I agree, though Bioware *did* announce that ME2 will contain no DRM sans a standard CD check, so worrying about DRM probably isn't a valid reason to pirate it (I still did, but I had it pre-ordered and just couldn't be arsed to wait until they finally shipped it to my home in Bumfuck, Egypt).
You don't win a fight with raw physical strength - you win it by being smart and aggressive. When I first began fighting back, I wasn't much of a boxer either, but I aimed at where it hurts (yes, call it fighting dirty, but it works), evaded when they tried to strike back and through technique overpowered my "enemy" and took him into stranglehold. A few "gentle" words "whispered" into his ear ensured that he'd never pick on me again.
The reality is that tons of hacking is done explicitly FOR bragging rights. That doesn't make it any less "real" than hacking done for monetary gain, or any other purpose.
Why isn't "a quick, less-intrusive scan and other, less-indecent security measures" an option? It's not that hard to secure a plane without basically taking nude pictures of people. Place an armed guard or two on every plane (and create some jobs doing so, yay!), use conventional scanners to ensure people don't bring along explosives, and enable the pilot to seal the cockpit from the inside so that in case of an extremely unlikely, but possible terrorist take-over he can still land safely.
Actually, after 9/11, I'm not even sure if the armed guards would be necessary. 9/11 "worked" because people thought that cooperation with the hijackers would allow them to make it out alive. Now, things have changed - I'm pretty sure the passengers of a plane won't just sit by and wait until they crash into the Pentagon in case of another hijack.
From what I've seen in some dev interviews, the canonical ending has you and your romance option surviving. Everything else depends on the save you import. Should Shepard die, you obviously won't be able to import him and have to create a new one in ME3.
I agree that Mass Effect 1's story was far better, but I also think ME2 is but a 50-hours premise to ME 3. It's not about telling a complete story - rather it's about setting the mood, introducing some new, interesting characters and, in the end, leave you asking for more (instead of solving everything up nicely, like ME1 did).
Well, I personally found Dragon Age pretty mediocre. It has decent characters, but it's gameplay was abysmal and it's story wasn't too great either (and dude, was it tolkienesque). Mass Effect 2, on the other hand, may be a space opera, but it's a pretty damn well done space opera with both a nice story (although everything feels it's just a premise to ME3) and great gameplay.
I played ME1 and it was okay. ME2 sounds like it's a better story but poorer gameplay, and that's exactly the opposite of what I wanted. I don't think I'll be getting it.
I found ME2's gameplay better; in my opinion, it easily rivals any cover-based tactical shooter (just replace all the nice gear you get in these with all the nice abilities you get in ME2). It's just a matter of taste.
Re:Finished it... Good game, but horrid planet sca
on
Review: Mass Effect 2
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· Score: 1
Do that in the first two or so clusters you're exploring and you likely won't have to scan any other planet for anything but anomalies for the rest of the game.
I guess that's a matter of taste, then. I, for example, found the story in Bioshock rather meh. Sure, it had an epic background story, discoverable through all these nice audio logs you find, but the actual story was just steampunk System Shock 2 mixed with some anarchocapitalism. Halo 2 had some nice moments, but it's ending was kinda meh; I found Halo 1's ending far more climactic. Both Mass Effects made me go both "OH OMG THAT WAS EPIC FSCKIN WIN" and "Awwwww".
Re:I actually kind of miss the old combat system
on
Review: Mass Effect 2
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· Score: 1
You can still tell squadmates who to target by pointing at an enemy and pressing their respective command key.
Given that any alien race who chose to expand could colonise the entire galaxy in under ten million years without even trying hard (or a hundred million years without trying at all, just by tourists on a random walk), the answer to the Fermi Paradox is simple: there aren't any... if they existed, they'd be about as hard to spot as technological life in Manhattan.
That is assuming that a sufficiently advanced alien race has the *desire* to colonize other systems. Consider how "close" (on a grander scale) humanity already is to developments such as universal constructors and advanced AIs - and if you could turn anything you have into anything you desire, if you are quasi-immortal with no need to reproduce: why colonize the universe when you have all you need already at home?
You can't know. It certainly isn't with our current knowledge about space travel. But if you somehow find a way to overcome the "light speed problem" (be it an Alcubierre drive or some other piece of obscure technology), who knows how fast you'll actually be able to go.
