What are you playing?

[Chaos]

Isnīt there an artifact - Azuraīs Star, I think - that is basically a re-usable Grand Soul Gem?

[dgavin]

You might want to keep quiet about that, IIRC the NDA hasn't been lifted yet...
ETA: Or are they starting the pre-order beta now, like GW2?

NDA's don't cover if you are part of the testing or not. However I won't be able to show early screenies, nor talk specifics about what I like or not.

I can say this much, for being in a Beta phase, i've only had to file one bug report so far. So they put a lot of work into getting it in a fairly good condition before opening the beta doors.

[Moose]

Isnīt there an artifact - Azuraīs Star, I think - that is basically a re-usable Grand Soul Gem?

Yep.

[AGN Fuel]

Isnīt there an artifact - Azuraīs Star, I think - that is basically a re-usable Grand Soul Gem?

Try and get The Black Star if you can, as it holds both black & white souls.

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/T...ck_Star_(Item)

[Spoons]

You might want to keep quiet about that, IIRC the NDA hasn't been lifted yet...
ETA: Or are they starting the pre-order beta now, like GW2?

The latter.

I played it a bit over the weekend. Pretty decent game, I thought. It won't be my first choice game, but it will have population over Conan, so I will probably play it a reasonable amount.

And the reviews and feedback are freely available on the forum website, so i doubt NDAs are a concern.

[Fazor]

Finished Max Payne 3's single-player story yesterday. A very satisfying experience. Great presentation, very graphic-novel, dime-store detective vibe. And it moves like a freight train, with seamless blending between cut-scenes, in-game set pieces, gameplay, and even "chapter-to-chapter."

Playing through the Multiplayer stuff now in preparation for our first video review / feature. I'm not impressed with the multiplayer, but it's really a game you play for the single-player mode anyway.

[Jasel]

Fazor - if you PC can handle Torchlight (especially the HD version) you should be able to play Diablo 3. My PC is about 4 years old and runs it perfectly.

Glad to hear Max Payne is as good as the previous...loved those games. I flipped a coin between Max Payne and Diablo...Diablo 3 won and it is pretty fun. Good to play with friends, and if you open a game to public random people can join in on the fun. Though I would recommend enabling general chat and forming a PUG from there.

One obvious bummer is no in game mail, and a lesser bummer (only because I can see why they didn't do it) was no in game VOIP.

[Fazor]

Fazor - if you PC can handle Torchlight (especially the HD version) you should be able to play Diablo 3. My PC is about 4 years old and runs it perfectly.

I can only run Torchlight on lowest settings, and it still stutters in areas with a lot of enemies. The problem is my PC is a box-store Laptop, so while the specs aren't awful, the video card just doesn't cut it for gaming. I'm glad to hear the game is good though.

[Moose]

Picked up my fourth copy of Railroad Tycoon 2 Platinum, just about my favorite game all time. (Steam sale.) This one works well on Windows 7, so I'm again having a great time with it.

[captain swoop]

I love Railroad Tycoon. I haven't played it for donkeys Years.

[Fazor]

It's the slow season in game releases, and I've been in the mood for a JRPG (Japanese RPG.) I'm not particularly invested in the genre, but there's a handful that I love. Star Ocean. Chrono Trigger. Etc.

Anyway, I decided to take this break in new releases to try out Eternal Sonata. I'm about five hours in, and head over heels for it. Beautiful art style, interesting if a bit cliche story, innovative combat. Makes me sad I missed this while it was still new.

[jokergirl]

I've been trying GW2 (preorder beta account) and looked a bit at Secret World over my BF's shoulder, as well. Not so sure I will play Secret World myself, but the puzzles were amusing. I'm kind of afraid they will be nerfed before the game comes out though, as the majority of beta players seem to be teens with a short attention span and a thirst for quick solutions. Looking up an obscure Edgar Allan Poe story for a key to a puzzle doesn't seem their style. (though I enjoyed it greatly!)

Guild Wars 2 I don't know about yet either. I bought it so I'll at least use it for RP. But I'm not sure I like the interface and the quests so far. Not like the old Guild Wars...

[BigDon]

Well, I got over 148 hours into Sins of a Solar Empire- Rebellion, plus unlocked more than half of the accomplishments while it was still in beta.

God, I love playing the Vasari.

Sure, if I was playing for money I'd use the Advent, but since I play for fun I go with the Vasari all the way.

for those of you who don't play, it's a real time strate..strati...RTS game where you have (had) three factions at war with each other. Not one of the factions politics are likeable so my friends and I go with the game machanics

You have the humans, who form the Trade Emergeny Coalition or TEC.

