So, what're you playing?

[Rasix]

*squee*

After three weeks of being lost in the mail, Avatar the Game for PC arrived today. I'm James Cameron's bitch, but it remains to be seen if the game can break my resurgent Fallout 3 addiction.

Reviews for this game weren't overly favorable.  Good luck!

And.. Uncharted 2 is longer than I thought it'd be.  End enemy type introduced is a bit ridiculous.  I was somewhat hoping they wouldn't do this again.

[Yegolev]

I am shocked they attempted to repeat their initial success.

The best part about finishing Uncharted 2 is Donut Drake.  My wife made me turn off Donut Drake.

[Rasix]

Finished Uncharted 2.  End battle wasn't THAT bad.  Thankfully the blue hulk battles weren't very frequent. Probably the best narrative experience (read linear) there is to be had in gaming.

The dialogue in this one was superb.  Really funny in parts.

[Yegolev]

Funnier when said by Donut Drake.



I just played ten minutes of A Boy And His Blob on Wii.  My son had trouble with one spot and then I did a challenge level.  Pretty good production quality for a Wii game.

[jakonovski]

First impression on Avatar the Game is that it's better than I expected. It's all just thinly veiled fan service for sure, but the gameplay  flows so effortlessly from controls to combat that the bad parts don't offend. Specifically, the story is incredibly shit and it's too easy. Again on the good side you've got godly graphics that run well because it's the Far Cry 2 engine. This leads to the second best reason to play the game, exploration. The zones are big, beautiful and you can go everywhere, even places you're not supposed to access (as a Na'Vi at least, cos that's the side I chose for my first playthrough).

What's the best reason to play then, you ask. Why, that would be hot Na'Vi ass.

[Yegolev]

I'm expanding this a bit.

Played more Darksiders last night until it pissed me off.  I'm too stressed out right now to play this.

Currently listening to Isao Tomita.

Currently reading The Two Towers and "sudoers manual".

[Brogarn]

"sudoers manual".

Password:

[Druzil]

Just about finished with Assassins Creed 2, also I finally picked up Castle Crashers since I finally caught it on sale for <$5.

I have a bunch of gift cards burning a hole in my pocket, I can't decide if I should go get Bayonetta now and keep the rest for Feb/March releases or if I should blow the whole thing on a PSP (probably the 3000).  I'd never really played one but then I got to spend a few minutes with one over the holidays and now I have a severe itching to go get one.  I'm not even sure what games I'd want for it.

[jakonovski]

Just about finished with Assassins Creed 2, also I finally picked up Castle Crashers since I finally caught it on sale for <$5.

I have a bunch of gift cards burning a hole in my pocket, I can't decide if I should go get Bayonetta now and keep the rest for Feb/March releases or if I should blow the whole thing on a PSP (probably the 3000).  I'd never really played one but then I got to spend a few minutes with one over the holidays and now I have a severe itching to go get one.  I'm not even sure what games I'd want for it.

Patapons 1 & 2. It's all you need.

[HaemishM]

Yeah, so Unlimited Saga - holy fuck, what the hell were they thinking with this game? This is an awful NES-era RPG. Who thought it was acceptable for the entire game to revolve around moving a flat sprite character around a flat sprite map, have unending random encounter combat with 2d sprites in a 3d sprite environment and towns that were nothing more than 2d sprite backgrounds with menus on top? Fucking awful.

I traded it in at Gamestop (got a whole .45 cents which was more than I spent on it so profit!) and used that plus my gift card on used copies of Persona 3: FES and Final Fantasy XII. Tried out Final Fantasy XII to make sure the disc worked and I do believe I'm going to lie this game. Certainly more than Unlimited Saga.

And Mass Effect is very awesome.

[Hawkbit]

About two hours into Darksiders and it's a solid game so far.  Granted, I tend to progress slower than the average F13 poster so some of you are likely a lot farther than I.  Overall I like the Zelda-style adventure game wrapped around a GoW-style combat game.  The QTE stuff in virtually non-existent unless you want a flavor kill.  I like the fact that it's less linear than GoW as well.

I do have some minor quibbles, such as the lock-on camera angle which doesn't allow for me to see what's about to pounce on me from behind.  Also, while I like the art style a lot, War reeks of Arthas and the Charred Council looks like Utgarde Keep.  Damn near a ripoff, actually.  I hope the artwork was in place before WotLK. 

It seems pretty deserving (so far) of the 88% it's getting in reviews.  My $60 was well spent, methinks. 

[Samwise]

Still playing Majesty 2.  I spent a couple of hours last night slowly clearing the map of foozles and buying every upgrade possible before sending my munchkin army against the uberlich so I could use my 100k savings to sit back and spam Resurrect to keep them alive.  Glorious.

[Vision]

Just got back from CES, and after sitting down and being the jackass who plays the game demos for 30 minutes, I will definitely be buying Heavy Rain.  Also played Gran Turismo 5, which is as difficult and frustrating as ever.

