modern FPS games and there weird ass physics and competitiveness.

Most modern FPS games aren't particularly good on the competitive scene.

Most modern FPS games aren't particularly good on the competitive scene.
Modern FPSes have a massive 'competitive scene (http://www.majorleaguegaming.com/home)' the difference is that for Quake and Counterstrike the 'competitive scene' is all that's left.

The pinnacle of the old-school, run-and-gun, deathmatch-type FPS games was in my opinion Unreal Tournament 2004.

That was pretty much the last FPS game of that genre that I played with friends and online for a longer time.

After I had played Battlefield 2 and then Counterstrike Source, I couldn't go back to the rather silly 1990's style gameplay.
It simply got too boring, being a one-man-army Rambo, carrying all weapons, aimlessly running in circles and shooting everything that moves and isn't yourself.

Granted, UT04 had several game modes and aspects that already were like conquest/object based games like Battlefield.

Team Fortress 2, IMO, is still the best combination between class-based, objective-based and random deathmatch gameplay.

Funny, the only shooter I see mentioned for 2012 is Halo Reach (there's Halo 4, but that's not been released yet).
Now, 2011 had CoD: Black Ops and Halo Reach, 2010 had Halo 3 and Reach.
The only one that's shown any level of permanence is Reach.

Now, let's look at some other events:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Cyber_Games

CounterStrike features every year; they jump around versions for a bit but eventually settle on CS 1.6 (latest release of the original). No other shooter lasts more than a couple of years (might have missed one in my quick read through).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamhack

Quake Live and CS.16. Indeed the only year these don't feature is in Winter 2010; the first DreamHack event where only Starcraft II was played. No other shooters feature.


the difference is that for Quake and Counterstrike the 'competitive scene' is all that's left.

There is truth here:
Non-competitive/casual players (casual doesn't mean bad) move on much faster, particularly when a sequel is released. Observe the shift of players from Brood War to Starcraft II; outside of Korea I would guess that this decimated the BW playerbase and, even though there may be a competitive scene, it will eventually die as it cannot scrape players off the top of its casual foundation. We will, eventually, see the death of CounterStrike in this way.

Yet, no matter how much I blab on about the evils of TF2, here I am all excited about my virtual face covering devices (http://steamcommunity.com/id/ZeorDangerpants/screenshot/558699179653293141/?). Struck a deal and got that thing plus paint at half price! Gweem.

That's pretty much my Sniper look complete, then. This pleases me.

Always gonna love CoD, especially Black Ops.

Playing competetive myself lately (gamebattles) not even doing that bad on it. Helps when you know good players.

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5IVOs5Pxh8) looks awesome.:cool:

I've found TF2 to be really well-balanced, actually. Way, way more than most modern "well it's okay if nearly all the guns are pants as long as the best few are equal" FPSes. The only problem I have with it is that the easiest-to-use weapons are, for whatever reason, not the default ones.

Except for, ironically enough, MvM. The classes are all generally just as useful, but the weapons certainly aren't. The Engineer, for example, only has a single set of weapons you should use (Widowmaker, Wrangler, Regular sentry) and there's no reason to ever use any others. Except maybe the Frontier Justice, but it usually doesn't work out.
And there's never really any case of needing to fill in for others' weaknesses that most other co-op games have, which was always great fun. Generally, anything that takes out little guys is just as good against giants, and there's pretty much no way to specialise in killing melee/ranged/spies enemies.

In other words, it's still buckets of fun, but it's neither as much of a team game nor as varied as regular TF2.

So question, for all your Americans. What's Borderlands 2 like?

Actually, more specific, what's the combat in Borderlands 2 like? Because I'm considering getting the game, but my biggest problem with the first game was that the combat was really bloody boring.
All enemies ever did was shoot at you from a distance or run straight at you, the random guns still played pretty much the exact same, and there was never really a point where I thought to myself "I'm not going to win this battle if I don't come up with a plan". So the entire game was nifty at first, but got really boring really fast.

So question, for all your Americans. What's Borderlands 2 like?

Well, I don't own any Americans, but I have played it for a bit, about an hour and a half. The AI is considerably more advanced, utilizing rolls, flanks, climbing and overall better pathfinding. Which means groups are much more challenging than they would be if they had B1 AI.

Oh man. I'm in trouble. (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=97383291)

No I'm in trouble (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=96877506)

Well that's just a different kind of trouble altogether. Or apparently about eight kinds.

e: related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElTmbnsqF-U)

I'm really enjoying Borderlands 2 so far. The crazy grenades and other items that you start finding around level 20 are really fun.

It does seem an awful lot like they messed up the "larger party means better loot" algorithm this time, though.

So far at around level 22 it seems loot doesn't start getting good until around that time. You also take forever to level up in the game and the game is HUUUUUGE. So many places to explore!

It does seem an awful lot like they messed up the "larger party means better loot" algorithm this time, though.

Really? Maybe there just isn't one. I think we're finding at least one or two item for one of us to replace on each quest. I've only played with four people so I don't know what singleplayer feels like yet, but it's apparently much harder on your own so it makes sense that you should find better items by yourself. Anyway I think the game does a great job of making you care about the loot.. and I prefer it being a bit hard to find the best stuff.

So far my biggest issue with the game is it's interface, trading is almost impossible using just the mouse, you have to switch to keyboard navigation so the pop-ups don't block everything you try to press.

I found loot to be pretty lame until you reach the Wildlife Preserve mission (Or whatever it's called) at which point loot starts to become pretty amazing. 2 players is a lot more dangerous then 1 player too.

Got 1 million coins in NSMB2.

I don't think I'll ever touch the game again.

Got 1 million coins in NSMB2.

I don't think I'll ever touch the game again.

I'm not sure whether this is a negative or a positive comment. I collected all star coins in NSMB and NSMB Wii and never touched the games again.

But I left them with an awesome feeling inside :)

*EDIT* Wait, isn't it that you are supposed to recieve something special for collecting 1 million coins but it's actually rather "meh"? I think I've heard something about that.

I'm not sure whether this is a negative or a positive comment. I collected all star coins in NSMB and NSMB Wii and never touched the games again.

But I left them with an awesome feeling inside :)

*EDIT* Wait, isn't it that you are supposed to recieve something special for collecting 1 million coins but it's actually rather "meh"? I think I've heard something about that.

Yeah, you just unlock a different menu screen.

My gripe with the NSMB series is that the games are bland as hell. After just a single playthrough I already feel sick of them. In contrast, I've replayed SMW too many times, and had a blast every single time.

I concur. SMW has a massive replay value, but the NSMB series, although an enjoyable love letter to Ninty's history (and NSMB Wii having one of the best final boss battles ever), already feels a bit dated. Once I finished the games, I had very little inclination to keep looking for secrets, and only did so because I didn't have anything else to play.

Yeah, you just unlock a different menu screen.

My gripe with the NSMB series is that the games are bland as hell. After just a single playthrough I already feel sick of them. In contrast, I've replayed SMW too many times, and had a blast every single time.

I think all the replay value NSMB offered was to find and collect all the hidden star coins, which as I have to admit I thought was brilliant fun for the various "Ah-hah! There it was! Who'd have guessed that would be a hidden pass?" moments.

I didn't actually enjoy NSMB Wii that much as it felt like the same game as NSMB. Trying to complete it in multiplayer is complete nonsense, too. Playing multiplayer is only fun for goofing off and that again is most fun when everything is unlocked. What a vicious cycle :(

I think all the replay value NSMB offered was to find and collect all the hidden star coins, which as I have to admit I thought was brilliant fun for the various "Ah-hah! There it was! Who'd have guessed that would be a hidden pass?" moments.

I didn't actually enjoy NSMB Wii that much as it felt like the same game as NSMB. Trying to complete it in multiplayer is complete nonsense, too. (

I agree, the New Super Mario Bros games all look the exact same to me and the multiplayer completely put me off buying it. Mario Games should be about the single player experience.

You can perfectly play the game single-player without missing anything. I was just disappointed a bit that multiplayer felt so badly integrated as it's a mode I desired since Nintendo removed it from the first game on DS. Your friends would only interrupt you playing as there is almost no way to co-operate somehow, just kill each other and be goofy. Rayman Origins for instance did that way better.

People play games more than once through?
Ive never found a game that I could play multipule times.

People play games more than once through?
Ive never found a game that I could play multipule times.

"Replay value" IS a common term for the video game industry. I remember especially as a kid I used to play video games several times just because they were my favourites. They didn't need any actual replay value - I played them anyways :p

Games with high replay value? Eerrrr... The Elder Scrolls! That's the best example I can think of, should be self-explanatory too unless you don't know the series.

I agree, the New Super Mario Bros games all look the exact same to me and the multiplayer completely put me off buying it. Mario Games should be about the single player experience.

NSMBW actually becomes harder when playing single player, heck all of them do due to the lack of the bubble mechanic. But what I am referring to is the star coins, significantly more tricky to get without the lame bubble mechanic.

People play games more than once through?
Ive never found a game that I could play multipule times.

Maybe you should stop playing bad games then?

Pretty much played every single player game there is.

Maybe you should stop playing bad games then?

Here is a complete list of single player games I have played through the entirety of more than once:
1. Metroid Prime
2. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Not even the original Deus Ex makes the list. It came close; I've reached Vandenberg multiple times before running out of momentum, but Area 51 only once. Human Revolution is significantly shorter so I get through it rather quickly.

I dislike doing the same thing more than once and quickly tire of repetition in short time frames. RPGs in particular begin to taste bitter: I never finished Oblivion and Skyrim for this reason and others.

Multiplayer games are a different matter, particularly if I come to know people in them: Guild Wars held my attention for nearly 5 years, but I doubt Guild Wars 2 will manage a similar feat.

Here is a complete list of single player games I have played through the entirety of more than once:
1. Metroid Prime
2. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Not even the original Deus Ex makes the list. It came close; I've reached Vandenberg multiple times before running out of momentum, but Area 51 only once. Human Revolution is significantly shorter so I get through it rather quickly.

I dislike doing the same thing more than once and quickly tire of repetition in short time frames. RPGs in particular begin to taste bitter: I never finished Oblivion and Skyrim for this reason and others.

Multiplayer games are a different matter, particularly if I come to know people in them: Guild Wars held my attention for nearly 5 years, but I doubt Guild Wars 2 will manage a similar feat.

That just seems crazy to me. Usually, if I find that I really enjoyed a game, I'll find myself replaying it shortly after my first play-through just to see if I missed anything, unless they are horribly long ordeals like Fallout 3. Others I'll replay to conquer a harder difficulty, like the Halo or God of War games, where I prefer to go with normal difficulty first to enjoy the story, and then go for the challenge later. I also replay old games I loved every now and then just to re-experience them, like Half-Life, SMRPG, SMW, etc. And sometimes I'll replay them because a sequel is coming up and I want to refresh on the series.

