What are you playing?

[Van Rijn]

Well, I have all the parts for my new computer! Now I just have to put it together. I now have the heaviest video card I've ever purchased, a Sapphire dual fan HD 7950. It's an absolute monster with most of the bulk in heat pipes and fans. I usually go for mid performance video cards and this is a bit of a step up, so maybe I just haven't been seeing what the higher end stuff is like. At that, this card is supposed to be cooler and substantially quieter than the HD 7970 cards (which they say sound like jet engines) and naturally, lower performance than the HD 7970, but from the specs it should have more performance than I'll need for a while.

This machine will also have a good performance SSD for the primary drive and a fast, though not ultimate, CPU (I7 2700K). It should be good for gaming, though that isn't the only reason I'm building it. I am hoping I'll have more luck with some games that aren't working on my current box (Fallout 3, for instance, always crashes a little into the game on my current box).

[Van Rijn]

I thought this video was pretty funny, "If Quake were done today." I won't say too much about it because it would be hard to say much about the specifics without giving away the humor. The general idea is that you're seeing the screen of a "modern" Quake game and hearing someone getting frustrated as he sees things like "Hint: Shoot enemies to kill them!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1ZtBCpo0eU

(Mild language warning, for what you can sort of hear him mumbling.)

[Paul Beardsley]

Yes, that was quite amusing!

[Doodler]

Just finished ME2 and the ME3 demo. Patiently awaiting my preordered collector's edition on Tuesday

[Doodler]

My younger brother is currently getting ready to go stand in line for the midnight release of ME3.

[Moose]

I thought this video was pretty funny, "If Quake were done today." I won't say too much about it because it would be hard to say much about the specifics without giving away the humor.

Heh. He certainly has a point (and I'm looking at you, Mass "why not running" Effect), or would if tutorials couldn't be turned off. That said, the second half where he's playing quake old-school style is not, IMO, preferable.

[Fazor]

My younger brother is currently getting ready to go stand in line for the midnight release of ME3.

Him and about a billion people! The ME3 launch events were insane. I did that for Skyrim, because I was excited enough to skip out on sleep and stay up playing it. But I always work during the week, so typically it doesn't do me any good to stay up to midnight to pick up a game.

How's he like it so far? Any word?

Heh. He certainly has a point (and I'm looking at you, Mass "why not running" Effect), or would if tutorials couldn't be turned off. That said, the second half where he's playing quake old-school style is not, IMO, preferable.

Besides, someone much smarter has already parodied that. Of course, mine wasn't a fancy new-fangled video.

[BigDon]

I've put 150 plus hours into Earth Defense Force: Insect Apocalypse the last three weeks.

[Fazor]

I've put 150 plus hours into Earth Defense Force: Insect Apocalypse the last three weeks.

EDF: Insect Armageddon? Or is 'Apocalypse' a separate version? I don't know much about it (only read bits about it, never played it or seen it in person.) But I've heard it's a very good, very addicting game.

[BigDon]

EDF: Insect Armageddon? Or is 'Apocalypse' a separate version? I don't know much about it (only read bits about it, never played it or seen it in person.) But I've heard it's a very good, very addicting game.

Yeah, you got me. I was talking about zombies in no less than two other posts before I posted that so had a bit of a carry over.

So my friends and I are coming up with challenges not listed in the game itself.

One of the cooler ones being the "Hector De-fib"

Hectors are giant androids used by the enemy that have glowing red pecs that are more vulnerable to damage than the rest of it. The short ones are about 80 feet tall.

So one of the combat classes you can be, the Jet, who uses a jet pack, has energy weapons.

One of which is a short range weapon that shoots lighten bolts, used for personal defense and crowd situations. The Neptunizer series.

So, of course you, have to fly up and bring it down with a couple of well placed blasts to the chest.

If you are solo'ing it, it's best to jack the Hector up from a the roof of a building you expect him to run by.

Oh, and since nobody else has, I've given the giant ants a latin name.

Gigaformica bulimiae The giant barfing ant.

[NickW]

I picked up my copy of ME3 on Tuesday during my lunch hour. Only about 8 hours into the game at this point but I am thoroughly enjoying it. I would be enjoying it more, but I woke up on Saturday morning to find out my son had restored my PS3, therefore deleting my ME2 saved gamed. I really wish I could have imported that.....

