Shutting Off the Internet by AnthonyT

http://youtu.be/VUnGTXRxGHg

Look what happened in Egypt.

Our government can, and will, if there is reason enough to do so.

Must plan for that contingency.

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies"

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Thursday, February 3, 2011 8:29 AM

DREAMTROVE

People are. That's what CNN is worried about, hence they want to convince you that it's not a threat.

Can't stop the signal. The internet will find a way. As long as something is being broadcast from somewhere. I think at this point, you'd have to reduce us to the stone age, and I'm not sure that would help, if we could still import solar powered meshware.

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Thursday, February 3, 2011 8:58 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Yeah, I saw that article this morning, too. In my opinion, it's truly become a global village now, with the internet and satellite and all. They weren't able to shut down Egypt, even by shutting down the internet AND cell phones, word was getting out in quantity. I don't see it being possible, especially not here. The ability to get news out has gone too far, and as is obvious by Egypt, it's impossible to totally shut down news getting out.

The thing I can see happening is censorship, where, just like Egypt, demonstrations happen in a few places and news of it isn't given to other areas of the country. That seems more likely, tho' cutting off TV would, I think, TRULY cause a revolution!

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Thursday, February 3, 2011 9:49 AM

http://youtu.be/VUnGTXRxGHg

Funny that you would talk of censorship...

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/03/2-senators-2-house-rep
s-to-take-part-in-first-ever-tea-party-town-hall/

So. Let me be the first to ask. The Tea party has been more than "astro-turf", more than the "fringe", more than the "crazies".

So why is such a "respected" news source as CNN saying:

"But as the Tea Party movement flexes its political muscle, it appears it has sway with some lawmakers - even as some Americans express reservations about the movement."

"According to a recent Gallup poll, only 47% of Republicans have a positive view of the Tea Party movement, with 42% saying they do not like it. But the same poll also revealed that nearly 90% of Republicans want lawmakers like Paul, Lee, Bachmann, King and others to give significant weight to Tea Party ideas."

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies"

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Thursday, February 3, 2011 10:05 AM

THEHAPPYSOCKPUPPET

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Thursday, February 3, 2011 11:12 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

What the hell is your point, Wulf? Are you saying CNN reporting this is "censorship"? Or that CNN quoting a poll which shows that fewer than 50% of REPUBLICANS have a positive view of the Tea Party is somehow "censorship"?

So four legislators are going to hold a Tea Party town hall. I can't help wishing they'd ALLOWED the real town halls to take place, rather than orchestrating their disruption, but that's another story. I'm sure THEIR town hall with be treated with respect.

Nobody I know of has said the Tea Party is made up entirely of astroturf, fringers or crazies; but all three exist aplenty within the movement.

As to astroturf, the Tea Party Express, for one, was started and funded by corporate interests:

Quote:
While promoted as a spontaneous "grassroots" movement, many of the activities of Tea Party groups were organized by corporate lobbying groups.

The billionaire brothers David Koch and Charles Koch, owners of Koch Industries have been linked to tea party movement funding. The anti-government fervor infusing the 2010 elections represents a political triumph for the Kochs. By giving money to “educate,” fund, and organize Tea Party protesters, they have helped turn their private agenda into a mass movement.

The Tea Party Movement benefits from millions of dollars from conservative foundations that are derived from wealthy U.S. families and their business interests. It appears that money to organize and implement the Movement flows primarily through two conservative groups: Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, two "lobbyist-run think tanks" that are "well funded" and that provide the logistics and organizing for the Tea Party movement from coast to coast.

David Koch of Koch Industries was a co-founder of Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), the predecessor of FreedomWorks. David Koch was chairman of the board of directors of CSE. CSE received substantial funding from David Koch of Koch Industries, which is the largest privately-held energy company in the country, and the conservative Koch Family Foundations, which make substantial annual donations to conservative think tanks, advocacy groups, etc. The Koch family has given more than $12 million to CSE (predecessor of FreedomWorks) between 1985 and 2002.

Additional sponsors of the Tea Party Express were revealed to include FreedomWorks, the conservative advocacy group headed by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas and Americans for Prosperity.

Sourcewatch

The facts are easy to find, if you care to bother.

As to crazies, there are numerous ones. If you don’t think Bachman is crazy, with her statements like the founding fathers “worked tirelessly” to get rid of slavery, you’re deluding yourself. emember she wanted Congress investigated to see how many legislators harbored “Anti-American feelings”. There’s just too much of her nutspeak to bother typing it all, it’s easily found with a search of “Michelle Bachman crazy quotes”.