Do you honestly never, ever revisit old games? Maybe you just have too many games? :p

Oh, I do, very occasionally play an older game, just usually not all the way through because I get bored of it very quickly or, in the case of Deus Ex, it's too long for me to keep playing all the way through; after all, I've played it through once before and even Deus Ex gets repetitive.
Some games may, after the first play through, cause me to immediately start a new game, although I never get far before I get bored: Crysis and Modern Warfare 1 are (pathetically), the most recent, examples of this. I actually don't have that many games for someone to whom the 'gamer' label may apply, especially considering it dates back nearly 20 years.

This has, over the years, left me with this horrible feeling that perhaps I actually don't like games. I dismiss this as absurd however.

Strictly speaking, my original list should be amended to include Betrayal at Krondor; an old game that I've used DosBox to run within the past three years. However since the full playthroughs were, if not close to, 10 years apart, I'm not sure how applicable this would be (and I still remembered the answers to all the wordlock chests, which really depressed me).

Yeah I've never been one to replay games I've finished, unless they are very open/different each time (and those are rare). If the game was good, I will have enjoyed the experience, and multiple playthroughs will just spoil it. You can't replicate that wonderful feel you get when you play something for the first time and it's all new.

Yeah I've never been one to replay games I've finished, unless they are very open/different each time (and those are rare). If the game was good, I will have enjoyed the experience, and multiple playthroughs will just spoil it. You can't replicate that wonderful feel you get when you play something for the first time and it's all new.

It's not really about replicating the feeling, but further discovering things you might have missed. On a second play-through you can afford to pay much more attention to detail, and you can better pace yourself because you already know how to get through the game. It also lets you mess around with the game without worrying about killing your immersion. You can pry the game apart and see what makes it tick, or even play the game in a way it was not intended to be played.

One of my favorite moments in gaming is still when I completed Half-Life 2 without using the Buggy. :p

Yeah I've never been one to replay games I've finished, unless they are very open/different each time (and those are rare). If the game was good, I will have enjoyed the experience, and multiple playthroughs will just spoil it. You can't replicate that wonderful feel you get when you play something for the first time and it's all new.I'm in this camp, for the most part, but I will always go back to exceptional games after a couple of years' time. I love reexperiencing games after a time to see if they hold up to more educated criticism.

People play games more than once through?
Ive never found a game that I could play multipule times.
Interesting to see that some do and some don't here :)

I've replayed quite a few, mostly for nostalgia or for the fact they've been released on another platform. These include: The Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, Sam & Max: Hit the Road, Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones & The Fate of Atlantis.

I started replaying Mass Effect 2 when the PS3 version came out (after originally completing it on the 360), ended up getting 62% of the trophies but then lost interest in it.

Currently replaying Final Fantasy VII on my breaks with the recent PC re-release.

People play games more than once through?
Ive never found a game that I could play multipule times.
Deus Ex (2000)
Even in my 5th playthrough I found areas and paths that I haven't seen before.

Games like Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas also have different story line variations and content to have multiple decent playthroughs.

Every game I enjoyed in the slightest I've played through at least twice, sometimes taking the opportunity to find any hidden secrets and extras in it, trying to complete it by not exactly doing what you are supposed to do, sometimes even exploiting mechanics, bugs and glitches etc. For some reason I really enjoy doing that.

Game developers are aware of it and motivate players to do so. I still remember Rayman 3 had this interesting points system - at the end of the game you'd recieve a unique code you could enter on some websites and spend on free goods. Without doubt you most likely do pretty badly on your first playthrough, so I replayed the game at least two times trying to get as many points in each level as possible. Those were the days :p

Stupid Hat Fortress.

But I had a hell of a week for gettin'! I got my Nine-Pipe Problem (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=99236535), and even my Team Captain (http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Team_Captain) but I haven't screenshotted that yet. And a pocket kitty! (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=99060193) Yay.

.... Stupid hat fortress.

e: oh yeah and this kickass knife (http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Black_Rose) but getting that was a shockingly awful process. In fact I think I already complained about that somewhere. GameGuard and all that. But still, sweet knife.

I don't think I'll ever touch the game again.

Nevermind. (http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/9/27/3421300/new-super-mario-bros-2-getting-three-downloadable-add-on-packs) ._.

e: oh yeah and this kickass knife (http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Black_Rose) but getting that was a shockingly awful process. In fact I think I already complained about that somewhere. GameGuard and all that. But still, sweet knife.

Be glad you can have access to it at all as it's actually a pre-order item. Rewarded to those players that were interested in the respective game and pre-ordered it!

Nevermind. (http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/9/27/3421300/new-super-mario-bros-2-getting-three-downloadable-add-on-packs) ._.

Looks like Nintendo finally jumped on the DLC boat as well

Umm so Black Ops 2 has a free roaming zombie mode. You can take the bus to different locations or walk through the fog, which might not be the best idea.

I've still got yet to get 20th prestige on MW3, barely played it, 11 days 1 hour and more than midway through 14th prestige isn't bad though I suppose, its not even that its a bad game, just that Black Ops was so much better.

Be glad you can have access to it at all as it's actually a pre-order item. Rewarded to those players that were interested in the respective game and pre-ordered it!
I thought it was given in Genuine quality to people who went through with the mess on the actual weekend it was announced, which, according to my experience, must have been nobody.

Anyway. Is good.

According to the TF2 wiki, there is no genuine version of the Black Rose.

I played several rounds until I got it, deleted the game and looked up removal instructions to get rid of Gameguard.

It wasn't really a big process to be honest, but yeah, you shouldn't need to edit your system registry to friggin' get rid of it.

It's not really about replicating the feeling, but further discovering things you might have missed. On a second play-through you can afford to pay much more attention to detail, and you can better pace yourself because you already know how to get through the game. It also lets you mess around with the game without worrying about killing your immersion. You can pry the game apart and see what makes it tick, or even play the game in a way it was not intended to be played.

One of my favorite moments in gaming is still when I completed Half-Life 2 without using the Buggy. :p

I do that on my first playthough, which is why it takes ages for me to complete games. I also play about 8 games at once (New games I have to play are released faster than I can complete games I want to get through). And I rarely play the same game for more than 2 hours at the time before getting sick of it and needing something else to do. I think I started playing New Vegas a year ago. My oldest save is from level 8, 10th of September 2011. I am still on my first character, and I start the game about once or twice a month. And I really like the game too, I want to play it and beat it.. It's jus that there are so many other things screaming for my attention I can't just play one thing at the time.

I got through Borderlands 2 in just a week, but I did it in co-op so there's that incentive. Deus Ex HR took me maybe twice as long, so I do get through some games quickly. So yeah, while I'm playing a game the first time I like to think I'm going to replay it and try other stuff, but when I'm actually done I am really just happy to check that off my list and move on.

I've been playing and loving Torchlight 2. Outlander is my main character, but I'm currently working a lot with an experimental berserker build. I'm actually kind of scared to continue my outlander profile, the difficulty spike at act 3 is insane if you ask me. I went from having collections of over 60 health potions (no exaggeration) from the lack of use, and now I'm scrambling and paying top dollar in desperation to get enough health potions.

I'm loving Borderlands 2 right now. They've improved on every aspect of the first. At least that how it seems. I found the first one considerably more tedious and got bored after only a measly 15 levels.

This one has kept my attention for far longer, as I am currently on my second character, The Siren. This was a result of my first Gunzerker class becoming way too overpowered. Supposedly the new DLC will feature an entirely new female class called the Necromancer, who's special ability involves a giant robot. Hmmm, tres interessant!

In other news, I am highly considering buying Dishonored on release. The Victorian Era-inspired, plague-infested island of Dunwall looks gorgeous, as does the variation in gameplay. I've drawn comparisons from Bioshock, Fallout, Deus Ex amongst a load of other top notch titles so this looks like it could be winner.

Supposedly the new DLC will feature an entirely new female class called the NecromancerMechromancer, and I don't think the robot's very big. The robot is really buggy and the character's skills are friggin' weird. Potentially really damaging though. I'm mostly thinking of a skill tree which raises your damage but lowers your accuracy and magazine size or something and your damage stacks as you do things but it goes away if you do other things and screw you I'm sticking with assassin.

e: also her skill names regularly reference MLP and she speaks in chat acronyms, which makes me want to assassinate her. Repeatedly.

Mechromancer, and I don't think the robot's very big. The robot is really buggy and the character's skills are friggin' weird. Potentially really damaging though. I'm mostly thinking of a skill tree which raises your damage but lowers your accuracy and magazine size or something and your damage stacks as you do things but it goes away if you do other things and screw you I'm sticking with assassin.

e: also her skill names regularly reference MLP and she speaks in chat acronyms, which makes me want to assassinate her. Repeatedly.
Oh it can't be that... bad (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bUeIYXbAqPw/UHNK03ONsMI/AAAAAAAA72o/VbLtOMMSj8Q/s1600/1.jpg)... :-/

I kind of understand that her skills are so oddball to appeal to advanced players who find the other classes boring (i.e. people who are dumb and have lisps). They do sound like they'd be powerful if you're into that. I ain't. I turn invisible and kill **** by charging up to it and slashing it in the face. I don't need no robots.

The Mechromancer is half 'make the game easier for new players' and half 'make the game harder for advanced players'

Combining the 'hard skill' that trades accuracy for damage with the 'Easy skill' that ignores accuracy makes her brokenly powerful, with bullets doing an average of 175% damage when they miss and 700% when they don't.

Oh it can't be that... bad (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bUeIYXbAqPw/UHNK03ONsMI/AAAAAAAA72o/VbLtOMMSj8Q/s1600/1.jpg)... :-/
I would really like to know how exactly MLP has taken sole comand of the word 'discord'

I would really like to know how exactly MLP has taken sole comand of the word 'discord'

Like TES IV has taken sole comand of the word "oblivion". It happens!

Oh it can't be that... bad (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bUeIYXbAqPw/UHNK03ONsMI/AAAAAAAA72o/VbLtOMMSj8Q/s1600/1.jpg)... :-/

Also read the credits:

"Thank you to all my friends near and far putting up with me all these years,
my family, parents James and Sheryl and brother Mike for putting up with me
all my life, and to my adorable Fluttershy.
- Chris Francis"

If anyone wonders "just what is this" the answer is
http://uppix.net/9/e/0/72e46916109b2c0192e2dd6fd036d.png
fairly simple.

