And to you too.

Sure thing, that'd make the task a lot quicker and easier for me. Feel free to PM me the script.

Congratulations to anyone to managed to wade through the server-load to get that. Anytime I get annoyed by Steam again I'll just tell myself it could be worse; I could be using GMG 

Thankyou for the heads-up on the offer though. I was wavering on the Steam bundle that includes Defcon anyway and this tipped me over the edge. Well worth the money.

I think people are reluctant to give a gift that can't be held and wrapped in paper. Hangover of people finding it difficult to trust in the value of anything intangible?

Yeah, here in the UK it was always January sales until the latest recession hit. Since that began companies seem to've been trying sales all over the place just to get people through the door. I don't remember seeing christmas sales earlier than a few years ago.

Since it's in this thread, no 

Favourite decade of the past century?

Lots of very reasonable explanation

Fair enough, I think I unfairly assumed you were being argumentative. We're clearly still talking about very different things rather than debating a common subject but I think understand better the points you're making.

There certainly are still substantial parts of the world in which religion as you describe it is very powerful. And, I can see the potential merits of trying to discredit Religion (very much capitalised) as a means of undermining ideas that promote persecution of homosexuals and forbid using condoms in countries brought to their knees by AIDs, to name just two of the evils done in the name of God.

My idealised idea of religion, though, is just reflective of religion as it exists in all but the margins of my environment. I've never met a person describing themselves as a believer who's taken a holy text as literal truth so, in my realm of experience, dogma is an extremist view by definition. I think a lot of people take great comfort in the "vague mush" and the sense of community in communal worship. The same large group of people tend to pay a lot of attention to the parts about brotherhood and charity and other positives while glossing over the agressive, exclusionist stuff as "archaic" or "outdated".

I'm all for trying to minimise the harm done by religion but that doesn't require attacking it wholesale, plenty of people like their "vague mush" and aren't hurting anybody with it 

Wow! Well, I couldn't possibly say no to that. I've probably lost more money than that down the backs of drawers 

I see.. so you're not talking about normal people like you'd find in the street. You're talking dogma, extremism and literal interpretations of holy texts. I've got a far less exacting idea of what constitutes following a particular religion, as do all the Christians and the one Buddhist I've ever met.

I've got no desire to get into an argument because we see it differently, and no desire to waste my breath discussing religion with people who believe in the extreme fashion you seem to be preaching against.

Eugh, definitely. Especially awful AAA games, at least most indie games don't set you back £35+ for an unfinished game that'll still be awful when they fix it

Widget, I *want* my money to go to indie devs that do a good job.  I enjoy that market far more than any other part of the industry.  For something like Super Meat Boy, I'd refuse to buy it on sale and would insist on paying full price.

Ah, that I can understand. What I'd be frustrated about is that I'd have just caved and paid more than the game was worth to me, peronally, in the case of super meat boy. Other indie games I have paid over the odds for and bought multiple times in the past, I just don't expect to get much out of SMB because of how bad I am at it ^^

You can now redeem the HIB2 on Steam and/or Desura (whatever that may be)

@Allen&Zaratustra Thanks! Bought them both aswell.

Re:Super Meat Boy, that's exactly why I bought it now, I'm not much good at it and it wasn't worth full price to me. I'm not sure I'd feel so Zen about it in your situation though Aquin, I'd be pretty frustrated about that. (but not as angry as that bunch in the forum there  )

I've only managed by giving it an internet connection to try then using the control panel to kill the process while it's logging in. Not sure if there's a neater way that'd work without a connection.

That site is driving me up the bloody wall 

I've spent five minutes jumping through hoops and changing browsers to get an account set up and now the Buy button just gives me a 404?

Wow, P. B. Winterbottom and Super Meat Boy for £3.39. Thankyou for the heads-up!

ANOTHER WALL OF TEXT

It sounds like you're basing your entire argument on the idea that everyone talks about all religions as though they were self-contained absolutes. It's actually your reasoning that appears to require some assumption of religious having an absolute truth at their heart that people either believe or don't.

