Videogames

[Tyrellius]

Do you ever ponder how much of your life has been spent playing videogames?

And do you consider that time well spent?

Is living vicariously through impossible digital other lives hiding from reality or is it instead a chance to experience things one would never get the chance to do in reality?

Is there gold hidden in the village? Is there silver? Gems? Is there food?

I used to use Xfire, a msn-like programme designed more for gamers. It tracked all your hours spent in various games, much like Steam does. I stopped using it when I got to 6000 hours on WoW (Just WoW).

[Fez]

Do you ever ponder how much of your life has been spent playing videogames?

And do you consider that time well spent?

Is living vicariously through impossible digital other lives hiding from reality or is it instead a chance to experience things one would never get the chance to do in reality?

Is there gold hidden in the village? Is there silver? Gems? Is there food?

Just something to keep me occupied when I'm not at work/school/with friends; gonna get bored otherwise. Video games are just part of my repertoire, like movies/tv/books/the gym/etc.

Anyways another point on Bulletstorm, I'm early in Act 3 and the game has gotten a lot better. I mean I liked it enough already, the gameplay was fun, but it was a really melodramatic, rather pretentious game; like the Gears of War series. I don't know if they switched writers or the ones they already had were told to cheer up, but around mid-Act 2 the game lightened up considerably and the dialog became downright goofy. Considering how over-the-top the violence is, I view this as a good thing; can't really take a story seriously when limbs are just exploding all over the place and every enemy has about 4x as much blood as they should. "I named him Waggleton P. Tallywicker, but never had the chance to tell him..." fits much better then "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now?"

[Muttering Bill]

Do you ever ponder how much of your life has been spent playing videogames?

And do you consider that time well spent?

From when I first started - back at around 5 years old? Likely several years.

Now it's just something I like to do at the end of the day to unwind. Sometimes I'll play a game, sometimes I'll watch a little TV. But it's at time when I'm not doing anything constructive anyway. It's not really a waste of time, so much as a fun way to fill a void.

Just picked up Bulletstorm, seems like messy good fun. Also seems like its probably a short game, only took me about 90 minutes to beat Act I and I don't know how many Acts there are but I'd guess there's probably only 7 or 8 hours of gameplay in the campaign. I do like it though. There's probably been games that have had the kicking/leasing mechanic before but I haven't played them, so it all seems new and fresh to me.

I've been looking forward to this one for quite a while. It looks fun, and I like that the developers didn't seem to take themselves to seriously. But I found the demo rather underwhelming, so I'm not sure that I want to chance spending $60 on it. I'll probably end up waiting until it's gotten a couple of price drops. But still, I'd be interested in hearing your impressions after you finish.

[Durckad]

Am I the only one here that's looking forward to the new Deus Ex game? I know Invisible War was kind of a shitfest, but the more I read about Human Revolution, the more I'm looking forward to it. I really hope it isn't ass. The original Deus Ex is one of my favorite games and I want to scratch that same itch without playing through the original again.

[Max the Mostly Mediocre]

The Rock Paper Shotgun crew convinced me to preorder Deux Ex 3

[Jacen]

Currently playing the AMAZING Stainless Steel Mod 6.4 for Medieval Total War 2. It's the shit, and the game is actually hard now.

[Fez]

I've been looking forward to this one for quite a while. It looks fun, and I like that the developers didn't seem to take themselves to seriously. But I found the demo rather underwhelming, so I'm not sure that I want to chance spending $60 on it. I'll probably end up waiting until it's gotten a couple of price drops. But still, I'd be interested in hearing your impressions after you finish.

It is fun, lots of fun. I haven't beat it yet, but I gather I'm at about the halfway point and have played for maybe 4 or 5 hours total; so pretty standard FPS campaign length. I've learned that there is no competitive multiplayer, only a co-op one, and I gather that's a pretty big turn-off for a lot of people, but doesn't matter to me. I really like the combat mechanisms, I've never seen them in a fps before, and the currency you use to buy ammo (there are a fair number of ammo drops for your main gun, almost none for the others) is awarded based on how well you utilize the mechanisms and basically how stylishly you kill enemies. This means that if you just efficiently aim for target mass and kill enemies quick and clean you'll only get about 10 points a kill, not even worth the cost of the bullets you use.