I would really like to know how exactly MLP has taken sole comand of the word 'discord'The is a villain who discords all the main characters and makes everything out of order.
I actually haven't heard of the word until the show tbh.

Edit: Fail, this is turning into a MLP discussion. Nooooooyeeees!
I kinda feel like making a MLP:FiM topic in this section, though the fact that there is only two topics that aren't really related to worms kinda makes me not want to. :P

I'm loving Borderlands 2 right now. They've improved on every aspect of the first. At least that how it seems. I found the first one considerably more tedious and got bored after only a measly 15 levels.

This one has kept my attention for far longer, as I am currently on my second character, The Siren. This was a result of my first Gunzerker class becoming way too overpowered. Supposedly the new DLC will feature an entirely new female class called the Necromancer, who's special ability involves a giant robot. Hmmm, tres interessant!

The villain in Borderlands is extremely well scripted and the voice actor for him is impressive.

PoniesFor the record, the MLP references didn't bother me at all, borderlands 2 is chock full of referencial humour anyhow, and MLP is as apropriate to Gaige as the bubblegum line from 'They Live' (and latterly Duke Nukem) is to Salvadore.

All I'm saying is MLP fans seem a little wierd and desperate when the feel the need to include things that are actual words and phrases in ther list of references. There's three pretty direct quotes right there guys, you don't have to co-opt things that are common words and phrases too.

WHATEVS, HERE'S A FUNNY SONG ABOUT RESI 6 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LrVou1Jo7w&feature=g-u-u)

All I'm saying is MLP fans seem a little wierd and desperate when the feel the need to include things that are actual words and phrases in ther list of references. There's three pretty direct quotes right there guys, you don't have to co-opt things that are common words and phrases too.
Normally they're not, but in this context it's pretty easy to argue that they're meant to be. "Discord" is certainly not just a coincidence, calling the shield-restoring skill "Buck up" doesn't make sense if it's not referring to ponies, and "Potent as a pony" is not a common phrase at all.
"Sharing is caring" is totally not a reference though.

WHATEVS, HERE'S A FUNNY SONG ABOUT RESI 6 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LrVou1Jo7w&feature=g-u-u)
Brilliant!

Buck up (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/buck_up) makes perfect sence as a shield restoring power. 'Buck up' can mean to encourage, to cheer up, to bolster.

Dischord is part of the Anarchy tree whereas all the direct MLP references are in the Friendship tree. Anarchy and Discord are similar concepts, and dischord is activated by prematurely reloading (while Anarchy is gained by expending full magazines) which ties into it's musical meaning as doing so breaks your rythm.

Potent pony was one of the three direct references I mentioned, Evil Enchantress aint no pony thing.

Also here's another ace videogame related song y'all. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JMXVXnefBU)

Sharing is Caring references this song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lyk_EIXk_k). Evil Enchantress is a MLP reference as well (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3VOwdwBPos). Given the many, many MLP references, I don't think it's any stretch to assume that Discord is indeed another reference to the show.

Briefly off topic for one moment, but where is that guy from in your guy's avatars? (@MtlAngelus, SupSuper, philby4000, and possibly Akuryou13)

I honestly don't know. Philby can explain. All I know is he's some british TV personality.

Briefly off topic for one moment, but where is that guy from in your guy's avatars? (@MtlAngelus, SupSuper, philby4000, and possibly Akuryou13)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olly_Smith

how could you forget me, the guy who never posts ever

how could you forget me, the guy who never posts ever

Indeed a mistery. By common sense, doing something special like you (signing up to a forum but never posting) should definitely attract notice, because that's what special things do. How could he possibly forget you?

I honestly don't know. Philby can explain. All I know is he's some british TV personality.

So then why?

Also, i've never seen him on TV.

Oh man, it does happen! (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=103122398)

Absolutely amazing that it happened immediately after I declared it was gonna be my last spin.

Here's (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=103122822) the gun.

e: Meanwhile (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=102711129), in Hat Fortress (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=102714481)

So then why?Because

Also, i've never seen him on TV. Hey! Me neither!

So then why?

Also, i've never seen him on TV.

Don't try to ascribe reasons to activities on online forums.
Also, you need to watch the right stuff.

Don't try to ascribe reasons to activities on online forums.

...what?

Also, you need to watch the right stuff.

Looking at his wiki page it looks like i have been watching the right stuff, luckily avoiding him.

You're just jealous because you've never been invited to the Secret Supper Club. And you know, with that attitude, you won't be invited anytime soon. You know what they say: you should revise your attitude or you'll never be an attitude!

Guild Wars 2. That is all*.


*That is all my life consists of these days, or so it seems.

...what?


Looking at his wiki page it looks like i have been watching the right stuff, luckily avoiding him.
So you're not interested in joining my Secret Avatar Club? :(

I wouldn't call it secret if you're publicly saying it. I had no idea it existed until now.

I had no idea it existed until now.so then you WOULD call it secret?

so then you WOULD call it secret?I would of, but you guys mentioned it so it isn't entirely anymore. It only is if you aren't someone who has read this page in this topic.

So you're not interested in joining my Secret Avatar Club? :(

No thank you.

Guild Wars 2. That is all*.


*That is all my life consists of these days, or so it seems.

I really, really wish I could enjoy GW2 as much as enjoyed GW1.
But alas, I don't think it was meant to be so...

No thank you.

But... but I made you this... :(

Isn't it time you get a new avatar trend going? This one should never have happened in the first place.

You're right, Avatar Trend was a lousy game.

Like, video game.

In this thread.

I don't get the structure
of your post
Were you playing bd2?

I would of, but you guys mentioned it so it isn't entirely anymore. It only is if you aren't someone who has read this page in this topic. A secret doesn't exist until someone else finds out about it.

Also, what are these video games you guys speak of? I have not the time for any such things.

A secret doesn't exist until someone else finds out about it.

Also, what are these video games you guys speak of? I have not the time for any such things.

They are like movies but more linear.

I don't get the structure
of your post
Were you playing bd2?
um i'm pretty sure the proper acronym is bl2 good sir

um i'm pretty sure the proper acronym is bl2 good sir

I have brought shame upon my ancestors :[

Retro City Rampage (http://store.steampowered.com/app/204630/) is ingenious.

It even lets you customize the retro (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=103874530).

Retro City Rampage (http://store.steampowered.com/app/204630/) is ingenious.

It even lets you customize the retro (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=103874530).
It's not only a terrific example of retro done right, but referential humour done right.

Just don't make a drinking game out of spotting references because you'll die of alcohol poisoning in about ten seconds.

In the intro mission alone, I killed two references and ran over a third reference in the second reference's van in the span of about 5 seconds.

Retro City Rampage (http://store.steampowered.com/app/204630/) is ingenious.

That music is incredibly nerve-racking O__O

Partially because it's 8-bit music I guess, but I couldn't tell whether it weren't as annoying otherwise.

If by "nerve wracking" and "annoying" you mean "incredible" and "perfect" then yeah!

If by "nerve wracking" and "annoying" you mean "incredible" and "perfect" then yeah!

I mean "incredibly nerve wracking" and "perfectly annoying" in that exact order

I mean "incredibly nerve wracking" and "perfectly annoying" in that exact order

i don't think you're using the right words

Well I guess he was born in 1994, which may have something to do with his flagrant disrespect of the 8-bit. Kids these days!

Well I guess he was born in 1994, which may have something to do with his flagrant disrespect of the 8-bit. Kids these days!
Oi, not all of us 1994ers are like Thurbo, you know - some of us love 8-bit games ;)


Evidence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apcrruvpAkM

Oi, not all of us 1994ers are like Thurbo, you know - some of us love 8-bit games ;)


Evidence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apcrruvpAkM

Yeah right, anybody can pretend they like something by traveling back in time and uploading a video to Youtube. :rolleyes:

But I do love 8-bit (and 16-bit) stuff so much that I collect 80s computers and games consoles, that has to count for something ;)

Oi, not all of us 1994ers are like Thurbo, you know - some of us love 8-bit games ;)Haha, sorry, didn't mean to generalize.

Damn, though, I feel old.

On the other hand, I was born in 1981 and I don't really like this 8-bit retro music fad.
It all sounds like a Gameboy.

I don't really get why anybody would voluntarily listen to whole albums, as apparent by all those "chiptune" artists that spit out their stuff through all those indie game bundles.

Real music is made in real-time, on analog instruments, or at least life-like synthesizers or good samples.

Of course, I like to listen to the original music of old computer games occasionally.

but is it Art?

Well I guess he was born in 1994, which may have something to do with his flagrant disrespect of the 8-bit. Kids these days!

Gee, my first OS was DOS and I used to play GameBoy games all day long as a kid. I'm probably just not suffering from nostalgia as much as some people do, though :p

Nostalgia is absolutely everything here. 8-bit or 16-bit music is nothing but music produced with technical limitations and it's inevitably more annoying. Sorry for being rational :-/
Surely Retro City Rampage is a homage to old games which justifies "outdated graphics and soundtracks" and may as well be called Art. Honestly though, I've heard way less annoying 8-bit music than the one from that first trailer.

I presume you are thinking something like "Hey cool, look at all this 8-bit, those were the times :D" whereas I am thinking "Ah yeah, I remember playing 8-bit games, takes me back a little. I'm still glad it's over and we can enjoy any kind of music in video games these days - even orchestral music! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_1U7L_uDA4)"

Nope. 8-Bit music can be genuinely awesome and it has nothing to do with nostalgia.

I rather like 8-bit music and orchestral music. There's no nostalgia at all for me as I basically didn't play games other than Worms and some of the LEGO ones for a significant portion of my childhood. What fun I missed.

Nope. 8-Bit music can be genuinely awesome and it has nothing to do with nostalgia.

Basically every track composed as 8-bit would have been a hundred times better if not.

That Portal video Muzer posted for instance. 8-bit is a straight downgrade.

I respect your wrong, stupid opinion.

Basically every track composed as 8-bit would have been a hundred times better if not.

That Portal video Muzer posted for instance. 8-bit is a straight downgrade.

That's because:

* I'm not very good
* I was using BASIC

I basically just got the melody down with some nice harmonies. Other people can do magic with envelopes to get it sounding lovely.

I respect your wrong, stupid opinion.

Objectively I'm absolutely and unquestionably right. Sorry.

Objectively I'm absolutely and unquestionably right. Sorry.

Hahahaha. Oh wait, you're serious. Let me laugh even harder. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. xD

For your consideration, Still Alive performed by engraving laser (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4OV2UofPFg), floppy drives (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY0mDRrqcVU) and excersise machine. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNcb9mS11QY)

The point of recreating a well known song on esoteric hardware isn't to create a better version of the song, but more to a) prove it can be done and b) see what it would sound like.

