AngusThermopyle

Cyber, I've played through Dishonoured, great game. It has some gameplay elements that allow you to change the way you'd normally play, adding more fun to it. I also love the setting, a once great city now crumbling into ruin. Actually I intend to play through it again and try some different methods and approaches. XCOM, just started it the other night. It seems like a good one and I was having fun with it but I had a few too many beverages and lost the ability to play sensibly so I packed it in for the night. My friend swears by it though, even going so far as to say that its better than Civ V. The shear nerve of him! Keep in mind though the fact that he's never played Civ V since he games on console so that's probably just the fanboy in him speaking.

Boges, I didn't bump this thread, Spiderfish did. I just checked it because I saw someone else had bumped it. I'll find the source about record component sales for you when I get the chance. Notice I said component, not PC, as in pre built PC's. Although boutique PC's are doing quite well from what I understand, stuff like Digital Storm, Falcon Northwest etc. Anyway, I have to go to bed now, maybe later we can talk about Oculus Rift and its implications for gaming, or should we start a new thread for that one?

Upscaling 4k players are already out there, if all you do is watch TV shows then you have a point. Some of us don't watch TV though, for myself I pretty well only watch movies. The 3D thing, well both my wife, myself and all my friends enjoy 3D quite a bit, some movies are simply spectacular in 3D, in fact I'm looking forward to watching the new 3D release of The Wizard of Oz this weekend, see how it compares to my collectors edition. How is it not nearly as convenient? I turn on my TV, then my computer, then I sit back with my wireless controller, or, if I so desire my wireless keyboard and mouse. Where is the lack of convenience? Not to mention the fact that Civ V looks fantastic on 55". Web browsing and other functions on big screen are also far more satisfying. Ahhh! The old computers are dead argument. In fact last year PC component sales were at their highest ever, sure, crap boxes from Best Buy or Future shop may be in decline but enthusiast sales are setting new records. Who cares about cheapo crap boxes anyway? Don't worry, Asus, Nvidia, AMD, MSI, Gigabyte etc. aren't going away anytime soon. In fact 2014 is ushering in a host of amazing tech advances in the PC world, true game changers. You also forgot or don't know about the Steambox. This is in the wild now for testing and may prove to be a true game changer, I'm keeping a close eye on this one to see how it pans out. I've already downloaded Steam OS (free) but haven't had a chance to use it yet. The new Steam controller also looks very, very promising, light years ahead of anything currently available. Games for a few bucks? Try a Steam sale, you can get plenty of games for a few bucks, or if you want something better you can get titles like Far Cry 3 for $7.00 to $10.00. This is where things get really good as you can save a ton of money on games. Have you seen Assassins Creed PC release? It doesn't even look like the same game that you can get on console. Sorry, the new consoles are already way out of date, that's just a simple fact. As I said though, if consoles and phones float your boat then go for it. After all the only thing that counts is what you personally enjoy.

Actually Cyber you are wrong. The PS3 is 720 x 1080, it is not true 1080 which is 1920 x 1080. As for cost, incorrect once more, for about $700 to $800 you can build a box that will easily kick both next gen systems to the curb handily. On top of that you still have all the functionality and capability of a computer. Should you decide later that you want more capability you can can easily and cheaply add new/more components to the PC, something you can't do with the consoles. Mass storage, do some more more research, there are limitations as to your storage options with the consoles, not to mention no SSD options at all. Overkill? When is a better experience ever overkill? I use my monitor for 2560 x 1440 gaming and on the rare occasion when I want to sit on the couch and game I use my 55" 3D TV. I can either use Steam Big Picture mode or just run without it. With my video cards I can also game in 3D, titles like Batman are 3D. Give it one to two years and you'll find 4K TV's will have dropped drastically in price. Already 4K monitors have dropped in price. Dell makes a model you can get for as low as $700, just a few months ago they were $4000, that's quite a drop for a few months. What do you think it'll be in one to two years? Of course you did know that 4K TV's are already here didn't you? Having your facts right and all, right? By the way I find the whole "PC MASTER RACE" thing rather silly and juvenile. You should consider dropping that act, it doesn't reflect kindly on you. If low power, cheap inferior boxes are your thing then good for you, you'll most likely enjoy yourself and that after all is the whole point, I much prefer power and versatility myself. Its all a matter of what you as an individual prefer, I just don't settle for compromises in anything.