Take a look at "ordinary" flight. Not too long ago, it was deemed completely impossible, and with our lack of knowledge about physics, nobody had a clue how it could be feasible - but eventually, someone did it. Technology is progressing faster and faster - who knows what we'll be capable of in 50, 100 or 200 years?
Then read it again. The OP mentioned protecting his kids from antisocial behavior, at least until they are "ready", as a reason for his decision to homeschool.
Besides, glass house and stones. I think *you* are the one with preconceptions here. Just because someone argues against a certain aspect of home schooling does not mean he's a respectless bigot (or even that he's opposing it - I actually am all for homeschooling, believe it or not).
It's very true that you learn to deal with a lot of less-than-social behavior at school - and that's a good thing. A kid that grows up fully sheltered from any evil won't work properly in our society. If you want your kid to be a saint, try teaching him to distinguish right and wrong and to reject the latter, but don't keep them blind about it.
It's true that there's a load of BS going on about climate change, but NASA is one of the organizations I've always respected regarding it. Unlike certain other, mostly politically motivated groups, NASA actually presented some nice, well-funded research, without shouting "ONOZ WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!i!i!i!".
(I was tempted to add a "smiley", but decided it would be inappropriate. What we need is more like an "evil grinney", but I don't know if there's an ASCII symbol for that.)
Give Final Fantasy IV, V and VI on the SNES a try - they're well worth it (especially VI). The PSX titles...well, let's say they are a matter of taste (many people love them - except for 9, which sucks - but I found them lacking). Can't comment on the PS2/PS3 titles, never really got to play them.
Heaven and Hell? I don't think so. Sacrificing yourself to help others might make you a hero, but not necessarily happy. Being a selfish prick might make you happy, but only until nobody wants to have anything to do with you. I think that most people need a balance of both to lead truly happy lives.
In that case, I guess they'd fit the shockwave generator on a remotely controlled metal chassis. We do it with EOD robots, we can do the same for crowd control devices.
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And Rule 34 of Rosie O'Donnel.
What has been seen cannot be unseen! YEARGH EYE CANCER!
I agree, though Bioware *did* announce that ME2 will contain no DRM sans a standard CD check, so worrying about DRM probably isn't a valid reason to pirate it (I still did, but I had it pre-ordered and just couldn't be arsed to wait until they finally shipped it to my home in Bumfuck, Egypt).
You don't win a fight with raw physical strength - you win it by being smart and aggressive. When I first began fighting back, I wasn't much of a boxer either, but I aimed at where it hurts (yes, call it fighting dirty, but it works), evaded when they tried to strike back and through technique overpowered my "enemy" and took him into stranglehold. A few "gentle" words "whispered" into his ear ensured that he'd never pick on me again.
Yeah, but what's worse - getting a bit roughed up by the teachers one time or getting roughed up by some fucker for the rest of your school time?
The reality is that tons of hacking is done explicitly FOR bragging rights. That doesn't make it any less "real" than hacking done for monetary gain, or any other purpose.
No, but it makes you stupid.
Why isn't "a quick, less-intrusive scan and other, less-indecent security measures" an option? It's not that hard to secure a plane without basically taking nude pictures of people. Place an armed guard or two on every plane (and create some jobs doing so, yay!), use conventional scanners to ensure people don't bring along explosives, and enable the pilot to seal the cockpit from the inside so that in case of an extremely unlikely, but possible terrorist take-over he can still land safely.
Actually, after 9/11, I'm not even sure if the armed guards would be necessary. 9/11 "worked" because people thought that cooperation with the hijackers would allow them to make it out alive. Now, things have changed - I'm pretty sure the passengers of a plane won't just sit by and wait until they crash into the Pentagon in case of another hijack.
From what I've seen in some dev interviews, the canonical ending has you and your romance option surviving. Everything else depends on the save you import. Should Shepard die, you obviously won't be able to import him and have to create a new one in ME3.
I agree that Mass Effect 1's story was far better, but I also think ME2 is but a 50-hours premise to ME 3. It's not about telling a complete story - rather it's about setting the mood, introducing some new, interesting characters and, in the end, leave you asking for more (instead of solving everything up nicely, like ME1 did).
