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The reason why socialism and communism don't work is for one simple reason: no private property.

No one can own anything in a communist or socialist nation. That is what has allowed all previous gov'ts of that sort to devolve into totalitarian states.

Quote from "Skaarj" »

shoulder pads that are so big tha protect your nipples are definetly not cartoony

I sense the sarcasm. Cartoon graphics are not defined by shoulder pad to nipple contact. Cel-shading is the epitome of cartoon graphics in games. Diablo 3 is on the realistic side of the spectrum. The characters are realistically proportioned, no bold black outlines, physical details such as veins, wrinkles, etc.

Quote from "tehstickleman" »

People need to realize that communism isn't a governmental system it is an economic system. Economics is effected by government and vice versa, yes, but you can walk up to some yahoo ranting about communism and ask them what America has in place of communism and they will most likely say "Democracy" That is the ignorance that bothers me most. Like Siaynoq said, communism is a good idea but not a good practice necessarily. Same goes for all economic systems. Ideas get distorted when practice comes into play.

Read this:

The reason why is because it would require an infinite amount of bureaucracy to work out in a modern populous country who is doing what for the community and how should the goods and services be distributed. This is why all communist countries today don't resemble anything that Karl Marx really talked about. He was initially a cynic, turned naive idealist.

Communism defines the role of government. And the power of any government is derived from their financial strength.

And mutton is right, knowing a few people in Canada is hardly a consensus. But I know for a fact that buses of people from the U.S. ride over to Canada just to get some cheap prescriptions or basic medical attention.

Exactly, and there are many cases of Canadians who get private insurance or American medical care because of the "higher quality." It's totally on a case-by-case basis.

Quote from applesoffury »

yea, but i have experience the last two examples, and most Americans think of canada first when they think of govt healthcare. and since i have health insurance here, id say its much better than whatever else ive experienced so far.

well, i never said it was a 50/50 split. i mean that would be disastrous. but businesses are managed firmly by the govt isnt it? i know in India, it takes years to get even a small business to get a foot in the door. china allows it pretty easily now, but back in the 'day' you didnt have a choice of what job you even wanted.

im not good at US govt, more of a global issues type.

As a moderately liberal person, I think our government has a firm grip on businesses in some areas, but it quite lacking in others. For instance, the FCC is extremely efficient at keeping businesses such as Comcast from breaking net neutrality.

I can't think of a counter-argument to the FCC than the pharmaceutical companies. A bit late to be discussing political philosophy XD

Anyways, I've been at PharmFest and I understand the huge investments that go into medication. Hundreds of millions to billions are spent on medicinal research. And these companies need many years to recoup their losses. However, after many years of recouping and the eventual accruing of profit, prices don't drop much at all. This is due in part to the fact that the demand usually comes from fear of death or pain. Not much else is strongly needed enough that it can be dangled over people in such a manner.

But now that I think of such things, another unchecked threat comes to mind, which definitely could use gov't involvement, which is the practice of predatory lending. Almost all the pertinent information in this wiki article are properly cited and there aren't any flags. In this article, it specifies that there are no legal U.S. definitions of this practice. This sort of thing is exactly why many people are left homeless. Bear Sterns comes to mind right off the bat for me and I rejoiced when their CEO got brought to court. Their subprime lending, among other companies resulted in countless home repossessions. Enough about that for now, though.

You have NHS in Britain, am I correct? Well, that's a great example of it. If I understand correctly, hospitals and things of that sort operate independently, but the payment of services is financed by the gov't, which is sustained by taxation.

China's lack of gov't involvement in the affairs of businesses has many effects. For one, China is growing at an astonishing economic rate. But businesses are allowed to manufacture dangerous, damaging, sometimes deadly products. That's why we ended up with children's toys made from roofies and lead and all that other crap.

the thing is that Israel is a puppet of USA, they give them weapons and tehnology and Izrael attacks in the interest of USA, 9/11 is also an american plan, they knew planes will crash, and pentagon was struck by a missle and not boeing, its very clear on the video..so americas multi national companies or capital in its most destructive form is to blame for every bloodspill that wee see on the east! BASTARDS!

Oh my god. You're another one of those goddamned conspiracy theorists. Look up "september 11th was fake" on this website and read through the thread. Don't be an idiot. Loose Change was the biggest pack of lies I have ever seen in my entire life. It has been scientifically and historically dismissed by multiple news sources, authors, and, of course, scientists. If anything, you're the puppet of bullshit propaganda.