On the other hand if you grab a bottle of booze off a nearby table and chug it down (which gives you blurry vision for about 10 seconds), kick an exploding can towards a group of enemies, go into a power-slide towards said enemies while shooting at them with your rifle, slide-tackling into one unlucky enemy as you switch to your shotgun and start blasting away while also kicking them in balls so they go flying to nearby metal spikes while still on fire from the explosion...you'll get more like several hundred points and be able to afford lots of regular ammo as well as maybe some of the special ammo as well. And that's actually a more boring way of killing enemies in this game. Its some of the best gloriously over-the-top violence I've ever seen.

As I said in an earlier post, the prologue and first act are a little underwhelming. You don't have a lot of weapons yet, everyone acts a lot more gritty and 'realistic' in the dialogue and cutscenes, and the landscapes are kinda boring. But that soon ends as you get all sorts of fun weapons, the landscapes are simply amazing (incredibly vibrant and lush colors and beautiful skylines in the distance), and the characters all loosen-up to better fit the goofy nature of the game. There has been one section that for lack of a better term I'll call "the vehicle section" and it was so awesome. The fact that the main character thinks its so awesome as well, and comments on it awesomeness a great deal while the section is ongoing, makes it even better. And when the character voiced by the one and only Jennifer Hale shows up, that just takes things up to 12 (it was already at 11).

This really is one of the best shooters I've played in a long time. However I don't see a huge amount of replay value. While I currently love the game mechanics I can see them getting old after too much time, the campaign is probably just the right length to ensure it ends right before that happens. And the only multiplayer is a 4-person team against an (unending?) horde of enemies, with the only goal being of racking up as many points as possible. Though brutalizing electronic enemies can be a good stress reliever I suppose.

[Migey]

Currently playing the AMAZING Stainless Steel Mod 6.4 for Medieval Total War 2. It's the shit, and the game is actually hard now.

In what way is it hard?

I played Stainless Steel once, around 6.1 i think. I remember liking it, but it wasn't different enough from the normal version to keep me on it.

Also, any idea where i can install it? If it really is alot better, i might play it again.

[Jacen]

In what way is it hard?

I played Stainless Steel once, around 6.1 i think. I remember liking it, but it wasn't different enough from the normal version to keep me on it.

Also, any idea where i can install it? If it really is alot better, i might play it again.

Well for one thing, you can't just recruit whatever units you want, you basically have to take what you can get ...so instead of rolling in with an army full of elite units, you have a big mix, including shitty peasants and the like. I'm still on my first play through, but I'm playing as Spain. Normally, it's a cakewalk to claim the entire Iberian peninsula and kick out the Moors, but in this campaign I'm having a hell of a time. The Moors are tough and pouring in men, and to top it off, Portugal and the Kingdom of Aragon backstabbed me and are after me as well. Then, out of the blue, the Republic of Genoa shows up with a stack. So I've got four enemies coming at me from all directions. Also, a big French stack just showed up near the Pyrenees- they are my allies, so I can only hope they have come to help, though it won't surprise me if they jump on the bandwagon and attack me.

I don't know how you can say SS isn't much different from vanilla, it's so very different? The units, the map, the cities, the graphics, bug fixes, and castles they added, the events? The whole thing is a lot more complicated than vanilla.

Here is the page for 6.4, you also need to get 6.3 first, install it, and then install 6.4 They don't have a standalone 6.4 yet.

[Jon AS]

Played the first mission of the Imperial Guard campaign in DoW2: Retribution. After the boss fight I of course wondered why the hell I'd picked the highest difficulty again, that just took way too long. They really need to find more interesting ways to end their missions.

On the plus side, it's good to know that even in the 41st millenium the Inquisition's chief weapons are surprise and fear.:lol:

[The Anti-Targ]

Do you ever ponder how much of your life has been spent playing videogames?

And do you consider that time well spent?

Is living vicariously through impossible digital other lives hiding from reality or is it instead a chance to experience things one would never get the chance to do in reality?

Is there gold hidden in the village? Is there silver? Gems? Is there food?

It's only time not well spent if it leads to problems in other aspects of your life. I.e. you are spending hours on video games that you know you should be spending doing other more important things. Otherwise if it's your leisure time then you are free to do with it what you will and whose to say what sort of leisure activity is objectively better than others? As long as you get a bit of sun for your vitamin D, and you ge a bit of exercise (which all game consoles can deliver, dunno about PCs).