That said, the ZX Spectrum's sound chip is at least meant to create music and talented musicians can create wonderful sounds with it. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiJXJhq03iw) It has it's limits, but so does any instrument.

And while we're on the subject, an orchestra is not the be all and end all of musical endeavor. Even an orchestra can only produce a certain range of sounds. In fact one of my favorite soundtracks comes from a game called Split Second which features orchestral songs mixed with electronic elements. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg70N18_Cco) It's completely Impossible for a real orchestra to perform.

Objectively I'm absolutely and unquestionably right. Sorry.

I can only hope that in a few years maybe you can come back to this and really understand yourself. Buuut that's not too likely. Whatever, let's get back on topic.

I can only hope that in a few years maybe you can come back to this and really understand yourself. Buuut that's not too likely. Whatever, let's get back on topic.
Unfortunately, "Thurbo's opinion on videogame music" is pretty much as on-topic as you can get.

Well if you do want something of a different topic, how about that new Pokemon game? Eh? Ehh?


Well since I'm pretty much the only big Pokemon fan here (shame on you all), I'll keep it brief: Pokemon Black/White 2 is actually surprisingly different from the original Black and White. The story's completely different (It's set two years later), about half of the content has been changed/added, and... well, I guess that's pretty much enough. The point is that whereas the previous "Third installment" games have really just been the definitive version of the generation, like some sort of GOTY version, this actually feels like a new game using an old setting!

Also, they added Just About Everyone to the game. You can fight against every gym leader and every Pokemon champion from the previous games (including Red). Nifty!

That... is surprising, actually. My Pokemon history as of the last 10 years or so pretty much boils down to a not-even-complete run at Soul Silver, which I was enjoying for a little while there. I liked the Pokemon following behind you, that was neat.

I was enjoying pokemon diamond untill I realised playing it literally sent me to sleep. That's not a joke I kept waking up confused with my DS on the floor, usually drained of battery.

Retro music is as much a thing as Rock/Pop/Jazz and Classical music genres. It can be as good and as bad as those genres too. Not all songs are great regardless of there genre and all music is heard differently by everyone so what may sound good to someone may not sound good to you.

If you don't like it, fine, but don't try to force your ideals on to others just for the sake of making everyone hate you and your opinion :P

I'm bad at phrasing stuff but I hope you get the general gist.

Retro music is as much a thing as Rock/Pop/Jazz and Classical music genres. It can be as good and as bad as those genres too. Not all songs are great regardless of there genre and all music is heard differently by everyone so what may sound good to someone may not sound good to you.

If you don't like it, fine, but don't try to force your ideals on to others just for the sake of making everyone hate you and your opinion :P

I'm bad at phrasing stuff but I hope you get the general gist.

Rock/Pop/Jazz and Classical music is made using real instruments which have been designed to sound great and to create lovely music with. 8-bit music is a result of technical limitations and it's hardly an opinion to say it sounds worse than music composed with real instruments because it simply does. On top of that, 8-bit does not allow you to combine all sorts of instruments including the human organ, in fact all it consists of is a variation of beep boop sounds which is exactly why it is usually annoying. Like the music in that first trailer which I originally commented on: It's nerve-racking, and I find it hard to believe you don't think it is. Just count that as an opinion then.

For your consideration, Still Alive performed by engraving laser (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4OV2UofPFg), floppy drives (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY0mDRrqcVU) and excersise machine. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNcb9mS11QY)

The point of recreating a well known song on esoteric hardware isn't to create a better version of the song, but more to a) prove it can be done and b) see what it would sound like.

That said, the ZX Spectrum's sound chip is at least meant to create music and talented musicians can create wonderful sounds with it. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiJXJhq03iw) It has it's limits, but so does any instrument.

And while we're on the subject, an orchestra is not the be all and end all of musical endeavor. Even an orchestra can only produce a certain range of sounds. In fact one of my favorite soundtracks comes from a game called Split Second which features orchestral songs mixed with electronic elements. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg70N18_Cco) It's completely Impossible for a real orchestra to perform.

I completely agree. See, my comment was on 8-bit music and 8-bit music only as featured in Retro City Rampage, most particularly that music I heard in the trailer. 8-bit music alone tends to sound awful as much as listening to drums only is really boring, because of, you said it, limitations in both cases.

I prefer listening to 8-bit versions of common music - vice-versa. It's always interesting to see what you get from taking an old melody (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmCCQxVBfyM) composed with said limitations and re-compose (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l-yUHo44hc) it without (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umEDct4BoGc) any limitations (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE4s9AuTZb8). (Alright, this is not truly "vice-versa" here as it's originally a folk song anyway, but still a pretty good example.) It ends up sounding x times better than before every single time.

Right, and I guess things like pencil art, charcoal art, and hey, just generally anything not done with a computer is bad because it's much more limited compared to digital art? GENIUS.

Right, and I guess things like pencil art, charcoal art, and hey, just generally anything not done with a computer is bad because it's much more limited compared to digital art? GENIUS.

Bad logic, bad comparison.

Music and drawings is hardly comparable. Pencil or charcoal art alone can look really beatiful, much unlike 8-bit music which sounds generally worse than anything. If you want to speak in metaphors then 8-bit music is a bit of crappy pencil line art that CAN be combined with felt pens and colours to make it look more beatiful and indeed less crappy.

Bad logic, bad comparison.

Music and drawings is hardly comparable. Pencil or charcoal art alone can look really beatiful, much unlike 8-bit music which sounds generally worse than anything. If you want to speak in metaphors then 8-bit music is a bit of crappy pencil line art that CAN be combined with felt pens and colours to make it look more beatiful and indeed less crappy.

The logic is yours. The comparison is apt. Music and art are comparable in this sense. Your argument against chiptune music is that it started as a limitation. It's the same thing with a pencil or charcoal. Both are simple, limited art tools. That won't stop skilled artists from making amazing pieces of art. Likewise, the limitations of chiptune music won't stop skilled musicians from making amazing music. You just don't want to admit to that, for no real reason other than that you seem to enjoy being an obtuse fool.

There's a lot of people who enjoy 8-bit and chiptune music, and a lot of those people weren't around when videogames were limited to 8-bit music, so it's not fueled by nostalgia. It's just awesome. Different, but awesome nonetheless. You just don't like it, period. And that's ok. But saying that it's somehow 'objectively' inferior to orchestral music because OMEHGHERD REEHL ENSTREEMENTS!!11!1 is incredibly stupid.

Yeah this is why I kept trying to change the subject away from anyone thinking he should still give a quarter twist about what Thurbo says after he just tried to tell me/us that his opinion that all 8-bit music is a step down from something was objective fact.

On that note, Killing Floor updated again with a new event and some new weapons. Usually I'm pretty detailed about reporting the changes to this game only one or two other people on the forum ever play, but I'm kind of phoning this in because I'm not a huge fan of where things are going. First, the event's unlockable player model is apparently Death, so, uh, okay. There are four new Tripwire-made free weapons, which I gather include some new AR, an incendiary shotgun and some sawblade crossbow or whatever. There is also a pack of four community-made weapons which are paid DLC, which is most of what I don't like. This seems to include a Tommy gun (damn you) and a scythe which has about the same swing rate as the claymore and less power but a really generous reach or something.

I just shudder every time KF takes any step that makes it look more like TF2. But don't take my word for it because I haven't actually tried any of it yet.

Right, and I guess things like pencil art, charcoal art, and hey, just generally anything not done with a computer is bad because it's much more limited compared to digital art? GENIUS.
Wait what. I can't tell if you're just trolling Thurbo here or actually saying that real life is more limited than a computer, because... um... what.

Anyways I'm pretty sure you are just arguing apples and oranges, wherein Thurbo sees 8-bit music as an artificial technological construct which are inherently limited, while MtlAngelus sees 8-bit music as a style where quality is purely derived from skill and personal taste. These are both factually correct statements that don't contradict themselves, much like saying "pizza is bad because it's fattening" does not contradict "pizza is good because it's yummy", you are arguing different properties.

What I'm saying is grow up you two. :p

Wait what. I can't tell if you're just trolling Thurbo here or actually saying that real life is more limited than a computer, because... um... what.uh..... traditional art IS more limited than digital art. That's why so many TV shows, movies, artists, and everything else that ever once used paint and canvas to convey an image has gone digital. Digital allows for much more expressive use of colors, much faster creation of an image, and a much easier method of fixing mistakes.

I'm not saying digital is better in any way whatsoever, but it's unquestionably less limited than traditional artwork that is much more confined by cost, time, material, and personnel investments.

Ah internet forums. Where the only opinion that matters is your own. No matter how logical something else might be.

Also, Halo 4 looks great.

Wait what. I can't tell if you're just trolling Thurbo here or actually saying that real life is more limited than a computer, because... um... what.

Anyways I'm pretty sure you are just arguing apples and oranges, wherein Thurbo sees 8-bit music as an artificial technological construct which are inherently limited, while MtlAngelus sees 8-bit music as a style where quality is purely derived from skill and personal taste. These are both factually correct statements that don't contradict themselves, much like saying "pizza is bad because it's fattening" does not contradict "pizza is good because it's yummy", you are arguing different properties.

What I'm saying is grow up you two. :p

Like Aku said, doing art on any physical medium is technically more limited than purely digital art. Digital art grants you much more precision than you'll ever gain on any physical medium, and you're not constricted by the laws of physics. And mistakes are a LOT easier to undo. :p

Not to say it makes a HUGE difference, because it doesn't, really, I'm just poking fun at thurbo's retarded logic there that limitations of a medium inherently make the end result worse than anything that was made in a less limited medium.

As for "wherein Thurbo sees 8-bit music as an artificial technological construct which are inherently limited", real life musical instruments are also artificial technological constructs, and every instrument is limited in its own way. By Thurbo's logic, any music that doesn't use a full range of different instruments is bad in comparison to music that does use a full range of different instruments.

He's wrong and stupid. :mad:

Essentially limitation lies not with the artist's tools but with the artist.

As for "wherein Thurbo sees 8-bit music as an artificial technological construct which are inherently limited", real life musical instruments are also artificial technological constructs, and every instrument is limited in its own way. By Thurbo's logic, any music that doesn't use a full range of different instruments is bad in comparison to music that does use a full range of different instruments.

That's not what I said. I said 8-bit music sounds worse than anything, generally, as I didn't compare instruments but music. These days in games you can have full quality music that may include all sorts of real and virtual instruments, even chiptune combined with other instruments might sound really good. But chiptune music and nothing but chiptune music is pretty awful and often really, really annoying, just like the music in that trailer which I originally commented on.

