Nightwing

McCain with a bold statement. But McCain is a bold guy. ... Is bold the right word? In all honesty, my interest in this campaign has skyrocketed overnight. After feeling that the two candidates were basically resigned to Clinton and Giuliani/Romney, seeing Obama coming out of the Democrats has sparked my interest, as well as Huckabee with the Democrats. Huckabee isn't exactly my guy on the issues, but (after reading about 10 pages back) I don't see him having the Glass Jaw that the Dems think he might have. He was talking to Olbermann and Matthews last night after his win and he came off as eloquent, charming, and quick-witted. I think that he'll be able to write off the whole Gay/AIDS comment much easier than people think, especially with people not reacting to negative campaigning like they have been in years past. If he doesn't win the Nomination, he'd make a great VP for the winner. A McCain/Huckabee ticket would definitely come off as a different type of Republican team than years past, while still having strong enough ties to its base to not lose them. That's dangerous. Of course, if Obama can gain the nomination, he's a much different Democrat than we've seen in years past. He's not lifeless, old, or associated with the "Old" part of the Democratic Party like Kerry and Clinton are right now. The guy has "The Look", and he's hands-down the best speech-giver of the candidates. Even if you are a cynic, he makes you want to believe in him. I think Scarborough said it on one of MSNBC's round-tables, but he compared the speech to Reagan's in 1964 and Bobby Kennedy's after MLK's death. The guy has charisma and a great message (Yeah, the whole "Change" thing is played out, but the whole "Unity" deal is something I think everyone can relate to), and he hasn't let anyone define him, not even his own party. He's not like Kerry, whose people called him John F. Kerry to try and leach charisma off a guy who has been dead for 44 years. He's an honest-to-God exciting candidate. And while Hillary may not be officially dead, I think that all there needs to be is the declaration. Same with Romney. The Media is just hammering them into the ground right now, and even with their financial backing, I don't think that is what the people want nowadays. We've become a LOT more cynical across the board nowadays, and a lot more people are looking to the internet to find things about the candidates. Negative Ads don't work like they used to, and really, I think the more money you have in the primary just creates more of a liability to your image (Until the General Election, of course). Anyone else feel really excited about the upcoming weeks and months?

I keep thinking of the old Freakzoid joke "Hugbees".

Wow, Pete, nice choice. I mean, why not erase your entire relationship with your best friend, lover, and wife just so your Aunt can keep on ticking for a few more years. God, I wish she'd die of a heart attack in a few months just to fuck him over for such a retarded choice.

Actually, 105. 155 would be ridiculous... so it's probably in the works on some drawing board somewhere. Frankly, I found the entire Sniper mission to be relatively easy. I didn't have much of a problem, though I do agree that it went on WAY too long with way too many guys at the end. It really killed what was, in my opinion, one of the best levels I've ever played. My biggest problem-level in that game is the level after, with the whole stupid defense one where a Brigade of guys is moving in on you. I dunno why, but every time I was doing something it seemed like I'd run into a dozen guys with RPDs. I hate that sort of level, and the fact that you have to go all the way back was just frustrating.

