even more so than I already am. Now primarily. That is because, announced today, the NHL's Board of Governors are imposing a lock out until a new collective bargaining agreement comes in. :(

http://www.nhlcbanews.com/news/bog_meeting091504.html

Aargh, some NHL players get paid way, way too much. Players scoring 30, 40 points a year getting payed three or four million dollars a year? Bullshit. I hope they come to an agreement soon.



And the sister city-

Holy shit, this game can't come soon enough. Morrowind was a very fun game despite some huge flaws (horrible art, terrible graphics engine, shitty combat), and its sequel, Oblivion, looks to correct at least those first two problems. Well I'll just stop talking about let you guys drool over these gorgeous screens (all in-game, BTW):













^^^^^^^^^^
Holy shit! This alone makes the lack of huge environments in Fable easier to handle. You see, ABF, this is very different from having a whole bunch of tiny environments slapped together ala KOTOR. And this is why the first-person/third-person perspective rules for immersion. You could never get this feeling in an isometric game.








Gorgeous. Too bad it won't be out until the next wave of consoles. :( But hopefully the PC version will come out sooner than 2006. It would be mean to show off the game two whole years before its projected release date.

Quote:Several major American e-tailers including EBgames are all taking pre-orders on the Nintendo DS, giving the console an end-November 2004 launch date and a price tag of just under $200.
GameStop and EBgames both state a November 29 shipping date with a $199.99 price-tag, while Wal-Mart reckons it will launch a day later and is charging potential consumers a bizarre $199.82 for the privilege.

The former two sites are also taking orders on a selection of titles, with the likes of Animal Crossing, Egg Monster Hero, Final Fantasy Chronicles and Metroid Prime: Hunters mooted by GameStop as potential launch titles with a December 7 release date. EBGames, however, appears to list all titles at March 1 - a slightly dated estimate, perhaps?

While there has been no confirmation from Nintendo of America on the matter, the consistency amongst American release dates does suggest there could be some possible 'insider/retailer' knowledge at work - after all, end-November was always anticipated for those territories. We shall have to wait and see.

However, what Nintendo has definitely confirmed (at the Tokyo Games Show, that is) is a Nintendo Japanese DS tour for November, which will enable the public to enjoy a hands-on with the console and various titles ahead of its release. Five cities have been confirmed as destinations thus far - Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo, Sapporo and Fukuoka (try saying that last one after a few beers).

Interestingly, some reports have translated the tour name to read as the Nintendo World Touch! DS tour, suggesting that various other cities will soon be getting a taste of the DS. However, a Nintendo UK spokesperson said that "nothing had yet been announced" when asked about forthcoming public UK appearances, which left us none the wiser at just what the manufacturer has up its sleeve.

Everyone's favorite rock-eating, Jesus-hating Napoleonic-complex turns 20 today!

Noriko says: "Happy birthday, you crusty young goron, let me sharpen your spear!"



Noriko also says: "Still can't buy alcohol for another 365 days, hahahaha"

I couldn't believe this wasn't a joke, but believe me it is not. It's from Uwe Boll, the amazing mind behind that awful House of the Dead movie, and the upcoming Bloodrayne flick.

http://www.boll-kg.de/mov/AitD_Promo_4_352x158.mov

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/09/...index.html

Quote:Monday, September 13, 2004 Posted: 3:07 PM EDT (1907 GMT)


LONDON, England (CNN) -- London's police chief has demanded an urgent inquiry after a fathers rights campaigner dressed as Batman evaded supposedly tight security to stage a protest on a Buckingham Palace balcony.

Officers, facing their second security breach in four months after the group pelted Prime Minister Tony Blair with flour-filled condoms, took five hours to finally bring the protester down from Queen Elizabeth's London residence.

A police spokeswoman told CNN that a man was arrested on Monday night in connection with the incident on suspicion of causing criminal damage.

Police said no members of the royal family were in the palace but admitted the protester should not have been able to scale the perimeter fence with a ladder and climb onto the high-profile balcony.

Scotland Yard issued a statement saying London police chief Sir John Stevens had demanded a report on the incident by Tuesday morning.

Stevens said "the intruder was readily identified as performing a publicity stunt but if he had been carrying a gun or a bomb he would probably have been shot," the statement added.