Now if you want see chiptune as an instrument like a piano or a guitar, then chiptune loses big-time. It sounds dull in comparison.

Sounds annoying to you. Sounds dull to you.

You're basically old people in the sixties complaining about rock music. Except you're not old, so you have no excuse for being such a closed minded tit. :)

Sounds annoying to you. Sounds dull to you.

You're basically old people in the sixties complaining about rock music. Except you're not old, so you have no excuse for being such a closed minded tit. :)

Yup, I grew up with 8-bit music and I don't like it much.

I'm being all objective. You can't actually argue about this. If you like the sound of fingernails scratching on a blackboard and claim it sounds good, it still doesn't sound good. Chiptune music isn't all as bad as fingernails scratching on a blackboard but, sorta, close enough. At least it's nothing you would record on a CD and listen to for the fun of it. There's a reason why chiptune music is not used in media anymore. It was only ever invented and used to at least have music on certain devices at all.

I'm being all wrong
Fixed it for you.

I'm being all wrong.

Well enough of this, I actually just read something that... does sound interesting at first (http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/7681240/Heart_of_the_Swarm_Preview_Leveling-10_25_2012)

...then as I read further sounds like it's just a way of earning portraits and doesn't mean much. What changes though is that you can simply play the game without doing any objectives, recieve a variety portraits anyway. That's an improvement in my book :p

Well enough of this
FINALLY!

I actually just read something that... does sound interesting at first (http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/7681240/Heart_of_the_Swarm_Preview_Leveling-10_25_2012)

...then as I read further sounds like it's just a way of earning portraits and doesn't mean much. What changes though is that you can simply play the game without doing any objectives, recieve a variety portraits anyway. That's an improvement in my book :p
Eh... could be better. I guess it depends a lot on what "Decals" refers to.

One thing that I really like about CoD's levelling system is that it really thought other developers how to do levelling systems. Namely: that it should never be like CoD's levelling system.
So now they range from purely superficial ('blinging out' your army or character. Or in DoW2, literally blinging out your army with gold) to unlocking weapons but not strictly (best example would be Space Marine, where you can play with an exact layout copy of the person that killed you).

I like W40k games, if you couldn't tell.

I guess it depends a lot on what "Decals" refers to.

Likely those emblems you can place on all your units when customizing your profile.

Yes, it's the emblems. Barely noticable in-game, the gameplay's simply too hectic - portraits can also only be seen at the beginning of a match during the loading screen. Let's just say, StarCraft is not a perfect example of deep customisation :p

Anyway, they've got a feature much better in the tube:

Clans! (http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/7747190/) Which is basically functioning like a Steam group. Still a nice addition though, makes grouping up easier than before.

Also, halloween "dresses".

http://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/c0.0.403.403/p403x403/254367_10151290102652457_1445782810_n.jpg


http://a.deviantart.net/avatars/t/h/thurbo.gif?6 :eek:

Clans! (http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/7747190/) Which is basically functioning like a Steam group. Still a nice addition though, makes grouping up easier than before.

Somewhat late to the party on that one I think...

So anyone lucky from here got Black Ops 2 early? 2 of my friends had it yesterday ffs

I actually can't wait for it. Love MW3 but its getting boring, too easyy, bladeblabla.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o2AuUoP_g0&feature=youtu.be

Happy happy joy joy! Only just heard of it.

I insist this is video games related

...aaand the first of two StarCraft II add-ons is available for pre-purchase (http://eu.battle.net/en/int?r=blizzard) now

Looking at that price though, I came to think of it as totally not way too expensive.

The Deluxe edition is 15 bucks more expensive than the normal version and what do you get for buying it? A new in-game look for a single Zerg unit, and three exclusive avatars which do not show your skill, but your (lost) fortune you spent on said Deluxe edition.

That alone is not worth $15 at all and the other content is complete nonsense. It's in fact for different games that are in no way related to StarCraft, except they were also developed by Blizzard. Well, I neither play WoW nor Diablo III and I'm never going to. Pfft. Fine "Deluxe edition", that.

Well, so Heart of the Swarm costs $40. This is what you recieve:


A single-player campaign that you can't properly play offline because Blizzard patched the game post-release so you can no longer play it offline in general.
Hugs and kisses from Blizzard for your purchase

First time ever I am hesitating to buy something I have been looking forward to for years. I feel sad.

ya and because of how lousy Wings of Liberties single player campaign is, I am not looking forward to heart of the Swarms. WoL has 30 missions woo! A fraction of actual story in comparison to Starcraft or Broodwar, boo! Tons of filler/time wasting that doesn't teach you skills/how to use units effectively in multiplayer though! (Wings of Liberty uses so many game mechanics that aren't available in multiplayer it's ridiculous.)

Starcraft Two:
The real game is the multiplayer, the campaign is the Starcraft version of Mario Party, a collection of minigames that don't help you in playing the actual game.

In Starcraft/Broodwar balance changes impacted the campaigns so you actually ended up learning how to use the units and using what you had learned, in multiplayer (Though the campaign was never updated to properly handle the balance changes). In Starcraft 2 the campaign is rarely if ever re-balanced since they can use the original engine for it and a new engine for the multiplayer portion of the game.

New Blops hits all my spots.

On that subject, apparently the new thing to moan about in COD is 'head-glitching' which boils down to crouching behind cover. Never change, COD-community.:p

Starcraft Two:
The real game is the multiplayer, the campaign is the Starcraft version of Mario Party, a collection of minigames that don't help you in playing the actual game.

Why yes, but that doesn't mean the campaign is awful. In terms of gameplay it was definitely fun and I would pay for more single-player content for sure.

The actual issue is the pricing. $40 for a single-player campaign? 20 missions?
After updating the game so the offline mode is intentionally broken?

Really?

Ya really. Whereas it's utterly ridiculous, the add-on is going to be a best seller nontheless. For they are Blizzard, and the game we are talking about is StarCraft II.

Well, I found the campaign decidedly less fun due to the amount of gimmick levels. Sure levels in the orginal game had some twists, but in general they involved building a base and wiping out the enemy base, with increasing disadvantages for the player. And when there was a special objective, you usually had to tackle the enemy base.

Most levels in SC2 didn't evolve tackling the enemy base, and when the base was present, you are encouraged to bypass it.

This is of course based on my opinion and experiance with the game, which for me was a large letdown in single player(which is a shame since SC1 had a great SP), the multiplayer though is quite good.

Well, I found the campaign decidedly less fun due to the amount of gimmick levels. Sure levels in the orginal game had some twists, but in general they involved building a base and wiping out the enemy base, with increasing disadvantages for the player. And when there was a special objective, you usually had to tackle the enemy base.

Most levels in SC2 didn't evolve tackling the enemy base, and when the base was present, you are encouraged to bypass it.

This is of course based on my opinion and experiance with the game, which for me was a large letdown in single player(which is a shame since SC1 had a great SP), the multiplayer though is quite good.

My opinion is that you should learn multiplayer by actually playing multiplayer, the campaign is only capable of teaching you the basics. The AI in both StarCraft games is unsurpsisingly rather dimwitted anyways.

Personally, in multiplayer games I prefer campaigns that let you do something else than regular deathmatches against bots, I just don't see the appeal there, thus I actually quite liked the campaign in StarCraft II far more than the SC1 campaign.

Oh boy, I got just reminded of those missions in both SC1 and SC2 where you control a small squad of space marines/zerglings/whatever. Do you remember those? Terribly tiresome, I tell you. It's not like you could possibly lose without the base building aspect and all.
Right mouse, A + left mouse, repeat until you win, fall asleep or die from being bored to death

Well hey, do you love hating terrible 8-bit music? Now you can get Retro City Rampage's (and a few others') soundtrack for a buck! (http://www.gamemusicbundle.com/) Yours to treasure and hate forever because of their objective, demonstrable inferiority to real music.

Actually I'm pretty sad that Bedtime Story (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STqJn_Wv4n8) isn't in here for some reason. Maybe because it wasn't made specifically for the game or something.

Oh boy, I got just reminded of those missions in both SC1 and SC2 where you control a small squad of space marines/zerglings/whatever. Do you remember those? Terribly tiresome, I tell you. It's not like you could possibly lose without the base building aspect and all.
Right mouse, A + left mouse, repeat until you win, fall asleep or die from being bored to death
I didn't say they weren't there, I said most missions involved base building/assaulting. There were, what three of the missions you described in the original SC? Brood war didn't add many if I remember correctly.

Boils down too you like SC2 campaign better for your reasons, and I like SC1's for mine.

Plus SC1's gritty atmosphere is more appealing to me.

I didn't say they weren't there, I said most missions involved base building/assaulting. There were, what three of the missions you described in the original SC? Brood war didn't add many if I remember correctly.

Wasn't supposed to be part of the argument anyway, just popped to mind. They have those missions in SC2 as well so apparently they didn't realize how absolutely unfun they are.

Plus SC1's gritty atmosphere is more appealing to me.

SC2 no be gritty?

Well hey, do you love hating terrible 8-bit music? Now you can get Retro City Rampage's (and a few others') soundtrack for a buck! (http://www.gamemusicbundle.com/) Yours to treasure and hate forever because of their objective, demonstrable inferiority to real music.

Yeah no thank you and misunderstanding my point, not all 8-bit music is terrible but might sound better with different instruments is what I said. Doesn't matter whether it's real-life or not or both, in the end I just like music that sounds good. 8-bit music often fails at sounding good as even when the melody is catchy the tones 8-bit is limited to will start getting annoying at some point. And it's not BECAUSE of the limitation, get rid of the silly "limitations make things worse" argument, that never was what I meant.

I also don't know why, in case I had the game, I should spend money on the soundtrack another time. It's already included to the game and part of your purchase.
Any other reason than "I'm supporting the developers by purchasing the soundtrack"?

Wasn't supposed to be part of the argument anyway, just popped to mind. They have those missions in SC2 as well so apparently they didn't realize how absolutely unfun they are.

SC2 no be gritty?
Wasn't sure, I thought you were being sarcastic and actually did enjoy those levels.

And I should have clarified, I like SC1's grittier atmosphere. They both have it, but SC1 felt darker and the artistic styling grittier. The color in SC2 pops too much, and the Terran force seems more, refined? I don't know what it is exactly, but 2 seems more cartoony.

Speaking of cartoons, I should pick up that EWJ DVD. Last time I saw it, it was poorly recorded versions of a tv, in some cases, complete with commercials.

