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Originally posted by Draenor
While I have no doubt that US involvement in the middle east has exacerbated the problem, Islam is an inherently violent religion that has shown the world that it doesn't need much of an excuse to riot and blow stuff up. Pope makes some comments about Islam being violent? Prove him wrong by rioting! Cartoon depicting Muhammed? BURN DOWN BUILDINGS!!
The point is...if we weren't in Israel, they would find another excuse to kill the infidel. If we didn't invade Iraq, they would find another reason to kill the infidel. Yes, those things exacerbate the problem, but they are not the sole cause of it, as Ron Paul's stance on the issue implicates to me.

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I appreciate the honest reply. Islam used to be one of the most tolerant religions on earth, however. When the Ottoman's were expanding, they didn't take over other people's countries and kill them, or force them to convert like many empires of the day. They let Christians, Pagans, and a whole host of other religions retain their temples and practices, and live peacefully under Ottoman rule. This doesn't jive with the perceived intolerance that gets attributed to Islam today.

What we are seeing now is like a pressure cooker. Over the last century and a half, Britan, and then the US have intervened in the Middle East in such a way as to give little thought to people that actually live there. We have used our size, might, and global political influence to pursue our own self interest in the region. You can see evidence of this from the Sykes-Picot agreement that took place after the loss of the Ottomans during WWI, and in the history of the Anglo-Persian, and Anglo-Iranian Oil Company controversies. The latter of which resulted in the US overthrowing a democratically elected Iranian official, and replacing him with Reza Shah. What right do we have to forcefully overthrow another countries elected offical, and then turn around and talk about promoting global democracy?

Other events, like our cushy cushy relationship with Saudi Arabia, the supposed "protectors of Islam", and our complete ignorance of the Palestinian situation, have produced extremists. As with any extremist group, each has their own fundamental ideals, and often they use religion to rally support for their actions. This doesn't mean that an entire race, or religion is fundamentally "flawed", or inherently violent. What we see in Islamic terrorist groups is a reaction to perceived injustices, not an offensive against Western ideals.

Utorrent, hands down. It's slim, and easy to setup and use. Azureus is ok, but it's java, and those NAT issues can be annoying.

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Originally posted by Draenor

Sure, I could give him props for opposing it from the beginning...Though it doesn't change that I disagree with his beliefs regarding islamic terrorism and the root of it all. Yes he can quote the 9/11 comission all he wants, but can he dig a little bit deeper when it comes to the root of that terrorism? It's very easy to stand there with a document in hand and quote it as though it is gospel, it's quite another to do some critical thinking of your own regarding the true nature of Islam.

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I would love to be enlightened as to what you think the root of Islamic terrorism is. If you can handle the flames that may result, I'd be interested in hearing your side of it. However when critically thinking, keep in mind the Ottoman Empire, Balfour Declaration, and the State of Israel. The 9/11 commission report has little to do with picking up a book on the history of the Middle East, and please for the love of god, don't go quoting Bernard Lewis.

This has already been posted man, 5 threads below this one. Same freaking page.

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Originally posted by T3hpwn

I thought developers wanted information and good testers. So i generally gave them several paragraphs of detailed professional and gaming history.
I never get in to closed betas with a good system and giving them lots to go on. My friends who have 3 year old computers and zero desire to test? They get into every one.

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It doesn't seem that way any more. If you check out the Auto Assault Post Mortem on this site, the project lead himself mentions that betas are mainly marketing tools now.

Once the project gets opened up to the public, it's going to get judged, like it or not, and bad first impressions can turn into a rolling tide of negativity. So, since there's no real way to verify people have the experience or desire they say they have on an application, the random invite, plus props for community involvement, seems to be the standard selection process.

The most successful "next-gen" MMO is going to come from a company that spends next to no money making a game that players make themselves. Napster, Bittorrent, Youtube, anyone? All these mega-million hollywood blockbuster MMO's are for the birds.

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Originally posted by Draenor
My sister's fiance plays guitar and plays guitar hero...obviously playing a real guitar is more complex, but for those of us who don't have the time or money to afford a guitar and lessons....guitar hero does just fine when we want to feel like we know how to play Sweet Child of Mine by Guns N Roses

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Yeah, cool thanks. I appreciate the reply. I guess I just wondered why, if people were interested in playing guitar, why they didn't spend the $100 on an actual guitar? Lol, I dunno, as long as people are having fun. I honestly did not understand it though, so again, thanks for the response.

Ok, I have to ask this. What is the deal with Guitar Hero? Does anyone here that actually plays the guitar, play this game? I'll be the first to admit that I'm no Jimmy Page, but I can strum some rhythm, and I just don't get it. All you do is hit like 4 buttons on your "fret" right? It's not nearly as complicated as real guitar is it? Does this improve your practice somehow, or is it just for people that don't know how to play and want to feel cool?

Normally I'd just buy it and try it myself, but it's like ~$100 for the bundle. TIA.

I'm not a huge Ron Paul bandwagoner, but in the interest of fair play, I found this article on Digg. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RonPaul2008/message/1826

Tim Russert mentioned on air a week ago, that he would only be interviewing the "major" candidates for the Decision 2008 series on Meet the Press. Since the national polls have Ron at only 1% or so, I'm assuming he's not considered a major candidate.