The way I view it is that religions are a particular way of explaining and catering to a desire that exists in a lot of people. People have a tendency to want a fully-realised and foolproof explanation of everything, which is what any religion offers. Unless someone believes it wholesale there's no reason to expect or desire this rigidity you keep picking up as though it were a club you could beat other opinions to death with. I've never met a religious person who believes it hook, line and sinker in the way you suggest. Maybe that's a cultural thing I've not encountered but if you stop expecting them to be a whole package that's either right or wrong they're just different expressions of spirituality.

[dreamt of]

Unfortunately littered with errors in the English.

The introductory screen text;
"When I was a child, I was dreaming about becoming[...]" (When I was a child I dreamt of becoming)
"Well, partly my dreams[...]" (Well, in part my)
"My name is Grid, i am KAUFO member." (I am a member of KAUFO.)
"But I could never imagine what it all will turn into..." (could never have imagined what it would all turn into...)

The first dialogue;
"You're our best men[...]" (You're our best man)
"[...]so you're the one[...]" Probably meant to be (you're the only one)
"[...]I can entrust this task..." (entrust with this task) or (entrust this task to)
"Forgot to pull off earphones." (pull off my earphones)
"I'm surprised[...] all this years actually." (Should be "all these years")
"There wers sights of UFO[...]" (were sightings) and either (of UFOs) or (of a UFO)
"Go there and[...]" isn't strictly wrong but sounds very strange. "Go out there and" or just "Go and" would be better.

And in the KAUFO speech;
"But you're working here[...]" (But you've been working here)
"I'd like to hear that again." (I'd like to hear it again)
"Their speaches are fraud." (Their speeches) and I think it'd be (are fraudulent) though false might feel less archaic.
"So whenever you see alien[...]" (see an alien)
Also "Thought you'd say[...]" is alright for english as spoken but is usually written (I thought). Your call on that.

In Astral Ville;
"Hello, man, what do[...]" very odd to refer to a stranger as "Man". You could use (Hello there, what) or simply (Hello, what)
"Oh, they can carry your away[...]" (carry you away)
"[...]this damned post-industrial society and stupid cyborgs,[...]" (and those stupid) and no comma after cyborgs.

Work conversation;
"Any job for me?" Would more usually be (Have any work for me?) or (Have any jobs for me?). Optionally starting "Do you have [...]"
"Job? There's plenty of job here[...]" either (Jobs? There're plenty of jobs) or (Work? There's plenty of work) depending on previous
"For example I need seeds" Not a huge deal but there should be a comma after "For example".
"Get me 10 seed and [...]" (10 seeds)

Seed conversation;
"So what do you say[...]" (So what did you say)
"Why so hard to remember that?" (Why is that so hard to remember?)
"Nothing." doesn't fit the question above. Try "Nevermind.", "No reason." or "Forget it."

Quest blurbs;
"[...]check out a place where alien ship[...]" (where an alien ship)
"[...]asked to help a strange farmer in Astral Ville[...]" (asked by a strange farmer)
"[...]collect 10 astral seed that randomly drops[...]" (10 astral seeds that randomly drop)

As for the game; I've only had a few minutes to play so far but the graphics are good and the combat's quite nicely handled. Feel a bit like I'm dropped in at the deep-end at the beginning but the map's got some interesting destinations to head for so I'll see how it feels when I can spare a bit longer to play.
It's a bit strange that Miss triggers on the attacker when everything else (including Evasion) triggers on the target but it's certainly not a huge deal.

Edit: I've not really managed to get far for proofreading the game as I go. I'll try to keep making time to add to the corrections but I can't really offer feedback on the game itself at the same time.

Blue team, no idea why.

RPG or FPS?

WALL OF TEXT

I dunno... converting between one mono-theistic religion to another doesn't sound like a huge issue on the grounds you set out. Surely they all agree on the idea of a single divine creator and a very strong argument can be made that they all teach about the same one. In choosing another one's not really changing their mind about the basics, just the arguably minor details of how and when to give thanks and show respect.

The group of eastern religions like Taoism and Buddhism are, at core, philosophies rather than organised religions in the same way as Christianity/Islam/Judaism etc. and so conversions between the two types would be more about coming to believe that divinity/spirituality is more or less defined than you were taught.

What I'm basically waffling about is that converts aren't just signing up for a new God, they're moving to a different way of expressing their belief in the same presence or idea that (they believe) more accurately reflects their understanding of spirituality.