Webhead123

You folks have convinced me. To hell with both parties. We're screwed either way. Cheers!

I may be an idealist at heart but I can't deny the truth of that statement. I WISH we lived in a world where the government genuine wanted the best for the people and not just for itself.

And we need to wean people off dependence on social services. Let's teach people to fish for themselves instead of teaching them to stand in line to receive government-catch.

Oh, I'm not saying that we're not in the midst of a shit storm. We certainly are. But liberal politics are taking us the wrong direction. We need to course-correct toward smaller, less-intervening government.

But we just demonstrated that the wealthy won't end up with the tax burden anyway because they have the tools to get around it. So, "taxation of the wealthy" just ends up being symbolic jargon. Funding has to come from somewhere and there's not many options left if you cut out both the lower and upper classes.

Exactly right, although I hear the liberals crying about readjusting tax rates, not the conservatives. So, guess who gets stuck with the bill.

I don't follow.

True. If we manage to keep the Senate majority conservative, that will certainly help keep things from getting too out of line (well, any more out of line than they already are). Them Dems are clambering for (among other things) more social services, increased minimum wage, immigration leniency, student debt leniency and increasing taxation of upper classes. Also elimination of school choice and charter schools, increased gun control, etc. Listen, I'm not some heartless lizard-person but none of these things have ever or will ever do our country a favor. For the past 60 years, we've slipped ever further into a society that incentivizes people to depend on their government to provide for them instead of empowering them to provide for themselves. Somebody's paying the price for all that economic windfall. Those in the system aren't paying it and those who aren't even legal citizens certainly aren't paying it. The wealthy aren't paying it (because they know how to manage their affairs accordingly). So it's just the working middle class folks that end up shouldering the burden of the rest of society. I don't like Trump as a person and his rhetoric is terrible. He's a bully, an egotist and a bit infantile at times. His foreign policy approach is also pretty sloppy. I don't watch any of his addresses, honestly. I find his personality abrasive. But I have to give credit where the facts say to give credit. He's bolstered the domestic economy. He's bolstered employment and education, particularly for those minorities that he's constantly accused of being discriminatory toward. He supports strong borders. I'm willing to set aside my personal bias in favor of valuing the facts that matter for the longevity of this country. I'm very much a Milton Friedman when it comes to politics. Minimal government, minimal intervention, minimal taxation. Friedman said that the government should really serve only 3 roles: 1) to protect its citizens from dangers without (aka the military and securing borders), 2) to protect its citizens from dangers within (aka police, public safety, courts and the supporting infrastructure) and 3) to collect the taxes needed to pay for these services. Thanks for listening. Now, turn down your music and get off my lawn.

Dr. Thomas Sowell said it well when he said "some people are absolutely immune to facts". We are rapidly approaching a point in this country where the social construct is placing more value on opinions/views than evidence. We're also under attack by an ideology that says censorship is desirable. In other words, your opinion is valued before your facts...but that opinion should only be heard as long as it matches the general consensus. Rome's decline began long before the Goths invaded. With the imminent election of one invalid and one opportunist as the leaders of the country, I fear for the direction the next several years will take. I just hope there's enough moral fiber left in the average American to not just sit back and allow this country to mutate into a Socialist nightmare.

I'm making an effort to get all the way through Super Mario Sunshine for the first time ever. I've always admired the game but back in my Gamecube days, Sunshine ended up taking a back seat to Metroid Prime, Eternal Darkness, Wind Waker and about a half dozen other amazing titles that I had available to me. It's obvious to me that Sunshine was intended as an experiment and the gimmick does kind of get in the way at times but it's starting to grow on me the more I play it.

Okay, some of you should probably prepare to be enraged. I did/do not care for: Fortnite (what even is this game?) The entire GTA series (fun for about 2 hours a piece and then boring) All of the Fallout games after Fallout Tactics (Fallout did not transition well to the 3rd dimension) The entire Elder Scrolls series (see Fallout above and apply that logic to games like Baldur's Gate) The entire Uncharted series (the very model of 3rd-person shooter mediocrity) The entire Assassin's Creed series (just...ugh) The entire Halo series Minecraft (simply not a style of game that offers me any entertainment value) Diablo III Final Fantasy VII (*mic drop*) That's enough for now, I suppose.