No doubt I've racked up cumulative year's worth of time on video games. But I'm OK with that.

Right now, I haven't managed to play anything for days. I'm got right at the entrance to Fort Draken in Dragon Age last time I played and I haven't been back to it (or any other game) since. Need to do something about the game drought. Bloody kids getting in to video games taking away my time!

[Max the Mostly Mediocre]

I do believe

is the greatest DLC concept in the history of ever.

[Fez]

I do believe

is the greatest DLC concept in the history of ever.

Haha, oh wow. I used to the that the previously realistic Red Dead Redemption deciding to having a zombie DLC was out of left field, but that? That was just on a different level.

[Inigima]

New LoL champion Jarvan IV out yesterday. Played two games as him. First game: 7/1/8, singlehandedly carried a team 4v5 for an early win by surrender despite being forced to 1v2 top vs. Annie and Twisted Fate (and my one death was not in my lane). Admittedly, a very bad enemy team.

Second game was similarly one-sided, though I had a couple more deaths, fewer kills and more assists due to a longer game and playing with Idris (Malzahar) and laning with Pogo (Xin Zhao).

I like this guy, super fun. And I usually dislike melee champs.

[Muttering Bill]

Fez, you make the game sound as good as the trailers make it look. I'm almost convinced to go get it.

I've learned that there is no competitive multiplayer, only a co-op one, and I gather that's a pretty big turn-off for a lot of people, but doesn't matter to me...

...This really is one of the best shooters I've played in a long time. However I don't see a huge amount of replay value. While I currently love the game mechanics I can see them getting old after too much time, the campaign is probably just the right length to ensure it ends right before that happens.

I'm not much into multi-player. I'm more concerned about single player replay value - which is something I haven't found in an FPS since Halo: CE. But if the combat is that good, shouldn't it be enough to carry through multiple play-throughs? Hell, I've played through Demon's Souls 5 times, and Ninja Gaiden 2 10 times (and I'm not done with either of them) because I like the combat so much. Ok, they are completely different types of games from an FPS, and from each other; I'm just saying that those games got it right - right enough to keep me coming back long after their stories grew stale. If Bulletstorm is as good as I was hoping for, then it should be able to do the same.

And it certainly wouldn't be the first time a good game got a bad demo.

[Migey]

Well for one thing, you can't just recruit whatever units you want, you basically have to take what you can get ...so instead of rolling in with an army full of elite units, you have a big mix, including shitty peasants and the like. I'm still on my first play through, but I'm playing as Spain. Normally, it's a cakewalk to claim the entire Iberian peninsula and kick out the Moors, but in this campaign I'm having a hell of a time. The Moors are tough and pouring in men, and to top it off, Portugal and the Kingdom of Aragon backstabbed me and are after me as well. Then, out of the blue, the Republic of Genoa shows up with a stack. So I've got four enemies coming at me from all directions. Also, a big French stack just showed up near the Pyrenees- they are my allies, so I can only hope they have come to help, though it won't surprise me if they jump on the bandwagon and attack me.

I don't know how you can say SS isn't much different from vanilla, it's so very different? The units, the map, the cities, the graphics, bug fixes, and castles they added, the events? The whole thing is a lot more complicated than vanilla.

Here is the page for 6.4, you also need to get 6.3 first, install it, and then install 6.4 They don't have a standalone 6.4 yet.

It's very different from vanilla in one respect, but in a way, well, conquering europe still feels the same, and can get a bit old.

My main gripe is the campaign map ai. I really wish it was better. When an SS comes out with completely brilliant campaign AI il play it for months.

I also dislike playing with the campaign mode on hard or very hard, since i notice no difference in how clever it is, only how many units they are able to pump out. I want a fair challenge, not an unfair cakewalk (which is what it is. It just takes alot longer to kill that many armies).

So conquering the Iberian peninsula - is it hard in that your enemies have more troops, or are they just playing better?

[Fez]

Fez, you make the game sound as good as the trailers make it look. I'm almost convinced to go get it.

I'm not much into multi-player. I'm more concerned about single player replay value - which is something I haven't found in an FPS since Halo: CE. But if the combat is that good, shouldn't it be enough to carry through multiple play-throughs? Hell, I've played through Demon's Souls 5 times, and Ninja Gaiden 2 10 times (and I'm not done with either of them) because I like the combat so much. Ok, they are completely different types of games from an FPS, and from each other; I'm just saying that those games got it right - right enough to keep me coming back long after their stories grew stale. If Bulletstorm is as good as I was hoping for, then it should be able to do the same.

