole hide-n-snipe approach. When you start running into enemy snipers, it gets even more absurd. Their range and accuracy is mindblowing. Sometimes I'll be entirely obscured by trees, bushes, grass, etc and sniper shots will just be flying out at me through the trees, I'll have to run towards them for 20 seconds before I can even see the shooter. This promotes the "screw this, run the fuck away!" approach. To their credit, they did place all the snipers so far in pretty obvious spots, so the "if I were a sniper, where would I be right now?" type of logic generally works pretty well. Of course when you can't even see the structure the sniper is on, doesn't work so hot.

    The giant easter egg, I mean diamond, hunt. Not to say I don't like the idea, just some of it is a bit annoying. There seems to be an epidemic in Africa of people hiding diamonds on top of large structures.. trains, buildings, boulders, etc, leading to some rather annoying jumping puzzles. The jumping mechanics are kinda shitty(just your standard 1.5 foot vertical leap - no jump/crouch or climbing). Other than diamond finding, jumping is really pretty unneccesary to the game. Whenever I'm engaged in one of these diamond searches, I just imagine my guy, holding a gigantic sniper rifle, machete, and machine gun, jumping up and down vertically, humping and sliding off small rocks endlessly. To get 1 measly diamond. Or I could do a job where I get paid 15 diamonds in roughly the same time it takes me to find 3 diamonds outside.

    Anyways thats all for now. In general I really like the game.

  • US presidential election 2008

    Quote from FrieChamp

    One part of Germany used that system for about 40 years and it's nothing like what Obama has in mind! This sounds like Republican propaganda to be honest. You raise taxes for millionaires and you are a commie

    Indeed, I am certainly all for being more socialist, hence my democratic vote. Our health care, education services, and social services are a pitiful joke right now and need serious immediate attention. I come from a wealthy family that will likely be affected by Obama's tax plan, yet they are all still voting for him. Not all wealthy people are selfish, good things cost good money and health care and education is certainly something I'm willing to pay for.

    Quote from FrieChamp

    I have the feeling many Europeans' faith in America is still shattered by George W.'s re-election 4 years ago.

    Not only Europeans, I was crushed by GWB's re-election. After that I had no faith in Americans to make the correct decisions, so you can imagine how strong of an impact Obama must be making here to have me feeling so confident about America's future. Don't let me down again!!!

  • US presidential election 2008

    Haha whoops! Right after I post another south-easterner chimes in

    I agree with you Chunks, I am also concerned with what will happen with the democratic ruled government, the extreme partisanship of our government severely cripples the check and balance system. However, although I'm sure we will shift significantly towards the liberal end of the spectrum, I don't think we'll ever get to socialism. Some politicians still do vote for what they believe in, not just what their party wants them to vote. And on that same token, I don't think the democratic party wants socialism; they'd like to move further left than we are currently, but not that extreme left.

    I am sure some of the change they will make will not be good change, but I believe the majority of it will be for the better. I have seen what the Republicans do with control of Washington, and I don't want to see it anymore. It is now the democrats turn. If they fail, I am sure the American public will let them know with their votes for senate in another two years.

  • US presidential election 2008

    I didn't slander anyone. All I said is by living all along the east coast for 23 years and dealing with Americans of every race and creed, I know that while we do have crazy people, the majority of Americans are not crazy or stupid. I understand why Americans have such a bad global image, but it still frustrates me when I hear it.

    I have not spent any significant time in California(only vacation time) so I cannot comment on the density of crazy people in California. All I can say is crazy people speak the loudest. There are a good number of the preacher-types in North Carolina too, but I do not think that it is an accurate way of measuring what the majority of the population thinks.

