So it’s a holiday weekend, and a good time to be playing games. If only there were a few things to play besides Bioshock. Maybe Two Worlds, except what I’ve read so far hasn’t excited me. Quite the opposite.
I did grab the demo for Geneforge 4, and will take a look at it tomorrow. Otherwise, it’s kinda slow out there, as we wait for the (heh) blizzard of releases come Halloween.
In the meantime, what, if anything, are you folks playing these days?
I have been playing around with the new iMac I got to replace the old 450 mhz PC I have used the past 8 years for Internet access, leaving my main PC free for gaming. I am quite impressed with it so far. Networking was a breeze and I got an evaluation version of VMWare Fusion for OS X and installed XP in a virtual machine for running the few apps that I don’t want to give up or haven’t found a suitable OS X replacement. mIRC was one that I haven’t found anything close to on OS X. I did try DOSBox and it run much better than on my P4 2.5ghz. I also looked at a remake of Ultima III that was only on the Mac and it was ok, but doubt if I would play it again.
I was *wanting* to play either Bioshock or Metroid Prime 3 Corruption but my kids have maanged to monopolize both. Bioshock is installed on my 19 year old’s PC and he has also been off this weekend playing the new Guild Wars Expansion.
Well, Scorpia,
I’ve been playing Warlords 4, Titan Quest (with IT), Two Worlds, and Fate.
I still encourge you to check out Dungeon Lords CE, Fable: The Lost Chapters, and Two Worlds.
Actually, Scorpia, there are other games you can do BEFORE Halloween.
On Sept 3, you can go for Conquest in the Seven Kingdoms.
On Sept. 4, you can help Sherlock Holmes solve a mystery.
On Sept. 18, You can test your ideas about Beliefs & Betrayals.
On Oct. 9, you can be a real Fury.
On Oct. 9, you too can wear the Mask of the Betrayer.
On Oct. 16, you can witness the Dawn of Magic.
AND FINALLY:
On Oct. 30-31
Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising
The Witcher
Hellgate: London
Not to forget that Talisman Board and computer games are suppose to be release on Oct. 2.
Likewise, Tabula Rosa is due Oct. 2 as well.
So, Scorpia, which of these games are doomed to be overshadowed by other games?
Which games are you likely to play?
So, are you going to give us a Scorpion’s Tale about these games?
Or do you need to read the scorpion’s Mail first?
I’m spending most of my time WRITING games, but I am going back to some old vintage games for… uh… research. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Research.
I have too many unfinished games. Gotta finish Final Fantasy XII one o’ these days….
Coyote, do you think you can finish FF XII by the Turn of the Century?
Playing it once a month for 2 hours at a time… and trying to remember where I was last… I dunno.
Fortunately, we’re early into the century. Could work.
I’ve been told it gets more exciting later.
Xian, yeah, Macs were always the superior machine. If they’d been a little cheaper, the PC would have had some real competition. And I think your kids are spending too much time gaming if Dad can’t get some playtime of his own ;)
Presto, as usual, I can count on you for a list. See, we’re into the Xmas rush now. Most of those games don’t interest me. And I think the ones you mentioned had better sell fast, before Halloween rolls (creeps?) around.
Mask of the Betrayer is iffy. I’d have to reinstall NWN2. And I’d also have to find out if it’s as stuffed with those annoying videos.
Coyote, if you can’t finish it, you can always hand it down as an heirloom and your kids or grandkids can complete it ;)
No games here, just some Netflix discs and a fantasy novel. My stint as co-DM ended when the lead DM cancelled the NWN campaign due to RL complications.
I have Two Worlds on order at Amazon for the sole purpose of playing it in co-op multiplayer mode. We’ll see how that goes.
I got to play Metroid Prime 3 Corruption today. I walked away quite impressed. It’s the best shooter I have played on a console, bar none. Mostly I have still been playing around with the new iMac. The iLife software is fantastic, almost worth paying the difference in cost of a PC just for it alone. I imported my pictures from my Windows PC and had a slideshow assembled with the option to burn to DVD in less time that it is taking me to write this post. I still have iDVD and Garage Band to play around with too. The kids loved the Photo Booth, where it uses the built in webcam to take your picture, but you have the option to use all kinds of funhouse mirror effects.
I think I am going to play Metroid 3 and hold off on Bioshock until I build a new PC. I am waiting for the new Intel x38 chipset to be released which supposed to occur on the 23rd of this month. Since I will want the new PC to last several years, I figured it was worth waiting since that chipset will support some of the newer technologies like DDR3 and PCI-X 2.0.
Several years? Hah. You know that in a few months there will be something new out anyway. Besides, do you really want to buy any brand new hardware right off?
But I think you’re right to hold off on getting Bioshock for awhile. Maybe by the time you’re ready for it, they’ll have removed the more onerous part of their copy protection.
I’ll be interested also in your comparison of the two games.
Well, I went back on my vow and downloaded the BioShock demo. I decided I can’t say much if I don’t at least try it. Well, it won’t run on my system so I switched to playing Counter Strike. I also played Sid Meier’s Railroads! with my 5 year old – that was fun since he loves trains even though the game is absurdly easy.
Other than that I started reading the Max Brooks book, “World War Z” for the fourth time (love that book!) and listened to the music of Proto-Kaw. Oh yea, drank some yummy Newcastle Brown Ale, nice relaxing weekend.
Y’know, the demo is also copy protected. But overall, Vag, sounds like you had a decent holiday.