And it certainly wouldn't be the first time a good game got a bad demo.

The thing is, I get notoriously tired of any game that doesn't have "Civilization" or "Mass Effect" in its title. I rarely play game campaigns a second time, (it feels like it's diminishing my accomplishment of doing it the first time) and often even the first time around the final coupe hours can feel like a slog where i'm just trying to get through it to see how it ends. Of course I'm not much into multiplayer either, so I just hop from game to game. (Which is actually becoming a problem. I first got my xbox only a bit over a year ago which meant there were plenty of fantastic games that had dropped in price, but I've played them all by now which means its all new games here on out and those suckers are expensive).

I actually could possibly see myself playing this again one though; it really is cathartic. Also I've only found about 1/3 of the recognized ways to kill enemies. (Most recent? Igniting poison gas and kicking the flaming enemies into a crashed helicopter's (that you think is only a background graphic) still-whirling blades; that one actually got me an achievement)

[Roose Bolton's Onesie]

Haven't been excited about a video game in quite a while, though that changed after seeing the Skyrim trailer. Morrowind is probably one of my favourite video games, the freedom and immersion were immense.

Has anyone else seen this cover of the Skyrim trailer music?

Really well done.

[The Anti-Targ]

The thing is, I get notoriously tired of any game that doesn't have "Civilization" or "Mass Effect" in its title. I rarely play game campaigns a second time, (it feels like it's diminishing my accomplishment of doing it the first time) and often even the first time around the final coupe hours can feel like a slog where i'm just trying to get through it to see how it ends. Of course I'm not much into multiplayer either, so I just hop from game to game. (Which is actually becoming a problem. I first got my xbox only a bit over a year ago which meant there were plenty of fantastic games that had dropped in price, but I've played them all by now which means its all new games here on out and those suckers are expensive).

I actually could possibly see myself playing this again one though; it really is cathartic. Also I've only found about 1/3 of the recognized ways to kill enemies. (Most recent? Igniting poison gas and kicking the flaming enemies into a crashed helicopter's (that you think is only a background graphic) still-whirling blades; that one actually got me an achievement)

Simple answer to that. Get yourself a Wii or PS3 and enjoy their ultra-cheap back catalogue of games that you can't get on 360. It actually makes economic sense and there is a wealth of games for each console to choose from. If you buy 10 back catalogue games at $20, then by comparison with buying 10 new release 360 games at $60 (total game cost differential of $400) you are saving $100 if you by the base 160Gig PS3 and you are saving $200 if you by a basic Wii set up (saving a bit less if you get a nunchuck and a 2nd Wiimotion+). Then by the time you've worked your way through those Wii or PS3 games the 360 games you have a hankering for will be down in your preferred price range.

I'm a bit like you, in that I'm not a big online multiplayer person, and I don't really replay many games, even the great ones. The main difference is that I haven't yet exhausted the back catalogue of cheaply priced games I would like to play. So I'm not yet at the point where it would make econiomic sense to get one of the alternative consoles.

[Fez]

Simple answer to that. Get yourself a Wii or PS3 and enjoy their ultra-cheap back catalogue of games that you can't get on 360. It actually makes economic sense and there is a wealth of games for each console to choose from. If you buy 10 back catalogue games at $20, then by comparison with buying 10 new release 360 games at $60 (total game cost differential of $400) you are saving $100 if you by the base 160Gig PS3 and you are saving $200 if you by a basic Wii set up (saving a bit less if you get a nunchuck and a 2nd Wiimotion+). Then by the time you've worked your way through those Wii or PS3 games the 360 games you have a hankering for will be down in your preferred price range.

I'm a bit like you, in that I'm not a big online multiplayer person, and I don't really replay many games, even the great ones. The main difference is that I haven't yet exhausted the back catalogue of cheaply priced games I would like to play. So I'm not yet at the point where it would make econiomic sense to get one of the alternative consoles.

That actually does make a lot of sense, and to be honest I've never really thought about it that way. The downside though is that I can't afford to just spend the $300 or whatever current price is for a PS3, I'd need to save up for quite a while and not have any new games to play during that time.