HoSpanky wrote on May 17, 2019, 12:33:
I had an irrational hatred of Leonardo DiCaprio for a long time, as I held him responsible for Titanic and the unrealistic expectations he instilled in the girls at my school.

But he’s an amazingly versatile actor, and I don’t blame him for getting in on a huge moneymaker. Pattinson has previously said that he didTwilight for the money. I’m willing to believe him.

But

As someone else already said, he’s gonna need to pack on a lot of muscle to be believable as Batman. Or maybe they’ll make him some sort of enhancement suit that does the heavy lifting for him. That would certainly help him avoid being suspected of being the Batman as Bruce. “No way, Batman is like, easily twice his size!”

CJ_Parker wrote on May 17, 2019, 14:22:

Cutter wrote on May 17, 2019, 00:02:
What Epic is doing in trying to secure exclusives is what monopolies - attempt to - do.

Valve pushing Steamworks DRM for many years now is a MUCH more monopolistic move than Epic's harmless TIMED exclusives.
Valve basically snagged nearly the entire PC retail business via Steamworks DRM.
With very few exceptions you haven't been able to buy a game at a brick & mortar store (or AMZ) for the last decade that does not have a Steam installer or just a Steam code inside the box. Steam got its tentacles everywhere.

Creston wrote on May 17, 2019, 10:00:
I don't get it. If Epic chooses to essentially pick up 10 bucks of the tab, why does the publisher care?

Blue wrote on May 17, 2019, 07:22:

MoreLuckThanSkill wrote on May 16, 2019, 22:17:
Sigh. That actress(Ruby?) is hot, but she also looks like she weighs about 90 pounds. At least get some woman who looks like she can physically kick somebody's ass. 150+ pounds, muscled, mean snarl on demand, etc.

That's just Hollywood. I mean, she looks like she could totally kick 1989 Michael Keaton's ass.

jdreyer wrote on May 15, 2019, 16:17:

Beamer wrote on May 15, 2019, 14:07:

Cutter wrote on May 15, 2019, 13:00:
And here we go....

First drone related terrorist incident - that I know of at any rate. This is just going to get more and more common.

[url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/world/middleeast/saudi-oil-attack.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=World]Yemen’s Houthi Rebels Attack Saudi Oil Facilities, Escalating Tensions in Gulf[/url]

And looks like the Republicons are trying to wag the dog once again and drag America back into another unnecessary - and illegal - war.

Skeptical U.S. Allies Resist Trump’s New Claims of Threats From Iran

Don't be surprised to see a major false flag operation happen soon. And just in time for the run up to the 2020 elections? Gee, what are the odds?

How many false flag operations can you name?

- Manchurian incident, that Japan used as justification to fully invade China.

- Gulf of Tonkin incident, which the US used as pretext to bomb North Vietnam, and further involve itself in the conflict.

- Fake evidence that Iraq supported Al Qaeda's 9/11 attack, used as part of the justification for invading Iraq in 2003.

Those are off the top of my head.

As far as the current oil freighters damaged in the Gulf, I suppose it could be a false flag incident:

- The attacks did no real damage to the freighters. It's as if someone wanted to cause an incident without risking the assets.
- The attacks coincide with the Lincoln CSG arriving in the Gulf. Convenient timing for sure, if you want to implement retaliatory strikes against Iran.
- Iran has no motive to start something at this time. Their economy is still reeling from sanctions, and starting a fight with the US and other Gulf states would just make things worse from that perspective. They're much better off supporting proxies and letting them do the work and take the blame. That suggests other parties may have performed the attack.

All that said, I think it's unlikely this is a false flag. More likely that Iranian proxies without permission or terrorists like ISIS or Al Qaeda attacked. The incompetence of the attacks has the hallmarks of non-state actors.

Cutter wrote on May 15, 2019, 13:00:
And here we go....

First drone related terrorist incident - that I know of at any rate. This is just going to get more and more common.

[url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/world/middleeast/saudi-oil-attack.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=World]Yemen’s Houthi Rebels Attack Saudi Oil Facilities, Escalating Tensions in Gulf[/url]

And looks like the Republicons are trying to wag the dog once again and drag America back into another unnecessary - and illegal - war.

Skeptical U.S. Allies Resist Trump’s New Claims of Threats From Iran

Don't be surprised to see a major false flag operation happen soon. And just in time for the run up to the 2020 elections? Gee, what are the odds?

CJ_Parker wrote on May 13, 2019, 11:10:

Beamer wrote on May 13, 2019, 10:44:

ForgedReality wrote on May 13, 2019, 10:19:
No thanks. Any game that has "review embargoes" is of no interest to me. Not at least until some real players review it, instead of paid shills.

Embargos don't mean shills. Not even sure how you'd expect that.

Well, the translation of a review embargo that ends a day before the release is:

Please give us favorable reviews in exchange for your right to publish early reviews (and if you want to receive keys before the release day in the future then make sure it is extra favorable).

