1 Like Monopoly?

2 Trouble?

3 Connect Four?

/pretty sneaky, sis

4 This is a really good idea. The only valid reason for these opposable thumbs is to manage a controller without having to hold it between our teeth!

5 I quit buying computer games long ago. It seemed that every new game required a new computer as well. I just could continue spending 3 to 4 thousand dollars every couple of years to play games.

6 Like when the delivery man says "You ordered the Pizza but since you're broke we'll have to come to another arrangement, Miss?"

7
brb, goin to the see all the CEO's in the public housing tenements and get me a job and a paycheck

8 I will not play video games until "Bangkok Whore House" comes out.

9 Where is the secret-prostitute-service thread?  On the planet I come from breaches is security don't get any bigger than that.

10 5 Wow, Vic! you need to build, not buy! Here is the most recent ArsTechnica systems guide ... another will be out soon. Oh, and yes you can, anyone ... mostly ... can! http://tinyurl.com/82w9a29

11 Kickstarter has some great old school RPG sequels going right now. Check 'em out. I am supporting the Wasteland 2, Shadowrun, and Banner Saga.

12 To each his / her own.  When I think of "gaming" I think of a panel from the old Freak Brothers underground comix:  "Aren't you awfully old to be wearing a cowboy costume, mister?"

13 Gaming? Sorry, thought this was about open gay men. Back to the fabulous Sunday NYT!

14
>> How many drinking games are there anyway?

Beer Pong
Presnit Debate Cub
Quarters

That is all I can think of.

15 The last computer game I bought was Civ IV in a bargain bin.  I had to crank it down to the lowest level to get it to run on my machine and it sucked anyway.



What made the original Civ so good was it was a strategy game that did not require a lot of HP to run. Civ 2 was probably the best version out of all of them for playability.

16

I'm with Vic on deciding not to get any new games that require upgrades.  John got this one for me, because the old one was dying, set up to play Oblivion because it couldn't even load on the old one.  Last time though.

 

Most games I buy now are cheesy webgames from Big Fish.

17 I can't be the only one depressed by the shitty sales on Steam, can I?  After the New Years line up, it's been pretty sparse and lame.

18 Ace, Are you open to other thread topics? I'd be interested if any legal beagles here would want to open up a weekly discussion on the Constitution for non-lawyer types. Maybe there could be a structure to it, where the first few weeks are an overview, with some historical foundation laid for particular themes. Then we could dive into the Amendments, again with the historical context provided (What's the real point of the 2nd Amendment? What was the intent behind the 9th and 10th Amendments?) And I'd love to see the resulting donnybrook over "Living Constitution" vs. "Strict Construction". That'd be epic. Frankly, if I had the time (and the foundational knowledge), I'd love to run it myself. But it'd be just as much for my education as anyone else's. What do you think?

19 The last computer game I played was Counterstrike. Get off my lawn.

20 Besides most of the hardcore gamers have all gone to xbox and playstation.



And those have planned obsolescence every 3 to 5 years.

21 Trying to play through the Mass Effect Trilogy, struggling through the first not because it's difficult, but because it's a little boring; not a big fan of the combat. Hoping it will get better.

Just finished Dead Space - loved it - about to head into Dead Space 2.

The only other recent games I've played are Arkham City and Modern Warfare 3. Both excellent, though I liked Black Ops better than MW3.

Anyone else playing Star Trek Online? I don't think I've ever had a gaming experience like this; equal parts awesome and horrible.

22 My assumption was that Ace was referring to D&D. I still got a box in the closet filled with all my D&D books, figures, and dice. The sweet, sweet dice. The old pewter figures were so awesome. Nowadays they are all plastic.

23

So this is where we can make plans to play Mario Kart Wi-Fi together??

 

Oh, and I have to say I'm not enjoying Angry Birds Space as much as the other games.

24 We're in year 7 of the current console cycle. Gonna be at least 8 before the next round of gear comes out. I'm actually annoyed at the slow pace of progress.

25 It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

26 <<I quit buying computer games long ago. It seemed that every new game required a new computer as well.>>

I know the feeling well. Did the same thing, as did many others. Game makers caught on, and now they make new games that don't require hardware upgrades. If you've got a dual core, decent ram and a decent graphics card, you're good to go.

Also, I highly suggest building your next system instead of buying one. I have the equivalent of a two thousand dollar system my wife and I built ourselves for a little more than five hundred (no, I'm not kidding). All parts bought at "NewEgg" dot com.

27 Nah, skip it.  My war on women is taking up most of my time.

28 On-topic item from the book thread:

95 One of my friends has an 11-year-old daughter who was a very reluctant reader (always had a hard time getting through assigned reading, never read for fun, etc.) but simply devoured the first Hunger Games book. My friend ended up taking her to see the movie, even though she was a little young for the target age, because she wants to encourage her to keep reading. She's now reading the next two books.

For my wife's son, the reading trigger was the Final Fantasy video games. He loved the games, but my wife got tired of reading the various menu items for him. This frustrated him enough to trigger his interest in reading.

As for myself, I've never been much of a gamer. A little colossal cave adventure, a bit of tetris, and WoW are pretty much it for me. I'm one of those boring WoW players who just likes to do a bit of mindless killing of skinnables to relax after work; I'm not social enough to get involved in things like PvP or raiding.

Now I've got a beta invite to Diablo III, but I'm at the mother in law's dealing with some family issues, so can't play it yet. I tried logging into WoW from here, but Blizzard decided I was a hacker and locked my account, sending the reset e-mail to an e-mail address I can't get to from here. Frustrating.

WoW introduced me to Lua, which I've been building into my various projects at work, replacing my tendency to build a hand-crafted FORTH system. I've found Lua to be as easy to extend as my hand-crafted FORTHs, yet much more powerful.

29 Willing to discuss MMO betas, alphas, announcements, patches, and various and sundry other info on the genre. Also am currently playing Kerbal Space Program, World of Tanks, Minecraft, and about a dozen other current toys, lobby- and singleplayer- games of various other types.

30 18 .. earlier this week I pointed out the Crysis 2 deal on Amazon ($7.49 for the download). I suggest that all use Ace's Amazon widget, naturally, because that deal is still there. I have been totally unimpressed with my Steam twitter feeds deal offers too. Valve is seeking a couple of hardware engineers right now, working upon new i/o devices hinted ... think kinect, I think, so maybe a HL2 continuation with kinect interface is in the works. Crowbar!

31 Anyone else saw the caps game last night? Fuking awesome

32 Mama AJ, thank you for pointing out the The Greatest Hitjobs. the Skankathon post. . my goodness i laughed my rear off, cannot believe i've never checked those out.
i've decided that will be my reading material when i'm feeling low.

33

Posted by: Vic at April 15, 2012 01:38 PM (YdQQY)

 

The planned obsolescence on those is more a matter of computer growth than anything.

That being said, this is the Xbox360's 7th year on the market (2005 release date, November IIRC) and there's been hits from MS that they're hoping for Kinect to carry a 10 year cycle on this one.

Frankly, I can understand why most gamers drifted to consoles, setting aside the upgradability problems, no matter how awesome your system was, you'd need to tweak something (a driver or the like) to get a game to work.  I have a moderately high end system right now (3.2ghz quad core processor 8 gigs of ram, and a midlevel video card) and I couldn't get the original dragonage to play properly to save my life.  At least on a console you're getting consistancy (there are still really really bad games that crash like crazy, but consistantly!)  Obscolescence for a console isn't aweful either, I usally buy in around year 2 of the console (got my Original Xbox in I think 2003ish.) So the price is down closer to teh $250 range, so even at a replacement of once every 3 years you're doing pretty good on the cost/year ratio.

My wife and I actually just sprung for a brand new Xbox 360 with Kinect (we sold the old 360 to my brother for $60 to help offset the $400 for the new one.)  It's quite fun.  The wii hasn't been touched in months (years?)

Ace, I'd glady run a weekly gaming thread, but sadly I'm behind in my gaming. I haven't played ME3 yet to see what everyone is all up in arms about (it sits on my tv stand waiting for my papers to finish.) I got around to the 4th Assassin's creed, I did play a lot of skyrim, I was waiting for some DLC to acutally finish it (but I may just do that now).

34 << I can't be the only one depressed by the shitty sales on Steam, can I? After the New Years line up, it's been pretty sparse and lame.>>

Download the new Gamefly client. They bought out "Direct to Drive" and have some pretty decent sales every now and then. I bought Mass Effect 1 and 2 for six bucks each.

35 <<Besides most of the hardcore gamers have all gone to xbox and playstation.>>

Not true.

I rarely play my Xbox compared to my PC games. Most people I know are the same.

36 The XBox 360s is the current version and it was released in 2010.

37 #19 I love the Constitution thread idea! Oh, and beware the hovercat!