I thought the Wings of Liberty single player campaign was great actually.

I thought it was a nice touch having all the cut classic SC1 units still in the campaign.

But $40 for a single-player expansion? Really? Really? Even EA, the biggest ripoffs in the industry, only charged $20 for a single-player expansion and it still had some new units. Hell I remember back in the day when I could get a full expansion with new singleplayer and multiplayer stuff for just $15. Kids these days etc.

I thought it was a nice touch having all the cut classic SC1 units still in the campaign.

But $40 for a single-player expansion? Really? Really? Even EA, the biggest ripoffs in the industry, only charged $20 for a single-player expansion and it still had some new units. Hell I remember back in the day when I could get a full expansion with new singleplayer and multiplayer stuff for just $15. Kids these days etc.

Yeah, back when companies actually worried that people wouldn't buy an expansion if it didn't have enough content. Haha, how stupid must those companies feel now. :rolleyes:

The best RTS game still is Total Annihilation.
Although, Planetary Annihilation has a good chance to succeed it.

Starcraft campaign has actual, meaningful story that has a long term impact on the series (Everything that happened, isn't forgotten about). The story is notably darker and better written. While almost every campaign level required you to decimate an enemy base, it was nice and interesting the way the AI base was setup and the ways you had to go about defeating it often required strategies that could also be applied to multiplayer. (Or you could be lame and exploit the AI like a lame guy)

In Starcraft II a lot of the quests are side quests/gimmicks that both don't have a meaningful impact on the main story and don't do well at teaching you what to expect when playing multiplayer (Almost every mission introduces something new that isn't available/doesn't apply at all to multiplayer). There are so many side quests that there's very little lasting impact when it comes to making progress in the campaign as anything you do will ultimately be forgotten about 2 or less missions later.

I think the way they ended SC2 could have been better. Instead of making the final level nothing but a slugfest of defense, why not have you bring the artifact the center of the enemy, and perhaps guard it there for a short period. Atleast that way it would be a nice throwback to Broodwar and give the player a much better feeling of satisfaction. Not only would their strategy have decimated the Zerg defense, but they also get to cripple the Zerg power structure. I think that would have been a more satisfying finish to the game than guarding your base for x amount of time.

SCII's campaign could have been improved in a lot of ways.
Everything is so unbelievable.

Big update in Spiral Knights lets you customize and add fun things to your guild hall, finally, so that's cool.

Just leaving this video here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyUxzi1EqiY) I'll just say it's amusing, so once you've read this you better whatch it or bear with the feeling of might having missed out on something amusing. Your choice.

Not that amusing. Plus his voice is really annoying. Also your link is broken.

Just leaving that video here. (http://youtube.com/?reload=3&rdm=mebchk3sd#/watch?v=vyUxzi1EqiY) I'll just say it's amusing, so once you've read this you better whatch it or bear with the feeling of might having missed out on something amusing. Your choice.You're right. it IS amusing. Hilarous, in fact. Not for the reasons you wanted it to be, however. You've linked to a page of your own youtube that only works for you. Bravo! Way to show us all that our condescension isn't warranted.

Just leaving that video here. (http://youtube.com/?reload=3&rdm=mebchk3sd#/watch?v=vyUxzi1EqiY) I'll just say it's amusing, so once you've read this you better whatch it or bear with the feeling of might having missed out on something amusing. Your choice.I'm pretty sure this is the worst post I've ever seen.

I'm pretty sure this is the worst post I've ever seen.

I can't help it - I didn't realize YouTube links now differ when you post from your phone. Didn't use to be like that. Here's the real thing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyUxzi1EqiY

Pfffff everyone knows this is the best Farcry video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enb0zWbYUik&feature=player_embedded

Saints Effin' Row 3. Er, I mean, The Third. Whatever. It's pretty darn fun.

I'm here to brag, though, of course. I compulsively (re)created a number of characters and uploaded them to the site (http://www.saintsrow.com/profile/Zeor72) mainly for my own safekeeping, but I'm quite pleased to find that some of them, especially Carl (http://www.saintsrow.com/community/characters/details/126189321728831674), have been downloaded a few times by randoms. Not really a big deal or whatever. I just think it's cool.

If you ask me, my Vercetti (http://www.saintsrow.com/community/characters/details/126189321728828258) and Postal Dude (http://www.saintsrow.com/community/characters/details/126189321728829051) are the best on there, though there was at least one pretty decent 2nd on the latter.

e: Ed Z. was a bit disastrous though, but I do love his stupid rectangley reflecty 80's style rocker shades.

Edit: Oh yeah uh a bunch of people keep uploading pervy girl stuff up there so it's kind of mildly to moderately nsfw I guess sorry about that

It's cool it's got an age checker. ;) We should try co-op sometime.

What's the cartoon Carl is from? It's so familiar but I can't remember the name.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which also went by a couple of derived names in later seasons. It's now Aqua Something You Know Whatever.

Hope I can post this without recieving infractions (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0C59h1nlwg)

Yeah that's pretty accurate.

Just leaving this video here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyUxzi1EqiY) I'll just say it's amusing, so once you've read this you better whatch it or bear with the feeling of might having missed out on something amusing. Your choice.

Actually I feel like a dodged a bullet there. You see, thanks to my awesome quality control team writing their assessments, I don't have to click the link or feel like I missed anything.

Thanks guys!

Hmmm games. Recently I brought some games to the second-hand shop, Battlefield 2, Medal of Honor: Airborne, Age of Empires, Knights and Merchants, Lords of the Realm, Farcry.

Some great games, but hey I don't care. I had good memories playing Age of Empires online at zone.com and playing Battlefield online too. Battlefield has some great mods, some of the less popular ones I liked but those died away.
For example; Battlefield Pirates, Battlegroup Frontlines and Forgotten Hope.

The only games I have now are Company of Heroes + Opposing Fronts, Seven Kingdoms: Ancient Adversaries and of course Worms: Armageddon (+ Worms 2 but I don't play that.). Seven Kingdoms is a really good old skool strategy game, although I don't play it that often. Worth to keep though.

Company of Heroes is a great game. It's really competitive though, so unlike W:A it can get really frustrating. Because it's so competitive you might get adrenaline rushes which is nice.

There aren't really new games which cought my attention. I do not like the fact most new games aren't moddable, I always check a game if it has mods, so when the game get's boring I always have mods I can look forward too and play.

I bought The Guild 2 a couple of days ago (Renaissance) and I have NO IDEA how to play it, but it seems really fun and I want to. lol

Kojima be trollin'. (http://www.polygon.com/2012/12/7/3742204/the-phantom-pain-moby-dick-studio)

I finally have been able to purchase Scorched Earth. Every time I came close before, I missed out. Waaaay back when, I saved up money from where I could get it, which was tough since I didn't get an allowance. When I scraped up the money, my parents wouldn't let me send it, as an eight year old shouldn't be mailing his money away, and my father figured they stopped making anyway. Then a few years back I discovered the official site offering CDs, I put off buying one right away, again, strapped for cash and had bills to pay. A week later they stopped selling the CD. By chance I checked the site today, and found they are now offering a download for whatever ever you like. I personally felt it was worth thirty bucks, an extra ten of what the old asking price was.

/tldr
You can download the complete Scorched Earth collection(all regged versions) for whatever you care to spend.

Any other fans of that old gem?

Links to this download? Several abandonware websites as far as I know were after v1.5 registered (Which I had but had lost, formatted the floppy for stupid reasons...).

Nevermind, didn't know it had a website and didn't know it still exists. http://www.whicken.com/scorch/

EDF2025 confirmed for America and Europe in 2013! (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-12-13-earth-defense-force-2025-announced-for-xbox-360-and-ps3-next-year)

Online multiplayer! New support class who can summon airstrikes and airdrop vehicles! New sorts of giant spiders!
I am super excited!

Hi. I'm Valve! I've forgotten everything I know about public relations! (http://store.steampowered.com/app/2028252/)

Hmm ?

Like that's something new.

I recently traded my whole TF2 backpack for Far Cry 3 Deluxe (worth €60) and have uninstalled it.
Good riddance!

I recently traded my whole TF2 backpack for Far Cry 3 Deluxe (worth €60) and have uninstalled it.
Good riddance!

You are dead to me

You are dead to me

Hear that bonz? The publics perception of you has improved 100 points on a 100 point scale.

Hear that bonz? The publics perception of you has improved 100 points on a 100 point scale.hahahahahaha are you kidding me with this

Have:
100 points

Want:
Borderlands 2

I recently traded my whole TF2 backpack for Far Cry 3 Deluxe (worth €60) and have uninstalled it.
Good riddance!

Nice, but I hope you traded with somebody you trust. Last year a college bought the Terraria 4-pack during the winter sale, and through a series of tradings with different people ended up with Skyrim. However, a few days later the game was removed from his steam because of some payment issue with the game.

is ace of spades worth buying?

No.

It really, really isn't.

FTL is freaking awesome. Go buy it now. All of you. NOW. :mad::mad::mad:

FTL is freaking awesome. Go buy it now. All of you. NOW. :mad::mad::mad:FTL more like FFF (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=96877506).

FTL more like FFF (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=96877506).
Tell me about it. (http://i1249.photobucket.com/albums/hh517/farkfacedoob/FFFFUUUU.png)

Do you like watching videogames being played VERY QUICKLY INDEED BY PEOPLE WHO ARE IMMENSELY SKILLED AT PLAYING VIDEOGAMES AT UNBELIEVABLE SPEEDS?

Then BOY DO I HAVE A SIX DAY SPEEDRUN MARATHON THAT YOU MAY ENJOY WATCHING PORTIONS OF.

That's right, Speed Demos Archive (http://www.speeddemosarchive.com/)'s annual Awesome Games Done Quick Starts today at 6pm GMT. Donate money to the Prevent Cancer Foundation and maybe win fabulous prizes?

Once it's live you'll find it at this webaddress: http://marathon.speeddemosarchive.com/

Untill then, you can check out The schedule (http://marathon.speeddemosarchive.com/schedule) which auto adjusts to your computer's timezone in a handy manner.

Tell me about it. (http://i1249.photobucket.com/albums/hh517/farkfacedoob/FFFFUUUU.png)Clearly your mistake was NOT ENOUGH BURST LASERS (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=100347678).

