Isn't leaving extremely powerful particle stream generating equipment out in the open air how supervillains get made?

Tell me this isn't how it happens: some escaping convict, with dogs barking and flashlights swinging wildly behind him is being chased through the Swiss woods. He jumps the one fence with the "do not enter" sign even as the klaxons begin to blare in warning of the experiment beginning. In his panic he doesn't notice the air-cooling door opening ahead of him and falls through into the machine itself. He yells, and bangs on the walls but is unheard and unnoticed as the cold voice of science counts down to ignition over a distant intercom. The hairs on his arms stand on end and electricity crackles through the air around him as the room begins to glow...

...and so on. It's how we end up with the nefarious Baguette Man. Hrm... maybe it was on the French side instead of Switzerland?

More the point: what kind of open-air equipment is immune to rain and vulnerable to bread?

I wrote one like that in high school:

A team of tiny tapeworms were trekking through a tract
As was their creed and calling, the purpose of their pact
When one among their numbers, who's eyes were not as strong
Decided he would light a match, not knowing this was wrong.
But the others saw the danger and screamed with tiny howls:
"He will ignite the methane gas! EVACUATE THE BOWELS!"

Lets see, I got to tell Ron Gilbert a limerick I wrote face to face, I got to play 20 glorious minutes (each) of Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 AND I saw Bioware unveil Old Republic gameplay?

Worth it.

Pro tip: Blizzard had free bottles of Blizzcon Hand Sanitizer (I kid you not) at their desk. That'll save you, surely.

Nicotine Improves Brain Function In Schizophrenics

We're glad to hear it!

Better AI agents? If it means the end of Ulduar PUGS more power to 'em. But I've been hearing a lot about "computer designed" games recently and I think it sounds like a terrible idea. I don't even like the idea of player driven design, why would I trust the machine?

You see what I enjoy most about games is reveling in the craft of the designer. Bioware's story, Blizzards art, Lionheads... press releases. These are professionals, very good at what they do, who are setting out to engage me. So they wrap a story around me and that story is "Your hero sets out from humble beginnings to acquire the strength to defeat..." and so on and so forth. Player driven? "Your hero sets out from humble beginnings when suddenly M0nkeeP4nts, a level 80 death knight, runs him through with Newb Gank, his legendary two handed sword. Then he squats over your corpses face and farts loudly." I find it hard to imagine anything computer driven doing much better

...though as a side note I *do* enjoy when a decent designer builds some random elements in. X-Com's or Diablo's random maps are great. I mean, heck, even Worms would play out differently if you just had the static, premade arenas memorized. So there's something to be said for dynamic systems, certainly, I just like to know that a qualified professional is behind that system, is all.

I've always been a movie guy, and this has long irked me. Those few times I've given whatever series a try, I'll say "why is this good" and they'll go "oh, you have to watch the whole thing".

But, see, that *isn't* actually true of movies. You might not know the story, but you'll know the quality from about any point. If I'm flipping channels and I land half way through a movie I don't know it doesn't take me long to know if I think it's well made or not. Then, of course, I rent it to see it all from the beginning. But I can tell the quality right away.

Why should TV be exempt?

Besides, I like to think of myself as the consumer and not the consumed.

Nerf transvestite tree spirit pimps of dead ghost whores.

The unlucky marine from Doom 3 - when it was once again too dark to see - said "It just isn't right - that the shotgun and flashlight - are each bound to a separate key."