Anyways, Israel is in no way a puppet. They're simply fighting for their very survival. That's exactly why Israelis are conscripted into the military at 18. The Six Days War is a perfect example of that. Without the U.S, Israel would be destroyed. Look at all of their uses of military force. All of them clearly have a defensive initiative in mind. You don't even know what you're talking about.

why MTV and not some good site like gamespot?!?!
i mean.... MUSIC TV, what the hell.

Because GameSpot isn't really good anymore. They've lost a good chunk of their writing staff and they aren't very consistent. MTV's got connections and quality and they just so happened to focus on what we all want the most.

Quote from "applesoffury" »

government provided healthcare is a GREAT idea, however, it also drastically reduces efficiency. i have a friend from canada, and he said that their healthcare system is far inferior in terms of service. he mentioned long lines and bad doctors, long waits and slow treatment. now that doesnt mean govt healthcare is a bust, in china, doctors are pretty fast, but still very vague and indifferent, thats mostly due to how many doctors there are, and how hard it is to keep their license (a test annually to renew); mostly you see nurses and get very powerful drugs early on.

in england its medium. its still hella slow, but at least the docs see you with some sense of caring.

a combination of 'the two' is actually what the US is closest too right now, or a couple years back.

I think asking friends from Canada or other countries with socialized medicine is totally ineffective. People have different opinions of it. Some love it, some hate it.

I'm not advocating gov't-run healthcare though. I'm advocating gov't health insurance. I do not want to place my trust in a private business which makes its money off of not providing me with health care. The health care industry still remains a private practice and therefore, no gov't bureaucracy and total efficiency. But there needs to be price control. Pharmaceutical companies practically rape consumers for necessary medication.

I don't think America is in the middle at all. It is very much a capitalist country. The only social programs of significance are basically for the unemployed, education, and medicare. Our country's values are very much fiscally conservative.

The Diablo fight has to be 100 times more epic. And I want it to be so scary that I have to wear a diaper in order to play without interruption. He's supposed to be the Lord of Terror, so I think the atmosphere should contribute to that feel.

Please take note of this. This thread is to present suggestions regarding the ambience of the game. Not to express your outrage at the Blizzard team for "ruining your game" or to attack others for being complainers. This is a civil exchange of ideas. Not even much of a debate. I just like to be creative.

Personally, I like the art direction. The character models are very much on par with the previous games. We've only seen one dungeon, so we cannot judge exactly how horrific Blizzard has gotten with these dungeons. But we can be sure to expect some terrifying things, especially as we venture into Hell again. In terms of visuals, all I could really recommend is more attention to the range of visibility. The player would have a gradient of light to dark radiating outwards. The further from the center of the screen, the darker it is. Silhouettes would still be visible on the very edge of the screens, but you would not be able to identify NPC/monster.

The visibility of monsters and NPCs would be relative to the distance from the character. If they are right next to the character, they are 100% visible. As they are further away from the character, they become less visible as they slip into the darkness on the outer edges of the screen.

This would only apply in dark areas. The outdoors of the gameplay area would not have this idea apply to it, because there is daylight. This limited visibility would only apply to landscapes at night or deep in the jungle (such as Kurast), in large buildings with limited light entry, and dungeons.

Now onto my sound ideas. Music would be extremely creepy. I think Blizzard is a little too stuck on the orchestras, judging from the gameplay trailer. It could be different from the rest of the game, so I could still be wrong. But it seemed as though they just threw in that escalated orchestrated music every time a boss showed up.

The creepiness of the music would escalate as monsters became more visible. Based on the type of monster, say, a demon versus a zombie, they would add their own soundtracks to the creepy music.

But judging from my direction, I would be trying to achieve a different effect than Blizzard. They're trying to be more epic. I would try and make people shit their pants in fear of the unknown.

Then again, if I wanted to achieve that effect, it would be better suited if the isometric view were more zoomed in.

Thoughts? Comments? Your own ideas?

I'm not being sarcastic, really, I don't like games where you can't see anything except your char. DII was really overdone in this respect.

For its time, the darkness doesn't really convey the proper dramatic effect. I'm trying to hold back my suggestions. Shoot, if I wasn't already studying to be an engineer and the games industry wasn't already saturated with candidates, I would take that route. I would take the audio to a whole new level though. I think I might create a new thread for arm chair game designers.

