OrbWeaver

That is up to the mapper. 1) He can place the static gas in such a way that getting out of it before your breath expires is very difficult. 2) He could set up the trap so that it released the explosive arrow gas on activation, possibly multiple times if certain death was required.

I read one theory that although reverse time travel might be possible, it would have to be such that you could only travel back in time by entering a different universe, and by doing so you would preclude the possibility of ever returning to your own universe. This removes the problem paradox involved in, for example, killing your own parents (or even stranger, impregnating your own mother and fathering yourself).

I only see two categories: "static" gas that is implemented as a brush, and used for traps, hostile environments or water, and "transient" gas that results from an explosion or gas arrow. Only the static variety would need a breath meter. There are gasses that can induce unconsciousness with a single breath, and it is reasonably to assume that a person caught in a gas explosion may be too startled to work out that they need to start holding their breath (in fact they would probably take an involuntary breath out of surprise).

This functionality is already in Doom 3, is it not? When you go outside on Mars a time-limited breath meter appears automatically. Presumably the same vacuum-marking technique could be used to indicate poison gas.

Somewhere, an environmentalist just shot himself.

I have the same problem, relatively simple maths I can understand and appreciate the beauty to some extent, but once it passes a certain level I just can't handle it anymore. I think you need a certain sort of "abstract" mind to understand really advanced mathematics, whereas I am more practically minded and can only understand what I can visualise.

I don't remember any enemies obviously spawning in HL2 - they just seemed to exist in new areas you entered (maybe they were spawning behind the scenes, but I didn't spot any of it happening). True. Much as I may dislike Valve and Steam, there is no doubt that HL2 was a more enganging and atmospheric game, with fantastic art direction.

That's exactly what I mean. In Quake 4, once you've cleared an area it's more or less safe (although if you have to retrace your steps you often find more enemies waiting for you), whereas in Doom 3 they are constantly spawning with that orange fire. I did enjoy the level design in Doom 3 though, especially all that wonky, dirty internal glass and the labyrinthine layout of the older underground facilities. The Hell level also kicked ass (not least because it was a welcome relief from endless metal corridors).

I actually found the game very tedious indeed, while Quake 4 I enjoyed. I suspect this is because of the more varied, futuristic architecture in Q4 and and greater variety of cool weapons. Also, monsters that spawn behind you are so unbelievably lame.

It's fairly obvious where "Mam", "Mum", "Mom" comes from if you consider the shape of the lips when making that sound. It would be interesting to see whether such words are the same in languages that have no common root with English, such as African dialects.

I'm guessing "fy" means "my", "myfi" means "myself", "Mam" means "Mum", "Ffrind" means "friend", "Llys Nan" is the grandmother, not sure what "Mrawd" means though, possibly a sibling of some sort.

I mean it must be nice to work with women who have a redeeming feature or two. And skill in 3D computer graphics is one HELL of a redeeming feature in my book.

I meant it is a trick compared to the interative energy-propagation technique used to perform radiosity rendering in 3D apps.

You work with girls who do 3D modelling? Is your company recruiting?

As I said, it will be a trick. Probably more advanced than "stick an ambient light in your map", but full real-time radiosity simulation is many years away.

Radiosity (also known as interdiffuse reflection) is the phenomenon where light bounces off multiple surfaces to illuminate areas that are not in direct line-of-sight with a light source. This is why it is not pitch black under a table, for instance, as the light takes an indirect path via surrounding objects and surfaces. Simulated radiosity is extraordinarily performance-intensive to compute, therefore it is not yet used in games, although various tricks can be used such as ambient lighting in Doom 3, and presumably more complex techniques in Offset and other next-generation projects.

There is a GIMP DDS plugin at: http://nifelheim.dyndns.org/~cocidius/dds/ It should open them fine, but I have had problems attempting to save them with this plugin.

Will the penis sizes have an effect on gameplay? For example, a generously-endowed Englishman (such as myself) should be able to wreak havoc on opposing forces by ripping of his cybersuit and lashing the aggressors around the head with his voluminous manhood. Obviously this option should not be available for the diminutive Scot.

That's not bad, given that the 6600 Series has only a 128-bit memory interface against the 6800's 256-bit. That said, "default" version of graphics cards are generally pretty lame, most people go for something with letters after it.

Is it intelligent, or just ridiculous feminist twaddle? I think if females didn't have orgasms they would be even more unwilling to engage in sexual activity than they already are, with obvious consequences for the survival of the species.

Yeah, sure it is.

The big question in human evolution is what drove the development of our big brains and high-functioning consciousness, when it is apparent from looking at the animal kingdom that such traits are certainly not necessary for survival.

I agree that it is better to focus on the level surroundings than the detail in the monsters. Perhaps not in Thief where you spend a lot of time looking at the AI, but in fast-paced shooter games like Quake the detail on the enemies is lost when they are charging at you in a darkened room.

They are on special offer from Ebuyer: http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/in...duct_uid=105306 Pretty good deal considering that is less expensive than the average X800 XL which was what I was originally intending to get. I only use 2x antialiasing and 4x AF, but now I can play in 1280x1024 at full framerate which I couldn't before with my 9800XT.

No shit - my nice new X850 XT has a dedicated vent port for the fan (standard 2-slot job) and it sounds like a vacuum cleaner when it starts up. Fortunately the fan never seems to go above 13 percent, even when playing games, so the noise isn't too much of a problem.