Another tiny example of a crazy Tea Partier:

Quote:
A protester at Saturday's Tea Party on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. made clear that she was afraid, saying 'We are losing our country, we think the Muslim's are moving in and taking over.'

There’s O’Donnell, who has made MYRIAD crazy statements, including “''You know what, evolution is a myth. Why aren't monkeys still evolving into humans?” (later asked if she really believed evolution was a myth, she replied “What I believe is irrelevant"), “What's next? Orgy rooms? Menage a trois rooms? ... [Coedness] is like a radical agenda forced on college students”, “A lot of the money that we're spending goes to things that we know will not prevent AIDS, but indeed will continue to spread the disease.” I could quote her all day.

There are so many examples of Tea Partiers making crazy statements, so many crazies claiming to be Tea Partiers, it’s impossible to say they’re not there.

As to fringers, yeah, of course they’re there—-and in bigger numbers than the rest of America.

Take just the Birthers, for example: 30% of Tea Partiers believe Obama was born in another country; less than half of them (41%) believe he was born in America, while 58% of Americans believe he was born in America, as opposed to only 20% who believe he was born elsewhere.

All three elements exist in the Tea Party. That doesn’t mean the entire Tea Party is made up of them and I don’t believe anyone has ever said that. But that’s beside the point. Your post appears to have nothing to do with censorship, so you’ll have to clarify that for us, if you want it to mean anything. So what exactly IS your point?

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Thursday, February 3, 2011 11:21 AM

http://youtu.be/VUnGTXRxGHg

I would love to see CNN/MSNBC/FOX say these things about either party.

Maybe I'm wrong, it happens. But the Tea Party seems to get nothing but bad press, and labeled as crazy, astro-turf etc by ALL the mainstream media sources.

Trying to control the discussion much?

No, the Green party, the anarchists, the rent-is-to-damn-high party don't receive much attention either.

But yet, the Tea Party... which, despite its detractors is actually a real grounded party, seems to get nothing but vitriol.

Why is that?

Yes, its principals are very conservative, but they are conservative like the Democrats USED to be. They also hold to very strange ideas like CONSTITUIONALITY, like the Republicans used to be.

Is that it?

That the mainstream hates the Tea Party because it actually represents us?

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies"

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Thursday, February 3, 2011 12:17 PM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Now you're getting downright crazy! Fox, for one, has said FAR worse things about "the other party" than what you quoted! How does saying that a poll shows X percentage of Republicans feel negative about the Tea Party consist of ANYTHING but quoting that a poll shows X percengtage of Republicans feel negative about the Tea Party?! It's insane to say it's anything else, much less CENSORSHIP!

The Tea Party gets attention because it calls attention to itself on a grand scale. None of those others you mentioned went out and caused disruptions, put out commercials talking about guns and revolution, fomented hatred to anything LIKE the degree the Tea Party did, were financed by businesses pretending to be grass roots, let their people CONSTANTLY say things the MSM couldn't resist mocking, and on and on. Anything the Tea Party gets, it's made happen itself. And don't think they didn't do a lot of them just TO get attention. A lot of what seem like "crazies" are, just as I quoted about Ahmadinejad, well aware of the truth, they're just politicians utilizing the tools they know are effective. Which makes it even more unconscionable.

Those groups got their share of vitriol; if you don't know that, you're deliberately being blind. They just didn't make as big a fuss and they didn't choose divisiveness and stoking of fear and hatred, so they didn't get the attention.

Dear gawd, if reporting on a town hall held by legislators and a poll is censorship, you've gone right off your NUT! At the very least, DO try to find something which backs up your point, not something which isn't even slightly connected.

Slanting things and picking which facts to report (which all MSM does, and Fox does more than any other) isn't censorship, dear, it's journalistic tradition, and they stated absolutely nothing untrue...

weird...where you get your ideas sometimes...

Let's get back to the original topic, if that's possible.

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Thursday, February 3, 2011 1:05 PM

http://youtu.be/VUnGTXRxGHg

So... lets just give Obama who is President right now... and ALL Presidents here after, the right to turn off the internet, the phones, the radio, tv etc ANYTIME they feel that the people are getting too

Crazy.

Suuuuure.

Lets also allow those self same folks to confiscate our guns when a crisis happens.

