Sparq

And I wish M$ hadn't licenced Battletech. Mech Assault may have been based on the books and previous Mechwarrior games, and may have been a decent game on its own...but as a fan of the series, it wasn't Battletech.

That is one reason I don't want an Xbox...I think the extra cost of an actual PC is justified if it means I'll be able to swap parts and upgrade over time.

The Rolling Stones - Paint It Black

Pearl Jam...though I don't generally listen to grunge, but Do The Evolution is excellent. See avatar.

Sounds vagely Starship Troopers-esque. Only citizens can vote, and only those who have proven themselves in some way get to be citizens.

Hope Floats (another movie I can be glad I have never seen)

You can prove that a political or social system doesn't work, but you can't prove that it does. Simply because sooner or later, every system of government and society in history has collapsed, disbanded, been absorbed, mutated, assimilated, etc. You can either view that as the failure of a specific system, or as the evolution of the global system - elimination of the weak in favor of the strong...elimination of the strong due to inept leadership...etc. I don't think there is a perfect system. Nothing seems to 'work' so far. They work for a while, sure, but eventually they all fail. It's a matter of time. The best you can hope for is a system that takes a very long time to degrade instead of collapsing suddenly, and perhaps violently. It has come to my attention that when I try to write or type ideas, I often make sense only to myself...so fogive me if my posts sound like the lunatic ravings of a madman or an imbecile.

Yeah, that's a problem. I spent about $1500 building this thing to Half-Life 2 specs, then it got delayed for 9 months, and the specs went up.

The assault rifle is nearly useless except at extreme close range...that annoys me. I'll ditch it for a shotgun in a heartbeat. though I CAN snipe, I have never been a particularly good sniper...decent in TFC, but again...it's acrade style. I'm more inclined to walk in the front door hurling grenades all over the place than I am to snipe. I've never owned my own console system, which is probably why I suck with the controls. I've been primarily a PC gamer since I started playing games - on a Commodore 64, when back they were considered good. Then came the IBM 486, Pentium 200, Pentium 500, and my current Athlon 2.2 gig system.

Ah...Halo. I'm not good at Halo. I hold my own most of the time, but I only excel when I get a Scorpion tank. Though, like most games where my skills are mediocre at best (Halo, Counter-Strike) I make up for it by being a sneaky bastard. I'm not a camper, cheater or spawn killer or anything, but generally I use tactics that can only be described as 'unorthodox'. Also...I can only really play it on PC. I am simply terrible at anything where I have to use console controls, especially shooters. I need the mouse.

Threat indicator gives a basic idea, but I know what you mean...I guess you might say it adds to the realism. Nothing like a little confusion to turn a controlled firefight into a disaster. Something I noticed. Squad AI is actually quite detailed. It seems like they just follow you and shoot any hostiles they see, but I have actually been shot by a member of my own team. I ran out of the room through one door and entered through another. So try not to startle your squad, or they may just kill you. Recently I really enjoyed playing co-op missions with 16 or so people on the hardest difficulty. I played an Island Thunder expansion mission probably 20 times one afternoon before we finally managed to win. Good times.

Yeah...quicksave is your friend, but of course that detracts from realism. Ghost Recon I liked more than most tactical shooters partly because it takes place mostly in outdoor settings. They tend to be more forgiving than close combat. Also, I liked the dynamic command system where you direct other squads in-game instead of giving them a preset plan before the mission starts. Though overall...I am much better at arcade-style shooters with less realism, hence TFC and UT.

I'll have to remember that....thous supercanuk may have told me at some point, it sounds familiar. In any case....if you don't vote, you have no right to complain. And I like complaining. Do the math.

Yes. Quite good indeed!

Perhaps they're not really lame, that may have been harsh....but at this rate the major parties are all so bad that the only thing that motivates me to vote is my desire to keep the Bloc out of power. A political party whos policies only apply to one province should not be allowed to exist.

Super Troopers (hilarious...and I bet I can guess the next one... ;))

I haven't played in a year at least...I haven't played online much at all recently. Shooters are my game. The only one I can honestly say I am very good at is Team Fortress Classic. Then to a lesser extent Counter-Strike, Day Of Defeat, Unreal tournament, UT 2k3/4, and Ghost Recon. By the way, if you're looking for a good tactical shooter, Ghost Recon Gold is cheap these days...and is the best squad based tactical shooter I have ever played.

This was the problem I had with the last federal election...NONE of the parties seemed any good. Conservative defence policy was the only one anywhere near acceptable to me, but some of their other policies sucked...and Harper scares me. On the other hand, I didn't want to let the liberals get another majority...NDP is just lame...etc...bah.

Starcraft has got to be the only game I have ever played online for long periods of time despite the fact that I never won....well, almost never.

The intro to Giant. I was at the most recent Ottawa show...crowd wasn't too crazy, but that's the one part where everybody joined in chanting. K-I-C-K-A-S-S...

Low rider don't use no gas now Low rider don't drive too fast

You're a half a world away But in my mind I whisper every single word you say. And before you sleep at night You pray to me, your lucky star, your singing satellite.

13 episodes, I believe...I have the DVD. As for for the rest - That makes sense, though I consider it equally idiotic of MTV whether they cancelled it or just didn't renew it.

1) Sort of a Protest Song 2) Alert Status Red 3) The Inescapable Us 4) Rico 5) Lullaby For The New World Order 6) The War is Over

Undergrads <-- GENIUS...and of course cancelled before its time, like so many other great shows. A casualty of MTV executives. Futurama The Simpsons Family Guy South Park Monty Python's Flying Circus That 70s Show (occasionally) MXC (occasionally) I rarely watch anything else....and even in the case of Family Guy and Futurama, I haven't watched lately - Teletoon has been airing the first season, one episode per day, for a year now. They're really beating that dead horse.