38 Oh, and I have to say I'm not enjoying Angry Birds Space as much as the other games.

I'm pretty angry with Angry Birds Rio. I may need to rent a twelve year old to get passed the current level.

39 I rarely play my Xbox compared to my PC games. Most people I know are the same.

Posted by: Sgt. York at April 15, 2012 01:48 PM (vyS+v)

--------------------------

OK, most kids who are the largest customer base.

40

>>Minecraft

My son's been playing that a lot lately.

41 WoW beta is pretty good, but the talent rebuild is very frustrating and disappointing. Diablo III beta is great, but too short. I found only one problem after 3 runs through, like the Diablo II beta which was basically flawless.

42 Don't we already get pretty good discussions on the Constitution when individual issues crop up?

43 Nukemhill, re; open up a weekly discussion on the Constitution for non-lawyer types. Maybe there could be a structure to it, where the first few weeks are an overview, with some historical foundation laid for particular themes

a wonderful idea. 

44

LOL, Retread.

 

A suggestion, if you are playing on your phone. Get the PC version and play it full screen.

 

Hmm, maybe that's the problem with Space. I've only been playing it on my phone, not on the PC.

45 Valve is seeking a couple of hardware engineers right now, working upon new i/o devices hinted ... think kinect, I think, so maybe a HL2 continuation with kinect interface is in the works. Crowbar!Posted by: And Irresolute

Yeah, I saw that on Joystiq. I suppose there's money to be made in some new interface but those types of games have 0 appeal to me.

I suppose if they came up with some combo of a Kinect and 3D game set up that could have possibilities. 3D 'physical' Tetris would be kind of fun.

46 XBox 360 Currently playing Mass Effect 3 World of Warcraft player as well.

47 Finally, a thread I can relate to!  With the NBA season ending no reason not to profit from Tankapoolaza '12.  Parlay the moneyline favorites for easy money.

Not that kind of gaming?

48

Also, I highly suggest building your next system instead of buying one. I have the equivalent of a two thousand dollar system my wife and I built ourselves for a little more than five hundred (no, I'm not kidding). All parts bought at "NewEgg" dot com.

Posted by: Sgt. York at April 15, 2012 01:44 PM (vyS+v)

 

You wouldn't happen to have that rig saved so others could check it out.  I have plans to build a new one this summer, and so am not opposed to checking out other ideas.

49 >> How many drinking games are there anyway?

Beer Pong
Presnit Debate Cub
Quarters

That is all I can think of.

Posted by: sTevo at April 15, 2012 01:33 PM (VMcEw)

 

You clearly didn't live in  a Fraternity house in college.  We could turn anything into a drinking game. 

 

Oh yeah, and my son insisted that I buy tiger woods at the Masters for the Xbox kinect.  Yeah, my son that's it.

50 @38 Irrelevant. New games work on the old xbox 360. The "xbox 3" has yet to launch. Until the new games don't run on the old console a new cycle hasn't started.

51 I've just started the Diablo III beta and so far no problems, other than my aforementioned sucking.  Even stress testing the servers seems to be going well, I've had no problems getting on.


As far as WoW, dude, I can play a kung fu panda.  They had me at panda.  It's still glitchy as hell but fun.  Stupid sucking me back in.

52 Economic Illiterate?

I prefer the term "Sinister Economic Imbecile"

53

Posted by: Vic at April 15, 2012 01:49 PM (YdQQY)

Erg, no 2005.  Unless you're counting the Kinect, which is not required for most games and backwards compatable to every Xbox 360 since 2005. The Xbox I just dropped on my brother was from 2007/2008 (I bought it after getting Halo 3 for christmas. I can't remember if I bought it in December or January.)

54 Sub-Thread Question:

What's the scariest game you've ever played? I mean scary like a really good horror movie, one that made you genuinely jump in your seat.

For me, Dead Space comes a close second to Alan Wake.

Wake scared the hell out of me...in all kinds of good ways.

55 Oops.  Sorry.  Wrong thread. 

56 #5

The trick is not to bother with anything less than five years old. In any given year more good games come out than you will ever find time to play. So there is an immense range of choices for a highly affordable machine currently in the stores.

It always amuses me when I see somebody chime in that so-and-so video card is utterly useless when it would have been a performance leader just a few years ago. Keeping up with the latest and greatest is a treadmill trap for the wealthy.

Just have fun instead.

57 @22 Sgt. York -

Bought Mass Effect for XBox yesterday. Looks complicated and I'm wondering how much I'm going to like a hybrid RPG/Shooter. Might go with the original Gears of War next instead.

Halo:ODST - lots of fun, especially listening to the Firefly folks voice the parts (Fillion, Baldwin, Tudyk), replayable. Halo 3 & Halo:Reach were also enjoyable, but maybe not as replayable.

I gave up on PC games some time back, not only due to designers constantly upticking the video requirements, but due to the increasingly invasive DRM as well. Also, the multiplayer titles I've enjoyed in the past (CoD, MoH, etc.) have gotten consistently worse / less moddable with each new installment. CoD:MW was the pinnacle there, IMHO, and all of them have gone downhill since. Bought an XBox, XIM3 and Logitech game pad and haven't looked back.

XIM3 highly recommended if you want to go console and use a mouse/keyboard.

58 56 Sub-Thread Question:

What's the scariest game you've ever played? I mean scary like a really good horror movie, one that made you genuinely jump in your seat.

For me, Dead Space comes a close second to Alan Wake.

Wake scared the hell out of me...in all kinds of good ways.

Posted by: Sgt. York at April 15, 2012 01:55 PM (vyS+v)

 

I never really care for the scary games.  I'm sure most would say Resident Evil though.  There have been a few moments in Fall Out 3 that got me to jump.  Those ghouls can sneak up on you in the subways sometimes.

59

@Sgt. York

Wake did all sorts of scary things, I did enjoy it.  But it relied a bit on tried and true "stunners" (something jumped out at you!!) to keep that up.

I played Doom 3 several years go, it was the first game I played after getting the fancy 5.0 surround sound set up (don't ask why we didn't have a subwolfer) it was also one of the best games to utilize surround sound I think I've ever played.  It scared the crap out of me so bad, I got twitchy when people would come down the stairs and into the TV room (since it almost sounded like a part of the game.

60

Tough Titties, Red Wings

Time Expired

61 I'm not sure if ya'll can open this link - if it is WSJ subscribers only, but here it is: http://tinyurl.com/7vak5wp When Gaming Is Good for You Hours of Intense Play Change the Adult Brain; Better Multitasking, Decision-Making and Even Creativity by Robert Lee Hotz It's not just the playing of games that helps with all of this (I would add coordination to that list), but also, "studies have shown" (I know, I know), but white papers have outlined the benefits of working in these tightly knit teams of engineers/programmers, artists/designers, and production managers, etc. It is hard to explain the synergy and cross understanding of all the disciplines involved. Brilliance and passion. I know - from experience.

62 Gaming? Well, Good Ship Lollipop is 7-1. Beyers # looks pretty good and the trainer has a great record, but my luck with claiming races blows lately. Still she's the only front-runner in the race so I might have a go.

63 The Durango, codeword for the xbox follow-up, will pack 16 cores, enough for future proofing and to handle kinect3d. Release date in 2013. Most current games don't max out more than 3 cores on our PC's, so MS is trying to bump the bar up again. What, someone expected to continue to have a machine that would run modern software? That's socialist. Pressing forward is for us. Oh, and the PC will remain at the top of the food chain for a long, long time. Too bad that we have to mess with these ported console titles because of market share.

64  BTW, there are a number of older titles now available for Win7 at Good Old Games (gog.com). No DRM and many titles include things like the game's score. Was pleased to find Outcast and the original Unreal Tournament GOTY there.

65 I was a big fan of the original Railroad Tycoon.  Played that critter for hours.

And the Talonsoft Battleground series: Waterloo, Gettysburg

The Sega Total War stuff is pretty good, too.

66 Wake scared the hell out of me...in all kinds of good ways.


Wake was scary as hell and that's with totally cheating and turning the contrast up so I could see stuff.


Heavy Rain is the most upsetting game experience I've ever had.  I hadn't read any spoilers before playing so I had no idea who the killer was and I actually burst into tears at the reveal.  It's still an awesome game experience and I think is the first edge of the interactive movie experience.  But, yeah, I haven't attempted to play through again (what me an achievement whore, the hell you say) because it bothered me so much.

67 What I'm playing (PC): L.A. Noire Five bucks at Amazon. Above average story. Battlefield 3 / MW3 Multiplayer is great in both. EVE Online Libertarians in space! Starcraft II Never played it when it came out. High production values, but I'm not a huge fan of RTS. (Skyrim has been uninstalled after 120 hours. Loved it.)

68 56  by far the title Fear is the scariest. I have not played the follow ons because of the creepy! lol!

