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<i>Today is the last day for our Hidden Gems Summer Extravaganza! To celebrate today's hidden gem, we're adding soundtracks, artworks, wallpapers, and a reference card to [url=http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/independence_war_deluxe]Independence War Deluxe's bonus content. We've also added soundtracks to Independence War 2's bonus materials today. Pick that game up while you're at it for double the rockin' soundtrack awesomeness.

As our catalog gets bigger and better every week, it's easy to lose track of some of the awesome games that we have to offer. We've been running one day "Gaming Gem" promos for a while now to highlight some classic titles that don't get the love of some of our best-known blockbusters like Baldur's Gate or Duke Nukem 3D. We think every game we're going to be offering on our Summer GOG.com Gem Extravaganza will be an excellent title, and we hope you give them all a try.

Dear Smartypants McAdviceColumnist;

I am looking to pursue a career as a commander of an interstellar dreadnought. What should I do to train myself in preparation? I am 12.

--Starstruck

P.S.
What did you do to make your mother hate you so much she named you "Smartypants McAdviceColumnist"?

Dear Starstruck;

The studious youth looking to command a space ship across the interstellar lanes of space is probably doomed to a life of bitter disappointment and alcoholism, but with that proviso in place I would recommend that you investigate sophisticated simulations like such as "Independence War Deluxe". With Newtonian physics and a realistic flight model, this simulation brings a level of realism unseen in the space fighter sim market. As it turns out, controlling a wallowing space turkey armed to the teeth with particle beams is a more complicated endeavor than flying around in your space superiority fighter, and the skills you would learn from this game would prepare you well for your career.

Although horrible little children who mock others' names are more likely to find themselves in dull jobs like "Xeno-Accountant" or "Spacesuit Protein Spill Recovery Expert".

A complex storyline and branching mission structure combine with respectable graphics and a UI that helps make sense of the intricate issues that a space commander would need to balance help even terrible people like you feel in command of their hollow lives or, at least, the simulation.

Basically, I am suggesting that you pick up Independence War Deluxe for just $2.39, as the happy times that you spend pretending that you have a future will soon be eclipsed by the bleak despair of a grey and dull life wasted.

Best of Luck, Starstruck!

--Smartypants MsAdviceColumnist
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Ric1987: I intended to get Freedom Force and thought I did but I must have forgot.
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Shadowcat: Make sure you do get it at some point. Both the Freedom Force games (GOG only has one of them at present) are incredibly fun (and addictive!) games, with excellent production values, and (if you want it) masses of replay value. You can't lose (unless you're late for work the next morning, because you couldn't resist just one more just one more just one more just one more mission... :)
You are right that these games look rather funny. I bought "Freedom Force vs the Third Reich" at Games Gate some months back because I thought it looked like fun, I haven't tried it yet though...
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FiatLux: Why the hell else do you think that a guy like [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik ]Anders Behring Breivik[/url] got driven to do what he has done ??? (you should know that he attacked other Norwegians and not foreigners, and that ought to tell you a little something about how he felt treated by his own society - not to speak of how people like you will attack me here for writing this post).
I think it is a little disgusting to defend such a mass murderer. Trying to understand the motives of people committing horrible crimes is something I'm all for but your post looks like it is halfway between understanding and defending.
How would you feel it if some Muslim bloke expressed sympathy with a hypothetical Muslim suicide bomber that had blown up some Danish people because he felt fed up at the way he was treated by people in Denmark?
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FiatLux: Why the hell else do you think that a guy like [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik ]Anders Behring Breivik[/url] got driven to do what he has done ??? (you should know that he attacked other Norwegians and not foreigners, and that ought to tell you a little something about how he felt treated by his own society - not to speak of how people like you will attack me here for writing this post).
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Sargon: I think it is a little disgusting to defend such a mass murderer. Trying to understand the motives of people committing horrible crimes is something I'm all for but your post looks like it is halfway between understanding and defending.
How would you feel it if some Muslim bloke expressed sympathy with a hypothetical Muslim suicide bomber that had blown up some Danish people because he felt fed up at the way he was treated by people in Denmark?
F.Y.I. then Muslims are defending muslim suicide bombers all the time - or we are being told that we have to understand or just GIVE a little more and GIVE MORE A LITTLE FASTER....

