DanJW

Correct Erkki, in fact that gate is even labelled "Nova Prospekt" and there is a train on the other side. A big, black, no-escape kind of train. And the water hazard - dammit the woman who gives you the boat tells you where to go and to look out for a barn with a red roof. Granted that you forget that fairly quickly once gunships start spraying you, but it's there. Same goes for the Highway 17 explanation - it's there, but easy to miss or forget.

Damn, I missed that one! I didn't see him at all the first play, but now I'm replaying it with my eyes open for all the secrets. This seems like a good place to list the g-man's appearences. So far we have: - on Dr Kliener's lab security camera - In a barn on water hazard - in a rebel base, seen through Combine spy binoculars on Highway 17

The funniest spam I got was advertising anti-spam software.

Good grief, are there really females who would torture a hero for not being pretty? Bunny boiler

I guess I got the positive side of that approach. I knew what was going on and my understanding was complicit with Valve's level design. I expected what they wanted me to expect. I loved the "digital actors" enough to pay attention to everything they said, so to me everything I did made sense. It was indeed Valve's intention that "the player's brain is Gordon's brain", or some such. Notice that except when holding weapons Freeman has no presence in the world - no hands holding objects, no legs in vehicles, no shadow, no reflection (and of course no voice). This is because the designers want you to be Freeman - you, outside the monitor. They seem to be trying to break down the barrier of the monitor screen, between the player and character. As for the lack of control:

80 hour weeks during crunch time are far from unheard of in the game industry (indeed, pity the poor, elite testers who have been known to pull the occasional 24+ hour shift). The difference seems to be that normally the time is volunteered. If an employee does not want the overtime they can go home as normal with no hassle or ill-will. The core team often care about their game so much that they want to stay and save the game. EA is the first I've heard of a company demanding these kind of hours from people.

The paper clippings in Ely's lab, Black Mesa East. The headlines are legible, but the actual text is not.

This reads like a parody. I'll bet a fiver that the writer is taking the piss at least a little. And how can a 20-year-old be described as a schoolboy?

It's never really been clear whether Carmack's views are his own personal approach to games, or what he thinks ALL games should be. If the latter then he is, indeed, being left behind. However, we do need games of both types (for instance, I doubt many puzzle games would be improved by the addition of an in-depth story).

Found this at Halflife Fallout

Can it be rhetoric if it is answering a question? OK, so that was a bit flowery. I'll say it straighter: Graffitti is a medium. Art needs a medium, but a medium does not automatically produce art.

WOW! Just finished the game, and... wow..

Technically flying dinosaurs aren't dinosaurs. They're Pterosaurs....

Dino Riders That was too easy. Other great cartoon/toy franchises in the same vein included MASK, Centurions, and Visionaries (this is all post He-Man and Thundercats I think). Yup, me and Spaff had the lot

Is the sound that comes out of a flute art? Even if it is produced by an antisocial teenager who cannot and does not want to play the flute? Graffitti is just a sound... what you do with that sound is what makes it art... or annoyance

Erm. What's the alternative? Rushed games are always awful. Of course the time should be taken to finish them. And since HL2 was kept under wraps for most of its devlopment we've really only had to wait a bit over a year. Thing is, I don't "do" hype. I read the news, I say "cool" when I hear about new features. I do not sit here muttering to myself "OMG ! OMG!". When I have the game I will have the game. It will probably be good. Will there be flaws? Of course. I don't expect it to be an orgasmic experience, merely good. Shit, I must be getting old, I'm now preaching the virtues of patience. Quick Batcodger, to the knacker yard!

A guy gets talking to another guy in a pub. It turns that they went to the same school, and as they reminisce the drinkling gets heavier, despite Guy B's protests. Eventually, at throwing out time, Guy B is all but unconcious, and Guy A feels bad for getting his new friend so wasted. He helps him to his feet, but B immediately falls down agian. "Shit" thinks A, "He's totally out of it". So he checks B's driving licence for his address and drags him home over his shoulder, protesting and mumbling all the way. Guy B's wife answers the door, looks him up and down and says "Fucking hell, you haven't gone and lost your wheelchair down the pub again have you?" Thankyou, thankyou, I'm here all week, try the ostrich steak!

I would turn Kingzjester into a real boy

I think there's some kind of genetic program that prevents males from rating their mother's attrctiveness from even a totally objective viewpoint.

Hmm, A girl at work once had a dream that she was on a train that crashed. It was so scary that she fell out of bed and hurt her ankle. Thus she could not cycle to work and had to get the train instead...

I have. It's the beard. Strangley enough, most of the UK Thumbs staff have shared a flat with Spaff at some point. Then he chains us up in the cellar and forces us to write for him Down here, we all float... :clownsmiley:

I say go jedi consular every time. You can still fight with the lightsaber and kick some ass, but you will get lots more jedi powers to play with. Jedi guardians may get more feats, but nothing particularly interesting. The Penny Arcadr KotOR strips were good. I like this one best.

True, the ranged weapons suck. It's a bioware RPG, which means: speak to everyone, about everything, find the side quests, pick up everything and sell as much as you can bear to. But save up repair parts and computer spikes, you're going to want those late in the game. Other than that, sit back, don't think too much about the mechanics, and enjoy the Star Warsiness of it all as you ask yourself "why aren't the prequal movies this good?"

Yes, in regions devoid of monkeys the foxlike creature is traditionally the trickster (coyote, reynard, hengeyoki - in north America, Britain and Japan respectively). But now thge monkey symbol seems to have spread worldwide.

Yay! It's ham psychology time kids! Woo! Monkeys symbolise the cosmic joker. They are small and childlike, possessed of an almost supernatural energy. Like Loki, Mercury and other gods they combine infant innocence with a mischievous, sometimes spiteful streak. In Tarot this is represented by the Fool. The monkey nature is...irrepressable! Heheheh monkeys rock