69 <<You wouldn't happen to have that rig saved so others could check it out. I have plans to build a new one this summer, and so am not opposed to checking out other ideas.>>

Not online, sorry. I can give you the specs if it helps:

Intel Dual core 3.2
Gigabyte Motherboard
Nvidia 250 gtx
8 gigs of ram (Corsair sticks)
Half a terabyte hard drive (Western Digital)
Couple of cooling fans and an Apevia tower.

Built two years ago from parts all bought at New Egg (dot com) for 560 bucks. If you haven't bought from New Egg before, techno-geeks like to shop there and the user reviews are always reliable. All my parts are high-rated items and I've had problems with none of them.

70 What's the scariest game you've ever played? I mean scary like a really good horror movie, one that made you genuinely jump in your seat.Posted by: Sgt. York

Haven't played either. The 'horror' type games usually fail because they force you into set-ups that just seem goofy or contrived. FEAR was like that where you would enter a room then they'd play a cut scene.  Oooh scary... Meh.

Back around 2001 - 2002, some small company released a series of games based on Blair Witch. As cheesy as it sounds, they were kind of fun even though they put you into set ups and obvious 'scare-chambers.' They wrote a bunch of background material that really made the movie a lot more interesting.

71 Oh and on scary games, pro tip.  Do not start playing Silent Hill at midnight.  Alone.  In a 100+ year old house.  In a storm.  It won't end well, unless you like turning into a complete paranoid freak. 

72 If you play Hide the Salami in Cartagena, be sure to bring your wallet.

73 <<Heavy Rain is the most upsetting game experience I've ever had.>>

I haven't heard of this game. Have to check it out.

74 >>You clearly didn't live in a Fraternity house in college. You are correct, I earned all of my C's and D's.

75 Does anyone have any GM computer resources for D&D/PF? Not just the char gen and online bestiary at WotC but maybe a combat program that goes through step-by-step the available actions and results. Does such a thing exist?

76 Lord of the Rings Online is free to play.

77 Built two years ago from parts all bought at New Egg (dot com) for 560 bucks. If you haven't bought from New Egg before, techno-geeks like to shop there and the user reviews are always reliable. All my parts are high-rated items and I've had problems with none of them.

Posted by: Sgt. York at April 15, 2012 02:05 PM (vyS+v)

 

Ah, with the exception of increased RAM, I think my current one is actually more powerful than that.  I'm actually running a dual core and upgraded my graphics card to a GTX 570, after my old card crapped out on me.

78

>>It won't end well, unless you like turning into a complete paranoid freak.

 

So...if, perchance, you already are one, it would be okay then?

79

Would love a "learn the constitution" thread.

 

Don't play scary games so have no idea.

 

I do like good graphics.  The first game I played a lot was "Moria", although there was an attempt at a text-only game, so my criteria is always; RPG with good graphics but not too much gore as the kids like to watch me play. 

80 > 5 I quit buying computer games long ago. It seemed that every new game required a new computer as well. I just could continue spending 3 to 4 thousand dollars every couple of years to play games. Posted by: Vic 1. You can get a refurbished PS2 from gamestop for $40 giving you access to 1,000s of games. 2. I got a generic business computer a 2-3 years ago. 6 gig ram, quadcore. about $400. Played most games that weren't new. Recently slapped a $92* graphics card in it - it runs almost everything at medium to high graphics settings. If you're spending $3,000 on a gaming computer you're spending TOO MUCH. *ASUS HD6670 - didn't even have to upgrade the power supply!

81 Have only been playing RIFT since it came out. But, side tracked and dabbled in Star Wars and Diablo II betas. Was going to switch to Star Wars, but I wasn't that impressed, tbh. Sadly, the hardcore dungeons were dummied down recently in RIFT, so ... My history - MMORPG's majorly, but occasionally some strategy games from the Blizzard line and a hit into FPS's every once in blue moon. PC intensive only for me. I have an XBox and PS3, but only the PS3 gets use - playing BluRays and hooked up to our housewide server. XBox and PS3 just don't seem challenging enough. Nowhere near and depth and breadth of the challenges of a strong MMORPG - for me, anyways. Love the guild concept. Love the Vent or TeamSpeak real time chat with gamer friends - from all over the world. Started out in Everquest... yea. Owned a sterling arcade Defender game but had to sell it when I moved from LA. I miss it almost as much as I miss Breitbart.

82 Avoid TERA.

At all costs.

A friend of mine recommended it to me while we're waiting on Final Fantasy XIV 2.0 (still playing XIV 1.0 though!), and so I preordered the game and went to muck around in the closed beta.

The game has attracted all the worst personalities of Lineage II and WoW.  I cannot imagine sticking around with a playerbase so filled with delinquents and wackos.

Guild Wars II looming, though!

Regarding PCs, you'd be surprised what you can build nowadays that will last you a long while.  Custom PCs are more accessible now, just this morning, another friend of mine was eyeballing PCs at Best Buy.  We checked out Cyberpower online instsead, and ended up building him a freakin' spiffy PC for about $1750.  AMD 7970, 8GB DDR3 RAM with space to upgrade to 32GB when he has a bit more cash handy, a 120GB SSD, liquid cooling, and plenty of shiny lights (which is the crucial thing, for me.)

I paid $1200 for my damned ARES card a couple of years ago.  The AMD7970 is bloody awesome  and only runs about $600 on Newegg.  Ugh.  In my defense, when I paid for the ARES, I was new to building PCs and went a little wild.  Still runs like a dream, but I wish I'd been a little more disciplined.

Technology is more accessible than it was when the concept of the gaming PC was just hitting the marketplace.  Nowadays, games scale better to older cards, and older technology that is above-average now should still run quite well a few years down the line.

Don't be too dissuaded by all the bells and whistles when building a PC.  You don't NEED bleeding edge to run good games, they'll still look beautiful with components that won't bankrupt you.

As an aside, I got my PC from Digital Storm a couple of years ago, and it is really good, but I kinda think I'll buy my next from Cyberpower because it was just bloody cheaper by several hundred dollars on the PC we just assembled for my friend, and that with a superior graphics card.

My $0.02. D:

83 <<Haven't played either. The 'horror' type games usually fail because they force you into set-ups that just seem goofy or contrived.>>

Very true.

I would suggest trying out Alan Wake, which is more of a Twilight Zone type of game (it even has mini-episodes of a twilight zone type series you can watch in the game). Alan Wake is all about shadows and light, and what lurks int he shadows. There's no gore, so the scare factor is all about messing with your mind (which the game does VERY effectively).

84

Posted by: mrp at April 15, 2012 02:02 PM (HjPtV)

 

Hey, I had that one too!  I was a horrible tycoon though.  That and a Mech Warrior game were my first color games, I think. 

85 75 <<Heavy Rain is the most upsetting game experience I've ever had.>>

I haven't heard of this game. Have to check it out.

Posted by: Sgt. York at April 15, 2012 02:08 PM (vyS+v)

 

 

Pretty sure its a PS3 only title.

86 Maybe there could be a structure to it, where the first few weeks are an
overview, with some historical foundation laid for particular themes

Consider this another vote in favor of a regular Constitution thread.

87 The most appropriate game for this crowd is definitely Dwarf Fortress.

1) There's something like 19 forms of alcohol. Enough for breakfast, lunch, dinner and 4th meal.
2) Which you can accidentally set on fire.
3) There's plenty of French-bashing Elf-bashing. Basically for being -such- enviroweenies that they might end up besieging you for having cut down too much wood. Note that they -sell- wood, but it has to be certified by PETA or something.
4) You can "accidentally" set the Elves on fire too.
5) There's plenty of gore. ASCII gore admittedly. (For the love of everything holy, take a moment to install a graphics pack!) But when a guy is fighting off the Zombie Horde using his own severed arm as a club, you get points for gore. There are quite a few things higher on the gore scale left out for sanity.
6) The LOLCATs theme is still rampant. They breed fast and make an easy source of foo-, well, let's not go there.
7) They burn too.
They're all for a gold-based dollar. As in, actual gold.
9) Luckily gold -won't- burn. Melt, yes. Burn, no. Handy for relieving the Elves of same.
10) There's plenty of RINO-bashing. Er, not -rhino- bashing, those are actually better at -doing- the bashing. But there are nobles who show up and tell you how to run your crap and ask for insane things.
11) Luckily, they burn too.
12) And you can have protestors and riots.
13) I think you know what goes here.

In short, a game with an -amazing- learning curve (Bing: 'Dwarf Fortress Learning Curve') with fundamentally only two correct answers to any problem:

Beer.
Or Magma.
(Or, I suppose, Beer -and- magma, but the blood will disperse a long damn way if you do that.)

The graphics are amazingly poor. But there's a simulation going on behind that's pretty damn stunning. Even if you don't play the game, try reading through the entire saga of Boatmurdered (Bing it) without going OMFG.