Currently playing:
Dwarf Fortress (Fortress Mode)
It’s kinda like Nethack meets Sim Ant but with dwarves. It has ASCII graphics, one of the worlds worst interfaces, an incredibly steep learning curve, yet it is eerily addictive. I gave it a try because of the saga of a succession game called “boatmurdered†{
… saga of a succession game called “boatmurdered†{
okay forget it.
Whatever evil auto-post thingy you have simply doesn’t like the way I type.
So, before I end up spamming your message board – I’ll quit trying.
… stupid auto-post thingy.
I’m almost done with Two Worlds I think. After that I’ll try Bioshock. I also have D&D Tactics coming, but I have to wait on the new slim PSP first.
@Scorpia – The problem wasn’t getting BioShock to start, it was after the game started when your floating in the water. At that point I could move around but my poor video card just couldn’t handle it. The graphics wouldn’t render right on it even with the newest drivers.
It was a good weekend even with the kids having mild head colds. The hardest part was trying to explain to my 5 year old why he couldn’t play counter strike which he refered to as “helping Daddy get the bad guys”. I’d got up to go to the bathroom and he got out of bed came into our bedroom and was trying to play it. Lot’s of tears since he didn’t understand why Daddy wouldn’t let him play it.
I know what you are saying there Vagabond. I have the same problem due to the age spread of my kids. The boys are 19 and 9 so of course the 9 year old wants to play the games he sees the 19 year old playing.
Halcazar, I ran into the same thing the other day. It’s the symbols I think, the board is trying to interpret them as html. The other day I used a less than sign and it didn’t take anything after that, but if I spelled it out it worked ok.
Halcazar, sorry you had such problems with posting to the board. It does seem to be rather particular about what it accepts in the way of non-alphanumerics. How were you trying to post?
By the way, “boatmurdered” is rather an odd title. Can you give some details on that.
Vag, what video card do you have? Sounds like the game is tough on graphics. Too bad your kid couldn’t help daddy get those bad guys ;)
Currently, I am testing 5 online games with another one starting hopefully in Sept. One game is entering In-house Alpha and another game has been released but I am on their test server.
So many bugs…so little time!
Toodles,
Dolnor Numbwit
Eternal Newbie
Well, two of my favorite indie adventure gamers just released new titles, so they’ve been doing me nicely for my adventuring desires.
Ben Jordan, Paranormal Investigator 6: Attack of the Sea-People from http://www.grundislavgames.com continues the well-written series, a great use of an hour and a half of easy, breezy puzzling.
Blackwell Unbound from http://www.wadjeteyegames.com is a bargain-priced $10 title from Dave Gilbert, who wrote the rabbi-turned-detective game The Shivah a while back. This one features great, old-school graphics and if it’s anything like its predecessor it’ll be amazing. Gilbert is one of the best writers in the field today.
Hmm, that sounded almost advert-like, but really, it’s nice to see two of my favorite designers come out with new product in such a short span of time.
Thanks Xian and Scorp fer the help with my truncated posts. (it was the dreaded ‘less than sign’ that was the culprit.)
Anyway, I was suggesting that for a fun read – to Google ‘boatmurdered’ and see how the game inspired some rather creative storytelling from it’s players. Any game that immerses the player enough to make them write (in character) stories about thier experience – is one I that had to try.
As for the name ‘boatmurdered’, well that was the randomly generated name for that particular Dwarven fortress. The computer uses a sort of madlibs style naming routine, for naming things in the game. It makes for some odd, and often hilarious combinations.
(*warning* some of the ‘boatmurdered saga contains Dwarven profanities. But after the Elephants start attacking en mass – well, can you blame them?)
Hal, hehe, I must do that. Sounds like fun. There were some pretty weird names of items in Fate, too. Gotta love those random generators.
And yeah, the interpreter here isn’t too bright, and those angle brackets get it very confused. Sorry you had that problem.
Dolonor, so what are you playing in your spare time? ;) Seriously, though, sounds like you have your hands full with that many games.
Ms. Scorpia, -)
Actually, part of alpha/beta testing is playing the games. The Developers have programs running logging playstyles, economic transactions, item tracking, network optimizations, etc. in the background. So, in order to “work” , I have to play too! -)
In only one game will I actually be paid real $$ for my efforts. I am the Co-Test Lead for Adellion.com. I test the other games because I merely just enjoy hunting bugs and meeting other testers. Online testers form their own close community, of which I like to belong. To each their own! -)
I haven’t played a stand-alone game since Oblivion. I may try InnRevival here soon…to relive old memories. And I can always go back playing on my Apple ][+ with Ultima I. LOL
Toodles,
Dolnor Numbwit
Eternal Newbie
I got swallowed up by the NWN2 PW I started playing on. So that’s what I’ve been doing. Just managed to claw my way up for air.
Dolnor, the only problem with beta testing is all those annoying bugs you run into. Then you play the gold version and run into others ;) I did some BT (stand-alone, of course) in my time, and I wouldn’t care to do it again myself. I admire your fortitude in playing so many at once.
Klara, glad you came up for air. Gotta keep ya breathing! I’m still keeping an eye on the NWN 1 games in case something turns up.
Well, Scorpia, be CAREFUL what you wish for, you just might get it.
There was this priest that kept on praying to GOD not to tell another lie. Finally GOD said ok. The next day, the priest woke up without a tongue.
Remember what happened to the man that wished for rain day in and day out for forty days? He got what he wished for. I think his name was Noah.
So, Scorpia, be careful what you wish for. Especially if you’re playing a game of D&D with a CE DM.
Presto, ALL DMs are CE ;)
I already know about wishes, and getting what you wished for, only not the way you expected.