Saracen

They're getting worse than the Linux Mint developers who go up a version number every 6 months. This is in comparison to other distro developers who go up a whole integer every 12 months, and prefer to increment their version numbers bi-annually. It's really an open source numbers bandwagon. They're probably gunning and gathering pace for version 10. I imagine at that landmark they'll unveil a bigger, faster, better Firefox browser. Which is more highly cloud compatible, boasts the latest bleeding edge features in Internet developments, a better more intuitive GUI, and all that other crap I couldn't really care about. Because I use Chromium anyway. No doubt they'll do something pointless too. Like re-launch it as Firefo'X' because the X in the name, as a version number is so nerdy, it's cool... Or some stupid **** like that.

If you like turn based games, then you'll probably love this. This flew under my radar when it was released back in May this year, and I only found it purely by accident. So after some research, I grabbed a copy, and have started playing... Runs on Linux like a charm too! Let's post a couple of vids... Here's the launch trailer.. Now I could write an essay and review what I played of the campaign so far... But instead set aside 27 minutes and watch this mission walkthrough instead... There's a Demo on the Frozen Synapse website if you wanna give it a go. Or if you wanna buy it from the site.... It's also on Steam. Discuss...

To be honest I find turn based games more strategically complex than their real time counterparts. This game has been described as "Psychic Chess"... and I'd call that a rather accurate depiction of the game on a basic level. To be honest though. Indie developers do a better job these days than the multi-million dollar making corporations. They're consistently coming up with the best and greatest innovations in the industry. Braid with time manipulation, Achron being the worlds first true 4D RTS, This Frozen Synapse melding together several turn based strategy games to make something completely new... All Indie.. all better than most big commercial names...

That's actually been the overall 'knee-jerk' view of most of the public here actually. Although I'd refer you to the videos I posted on the previous page in the rioter's defence. Sure I don't condone their actions.. But these rioters had a reason.. As Martin Luther King once said "A riot is the language of the unheard."

I'll give it a go if WINE can run it on Linux. If not, I'll make it work somehow.

Pat Condell is a racist anti-semitist ****! A waste of air, a Hitler supporting far right stain on the Youtube community. If a suicide bomber took him and 100 of his despicable white power loving buddies out, I'd call the man who took his life to kill him a hero! You wanna know why this crap has gone on? Let's take it from a 46 year old, proud to be British Black man, who's worked his ass off all his life and paid his taxes. I respect his guy, I wish he was my drinking buddy, he'd be my best mate. This man tells it like it is... Unlike that scum in the video who blames Jews and non-Caucasians for every problem society has!

.... Say what? Not been anywhere near it. Nearest place has been Bristol 20 miles away.... Anyway let's post something I uploaded here concerning the shooting: Plus this: Youths offered money to start riots Media claim it was because of the shooting. The initial riot was, the expanded problem has nothing to do with it. Other so-called theories include as to why these riots started include: Years of neglegence by the UK government to provide for poorer communities. A failure of multiculturalism A 16 year old girl, attacked by a police officer Bored Kids Racial tensions and stereotypes between the police and ethnic minorities. Economic troubles leaving people with no money The lack of jobs and austerity The list goes on and on... All I do know now though.. Is that this gives our government the perfect excuse to turn England ever closer into a fascist police state... You know the scenario in the movie V for Vendetta... I wouldn't be surprised if the scenario becomes true... you know... ENGLAND PREVAILS!

Hmm... I'd disagree with that. But each to their own tastes. Sure the likes of Act on Instinct, Hell March and the original Grinder (Cos the 2nd one is just awful) are some of his best works. But there's a lot of average stuff in the games soundtracks in comparison to his solo work. The thing I find. When he's composing for games, he has to stick to the overall theme. While he still has a fair bit of freedom, he has to keep in mind how the game plays out and how to generate the right atmosphere a game is going for. Freedom is even tighter when working with dynamic soundtracks which change according to what's going on, on the screen. With his solo work, he doesn't have this problem. He can choose a theme loosely and run with it, and the creative flair is ever more evident in his work. The quality of his work therefore in my opinion is so much higher.

