Lazarus_Long

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Tovarish @ Dec. 13 2002,20:40)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Lazarus_Long @ Dec. 13 2002,19:47)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">preferably something that will let me use my old noodle more.<span id='postcolor'> I recommend Thief 2: The Metal Age. An oldie but a goodie. Graphics are still decent, and the gameplay is great. It's one of those games where finesse and strategy is rewarded, and going around tryng to kill everything in sight won't get you past the first level. And if you do need to fight, believe me, getting a headshot with a bow and arrow is a lot more challenging and satisfiying than with a rifle <span id='postcolor'> Yes, I love that game. I recently dug it up out of my old game bin, and re-played it. I can't wait until they (or whoever is doing it now) come out with Thief III.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (BaronVonRed @ Dec. 13 2002,20:34)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Warin @ Dec. 13 2002,20:29)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Adventure games are one where you walk a character through a series of quests, adventures and stories. Â It does seem to be a dying genre. Â If you want an oldie but a goodie, pick up Fallout/Fallout 2. Â Neverwinter nights is pretty cool too.<span id='postcolor'> I thought Never Winters Night was a RPG? Is it the same thing?<span id='postcolor'> Traditionally, adventure games are more like interactive stories where you have to solve puzzles and and collect clues in order to advance. RPG's are more AD&D like, more open ended, focused more on developing your character.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I'd love to see them cast Hugo Weaving in the new movie. He has one of those odd faces that looks like it would fit well into some post apocalyptic world. <span id='postcolor'> Oh yes, "Agent Smith". LOL, he does have a wierd look to him. Is he Australian too?

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (denoir @ Dec. 13 2002,18:42)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">http://www.cnn.com/2002....ex.html Hardly surprising, the Bush administration says that the 11000 page report is not complete enough. They must be very fast readers  There is going to be a war, no matter what happens. That much is obvious.<span id='postcolor'> Yes I have to agree with you there. Any statements like that at this point seems a bit premature. This report thing was a big waste of time if you ask me. What did people expect from these papers anyway. If Iraq did have a nuclear weapons program (I'm sure they at least tried to), does anyone think Saddam is dumb enough to leave incriminating evidence of it in a report like this? Please! Lets hope the inspections work out better.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I think the biggest reason it seems cheesy B movie-ish is the really bad dub job on the voices. Â Makes it seem realy comic-bookish.<span id='postcolor'> Good point. Why the hell did they decide to dub the voices in the first place anyway? Â Doesent make any sense. Â Did they use some thick bush country accent that no one but Australians could understand? Â I've got to check out this new DVD version, so I can see for myself. Â

The most accurate pistol I ever fired was a custom built '38 revolver. I wish I could show you guys a picture of it. It was pretty funky loooking. As for preference: In a war time situation It would depend on the location. In the desert, where sand would get into your gun no matter how hard you tried to keep it clean, I would prefer a revolver. Any other place, I'd take a semi-automatic.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (KingBeast @ Dec. 11 2002,14:45)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">First mad max film was where his family got killed isnt that right? i think that was the best one, it had a lot of feeling in that film. The others were completely different to it, hard to even see that they are sequels But they were good, none the less. Another max film i guess is eithera blessing or a curse.<span id='postcolor'> Ah yes, the original Mad Max, the memories... I remember loving that movie back in the early/mid eighties when I was a young impressionable adolescent. Â My mother refused to let me watch anything that she deemed too violent, i.e. every movie I wanted to watch, so I had to spend a lot of time over at my friends house, who had not only a high tech VCR but also parents too busy to worry about what kind of movies he watched. Â Mad Max was one of those forbidden fruits that I came to love. When my wife bought me the trilogy in a box set for my birthday a couple of years ago, I eagerly got out the popcorn and turned on the original Mad Max movie. Â I couldn't believe my eyes, the movie sucked ass... It was like watching a movie from "Mystery Science Theatre 3000"... IT was torture... What happened? Â What had time done to my precious movie? Â Anyway, "The Road Warrior" still kicked ass, and "Beyond Thunderdome" was still pretty good. Â It was just that original Mad Max film. Â It was just so.... Well... It was a cheesy B flick, I guess I never noticed it before. Oh well, I look forward to the new one, perhaps it will give Mel Gibson a chance to redeem himself from all those glam-roles he's been playing. Â I hope that goofy pilot guy with the bad teeth will be in it, he was my favourite character next to the little monkey boy with the boomerang.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">64 player RTS.... ahh the insanity!!! longest RTS game we played on fraghaus ran more than 3 hours. i cant even imagine what it'd be like with 64 people. i say we go for it. get some people willing to take the time and get a game set up and see if we can hit 64 again.<span id='postcolor'> Count me in. A Christmas OFP multiplayer bash... Wohooo. OFP Lives!!