But someone like you are obviously politically responsible why [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik ]Anders Behring Breivik[/url] did what he did. You don't even seem to listen... Even [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik ]Anders Behring Breivik[/url] himself has stated that what he has done is an atrocity (so how you can get in your mind that I should think otherwise is beyond my understanding).....
However gruesome the deed he did are then the worst thing about all this is not that so many people have died but the fact that people like you still don't get it and still keep thinking that you can keep attacking the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik ]Anders Behring Breivik's [/url] of this world and that their objections towards what you do (and the political ramifications of what you do) still is not something that you ought to have listened to a VERY LONG TIME AGO.
You think that [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik ]Anders Behring Breivik[/url] is/were self righteous and gruesome but have you and your friends ever taken a good clear look into the mirror and seen what it actually is that you do and who you really are ???...... (So many people die indirectly because of the actions of you and yours so if there is any crazed murderers around here then it might as well be you and your kind - but you are all unable to fathom and recognize the results of YOUR doings and deeds!!!)
I think that YOU PEOPLE ought to be ashamed of yourself, treating your own country men (and their objections) in a way that they feel they have no other choice than to do something like what [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik ]Anders Behring Breivik[/url] did....
AND THAT IS MY OPINION ON THAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Post edited July 26, 2011 by FiatLux
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FiatLux: F.Y.I. then Muslims are defending muslim suicide bombers all the time - or we are being told that we have to understand or just GIVE a little more and GIVE MORE A LITTLE FASTER....
I know many Muslims and I have not heard any of them defend suicide bombers. Do you know any muslims? But sure we all know that some muslims support bombings, but from what I've read their numbers have been decreasing in the last decade. One of the reasons (my speculation) is that satellite news like Al Jazeera have brought the gruesome effects of suicide bombings into the homes of Muslims around. Also, most of the victims of muslim suicide bombings are not Europeans nor Americans but Muslim people in the third world.

My point was that morally you are on the same level as Muslims that defend bombings when you defend the bombings of this man.

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FiatLux: But someone like you are obviously politically responsible why [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik ]Anders Behring Breivik[/url] did what he did.
No one can be held responsible for this insane slaughter but the killer himself, no "marxists", no social democrats, no right wingers, no anti-immigration people, no immigrants, not even World of Warcraft. Only the murderer himself is responsible for this.

As for me I'm still pro immigration, but I think that being against immigration is a legit position and discussion of these topics should be allowed without people being demonized. I only wish many of the anti-immigration people (not everyone does) would use less hateful rhetoric and try to consider how their use of words makes Muslims and other immigrants living in Europe feel about themselves. The polarized language anti-immigration people have used for so long does not do any of us any good.

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FiatLux: I think YOU PEOPLE ought to be ashamed of yourself, treating your own country men (and their objections) in a way that they feel they have no other choice than to do something like what [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik ]Anders Behring Breivik[/url] did....
There is always a choice.

The Canadian, right of center rock band Rush put it very well in this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mEzgc_ne60

I think that you would actually like this song.
"You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill. I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose free will."
Post edited July 26, 2011 by Sargon
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FiatLux: /snip
No what Sargon is saying is that your defense of this raging crazy asshole is exactly identical to and as disgusting as a radical Muslim's defense of a suicide bomber. That you can't see that is the tragedy of the human condition. Honestly Anders Breivik is no different from his Muslim suicide counterparts or Timothy McVeigh or Jared Loughner or the UNA bomber or the KKK or the various left-wing terrorist groups from the 60's and 70's. That he feels he had to commit an atrocity I'm sure is a real consolation to the families of the innocent people he slaughtered. In a free society, your rights stop at incitement of or committing physical violence towards other people regardless of what your viewpoints are or how justified you feel.