After all, they are the ones with authority and best know how to handle it right?

Why, just look at what happened after Katrina in New Orleans.

GREAT idea! Lets ALL put our full faith in government.

After all, they know whats best.

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies"

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Thursday, February 3, 2011 1:09 PM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Boy, you sure are having problems with your reasoning facilities today, aren't you Wulf? You've taken a 180-degree turn again. You posted about a CNN story, which I challenged, and then you come back and instead address the "turn off the internet" subject as if you'd never posted anything else.

You never answered for yourself; HOW does what CNN reported have anything whatsoever to do with censorship? You posted it, so explain it. Only you won't, will you? You'll just spout something unrelated--for gawd's sake, GUNS? KATRINA? You're wandering even further off track than usual today...

Let's try again: What do guns, Katrina, etc., have to do with shutting off the internet?? Try that one on for size! But only AFTER you've explained what the CNN story has to do with censorship. That one's still too weird to figure out.

You're just ranting...you should go watch TV or a video or something, you're not having much luck keeping up. Try another day.

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Thursday, February 3, 2011 1:22 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER

An another article outlining the 'kill switch' legislation.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/218622/the_internet_kill
_switch_that_isnt.html

I'm surprised there hasn't been more comment on it here, slippery slope and all that.

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Friday, February 4, 2011 3:16 AM

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

Quote:
Originally posted by Wulfenstar:
Look what happened in Egypt.

Our government can, and will, if there is reason enough to do so.

Must plan for that contingency.

My first reaction when I heard of the internet shutdown in Egypt was to think of the Spanish Civil War, and the oft-expressed idea that the Nazis used it as a "testing ground" for their new weapons and tactics (and that such a thing was profoundly horrific of them to do) . That's exactly what the Egypt shutdown reminded me of - we're using Egypt (our ally, after all!) as a proving ground for trying out methods of shutting down the flow of information.

This Space For Rent!

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Friday, February 4, 2011 3:24 AM

http://youtu.be/VUnGTXRxGHg

"You never answered for yourself; HOW does what CNN reported have anything whatsoever to do with censorship? You posted it, so explain it. Only you won't, will you? You'll just spout something unrelated--for gawd's sake, GUNS? KATRINA? You're wandering even further off track than usual today...

Let's try again: What do guns, Katrina, etc., have to do with shutting off the internet?? Try that one on for size! But only AFTER you've explained what the CNN story has to do with censorship. That one's still too weird to figure out."

The CNN report was SLANTED. It may not exactly BE censorship, but it IS controlling the debate.

Which is therfor controlling how news is perceived.

And therby censoring the free exchange of ideas.

You complain about it all the time with Fox, Nicki. Its not a complete erasure of information, but a controlled directive of that information. Which is somehow worse.

What do guns, katrina, and shutting off the internet have to do with each other? Really? You don't see... for the love of... ok. I'll explain.

Control.

You cut off the internet to control/attempt to control the people getting/transmitting information.

After Katrina, instead of helping people, the governor tried to disarm them using the police.

Look what happened in Egypt. Look what happened in Katrina. We must be prepared for it is all Im saying, and not blindly give the government even more power to stop/control/hurt us.

For the magical hope-changey bunny to WANT the power to shut of the internet... well it SHOULD be ringing ALL sorts of alarm bells.

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies"

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Friday, February 4, 2011 5:06 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

“What's next? Orgy rooms? Menage a trois rooms?"

Hello,

Wouldn't that be something?

I'll vote for her if she can arrange it. ;-)

Wulf,

I'm sorry that the negative press about the Tea Party seems like 'slant' and 'censorship' to you.

The truth is, a lot of people aren't warm and fuzzy with the Tea Party. And you shouldn't be, either.

What good is there for you to spit out one hook, only to swallow another? If you really love the Tea Party, you should be fighting against its inequities, and not ignoring them. You should be recognizing that Ron Paul's 2008 campaign has given way to something different.

And you should ask yourself if that's the direction you really want the Tea Party to go in.

As long as the Tea Party doesn't have ending the wars as one of its top issues, it's hard to take them seriously about anything. They have been paid for. Bring back the rEVOLution, else you ought to have no use for their facade.

--Anthony

Assured by friends that the signal-to-noise ratio has improved on this forum, I have disabled web filtering.