Actually the new consoles are nothing more than low powered crippled computers with limited capabilities and control options. Both new consoles use the exact same x86 architecture as computers. The main difference is that they both use crappy low powered Jaguar eight core cpu's running at a paltry 1.8ghz and graphics chipsets that are now several generations out of date. The Jaguar was actually intended as a mobile device cpu but proved to be too inefficient from a power consumption point of view to be of any use in phones, tablets and laptops. At least now these consoles can finally hit 1080p and utilize dx11. Still that's not that great when you consider that 2.5k is becoming pretty mainstream on computers and 4k is already here and dropping rapidly in price. Not too mention the lack of SSD's, lack of RAID, lack of true mass storage and, well, I could go on and on. Personally I'll stick with my I7 running at 4.7ghz and twin GTX660's in SLI complimented by two SSD's in RAID 0. The kids can have the kiddie boxes to play on.

Thanks BC, I missed your post, sorry about that. For those who haven't heard of him I suggest they look into it. He was quite an impressive man by any metric. Artists such as Peter Gabriel and Kevin Kline have made him the subject of a song and movie in fact. Gabriel's song Biko tells the story of his death while A Dry White Season tells of his struggle. Interestingly A Dry White Season also illustrates the fact that not all white South Africans were just fine with the status quo. In fact all one has to do is watch Paul Simon's Graceland concert to see many young white and black people celebrating together and supporting the concept of equality in order to become aware of this fact.

After reading through this thread and seeing the efforts of some to explain who exactly Mandela was and the rebutals by those who see only one side of him I feel compelled to ask if any of you have ever heard of Steven Biko? If you wish to compare someone to Ghandi or MLK then Biko is a much closer fit than Mandela. The key difference is that Biko was killed by the SA government. Had he lived it is entirely possible that he would have been the man who led SA to independence rather than Mandela. Biko never endorsed violence and always believed that all peoples of SA could and should live in a peacefull co-operative fashion with each other. Being Bantu he was fully aware of the oppressions visited upon black Africans yet also believed that violence was no answer and would only beget more violence. It is somewhat sad that Biko appears to have been forgotten by history when he was in fact a man of vision and peace that in my opinion rivaled or even surpassed Mandela.

Cant argue with that. Frankly in my opinion if you decide it would be fun to attack someone and that person kills you in self defense then you quite simply got what you asked for.

Okay, did any of you who object actually read the linked article? Right here, second paragraph in it states. So for all who are saying "how does this support the troops" or "this just glorifies war", there is your answer. Of course you may be someone who just doesn't give a damn about our people in uniform, that's fine after all that is your right.

This is something that I find interesting on a number of levels. The first of course would be that this was funded with taxpayers money, both Provincial and Federal. Given that we are taxed exorbitantly it seems that this is nothing but a waste of said money. Recently a woman with brain cancer has been denied access to a drug that would prolong her life and allow her more time with her family. Yet we can spend money on trash such as this display of so called art. The next thing that I find interesting is the display itself. Images and representations of severed male genitalia amongst others. If the reverse were displayed, severed breasts and vaginas I image there would be a huge backlash about it. Also, although funded with taxpayer money reporters from the Sun were denied access to the exhibit. As this is publicly funded should not everyone be granted access? Also one has to wonder if this could possibly be illegal under current hate legislation. Really if you think about it you can only come to the conclusion that something is very seriously wrong with the entire political apparatus on both the Provincial and Federal levels in this country. From what I've seen I can only conclude that there really isn't much difference between politicians of any party, they all appear to be corrupt and self serving. Anyway, here's a link to the story. http://www.torontosun.com/2013/10/30/taxpayers-funding-lesbian-haunted-house-in-toronto

Very sad about Lou. I was never really a fan of his but have to admit that he was influential. This weekend I'm listening to the new Paul McCartney album, New. Great album, lots of really good songs. This man just keeps going and going. Undoubtedly one of the real music greats.

Wrong wrong wrong. Since you insist I'll say it. Leafs supporters. There! You happy now?

Big Guy, I think you are missing the point. This test is an archaic remnant of a male centric world whereby a woman's worth was judged solely by the status of her Hymen. I'm pretty sure there aren't too many women out there who are unaware of their status as a virgin or not as the case may be. We wont mention the group who desire this test as that would be taboo. All I will say is that its time these folk joined the rest of us in the modern world instead of trying to live in the distant past.

