I'm pretty sure he's being sarcastic there, dude.

don't let Sony marketing hear you! or they might come up with more crazy ads... anyone remember the ps3 baby one? man, that was surreal and horrifying all at once :)

Try getting some of the game balancing modifications before giving up. Judging by what my friends have told me, Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul is king. It makes the game playable as a pure spellcaster, for example... And I think it has minimal level scaling -- or at least, zoned areas that are relatively static.

http://devnull.sweetdanger.net/ooo.html

that'd be great. I remember they added a patch / tweak to System Shock 2 that removed spiders entirely for people with arachnaphobia... I seem to remember that they also had a spawn timer adjustment as well. I wish I could've set that to off by default, and still had the difficult at normal / hard.

The game was creepy enough without wanting to back track / hang around for fear that more dudes would show up... there has to be a finite number of enemies on the ship, right? :)

I can, and it's a fantastic and fun song. You should've asked me! :3

I'm classically trained but thoroughly enjoy fiddle music. Nothing is quite as crowd pleasing in a pinch, and it's great at parties. If I could play some Paganini perhaps, then maybe I'd stick to straight classical, but that stuff is bloody difficult. :)

Try OtterBox cases. They're pretty much indestructible for all basic needs, airtight so dust and water stay out, etc.

They have a 4th gen version out right now. The "Armor" version, the most expensive one, is the one you want if you're looking for something heavily durable. I have a 2nd Gen nano case and it's utterly fantastic. I've swam with it and everything.

www.otterbox.com

I was just in an Apple store for the first time the other day (in Ottawa), and needless to say, beyond alarm locks, I don't think there was anything else securing the items in the shop. At least, that's all that were on the iPhones, I didn't look too hard at the rest of the stuff.

And nothing was locked behind cases. It was very odd in that it's not like any other computer store -- just hardwood tables and Apple electronics on them, with a massive double sided shelving unit in the middle of the store, and similar hardwood tables at the back with the registers hidden from sight -- which is probably why it was so busy. People like the sense of self-importance the Apple brand gives them. I'm willing to be it looks cleaner and friendlier to the average person.

and hey, I'd rather they get an Apple computer if they're not willing to take certain precautions to keep viruses and crap off their system. Heck, even when you know what you're doing, a Windows system is sometimes irreparably hosed...

I thought you were talking about the new Xbox Live "Experience" avatar creation at first... ;)

It wasn't just that it was insanely well balanced, it's also that Blizzard patched it over the years as exploitable game mechanics came about. It could be argued that the constant focus on balancing and rebalancing the game, as well as listening to the community from pros on down is what made Starcraft a perfectly balanced game.

(for an RTS -- I suck horribly at micromanaging so TBS is more my bag)

Fuck you.

We've been opposed to this shit since the beginning of your so-called "reforms," and now you go one further and try to make it even more draconian?

And you wonder why I have no qualms subverting your business model and giving money in a more direct manner to the artist instead.

Then Microsoft will be happy to follow suit!

Seriously though, an Apple "netbook" tablet style PC with a reasonable size screen (10" maybe?) with gestureriffic stuff and some nice note taking software would be awesome. I'd probably even preorder one... and I've never owned an Apple PC before. :-)

When was the last time you saw a cloud derail something? :P

Isn't this from the guy that ran Hellgate: London into the ground in the most ridiculous way possible?

I can't find the link, but I remember reading a postmortem of Hellgate from the community and a few developers that discussed how ever since he's gone solo, the man has managed to bring all sorts of fail to the party.

hm, looks like I'll have to make a stop by there on a lunch hour some time. It's not far from where I work, and I've lived in the area all my life.

Politicians. Sigh.

I believe it's Doctor Byron Orpheus. With a "B."

At least, that's how I've always heard it pronounced... I'm too lazy to check Wikipedia. :P

And don't forget Dr. Jonas Venture and Dr. Jonas Venture Jr.!