Then you have the main human schism known as the Advent. In almost all the earlier editions of the game you could tell the authors of the game were in love with the Advent. In Rebellion the balance is so balanced it's almost flawed because of it.

Then you have the Vasari.

The Vasari aren't like us. You think Romulans are pretentious, stuck up jerks? Now imagine how much bigger jerks they would be if they weren't humanoid (Or as the Romulans would say, we weren't Romulanoid.)

I'll spare you the Vasari's excesses here as I plan on writing a skit for Fun and Games concerning "the lies and propaganda spread by the TEC and the Advent."

If I can't get at least one person (who plays) to blow coffee out of their nose with that one I'm going to retire.

The Vasari were experimenting with new forms of instantious travel and unleashed something into the Universe that they have been fleeing for the last ten thousand years. Something that seems to be following them. The planets they leave behind in their flight go quiet without fail.

They ran into human space thirty years ago, after we had been at peace for more than a thousand years. Humanity lost dozens of worlds before we could retool machinery and men to hold them off.

And just as the TEC were preparing to go on the offensive the Advent appear. In the TEC's rear quarter no less.

The Advent. A space fairing race composed entirely of psycho girlfriends. They were banished from a miserable hellhole of a desert planet for practicing gender equality, (and the practice hardwiring children into computer subsystems) provolving animals and giving equal rights to computer programs. Generally behaving like a pack of high tech hippes. Who then prospered, spread to hundreds of worlds without the tech knowing about them and then came back seeking revenge for...being told they were icky or something.

To really understand the concept of a revenge-driven, all loving and accepting society of cheesed-off women who will convert you or else would take a combination of meds that would make Hunter S. Thompson blink.

Who'da thunk it?

Now all the races have splint into two groups, Loyalists and Rebels, though I don't see the TEC division as being at cross purposes to one another. Not to the point of armed hostilities at any rate.

In the newest version they introduce a new class of warship, the Titan. Escorted by capital ships like capital ships used to be escorted by frigates.

I'm honestly amazed they didn't give the Advent Titans "bosums". Think I speak in hyperbole? Here's the trailer for the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYZfjIX_5LQ

HD, looks great in full screen.

Towards the end of the game trailer you can see two Advent Titans, one Loyalist and one Rebel going at it. Before getting jumped by the manta-like Vasari Loyalist Titan. Tell me I'm wrong!

You know what's sad? I've played the game so long that I can indentify every single space vehicle you will see in that trailer, they're all in the game on one side or another.

So using your mousewheel you pan out and the ships become graphic symbols. BUT you can zoom down to ship level and watch movie gradesci-fi space battles from any angle as well.

Can give you chills, I tell you true.

(From the man that remembers when Pong was new and amazing.)

[TJMac]

Playing the last Beta weekend of GW2, right now, actually. Anet just released two new race classes, so that has been my main goal, to try out those story lines.

As of now, I'm guessing it will, at launch, take up as much of my time as the original Guild Wars. (HOM 50/50 and two GWAMM characters, if that tells you anything)

I am still trying to hook up with some other players and get in their guild.

TJ

[Fazor]

Playing the last Beta weekend of GW2, right now, actually. Anet just released two new race classes, so that has been my main goal, to try out those story lines.

As of now, I'm guessing it will, at launch, take up as much of my time as the original Guild Wars. (HOM 50/50 and two GWAMM characters, if that tells you anything)

I am still trying to hook up with some other players and get in their guild.

TJ

I'm jealous of all of you. I really enjoyed GW1 (though never played through end-game PvP content.) I think GW2 would satisfy my itch for an MMO without being a rule-your-life MMO that demands all my time. Alas, don't have the machine to run it.

[Moose]

Skyrim, still. Actually recently restarted. And the Companions, as their first mission, just sent me to off a master vampire. Contracted the Vampirism virus as a result, and I think I'm going to run with it rather than rush to the nearest temple. (I have mods in that change how vampirism works a bit, so it should be somewhat interesting.)

[Fazor]

Skyrim, still. Actually recently restarted. And the Companions, as their first mission, just sent me to off a master vampire. Contracted the Vampirism virus as a result, and I think I'm going to run with it rather than rush to the nearest temple. (I have mods in that change how vampirism works a bit, so it should be somewhat interesting.)

The Dawnguard DLC really puts vampirism and werewolves into the mix, but not sure when it comes out for PC.

I just downloaded League of Legends, and may be addicted. Probably not dangerously addicted, as I'm not good enough at games to compete at the upper levels. But it's fun, and it's free-to-play, with an optional real-money store that actually doesn't bug me.

[Moose]

The Dawnguard DLC really puts vampirism and werewolves into the mix, but not sure when it comes out for PC.