    I think what you said about California proves my point nicely. In one of the most liberal states in the country, the thing you noticed was the radical christian conservatives preaching. Obviously, those people do not represent the voting majority of the state, as their views are not the views of the elected political representatives of California

    I am proud of the America I am seeing right now where I am at. Maybe I should say "I'm proud of the democrats living in the east side of Charlotte." I clearly said that I was proud to be American because of the general concern and interest in this election; I did not say I was proud of(or denied the existance of) religious radicals. If I have to be proud of everything about every single person in America to be proud of America as a whole, then I will never say "I'm proud to be American" again.

    My original post had nothing to do with you, Sentura. I don't think I'd even read your post before writing, I just saw the youtube video posted, made a short comment about the inaccuracy of guaging the American public via a youtube video, and proceeded to tell of my recent experiences and feelings about the upcoming election. I am sorry if you took any of my posts as a personal attack, I assure you they were not intended to be.

    I disagreed with your statement about the quantity of religious radicals in America. That is all. If you misspoke, then I retract my statement.

    I do not want this thread to be locked, and I have not and will not flame or make derogatory remarks against anyone. I don't want you to stop posting in this thread because of me. I don't have any problem with you posting, Sentura, and I will not take this to PM because I feel it is important and relevant to this thread to express my views, as an American, of how the general population in my area is acting regarding this election. As far as I know I'm the only American on this board from this part of the US(I apologize if this is wrong! *edit* and I am wrong! Sorry Chunks) so I think I have a unique perspective on the situation.

  • US presidential election 2008

    Quote from Sindwiller

    Fixed.

    [Blocked Image: https://migrationtest.mapcore.org/public/style_emoticons/default/mapcore_smilies/emot_shakehead.gif] You should join the Bill OReilly show Bic...

    Sindwiller. Have you ever BEEN to America? Okay, well then don't do the same exact thing Sentura did by attempting to quantify any group of Americans, because you have absolutely no clue what you're talking about.

    And what is the jab about Bill OReilly? Bic is clearly stating that what sentura said about the proportions of racists in america to the non-racists is drasticly incorrect and (rightfully so) took offense to his comment. It has nothing to do with Bic's political affiliation, beliefs, or some pundit.

  • US presidential election 2008

    Okay. We all know Obama is black(OR IS HE?! can you believe there's some slander on the internets going around that he's not *really* black since he's half white and he wasn't raised by his black father, so I guess he didn't get the TRUE black experience... So whenever obama plays the race card its a lie!!! although.. he never plays the race card....)

    Anyways. I digress. Everyone in this thread knows he's black. Everyone in this thread knows there are stupid racists, EVERYWHERE(not just America, believe it or not!). Everyone knows that one person's opinion means NEARLY absolutely nothing whatsoever to this election. Sure you can use it as a itty bitty tiny little barometer but you honestly have absolutely no frame of reference for how many of these crazies actually exist, so please, lets all not fly off the handle making generalizations because someone posted a YOUTUBE video of some crazy person.

    And on the race issue.. I heard about it a lot at first, a few months ago, but I think once the racists realized that not everyone hates black people(and in fact, very very few people do!), they moved on to the "his middle name is hussein" and/or "he's a muslim(cough terrorist cough)" tactic. That fooled a few more people, but I think they've realized that very very few people are fucking stupid enough to fall for that schtick either. Lately, I've heard nothing much from the slander crowd, I think they realized that they can't win this with slander alone, and also realized.. they don't have anything besides slander. Maybe McCain just doesn't care too much about North Carolina, but I really haven't heard much of anything from him.. Not one person handing out flyers, billboards, not even television ads! Hell Obama has his own freaking CHANNEL.

    What I will say is.. If Obama's campaign efforts are the same in other states/cities as they are here.. he will absolutely decimate McCain. It is absolutely incredible how many volunteers are on the ground working to get young people and the lower class registered to vote. They're holding all kinds of events to promote obama/biden. I've probably been asked a dozen times in the past month if I'm registered to vote, and I guarantee you every single one of those people is there for Obama, although they don't say, they're just trying to get people to vote.

    Obviously my friends are mostly like-minded people, but nearly every single one of the thirty or so friends I have are voting for Obama. One is not voting because he's a racist but still hates McCain, and another is voting McCain. Probably half my friends registered to vote in the past month.