Why should there be? C&C may have been a fair chunk of his career, but it's now only part of his overall resume. Not only does he work for Petroglyph, but he's also a big composer for his own music. If anything he spends more time on his own work rather than any given game Petroglyph are working on at the time. If anything , I find it unfortunate that he's not recognised more for his own separate solo material. Because, (and Sonic will back me up on this) some of his non-games associated work blows most of his own games related material out the water. It's pure excellence. For example: Beast of a tune! Oh and I have to add this one as well... "Awakening of Aggression" is one of my favourite albums by Frank... It's heavy, it's powerful, and it's awesome!

No, I'm not 3 and a half months late for April fools day. And yes, I'm being entirely serious here. But yes, I do love RA3... On the PS3 that is! OK, let's set about my reasoning here before you go all nuts about how RTS on consoles suck. 2009 when this game came out, I had an entirely different mindset. Being in this community led me to hammer every conceivable nit pick I found about the game... Anyway you know the story there. First thing I noticed about this Ultimate Edition is that some of my criticisms surrounding RA3 have seemed to have been taken into consideration since I last played it. While typically, arrows still hang over structures, the campaign's recoding means that the Fog of War isn't removed like it was in the PC version (Unless you're told to capture structures like the Airport in the Empire LA mission). So you can't just click Superpower X and use it in combination with Support power Y, or even select an entire air force to blow the hell out of the enemy. This just makes things a little more difficult. The same applies to specific buildings you have to target. Knocking just that one out suddenly doesn't win you the match and certain victory. Now you have to hit all production structures as well.. Just these little basic changes, already makes RA3 twice the game it was when I owned my PC Copy. Also in there (from PC patch changes as well I gather) are the obvious unit balance changes some of which have improved how the campaign, skirmishes and online matches play out. Ore mines last a little longer now too which I'm greatful to see. And the AI is still as much of an obsessive bitch with it's air-force on Normal difficulty, which is great to see. Primarily though is the control screen and interface. I'm sure you've all seen it. For some reason, after getting your head around the slightly more complex controls, and with a bit of practice of knowing where all the icons are, it just works really well. I'm finding myself knocking out buildings and tanks just as I would any other C&C game... Control groups are spot on as well, being able to flick between them quickly and order around is a great tool. Plus there are plenty of options to snap to places or units, so at no stage did I really feel disadvantaged using the PS3 pad. So yeah, even though i'm probably well over a year or more behind on the PS3 release of this game. I'd say it doesn't matter. The Ultimate edition is really what RA3 should have been from the outset, and even though a few niggles remain, like the storyline still being rather pants, it's something that can't be changed... So ignoring the obviously impossible things to change. I would have to give it a Solid and genuine 9/10 Plus it has trophies... as a PS3 owner I love Trophies!

I thought Chinese law clearly stated that no family could exceed 1 child per family? I remember a documentary on it. Often couples who may have given birth to a girl, would dump their child on the streets in favour of trying for a boy. Since it is a firm belief in China that males can bring bigger wealth and prosperity to a family and themselves purely for being male. The situation is now said to be so bad, that the Chinese male population now exceeds females considerably. A survey was taken of just one junior school, and there were only 4 females to a male attendance of over 200. This is why in the above story. The males went for big cash, and the female wasn't really worth the money they received. But then, this stuff happens in China all the time. They breed for the money, as opposed to the "family" aspect.