Note that many things have changed since that story (most notably, elephants have been nerfed like 3 times and still kick people's ass for sneezing too close to them). The current version is adding minecarts - so you can drink and drive, naturally.

88 22 Trying to play through the Mass Effect Trilogy, struggling through the first not because it's difficult, but because it's a little boring; not a big fan of the combat. Hoping it will get better.

Posted by: Sgt. York at April 15, 2012 01:40 PM (vyS+v)

I'm in the same boat.  I picked up the ME 1/2 combo from Amazon for $12 recently and am a bit bored with the first one thus far.  It also took me a little while to figure out how to get positional audio working with my NVIDIA HDMI setup.  The answer:  OpenAL Soft.  http://kcat.strangesoft.net/openal.html

89 71 Newegg IS great. Better packaging than Amazon, which matters mucho with these types of items. Amazon helps Ace though, so comparison shop, and start your purchases from the widget. Also, I would suggest that folks buy "retail" versions of CPU's and drives. Gets them the bits and pieces and reduces stress. Other components can/should be bought "bare" as they are plug-n-play and easy. Suggestion #1: buy more mobo than you need today (spend the extra $60-100). Suggestion #2: buy more power supply than you need today (spend the extra $20-50). Future proofing a little in those areas really reduces the upgrade price pain.

90 I'm one of those boring WoW players who just likes to do a bit of mindless killing of skinnables to relax after work; I'm not social enough to get involved in things like PvP or raiding. Posted by: Anachronda at April 15, 2012 01:45 PM (g1Lui) ---------------- I had to stop playing WoW (although it's my favorite company . Played that from Friends w/Family/alpha, through beta, through release, and well, you know. It got to be too much. The PvP in RIFT is canned, but for some reason, I became addicted to it. Never happened before, but fun stuff.

91 So...if, perchance, you already are one, it would be okay then?


Heh, sure! Silent Hill is one of those games that does pay to play with a surround sound system, the sound placement is very well done.

92 As an aside, I got my PC from Digital Storm a couple of years ago, and it is really good, but I kinda think I'll buy my next from Cyberpower because it was just bloody cheaper by several hundred dollars on the PC we just assembled for my friend, and that with a superior graphics card.

My $0.02. D:

Posted by: Kinley Ardal at April 15, 2012 02:11 PM (MDNX/)

 

Yeah, I bought my current PC from a custom builder in WA called Pugetsystems.com.  They are very good and if you are looking to have someone else build you a PC I definitely recommend them.  I mean I bought mine from them in 2007 and with my graphics card upgrade and RAM upgrade it can still handle most of the games coming out pretty well.  And looking at building my own I "built" one at their site and then looked at the prices on newegg and arrived at the cost of having someone else build your PC is around $500 based on the price differential.

93 Another blast from the past:  M1 Tank Platoon

94 Sgt. York at April 15, 2012 01:44 PM (vyS+v)

Bingo... it's the only way to go.

You build the computer you foresee needing 18 - 24 months on down the road.

The key... asking yourself before you open your wallet... what do I want it to do? What do I need it to do? If you can't answer those questions... keep your hands in your pockets.

And plan for growth... something a 'proprietary' box (typically) doesn't have, with motherboards that have built-in sound & video functions, and a power supply just big enough to make it go... and damn little else.

A little prior thought can get you a kick-ass computer for half the jack you'd normally shell out.

95

My brothers and I have a game night each weekend on Xbox Live, usually playing Halo Reach or whatever random multiplayer arcade game pops up on the service that week. It's remarkable how videogames can regress four grown men back to their late 80's incarnations in a matter of seconds. Great fun.

About the only thing I play offline is Dance Central 2 for Kinect. Not for the faint of heart or those with social anxiety, but an absolute riot for obnoxious louts.

96
Yeah, I bought my current PC from a custom builder in WA called Pugetsystems.com. They are very good and if you are looking to have someone else build you a PC I definitely recommend them. I mean I bought mine from them in 2007 and with my graphics card upgrade and RAM upgrade it can still handle most of the games coming out pretty well. And looking at building my own I "built" one at their site and then looked at the prices on newegg and arrived at the cost of having someone else build your PC is around $500 based on the price differential.

Posted by: buzzion at April 15, 2012 02:19 PM (GULKT)

That price seems reasonable, considering how terrified I am of blowing up whatever it is I'm tinkering with.

Tried to make some adjustments to my liquid cooling system, but the interior of my PC is really difficult to mess around in.  Got too spooked, had some pros do it.  Actually assembling the thing myself would kill me.

As an aside, it's always funny to see people wander in and look at my PC and say "What the hell, is that from Star Trek?" :3 I love that.

97 Newegg IS great. Posted by: And Irresolute[i/]

Newegg if you live outside of CA, and Directron if you live in CA. Tax sucks.

Suggestion #1: buy more mobo than you need today (spend the extra $60-100). Suggestion #2: buy more power supply than you need today (spend the extra $20-50). Future proofing a little in those areas really reduces the upgrade price pain.

The power supply is really the only thing that can 'future' proofed, but, yes, buying a better mobo is a good call since it leaves you with an easy upgrade route in buying the next CPU in the series.

98 77 Does anyone have any GM computer resources for DD/PF? Not just the char gen and online bestiary at WotC but maybe a combat program that goes through step-by-step the available actions and results. Does such a thing exist? Posted by: Strate Baldin at April 15, 2012 02:08 PM (qH4OJ) There are several but I like MapTools by RPTools. It's really designed for sharing a map and handling game mechanics over the internet, but you can use the game mechanic handling and combat tools on a computer at your pen-and-paper game as well. People have built plugins for it to handle most tasks in various game systems. I've also seen people use Neverwinter Nights (the game) (you can create and run scenarios of your own) to take over combats for straight-up D&D. Most of the tools out there just track information for you. While they require a little more setup, the above can actuallly run combat math step-by-step. Using NWN would require more setup time but you could "show" the combat happening on a monitor.

99

Posted by: davidt at April 15, 2012 02:09 PM (Wlpxd)

 

My daughter tried to create an account there, but had trouble about half-way through and she never has been able to actually log on. 

100 90 22
Trying to play through the Mass Effect Trilogy, struggling through the
first not because it's difficult, but because it's a little boring; not a
big fan of the combat. Hoping it will get better.



Posted by: Sgt. York at April 15, 2012 01:40 PM (vyS+v)

I'm in the same boat. I picked up the ME 1/2 combo from Amazon for $12 recently and am a bit bored with the first one thus far. It also took me a little while to figure out how to get positional audio working with my NVIDIA HDMI setup. The answer: OpenAL Soft. http://kcat.strangesoft.net/openal.html

Posted by: Sandra Fluke's solid gold diaphragm at April 15, 2012 02:16 PM (0d0K7)

 

Mass Effect 1 has some issues and I think they fixed up quite a few with ME2.  So that of course has its own issues   And hey its just such a great storyline up until the last 5 minutes of ME3 where they proceed to shit all over everything you've accomplished through the other games.  And their planned DLC "to fix it" is utter crap that won't actually fix the main issues people have with it.

101 <<Bought Mass Effect for XBox yesterday. Looks complicated and I'm wondering how much I'm going to like a hybrid RPG/Shooter. Might go with the original Gears of War next instead.>>

Yeah, I'm slogging through Mass Effect's "Make a decision and upgrade your stuff" game play. Combat is less than thrilling (no tracers and very little hit visuals, I prefer seeing my bullets fly as well as impact).

I liked Gears of War all right but the story was goofy and it's mostly FPS strafing. The chainsaw/assault rifles are fun though.

102 1. Buy Borderlands 2. Play it 3. Happiness

103 37 <> Not true. I rarely play my Xbox compared to my PC games. Most people I know are the same. -------------- agreed not true hard core means power hungry and uber competitive and - most awesome water cooled pc's (unless we "stoop" to multiple fans), multiple monitors (I two extra wide's and so does my husband, but others we know have 3 and double box chars) and, we script and write macros and, we are sick

104 I played mass effect three beat it. Beat skyrim, and now I have nothin to do. Started playing mass effect online but it's getting old

105 <<Mass Effect 1 has some issues and I think they fixed up quite a few with ME2. So that of course has its own issues And hey its just such a great storyline up until the last 5 minutes of ME3 where they proceed to shit all over everything you've accomplished through the other games. And their planned DLC "to fix it" is utter crap that won't actually fix the main issues people have with it.>>



Oh good...something to look forward to.

106 Whoa... none of 'functions' (bold, italics, etc.) are working.

WTF is up with that?

107 44 Don't we already get pretty good discussions on the Constitution when individual issues crop up? Posted by: Vic at April 15, 2012 01:51 PM (YdQQY) Yeah, but it's too scatter-shot. I'm talking about a weekly, focused thread dedicated to the Constitution. Heck, if it really takes off, it could be a reference series for people who need them some edemucatin' on the Constitution. There could be reading assignments, for those of us who are really interested in digging deeper. Maybe even a point/counter-point debate on various topics. The sky's the limit, really. I think the group of Morons we have here is exceptionally educated, and there is surely a core group who are more than superficially knowledgeable re: the Constitution. Being able to take that knowledge and share it in a somewhat structured manner, I think, would be a boon. And there seems to be some interest. All we need is someone to moderate it, and a willingness on Ace's part to host it.