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Friday, February 4, 2011 6:11 AM

FREMDFIRMA

The genie is well and truly OUT of that bottle - there's no way in hell to shut it off, all you'll do is encourage geeks and mad science types to work around it, in fact, it'd be a CHALLENGE, the gauntlet tossed, as it were.

Think about it, just look what happens every time some dickheaded corporation comes up with supposedly "foolproof" DRM ?
Lasts maybe, MAYBE 24 hours, if that, don't it ?

Shit, you think people weren't ALREADY prepared for that - come on, signal intel is one of my specialties, and watching the back channels light up like a xmas tree was extremely gratifying.

There is, literally, no way in hell you can stop communication of information, it's going to happen, because it slipped the leash and the beast got loose, any time the powers that be wanna shove it back in the cage, there's *going* to be some lunatic like me sawing out the back bars even as they try.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Friday, February 4, 2011 6:19 AM

THEHAPPYTRADER

Speaking of DRM's I got Assassin's Creed II on sale and can't get to gorram thing to run. Apparently my wifi isn't stable enough for ubisoft to be sure I didn't pirate it...

I'm of half a mind to take the game back and download a pirated version that doesn't need an internet connection to function. There is no multiplayer after all and no reason an internet connection should be required. There's a serious problem when it's easier to pirate and play a video game than to actually buy it legally...

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Friday, February 4, 2011 6:29 AM

DREAMTROVE

Frem,

yes, my sister was telling me it only took about 24 hours for the egyptian revolutionaries to jury-rig a texting to audio to text over the landline phone SMS system.

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Friday, February 4, 2011 4:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Wulfenstar:
So... lets just give Obama who is President right now... and ALL Presidents here after, the right to turn off the internet, the phones, the radio, tv etc ANYTIME they feel that the people are getting too

Crazy.

Suuuuure.

Lets also allow those self same folks to confiscate our guns when a crisis happens.

After all, they are the ones with authority and best know how to handle it right?

Why, just look at what happened after Katrina in New Orleans.

GREAT idea! Lets ALL put our full faith in government.

After all, they know whats best.

Wulf, who is it that you imagine is doing such things? WHO is proposing giving any President that power? I've heard exactly ONE Senator make that proposal; his name is Joseph Lieberman, and apparently he won't be running for reelection. That sounds like a win for America, in my book.

By the way, putting ALL your faith in any one thing is rather foolhardy. I don't trust ANYONE with EVERYTHING. Not government, not "gods", not anyone. Not even myself...

This Space For Rent!

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Friday, February 4, 2011 4:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by TheHappyTrader:
Speaking of DRM's I got Assassin's Creed II on sale and can't get to gorram thing to run. Apparently my wifi isn't stable enough for ubisoft to be sure I didn't pirate it...

I'm of half a mind to take the game back and download a pirated version that doesn't need an internet connection to function. There is no multiplayer after all and no reason an internet connection should be required. There's a serious problem when it's easier to pirate and play a video game than to actually buy it legally...

That sucks. In a case like this, I'd recommend the pirated version, BUT KEEP THE LEGIT VERSION, just in case. That way, if you get nailed for the pirated one (not likely), you can show them the real version and say, "But I bought it!"

This Space For Rent!

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Friday, February 4, 2011 6:02 PM

THEHAPPYTRADER

Yeah I think your right, sides if I take it back that just comes out of the retailers pockets and it's not the retailer I'm unhappy with. For folks do don't know this game requires a constant Internet connection to run. There is no reason for this other than the theory that it will make it impossible to play a pirated version, but the pirates have already cracked it and honest gamers with Internet connections not permanent enough for ubisofts standards cannot run the game. I hope this isn't the future of computer gaming.

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Friday, February 4, 2011 6:09 PM

Blurgh. I'll be staying away from that one. Maybe it's a good thing they left the Splinter Cell franchise off the PS3, if that's Ubisoft's way of thinking...

The new Gran Turismo wants you always signed in to the PlayStation Network (PSN), and asks you about five different times when you start up the game if you'd like to sign in, but if you don't, it still lets you play the game, at least. And I tend to sign in anyway, because how else can you make use of the "birthday glitch", the "gifting/duping" vulnerability, etc.? Besides, the weekly events are downloaded online.

This Space For Rent!

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Saturday, February 5, 2011 8:09 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Oh come now, you know they ain't gonna be happy till they can make you put a quarter in every time you play - this bullshit is one of the reasons I went back to console gaming from PC, cause of that crap with Mass Effect.

