SmokinBob1

I wonder if the 'Steam' code was stolen...then sent back slightly 'modified'. rvs

What amazes me about this whole situation was the mentioning by one of the Valve employees about some 'mysterious' behavior on his computer. For two weeks. You would think that Valve would have employees at the upper levels who could detect, or at least notice, as the source code to Half Lif II was being downloaded. rvs

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: quote:Originally posted by Spindoktor: Translation: "We, the suits at Ubisoft, have concluded that given the latest marketing and financial data, and considering the size of its intended market, AND its current development budget, cannot possibly make enough money to satisfy our stockholders."Sad but true. Thats the reality of game development. I mean, just think, they [publishers] made (well they suggested it and the writing was alredy on the wall) me change the name and focus of a BC game. Thats the industry - and its not getting any better. Have you guys seen/heard what they did with LOMAC? They didn't even ship it with a worthy manual, keyboard sheet or anything. They just shoved it in a box and shoved it out the door. Hence the reason behind http://www.lomac-manual.com/ Affirmative on the manual, I just spent 63 USD for the third party manual and shipping... Finding an acceptable manual was one of the highpoints of BCMG for me. rvs

I have recently finished a few.... --1984 --The Last Victim --Outrage (Hmm, seems OJ DID do it...) --The Murder of Laci Peterson --Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, 1-3, currently reading 'Wizard and Glass'. To name a few....usually go through 50-100 novels a year, and about as many DVD's. rvs

quote:Originally posted by Hellbinder: No it isnt Snake *Blisskin*.. Its Snake *Plisskin*... Thanks for the info. I was able to download the script last night, and sure enough, it is Plissken (with an 'e', I think). What a great movie that was. rvs

quote:Originally posted by Grayfox: quote:And just WHAT is in that Pulp Fiction Briefcase, anyway?i read somewhere (cant remember) that in the briefcase was marcellus wallace's soul. hence the bandaid on the back of his head (he didnt have it when him and bruce willis were fighting in the pawnshop after vince and samuel jackson brought the case back. he had it at the beginning of that episode, but not in the pawn shop) and the "its beautiful" reference. and who is Johnny The Homicidal Maniac? I had never even thought of that!! Makes sense, it sure was odd--the way everyone reacted to it. I better watch the movie again, armed with this new take on it. Thanks for the info!! rvs

Isn't it Snake Blissken, from Escape from LA? I thought that was Kurt Russells character name. I liked the 'Escape' movies. rvs

Harvey Keitel--The Bad Lieutenant Samuel L. Jackson/John Travolta--Jules and Vinny from Pulp Fiction. Question, if anyone knows--Is the Pulp Fiction character, Vincent Vega related to the Michael Madson character, Vic Vega, from Reservoir Dogs? Never did know this one. And just WHAT is in that Pulp Fiction Briefcase, anyway? Bruce Willis--Last Man Standing (not really a villain, but definitely a shooter for the highest bidder.) Malcom McDowell--A Clockwork Orange. Freak. Satan--The Excorcist rvs

I just read this, and that guy sure was mad! Idiot. I hear McDonalds is hiring.... rvs

ROTFLMAO!!! Great story. rvs

I sure wish someone would make 'The Forever War' into a movie, a fantastic book. rvs

quote:Originally posted by Tac: I consider myself to be a very avid reader (especially scifi books).. and Battlefield Earth was the worst novel I ever read. It was like an italian movie from the 70's... you can summarize the plot in 3 paragraphs, very bland and poorly developed characters and an ending that made THE CAT IN THE HAT a literary masterpiece in comparison.... and it just drags and drags and drags and drags (any French & Spanish literature buffs will know what I mean when I say its like MADAME BOVARY / LA MARIA..but with aliens) The movie was even worse. Tac, Have you ever read 'Camp Concentration' by Thomas M. Disch? That is one I would like to see made into a movie, and being a much shorter read, would probably adapt well to a screenplay. I also think highly of Samuel R. Delaney, though I have only read 'Dhalgren'. rvs

Jaguar, That looks like a nice one. rvs

Battlefield Earth is probably my favorite science fiction work. I actually enjoyed the movie--I thought they covered the first 1/5th of the book pretty well, but in all honesty it should have been a 3-5 part TV miniseries, like they did with Stephen Kings' 'The Stand'. My favorite part of Battlefield Earth (the book) was when Terl was finally caught and confined to his room, going insane searching for bugs and cameras and other items of paranoia, but not finding the one he really needed to find The book is certainly worth the read (I have read it 5 or 6 times now), but the movie...well, I think the main problem was that it was 9 hours too short rvs

Jaguar, I have heard many good things about the nFORCE boards--apparently the built in sound is a little better than the stuff from Creative That may or may not be the case, but the nFORCE is getting good marks, and it is not brand spanking new, so many bugs have probably been worked out. I currently have an EPoX (in specs), and have been very happy with it. The one thing that bothers me is that VIA seems to have nothing but roadblocks thrown up in their way concerning the motherboard 4 in 1 drivers. From the KT133 fiasco, they have made huge progress in stability, and my EPoX is routinely left on for weeks at a time with only the occasional reboot for various reasons. But this is definitely going to weigh into my next upgrade decision. I plan on upgrading my CPU and motherboard later this year (I hope I can remember how to update system specs under my signature ) and am going to look very hard at the nFORCE offerings. Good luck with your upgrade, please post back I am interested in what you ended up with. rvs