[BigDon]

I picked up my copy of ME3 on Tuesday during my lunch hour. Only about 8 hours into the game at this point but I am thoroughly enjoying it. I would be enjoying it more, but I woke up on Saturday morning to find out my son had restored my PS3, therefore deleting my ME2 saved gamed. I really wish I could have imported that.....

God bless little children. They are the sun, the moon and the stars to me.

But I bet you understand why rats eat their young a little better...

[NickW]

But I bet you understand why rats eat their young a little better...

Yes, yes I do....

[Fazor]

Yes, yes I do....

If it makes you feel any better, if your ME2 save file came from an imported ME1 save file, there's a glitch that has been preventing a proper import into ME3. Though from what I understand, it only affect your character's appearance, so all the decisions and such would still have ported over. But still! Your son may have saved you a minor frustration at the cost of a mere bigger frustration!

[Doodler]

How's he like it so far? Any word?

We're both hooked. He's about 10 more hours into it than I am, and if he keeps piping up with spoilers, I'm gonna thwap him!

It is phenomenal. Fantastic story writing. A few deaths hitting close to home, decisions from previous games having unintended consequences (pure paragons are going to be a little riled, but that's just life). Looks like everyone you've ever dealt with from previous games is at least getting a cameo, even if not a part of your team in an operation, they're a key element to the mission in a parallel track not unlike the suicide mission from ME2. The new folks you're introduced to in ME3 are very well scripted and written.

The ambiance you get from the game carries the sense of desperation at fighting an apocalypse very well. At the same time, there's a LOT of well placed humor written in as well.

[BigDon]

Doodler!

Como esta frijole!

(That's Spanish for "How you bean!")

I don't believe I've addressed you directly in months!

You just have to stop by Babbling more often.

[NickW]

If it makes you feel any better, if your ME2 save file came from an imported ME1 save file, there's a glitch that has been preventing a proper import into ME3. Though from what I understand, it only affect your character's appearance, so all the decisions and such would still have ported over. But still! Your son may have saved you a minor frustration at the cost of a mere bigger frustration!

Unfortunetly, ME1 was only released on the Xbox. The success of that game is what brought it to cross-platform. I just would have loved to see how the decisions I made in ME2 (all altruistic in nature) affected how ME3 would have played out. I also finally liked the way my character looked in a Bioware game. I guess I am going to have to pick up ME2 again and play through it to see how it works out. BTW, I am still enjoying the game in turns of story. Action wise, it has a slight feel of MGS4, where store took over the game play elements. I never had a problem with MGS4, in fact it is one of my favorite games, but the similarity is still there.

[Moose]

Unfortunetly, ME1 was only released on the Xbox.

At launch, sure, but they re-released it for PC, fixing most of the in-game annoyances while they were there. Not quite all, but most. The non-spoken-role elevator rides are much quicker; in particular, the one on the Normandy drops like a rock now.

Playing ME1 now, preparing my Shep for ME3 (once Bioware has fixed the import bug).

[NickW]

At launch, sure, but they re-released it for PC, fixing most of the in-game annoyances while they were there

Whoops, thanks for the correction, Moose. I do not do much PC gaming so that is probably why I didn't know that. I wonder if there is a way to import a PC game save over to the PS3....

[Solfe]

Normally I don't go for Flash games, but I am hooked on Edgeworld. You can play at the company's website, Facebook and Google+.

[Van Rijn]

Well, I finally have my new computer together, and Mass Effect 3 installed, but I'm too worn out to do much right now.

This was one of the most tedious PC builds I've ever done, partly because the technology was just a bit different from what I'm used to (like the monster video card that required I pull a drive bay and hook up the drives differently). The entire project seemed to be a two steps forward, one step back sort of thing.

And I wasn't too happy when I went to install ME3, and was greeted with this Origin thing, basically another Stream-like program. So here was another service I'm supposed to log into, which I don't want to do, I just WANT TO PLAY THE GAME I BOUGHT. But, okay, I try to set up an ID, and every user name I can think of is already taken. Finally I came up with something that it would allow, but then it tells me I'm using the wrong password. Fine, I'll ask for a reset email, which it says it sends, but it never reaches my email ID (I checked the spam area too, and tried several times). Then I tried to create another ID, but it wouldn't let me set up a second one for the same email address. I finally ended up creating another ID and tied it to another email address I don't usually use for this stuff. And, finally, I can install.