And now they have the notion of building a game, chopping out half and more of the CONTENT (most of which, mind you, is STILL ON THE GAME CD) and offering "downloadable content" which in most cases is just a patch to unlock what you already paid for, and paid for, and paid for...

FUCK THAT NOISE.

Firstoff, if I paid for it, everything on that CD is *mine*, and I'll use, hack, or manipulate it to my whim - the notion of anyone telling me what to do with my own property is unspeakably offensive to me.

Secondly, if your game requires me to get your permission every time I play it, you will not recieve one cent from me for it, none of my consoles have an internet connection, and it's going to stay that way - game manufacturers have proven they cannot be trusted with this, and as the fiasco with kindle showed, the notion of someone else being able to REVOKE content you paid for should fill any rational being with dread.

The only exception to that second one is MMOs, perhaps, but I keep finding that they are untrustworthy, badly-made, and I really, really don't like other human beings enough to want to associate with them on any but my own terms - which means any MMO that effectively forces you to PvP (99.995% of which is ganking/griefing anyways) or forces social interaction in order to advance is gonna run out my patience and fall by the wayside pretty quickly.

Oh yes, and another of my pet peeves is backwards compatibility - I've no intention of buying the same library of games twice, especially when they're just re-coded originals, Need for Speed:Carbon is a classic example of this, despite having gotten an Xbox360 version out of the bargain bin, the graphics and gameplay are straight Xbox, blank grey walls aren't in any way improved via higher resolution you know...

In case ya didn't know this, one reason the Wii is popular is that it'll run Gamecube discs in hardware-native mode, and you can easily obtain a GC controller for it - which I find in any case superior to that crummy gimmick remote.
(Also, don't play any of the sports games with it under a ceiling fan, I learned that the hard way, ouch!)

And of course the PS2 dominated in part because of that, a virtue Sony *promised* for the PS3, and then backed off on and went cheap about, but we all know about Sony and their promises, right ?
I *did* in fact get my hands on a CECHA01 unit, the "Holy Grail" of PS3 units, which *is* backwards compative in hardware-native mode, but loaned it to my ex so she can run FFXI on it, since it's the only PS3 unit which'll do that.

I borrowed her slimline and have been in what little spare time I got been chewing my way through Valkyria Chronicles - which is, I must say, pretty damn awesome.

Anyhow, if a games maker wants to sell me something, they gotta sell me what *I* want, not what THEY want - and if they do not learn this, then they will wind up facing the same crisis they did back in the 80's, in much the same fashion as american automakers did, for the same damn reasons.

It is the CUSTOMER who decides whether or not to shell out the dosh, and offending them, treating them as enemies to be persecuted, or victims to be fleeced, has its consequences.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Saturday, February 5, 2011 8:32 AM

Right on, Frem.

I have my PS3 online (through my wireless, not wired, connection), but that's just for the freebie races on GT5. Well, those and "gifting" cars to other accounts (some of which may or may not be owned by other "family" members such as my wife, my cats, or my dog).

There are vulnerabilities built in, and the "purists" howl in anger amid a great gnashing of teeth when people actually USE these vulnerabilities, but I say fuck 'em - if they're in the game, I'm usin' 'em! I raced and earned every credit and every car I've got; if I send myself a second copy of one of them, whose business is that? Further, the game caps you at 20,000,000 credits max - and then has several cars that cost 20,000,000 credits in it. Funny thing is, you can buy the car, send it off to another account, quit the game, delete your save, load a saved file from before you bought that car, and then use that other account to send that car back to yourself, thereby having both the car AND your 20 million!

Hey, *I* didn't code the game that way, so don't tell me it's not fair to do that with it! :)

As for PS2 compatibility, that really did piss me off, too. I was *told* that the PS3 was compatible, only to find out it wasn't. Luckily for me, I *hadn't* gotten rid of my trusty old PS2 yet, so still have both of them hooked up - PS3 to the HD TV, and PS2 to the big old tube TV. And there are several PS2 games that are far superior to any of the PS3 ones (the Splinter Cell franchise, for example, never ported over to the PS3, nor did the Ace Combat franchise; both were fun favorites of mine).

ETA: I know how you hate having to grind and "level up" to get to the good stuff in games, so I'll warn you ahead of time: Stay away from Gran Turismo 5! Not only do you have to keep grinding (and grinding, and grinding, and grinding) to get to the good cars - NOW you have to grind yourself more and more money, AND you have to "level up" your "driver level" before you're even allowed to BUY such cars, much less DRIVE them.

