Super lazy post for Friday. I had a mega clusterfuck at work this week, and Comcast decided to shut down my internet access at midnight EVERY FUCKING DAY this week due to some bullshit maintenance. And there is X-mas related stuff to take care of like fortifying the house and installing surface to air defense systems against the damned Robot Santa.
I’m behind on grading homeworks, and totally behind posting to this blog. By that I mean, my post queue got depleted yesterday. I’m usually a week ahead, and any time I have less than 4 ready drafts, anxiety kicks in. Not that skipping a day would kill me. Anyways, posting next week is spotty it means I spent the weekend fighting with writer’s block. :P
I guess, what I’m trying to say here is that I’ve got nothing for today. So instead of me talking a lot, I hope I can make you talk. Half the time that doesn’t work, but that’s all I have for now so we will have to manage.
Alas, we need a topic. Something that most of us have in common – and as we found out last week, not everyone here is a programmer. So I’m thinking video games! Most people play some games. Some of us can be considered hard core gamers, others are more casual. So here is a question for you:
What are you playing right now? What system are you playing it on? Are you a PC person, or do you mostly play on the console (and which one)?
Even if it is a silly flash game you were messing around during a lunch break. Or one of those browser based multiplayer strategy games. Tell us about it, and post a link if applicable.
What games are on your x-mas list?
I’ll start – recently I’ve been trying to finally do the main quest in Morrowind. I’ve been playing this game for years, and never actually got around to do the main storyline. Also, since I don’t currently have any rig capable of running Fallout 3, I picked up the previous two Fallout games so that I can be thoroughly disappointed when I finally get around to playing the third installment. That should keep me occupied for a little while.
Your turn now!
I’ve been playing Call of Duty 4 on my desktop and started on Jagged Alliance on the laptop. But I mostly play old arcade games like Puyo Puyo or Puzzle Bubble, from the golden ages of video games.
I’ve been dying to play LittleBigPlanet but I don’t own a PS3 and everyone I know who does seems to think it’s a kid’s game :| Well, if a game were you can make this is childish…
My PC died on me two days ago, so I am down to play at work (unlikely, considering the amount of work to do and the fact that it is a Linux machine) or on my outdated laptop. This (and the workload) means I haven’t played anything for a while on a computer. However, my Mum was cool enough to offer me a Wii… And that I play a lot: stupid sports games, but so entertaining.
@IceBrain: Oh crap! I thought that Little Big planet is a kids game too. That looks intriguing though!
@Alphast: I hate when that happens. Is it fixable, or do you need to invest in a new rig now?
I don’t really play much anymore. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve outgrown it (never thought that would happen) or if games have actually become less entertaining. The last “real” (commercial) game I played was Far Cry 2, and that was about a month ago. I’m sure I played at least 10 hours, but it got really repetitive. It’s always Get to point X and kill/steal/destroy someone/something. On the way, you’ll probably have to kill the guards at at least two or three guard posts, even though you killed the same fucking guards 10 minutes ago. And you’ll probably have to kill them again 10 minutes from now. Have fun.
I did play through Mass Effect last summer though, and I did enjoy that.
Also, at Dreamhack I played a lot of Tetris. We (me and a girl I worked with) didn’t really have much to do. And what do you do when you’re bored? You have a Tetris competition :P
I miss Dreamhack :(
@Luke Maciak: I think the power supply might be in its last throes and there is also some damage to the main hard drive. At least that’s what I gather from the fact that it will only boot by intervals. It never reaches GRUB (it was a multi-OS system: Win2K + Ubuntu). It simply tries to launch windows and stop in the middle telling me some file is corrupt and I need to run a repair with the original Win2K CD. Every time I try that, it just freezes during the loading of the CD tools in RAM. Most of the times, powering up simply will light on the leds and do nothing else than power the fans in the box. Very depressing. I have some back ups of most of the data, but I simply don’t have the money to do anything about it right now. It is bloody depressing.
I also play Guitar Hero III on a Playstation 2, forgot to mention that. That’s pretty much the only thing I play on a console though (I really don’t understand why people like playing FPS’s with a gamepad). And it’s only because my brother bought it. I wouldn’t have bought it myself. On that note, maybe I should add that I did pirate Far Cry 2. And I’m glad I did.
@Alphast: It could be a memory thing also. The freezing while booting from CD could be caused by a bad RAM chip or a bad socket.
@freelancer: Yeah, that’s something that always bothers me in a lot of the FPS games. At some point I realize I just killed like 600 people in the last hour. That’s how I felt when playing Farcry.
Also, I couldn’t deal with the stupid checkpoint system in that game.
It’s too cold to play pc games, my main setup’s in my home office upstairs, and it gets bloody cold up there. I don’t really play that many games on the PC that last one I finished was Max Payn2 – which tbh I enjoyed. Most gaming takes place in my nice warm lounge on the xbox360. Currently playing left for dead and guitar hero 4 (and a little Duke Nukem 3d on XBLA – just for the memories).
I play Flatout2, completed the career (singleplayer) and have been playing it a lot at school in multiplayer.
At home I’m going through World In Conflict (again), 12 missions, but each take over an hour to complete so it’s a commitment everytime you start it.
Also, just for kicks, I’m destroying people in Soldier of Fortune: Payback.. the people there just fall to peaces agter a shot or two and there’s a loooot of them so it’s massivly fun just to run amok and shoot Rambo-style
But I’ve been cutting down on my games as I’m only going to have limited space for it soon (there can’t be many games on a 72 GB VelociRaptor ;) )
WoW, right now. Love the new Death Knight class.