Forgot to mention that Killing Floor had an event going on where you could unlock a weird classless space gun. Oh well. I got the paid weapons DLC pack for Crumbmas and those things are at least pretty darn fun for the most part, especially the very inventive flare revolvers, which just add to the Firebug perk's sudden remarkable versatility. I was concerned about overpoweredness, but the flares are tempered by slow-moving projectiles and clunky reloads, the tommy gun is just a bullpup-tier thing which I hear is bugged to not tally Stalker kills properly, and I'm not even totally sure what the scythe's strength is supposed to be; I thought it had a wider swing that could take out multiple enemies at once, but it turns out just about all the melee weapons are doing that all of a sudden. Maybe it's just better at it, but anyway it's not as good as the claymore. The buzzsaw bow might be pretty overpowered though. It's even more damaging than the regular crossbow, and the shots ricochet all over the place. Pretty expensive even on-perk though. And I guess it probably does less damage than a sharpshooter with the regular one.

Oh, speaking of unlocks, and you don't have to pay for this one, you can also raise some gold in either the paid or free version of the aggravatingly named and obviously Dwarf Fortress profiteering Dwarfs?! to unlock a claymore-tier dwarf axe which more or less behaves like the scythe except it knocks targets back and causes spectacular ragdolling or meatsplosions on kill. Totally worth it. In fact, the game isn't even that bad.

Zeor, we should really play KF together sometime! I haven't played it in ages since my friends stopped.

Actually, how many people here do play KF? Maybe we could have a forum match or something.

I do. Or rather, did. A cracked version. I feel terrible for it, but I can't really help my friends spam me with cracked game copies on their lans - guess you can understand that.

Don't like KF that much, the gameplay's is getting tedious and repetitive after a while. I prefer any of the other somewhat compareable games over it, such as Left 4 Dead, MvM or even Cowadoody's Zawmbie Mode.

Clearly your mistake was NOT ENOUGH BURST LASERS (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=100347678).

Indeed (http://krd.clansfx.co.uk/dump/bd520048d45deb9223a5743a8c0fd0c2/000000ED.png). But also (http://krd.clansfx.co.uk/dump/cc715a0412e124700f4752948f357f99/000000EE.png).

I get the impression I should play FTL.

(I will, I got it during the Chirstmas. I just haven't had time between University and DROD)

OH, also, new Pokemon game announced for worldwide release in October. Aside from being Pokemon, it's significant for being the first time that anything Pokemon didn't come out in Japan long before anywhere else.

There's not much to it though. Battles are in proper 3D now, but Genius Sonority (they made the 3D console games) doesn't seem to be involved at all. Which is lame, because Genius Sonority made the best model and effect animations I've ever seen in an RPG!

Don't like KF that much, the gameplay's is getting tedious and repetitive after a while. I prefer Left 4 Dead.
This makes... no sense to me. None. Nope.

I get the impression I should play FTL.

(I will, I got it during the Chirstmas. I just haven't had time between University and DROD)

OH, also, new Pokemon game announced for worldwide release in October. Aside from being Pokemon, it's significant for being the first time that anything Pokemon didn't come out in Japan long before anywhere else.

There's not much to it though. Battles are in proper 3D now, but Genius Sonority (they made the 3D console games) doesn't seem to be involved at all. Which is lame, because Genius Sonority made the best model and effect animations I've ever seen in an RPG!


This makes... no sense to me. None. Nope.
They are too busy making a sequel to The Denpa Men. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jDXBvSKo28)

Setting aside that you apparently believe Pokemon Colosseum represents the finest in RPG graphics, you would have to be mad to think Gamefreak would farm out a main entry to another company.

you would have to be mad to think Gamefreak would farm out a main entry to another company.
The whole game? No way! But I mean, a co-operation would have been great. Genius Sonority already has models/animations to work from, so it'd make sense.

Although, it's probably so that The Pokémon Company has it's own resources to use in future games, and doesn't have to owe dues to a third(?) party.

The whole game? No way! But I mean, a co-operation would have been great. Genius Sonority already has models/animations to work from, so it'd make sense

Is this game for the 3DS or the Wii U? Because if it's for the Wii U the poly count is going to look a little on the duff side, surely.

3DS.


Also if anyone has an hour to waste, do yourself a favor and watch this speedrun of Silver's story from Sonic 2006. The combination of an immensely busted game, a skilled speedrunner and a full room of people giving it the MST3K treatment makes for an immensely entertaining watch.

Click this link (http://www.twitch.tv/speeddemosarchivesda/b/355649429) and skip to 45 minutes in.

THE BOX more than lives up to the hype, if you haven't seen it before.
Afterwards they run through the Last Story, which doesn't have as many insane skips and glitches, but they let the cutscenes play which is a treat in itself.

So SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed is going to feature TF2 characters. Huh. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNfBUXYuuP8)

So SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed is going to feature TF2 characters. Huh. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNfBUXYuuP8)
I suppose that they are exclusives for the Steam version only.
Similarly as there are exclusives on the consoles, with characters for the respective consoles' favourite mascots.

I suppose that they are exclusives for the Steam version only.
Similarly as there are exclusives on the consoles, with characters for the respective consoles' favourite mascots.
This is likely the case. iirc, WiiU and 360 got a mii and avatar racer respectively. I don't think the PS3 had an exclusive.

The TF2 racer was actually dug out of the files pretty much the day the game came out, along with 2 other characters based on Total War and (I **** you not) Football manager (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY-BaNgouwo).

Even more bizarre, those last two are a reference to a press release Sega made about 'focusing on their three pillars: Football Manager, Total War and Sonic' (http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/9496/sega-focusing-on-football-manager-total-war-and-sonic-series) which are their three most profitable titles. A developer at Sumo Digital recently expressed surprise that they're in a playable state.

So Path of Exile is now Public beta, http://www.pathofexile.com/

So Path of Exile is now Public beta, http://www.pathofexile.com/

you forgot the part where IT IS FREAKING AMAZING!

Seriously if you like Diablo-style games at all, You've gotta give this one a shot. It's really well done. It's got its share of glitches, and it can get a little frustrating when mobs stand in that little nook and you can't hit them, but the great overall design makes up for it.

Yes, it has an excellent Diablo 2 vibe to the whole thing unlike Diablo 3. It's pretty epic, however like many MMO's there are no aussie servers so... 230ms~ latency per usual :/ (It's totally playable like this, but would be better with 150 or less...)

Zeor: I have outstanding news
Raycaster: nuze
Zeor: the outstanding news is my face
Zeor: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=122789496

So I'm thinking about FUEL and looking at MotorStorm screenshots and realizing that a combination of those games would have been just about perfect.

FUEL is awesome for having a game world the size of real-world Connecticut that you can just explore as you damn please in a bunch of different cool/crazy vehicles, but is just plain crappy as a racing game. Open-world MotorStorm, though, would be something. Oh well.

hey it's me zeor 'triple post' dangerpants

I'm writin' a little guide for Killing Floor I guess, with that Steam guides thingy I suppose probably. Dunno if I'll actually bother publishing it, but's just kind of a bunch of one-paragraph descriptions of all the perks, zeds and weapons.

SplitSecond! Set on a fictional TV show where people race on special courses rigged with explosives, this game doesn't make a lick of sense. If you like burnout style risk/reward arcade racing and you also like everything to be exploding all of the time this is the game for you. Also has the most epic racing music.
I've just started playing this on PC, seems great so far. I like arcade racing games where the car handling is easy and not frustrating/awkward. Being able to hinder opponents without having to catch up to them is actually quite a nifty game mechanic.

Hey guys, check out this Indie game. It's called Starbound and it looks really good and I can't wait for it to be released. <3 (http://playstarbound.com/)

Hey guys, check out this Indie game. It's called Starbound and it looks really good and I can't wait for it to be released. <3 (http://playstarbound.com/)

Why are there so many screenshots of Terraria thrown in there?

Why are there so many screenshots of Terraria thrown in there?
Terraria is the new Minecraft.

A big part of the similarities are due to the fact that the sprite artist is the same. I am interested in the game as well.

I've just started playing this on PC, seems great so far. I like arcade racing games where the car handling is easy and not frustrating/awkward. Being able to hinder opponents without having to catch up to them is actually quite a nifty game mechanic.
Blur is another fine arcade racing game.
Real life car licenses and arcade power ups.
There's still a small online community and you'll always find a race going.
Also, it supports up 4 player local split screen on the PC, which is quite rare nowadays.

It has recently been removed from Steam though, so you would need to find it retail. :P

Blur is another fine arcade racing game.
Real life car licenses and arcade power ups.
There's still a small online community and you'll always find a race going.
Also, it supports up 4 player local split screen on the PC, which is quite rare nowadays.

It has recently been removed from Steam though, so you would need to find it retail. :P

Are there any racing games that support multiple monitors for local multiplayer?
Like two per screen splitscreen or one per screen with three players.

I doubt it. Honestly it's a miracle any PC games get released with split-screen multiplayer at all. I guess that's the one good thing to come out of the whole 'games for windows live' mess: a standard plug-and-play controller for console ports.

While we're talking racing games, Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed is the best Kart racer since Double Dash. Well balanced items, really fun course design and the single player is balls hard but fair.

I doubt it. Honestly it's a miracle any PC games get released with split-screen multiplayer at all. I guess that's the one good thing to come out of the whole 'games for windows live' mess: a standard plug-and-play controller for console ports.

While we're talking racing games, Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed is the best Kart racer since Double Dash. Well balanced items, really fun course design and the single player is balls hard but fair.
My only problem is it seems to feature reverse-rubberbanding where if you're in the lead, nobody's gonna catch you, but otherwise you're gonna be hit by everything under the sun.

Also BEES THEY'RE IN MY EYES :eek:

The thing is the game features no rubber-banding at all, and every weapon (except maybe the rare All Star) can be dodged or countered. It is insanely well balanced for a Kart Game, man I could gush forever about how well designed this game is, even the transforming nature of the tracks makes it more challenging to the player in pole position: more on track obstacles to avoid, a reduced view of the track ahead as doors open and roads collapse.

The bees are brilliant. Essentially the Blue shell equivalent, but where the shell often benefits the guy in second place more than the guy who used it, the bees spawn in front of everyone ahead of the user. With a little skill you can avoid hitting the bees, but they still serve their purpose: slowing you down by making you break your slide or take a less optimal line through a corner.

The bees are also, crucially, something you actively react to, unlike the blue shell which just comes from above and stops you in your tracks. It is fun to avoid the bees, it is not fun to be the victim of the blue shell.

Also Mario Kart Wii had that booby-trap lightening cloud item and that is so not cool.:p

While we're talking racing games, Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed is the best Kart racer since Double Dash. Well balanced items, really fun course design and the single player is balls hard but fair.If Robotnik's still playable, I'm sold.

If Robotnik's still playable, I'm sold.
Yup, they could never get rid of the classic Sonic cast, you have to unlock him though.
If anyone wants a game on Steam add me, it's pretty fun.

