Recent content by jomala

I don't agree with this. Wheels work pretty well. Companies and armies with more than one level of heirarchy have proven pretty effective. And I could probably name a dozen more things for which your response would be "what about ants" despite the fact that I can't think of a closer analogy for...

I think you lack imagination. Either that or you've spent a lot of time analysing the alternatives but haven't shown your workings!

But we do not all have the same capital. I appreciate that it provides the incentive for everyone to work, and to gain money as efficiently as possible, which has lots of positive benefits. However, in parallel, some are wielding vast influence, moving the goalposts and earning stacks of money...

Civilization is about rising above nature. Ever tempted to believe that we're too civilized? Most people are at some point, but they haven't thought it through. I don't believe there's ever been an anarchic paradise. That said, here's a new analogy for you: communism is like high-school...

Socialism, in other words, as practised in Sweden and Canada, for example (to cite to of the countries that tend to head the "Standard of Living" league tables) and in fact most of Europe at one time or other in the last 50 years. It's even not far off the US system, just a long way from its use...

I'm surprised that (as far as I know) no one has tried "free market communism" (my term): allowing a free market in goods and services and the accumulation of savings, but not the control of enterprises through capital. I think a lot of the iniquities come not from the different earning...

As I understand it, Mandela was a good "socialist" when in power, and an amazing figure, but he did not introduce anything resembling communism, despite it being part of the ANC doctrine before power. The SA constitution is very similar to Europe/NA. The main issue is the lack of effective...

Fascinating - good question! I see a mixture of real first-person and film-like third person angles, I think, depending on how well I'm empathising with the character. (I don't read much that's in the first person.) It's pretty low-res though, especially faces, but then I couldn't do a...

This is true, but my wife would see my gaming very differently if she thought I was particularly interested in the female characters.

I just use a plain mid-blue. I'm happy to be judged as a gamer and nerd, as I think most people here are, including you, so the key is to make sure your picture reflects the game significantly more than the girl. I don't care if its a good (and even tasteful) shot of a female character in the...

Codemasters (except their driving games). They just seem 5 years behind the other big studios, and less interesting than the smaller ones.

You're taking it as read that Portal, HL2 and TF2 are iconic. I think there's something missing from each, though they are all very good, and therefore there's at least one even greater game to come from them soon.

Great to see so many optimists out there. Strange perhaps that we've had only one brief mention of Portal and Valve. Shouldn't we all have a bit more faith in the people that brought us Portal, HL2 and TF2 to come up with something even more amazing next?

I thought someone would bring up Mass Effect. It's not really appealled to me, but it does appear to be almost perfect for some people, and that's what this is about. Mirror's Edge is an interesting one. It felt to me like it had a brilliant start and then got weakened but the need to produce...

I think we could be in for some truly great games in the next year or two. Not just fantastic or fun, but games that bring to everything together and become undisputed icons. Are you optimistic? For instance, I think that Far Cry 3 is going to be superb. I think that Far Cry 2 introduce so...