108 EVE Online Libertarians in space! Posted by: Jordan at April 15, 2012 02:03 PM (RSG1I) ----------- Eve is kinda like buying gold, though. You had to get in at the start.

109 <<and, we are sick>>

A little bit, lol.

I am one of those who stooped to multiple fans and run a single monitor.

I'm just not sick enough.

110 <<1. Buy Borderlands
2. Play it
3. Happiness>>


LOVED that game.

Of course, with more than a hundred thousand different weapons...what's not to love?

111 Oh good...something to look forward to.

Posted by: Sgt. York at April 15, 2012 02:24 PM (vyS+v)

 

The biggest thing they cut down on is the 500,000,000 weapons armor and upgrades you keep up through the game.  Which they proceeded to add back in for Mass Effect 3, but have considerably tightened up so its not a hassle.

112 <<A little prior thought can get you a kick-ass computer for half the jack you'd normally shell out.>>

Absolutely. My system is two years old, still runs current games with no problem whatsoever, have room to upgrade when/if necessary. I will never pay the 100 percent mark-up of retail again.

113 And hey its just such a great storyline up until the last 5 minutes of ME3 where they proceed to shit all over everything you've accomplished through the other games. And their planned DLC "to fix it" is utter crap that won't actually fix the main issues people have with it. Posted by: buzzion at April 15, 2012 02:23 PM (GULKT) Word. For those who never get into games' stories or background and just want to run through shooting galleries, you probably won't care so much. Some people don't. But there's a reason something like 97% of the messages in the BSN forums could be described as "bitching incessantly." I could go on at length but it would be hard to do without spoilers. If you get to the end and feel like it was a dick out of nowhere, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of fans are waiting for you online to commiserate. Most of them say that everything but the ending is good, though, so keep enjoying the rest of the game, though.

114 Ace - I'd be interested in maintaining it.

115

Posted by: Anachronda at April 15, 2012 01:45 PM (g1Lui)

 

That's how I am with DDO.  A few quests require multi-player, but most can be done solo.

116 <<Pretty sure its a PS3 only title.>>

Of course...

...this is how I got screwed out of Uncharted.

I can understand console-proprietary but at least out out a PC version...

117 I don't want to see anybody here buying those BF3 kit packs! Do the work! Kit packs are for Occupy Game Street pukes! Do the work!

118 I would like to help maintain the thread, but I will be too busy pulling the trigger on total strangers at flag location D, up on the hill, or maybe over at the gas station at E.

119 As far as buying PCs for gaming, I know not everyone will build theirs (which is the way to go for gaming), and it can be expensive to buy a gaming system. You need a system geek to guide you one way or the other, because they have to be up on development cycles (whether new motherboard series'/chipsets have just come out or about to, for example) so you can get a system that will last 4-5 years. Mine is 5 years old except for one or two parts that weren't that expensive. Not the fastest in the world but there's nothing current it won't run. I'm sure that won't last forever, but one key is to find the high-end price point for video cards - that's your gaming Achilles heel. Look at the Passmark benchmarks online and compare prices - ATI and Nvidia trade spots at various price points, usually the fastest card is Nvidia but the best bargain card is ATI, but that changes.

120

Posted by: NukemHill at April 15, 2012 02:25 PM (7WLzC)

 

Exactly.  A reference essentially.  It would also be good to be able to check what I *think* I know about the Constitution with what is actually there.

121 If you get to the end and feel like it was a dick out of nowhere, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of fans are waiting for you online to commiserate.



I just got an email from Bioware with something about how the end to ME3 is the most talked about ending ever!!!! My first thought was that wow that spin must have sped up the rotation of the Earth.

122 I can understand console-proprietary but at least out out a PC version... Posted by: Sgt. York at April 15, 2012 02:38 PM (vyS+v) The game companies think if they can get to a multiplayer-only console-only market they can eliminate piracy. That may be right, but it would mean there would be no games I want to play. Which, frankly, would probably be good for me.

123 You need a system geek to guide you one way or the other,

I would like to think the weekly gaming thread could also be this kind of a resource for folks...

124 I just got an email from Bioware with something about how the end to ME3 is the most talked about ending ever!!!! My first thought was that wow that spin must have sped up the rotation of the Earth.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD 2012 at April 15, 2012 02:47 PM (Gk3SS)

 

Yeah now go eat your red green and blue cupcakes people sent you.  Oh wait you realized that people sent them to you because they were pissed so you donated them to a food shelter.

125 Had the original Pong console, then the one with the motorcycle jumping over the buses, can't remember the name of that one.  Had the 2600, then got into the 8bit toy computers, Atari, not Commodore.  First PC game I played was SCRAM,  had to load it from cassette.  Seven Cities of Gold and Wizardry are the games I remember playing until my eyes bled.  M1 Tank Platoon, Falcon 4.0, Everquest, in the 32 bit/Win95 days.  Loved building computers to play games on.  Bought my first Playstation when GTA3 came out.  Also played WWII Online, and Star Wars Galaxies.  Currently playing SWTOR after dabbling in WoW. 

Rumor is, the next gen consoles will "lock" the software to the hardware, which means no rentals or resales. 

126 World of Tanks! Its a freemium game from the easten bloc that is designed to run on less than fully upgraded PCs (Russia is the main market for it). There's a north American server that has a good player base though. It's 15 on 15 tank fights featuring tanks, tank destroyers and self propelled artillery guns. The tanks start out as crappy pre WWII types and go up to 60's cold war monsters (as well as prototypes like the nazi Maus super tank). Game is friggin sweet!

127 Mass Effect 3 crushed my soul and all enthusiasm for gaming along with it.

128 I just got an email from Bioware with something about how the end to ME3 is the most talked about ending ever!!!! My first thought was that wow that spin must have sped up the rotation of the Earth. Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD 2012 at April 15, 2012 02:47 PM (Gk3SS) Yeah, the forums blew up with that, it was cut from a discussion in an article talking about how many people were complaining about the ending. The fanbase is reacting like BW threw a grenade in. Pretty much one thing that came out of this is that we know for certain the "professional" game reviewers (G4, IGN, game magazines, etc) are on the take and don't do honest reviews. Period. Most of them also took a pretty rude line with the fans, calling them everything from "entitled" to "butthurt" (yes, that was in a game magazine review). They even had someone from G4/IGN do a cameo in the game (with terrible voice acting) to replace a long-running and beloved character they killed off in a twitter message. They apparently threw a lot of story-related stuff up on twitter (instead of, you know, in the game) without anyone knowing much about it, but now they've contradicted a lot of it in other messages. The PR has been about the worst I've seen, it's almost like they're doing it on purpose to keep the bad blood stirred up.

129 It would also be good to be able to check what I *think* I know about the Constitution with what is actually there. Posted by: Polliwog, Hobbit Teahada at April 15, 2012 02:46 PM (X8/ER) Yupt. Reality checks are always a good thing. And being able to track the evolution of Constitutional interpretation would be interesting. I have a general idea (i.e., the very liberal doctrines of the SCOTUS during the 30s and later) as to why we've seen such an expansion of Federal powers. But in-depth discussions of this would be fun. At least, I think so. But I'm a Geek and a Moron, so what do I know. ;-)

130

Yeah, the forums blew up with that, it was cut from a discussion in an article talking about how many people were complaining about the ending. The fanbase is reacting like BW threw a grenade in.

 

Most talked about ending ever.  Yeah and no one talks about any other aspect of the game.  People should be bitching about not getting a return of great cameo characters like Kal'Reegar.  That you don't get a Krogan squad member, Javvik is a shitty replacement.  The plot hole of the number of Ardat Yakshi in existence.  How great or heartbreaking death scenes are in the game, and whether or not you can avoid them. 

 

But those are the nitpicks and complaints you get from an actually satisfying game experience.  But you don't hear about them.

 

Oh and games as artwork being an excuse why they can't change it?  Bullshit.  The moment you created DLC you demonstrated that games aren't considered by their creators to be static artwork.

131 129 Mass Effect 3 crushed my soul and all enthusiasm for gaming along with it. Posted by: Ranger 99 at April 15, 2012 02:53 PM (xB8Af) I think there are people just taking the opportunity to be emo, but it's also probably the single biggest middle-finger from game writers I've ever seen. I used to say Far Cry 2 was worse, but frankly the ending to ME3 did more "damage" because nobody in the world cared about FC2's story and despite the name it was a standalone story, didn't relate to the first one. Right after I finished FC2 I posted a forum message that said "Someone called to say your ending is too depressing, the caller ID says Dostoevsky?"

