What Video Games Are You Currently Playing

  On 11/26/2012 at 4:36 PM, disparaissant said:

snagged civ v goty for 12.50 yesterday. not really digging it as much as civ iv, which was the case when i pirated it, but now i can play a couple friends and that's cool.

Got bored with it after my first game to be honest. CK2 kind of spoiled other strategy games for me.

ok, all this talk of CK2 has intrigued me. i never played it. i was a Total War fan which is probably why ive never heard of it. i watched a couple vids on youtube but i still dont quite understand it. how is it different from the Total war games?

Less (read: practically zero) focus on micromanaged, tactical battles. All battles take place on the world map and are largely represented by abstract lists of numbers.

More (much more) focus on personalities, intrigue, plotting, political marriages and decision-making, plus the thrill of taking a single family line through some 400 years of European history.

I never got into Total War myself. My housemate loved those games but never really got CK2. I think which you prefer really comes down to whether you prefer war films or soap operas. I'm a soap opera boy.

It's 75% off on Steam for the next 12 hours or thereabouts, so now's a perfect time to take a chance on it: http://store.steampowered.com/app/203770/

i don't know, it sounds interesting to me. i loved the wars in Total War a LOT. taking massive armies and marching down the barbarians throats in Rome and strategically taking cities trying to not piss of the Pope in Medieval 2. but i did feel a little distanced from the whole ruling perspective. i loved managing my empire in total war but there wasnt much to do aside from being careful at what i built. this looks like management to the extreme, i may love this game in fact. definitely will be giving it a try.

I really feel like you should give Rome: Total War a chance. It's so cheap in Maplin you can't say no. Probably cheap as chips online too!

For my money the best RTS game, and you can skip the battles themselves if you like but personally I find them great. I'm not fussed about any other Total War game, but for me Rome is as good as it gets.

yeah, Rome was freakin amazing. im very excited for Rome 2. it sounds very promising.

I picked up Sine Mora on PSN (also available for PS Vita) - holy shit, what a great shump! silky smooth 60fps visuals, bullet-hell, and enough challenges and tough as nails gameplay you could ever want, plus brilliant boss/stage design and a time-control mechanic! Cool way to tell the story as well, from each pilot's perspective, and happening in different time zones. Highly recommended.

anyone playing wii u? i'd love to hear some first impressions.

i bought nuclear strike because i was bored. i had great memories of playing desert strike on the sega system way back. its weird how the 5th in the series is so much worse than the 1st. how do they do that? half the screen is covered in stats. i will try playing it again but doubtful i will get far into it.

played the demo for sleeping dogs and got bored within 5 minutes

  On 11/26/2012 at 11:38 PM, Jimmy McMessageboard said:

played the demo for sleeping dogs and got bored within 5 minutes

The same thing happened to me, but people keep bringing up shenmue whenever they talk about this game. I think maybe these people only know it from screenshots or something, certainly didn't feel like shenmue to me.

Of course it's like Shenmue. It's a bunch of slitty eyed Asians in a place.. It's EXACTLY like Shenmue.

  On 11/27/2012 at 11:00 AM, Obel said:

Of course it's like Shenmue. It's a bunch of slitty eyed Asians in a place.. It's EXACTLY like Shenmue.

Titter, was gonna post something similar but you nailed it better !

  On 11/26/2012 at 9:58 PM, yek said:

anyone playing wii u? i'd love to hear some first impressions.

I tried one out in an electronics store... wasn't impressed at all by the gamepad - the display is really fuzzy after staring at a iPhone 5 all day long. Mario is... well, Mario, but in HD. Nice graphics, but still Mario. Didn't feel any different than NSMB on the Wii. Didn't get to see the OS UI that everyone says is really boring and slow.

Apparently the public is not too impressed by it either... they only sold 400,000 so far, 200,000 less than the Wii did six years ago. The venerable Wii managed to sell 300,000 despite the Wii U being available.

Now Nintendo's introduced a stripped down Wii (is that even possible) for Canada called the Wii Mini for 99 CAD... loses Gamecube compatibility and WiFi/internet (no word if you can connect an external wired or wireless adapter, so anyone thinking cheap Netflix box can look elsewhere until things are clarified.)

Not sure why Nintendo is doing the Wii Mini other than a blatant cash grab. If I was one of the 300,000 people who bought a Wii during the Thanksgiving shopping holiday, I would be pissed at the Wii Mini.

yeah, it sounds like Nintendo is really digging their own grave at this point. it might be time for some new management cause they seriously do not understand what the public wants right now.