There is one Sonic Character that got cut in accordance with Sega's recent 'Big the Cat does not exist' policy.

I just got a belated Christmas present - the Hyrule Historia, a big ol' hardcover book full of timeline stuff and expositions and concept arts and all kinds of awesome Zelda stuff that I'm nerding way out about. It's pretty sick.

Interestingly, it looks like the timeline branches into a few alternate possibilities after OoT, depending on whether Link wins or Ganondorf does.

e: As of OoT, Ganondorf is a little over 7 and a half feet tall, or 230cm.

I honestly never expected that Nintendo's official Zelda timeline would be even more complex and ridiculous than the fan theories.

Yeah, it does get a little weird.
I think it has something to do with the fact that they made one up after getting asked about it so often...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Zelda_timeline.jpg
Three timelines b*tches!

Why are there so many screenshots of Terraria thrown in there?

Well, the head of Chucklefish, Tiyuri, was the sprite artist on Terraria, and also the game play itself is pretty similar, so yeah, it's expected to look quite the same.

Also, SASR Transformed is really, really cool.

*makes pleading eyes begging someone to gift it to him on steam*

Yeah, it does get a little weird.
I think it has something to do with the fact that they made one up after getting asked about it so often...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Zelda_timeline.jpg
Three timelines b*tches!It is kinda nuts, but it also seems to add up for the most part, so, that's cool with me. It's also pointing out that there are a few Zelda games I need to get back around to. Namely the Oracle ones. And also Skyward Sword but I don't have the money for the game and a new controller. Or either by itself for that matter.

The child/adult timeline split makes sense to me, as time travel was actually involved. The split over whether link beat Gannondorf in OoT is just bizzare.

It is interesting how the games are grouped in the three branches though: one for the classic & portable 2D Zeldas, one for the Windwaker and it's spinoffs and one for MM and TP, the two ' dark and mature' Zeldas.

Oh and the top section is reserved for all the Zelda games that came out claiming to be the first in the series.

not to mention Zelda 2 features 'Zelda the first' yet is the last game in it's timeline.

So Nintendo just announced New Super Luigi U. DLC content for NSMBW:U. At least 80 all new levels where you play as Luigi. No price was mentioned but if it's $20 AUD or less then that will be pretty rad, though $30-$40 will be okay, not rad though.

Any thoughts/impressions about it? It looks like it will use the same overworld level select screen as the original game which is a little turn off and I'm hoping they change which levels feature World shortcuts.

Also hoping they'll up the difficulty.

What's more fun than Tool-Assisted Speedrun (tasvideos.org)s? Why, Tool-Assisted Playaround (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY-gbyrbSsY)s.

Mortal Kombat ones are also typically hilarious because of a tendency to highlight a lot of weird bugs.

Sony announced the PS4.

Points of note:

Controller is a dualshock with a touch pad and a dedicated share button for posing gameplay clips online. Built in PSMove style functionality with a glowing light on the rear of the controller and a separate sensor bar.

Console apparently 'learns your preferences' and pre-downloads games it predicts you will want to purchase.

Content streaming allows you to play demos as you download. You can also stream PS4 games to your PSVita, WiiU style.

8Gigs of ram, regular PC style processor and built in hard drive (no size specified).


Games shown:

new Infamous
new Killzone
some driving game
Square-Enix are making a Final Fantasy game (details at E3)
Knack, a game where you play as lego Ganondorf or something
Johnathan Blow's 'The Witness'
Surprise Watchdogs was a PS4 game all along!
Bungie's Destiny coming to PS3 and PS4, with playstation exclusive content.
Diablo 3 coming to PS3 and PS4.

No price, no date other than 'holiday 2013' and no hardware shown.

I watched it all and it was great. The PS4 looks very, very promising. Particularly the amount of support Sony seems to have garnered for it, both from established big developers and indie ones.

Like, how in the hell did they get Jonathan Blow there? :p

Console apparently 'learns your preferences' and pre-downloads games it predicts you will want to purchase. Man, seriously? Many types of ugh.

Man, seriously? Many types of ugh.

I'm pretty sure that feature will be optional. :p

Also Team17 is on the list of companies developing a launch title. Might be Superfrog.

Console apparently 'learns your preferences' and pre-downloads games it predicts you will want to purchase.

That's probably a really, really bad idea and hopefully optional.

I'm pretty sure that feature will be optional. :pLet's hope! Not much would surprise me anymore. :p

No price, no date other than 'holiday 2013' and no hardware shown.
lol wut

no hardware shown.

Their Fartbook goons posted this (http://kotaku.com/5985768).

I'm really, noticeably disturbed/disappointed to note that I'm a little more interested in the PS4 than the WiiU, which is to say, only barely tangentially interested as opposed to not at all.

Built in PSMove style functionality with a glowing light on the rear of the controller and a separate sensor bar.
It's a stereo camera that actively tracks the controller.
More like Kinect that the sensor bar for the Wii.

If there's some logical reason for it not being backwards compatible even to the PS3, I'd love to hear it.

If there's some logical reason for it not being backwards compatible even to the PS3, I'd love to hear it.

Because the Cell processor is practically impossible to emulate on any processor available today, basically. And sticking a PS3 within the PS4 so it can play PS3 games(similar to what they did with the BC PS3's so they would play PS2 games) would cost too much and drive up the cost of the machine considerably.

edit: They did mention they'll try to get PS3 games(along with PS1 and PS2 games) working through Gaikai's streaming service, but I honestly think it's unlikely they'll get it to work well enough. Definitely not at launch. And will most likely have a separate cost, either re-buying the game at a lower cost or paying a subscription. They can in theory have you insert a PS3 disc on the PS4 just to authenticate it and then stream the game to you, but I very much doubt they would be able to offer this service for free.

And of course, if your internet service isn't good enough and/or you live too far away from their render farms, the experience wouldn't really be ideal.

They can in theory have you insert a PS3 disc on the PS4 just to authenticate it and then stream the game to youSounds way too intuitive and intelligent for Sony to me.

Maybe I'm just a cynical old jerk but I still pretty much see a bunch of Sony executives doing their best to dodge around "we want you to buy all your games again."

I'm pretty sure that's not the reason this time around. Not to say I don't expect them to release 'Full HD Remakes' of PS3 games on the PS4 at some point, just that I'm pretty sure having PS3 BC in there is just not remotely cost-effective. :p

Nintendo continues strong with regards to backwards Compatibility. Wii U can play almost every game the Wii can plus more, and the Wii has insanely awesome backwards compatibility, even compatible with Sega systems! And yes, I know they use emulators, but it works so damn well in comparison to the software emulation we get on Xbox360 and brief hardware emulation, software emulation and then no emulation on the PS3.

So Nintendo has 2 times now released a gaming console that can playing thousands of games from a multitude of previous console systems and the Wii U launches with the same support as the Wii (Thousands of games on launch day!).

Nintendo continues strong with regards to backwards Compatibility. Wii U can play almost every game the Wii can plus more, and the Wii has insanely awesome backwards compatibility, even compatible with Sega systems! And yes, I know they use emulators, but it works so damn well in comparison to the software emulation we get on Xbox360 and brief hardware emulation, software emulation and then no emulation on the PS3.

So Nintendo has 2 times now released a gaming console that can playing thousands of games from a multitude of previous console systems and the Wii U launches with the same support as the Wii (Thousands of games on launch day!).

Well, yeah, but there's also a drawback to Nintendo's approach, which is underpowered specs. Sony could have stuck with very similar architecture to the Cell to be able to support PS3 BC, but that would have meant it wouldn't have been nearly as good a machine as what they ended up with, nor as easily to develop for, and probably just as expensive.

Also the VC doesn't count as "backwards compatibility" anymore than Sony's HD re-releases do. Backwards compatibility means being able to use software you have already purchased, and I'm pretty damn certain that Sega cartridges do not work on the Wii. :p

Well, yeah, but there's also a drawback to Nintendo's approach, which is underpowered specs. Sony could have stuck with very similar architecture to the Cell to be able to support PS3 BC, but that would have meant it wouldn't have been nearly as good a machine as what they ended up with, nor as easily to develop for, and probably just as expensive.

Also the VC doesn't count as "backwards compatibility" anymore than Sony's HD re-releases do. Backwards compatibility means being able to use software you have already purchased, and I'm pretty damn certain that Sega cartridges do not work on the Wii. :p
Gamecube backwards compatibility was also only available on the earlier Wii models and has then been dropped, and never implemented in the WiiU.

Nintendo continues strong with regards to backwards Compatibility. Wii U can play almost every game the Wii can plus more, and the Wii has insanely awesome backwards compatibility, even compatible with Sega systems! And yes, I know they use emulators, but it works so damn well in comparison to the software emulation we get on Xbox360 and brief hardware emulation, software emulation and then no emulation on the PS3.

So Nintendo has 2 times now released a gaming console that can playing thousands of games from a multitude of previous console systems and the Wii U launches with the same support as the Wii (Thousands of games on launch day!).
Emulating consoles from the 90s is not the same as emulating last-gen consoles.

Also the VC doesn't count as "backwards compatibility" anymore than Sony's HD re-releases do. Backwards compatibility means being able to use software you have already purchased, and I'm pretty damn certain that Sega cartridges do not work on the Wii. :pYeah, it's paying for a rerelease on a new platform. :p

Gamecube backwards compatibility was also only available on the earlier Wii models and has then been dropped, and never implemented in the WiiU.
I believe it's reasonably likely that the Wii U's hardware is still technically capable of playing Gamecube games - it just lacks a DVD drive and the controller ports, and of course software support.

Yeah, it's paying for a rerelease on a new platform. :p

You don't have to pay anything to transfer virtually all (Including virtual console) of your digital purchases from the Wii to the Wii U. You only have to pay if you want to be able to play the game on the Gamepad display and customize the controls. If you don't want those features then it is 100% free process.

You don't have to pay anything to transfer virtually all (Including virtual console) of your digital purchases from the Wii to the Wii U. You only have to pay if you want to be able to play the game on the Gamepad display and customize the controls. If you don't want those features then it is 100% free process.

Yeah but that's going from Wii to WiiU. The point is that the VC games themselves are simply re-releases on a new platform, and not a backwards compatibility feature to old consoles. So the Wii does not support Genesis BC, it simply has several Genesis games available for purchase on its online store.

I would also like to point out that Wii BC on WiiU isn't quite ideal, as it requires you to switch over to Wii mode and makes you unable to use WiiU features while doing so. Which I think that was a major oversight by Nintendo. Hopefully it can be fixed in a later firmware update.