132 #131 I love the idea NukemHill! It would also be nice to have something on the sidebar linking them all together. I think it would make a great reference library!

133 People should be bitching about not getting a return of great cameo characters like Kal'Reegar. They killed him in an e-mail. That you don't get a Krogan squad member, Javvik is a shitty replacement. And you have to pay extra to have a Jamaican internet troll follow you around. The plot hole of the number of Ardat Yakshi in existence. Yeah, that was funny. "Three. No, wait, three hundred. Three thousand?" Oh and games as artwork being an excuse why they can't change it? Bullshit. The moment you created DLC you demonstrated that games aren't considered by their creators to be static artwork. Posted by: buzzion at April 15, 2012 03:01 PM (GULKT) Ironically, Bioware and Del Rey have stopped production of the fourth Mass Effect novel because of the vast number of lore errors and lack on continuity. Yes, that's right, they already agreed to rewrite something in the *same franchise*, but "artistic integrity" demands they keep possibly the most unpopular scene in their history. Like I said, the PR has been atrocious.

134 Oh, and because I can't shut up about it, there's something else funny about the whole ME3 kerfluffle - the community has its own equivalent to Ron Paul fans! There's a conspiracy theory regarding the ending, the proponents will *not* shut up about it for five minutes, and it's constructed in such a way that no matter what anyone says or does it *has* to be "true." It's funny how patterns repeat themselves!

135 I would like to think the weekly gaming thread could also be this kind of a resource for folks... Posted by: Tammy al-Thor at April 15, 2012 02:49 PM (SsG4J) Well, here we are!

136 This game looks good.  It's called Hawken.

http://tinyurl.com/7dx6e4e

137 136 Oh, and because I can't shut up about it, there's something else funny about the whole ME3 kerfluffle - the community has its own equivalent to Ron Paul fans! There's a conspiracy theory regarding the ending, the proponents will *not* shut up about it for five minutes, and it's constructed in such a way that no matter what anyone says or does it *has* to be "true." It's funny how patterns repeat themselves! Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith at April 15, 2012 03:11 PM (bxiXv) Venn diagram shows ... 90% overlap! ;-)

138 138 This game looks good. It's called Hawken.

http://tinyurl.com/7dx6e4e

Posted by: CDR M at April 15, 2012 03:17 PM (QaYwz)

 

Yeah I've known about that for a while.  Its an independent game so its taking them a while.  But I certainly want to give it a try.  Mech suits ftw.

139 I'm thinking of signing up for the closed Beta for Hawken.

140 Gaming? Dude, I just kicked a 7-month, 55-hours-a-week World of Warcraft habit. I think my next game will be a full-blown cocaine habit, which will be more expensive but far less time-consuming (and probably easier to kick).

141 I'm being told my message is rejected because it looks like spam. But I'm not given the slightest indication of what makes it appear spammish. This is worse than useless.

142 I built my monster pc a few years ago (4 or 5?) and it still hasn't been outpaced by current games.  Sure, I've considered upgrading the graphics card, but there's no need to do so.  It'll run whatever I want.  So far.  I just need to clean up my hard drive and move things off to make room.

Normally, I use my pc for Sims and MMOs while using my consoles for single-player games.  However, I bought Kingdoms of Amalur for the PC and find it's more enjoyable, especially with a corded xbox controller.  No need for glasses and it frees up the tv for other people who want to watch shows.

I do have to say that I tried the demo for Mass Effect 3 and was stupidly impressed by the Kinect integration.  Telling doors to "open" and switches to "activate" was rather fun.

Games take too much time, though, at this juncture.  If I play any, they're usually on my phone.  Peggle, Cut the Rope, Angry Birds, Draw Something, Hextacy...  addictive, but easy to put down.

MMOs take too much time.  Every time I get into one, I play it for about a month and then give up.  I really liked CO, Star Wars TOR and Rift, too.  Just haven't been able to get back into them.  Again, too much effort and being tied to a computer at home.

143 I beta tested some early MMOs, they're not my bag, baby. I occasionally play some Cryptic "free to play" MMOs (Champions Online and Star Trek Online) because they're really not so good I can't walk away. Haven't played in weeks, actually. I also have no use for Battlecrack/ Call of Doodoo style games. The market, of course, seems to be moving in those two directions. Yay.

144 143 I'm being told my message is rejected because it looks like spam. But I'm not given the slightest indication of what makes it appear spammish. This is worse than useless.

Posted by: epobirs at April 15, 2012 03:32 PM (kcfmt)

 

Are you using the word Bl@z3r or some form of boots that Tom Brady is the spokesman for?

145 SOULPILE!

146 Hi Merovign. 

147 #118

That would be missing the point of doing an exclusive game for your company's console. Sony (SCEI) has no dog in the PC gaming field. But they have Naughty Dog in the console business. The part that does MMORPG stuff at Sony is a separate company.

Microsoft is more open to having their console titles also be on PC. Eventually. But this also means they regard some kinds of games as having no place on the console and won't allow things like keyboard/mouse input modes that Sony is open to. One of the areas Microsoft screwed themselves on the original Xbox was not taking better advantage of the PC gaming development sector. Thus Diablo had a PS1 version with mouse support but Diablo II, which should have been on the Xbox, had no console version at all.

148 How ya doin'?

149 (When did this crap start?)

#56
The scariest game I ever played was one of the very first Lucasfilm games, 'Rescue On Fractalus.' This was largely created by Loren Carpenter, the same guy responsible for the Genesis animation sequence in Star Trek II, using the same techniques at a much lower resolution.

I played an early version called 'Behind Jaggi Lines' that floated around the Atari 8-bit community for a while before the games (the other was Ballbl@zer, which was also graphically amazing for the era) shipped. An element of the game was landing to pick up stranded pilots. If you didn't pay close attention though, the guy you picked up would be a hostile alien who'd pop up and smash in your cockpit window.

It was amazing to see how people would jump the first time that happened to them.

150

#142

7 months 55 hrs/day. Wow, you're still a newbee.

151 Anyone here excited for Pikmin 3?

152 oops, 55 hours/week

153 Doing ok overall.  Pretty busy - we moved to another place, so everything's all disorganized.  Today's cleaning and making scotch eggs day.  How've you been?

154 Posted by: epobirs at April 15, 2012 03:32 PM (kcfmt)
---------------------



There are some words and names that are banned by Pixy because they were trolls..

155 #153

In a limited way. I've never gotten around to properly playing the first one. I spent a few hours playing it with my niece but never got around to it again, like so many others.

It's so rare to find a console game that takes a pro-colonialism/slavery stance.

156

EVE Online
Libertarians in space!

Posted by: Jordan at April 15, 2012 02:03 PM (RSG1I)
-----------

Eve is kinda like buying gold, though.

You had to get in at the start.

-------------

I played "Eve" for a couple of weeks just after it first released. Felt like I'd taken a second shift job in the accounting department at J.C. Pennys.

Maybe it's improved since then, but it kind of sucked.

 

157 155 Doing ok overall. Pretty busy - we moved to another place, so everything's all disorganized. Today's cleaning and making scotch eggs day. How've you been? Posted by: soulpile is... expendable at April 15, 2012 03:55 PM (NJpM7) Same crap, different year. Trying to get together with a new doc to change the meds and let me be pseudo-human again. Still haven't finished that Titan story I promised to let you read, but I finished some others and the first draft of the novel. Bad few weeks but I'm getting back to it now. Hope things go well for you, I don't post online as much as I used to so I haven't seen you in a while.

158 I never liked EVE farther than it's avatar customization (which could have gone further, too).  The flying through space is nauseating and it takes forever to get anywhere or do anything.

For space exploration, I really liked Spore.  It is cartoony and kind of weird, but not too bad.  Once you've gone everywhere, though, it loses steam.  I think I left off once my aliens started getting killed by hostiles.  The difficulty went from a 5 to a 20 in one instant.

159 @152

Dave,

The real kicker is that the thing is such a freakin' grind that only 5 or 6 of those 55 hours a week were definably "fun." I don't know how those "ever since Vanilla" guys could . . . no, wait: I *do* know. Poor bastards.

160 For space exploration, I really liked Spore. It is cartoony and kind of weird, but not too bad. Once you've gone everywhere, though, it loses steam. I think I left off once my aliens started getting killed by hostiles. The difficulty went from a 5 to a 20 in one instant.

Posted by: soulpile is... expendable at April 15, 2012 04:03 PM (NJpM7)

 

Yeah, Spore was fun to start with.  I almost wish that you could spend more time in the evolutionary stages before you begin your advanced society.  And getting into the Space exploration to start with is good.  But at a certain point it just got to be too problematic.  The Terraforming a world, or attempting to cause a new civilization to form through technology.