Well, I personally found Dragon Age pretty mediocre. It has decent characters, but it's gameplay was abysmal and it's story wasn't too great either (and dude, was it tolkienesque). Mass Effect 2, on the other hand, may be a space opera, but it's a pretty damn well done space opera with both a nice story (although everything feels it's just a premise to ME3) and great gameplay.
I played ME1 and it was okay. ME2 sounds like it's a better story but poorer gameplay, and that's exactly the opposite of what I wanted. I don't think I'll be getting it.
I found ME2's gameplay better; in my opinion, it easily rivals any cover-based tactical shooter (just replace all the nice gear you get in these with all the nice abilities you get in ME2). It's just a matter of taste.
Do that in the first two or so clusters you're exploring and you likely won't have to scan any other planet for anything but anomalies for the rest of the game.
I guess that's a matter of taste, then. I, for example, found the story in Bioshock rather meh. Sure, it had an epic background story, discoverable through all these nice audio logs you find, but the actual story was just steampunk System Shock 2 mixed with some anarchocapitalism. Halo 2 had some nice moments, but it's ending was kinda meh; I found Halo 1's ending far more climactic. Both Mass Effects made me go both "OH OMG THAT WAS EPIC FSCKIN WIN" and "Awwwww".
You can still tell squadmates who to target by pointing at an enemy and pressing their respective command key.
Not to mention the riches of the asteroid belt, to which Mars would make an awesome gateway.
Given that any alien race who chose to expand could colonise the entire galaxy in under ten million years without even trying hard (or a hundred million years without trying at all, just by tourists on a random walk), the answer to the Fermi Paradox is simple: there aren't any... if they existed, they'd be about as hard to spot as technological life in Manhattan.
That is assuming that a sufficiently advanced alien race has the *desire* to colonize other systems. Consider how "close" (on a grander scale) humanity already is to developments such as universal constructors and advanced AIs - and if you could turn anything you have into anything you desire, if you are quasi-immortal with no need to reproduce: why colonize the universe when you have all you need already at home?
You can't know. It certainly isn't with our current knowledge about space travel. But if you somehow find a way to overcome the "light speed problem" (be it an Alcubierre drive or some other piece of obscure technology), who knows how fast you'll actually be able to go.
Take a look at "ordinary" flight. Not too long ago, it was deemed completely impossible, and with our lack of knowledge about physics, nobody had a clue how it could be feasible - but eventually, someone did it. Technology is progressing faster and faster - who knows what we'll be capable of in 50, 100 or 200 years?
Then read it again. The OP mentioned protecting his kids from antisocial behavior, at least until they are "ready", as a reason for his decision to homeschool.
Besides, glass house and stones. I think *you* are the one with preconceptions here. Just because someone argues against a certain aspect of home schooling does not mean he's a respectless bigot (or even that he's opposing it - I actually am all for homeschooling, believe it or not).
Protip: read the post I was replying to before jumping to conclusions.
It's very true that you learn to deal with a lot of less-than-social behavior at school - and that's a good thing. A kid that grows up fully sheltered from any evil won't work properly in our society. If you want your kid to be a saint, try teaching him to distinguish right and wrong and to reject the latter, but don't keep them blind about it.
It's true that there's a load of BS going on about climate change, but NASA is one of the organizations I've always respected regarding it. Unlike certain other, mostly politically motivated groups, NASA actually presented some nice, well-funded research, without shouting "ONOZ WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!i!i!i!".
Nuclear propulsion could get us to Alpha Centauri in just ~44 years. And it's a pretty old idea, too. Sadly, not violating some old treaties against nuclear explosions in space seem to be more worthy than getting our ass to Mars.
(I was tempted to add a "smiley", but decided it would be inappropriate. What we need is more like an "evil grinney", but I don't know if there's an ASCII symbol for that.)
>:D
Give Final Fantasy IV, V and VI on the SNES a try - they're well worth it (especially VI). The PSX titles...well, let's say they are a matter of taste (many people love them - except for 9, which sucks - but I found them lacking). Can't comment on the PS2/PS3 titles, never really got to play them.
Heaven and Hell? I don't think so. Sacrificing yourself to help others might make you a hero, but not necessarily happy. Being a selfish prick might make you happy, but only until nobody wants to have anything to do with you. I think that most people need a balance of both to lead truly happy lives.
In that case, I guess they'd fit the shockwave generator on a remotely controlled metal chassis. We do it with EOD robots, we can do the same for crowd control devices.