"He said that the CCTV (close-circuit television monitoring) and the alarms worked and the police response was speedy but nevertheless it was unacceptable that the wall had been scaled and he would ensure that whatever was necessary would be done in relation to improved security."

Former Buckingham Palace spokesman Dickie Arbiter said officials would be seriously embarrassed by Monday's incident.

He told Sky News: "They will be very seriously embarrassed by what has happened, and they will be looking at ways now to really tighten up on possibly even public access, and make it even harder to get in.

"But they've made it hard already, so how much harder they can make it in the light of this I don't really know."

The campaign group Fathers 4 Justice said the man scaled the palace's outer fence helped by a would-be accomplice dressed as comic hero Batman's sidekick Robin.

Meanwhile, other protesters distracted the attention of armed police by climbing on the front gate.

The group said police had threatened to shoot Robin unless he got down from the fence, "which we think is unacceptable because this is a peaceful, non-violent protest." Police declined to comment on the incident.

The protester dressed as Batman, wearing grey tights, black pants and cape, the superhero's bat symbol and a mask with pointed ears, then climbed up on the palace balcony -- which is used by the royals for ceremonial occasions.

Standing on a ledge to the right hand side of the balcony, about 8 meters (25 feet) above the ground, he unfurled a banner that read: "Super dads of fathers 4 justice."

Also on the banner were the words: "Fighting for your right to your kids."

After spending five hours trying to persuade the protester to come down, police on a cherry picker finally removed him at 7.20 p.m.

Royal security was reviewed after a Daily Mirror reporter got a job at Buckingham Palace as a servant before U.S. President George W. Bush stayed there during a state visit in November last year.

Stand-up comedian Aaron Barschak also highlighted lax security by gate-crashing Prince William's 21st birthday party at Windsor in June last year.

Fathers 4 Justice, which says Britain's courts are biased against fathers in divorce cases involving child access, are notorious for their publicity stunts.

Its attack on Blair in the House of Commons four months ago caused a massive security alert amid fears of a terrorist attack and prompted changes to access rules for parliament.

KICK ASS! I just read this on Yahoo! Whoa, you can get AKs, Uzis, TEC-9s, etc. I want one. That'd be cool.

Imagine going do to the hood, where some stupidass "gangstas" try to mug you with their gay "9s," and you pull out a TEC-9 submachine gun. (Well it has to be semiautomatic.) But still, damn.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040912/pl_nm/campaign_guns_dc_3

http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040913/thumb.nyet25109131410.assault_weapons_nyet251.jpg

So would you guys want a semiautomatic or what?

Post URLs to web sites that you habitually visit on a daily basis, and probably couldn't live...or rather, enjoy the internet without.

Reagan Lodge - An awesome sci-fi artist. <3

http://www.somethingawful.com - The scourge of the internet. Some none-work safe content.

http://www.vgcats.com - Lol-tastic comic.

http://www.pvpforums.com - My other intarweb hangout. I go under the alias "Anima".

http://www.google.com - I'm sure everyone knows this by now.

http://www.gamespot.com - Much more enjoyable of a site to get game news from if you have a web browser such as mozilla, so you don't have to deal with those insufferable pop-ups.

I live at Iowa State University now. I don't have free time anymore because my floor owns an NES. The fun NEVER ENDS.

The end.

Great news! I was hoping that it would come out for PC... :)

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/09/11/...07204.html

Quote:RUMOR #4: Jade Empire is coming to the PC.

Source: French game site Sanqualis.com. (http://www.sanqualis.com/jade-empire.htm)

The official story: "We are exploring the idea of a PC version."--BioWare co-CEO Ray Muzyka.

What we heard: While at the European Developers Forum--the GDCE wannabe that ran alongside Game Stars Live! and EGN in London last week--Muzyka talked to Sanqualis about Jade Empire. Naturally, he was asked whether, like Knights of the Old Republic, the currently Xbox-only RPG would come to PC. "We're certainly interested in the idea," he said. "We own the IP, and we're interested in developing for the PC." Myzuka then dispelled any notion that Microsoft, eager for Xbox exclusives, would pay BioWare to keep Jade Empire solely on its console. "Microsoft's interested too," he said, all but sealing the deal. "But until it's officially announced, it's not something I can confirm or deny."

Bogus or not bogus?: Not bogus. It's just a matter of time.