Denoir.... You stood up for us Americans! Â I'm not trying to be sarcastic here, I'm genuinely impressed. Anyways, speaking of that Iraqi uprising. Are you guys talking about the time when George H. Bush encouraged the Iraqi opposition groups to rise up against Saddam while promising our assistance, only to back out on them as soon as Kuwait was liberated leaving them to get slaughtered by Saddams Republican Guard? Â This is one of the reasons the Iraqi people hates us so much. Â The Iraqi people are neither religious fanatics nor do they care very much for their current government. Given a chance, I think Iraq could become the most influential nation in the middle east. One that other Arab counties could model themselves after. Â They've got lots of oil to make them rich. Â They long for free trade and a chance to make good lives for themselves. Â Their attitude reflects our own style more than any place else in the middle east. Â Given the opportunity, they would be a great ally for the free world. Of course a UN mandate would be important before going in guns blazing. Â However, remember that all that the US is currently doing is demanding that the UN resolutions that were signed back in 1991 are enforced. Â It would be rediculous if the UN would deny NATO its blessing to go in if Saddam failed to comply with the original UN resolutions once again. Â That would make the UN useless.

They chose a really cool setting for the game.  If prophetic, we are all in for an interesting future: </span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">After half a century of military interventions major countries like the United States of America or Russia are weary of their role as "World Police". The consequences of their military actions for their economy, national security, and internal ethnic conflicts let to the conclusion to tune down their military campaigns. Due to that more and more countries choose unconventional warfare by using secret special forces. Military success is no longer made by major countries but by small and highly specialized mercenary forces. In "SÖLDNER - Secret Wars" the player takes over the command of such a special forces team. As the Commander he leads a small high tech army consisting of soldiers, light armored vehicles, helicopters and VTOLS (Vertical Take Off and Landing Airplanes) to fulfill a wide variety of mission types . The players units are stationed on a multi purpose ship which is camouflaged as a merchantman to allow unrestrained travel of the seas to get their forces to the area of operation. The complete simulation of a complex political world system allows to create a dynamic campaign: each decision of the player, each success or failure has direct effect on the gameflow. In addition the player has the ability to gain access to the latest weapon systems and technology, which currently exist in the research centers of the weapon industry only. <span id='postcolor'>Source As I said in my earlier post, I'm not getting my hopes up on this one, but I'm definitely going to keep an eye on its progress.  It could prove to be a happy surprise.

I just spent some time in the Soldner forum bitching about the 3rd person view, and some other stupid things that they are planning to do to ruin this potentially good game. Â Did you know they are not even going to allow for more than one person controlling a vehicle (driver, gunner etc.)? Â Even the arcadeish BF1942 does that. Â The more I read about Soldner, the more I dislike it... I guess I should wait for the demo before making any judgements, but I'm not getting my hopes up yet. One thing is for sure, it won't be even close to competing with our beloved, but aging, OFP. Ho hum... When's OFP2 comming out again?

For those of you who seem to think that the Spanish siezed this ship because the US want's a monopoly on arms dealing, and/or just doing it to piss off North Korea, and Yemen: First of all North Korea just admitted recently that it has a nuclear weapons program. Â Second, Yemen is a well known terrorist sympathiser. Â Add a suspicious cargo ship carrying SCUD missiles (keep in mind that Scuds are popular for sending nukes flying into the air), and you have yourself a pretty damn good reason to sieze the ship to take a closer look. Â It's just common sense. Â Weather or not the Scuds will be returned to Yemen is not really the question. Â I think we have every right to destroy them looking at the situation.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Tovarish @ Dec. 10 2002,21:19)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">A video showing off Forgotten Battles at the European Flight Simulation Show last month is out, download it here. (7.6mb) All I can say is "wow" I've seen the improvements in screenshots but it's something else to see video <span id='postcolor'> Sweet! Did you see those secondary explosions when they bombed the fuel depot! /* drooool

You guys are getting ripped off. I bet they charge you full paperback price for each part too.

Ran, am I looking at those covers right? Did they divide Debt of Honor into 2 separate books? All I got is one big thick one...Hmm, did that sound right?

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (PitViper @ Dec. 10 2002,20:35)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Lazarus_Long @ Dec. 10 2002,13:48)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">In a way I agree with you. Â In theory, a dictatorship is better than a democracy providing that the leader is benevolent and does everything in the best interest of his people. Â <span id='postcolor'> BS.<span id='postcolor'> I said "In Theory".

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (ran @ Dec. 10 2002,20:27)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">almost all the clancy's books are linked by 3 central characters Ryan , Clark and Chavez (the 2 first being the most importants) just one question , where is Ryan during the R6's events ?<span id='postcolor'> I'm pretty sure Ryan's still the president in Rainbow Six. There is some mentioning in the book that Clark is a personal friend of the President, but it never mentions Ryan by name. I could be wrong though.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Ex-RoNiN @ Dec. 10 2002,20:10)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">[in the novel "Patriot Games", Ryan is making a big deal about his dad being a cop, not a soldier <span id='postcolor'> Yep, thats right. In "Without Remorse" Jacks father was the cop who investigated the string of vigilante murders that John Clark ventured out on after some thugs killed his girlfriend. He would have arrested Clark if it wasn't for Admiral Greer.... I don't want to spoil the story for anyone.