[HenrikOlsen]

Back to playing Darwinia again, for such a simple game its replayability level is quite high.

[Fazor]

I picked up NBA2K12 just for fun. I'd rather have a college b-ball game, but no one has made one for console since 2009's NCAA 2010. The controls are a bit complicated to pick up, but it seems like a good game so far. Won most place's "Best sports game of 2012" award, so there's probably a reason for that (stiff competition with Fight Night '12, MLB The Show 2012, Fifa 12, and NHL 12 all being pretty great.)

I'm also reviewing -- and hope to god to finish today -- I Am Alive. Game has soo much potential but I'm roughly halfway though and it's failed to capitalize on really any of it. It's a shame. But it's redeeming quality is that it's a $15 downloadable rather than a $60 retail release.

And on Tuesday, Silent Hill: Downpour comes out.

[Moose]

Playing ME1 now, preparing my Shep for ME3 (once Bioware has fixed the import bug).

And now I'm ready for ME2, or will be once this reinstall completes. (Unfortunately, the archive version fails to install properly, so I have to redownload/reinstall. Bummer. 19% and counting.)

/ Going for lunch. *grumble*

[Romanus]

Words with Friends on Facebook, at which I'm really coming back from a string of failures in Lexulous.

[Doodler]

Doodler!

Como esta frijole!

(That's Spanish for "How you bean!")

I bean good, behaving myself here in SMAL, which does wonders for my continued privelege of posting hereabouts.

I've been reading your threads, and am glad to see you're still hangin' in there.

[Doodler]

Well, I finally have my new computer together, and Mass Effect 3 installed, but I'm too worn out to do much right now.

This was one of the most tedious PC builds I've ever done, partly because the technology was just a bit different from what I'm used to (like the monster video card that required I pull a drive bay and hook up the drives differently). The entire project seemed to be a two steps forward, one step back sort of thing.

And I wasn't too happy when I went to install ME3, and was greeted with this Origin thing, basically another Stream-like program. So here was another service I'm supposed to log into, which I don't want to do, I just WANT TO PLAY THE GAME I BOUGHT. But, okay, I try to set up an ID, and every user name I can think of is already taken. Finally I came up with something that it would allow, but then it tells me I'm using the wrong password. Fine, I'll ask for a reset email, which it says it sends, but it never reaches my email ID (I checked the spam area too, and tried several times). Then I tried to create another ID, but it wouldn't let me set up a second one for the same email address. I finally ended up creating another ID and tied it to another email address I don't usually use for this stuff. And, finally, I can install.

The cloud services can be a pain, I've got ME1 and ME2 through Steam (I had retail disks of ME2, but one vanished on me), and I already had Origin as a means of supporting my Sims 3 habit. That said, once they're set up, I doubt I'd go without them again. The ability to remotely install my games on a new machine without needing hard copy AND Origin's new feature that allows cloud storage of saved games (BAZINGA!!) is simply too good to pass up.

[Parrothead]

Re-loaded Return of the Arcade onto this machine, so I'm playing Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaxian, Dig-Dug and Pole Position.

Other than that I'm still golfing, Sierra's PGA Championship Golf 2000.

[Van Rijn]

Well, I finished Mass Effect 3.

Urgh.

Like NickW says, this is a story intensive game, maybe too story intensive. If you haven't seen it, there are a lot of people angry about the ending. I agree with that, but won't get into much detail, as it would be very hard to avoid spoilers. For me, this is like a movie where I'd like to forget the last ten minutes. The interesting thing is here there is at least the theoretical possibility that it will be changed with a DLC and there are some that have suggested that was already the plan: They might be trying something to sell more content or maybe they just ran out of time and expect to add a bit more later. It's going to be interesting to see.

Up until the ending, I was liking the game, but it seemed shorter than ME II, and stretched (there were things that just seemed to be there to slow you down without adding to the experience). There were still gut punch scenes, something I rarely notice in games. One of the things I've liked about this game series has been that it is possible for me to get invested emotionally in what happens. The problem with that is when they pull something I really hate (like the ending).

Time to play a different game.

[Van Rijn]

Oh, by the way, I had no crashes, one serious game play bug (if you kill a Harvester at one point before getting the special weapon, you're stuck in an area with no way out, and for a long time I thought I just hadn't figured out the trick exit) and some minor ones (like being able to walk through some boxes in the ship, handing an invisible object to one of the other characters at one point, etc.).