gaggle64

We're all behind you! Here, have a kitteh parade to cheer you on.

Heads up: there's a special Total War sale on Steam until the 26th, seems all the current Total War titles are 50% off and the Total War master collection is 75% off (less than £20 for Rome, Empire, Medieval 2 and some other goodies.) I don't think I can resist.

Okay, THIS is the next-gen shooter I want to play.

Well I don't normally swing that way but sure, there's a first time for everything.

Should do, Fallout 3 is the only question mark but I'm sure it'll be fine on lower settings. For a $400 budget it seems solid. Integrated graphics are in a weird place right now as they're starting to reach out to where you would normally get a dedicated low-end card. If you're prepared to stretch to an extra $50 this model should leave you somewhat more secure with a low end 4-core processor and extra ram, though it's still quite modest. ($50 off, but only for the next couple of days.) http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/toshiba-toshiba-satellite-c40d-14-laptop-amd-a6-5200-750gb-hdd-6gb-ram-windows-8-white-c40d-a-008/10257007.aspx?path=e8f360a1a972256fcde4d3e41f017dc8en02&SearchPageIndex=1

Oh thank lord, I finally got a properly decent couple of youths through. Time to cycle out some old blood.

I happen to have been reading Greenwald's Guardian column in recent weeks and it's ended up becoming not only a window on state surveillance & assassinations and the internal politics but also a bracing view of state reaction to the journalists trying to record such things. He claims to have had regular contact with members from the US state department and to have been threatened with an attempted smear campaign based on a past relationship he had in his university days (which obviously didn't amount to much). I personally find it impossible to view the detention of his partner as anything other than petty intimidation of the press and in diplomatic terms has constituted a minor disaster for the government. He wasn't suspected of being a terrorist or any danger to the public but they applied laws specifically designed for those instances anyway. The phrase that's been pricking my ears up each time something like this happens or is revealed is "legal". This is "legal", the mass surveillance is "legal", lethal drone strikes are "legal", having information about how these things are defined or carried out is "illegal". To me, the problem is that isn't the question. The question that people like Greenwald are trying ask and get answered is: Is this actually the right thing to do? It's a question with real democratic implications, not just some vague good-vibes kind of way. This kind of intimidation of the press - and I believe strongly it is intimidation of the press - may be legal but you'll have to argue long & hard with me to convince me it's correct. Incidentally, we really need a new Judge Dredd movie.

Here is my 1st-pick XCOM squad disembarking, a squad of the finest troops I could muster, many hours poured into defining their skills and combat personalities. 42 minutes after this picture was taken not only were they all dead, the other crack troops I had to bring in to replace them were dead too. XCOM is hard, man.

I recommend some kind of a class, something you can challenge yourself with and give you a useful skill while interacting with others. I pay £40 a month for karate classes and it's one of the most challenging & fulfilling things I've done with myself. You could also learn a musical instrument (thinking about trying at the cello again), learn a language, learn to fix your car or bike, learn to code, learn to play a sport, or maybe just try a fitness class. For me the social element can be a major plus for any hobby and keep you engaged with it.

I knew it. I knew this would happen. Martin's finally gone full-blown Hannibal on us. Somewhere there's a pair of Canadian mothers mourning the remains of a casserole dish.

I want a Pokemon where you play as Officer Jenny trying to infiltrate Team Rocket and it's basically like The Wire & The Sopranos but with Pokemon thrown in.

@flameboy According to NotebookCheck (Your friend and mine) that does not use dedicated graphics memory. That seems like a pretty modest laptop all-told, would be fine for basic stuff. What roughly is the most taxing thing you're going to want to do with it?

If they can capture the tension of hard-survival I think this has real potential.

Well, a mirror could tell you that.

How fucking brilliant does this indie space combat game look? Dare I dream the hole in my heart left by Starlancer might once again be filled? Also, this is the poster:

Not until they've finished digging The Trench.

Who else is holding out for the as-yet unannounced but inevitable next-gen console versions?

I'll believe when I see it, especially how content Kimi seems at Lotus. Ferrari have been sounding pretty desperate to pick themselves up recently so I wouldn't be surprised if Kimi did go and was able to practically dictate terms. Hope this doesn't mean Massa getting booted out of the field. A bits of interesting tech information for next year: Pirelli are pushing for wider tyres because the engine power output is likely to be bigger than expected - 850bhp with engine + Kers rather than the expected 750bhp total (this year's output being roughly 780-ish). Can't wait to see what the new cars look like with the new engine & tyre specs. Also Mercedes have give an idea of what their engine will likely sound like. It's a higher finer note but doesn't seem radically different.

What are your favourite arcade games/machines? This is prompted by a fortuitous discovery - every now and again I go down to the arcade on the seafront and put a single pound into Time Crisis 4 and see how far I get. It's very enjoyable (though 3 is superior, but 4s what I've started with so I will continue.) However I was delighted the other day when I discovered they in fact had Gunblade - easily my favourite arcade game of all time. I love it's simplicity (no ammo or time limit) and it's chunky uzi-models attached the cabinet. They have a satisfying vibration and my favourite thing is to try and control both. It's stupid and bombastic and it makes no sense and god I love it. So what are your favourites? Can be everything and anything from Daytona to Dance Dance Revolution to Pacman to TMNT to the Simpson's TMNT clone to that bitchin' After Burner machine that spun you around with the plane.

FYI, I have seen photos of fangirls, a couple of kimi fans in particular, wearing your T-shirts. To GPs too. Just thought you'd like to know.

Lovely. Will post/promo those on my Tumblr F1 blog, I know a few fangirls who would be interested. EDIT: Ooh, stickers!

... ... God damn you. Damn you to hell.

I bet it's thrash-classical.

Just admit it Flink, you want his beard. You want it pressed against your beardlessly feminine lips as the snow falls and the fire roars and all your love is lost as whisper in the still forest that tumbles down the mountainside.

Never mind him Danny, he's just jealous you hit puberty before he did.