The book "Without Remorse", unlocked many Clancy confusions for me. Â It's mainly about John Clark (John Kelly) before his CIA days and about his vietnam era experiences and how he ended up recruited into the CIA in by Admiral Greer. Â You also get to see some other characters from the very beginning, such as Jack Ryan shipping off for the Marines (Ryan's father is a main character of the book.) It's a must read if youre into Tom Clancy. Â You won't be able to appreciate Rainbow Six as much if you haven't read the other books first. Â They make more sense if you read them in order.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (denoir @ Dec. 10 2002,19:09)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I entirely agree that you can only remove Saddam by force. The question is if there is really any urgent need to. There are far more oppressed people in the world then the Iraqi. Also, just becasue you have a dictator it doesn't mean that you are oppressed. Why don't you go and invade Saudi Arabia instead? They are both politically and religiously oppressive towards their people. Saddam is at least no religious fundamentalist. You have to have some faith in the abilities of other cultures and their choices. Not everything should be forced to be the American/European way. Cultural as well as political diveristy is a good thing.<span id='postcolor'> In a way I agree with you. In theory, a dictatorship is better than a democracy providing that the leader is benevolent and does everything in the best interest of his people. I don't think this is the case with Saddam Hussein though... I mean come on! There are certainly many other oppresive governments in the world too, like you said Saudi our freakin allies!! Oh well, I know this makes the US look like a bunch of hypocrites, but the situation is different with Iraq. Understand that it's less about liberation and more about enforcing UN resolutions. If UN decisions becomes something that does not have to be taken seriously, the voice of international opinion will be lost. The world needs the UN, we've come too far to let it break down now.

Back in World War I there was a big stink about something they called "War Porn". War photographers would publish these horrific pictures of the devastation of war. You know..body parts etc. This thread reminds me of that. I agree that it is pretty disgusting, and I hope nobody watches these films while actually enjoying them. That's pretty sick. I think that they are very neccessary though. People need to realize what a bullet does to a human being before they start supporting all these war efforts that their governments are involved in. If they could see this stuff on CNN they wouldnt be so eager to send their sons and daughters into war. As for the airmen in question, they are perfectly justified in being excited about their kills. They are just doing their job.

Ok, I've tried to keep quiet, but I can't resist... My guess is that the Iraqi people will not be as unhappy with a US invasion like most people in here seem to think. Â This is providing that the US actually follows through and dont leave the opposition holding their **** again just to be crushed by Saddam like in 1991. Â More US anti-sentiment probably comes from that fact rather than from the support for Saddam. I think the international community will be more pissed off than the Iraqi people if the invasion becomes reality. Everyone who views the US as a money/power hungry superpower intent on ruling the world will use the invasion as a prime example of this conspiracy. Â I can't say I really blame them for thinking tnis way... BUT, it is a shame that liberating a clearly oppressed people from a ruthless dictator will be viewed as somekind of globalization attempt in the interest of the US. Â I don't think this has anything to do with it. Â The UN will be the only winner in this Desert Storm II. Â UN resolutions can be taken seriously again while the US takes the brunt of the political shit storm that is sure to follow. Â The world should be grateful that we have a leader who is stupid enough to stick our neck out for the UN like this. Despite of what the hippies in the European governments think, a serious show of force is the only language Saddam understands, NATO is the only force capable of these threats, and the US is the only nation with enough balls to see it happen. Â Its working well, after ten years of defying the UN, Saddam is finally cooperating with the UN even though he's bitching about it every minute. Â Perhaps this will be enough? Who knows?

Did anyone mention "Midieval Total War" yet?.. It's a must have! Awesome 3D battles (including historical ones) where you control thousands of troops. It also has a great dynamic single player campaign mode. Very addictive game. I highly recomend it.

Hey Denoir, I just realized when looking at the graph... You've got me WAY too far to the left. Â These were my scores: </span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Economic Left/Right: -2.62 Authoritarian/Libertarian: -1.13<span id='postcolor'>

Wow, thanks for all these great suggestions. I spent a few hours in Barnes & Noble today and I picked up a copy of "Catch-22", a book that I've always wanted to read, but never seemed to get around to. Thanks Tovarish for reminding me about that one. I also checked out some of the Ambrose books, they seem pretty good. I'll have to try them out sometime. I've read all the Clancy novels except "The Bear & The Dragon". I was going to get it but after I read some of your comments I've decided to hold out for a while. I might try some of his non-fiction stuff instead. Who is this Sven Hassel? I must have missed some earlier thread on this. Is he real? I coldn't find anything by this guy.