Microsoft's exclusive wore out a few days ago, but Bethsoft's director of marketing recently tweeted that they haven't announced Dawnguard for other platforms, no timeline, etc. Nobody's really sure what all of that means. The keenly optimistic think "any minute now", and that most-pessimistic side of me points out that worst-case is no release ever. There's a lot of range in what is known.

[captain swoop]

For you PC Skyrimmers. My 'Mod' is online for download on nexusmods http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/19435

A Player home in the form of a Walled Manor House with guards, housekeeper and cook plus an accompanying village with NPCs.

[HenrikOlsen]

Nice.
I just tried a bit of Skyrim again after getting a new graphics card (NVidia GTX 680) to see how it was to play it at more than 5 fps and somehow found I'd lost 1― hour. I may start playing it some more.

[captain swoop]

1 and a half? I can spend that deciding what to eat lol. (I have a 'basic human needs' mod. I have to eat regular means and make sure it's a balanced diet)

[Fazor]

1 and a half? I can spend that deciding what to eat lol. (I have a 'basic human needs' mod. I have to eat regular meals and make sure it's a balanced diet)

Do you slow down the day / night cycle? Otherwise, I'd think you'd have to stop every 5 minutes to eat.

[Moose]

*sigh* Or rather, I'm not playing Skyrim at the moment. Seems a new patch got released all of a sudden, and while SKSE updates quickly, Scriptdragon is usually a good day or two behind.

CS, is your mod sited on that plain near Whiterun, near the intersection by the ruined fort and the plot-related watchtower?

[Paul Beardsley]

Well I'm playing a traditional 1990s text adventure called Curses to celebrate completion of an Open University module in Forensic Science.

Surely the total opposite end of the spectrum to Skyrim...

[captain swoop]

I slow the day/night right down.

Foxchase manor is situated on the road north from fortgreymoor near Redorans Retreat and Silent Moons Camp. It's marked on the Map as soon as you load it, you don't need to 'discover' it.

[Fazor]

I downloaded a couple of text-adventures recently (last year or so) but couldn't get into them. I didn't play them "back in the day." The exception was a multi-user text adventure via bulletin board. I believe it was called LORD (Legend of the Red Dragon.) That's the game that got me into multiplayer over-wire gaming.

[Moose]

I slow the day/night right down.

I do too, likely for the same reason. I'm pretty sure I'm using the same needs mod you are. I recognize the balanced nutrition component. I usually set mine to 6. (A full day takes roughly four hours of real time play.)

Foxchase manor is situated on the road north from fortgreymoor near Redorans Retreat and Silent Moons Camp. It's marked on the Map as soon as you load it, you don't need to 'discover' it.

Okay, cool. I know where it is now. :-) I may have to take a look.

[pzkpfw]

Just bought Panzer Corps (Matrix et al). Very very nice.

It's a "clone" or a descendant (i.e. I don't know they actually inherited code via some chain of ownership from SSI) of Panzer General and Panzer General II. (Wisely, they've ignored the later, nasty PG's).

It plays like a bug-fixed and improved/tweaked Panzer General II, with some elements of the original thrown back in. It runs on my Win 7 machine in Full HD.

The campaigns are slightly limited when compared to PGII (e.g. no play as Allies option) but they are using the model of downloadable content to add scenarios, I expect play as Allies will be added at some time.

So far I'm just going through the tutorial campaign, but for now I highly recommend it as a basic (some call it "beer and pretzels") WWII wargame.

(I like the turn based (you go I go) games. My reactions just don't keep up with the "real time" games.

Edit: I take that back, a little. I did enjoy the Close Combat series (not too much going on for me to handle), and I see Matrix have upgraded those, too, so that/they may be the next thing I'm playing...)

[captain swoop]

I do too, likely for the same reason. I'm pretty sure I'm using the same needs mod you are. I recognize the balanced nutrition component. I usually set mine to 6. (A full day takes roughly four hours of real time play.)



Okay, cool. I know where it is now. :-) I may have to take a look.

I set 4 to 1

I use the mod called 'Basic Human needs' It is less cumbersome than sone of the others

[Moose]

I use the mod called 'Basic Human needs' It is less cumbersome than sone of the others

Okay, guess not then. I'm using Imp's More Complex Needs. It looks more cumbersome than it is, and I've found it absolutely reliable, even with a changed timescale. (This was a problem with most of the needs mods for the Fallouts.) It tracks protein vs carbs vs hydration, vs satiation (how full you are), will impair you if you adventure while drunk, and you can even overdose on alcohol if you overdo it.

Food will spoil eventually.

What I really like is the new recipes: most of the meats can be dried/jerked in bulk, and will last forever, but isn't as nutritious/hydrating as a fresh steak. So I buy fresh at inns, and go with the travel rations if I'm in the field a while.