Other than that, Bioshock. And downloaded some addons for Morrowind. Also playing Oblivion, though sparingly.
Been playing MLB the Show ’07 (waiting patiently for ’08) and Wii Fit! BTW, if you haven’t played Wii Fit, it’s tons of fun! Except the part where you weigh yourself :( lol
King’s Bounty the Legend on my desktop, Space Rangers 2 – Rise of the Dominators on my laptop. Thinking about replaying Morrowind soon.
Batmud Batmud Batmud!
Its awesome game! I just like muds.
Playing GTA 4 now. A friend of mine is being transferred back from the U.S. to Singapore, arriving on Dec 21st, so I asked him to bring back Fallout 3 C.E. for me. Because of these two games, I actually bought a new graphics card in anticipation. A Radeon 4850. :P
Beside those two, the other games on my PC are Trials 2, Kudos 2, WoW (duh!), and a whole host of games from GoG.
Sigh. I need to take maternity leave.
Duels.com, wii sports, mario party 8 (when friends are over) and I’ve been replaying silent hill 2. That game is scary.
I haven’t had a computer with a decent graphics card in 5 years, so I’m somewhat confined in what I play.
Actually now that finals are going on, I’ve played max payne 2 a lot. Something about that game just makes murder so satisfying, it is my favorite stress reliever. :D
@k00pa: Yeah, I looked Batmud up the other day. Looks intriguing – especially the client. I may need to join and explore a bit. :)
@Mart: Kudos? Heh, I actually read Cliffski’s blog, but I never saw the appeal of that game. I think he is making some space strategy now – that one might be interesting.
@ Luke: LoL! Yeah, I tried Kudos 1 demo out of curiosity and got hooked. Since Kudos 2 was going to be out soon after that, I waited and bought it the minute Cliff announced it on his blog. :P
It’s definitely space-something. Looks cool.
@ jambarama: Virtual murder is always a stress reliever. I love to fire up GTA 4 and try to get my wanted level as high as possible by killing cops, and then try to run away from it, or die trying. Unlike previous GTAs, your weapons don’t get taken away if you die for some reason.
PC gaming here – Team Fortress 2 and Left4Dead at the moment (I’m a Valve fan as well as a PC fan)
Also this flash game, which if you let it will lure you in with the promise of uncomplicated gaming and a fairly quick completion, then pulls the rug out from under you about half way through, then again 3/4 of the way through.
People have apparently spent weeks on this thing without finishing everything it has available (by which I mean killing everything there is to kill). It never gets particularly complicated, but it does get hard… so there’s some grinding involved to get enough cash to beat the higher bosses, or to find/kill one of each monster for 100% completion.
I think those people aren’t trying hard enough or playing smart enough or something – within a few days I’d beaten almost everything, just a handful of things left to hunt down (if I can be bothered to do so)
Buggerfuck, forgot to link to said flash game
http://babarageo.com/flash/ginormo/index.html
[quote comment="10973"]@k00pa: Yeah, I looked Batmud up the other day. Looks intriguing – especially the client. I may need to join and explore a bit. :)
@Mart: Kudos? Heh, I actually read Cliffski’s blog, but I never saw the appeal of that game. I think he is making some space strategy now – that one might be interesting.[/quote]
Notify me when you join ;) I can help you to get some exp.
HALF LIFE 2
EP1
EP2
BIOSHOCK
METROID PRIME 2
all in caps for extra awesome
broken sword 1 ;)
Been playing Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe on my PS3 and since they finally opened up the beta to the PS Home thing, I’ve been playing around with that. Although the 15 year olds with microphones are starting to get annoying. Also been playing Team Fortress 2 on my PC. Oh and Lego Batman on my DS.
I got TF2 yesterday. So far, it’s fun… I think I need to hook up a microphone because everyone seems to have one in the game. :P Add that to my list.
On the subject of games. Years ago I played Spycraft. And really enjoyed it. Good story, difficult puzzles, and different to all other games I’ve played.
(http://www.mobygames.com/game/spycraft-the-great-game for more info)
Is there any other games, pref for linux, but windows will do, with this style of gameplay? I’ve read a bit about uplink – does anyone have a verdict on this?
Uplink (http://www.introversion.co.uk/uplink/ right?) is a great game. Get the demo and try it :)
@mads – thanks for the heads up. I’ve just got the demo, played it through and quite enjoyed it. The only problem I can see from the demo is the repetative nature ie. bounce connection through other machines, copy/delete a file, remove logs (although I never got round to that bit), disconnect and email files/acknowledgement to somone. Is there anything else, or is this just a fun but hugely repetative game? The demo’s worth a play for anyone who hasn’t tried it.
yep.. that’s basically it.. upgrading hardware, making sure you delete all logs and don’t get caught.. and there’s a world altering event in there too, if you play the main plotline (starting with a dead hacker who emails you and then … play the game and find out)
The thrill of doing something you’re not supposed to be doing, learning how to get the most time to do each hack on the server, making money and getting away with it. That’s Uplink (and they’re selling the sourcecode too, so you can change stuff if you want/can).
and when that get’s boring, hack the company who gives you missions (can’t remember the name atm), and make fake missions :)
There’s at least 10-15 hours in the plot alone, but you can ignore it and focus on the core gameplay forever instead :)
/Mads
I’m playing Psychonauts, nice arcade-like game. It has very interesting and diverse levels. You shoud try it.
Yo, TF2 players: friend me. I’m Tuxmentat on Steam.
And how could I forget, T.W.T.P.B. Awesome shoot’em up! :D
http://www.spellofplay.com/
@ IceBrain:
I was playing Forsaken World ,its my favorite game.