The left can screw themselves. Problem is these days though, Liberalism in my eyes is a façade for a wholly right wing agenda. That's a whole new can o' worms right there though. We could go from outrageous conspiracy theories, to governments covering up real truths like what Fluoride really does to people instead of protecting their teeth. That's a good one right there. You mean like CERN being Gagged by those higher up in order to maintain and support the Man made global warming agenda. It's something I've only just seen before posting this... But it's exactly what I was talking about above. You can pull alternative scientific findings off anywhere on the web. Same with News. Or even economic data that claims that America's 14.5 Trillion debt was last recorded in 2008 before the recession, and that the figure is closer to that of $27 trillion, or even closer $50+ Trillion. It's all out there, you just have to approach all information with an open mind, find and research the facts, and come to an individual conclusion. People can believe Fox/CNN or BBC/Sky News if they like, they can hide under thick blankets of government and corporate controlled rubbish. But if a wider truth is worth finding, then that's what you do. But it's still important take everything with a grain of salt. The source I provided above is an insight into how the whole agenda works. Real scientists get the facts, but it's picked apart, played down, put in the plausible deniability tray, or where ever the powers that be see fit. This is the beauty of the internet. There may be a lot of BS about, but there's actually some great truth out there that's more true than the wool named truth, that's pulled over your eyes. This is why I support the Anonymous agenda and their "plan"... They've finally got around to my way of thinking, and they're doing it at a time where those at the top want to censor the internet... It'll just be good to rid the corruption that plagues us at the top levels. So maybe, just maybe, we can actually just have some journalistic honesty from commendable sources. That's what so-called democracy is about after all... So in the case of all this global warming crap, we should be told that all this crazy crap going on with mother earth is natural, instead of man made... Unless you like conspiracies, then it's a laugh to research what HAARP apparently does with the weather and earthquakes. Although myself with an open mind is curious as to what benefits a ionospheric research program really has. But that's a whole new topic, and now I'm just muttering.

Please tell me you don't believe that media rubbish they throw at everyone. Gobal Warming due to human intervention is minimal, and most likely about as real as Santa Claus. Such reports of human's causing Global Warming are from so-called Government employed expert scientists. False facts forced upon the sheeple by government and corporate controlled media for the interest of capital gain. It's **** that sells and people buy it. Now I dunno about anyone else, but sure we've had the odd short heat wave around the planet (like every year). But contrast it to the fact that in the UK, the summer months have actually been colder and wetter than 10 years ago, and the Spring months are the one's that are hotter. Our Winters are the coldest on record, we're experiencing more snow here than in 50 years. Surely a planet that was heating up due to Human Neglect would see a clear statistical correlation. In other words extreme rise in temperatures gradually for the past 10-20 years reaching its hottest peak in mid-June. Warmer winters (not colder), where snow should be something we only see in countries lucky enough to be very close to the Arctic circle. etc. etc. Scientifically, you want to look at where the planet's position is in respect to the sun, and just as importantly, where the entire Solar System is in respect to the rest of the galaxy. Anyone who believes that the planet remains on a constant axis is wrong, the earth actually wobbles which is enough to make slight changes to weather patterns. The same goes for the planet's mean orbital distance from the sun. In 2009, our mean orbital distance diminished. We are talking of small values here (1.000016 au to 0.999998 au from January to June 2009, a difference of 2,700 km (1/5 of Earth's diameter). Plus there are many other variable I could go into that affect the delicate balance of this planet which would turn it into an essay. It's 14C outside right now... it's summer and it's almost 10am. Global Warming is a natural phenomena. Anyway, let's leave it to this man to speak the truth.

No such problem with Speed on the console versions. The unit cap is still very much in tact from the PC version.. But the PS3 certainly has no problem displaying some of the more highly aggressive battles that go on. And the game looks absolutely stunning! It's really nice to see how the engine is supposed to look maxed out. It's certainly really good to appriciate the little details that actually went into this game.. Everything to full water effects, to the smoke, to the textures that most people here haven't ever really had a chance to see on their own machines. I know what I would love to do.. to really see how the PS3 performs with this game... is perhaps spend some time over a week or so, doing one of those soviet super reactor domino tests... In most Youtube videos I've come across, many people have had to alter the video timings as to make things appear like they're not slowing down. But then again, I dunno if I can be bothered to do such things and would rather focus on getting the trophies instead

I got an update through my repos yesterday. Looks no different at all. All plug-ins work as expected etc etc. Primarily more of an under the hood thing really, other than the anti-track feature and whatever they've put in it of late. I still prefer Chrome though, it's just good that I can type half a web address and it'll predict and go to the site before I even get close to typing in ".com". Amongst other things of course.