    They have a thing called early voting here in North Carolina.. I drove by one of the polling places about a week ago and there was a line, probably 50 people long, extending out of the door of the polling place. And this is 3 weeks *before* the election! Theres a similar sized line at the library on campus every single day, all day long. Its incredible. I can't wait to see the numbers on how much voting% increased this year. Its going to be huge. People aren't only voting, they're truly excited to vote. It is a wonderful thing to see, people really passionate about who is running their country. gosh.. this is something I haven't said in many, many years.. It makes me proud to be an American.

  • Jogging

    ride a bike.. great thing about a bike is if you get tired, you can still keep going. Just shift gears and go slow for a bit. Biking is so much more fun than running, muuuuch less painful/bad for your joints. I can't run because of my bum knee, after a few minutes it starts stiffening up and aching, but I never get that on a bike.

  • Serious thread: Is 0 a number?

    Quote from barrakid

    Definitely a number, for at least tree reasons:1- The numeric system that we use is called the decimal system, meaning that there are 10 different symbols that can represent every number inside that system, these symbols are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. For this same reason we can say that F (for example) is also a number, if you are referring to the Hexadecimal system that uses 16 symbols (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F).

    2- The symbols that represent the Arabic numbers (the ones that we use) where created by making geometric figures with the corresponding number of angles (1 has one angle, 2 has two angles, etc) in which "0" represents the absence of angles that being the reason why it is represented by a circle. It's easier to see this in the following image (count the dots on each figure):

    http://%7boption%7d

    3- Given the fact that we have negative and positive numbers, if 0 wasn't a number then 1-1 would be equal to -1 instead of 0, which by rules of arithmetics and common sense we know it's not true. Using an analogy If you buy a pie and eat it you end up with "zero pie", if zero wasn't a number you would be owing the baker one pie.

  • Real comedy.

    Quote from dux

    With another shit film from Hollywood being released (Disaster Movie) Seriously, who the hell finds that rubbish even vaguely amusing? Even when high I'd struggle to laugh and even if I did it would be out of pure sympathy for the writers.

    Disaster movie is currently the #1 lowest rated film on IMDB, with a whopping 1.3 rating. Quality.

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213644/

  • Warhammer 40k - Space Marine

    Quote from Cybbe

    Standard Space Marine squad sizes are 5 unit minimum. A sergeant and 4 marines

    Also, link no work

    Not missing much tbh. Just looks like your average console shooter, except it seems your character is even more god-like, taking 8000 bullets while running around chainsawing people.

    I did think the cityscape was pretty impressive though. The art direction seems very good, but gameplay and basic concept seem to be shite. The areas didn't seem to be good for tactical combat at all... the helipad or whatever, its just you and 8 guys on a flat, empty platform. No real cover, just run and gun(and chainsaw!). Looks to be another shitty console shooter with a pretty face

  • Google Chrome

    Quote from Thrik

    Right, which is exactly why there's no reason to use it instead of Firefox or Opera. As it stands, both are much superior browsers. Just because it's Google doesn't mean we have to go all starry-eyed and use it in the hope it'll get better one day — I'll use it once it is better than its competitors.

    This Google loyalty thing is weird. As I said, if this came from anyone other than Google nobody would be even remotely impressed because it's not a particularly impressive browser.

    All IMO of course!!

    Oh I agree, and I'm sure I'll be going back to opera. But I'm definitely interested in kicking the virtual tires, particularly because it is Google. They've certainly proved that they have some brilliant ideas, so I'm trying it out to satisfy my curiosity about it.

  • Google Chrome

    Just installed, this is the first place to go. Seems fast... I don't know if I like how it looks too much though. Opera looks more professional. Internets is serious business, after all. I think even just a grayscaled version would be a big improvement. But anyways I'll report back when I have a more in depth opinion other than "durrrrr i dont like how it looks"