  On 11/27/2012 at 4:42 PM, Joyrex said:

  On 11/26/2012 at 9:58 PM, yek said:

anyone playing wii u? i'd love to hear some first impressions.

 

I tried one out in an electronics store... wasn't impressed at all by the gamepad - the display is really fuzzy after staring at a iPhone 5 all day long. Mario is... well, Mario, but in HD. Nice graphics, but still Mario. Didn't feel any different than NSMB on the Wii. Didn't get to see the OS UI that everyone says is really boring and slow.

 

Apparently the public is not too impressed by it either... they only sold 400,000 so far, 200,000 less than the Wii did six years ago. The venerable Wii managed to sell 300,000 despite the Wii U being available.

 

Now Nintendo's introduced a stripped down Wii (is that even possible) for Canada called the Wii Mini for 99 CAD... loses Gamecube compatibility and WiFi/internet (no word if you can connect an external wired or wireless adapter, so anyone thinking cheap Netflix box can look elsewhere until things are clarified.)

 

Not sure why Nintendo is doing the Wii Mini other than a blatant cash grab. If I was one of the 300,000 people who bought a Wii during the Thanksgiving shopping holiday, I would be pissed at the Wii Mini.

I'm not jumping on the Wii U train either. I haven't tried it but I've watched so many demonstrations of it on GiantBomb et al. that I'm fairly sure I know how it works and feels. I'm sure some developer will figure out how to utilize the second screen way better than what we've seen so far, and I'm positive once Nintendo announces their big Wii U title at next year's E3 they'll make good use of the screen, but as of now I would say that Zombi U, despite its terrible name, is the only game that looks like it gets it right. I love the idea of having to focus on the screen while the main game still takes place on your TV. I can't help but to think of that classic trick most horror movies use of where the main character is looking into a mirror, and then tilts it slightly only to reveal a zombie/ghost/murderer standing behind them. That's my shitty Zombi U analogy and the only reason why I want to play it.

But here's the thing... Microsoft is already testing out the whole second screen gimmick with their SmartGlass app for smartphones and tablets, so if they can come out and say, here's a new console... oh, and if you want to add an extra dimension to *insert next gen game* then play it with the SmartGlass App. I can already see next year's boxart for new Xbox releases: "Better with SmartGlass App". That would be such a dick slap in Nintendo's face. Everyone (put that in quotation marks if you want to) has a smartphone so that would be a really simple and cheap (both for MS and the consumer) way to expand the way you can play your games... but come to think of it, this would only be interesting for single player experiences, but it would make for an interesting take on quick time events.

Oh, and another thing... that whole Wii U name thing didn't really do them any favors.

EDIT: Wow, turns out MS sold 750.000 360s last week.

Completed The Walking Dead ep5 today.. I have no idea what to make of the ending after the credits. Sounds like the same thing will happen, no matter what you did throughout the game?

My guess would be that there will be a season 2, where you play as an older/more mature Clementine.

I really hope so, I want more. This series has been amazing. It's also been the first game that's actually been succesful with a episodic release model (right?). Something either Half-Life or Alan Wake managed to do.

  On 11/27/2012 at 12:05 AM, Gocab said:

  On 11/26/2012 at 11:38 PM, Jimmy McMessageboard said:

played the demo for sleeping dogs and got bored within 5 minutes

The same thing happened to me, but people keep bringing up shenmue whenever they talk about this game. I think maybe these people only know it from screenshots or something, certainly didn't feel like shenmue to me.

hated that game. Played it for 5 hours and then I sold it again.

  On 11/28/2012 at 3:13 PM, Npoess said:

  On 11/27/2012 at 12:05 AM, Gocab said:

  On 11/26/2012 at 11:38 PM, Jimmy McMessageboard said:

played the demo for sleeping dogs and got bored within 5 minutes

The same thing happened to me, but people keep bringing up shenmue whenever they talk about this game. I think maybe these people only know it from screenshots or something, certainly didn't feel like shenmue to me.

 

hated that game. Played it for 5 hours and then I sold it again.

Heresy! How can you not like this game?

http://youtu.be/P_hOvaseByc

I was talking about Sleeping Dogs.

Never played Shenmue before.

**relief**

I think I need a break from Mass Effect 3 multiplayer...

Time for another campaign playthrough! Yaaaaaa

started up another playthrough of Morrowind. great game, especially when you mod it out to make it look amazing.

  On 11/27/2012 at 5:50 PM, Squee said:

  On 11/27/2012 at 4:42 PM, Joyrex said:

  On 11/26/2012 at 9:58 PM, yek said:

anyone playing wii u? i'd love to hear some first impressions.