Frankly from an American perspective your European reaction to Muslim immigration is most amusing. It is no different from anti-immigration feeling against the Irish and Chinese in the 19th century, against the Polish and Japanese in the earlier 20th century, against the Puerto Ricans in the 1950's, and against Mexicans today in the United States (I'm of course missing some). You're simply experiencing it for the first time. Trust me your arguments are exactly identical even right down to the specific wording of the arguments as those earlier times - as is the anti-immigration bias in this country towards Mexicans.

And now? The Irish, Chinese, Japanese, Polish, and Puerto Ricans are considered part of the fabric of this country. The ghettos they once occupied are now domestic tourist destinations where people go to get authentic cuisine and their descendants are considered and consider themselves Americans. This is why it always amused me when those of Irish descent complain about Mexican immigrants on national television.

Trust me, as coming from a nation built on immigration, take a deep breath, you'll be okay. Yes your culture will be slightly different, but if you have an honest conversation about it, your culture will be stronger not weaker. Absorbing the first group is the hardest and depending on the differences between the respective cultures it may take a long time (as in multiple decades). And yes it will still be your culture at the end of it.

And no violence and mass murder is not the answer.

Ah I see Sargon responded :)
Post edited July 26, 2011 by crazy_dave
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Sargon: I know many Muslims and I have not heard any of them defend suicide bombers. Do you know any muslims? But sure we all know that some muslims support bombings, but from what I've read their numbers have been decreasing in the last decade. One of the reasons (my speculation) is that satellite news like Al Jazeera have brought the gruesome effects of suicide bombings into the homes of Muslims around. Also, most of the victims of muslim suicide bombings are not Europeans nor Americans but Muslim people in the third world.

My point was that morally you are on the same level as Muslims that defend bombings when you defend the bombings of this man.
Actually , I didn't write a word about the bombings as such before you started about bombings....

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Sargon: but I think that being against immigration is a legit position and discussion of these topics should be allowed without people being demonized.
At least we can agree on that one...

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Sargon: There is always a choice.

The Canadian, right of center rock band Rush put it very well in this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mEzgc_ne60

I think that you would actually like this song.
"You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill. I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose free will."
I am sorry , I think that the concept of "free will" to some extend is an illusion a long with concepts such as "freedom" and socalled "democracy"...

I do not have sound on this computer per standard, but if you want a "counter" song suggestion then listen to Eagles "Hotel California" : "you can check out any time you like - but you can never leave" - which I think describe how many people are held in the grip of what the world is without much chance of ever getting loose alive....
Post edited July 27, 2011 by FiatLux
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FiatLux: /snip
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crazy_dave: No what Sargon is saying is that your defense of this raging crazy asshole is exactly identical to and as disgusting as a radical Muslim's defense of a suicide bomber. That you can't see that is the tragedy of the human condition. Honestly Anders Breivik is no different from his Muslim suicide counterparts or Timothy McVeigh or Jared Loughner or the UNA bomber or the KKK or the various left-wing terrorist groups from the 60's and 70's. That he feels he had to commit an atrocity I'm sure is a real consolation to the families of the innocent people he slaughtered. In a free society, your rights stop at incitement of or committing physical violence towards other people regardless of what your viewpoints are or how justified you feel.

Frankly from an American perspective your European reaction to Muslim immigration is most amusing. It is no different from anti-immigration feeling against the Irish and Chinese in the 19th century, against the Polish and Japanese in the earlier 20th century, against the Puerto Ricans in the 1950's, and against Mexicans today in the United States (I'm of course missing some). You're simply experiencing it for the first time. Trust me your arguments are exactly identical even right down to the specific wording of the arguments as those earlier times - as is the anti-immigration bias in this country towards Mexicans.

