So... I'm back

I just got back from a month-long excursion to Israel. It was quite a trip. I stayed in Jeruselem, but I toured around a bit saw the Golan, went up to S'vat and Galilee, saw alot of ruined shit, got plenty of sun(burn) and sand, made some new friends, smoked, drank, and thought about anything but work.

So now I'm back, and in a few days I have to go back to work and it sucks, and all that, but I'm glad to get back to the creature comforts of the US, and all my games and nifty electronic gadgetry and what have you. So what did I miss while I was gone, TNL-wise and gaming wise?

Rampant Fronting took down 8 MC bosses in one night.

Nothing else matters.

Welcome back. Did you get a chance to talk to geopolitics with anyone in Israel? I'd be interested in their take on the London bombings, for example.

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

Welcome back. Did you get a chance to talk to geopolitics with anyone in Israel? I'd be interested in their take on the London bombings, for example.

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It's very diverse. You meet alot of people on both sides, and not neccessarily the people you expect. The most vocal, hateful, "kill the arabs" people were actually Americans and South Africans living there. You seem to see more of that among the religious zealots, but they're not neccessarily related. I went to this one 17th-centurey style Hassidic ghetto called Mea Sharim (like, a walled ghetto with gates and signs that say that those not dressed modestly will be stoned) and written on the wall of one allet in hebrew was "Zionism is not Judiasm". I asked someone about it and he explained that these were extremely religious anti-zionists, and that they actually protest with the Palestinians. It's interesting.

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Originally Posted by epmode

Rampant Fronting took down 8 MC bosses in one night.

Nothing else matters.

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That's bascially it. It's been a terrible summer for games.

And since you are back, I now realize that you were gone.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

It's very diverse. You meet alot of people on both sides, and not neccessarily the people you expect. The most vocal, hateful, "kill the arabs" people were actually Americans and South Africans living there. You seem to see more of that among the religious zealots, but they're not neccessarily related. I went to this one 17th-centurey style Hassidic ghetto called Mea Sharim (like, a walled ghetto with gates and signs that say that those not dressed modestly will be stoned) and written on the wall of one allet in hebrew was "Zionism is not Judiasm". I asked someone about it and he explained that these were extremely religious anti-zionists, and that they actually protest with the Palestinians. It's interesting.

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http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

I asked someone about it and he explained that these were extremely religious anti-zionists, and that they actually protest with the Palestinians. It's interesting.

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In April of this year, thousands of Hasidic Jews protested in NYC right in front of the Israeli Consulate. As many as 10,000 according to some, I remember hearing about it in the news media. Or not.

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Originally Posted by Revoltor

http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/

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Theres also
http://www.jewsnotzionists.org

Too bad Hamas wants to kill those Jews just as much as any other.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

I just got back from a month-long excursion to Israel. It was quite a trip. I stayed in Jeruselem, but I toured around a bit saw the Golan, went up to S'vat and Galilee, saw alot of ruined shit, got plenty of sun(burn) and sand, made some new friends, smoked, drank, and thought about anything but work.

So now I'm back, and in a few days I have to go back to work and it sucks, and all that, but I'm glad to get back to the creature comforts of the US, and all my games and nifty electronic gadgetry and what have you. So what did I miss while I was gone, TNL-wise and gaming wise?

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You know, I was just thinking "What happened to the guy with the penguin?"
If it makes you feel better.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

So what did I miss while I was gone, TNL-wise and gaming wise?

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Resident Evil is coming for both PS3 & 360. Ridge Racer 6 has been confirmed for 360, but no PS3 announcement. Zerohero made a Lucas Barton avatar and evryone gave him crap for it. Almaci revealed to gaming age that the original Lucas is not, in fact, a Nintendo insider. And we all found out he legally changed his name in real life to Johnny Nighttrain.

Advent Rising came out and sucked, and Majesco subsequently went bankrupt. Corey vs. Corey split up after playing the Warped tour. Gunstar Heroes is coming to PS2 as part of Sega Ages, as is Panzer Dragoon. diffusionX said "LAWL" on several occasions. Final Fantasy XII won't be out until next March in Japan. The site nearly crashed because the database got corrupted, the mods started deleting pointless threads to save it, one of them was IronPlant's, he made a thread complaining about it, got made fun of, some people made threads defending him in which they still made fun of him, and he hasn't been seen since. Project Gotham 3 screenshots look photorealistic, the game runs at 60 fps, and possesses the power to melt minds.

The NHL is no longer on strike. Only 4 PSP games have been released, all to poor reviews. Itagaki rocked the world with awesome Ninja Gaiden Black interviews, and it's been revealed the game basically calls you gay if you pick the easy difficulty. Ninja Gaiden 2 has not been announced for 360, leading to rampant speculation it may show up on PS3. Andrew got in at least 4 drawn out, thread-derailing stupid arguments. Meteos is amazing and quite possibly the early frontrunner for GoTY. Ken Kutaragi says PS3 will be expensive, and wants people to desire it so much they'll get a second job to pay for it. Marvel and DC mmorpgs have been announced. Metroid Prime Hunters will no longer have online play. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is looking like a serious candidate for best rpg of all time.

The PS3 Gundam demo everyone thought was rendered was revealed to be realtime. The Spurs won the NBA championship in 7 - the refs totally handed them the last game. The London bombers have been arrested. Phantasy Star Universe is coming out February or March 2006. Another Matrix game was announced, and everybody laughed at it.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.