Judging from Equinox's screenshot, it looks like there is that darkness radius. However, I think Blizzard really wants to show off the environments. And they are definitely worth showing, especially things like the destructible walls and the vastness of the dungeons. But you need to be able to see silhouettes at the very least. Similar to how the Siege Breaker can be seen in the dungeon of the gameplay trailer.

I just got finished watching the fourth episode of this on HBO, and I must admit that it is a very good show and really puts a light on the events of the war in Iraq. It covers the mobilization for war and the invasion thus far. The best way I could describe this for you is that it's like Band of Brothers for the Iraq War. And this is based on the experiences of a Rolling Stone journalist traveling with Marines.

Anyways, I found an eerie similarity to battle tactics from the Vietnam War. I read a book called Blood on the Risers. It was an autobiography of an army man who eventually became L.R.R.P. Basically, the similarity I'm trying to highlight is the fact that troops were moved in two platoons with Rear Echelon right behind. In Vietnam, this was highly ineffective and resulted in more casualties as it didn't suit American soldiers to shoot into a bunch of trees. In Iraq, it's not as bad because it's basically desert.

Anyone else seen this show?

Quote from "Equinox" »

Well, I don't exactly agree with this... putting enemies into black patches around my character when it's totally unrealistic makes me think "stupid game design I can't see shit so where am I supposed to throw this fireball".

He meant a dark room, which means shorter range of visibility. Not floating clouds of darkness.

I do kind of miss the light radius design that D2 had. I will say that much. And the torch thing was a good idea. What would be interesting to see is a light radius that is normal at the center, but gets darker towards the edges of the screen. And in order to accentuate this fear of the unknown, the visibility of enemies would be relative to that. Let's say they are on the end of your screen, they're at 100% opacity. You can't see them. But if they move in, the opacity gradually decreases, making them more and more visible.

However, this design would only work in dungeons and not outdoors. Unless it's either midnight or in the middle of the jungle, such as Kurast.

But that's just how I would do it. Not how it would end up. I'm still happy with the product thus far.

dude, you Cant compare an RTS unit with a main character of a RPG
one is abut 30 polygons, the other is about 3000...
also, warcraft is 5-6 years old

I just did. Besides, I'm not even the one who initially started this. I'm simply finishing it by disproving it. Would you rather I compare it to WoW? Besides, one of the selling points of WC3 was that it was an RTS with RPG elements. The question of body proportions lies in artistic style.

im not a fan of it, but in RTS games the units can be bulky and disproprortionated becouse thay are small. RPG is a completely different story. The character is always on the center fo your screen so it has to be detailed and much more cooler becouse you are going to see it for the rest of the game

http://se.game-shots.com/images/screenshots/age-of-mythology/age-of-mythology-pc-004.jpg

Oh? What's that? Properly proportioned RTS units?! Say it isn't so!

in warcraft, no one get close like tht to a character for more than 30 seconds, becouse it enough to see if you like it or not...

It's an RTS, not a beauty pageant. I hardly see what this has to do with anything. Also, some people enjoy playing fully zoomed in. I've done it once in a while. Makes everything seem more epic.

How's a new art director going to make things "worse"? That would imply that things are already bad. And as I see it, that game looks damned fine to me. Besides, it's too late to change the art direction. And I'm sure they're more than halfway done. They've been working on the game for 7 years at most. 2 years at the least. I would assume at least 3 years, personally, since they designed their engine from scratch.

Quote from "Siaynoq" »

It was definitely an easy read though. As smart as Carter is, he's by no means a hyper intellectual that uses large abrasive words. His insights are just really interesting cause he's been involved in trying to establish peace there for over thirty years.

Uhh, the guy's a nuclear physicist. That's a field that requires a lot of intelligence, I'm sure. But I see what you're saying. He speaks in layman's terms.

Quote from "Fingolfin" »

the people that wrote the bible were smart enough to study human behavior so its most likely that it will come true.

What are you talking about?

Peace between nations won't happen in a part of the world where the people value religion above nationalism.

I found it thoroughly hilarious when Jay told us that the D3 team put rainbows in the game just to piss people off. That is something I would totally do. 'Cept I'd make the seige breaker be a unicorn.