I was going to answer Signals.Cpl and did in fact post a rather long answer explaining what happened. You know what? I just can't be bothered arguing with someone who will never admit that they don't know everything. This is also one of the reasons why I don't bother posting here very much anymore.

Yes and no. It was a case of reciprocal covering going on in this instance. Dallaire claimed he was under orders from the U.N., which is true to a degree. Further to that our politicians waffled on the issue, finally, Dallaire refused to do anything even when under pressure from his own men in the field. When the incident with the ten men under his command occurred he faced very strenuous demands and pressure from his own people to mount a rescue operation but flat out refused. He even drove past the compound where the men were being attacked while it was happening and didn't bother to radio a report to base as he was on his way to what he claimed was an important meeting and didn't want anything to interfere with it. He left his men to die and didn't lift a finger to prevent it, literally. After the whole thing was done our politicians and media mounted a massive campaign to present him as some sort of hero and swept the incident with the ten under the rug. It is an affront to the ten and a national disgrace that most Canadians know nothing at all about.

Actually precedence tends to support the theory that all large organizations will tend to operate in this manner. I recall incidents that occurred during my time with the Military that would bear this out. For instance whistle blowers were painted as being mentally unstable or trouble makers then shunted off somewhere they would have difficulty bringing issues to light. One instance involved a young officer who exposed military reports stating casualties and deaths were accidental in nature to be falsified in order to cover the truth. He was predictably labeled as a habitual trouble maker with mental issues and was dismissed shortly after this. Another example would be Rwanda, where Dallaire was portrayed as some sort of saintly hero when in fact he stood by while thousands were butchered and even allowed ten of his own men to be killed without lifting a finger, even though he was fully aware of what was happening.

Something a little different this weekend. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=2hUzm6fFm5E Also this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=X7CRlNMN36k A versatile and very very good artist.

Obviously you are not that great with language skills either. Will you allow leaners to take the bull by the horns and learn their own strategies for learning language skills as well?

Interesting article, but as usual you present the subject in a totally one sided manner and fail to acknowledge the potential pitfalls. Or you just didn't read the entire article. For instance this part. Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/ipads-for-winnipeg-students-the-pros-and-cons-of-high-tech-learning-1.1438691#ixzz2esP4Nrpd Or this part. Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/ipads-for-winnipeg-students-the-pros-and-cons-of-high-tech-learning-1.1438691#ixzz2esPcyTif Or this part. Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/ipads-for-winnipeg-students-the-pros-and-cons-of-high-tech-learning-1.1438691#ixzz2esPxJucn And in this part you'll notice that they say "hope", this is hardly a solid endorsement. There are always two sides to every story yet you consistently present only one, this is a serious shortcoming on your behalf. If indeed you are going to be a teacher as you claim I would suggest you address this problem that you appear to have. Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/ipads-for-winnipeg-students-the-pros-and-cons-of-high-tech-learning-1.1438691#ixzz2esQGxOvI

Been getting into a little bit of old school punk this weekend. I've always enjoyed these guys. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=xMaE6toi4mk

Just noticed this post on page three regarding Sandy Denny and it reminded me of another fascinating factoid of rocks past. Sandy Denny was the only guest vocalist to ever sing with Led Zeppelin on an album. Although she was known as a fantastic vocalist, one of the very best of the time, she said that she was literally shaken after singing with Robert Plant. She was kind of freaked out by the fact that Plant could out sing her, Mr. Plant, a truly great vocalist. He's right up there with the likes of Freddy Mercury, except for the fact that he's still alive.

Sorry Cyber, no insult was meant to you. My comment was directed more towards Socialist as it has become apparent to me that this individual appears to simply parrot what he is told without applying any analysis or critical thought to it.

Strange you should mention that. As some of you may know I'm a big blues/rock fan but due to the influence of my better half I have been listening to some country stuff. Namely Johnny Cash ( a bit depressing though) and Waylon Jennings, also some Willie. This is a concert I'll be ordering to add to my collection. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tACr6J83xVk&feature=player_detailpage

It appears that one does not have to be very intelligent either.

Now I'll be listening to Marillion, Misplaced Childhood as I just picked up a mint copy on vinyl, also picked up Elton John, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy on CD. Both are great albums.