So, if you want to give Dr. Paul a nice highly rated platform to get his message across, make sure to follow the link on the site, and drop Mr. Russert a line, asking for Dr. Paul to be added to the show.

Hasta.

Wow, well I can't really compete with that post above me, but I'd recommend exercise. Not weight lifting at first, just running, cycling, rowing. Something that gets your heart rate up there for 30min or more. I'd highly suggest running though, as anyone can do it, it doesn't take any special equipment, and it's difficult (mix running/walking if you're coming right off the couch, but do it for at least 30 min!) After your first 2-3 sessions you'll start to feel noticeably better. You may even find yourself eating better, and caring more about your appearance, which in turn just further raises your self esteem.

Did you see Blitzer go after him? He implies to the public that Ron's position on 9/11 is that it was caused from non-threatening surveillance missions. Gimme a break.

You're going to see more of this. It's no secret that most mainstream media is lib, and I think they see Paul as another Ralph Nader. They still blame him for Gore's loss in 2000, and don't want to see Ron split the vote in 08. In a way, I think their intentions are good enough, but they are no better than the administration if they continue down this path.

-postponed

Ron Paul is a good candidate, probably number two on my list right now, and definitely a step up from Giuliani, Obama, or Hillary, but I am still convinced he's not as experienced as Bill Richardson.

Richardson has been a Congressman, Ambassador to the UN, Secretary of Energy, and Governor of New Mexico. He's been nominated for 4 Nobel Peace Prizes for negotiating hostage releases in 4 different countries overseas, including both Iraq, and North Korea. He's also been involved as recently as last year in negotiating cease fires in the tragedy that is Darfur.

If you look at our top issues - Iraq, Renewable Energy, Budget - who else is more qualified than Richardson? Any candidate can say they'll do this or that, and some like Ron Paul seem to even have a clue, but none of them have proven leadership track records, at least not like Richardson.

Who better to improve US world relations that a guy who served as ambassador to the UN for 2 solid years representing the US in Israeli/Palestinian peace negotiations? The dude is a foreign relations powerhouse, and that's an understatement. He's also got proven track records turning around New Mexico's economy, and has been given high praise for recording the highest reserves in the states history, while continually maintaining a balanced budget. According to his Wiki, D.C.'s Cato Institute has continuously named him one of the most fiscally responsible governors in the nation. You can tout degrees 'til the cows come home, but Richardson has actual results.

He also served as Secretary of Energy for 3 years giving him intimate knowledge of U.S. Energy policy, positioning him perfectly for the task of addressing our dependence on foreign oil.

He ran a couple of ad's recently in Iowa, sort of poking fun at his own resume. They're actually pretty funny if you're into politics. Both of them are here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st01RB6mLcs

one right after the other.

I usually hate quote for quote replies, but that was a good response Alex. As far as Obama, and Guilliani go, they are fan favorites, nothing more. Neither have the experience to run a country. At this point my vote goes to Bill Richardson, hands-down the most qualified candidate in the race, but lacking the sexy of the front runners. Damn shame is what it is if he never makes the primary.

It's just a different style. Asia sort of has their own with the Final Fantasy themed gigantic weapons, and anime avatars. US sort of sways between the cartoonish characters of WoW, WAR, or CoX, and the attempted "real life" avatars like Guild Wars, LotRO, or AoC. This style seems to be kind of the European style. Ryzom was made by a French company that had a similar sort of feel.

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Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

One can't have a real good feeling about an MMO without atleast playing 20 levels.

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Yeah, I dunno. I only made it through 17 levels of LotRO before I threw that game in the trash. Never once have I chucked an MMO like that, but it just bored me to tears. I think now I know how haters of WoW must have felt when WoW first came out and did so well. You see all these high ratings and you think to yourself, "did I miss something here?"

As much as I too, would like to see all of these things you mentioned, I'm pretty confident none of it will be in at release. PvP wise, all I've gotten wind of at release is the arena - multiple maps, which may or may not involve guilds challenging guilds, and the mines, which I'm not sure if it is instanced or not instanced, but is an FFA PvP zone somewhere underneath a city where valuable crafting materials can be extracted.

There was mention of shard conquest too, where guilds will battle guilds over control of their own shard, but I thought I read somewhere that it wasn't going to be ready at release.

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Originally posted by Dabble
in regards to WoW gear...
The higher in level more often than not means the uglier the gear.

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God, ain't that the truth. That's one of the reasons I got sick of WoW. You basically had to collect "sets" and become what they wanted you to. You had to improve the stats they said you should, and wear the gear they designed for you. You couldn't be free to choose, and be competitive at the same time.

Since sigils are going to be the high end PvE loot in this game, crafters are free to make some cheese selling cool looking gear. Alot of recipe's and mats are going to be in an FFA PvP zone called the mines which gives world PvP some kind of purpose at launch.

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The only thing that worries me is that they have not stated who will be handling publishing for the US market. I pray it isn't SOE.

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I read something about a Frogster doing the publishing. Maybe that was for EU only though... Anyone know?

The more I read about, and see this game, the more it reminds me of that old movie "The Neverending Story." That used to be one of my favorite flicks as a kid, but I sort of forgot about it until recently. Spellborn seems to have intentionally/unintentionally captured the feel of that movie in this game.