Wow, I was looking for a topic like this. Didn't realize it was so damn far back. Anyways, I enjoyed the game. The Call of Duty franchise has always had a lot of potential, even though I thought they got a little too muddled in "INTENSE!" gameplay rather than intelligent or logical stuff. But the overly huge set-piece battles always had a charm to them, so I forgave them for their shortcomings. I'm glad that Call of Duty 4 has finally pushed a more tactical and realistic shooter towards the forefront of console gaming, where things like Halo have dominated for way too long. It's not a Rainbow Six (And I'm referring to the original series with Rogue Spear and the like), but it shows that pushing in more realism doesn't decrease gameplay. NOTE: I'm not going to make much use of Spoiler Tags, but I'm not really revealing much more than the Commercials already have. I'm also not going to spoil the ending. SINGLE PLAYER: The game has the advantage of having the best story in the series, where all the missions are connected even though they are taking place in different spots. The multiple viewpoints actually drive the story rather than simply putting you in a different place with a different gun to kill "Bad Guy A". Most impressive was the Arab Opening Sequence, which really got me into what was going on, and was done with great cinematic skill. I found the game was much better in using intelligent enemies rather than sheer mass, though it still feels like they are using way too many guys. Of course, it does still fall back to the Call of Duty standards with a "BELEAGUERED DEFENSE AGAINST A THOUSAND GUYS" and "MANDATORY CAR CHASE SEQUENCE", but this time I felt they were a little more bearable, especially the latter. Where the single player really succeeds is in smaller actions (Like the first few missions), the feel of the "Arab" missions (Despite my feeling that I'm fighting WAY WAY too many guys at once), and the specialty missions. I think we've all seen screens and videos of the AC-130 mission, and man is that a blast. It's not just blasting the guys, but the communication going on between the ground and the air crew that makes the missions than just a turkey shoot. Probably the best mission is the Ghillie Suit Sniper mission: The dynamic of the mission is so completely different from just about any other I've played; it's not just a standard "Snipe Guys All Day" affair, but actually shows what these guys can do in real life. Outside the very end of the mission (Which was a disappointment, really), it's one of the best-designed levels I've ever played. The worst part of the game is probably the end, where it starts to devolve into more and more "Acton-Movie" stuff rather than the great tactical feel that it's been building up throughout the game. Along with the incredible troop reserves of the enemy, it feels a bit anti-climactic. Another problem is that while the enemy AI has had a major upgrade (And they are a LOT smarter and tougher this time around), the Friendly AI comes up lacking. It's a little too scripted at times and not reactive enough to the situation at hand. But overall, it isn't enough to ruin a really fun game. MULTIPLAYER: I've played only a limited amount of it on the console at a Buddy's house (I haven't had a chance to try it out on the PC), but it's absolutely fantastic. The perks (Which are a Radar granting UAV at 3 Straight Kills, an Air Strike at 5 Straight Kills, and a Hind/Cobra Gunship at 7) are actually much better balanced than I thought they would be. The Air Strike, in particular, requires a bit of skill and team support (You really need the UAV to make it work effectively), and while the Helicopter can dominate, it's easy enough to avoid after you've played the game a few times. My best experiences were actually within the small group of buddies I was playing with in-house, as communication was much easier and this sort of gameplay really requires it to have an effective team. The realistic bent on gameplay was great, with bullets being able to realistically penetrate flimsy cover giving birth to a whole new breadth of strategies to multiplayer. I didn't much like the play online, but mostly because communication with console gamers is both limited and often useless, as you always have guys who will just run off and do their own thing. I haven't yet played it on my computer (I'm having trouble keeping a stable connection right now), but I expect it to be much better as PC versions tend to have a lot better options for communication and (I say this with guarded words) players that are a bit more cooperative. Overall, it's probably one of the best games of the year. It suffers from some of the things that previous incarnations did, but the presentation and design, along with fantastic multiplayer, really made this game for me.

The NHL should mandate a few of these games each year; Call it the Winter Classic Series, played on the weekend after New Years. The ground rules: - At least one matchup must happen in Canada. I'm sure it's obvious enough to most people why. - At least one matchup between two Original Six teams. Another pretty obvious choice: The whole vibe of an outdoor game almost begs for an Original Six matchup. - No venue can hold a game in consecutive years. This way the thing doesn't become too common in one place, and there's at least a year between matches in the same place.

Better snow than rain. I'm glad it didn't turn into a freezing rain affair. Man, it's amazing to see over 70,000 people turn out for a hockey game. Also, digging out the vintage Buffalo jerseys was great. The entire look and feel is great. I wish they could do something like this at Spartan Stadium with the Wings and another Central team like Chicago. Pull out the Wings White and Chicago Red jerseys.

I agree with MPtT. Personally, I love the Shoot-out as a Regular season solution: It gives fans a legit ending to the game without putting ridiculous strain on the team for a regular season game. It's not for the playoffs (Tim Cowlishaw should be shot for his suggestion that playoff games should use it except for "important games". What the fuck isn't important about a game in the playoffs? EVERY game is important at that point...), but the NHL does need to start phasing out the "Consolation Prize" points. Going to straight W-L makes the system that much easier.

Ahahahahahahahahaha... You guys were such TOOLS back then, on both sides. THIS is who MikeTheSC was? My God. This entire thread was solved by the JMA guy on the second fucking post, and he was easily the best poster throughout. God. Also, easily the most retardedly funny part of this thread was cobainwasmurdered trying to argue that Canada could somehow fend off a US sneak attack. Their plan for defending against the Russian attack was to hold out for 24 Hours to allow the US to mobilize. They're somehow going to defend against the US military now?

But Bush looked into Putie's eyes! You forget: Bush is always squinting.

"Moe, you killed the original Alfalfa?" "Yeah, but it was okay since he was just an orphan owned by the studio."

Alright, who read this and absolutely loved every second of it? This was easily the best event of the year, maybe the best event that I've ever read. The feel, the pacing, the tie-ups at the end... incredible. GL and GLC was top-notch (In particular, I loved reading GLC 19 for seeing how the survivors celebrate/mourn/get on with their lives), the tie-ins were actually meaningful, and this is only the second part in a trilogy. What does everyone else think?

This balloting system does suck. EAST Crosby Lecavalier Kovalchuk Chara Corvo* and Lundqvist WEST Zetterberg Datsyuk Iginla Lidstrom Zubov and Osgood* I can't believe Hasek has any votes at all.