161 I've been playing Aion (which went 'officially' f2p last week) and being generally overwhelmed by Skyrim. 120+ hours on my fourth retry before I finished all the quests in the starting hold, though some of that was trying to trigger quests that seem to pop up randomly.

162 Anyone play company of heroes?  Good WWII RTS.

163 Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith at April 15, 2012 04:02 PM (bxiXv)

I always hope it's the same crap, just a little less each year.  No doing so far.  It's usually the same crap plus some new crap as a bonus. 

Good luck with the doc!  I had some difficulty with mine last year, so I know how that goes.

I'm not online around here much anymore, as well.  Too stressful and not enough time in the day.

Good to hear you're making progress on the writing! 

164

Are there that few PnP gamers left?  I know Ace talks AD&D sometimes, but is he the only other one that does/did PnP RPG?

165 I dig video games.  I always have.  Some of my earliest memories are from playing the Oddessy console my parents brought home one day.  I am not much into the MMO scene anymore, too many kids and jobs for that.  But, I am a few days into Disgaea 4.  Like all of the Disgaea games, it has fun characters and a smart plot.  It is a turn based-combat game that you really can play for hundreds of hours.

Yeah, I am alwasy open to chatting about video games.

166 Good luck with the doc! I had some difficulty with mine last year, so I know how that goes. I'm not online around here much anymore, as well. Too stressful and not enough time in the day.Good to hear you're making progress on the writing! Posted by: soulpile is... expendable at April 15, 2012 04:16 PM (NJpM7) Thanks. I've fired most of my docs. I know what you mean, I got to the point where I spend all my time reading online and not doing anything. If I can't get the meds / health sorted out the only thing I can really do that doesn't depend on schedules is my writing.

167 Are there that few PnP gamers left? I know Ace talks ADD sometimes, but is he the only other one that does/did PnP RPG? Posted by: Old Skool Gamer at April 15, 2012 04:27 PM (iDd2d) I occasionally get table time. Not as much as the old days. Even most of my gaming friends play video games instead.

168 "Are there that few PnP gamers left? I know Ace talks ADD sometimes, but is he the only other one that does/did PnP RPG?"

I used to up until a few years ago.  It is hard to keep a group of adults together for regular meetings, you know?  We have lives and stuff.  Anyone not painfully obsessed will axe thier PnPRPG time before cutting into family or work time.

169 But, I am a few days into Disgaea 4. Like all of the Disgaea games, it has fun characters and a smart plot. It is a turn based-combat game that you really can play for hundreds of hours.
---
Heh. My sister actually gave me Skyrim for Christmas because she thought I was playing D4 too much.

170 I haven't tried Skyrim yet.  Partly, my PC needs an upgrade...but mostly Oblivion was just too empty.  It was this huge world, beutiful for its time, but with very little to do in it.  Later on we got some incredible mods that filled up the voids and took away some of the sillyness (that conversation mini-game was just stupid) but until then the game was sort of 'meh'.  I don't know what the console players did.  The mods really made Oblivion into something great.

171 Gaming?

Dangit! I missed a gaming thread?

Anyone up for some Pogo?!

172 Some what?

173

Horrors!

 

No mention of the greatest game ever conceived on the planet, that tests the skill, luck, memory, courage, fortitude and physical condition and finds those limits in all who participate in this momumental contest?

 

I speak of course, of the game of POKER!

174 MMORPG: 
  Star Wars: The old republic (until subscription runs out)
  WoW (actually, I stopped playing and probably will never go back because of the
     kung fu pandas.)

Strategy:
  Crusader Kings II
  Hearts of Iron III (For the Motherland)
  Civ V
  Anything that came out after Rome: Total War for the total war series.

RTS
  Dawn of War series
  Dawn of War II series

175 The primary appeal of the Mass Effect series is the story- Gameplay improved markedly from ME1 to ME2, so far as combat was concerned. Combat was equivalent in ME3 to ME2, but the were several incongruities in the story- obviously a new writing team. Then they shit all over you with the worst ending in game history, and make every decision you have ever made a moot point. As a player that was heavily invested because of the story, it has basically driven me to not ever want to play the game's again, because no matter what I do were all screwed- in the least, it was a strange business decision as I think there will be a much smaller DLC market post release- who cares about a new mission or world or character when it all goes to shit anyway? strange decision making by Bioware. Almost like they were rushed into an early release by a subhuman corporate death star.

176 "Almost like they were rushed into an early release by a subhuman corporate death star."

I don't think that was the case.  The are mother-fuckin' Bioware.  Everyday, they buy and sell people just like you.  They do what they want when they want, and if they write an ending that pisses off every, that is the way it is.  You wanna know why? Fuck you!  That's why!
(A friend of mine works at Bioware.  He loves it.  He was on the Star Wars team.)

177

I don't think that was the case. The are mother-fuckin' Bioware. Everyday, they buy and sell people just like you. They do what they want when they want, and if they write an ending that pisses off every, that is the way it is. You wanna know why? Fuck you! That's why!
(A friend of mine works at Bioware. He loves it. He was on the Star Wars team.)

 

Have you told him that Mass Effect 3's ending makes the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy look like the Star Wars Original Trilogy

178

Someone upthread say to "Build the computer you want for 18 months out...etc."

I did that and buitl a rig to play starcraft 2, then never got around to it.  Oh well, the whole thing only cost me about $900 including monitor (I spent another $20 on more ram later) so I didn't do too bad overall. It's in year 2 and shows no signs of slowing down (and I haven't even bothered to overclock anything yet. I'm told with stock fan I can get close to 3.8ghz on all 4 cores.)

179 I don't think that was the case. The are mother-fuckin' Bioware. Posted by: MrShad at April 15, 2012 05:47 PM (F0rvG) No. They *used* to be Mother Fuckin' Bioware. Now they're Mother Fuckin' EA, the company that bought and buried Bullfrog, Westwood, Maxis, and Origin, among others. They buy valued names, milk some online bucks out of it, and then it "gets accident." We're talking about people who came up with a EULA that lets them read every single file on your hard disk if you sign up. If I had to guess as to why "The Ending" failed so hard, I'd combine time pressure with ego - the scuttlebutt is that two people pretty much locked themselves in a room and wrote the whole ending with no input or peer review. Is it true? Who knew, looks like it. Actually it looks like they did that in an opium den.

180

There was a period where EA seemed to be turning a corner, and Activision-Blizzard was the bad guy on the block.

EA was backing things like Tim Schafer and all seemed well.

Then they went nuts again.  Say what you will, but I think the game should have stayed in MS Game studios hands.  Yes it would have been Xbox exclusive, but at least they tend to leave artistic integrity to the game designers.

(Remember, still working on life stuff before ME3 gets to be played.  Maybe I'll be more angry after I play it?)

181 Count me in! I've been gaming for years, on PC and consoles. I'm active in a clan and a fleet. I also do focus group testing for a large game developer. I am also semi-literate, assuming I didn't raid the Valu-Rite stash.

182 Some what? Posted by: buzzion at April 15, 2012 05:18 PM (GULK


****

Yeah.

I'm not a "gamer". I've been paying my $25 a year for a Pogo membership for about 11 years. I play Scrabble, Yahtzee, Boggle, Puzzles, etc....

183 Here's the rant I went off on the ending a few days back.  Some potential game spoilers in there.  http://tinyurl.com/6v9c5ed

184 There was a period where EA seemed to be turning a corner, and Activision-Blizzard was the bad guy on the block. From what I hear they do okay with sports games, their big seller. I have zero interest in that, so I don't know. I hear they're doing more nickel-and-diming of players. (Remember, still working on life stuff before ME3 gets to be played. Maybe I'll be more angry after I play it?) Posted by: tsrblke at April 15, 2012 06:14 PM (SYrwI) Well, statistically speaking, that's pretty likely, but you never know. Like parachuting, enjoy the journey, you never know how the ending will go.

185 They do "well" with sports games.  Of course they also pump them out every single year with very few updates beyond player stats.  And when they do include improvements they're most often crappy shit that is immediately taken out of the game the next year.

186 185 Here's the rant I went off on the ending a few days back. Some potential game spoilers in there. http://tinyurl.com/6v9c5ed Posted by: buzzion at April 15, 2012 06:22 PM (GULKT) NON-DETAILED SPOILER: In the end, you meet Clippy, the Unhelpful Microsoft Paperclip, in a bizarre editorial move that replaces the story, main character, and villain of all three games with a cheap narrative version of the writer, who turns out to be a colossal dick. I tried to put that down without revealing the actual events, so it's not a proper "spoiler." The more I think about it, the worse it gets.

187 Whoof! I go outside for a few hours to redo part of the stonework around my fishpond,  then come back in to find a grand new gaming thread and I missed it!  WAAAH!

Oh, well, I learned a lot reading it -- thanks to all of you, if anyone reads this so late in the game.