No, my Desktop wallpaper is also my current Facebook profile picture. Chances are if it's Funny, Game, Political, Linux or RC related, it'll be my FB Profile pic.

What the RC truck? Cool ain't it? I just love the pic. It's not mine though... It's an official gallery picture of the Traxxas T-Maxx 3.3. It's exactly what I like doing to my new HPI Bullet MT 3.0... except more upside down, flipping through the air.... I may actually bother youtubing when I've broke/replaced/upgraded some stock parts. EDIT:... Now That you mention it... think I might change my avatar while I'm at it with a pic of my truck.

Thought I'd chuck my desktop in since I haven't done it for years

I've been running a 26" LG for the last year or so now. Just to sort of go one better than the rest... lol

Whore house... what an interesting addition to monetary income... Command & Pimp baby! I have a question. If you suck, do you only get $5?

GT series is overhyped and over now... There was no real reason for the delays I feel.. and the credits rolled half way through the game... "WTF!" doesn't even cover it. You want a real racing game.. Get Shift 2.... Don't let the "Need for Speed" Tag fool you... Slightly mad studios who make the game were old devs at SimBin... Who of course have done the GTR PC racing games in times gone by. Not just about clean cut physics Shift ain't... it's about visceral racing, proper realism of being a driver... not just about what the car can give you. Shift still stands as one of my favourite racing sims (when you jack up the realism) I've got the Shift 2 Limited Edition on Pre-order to pick up this Friday, and I doubt I'll get rid... I regret selling the original as it is!

As a Linux only user who'll never touch Windows again unless paid to fix someone's crap Windows machine (Unless it's to format their system to Linux, in which case I'll do it for free)... I have played every game on that list. And to be honest a fair few of them are old MS-DOS games which have been rewritten. FreeCiv & FreeCol were classics of their time and well worth checking out. Also on that list is Hedgewars... Best 2D Worms Clone ever created, and personally I believe it's better than the original. OpenTTD, I simply cannot recommend enough... Transport Tycoon Deluxe sits as one of my Top 5 games ever developed. Back in 1997 my parents were almost going to officially certify me as dead because I played it so much. When I jumped to Linux and found this in the Ubuntu Software repository it felt like Christmas come early. Get this game, it's a no brainer. Absolute must have in my opinion. Other's should be pretty recognisable... and if you're a dab hand at compiling source code then you can knock yourself out with some of the bigger titles there. But if you need an opinion on a particular one, I can give you an honest opinion.

Yeah, to be honest, a couple of flashy things jumping out the screen whilst being on a flat dull background still isn't 3D. If there was hundreds of layers of depth to perceive and the detail was crisp no matter how close or far I choose to look within a scene... so it appeared more like an augmented virtual reality experience, then it'd be more than a fad. I had more of a tech-gasm watching Avatar on Blu-Ray in full 1080p than I did watching in this so-called 3D revolution. The only real use for 3D at this time that takes full advantage of the technology is something where you're not gonna spend millions to render explosions and special FX... it lies in something simple... and that simple is pornography... After all you only watch the foreground action... backgrounds are always bland and boring anyway, and PoV takes you there anyway... I mean Bang! Fortunately for me I have a wife and don't need that stuff anyway... well... actually, lets not go there!! QFT! Enough said!

So long as Gearbox "****ing Bring it!" in June (Yes it's been delayed cos Duke doesn't "Come early") then I don't care what the fascists over at FoX say. Just give me guns, violence, **** loads of Lesbian action, plenty of flesh when I enter a strip club, and enough wise cracks from Duke himself like he did in the original, then this game is totally made! Although Australia will probably ban it anyway, cos their ratings board is probably affiliated with FoX in some way.