And now? The Irish, Chinese, Japanese, Polish, and Puerto Ricans are considered part of the fabric of this country. The ghettos they once occupied are now domestic tourist destinations where people go to get authentic cuisine and their descendants are considered and consider themselves Americans. This is why it always amused me when those of Irish descent complain about Mexican immigrants on national television.

Trust me, as coming from a nation built on immigration, take a deep breath, you'll be okay. Yes your culture will be slightly different, but if you have an honest conversation about it, your culture will be stronger not weaker. Absorbing the first group is the hardest and depending on the differences between the respective cultures it may take a long time (as in multiple decades). And yes it will still be your culture at the end of it.

And no violence and mass murder is not the answer.

Ah I see Sargon responded :)
I don't think that I have been writing here anywhere that "violence and mass murder is the answer"......

But as someone who myself has been persecuted by my own countrymen for the greater part of my life then I can understand if someone suddenly gets enough of that, and comparing this to to what muslims are doing because they can not always take over the world without problems (and they then terrorize people) is in my eyes completely riddiculous....

Discussing these things with Americans represent a huge problem for me , because I think of USA like heaven an hell in one (there are some of the nicest & most holy people and some of the most insane people & crazy killers) and also I do not think that there are any Americans at all that understand diddely squat about anything when it comes to what we are discussing here - this because of how and why "America were made" ....
And I am truly sorry , you can write all the bad things you want about me , insult me and so on , but I am not going to write the truth about all this here nomatter how much you try to goat me. So sorry, close - but no cigar.....
(And by the way - I actually hold a "thank you" letter from the local American embassy - but for what I am not ever going to tell you either - so keep dreaming.....)
Post edited July 27, 2011 by FiatLux
I like what this thread has turned into.
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FiatLux: I don't think that I have been writing here anywhere that "violence and mass murder is the answer"......

But as someone who myself has been persecuted by my own countrymen for the greater part of my life then I can understand if someone suddenly gets enough of that, and comparing this to to what muslims are doing because they can not always take over the world without problems (and they then terrorize people) is in my eyes completely riddiculous...
No you are defending and excusing mass murder. You crossed into being an apologist. Terrorism is terrorism regardless of ideology. To you, he's some persecuted soul. To Muslim extremists, they're the ones who are persecuted. 75 innocent people died in terror. That is what you are justifying. That kind of horrific action is what extremist Muslims justify. They believe they are in the absolute right and their actions are necessary too. This is two sides of the same coin.