No, just the regular screen. Don't tease me anymore with things like IMAX.

Man. Saw the trailer on the Big Screen. It looks SO MUCH COOLER. God, I hope this movie is half as good as I expect it to be.

Man, did that film ever fall off. At first, I thought the film was pretty good. I think the scene is where things started to go down hill. Really, the final straw was the scene. Man, from a promising start to an absolutely horrible ending. I don't think I've ever seen a movie change that fast and that drastically on me. *1/2 out of ***** Other things: - - Even though the movie sucked, I thought Will Smith was still great in it. Credit to him as an actor, because doing a movie with almost no co-stars is damn hard. Kudos. -

Come on, guys! This is all a clever ploy to make the Ducks Dynasty that much sweeter! GO GO BESTERN CONFERENCE~! Ahahahahaha.... Sorry. Had to be said. Anyways, I've been telling every Duck guy on every board I'm on that this is the worst thing that could happen to them, and I still don't think it's set in. I honestly don't see Niedermeyer playing next season, especially with the team in the shape it's in. People talk about class, but the classiest thing he could have done was not force Burke into getting Schneider at a price higher than he's worth by telling him he was going to definitively come back or not, and then come back and force the guys to get rid of talent that would otherwise be there for a little while. It's not uncommon to see championship teams come apart, but the saga of the 2007-08 Ducks is so tragic it's hard to believe it's really happening.

The best part of the trailer: "See to them... you're just a freak... *Suddenly light-hearted* Like me!"

Just waterboarding? I believe the US Government is okay with that. As long as you don't do any lasting psychological damage or some such thing. But hey, what are the chances of that happening?

Oh sweet mother of God. This movie is going to rock.

Bah. It's just a stupid roster upgrade.

Why? If it's a well-written, fictional story, why not say it's fine? If anything, supporting it is only a show of strength. How strong is your faith if you've never truly tested it? Of course, I speak as a lapsed Catholic, but still. And why are all the atheists treating this like high-quality porn? Is it just because it's anti-religion, or do guys really take into account the story?

A really fun Flyers/Penguins game on Versus right now, which reminds me: Is anyone else really not interested in the whole "THE NHL NEEDS MORE GOALS!" movement right now? I feel like the game is fairly fun to watch right now, with perhaps the only things that need to be done is looking at shrinking the goalie pads slightly and taking away the damned trapezoid. Anyone else really not interested in seeing 6-5 and 7-5 games?

Loved - The Wings making it deep into the playoffs. Even if they lost, they went against three power teams and were within a few minutes of locking up that last series. It gave me faith in the team being a serious contender this year. - The Tiger trade. After a disappointing season (Missing the Wild Card and falling apart in the end), seeing the Tigers go out and get some blockbuster pieces for their team was fucking awesome. I haven't been really interested in the Tigers since the REALLY early 90's when I was really young (the last two seasons notwithstanding), but I'm starting to warm up to baseball in Detroit again. - Peyton Manning winning the Big One. God, was it irritating to listen to people talk about how Peyton couldn't get the big game, how he might take Dan Marino's spot as the best QB to not win a Super Bowl, blah blah blah... In all honesty, the Colts really deserved that win, and it was glad to see them finally get it. - The Central Division Revival in the NHL. St. Louis, Columbus, and Chicago finally becoming threatening after spending so much time at the bottom, while Nashville managed to not suck after selling just about everything they had off. It's nice to have a truly competitive division. - The start of the "Ducks Dynasty". Sorry Anaheim fans, nothing personal, but I just loved watching this if only because of Star Ocean. Hated: - Michael Vick, as detailed in a thread on this board way back. - The Sens folding in the Finals. Seriously, I was rooting hard for 'em, but it was sad seeing them go down like they did. - Seeing Montreal eliminated from the playoffs. And I couldn't even watch the game where I was. Man, was I doubly pissed for that one. - The irritation in ESPN becoming the Patriots Sports Network. I don't mind the Pats too much (For me, I just want them to finish out if only to shut the damned '72 Dolphins up.), but all the ridiculous coverage is frustrating. THIS JUST IN: SOMEONE ON THE JETS CRITICIZED TOM BRADY'S CEREAL CHOICE. LET'S DEDICATE AN ENTIRE HALF HOUR SEGMENT TO IT ON SPORTSCENTER! I'm all for the streak. Just don't shove it down my fucking throat every time I happen to pass your channel. I'd rather watch trickshot bowling than more special Pats coverage right now. - The Pistons acting like the Buffalo Sabres of the NBA. A great team that just lacks any effort during the playoffs. I watched the Sabres during the playoffs, and they played so lazily it's a miracle they got as far as they did. The same thing happened to the Pistons. Just awful.