I prefer "relevant post or GTFO"

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Did we play the same game?

The atmosphere was interesting for the first 5 hours of gameplay, then it just got in the way of trying to play the game.

I got to the point where, every time I'd walk through a door, I'd look to the side and fire into the demon I *knew* was standing there. It was like the line in Last Action Hero where Arnold walks into his apartment, kid in tow, walks into the bedroom and puts a few rounds into the closet door. A ninja falls out of the closet, dead, and the kid says, "How did you know there was a ninja in there?" Arnold says, "There's always a ninja in there."

The only discomfort I felt was when I was squinting and cranking the gamma up just so I could see what I was doing.

The story sucked, too. What do I expect from a FPS? Deus Ex, Bioshock, System Shock, and all their associated sequels, etc. etc.

Source for that?

Not that I doubt you, but I'd like to read more...

Nope, they were going down hill long before the Activision merger.

Fear - the most concise explanation I've read so far for all these shootings. Paranoia, fear, mistrust of the government, of one's own neighbors, of one's own family. You nailed this one on the head.

That fear is bred by our divisive politics and our sensationalist media. I blame the news more than I blame guns and gun ownership. I think gun ownership is another symptom of the problem - not the problem itself. Banning assault weapons won't work.

What's the solution? Funding public mental health hospitals and asylums are a step in the right direction. Treatment over incarceration is the right direction as well. Psychological testing of school children might help identify potential problems and get kids the help they need before it's too late. Finally, ratchet down the political rhetoric.

Ultimately, though, history shows that whenever we have a dramatic shift of how society functions, we have an increase in violence. Either we have a war (American Revolution, American Civil War, etc) or we have riots like in the 60's, anarchist bombings like the Haymarket Riot, assassinations like Lincoln, or many other examples throughout history. Unfortunately, we live in turbulent times currently, where we have a national conversation on moderately changing the entire direction of the country - changing how we operate for the first time since Jimmy Carter left office. Naturally, it's going to lead to a lot of fear, and as a result, a lot of violence.

You mean the one they've been ignoring for the last 200 years?

As a gamer, I completely concur.

As an office drone, though, I need some of the more advanced stuff.

I heard once that the reason he didn't do anything with SW after ROTJ was because his ex-wife had a clause in the pre-nup that guaranteed her a certain percentage of Star Wars revenue for 10 years after their divorce - he started work on the special editions as soon as it expired.

Just a rumor, though - I have nothing confirming it.

Union strike? In China?

We've all seen what happens when Chinese people rise up against the establishment.

Call me when they get the price per KWh down to below non-renewable sources.

Chicago

Microsoft isn't forcing me to upgrade - Valve is. I don't have enough memory to play the new games that are coming out. I'll stay on Windows 7 at least until Windows 9. Or maybe I'll switch over to Linux permanently if Valve's Steam for Linux is worthwhile.

4 years back? I'm still gaming on my 6 year old build. The only things I've upgraded are my RAM and video card.

I'm eyeing a new CPU/mobo/RAM combo this winter because 4G of memory just isn't enough anymore. It's a shame - my CPU and the rest of my system are just fine.