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FiatLux: Discussing these things with Americans represent a huge problem for me , because I think of USA like heaven an hell in one (there are some of the nicest people and some of the most crazy killers) and also I do not think that there are any Americans at all that understand diddely squat about anything when it comes to what we are discussing here - this because of how and why "America were made" ....
And I am truly sorry , you can write all the bad things you want about me , insult me and so on , but I am not going to write the truth about all this here nomatter how much you try to goat me. So sorry close but no cigar.....
(And by the way - I actually hold a "thank you" letter from the local American embassy - but for what I am not ever going to tell you either - so keep dreaming.....)
You know it's funny. A few months ago, there was a poster on GOG.com who claimed that Jews wanted to control the world and that the Iraq war was a giant conspiracy to kill Muslims who had done nothing but respond to persecution by Jews and the West. He was not a Muslim, just full of hate for Jews. Like you, he also dared people to call him a bigot and said that he was simply speaking the truth that none of us wanted to hear; that we couldn't understand - especially not in America; that he was persecuted for his beliefs. The arguments are so similar it's scary.
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Ric1987: I intended to get Freedom Force and thought I did but I must have forgot.
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Shadowcat: Make sure you do get it at some point. Both the Freedom Force games (GOG only has one of them at present) are incredibly fun (and addictive!) games, with excellent production values, and (if you want it) masses of replay value. You can't lose (unless you're late for work the next morning, because you couldn't resist just one more just one more just one more just one more mission... :)
Ah that's right, GOG doesn't have the first one so I decided not to grab it yet. If GOG doesn't get the first one I will likely grab both from Steam eventually.
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crazy_dave: No you are defending and excusing mass murder. You crossed into being an apologist. Terrorism is terrorism regardless of ideology. To you, he's some persecuted soul. To Muslim extremists, they're the ones who are persecuted. 75 innocent people died in terror. That is what you are justifying. That kind of horrific action is what extremist Muslims justify. They believe they are in the absolute right and their actions are necessary too. This is two sides of the same coin.
You don't have much brain , do you ? , For me to point out that he has been persecuted and that I "can understand" why he might "have had enough" that is not the same as "defending his act" "per se". What it actually is are to explain cause and effect. which you obviously are too moronic to even grasp.
It is totally clear that you have no idea of the real situation - as you speak of innocents as if the people that were shot would have called themselves friends of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik ]Anders Behring Breivik[/url] if you asked prior to the act what they would have thought of an [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik ]Anders Behring Breivik[/url] that had NOT ever comitted such an act. They would still have seen him as an enemy and "demonized him" just for his point of views - like you try to "demonize me". My point is that there is in fact a "cause and effect" and that the societies themselves are responsible for creating the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik ]Anders Behring Breiviks[/url] .
And comparing [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik ]Anders Behring Breivik[/url] to the moslems is so off the mark, if you wanna compare the situation then compare it to the Irish (partly civil) war performed by the IRA.
Surely I agree that terrorism is terrorism, be that the IRA or [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik ]Anders Behring Breivik[/url] but I think that there is a hell of a lot of difference between an internal "civil war" act and international terrorism such as performed by moslem invaders/"civil occupation forces".

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crazy_dave: You know it's funny. A few months ago, there was a poster on GOG.com who claimed that Jews wanted to control the world and that the Iraq war was a giant conspiracy to kill Muslims who had done nothing but respond to persecution by Jews and the West. He was not a Muslim, just full of hate for Jews. Like you, he also dared people to call him a bigot and said that he was simply speaking the truth that none of us wanted to hear; that we couldn't understand - especially not in America; that he was persecuted for his beliefs. The arguments are so similar it's scary.
Sorry , I'm am not taking the bait .
But a couple of remarks :

You are sure that your "handle" shouldn't read : "crazy_dave" "Jewish User" rather than "crazy_dave" "Newish User" ? ;-)

Obviously you are so moronic that you can neither grasp nor understand that I am by far totally out-classing anything you have ever faced before. You see, I am neither a Nazi nor an [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik ]Anders Behring Breivik[/url] , though I can understand where such guys are comming from and what creates them. I am far more intelligent and also by far totally "out-classing" such "primitives" .
These are people that are not capeable of understanding how things really works - as little as you obviously can. And actualy I am speaking the truth, but you still don't get it ! Trying to explain the "real truth" about this universe to you would be the same as trying to explain it to a piss-ant - as you would both have the same chance of understanding.

Oh! - and by the way - I made a couple of slight alterations to my previous posts.......

Fiat Lux
Post edited July 27, 2011 by FiatLux
Perhaps you could use your awe-inspiring intellect to take this horribly off-topic discussion to some other thread.
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Shadowcat: Perhaps you could use your awe-inspiring intellect to take this horribly off-topic discussion to some other thread.
You are right ofcourse !!!
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Shadowcat: Perhaps you could use your awe-inspiring pseudo-intellect to take this horribly off-topic discussion to some other thread.
Fixed
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FraterPerdurabo: Pseudo-FraterPerdurabo
Fixed
Fixed ;-)

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And by the way , by the gift of , amongst other , my "awe-inspiring" NON-pseudo intellect then I know a hell of a lot more about that guy than you obviously do. Enough to know how insane he were , which he also knew and acknowledged himself - but which have obviously escaped you judging from the "handle" that you have chosen.....
Post edited July 27, 2011 by FiatLux