So if I have 20,000,000 credits (enough to buy the best car in the game), I *still*can't buy it until I reach a "driver level" of 40 or better (which is the highest level you can achieve in the game). I can *win* that car at Level 35, or I can do "challenges" to win it at Level 30, but I can't BUY it until L40.

Ironically, though, I can *drive* the car at any point in the game at all, if I could just get my hands on it. And that's where the vulnerabilities come in handy - it seems once you've got the car, you can "gift" it to anyone at all, as long as they send you a friend request and you confirm it. I can send it to someone who has a driver level of 0, and he can then go out and win any race he enters with it.

So I've gifted it to five different accounts, and used them to amass more millions in credits and nice cars, all of which I then give back to myself. :)

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Saturday, February 5, 2011 9:50 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Ah, ridiculous exclusiveness...
I could tell you a tale of that, but I think I shall let TV Tropes do it for me..
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LootDrama?from=Main.TheRidi
ll

I *did* mention my ex plays FFXI, did I not ?
Did I mention she forced me under threat of hours-long-shouting match to play it, since having a dependable, expert White Mage is kinda critical to getting any goddamn thing DONE in that game ?
Oh yes, I've seen the Ridill drama, and Kraken clubs, and HNMs and Dynamis drops, point blank and as ugly as it can every get online, and sometimes offline.

Yanno what, TAKE the damn cars, Mikey - any way you can exploit those damn artificial limits, fuck em, fuck em good, cause the bastards that set up that kinda drama deserve a poke in the eye for it.

Since you like racing games, save for one major and minor flaw, I found Juiced for Xbox to be one of the most fun racing games ever, fairly deep customisation, nice balance between real and arcade physics, and without too much of that rubberband bullshit...
Problem is that it runs on a respect system, and refusing a pink slip race costs you, which the other factions exploit the living shit out of by BOMBING you with pink slip requests when you're trying to get into something like, a race with a prototype part - the minor flaw is of course one of the factions requires stunt/drift type stuff, which isn't what I was interested in.

Juiced 2 sucks ass, though - and for the same reason as too many of these games.
If I wanna circuit race, then I WANT to circuit race, I do NOT want to drift, I do NOT want to do checkpoints or chases, I WANT, what I wANT.

In fact that's how I rate a game - how much bullshit that I DON'T want to do, do I gotta put up with in order to do what I wANT to do, and one reason FFXI fails so utterly is that the ratio there is about 60-to-1.
You can imagine I was unhappy about that.
The fact that Squeenix was actually forced to APOLOGIZE for FF14, after years of lies, damn lies, blame the customer and pure malicious contempt for their own fanbois (of which my ex is one) sent me into hysterics, but my hatred for them is also biased on the notion that they helped destroy the relationship, though we're better friends than we ever were mates.

Also you might look to Split Second - I was rather impressed by it graphically, even if they didn't bring anything new to the gameplay, somehow they managed to render that without dipping the framerate, and it was pretty neat.
Although I will say this much...

Gameplay > Graphics - one of my favorite comments is, yeah, it's pretty, but so what ?
Hell, a lot of folks are going retro cause gameplay these days is taking such a hit.
One of the best in-depth RPG type games, Betrayal at Krondor is in fact freeware now, and will run even on a damn 286.

Although Valkyria Chronicles throws a new spin on that, kind of like somewhere between Range Murata and storyboards come to life - here's a quick taste of it for ya.

That and the characters just make the game for me, the story is excellent and endearing indeed - but each character has their own quirks, foibles, personality, it makes you really care about em.
Jann walker won me over even if he is a completely stereotypical "Flamboyant" homosexual, he's also a mother hen type and generally nice fellow, not to mention he stacks imperial tanks in PILES, man... pulling out a near failed mission by one shotting a tank from range kinda of ups your opinion of a person, heheh.

And speaking of hehehe, Wendy cheslock is adorably terrifying - since your people are militia, you get all the rejects the army wouldn't take, and miss gen-u-ine super psycho was too SCARY for them, she likes her job wayyyy toooo much.

I've most partial to Nadine though, both for gameplay reasons and cause she really does manage to project a certain inexplicable something which I rather cotton to - besides being damn handy with a wrench.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Tuesday, February 8, 2011 9:28 AM