I must have gotten the special 'Michigan Edition' because I sure didnt have that kind of experience with the sim. rvs

If we get stranded on a planet at least we will be able to forage for food until the BattleCruiser arrives... Excellent shots, very nice rvs

I think seeing the changes on the planet (weather, day, night, etc) as I fly around aimlessly are pretty cool. Smokin Bob

It seems like every review I read addresses the 'aging' graphics....??? I have to be honest--I have recently purchased software items, created within the last year, that had graphics no where near the quality of BattleCruiser Millenium:Gold Edition. That part of any BattleCruiser review always confuses me. I just got done with a game with 'cutting edge graphics' and I was sorry I bought it and sorry I wasted my time with it. I doubt if I will ever reinstall it. It had nice graphics though....but I tire quickly of jumping puzzles and strangely tattoed women.... Smokin Bob

Another tribute to the design of the Thunderbolt II (Warthog). It is hard to believe that we were going to decommission (sic) this aircraft before the Desert Storm campaign. The jets incredible performance in that campaign has helped to keep it around a while. The thing is a brute--30mm depleted uranium shells in that cannon. The pilots say it actually slows the jet down when it is fired!! An oldie but a goodie, I think it is almost 40 years old in design, give or take a few years. Where I live in Northern Michigan, you will often see one or two or sometimes even four of them flying around very low to the ground. I remember one time, we were in the middle of nowhere taking samples for a brine spill, when all of a sudden two A-10's showed up. Painted in Army green, they circled slowly above us several times at a level so low we could see the pilots. It is amazing how slow that jet can fly and not fall out of the sky. A good asset. Smokin Bob

Supreme Commander--You owe me a new pair of pants--couldnt help myself after THOSE shots! Wow. Smokin Bob

Very nice shots....will be standing in line for this release:) Smokin Bob

quote:Originally posted by Wolferz: Probably is a far cry from definitely, So now they have scientifically proven what caused the problem. The wing mockup used in the test was made of fiberglass, A significantly stronger material than the carbon fiber actually used. So hey guys let's put some foam insulation on the external tank that can come off during launch and damage the orbiter enough to destroy it and kill everyone on board. Like I said, "Stupidity, Sheer stupidity. The amazing thing is that the main tank insulation flying off is not a new problem. On the contrary, it has happened on nearly every mission, one time so severe that tiles were destroyed before it ever got to orbit. So they made some changes....and tragedy still took place. It isnt like they can just remove the insulation--I doubt if many materials could handle 17000 MPH speeds and the corresponding thermal increase when in the atmospheric regime of the orbiter as it returns to earth or when at the end of its main and secondary burns it is travelling that fast, but without an atmosphere. I watched an interview with a shuttle astronaut shortly after the accident and he said that you risk your life every time you go to work. There is a 1 in 50 shuttle failure rate, which, considering the number of launches, two would be expected to be lost, and two have been. This is a far cry from the initial design specs of basically no accidents ever, but zero-defect engineering is not a reality--just ask the folks at Chernobyl. The O-Ring issue was another accident waiting to happen--Morton Thiokol engineers, some time after the first shuttle loss (from the pad) said that they had been holding their breath....on pretty much every launch. They knew it was only a matter of time, and it was. I dont see many options for NASA--the only time people seem to care about the space program is when there is tragedy or a problem. The Apollo 13 mission was not even covered on television...until the men got into massive amounts of trouble and it looked like they would not make it back. It is too bad, really, but what is NASA to do? They simply dont have to money to totally replace the shuttle (the only solution, in my opinion) without going with the lowest bidder. This is not good. I hope we return to launching the shuttle soon, but we absolutely must think of getting rid of the 'current' design--nearly 40 years old some of the technology on board. Smokin Bob [ 06-02-2003, 12:42 PM: Message edited by: rvs ]

quote:Originally posted by Commander Elio Jason: quote:Originally posted by rvs: I am rather disturbed, however--it would seem that PC games are now officially 'dying'...? we have Half Life 2 and Doom 3 comnig up for the PC. that's more than enoguh to keep it alive. BTW i like the shots! I have to say I am more of a flight sim, space sim, racing sim kind of gamer. I dont like shoot em ups that much, and the market seems to be headed strongly in that direction. BattleCruiser Millenium pretty much knocked me on the floor--I wasnt aware simulators of this depth were still being produced in the space genre. Half Life 2 looks pretty good, and Doom III is a must have for sure, but other than that, I dont let too many FPS games on my system--many of them lack creativity and I honestly grow weary of nothing but shooting and jump puzzles for 10-40 hours. It is a waste of time and processing speed. It seems many gamers now want thin or no manuals, no learning curve, and pixel shaded bosses so the game is 'cool'. Some of the games for my 1981 Timex Sinclair ZX81 were more fun than some current 'must haves' that I will not mention. And that was with 16 kilobytes, total, of RAM. It is sad to see 5-10 times (or more) the processing power of a console sitting on my desk, knowing that many of the sims I have today must last a long time. Smokin Bob [ 05-21-2003, 09:37 PM: Message edited by: rvs ]

Looks great all around, really looking forward to getting my hands on a copy ASAP!! I am rather disturbed, however--it would seem that PC games are now officially 'dying'...? Not that I have anything against consoles, but if I play one more 'port' without mouse control I think I will scream. Please keep making computer games....wouldnt want AMD to go out of business. Smokin Bob