 

I tried one out in an electronics store... wasn't impressed at all by the gamepad - the display is really fuzzy after staring at a iPhone 5 all day long. Mario is... well, Mario, but in HD. Nice graphics, but still Mario. Didn't feel any different than NSMB on the Wii. Didn't get to see the OS UI that everyone says is really boring and slow.

 

Apparently the public is not too impressed by it either... they only sold 400,000 so far, 200,000 less than the Wii did six years ago. The venerable Wii managed to sell 300,000 despite the Wii U being available.

 

Now Nintendo's introduced a stripped down Wii (is that even possible) for Canada called the Wii Mini for 99 CAD... loses Gamecube compatibility and WiFi/internet (no word if you can connect an external wired or wireless adapter, so anyone thinking cheap Netflix box can look elsewhere until things are clarified.)

 

Not sure why Nintendo is doing the Wii Mini other than a blatant cash grab. If I was one of the 300,000 people who bought a Wii during the Thanksgiving shopping holiday, I would be pissed at the Wii Mini.

 

I'm not jumping on the Wii U train either. I haven't tried it but I've watched so many demonstrations of it on GiantBomb et al. that I'm fairly sure I know how it works and feels. I'm sure some developer will figure out how to utilize the second screen way better than what we've seen so far, and I'm positive once Nintendo announces their big Wii U title at next year's E3 they'll make good use of the screen, but as of now I would say that Zombi U, despite its terrible name, is the only game that looks like it gets it right. I love the idea of having to focus on the screen while the main game still takes place on your TV. I can't help but to think of that classic trick most horror movies use of where the main character is looking into a mirror, and then tilts it slightly only to reveal a zombie/ghost/murderer standing behind them. That's my shitty Zombi U analogy and the only reason why I want to play it.

But here's the thing... Microsoft is already testing out the whole second screen gimmick with their SmartGlass app for smartphones and tablets, so if they can come out and say, here's a new console... oh, and if you want to add an extra dimension to *insert next gen game* then play it with the SmartGlass App. I can already see next year's boxart for new Xbox releases: "Better with SmartGlass App". That would be such a dick slap in Nintendo's face. Everyone (put that in quotation marks if you want to) has a smartphone so that would be a really simple and cheap (both for MS and the consumer) way to expand the way you can play your games... but come to think of it, this would only be interesting for single player experiences, but it would make for an interesting take on quick time events.

 

Oh, and another thing... that whole Wii U name thing didn't really do them any favors.

 

EDIT: Wow, turns out MS sold 750.000 360s last week.

Yeah, that's really telling when more people go for "current gen" than the supposed "next gen" console... then again, the 3DS started off slowly, and it's doing well now - but, it only had the DS as it's competition (which laughingly outsold the 3DS this past week) since the Vita is a testament to what's wrong with Sony these days.

I applaud Nintendo's bravado though; they have the gall to say Sony and Microsoft will have to do more than just deliver better visuals with their next consoles. That is EXACTLY what will bury the Wii U in the consumer's eyes (literally) when they show off console games that look like high-end PC games and hopefully either Microsoft or Sony will be brave enough to eschew a physical format and provide all games digitally, with voucher codes sold at retail for deluxe editions, etc. PC gaming is almost there as it is.

In fact, make it more preferable to get digital versions by charging more for the physical version, and discount the games on day one, with the price going back to the retail price to encourage early adopters. Take control of the used game market and allow users to "sell" their rights to a game for a credit towards new games through an online marketplace where people can purchase a "used" version for 10% less than the full price six months after the initial release. Sony or Microsoft need to take control of their economies and do something like this so they can maximize the investment games these days require to be hits.

Sony (less so Microsoft, although now they have their Windows Phone, so hey) could easily provide "second screen" capability with the Vita, or release an app for iPad/iPhone/iPod (since just about everyone has one) that provides the feature. It would be smart since it's a standard platform, with (at least up until recently) little fragmentation, so easy for developers to create a standard experience on it.

Playing "Waking Mars", it's pretty badass:

http://www.tigerstylegames.com/wakingmars/

  On 11/28/2012 at 8:08 PM, Joyrex said:

Sony (less so Microsoft, although now they have their Windows Phone, so hey) could easily provide "second screen" capability with the Vita, or release an app for iPad/iPhone/iPod (since just about everyone has one) that provides the feature. It would be smart since it's a standard platform, with (at least up until recently) little fragmentation, so easy for developers to create a standard experience on it.

Microsoft's SmartGlass - coming to iOS/Android/Windows Phone - is their answer.