Thursday Next

Don't think it was an anti-trust thing. More likely it was an earn-out provision in the takeover deal. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/02/28/game_loses_eb_royalty_case/ GAME had to pay 1% Royalty to EB until 2006 so yeah, pretty much an earn-out.

As if God gives a shit who you vote for.

The problem is that it's true. Most people don't know what is good for them, and to a greater or lesser extent are unable to look after themselves to their maximum potential. I'm not suggesting that a meritocracy would work mind you, just that it has its plus points. If a doctor tells you to eat less fatty foods or a financial adviser tells you not to run up a huge credit line that you can't pay back then you should take that advice. If the department of defence was run by a soldier, the department of health by a senior doctor and so on at least we wouldn't have retarded stuff like this going on... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8334774.stm. Refusing to follow the advice of someone who knows better is not, in my opinion an opportunity to run around waving a flag and shouting "Yay Freedom!" if we all did that, we'd end up like this plank... http://abcnews.go.com/US/york-rider-dies-protesting-motorcycle-helmet-law/story?id=13993417. Elections these days are little more than popularity contests, issues are rarely argued and debates quickly descend into smear campaigns to the point that people will spend more time talking about where a person was born than what the person has done.

It also tells childless marriages to take a hike too. Only a Cardinal could piss off so many people so efficiently.

Same here. EDIT: People actually hold a controller "Palm Style"? Do they type with their wrists resting on the spacebar? P.S. "wrists resting" is deliciously alliterative.

Unicron confirmed?

As do I. In fact, pretty much think that whatever consenting adults want to do with / to each other is not for anyone to decide but themselves. (note that I'm using consenting adults to mean those with mental capacity and no "position of authority" issues).

For more half-witted ramblings from this nincompoop http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9702000/9702354.stm.

That PC... I want it. It's so neat and tidy and small... Why don't manufacturers make things like this? Instead of hideous great clunky desktops?

Did not know that. Ouch. Obviously SONY were concerned that an Administrator would step in.

From the article: “The goal of the Journal of Medical Ethics is not to present the Truth or promote some one moral view. It is to present well reasoned argument based on widely accepted premises." The point being that they are saying "You could argue that..." Just like you could argue since all humans will sin and may choose to turn from God it is in fact more Christian to kill people at birth so that they are guaranteed to go straight to heaven without the hardship of living a life of misery and suffering on Earth.

Yeah, bit of an insensitive move, but if that's how he interprets the dogma, it's his church. Perhaps he could have handled it better by letting her know in advance that he would not offer her communion. I've always held to the belief that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, maybe religions mainstream Christianity wouldn't be dying out if they weren't so busy being dicks to everyone not in their particular club. Edited for WTF.

I think Uncharted could have done with that from the start. In fact. Uncharted and all other games, as well as having options to make the game easier from the start should also have Crushing unlocked from the start. I hate having to beat the game on hard to unlock Crushing, then beat it on Crushing, then go back and do all the treasure hunting (usually on very easy).

FFXIII-2 gives you the option to change difficulty mid game. It also gives you the ability to kill monsters without going into a battle and also gives you more "encounters / less encounters" and "Tougher Enemy" abilities (these are all late / post game features, so not really ideal for helping noobs through). For FPS games I think the best way to implement a skip feature would be to include the classic "God Mode" and "Infinite Ammo" cheats. That way you can go through the motions of the game without the frustration and tedium of having to go through the same section several times. Same goes for your third person shooters. Uncharted would be a good example where the combat is a very separate experience. Enabling God Mode would let people skip the "hard bits" of the game while still letting them clamber, explore and solve puzzles. Same goes for Arkham. You could lay the smack down on baddies and feel all batmanish without having to worry about dying. Castlevania let you skip the puzzle sections if you wanted, would it have been a so bad if they had let you skip the combat instead? This wouldn't work for "pure gameplay" games of course. If you take the gameplay out of Tetris, you have nothing left really, other than a sound-track and changing background. To be honest, I would think that skipping or auto-winning combat would be the same as fast-travelling. It may take away from the scale of the world, but if you want to get to the Caves of Mild Peril before dinner, then you just have to like it or lump it.

Still probably gonna get it. You can all blame me when Squeenix release Horse Armour.

One of these days I'm going to buy Battra a modern dictionary so that he can stop referring to scrolls and tapestries for the definition of things. Also, I think that Jim Carrey is brilliant physical comedian who is more likeable for being self aware, for example:

But those legs!

Well played.

Welsh Rarebit. Not rabbit. "Bubble and Squeak" is a personal favourite for odd food names. Also kedgeree.

"Quarantine" quite possibly my fave Red Dwarf episode.

I was going for a wordplay on dress shoes, as in shoes that you would with a dress, thereby implying that if you looked like this: A worn pair of smart shoes would have gone unnoticed.

Oh now that's just sad.

Fuck off there's a book! Really? (Must admit I only skimmed the article).

It wasn't even that it wasn't about games. It was just a guy who got laid, that's not just uninteresting to gamers, it's uninteresting to everyone except the guy and the girl involved, and even they might not have thought it was that great. I mean even the red-tops manage to stick to stories about famous people who got laid. I'd also be a bit resentful at the implication that it is really difficult for people who play video games to get laid, and as such, when one of them does it's worth a story.

I read it wrong. Was editing a document at the time. Advice still stands though, you should talk to them about how committed you are to their project and how committed they are to you being part of it. If they're just doing it as a side project and aren't really fussed about how seriously it gets taken, then they shouldn't mind you stepping away from the business when your own career pops up. On the other hand, if this is what they're dedicated to, then they should look to formalising your involvement, as a minority partner, or an employee (probably the latter).