This is not the forum to debate this quote. But to generalise the greatest RTS to be released in many years as a "Remake"!? Have you even played it? Probably not... But the game is far from a remake... sure, units and structures may return as well as a few classic maps. But the Story, canon, refined gameplay, strategic multiplayer etc. Destroys anything the C&C franchise (or in fact any franchise) has ever put out. Sure it's not perfect, but no other developer will even come close to the wealth of strategic possibility that both the campaign and especially the multiplayer offer by the truck full. Anyway... To tie that in, any RTS developer these days, just needs to look at the Starcraft Franchise. Fixed and limited resources force the player to expand and continually move out. Something which RA3 touched on fairly well I think. Although RA3 could have placed more emphasis on economic control, allowing the player to gain little amounts regularly. More harvesting units would have the player looking to strategically consider the right income to spend ratio, thus increasing the many other strategic options open to them from the start. Moving the emphasis away from efficient build order. C&C has always boiled down to a single efficient build order. All but a few structures have to be built to successfully create a larger more powerful army that can beat you opponent. This outlook towards the tech tree is inefficient at best. Once again the Starcraft franchise correctly gets this right by unlocking 90% of it's structures from the start.. only requiring an extra few structures to unlock the rest. Additional structures and upgrades are unit/support specific. Which in turn increases the wealth of strategy open to the player. Different types of build orders as well as the quantity of structures each have their own strategy tied to them. This is something the Starcraft campaigns actively encourage, unlike C&C where (in most cases)you can pretty much use the build/turtle/tank spam strategy to win any Single or Multiplayer game going. Turtling should not be an option in a future C&C game, ever! Period! Every RTS falls to the Rock, Paper, Scissors mechanic. However, the way in that it's hidden (as to not be so obvious) is absolutely key. I'll mention Universe at War at this point. Each of the 3 factions were hugely different, something not seen since the original Starcraft. Had that game been given another 6-12 months development time by Sega, it would have taken it's place alongside Starcraft as an absolutely brilliant piece of RTS history. The story, scripting, Multiplayer balance would have been almost spot on, and we probably would have seen a sequel easily by now. What I'm getting at is the variety. Sure Starcraft may have ripped off Warhammer 40k's Space Marines, Eldar and Tyrannids. But not half as bad as EA decided to rip off both the Protoss and Zerg to create the Scrin (Zerg Drone, & Protoss Assault Carrier & Mothership anyone?)... Victory games need to either create 2 polar opposite factions, or follow the SC/UaW route and create 3 completely different sides which require even more distinct methods of construction and use then RA3 even attempted. They must even be completely different without copying faction W & X, from game Y, to create faction Z. As per example to how Petroglyph managed with UaW. Mission Variety is equally important. Quick point. Victory Games will be able to create the Real Time. But they also need to do Strategy, Strategy, Strategy. A Single Player Campaign should indeed be fun and have original concepts. But it also needs to be a puzzle. The final Char Mission in SC2: Wings of Liberty assaults you consistently depending on the choice you make in the previous mission. The strategy required to win in that very mission is the best ever example I've ever come across to a campaign ending. Turtle, you die. Attack too thin, you die. Attack too heavy, you die... Find the right balance between economy, defence, unit combination, attack patterns, knowing when to let off your defensive superweapon, and planning how you approach the enemy.... you win, and there are many options to find in which to win damn well! Strategy, Strategy, Strategy. Can't say it enough! Finally... None of this can work without starting from a blank canvas. Cliché has to be avoided where possible and a strong canon, storyline and Universe has to be created with an underlying unique feature, or something rarely touched on. Sins of a Solar Empire brought turn based 4X strategy into real time. The franchise Assassins Creed took a relatively average piece of history, a stale 3rd person stealth game, a 3D platformer, and a few conspiracy theories and tuned it into something amazing. Hazardous Software are putting final touches to the world's first true 4D RTS called 'Achron'... all these examples, have borrowed existing concepts from other games and moulded them into something exciting, fresh and innovative. The C&C franchise cannot have a slice of the greatness again until just one mind sparks in the development meetings, and they throw out the cookie cutter. It doesn't have to be revolutionary, it just has to put it's stake in something different than any C&C we've seen before it, avoid copying, and make it work. Easier said than done? Maybe. But inspiration is all around, and providing this new team look, assess, look for gaps and pull their fingers out... The next C&C could be one hell of a game!