188 The wisdom of crowds will work wonderfully here. We will be able to help our AoSHQ fellow travelers build systems, find deals on games, overcome frustrations within meat-space and overall have a happier turn this time around the wheel. I think Ace has hit a "good" nerve with this game thread and I hope he/she/it (who can be sure here in the electrons?) does continue this and decides to make it a regular (maybe once every two weeks...what's that ... bi-sexually or .. no, no.. bi-monthly, that's it!) feature of his world famous site. Just sayin'. Oh, see you all on-line. Keep your heads down!! One more thing, one word of advice, DTFM! Do the F*ing Mission!

189 On Xbox 360, currently playing Battlefield 3 online multiplayer, with Skyrim (second playthrough) and Deus Ex: Human Revolution on single player.

On PC playing Civilization 5 and Star Wars: The Old Republic (last month though, just playing til my current month runs out).

Recommendations for good used games: Borderlands, Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas, LA Noire, Skyrim. Those 4 alone would give you 200 plus hours of entertainment easily.

Have to second the XIM3 recommendation if your a PC gamer moving to console to be able to use a mouse and gamepad.

I much prefer video games to movies, since the plots are usually better, and they have a lot more time to tell a story in a 40  hour playthrough compared to a 2 hour movie.

190 I'd be willing to help out with a weekly video game thread also. I'm a longtime lurker and it would give me an excuse for my wife when she sees me come home with another GameStop bag. "It's research sweetie."

191 Posted by: Empire1 at April 15, 2012 06:39 PM (Ezczd)

Hey there! I ( and others) emailed Ace about it...email him back if you're interested in helping out.

You too, Lemmenkainen!

192 Currently taking down the Reapers in Mass Effect 3. Enjoying the new map packs in Uncharted 3. Impressed with the Xbox Arcade game, Fez. 2D/3D puzzle game. And for that haven't played it, I highly recommended Bastion.

193

ME3, worst ending. But the game is actually fun enough just to roll your eyes through the ending and say 'what the fuck ever, asshole.' We've had years of practice with that from all aspects of the effin' media anyhow, so I don't see the big deal. Just tell fellow gamers that the ME3 ending is a perfect representation of progressivism in action. Other eye-rolling moment: the obligatory gay love interest is named 'Steve.' ME2 and ME3 combat are fun, not sure about ME1, never did it.

Skyrim is good, nearly great and better than Oblivion; I like the Assassin's Creed series, though they've been milking the hell out of it and they're a bunch of communists to boot; Borderlands is awesome; Fallout 3 had some great moments, not so much along the story line of off to the side there were things in the background. The Uncharteds were well done. Bioshock is a good series, at least so far. Don't see how the new one will fit in.

PS3 gaming mostly, with some PC. Give a holler if you still do the MP for ME3, I'm still liking it. Didn't like the MP for Assassin's creed, and Bioshock's got a bit boring pretty quick for me. I do like how Bioware did trophies for online/SP.

194 Age of Empires 3?

195 "What's the scariest game you've ever played? I mean scary like a really good horror movie, one that made you genuinely jump in your seat."
Thief 3 was pretty scary in the old orphanage. That was hella spooky.
People upset at the pandas in WoW crack me up. Yeah, because that's so much more silly and unreasonable than cows with guns.

196 Loved the Mass Effect games, I didn't really have that much of an issue with the end of the third, but then I had heard about the indoctrination theory beforehand. It's a really good, solid series, with plenty of action and a great story.

Also playing Bulletstorm. So hilariously profane.

197

At the end of ME3 I wanted to tell that little punk-ass to get the hell off of my lawn.

It may just be my age showing.

198 198 Loved the Mass Effect games, I didn't really have that much of an issue with the end of the third, but then I had heard about the indoctrination theory beforehand. Posted by: Karusky at April 15, 2012 07:59 PM (kwOeR) That's the Ron Paul ending I mentioned earlier. "Indoctrination Theory" is the idea that game devs giving you the finger with the left hand is better than them giving you the finger with their right hand. It's still a ripoff, just a *different* ripoff. Saying the whole thing didn't happen and *not* telling you what did happen. Might as well say "Hey, remember when you got knocked out by the beacon on Eden Prime in the beginning of ME1? Yeah, all three games were JUST A DREAM!"

199 That's the Ron Paul ending I mentioned earlier. "Indoctrination Theory" is the idea that game devs giving you the finger with the left hand is better than them giving you the finger with their right hand.

It's still a ripoff, just a *different* ripoff. Saying the whole thing didn't happen and *not* telling you what did happen.

Might as well say "Hey, remember when you got knocked out by the beacon on Eden Prime in the beginning of ME1? Yeah, all three games were JUST A DREAM!"

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith at April 15, 2012 08:35 PM (bxiXv)

 

Of course the one thing you can say about the indoctrination theory as opposed to the 3 cupcakes, is that at least it is a closer fit to the universe and storyline they had established for the game.

200 Of course the one thing you can say about the indoctrination theory as opposed to the 3 cupcakes, is that at least it is a closer fit to the universe and storyline they had established for the game. Posted by: buzzion at April 15, 2012 09:08 PM (GULKT) It's more like someone runs up to you and yells, "Hey, you remember that lottery ticket you asked me to buy? You won!" And then the wind blows it out of their hand and across the freeway. You look for it for hours, but can't find it. A month later, they tell you it was a joke, that they had the real lottery ticket in their pocket. They give it to you, and then say "but you didn't win anything."

201 Oh yeah I still find it crappy.  Its just more fitting with the aspects of the world established than Clippy showing up and saying you're fucked.

202 #27 - Talking to one's self is a sign of impending mental collapse.

203 You want profane, try Duke Nukem Forever. Its pretty fun but the "must run through Steam" bit is incredibly obnoxious.

204 I'm currently replaying Skyrim as a walking talking cat, taking the side of the Stormcloaks this time though they probably hate my guts since I'm not a Nord.  Enjoyed the Mass Effect series; the ending to ME3 didn't bother me, reminds me of the ending of the old Deus Ex PC game, though I can see why people would want a payoff for how they had played the game throughout.  ME1 had a great story but some dull gameplay, ME2 was great throughout, ME3 also great but with a controversial ending.

@197 Thief 3 was great and that orphanage was hella spooky, I still replay it once in a while.  Wish someone would continue the series.

205

this is kinda spoilerific.

.

.

.

so don't look.

.

.

.

unless you wanna.

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.

.

 

"clippy": "In order to prevent synthetics from destroying organics, I set up a system where synthetics destroy organics."

Missing answer: "And that makes sense ... how, exactly?"

206

Posted by: Jordan at April 15, 2012 02:03 PM (RSG1I)

.... that there isn't an AoS Corp in EVE blows my mind.

207 197 People upset at the pandas in WoW crack me up. Yeah, because that's so much more silly and unreasonable than cows with guns boobies .

--------

Made it more relevant for you.

208

davidt,

Guess we are the only ones that like to play LOTROL.  I am such a fanatic that I have all the worlds maxed out with chars, except for the English speaking Role Playing one at the very bottom of the list.

209 The fastest shooter eveh!

play for free....

https://account.hirezstudios.com/tribesascend/

210

I am addicted to Black Ops Zombies, Call of the Dead. PS3 platform

42 rounds, global rank now is 2500 but when I set the mark it was under 1700.

8 1/2 hours to play, I started at 7:00 pm and finished at 3:30 am on a work night.

Talk about being a zombie at work the next day, but hey like the Last Starfighter I was trying "to set the record"

I have always been a Zombie lover. Can't get enough of those flesh eating monsters.

I can't believe I have to wait till October to see Walking Dead again!!

In the meantime look for BMFSlayer on PS3!!

211 Assassin's Creed Revelations was fun, although Assassin's Creed 2 and Brotherhood were a tad better. Currently playing the beta for Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO).

212 Left4Dead and Left4Dead 2 bitchez, if anyone wants to play send an e-mail to my handle at gmail. Cheers.

213 I would be totally interested in this, since I pretty much already maintain a gaming blog in my head all day. There isn't much that comes out that I don't get my hands on. Keep me in mind if there will actually be a thread about this. My idle hands to bad things when they aren't handling a controller or keyboard/mouse.

214 I lurk sporadically, and when I've posted it was usually about how psyched the Call of Duty games were making me. Really I was trying to channel Andrew Breitbart a little; with his keen vision of the place in media in politics. Videogames are the biggest media around right now, even if the rest of the media world has barely noticed, so it seemed right in Breitbart's wheelhouse. Anyway, the Call of Duty games filled me with the same "America, fuck yeah!" feeling i get here sometimes and from a few other sources occasionally and never, ever from any lefty project. So I certainly would like to volunteer my unqualified services ... and it looks like a bunch of dudes beat me to the punch. There's only room for so many I suppose, but luckily there's an easy way to sort it out: classic Death Match; Blood Gulch or the Archives in Goldeneye. Either one, I'm versatile.