I think I should be available on the evening of the 14th. If so, I'm happy to participate.

DOA: Extreme Beach Volleyball? ... You're not totally alone. I'm with it, Brocko.

Mega Man X (because of the terrific music) Beyond Good and Evil Super Metroid (a sad, yet triumphant finale) Super Mario RPG Thief and Thief II The ending to Contra also felt pretty good as a kid.

I have a real soft spot for a lot of Atari game box art. So much so that I have several posters of it on the walls of my game room. Stuff like Berzerk, Yar's Revenge, Slot Racers, Asteroids, etc. Another game box I've always had a soft spot for though is: Super Mario Kart

This would be mine as well. Super Mario World is without a single doubt my favorite game in the main franchise and Mario RPG is my favorite spin-off, so those two would have to go neck-and-neck for the title. I think SMW wins out simply because of how strongly it defined the transition from the NES to the post-NES era of gaming for me. It was the game that fostered a lot of hallmarks for me. I'm sometimes tempted to call SMW the "greatest video game of all time"...from a purely subjective position, of course.

I started playing Okami years ago (on the Wii) and really enjoyed it but, as sometimes happens, I got distracted/lost steam and never got beyond the first 6-8 hours or so. I picked up the HD version on PS3 several years ago and intend to try to make a complete playthrough...but I haven't committed myself to it. It rather reminded me of a 3D Zelda game (Wind Waker, perhaps?) and the art style was very appealing.

I agree that the "nostalgia factor" can definitely be a big one for most folks. For me these days, when it comes to multiple ports of a game (Earthworm Jim is a perfect example), I tend to research all the differences and choose the option that I find most appealing. While the version of EW Jim that I grew up with was definitely the SNES port, detailed comparison in more recent years ended up converting me to the GEN version and now that's the one I almost exclusively jump to when I decide to play it. The GBA ports of Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island are another good example. Honestly, I find Mario's added voice lines in GBA Mario World to almost entirely ruin the game for me. Call it nostalgia if you want but something just feels "wrong" about hearing Mario chime in every single time he grabs a power-up. It actually grates on my ears. I love you, Mario, but just shut up, huh? The same applies to GBA Link to the Past. I don't need/want to hear Link's "hyyaaaah" every time I swing his sword. So, I just don't play those ports. So, for me, while I have an underlying tendency to prefer an original to a port in 90% of cases, these days, I evaluate them on a game-by-game basis.

I've always been a fan of shooters ever since first playing Doom back in early '94. That game left a deep impression on me and is probably still my #1 favorite shooter today. I'll blast through Knee Deep in the Dead at least once every couple of months. It manages to be such a solid, satisfying game, even today. Other than Doom and Doom II, my other favorites are the Build Engine games (Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior and Blood). Blood, in particular, rivals Doom for me as possibly the best shooter ever made. It is just pure FPS bliss. I think Quake and Half-Life were pretty good but I never got quite as attached to them as the aforementioned titles. I must have played through Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight about a dozen times. Great game. And every shooter player needs to play Serious Sam at least once. Maybe not really "shooters" in the dedicated sense but one of my favorite game series of all time is Thief. I've not played the remake but Thief, Thief II and Thief 3 are all masterful experiences. The Bioshock series was okay but really only got by because of its unique atmosphere and story. The shooting itself was pretty mediocre. Bioshock 2 actually had much better game play than the first. If you like those old-school shooters, definitely play Doom (2016), Doom Eternal, Dusk and Amid Evil. All are wonderful.

Hi. Former NA user here. Been away for a while...long enough to discover that NA was nuked and all the cool kids are now hanging out over here. To all you mysterious folks...hello and thanks for having me. To any of the old guard...hope you're doing well. Cheers!