Also, check out the Eurogamer link. They have received their review copy at the very last minute. Who knows when the other gigs got their copies? It could very well be that they also received the keys very late but still published their reviews just to have them out before tomorrow. Cuz clicks and ads.

Given the hype and regarding the fact that Bethesda apparently tried to "promote" positive reviews by setting that embargo as well as by possibly intentionally providing review keys rather late in time, I'd say that the reception is pretty damn lukewarm so far.

If I weren't intending to wait for the GOTY anyways then I'd take those scores as a huge caveat emptor. Sounds like the game is shallower than a puddle.

I also think that their product policy sucks. The already announced expansions reek of cut content. You only get the first expansion as a part of the deluxe version. The second one is apparently not included.
Seems pretty fishy. Looking at these reviews I have a suspicion that the base game has flashy gfx and solid combat but that they will add the actual content via the DLCs.

So, cya (maybe) at xmas sale 2020, Rage 2.

ForgedReality wrote on May 13, 2019, 10:19:
No thanks. Any game that has "review embargoes" is of no interest to me. Not at least until some real players review it, instead of paid shills.

Mashiki Amiketo wrote on May 11, 2019, 22:44:
Oh boy. Look at all these progressives putting illegals up in their homes. And they're telling everyone that expects people who want to emigrate to do so legally are xenophobic racists.

Brilliant. So smart. Guess you guys have it all up in the bag, should go ask the NYT if there is a border crisis these days. Their answer might surprise you.

Eirikrautha wrote on May 11, 2019, 14:06:
Funny, I don't remember a Gallup poll on fan reaction to the new Barret. It's almost like Kotaku, ground zero in the culture-war-as-clickbait disease, sees the opportunity to bitch about something while harvesting clicks, without the slightest evidence. But how could that be? That would be like... I don't know... monetizing outrage.

But I'm sure that they actually have a carefully designed poll to gauge "fan" reaction, as opposed to asking a handful of soy-boy colleagues in the desks next to them (who never even played the original)...

Bill Borre wrote on May 10, 2019, 10:58:

consumers are yet to see any trickle down benefit from the discounted royalty structure that's behind such exclusives

Nor will they.

Simon Says wrote on May 10, 2019, 09:59:

1badmf wrote on May 9, 2019, 21:32:

RedEye9 wrote on May 9, 2019, 11:15:
I don't think intense even begins to describe that first episode.
Those firefighters are dead (I was yelling "Don't touch the core you big dummy" at one of them), the helicopter pilots who flew over the core to drop concrete are dead, all the power plant workers who were sent around the plant to "fix" things are dead.
happy happy joy joy

anybody else went and read the wikipedia after? i did. let's just say, this gets MORE intense later. i find it enlightening to see how the soviet system of nepotism and blame shifting basically fucked the disaster response since no one wanted to take any responsibility for it until the truth hit them in the face literally like a nuclear bomb. until then, the response was piece-meal and entirely inadequate and probably cost many hundreds if not thousand of unnecessary deaths.

In reality, there were only a few dozen direct and indirect deaths from Chernobyl, around 30... Shocking I know. Didn't you read that part of the wikipedia page?

Muscular Beaver wrote on May 10, 2019, 03:43:

Cutter wrote on May 9, 2019, 12:01:
Or you could go off-grid if it's that important to you. That or run for office and change it. You have options.

Its pretty obvious to everyone informed that you cant change it. The corruption is too deep. And even if you dont know, you learn it, or you become one of them. Its just not a job for honest people. Strong character, honest people get destroyed. Weak character, honest people get
corrupted. Thats also something the last few years showed perfectly.

Oh and Facebook/Google, etc is still tracking people who arent logged in.

Razumen wrote on May 8, 2019, 22:26:

Grokk wrote on May 8, 2019, 21:43:
This is just downright greed on their behalf.

The BFG is such an iconic weapon and they know it, so they decide to hold it for ransom against a higher priced pack.

Fuck that.

The BFG isn't even a weapon from Rage, it's a bonus weapon from DOOM. More nonsense for people to get outraged about.

jdreyer wrote on May 8, 2019, 15:25:

Kxmode wrote on May 8, 2019, 14:52:
HBO's Watchman teaser trailer. Hope it is more faithful to the source material than the film.

The film is awesome. One of the few good things Zack Snyder has done. And I prefer the ending of the film to the ending of the comic. Glad they changed it.

jdreyer wrote on May 8, 2019, 15:22:

Beamer wrote on May 8, 2019, 12:22:

eRe4s3r wrote on May 8, 2019, 11:54:
Fortnight, exploiting children, bullying because of default skins.. ah yes. Good times

It's exactly what we should be teaching young people too, to be even more focused on external factors like look.

Standard kid behavior, in no way taught or encouraged by Fortnite.

When I was in school, we absolutely made fun of the kid with the wrong shoes, or the wrong shirt, etc. Were you wearing British Knights? You got mocked. When kids got older, did you not have a No Fear shirt? You got mocked. Stupid, dumb, but 6th graders are stupid and dumb.

If you wore Toughskins instead of Levis, you were bullied.