[BitWarrior]

Killzone 2. It turns out I suck at aiming. The game sure presents itself as "run and gun" style game, but it definitely rewards the entire "take your time amidst all the chaos and shouting around you" playstyle. Having never played the original I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but it constantly highlights for me what the PS3 is capable of, actually many times I can't believe I'm not looking at something prerendered.

[Pagz]

Daggerfall, getting ruined by bats. My friends tell me to persist, but not knowing whether I'm close enough to hit enemies with melee is slightly annoying.

[Yegolev]

Darksiders, PS3.  It's better than I had expected, which is always how I like to take in a game... or anything really.  I'd say more like Soul Reaver than Zelda for the puzzles, minus the alternate-world mechanic.  Of course, that just means they are like GoW puzzles.
Rune Factory, Wii.  Relearned how to play, still like it.  Starting Lava Cave.  Need money, as usual.  Also: runeys suck dick.
Animal Crossing and Uncharted 2 for a few minutes, to appease people that don't like Rune Factory.

Watched Postal and found it very funny in many places.
Also The Watchmen and I liked it a lot.  Thinking of buying the books, if I can.

Reading bits of books and articles about TSM return codes as seen by DB2.  DB2_experience++

[Sky]

Into a nice groove now. HoMaMV for a day game, BatmanAA for a night game, Burnout and Torchlight for a changeup. Definitely a change from my normal one game at a time pace, and I'm up over ten hours a week now!

[rk47]

Torchlighting. I thought it's pretty neat to have that fireball spell insta-gibbing groups, but the 5 sec cooldown pisses me off. Until I realized I can have 4 of them with seperate cooldowns. 

[Sky]

I put the fireball on my cat 

[rk47]

I put the fireball on my cat 

Come to think of it...Quad Dervishes?  Fuck. Now I feel like skipping work tomorrow.

[Flatfoot]

Got Dragon Age recently. Other than that I've been reduced to playing old Total War games and even dredged up that old stalwart Neverwinter Nights in December. When your currency depreciates by half it cuts into your gaming budget, no matter how weak the dollar is at any one moment.

[Zar]

Picked up a PS3 and Uncharted with some Christmas money.  Beat Uncharted in about two days.  It was entertaining while it lasted but I didn't exactly find it groundbreaking.  Would have felt kind of ripped off if I'd paid full price for it (thanks PS3 Greatest Hits).  Went out yesterday and picked up Valkyria Chronicles and MGS4.  Was up til 5am playing Valkyria Chronicles.  Never thought I'd find playing JRPG Poland so much fun!

Is PS Home worth logging into or is it basically just  ?

[stray]

Poland? Gallia is clearly French :P


If they had fought back.

Nah, PSHome is a bust. I hate to say it, but there's some better integration with the basic 360 Avatar shit than what Home does.

[MisterNoisy]

Just finished Assassin's Creed 2, which kept me intently playing all the way through to the end to the exclusion of pretty much everything else.  Starting a second DA:O playthrough and probably going to get back into Saboteur (all my previous playtime was on my brother's PS3) until Mass Effect 2 drops.

[Yegolev]

Is PS Home worth logging into or is it basically just  ?

Stay away.  It is for kids who don't know that they are swimming in an advertisement pool, and all the other kids are peeing in it.

[Margalis]

Finally finished Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones for the GBA. I've owned the game for two years or so.

[stray]

Is PS Home worth logging into or is it basically just  ?

Stay away.  It is for kids who don't know that they are swimming in an advertisement pool, and all the other kids are peeing in it.

What ads are you referring to? Most of it just game related (PS3 title specific areas, etc). There is the "Diesel" clothing store, I guess, but it doesn't seem that the ads are too bad. What it is though is boring and not integrated well with the PS3 "experience". Not even fun as a sandbox. Glorified chatroom if there ever was one.

It's funny, but the 360 avatars and Mii's are better looking too.

[Yegolev]

What ads are you referring to?

The same ones you referenced.  No, it's not all NASCAR like the 360 Dashboard, but I didn't really want to hang out in a fake bar with an Uncharted theme.  Lost potential, if you ask me.

EDIT: Katamari Forever.

[murdoc]

When the wife doesn't want to watch TV I've been playing Darksiders on the 360 and some MW2. When she does have something to watch, working through my first playthrough of Dragon Age on the PC.

Really enjoying Darksiders actually. More than I expected to. Really like the art to the game and it's pretty fun so far. As mentioned earlier, the QTE stuff is pretty much non-existant unless you want to hit one button for your super kill. Game also gives the illusion of being a little more open than GoW is. Did have to put it down for a bit last night in frustration though.

Still have Assassin's Creed 2 sitting unopened as well.

[Ard]

Finally beat Valkyria Chronicles last weekend.  So worth it.

Started up the Witcher.  Razed a town and went to jail, but not for razing the town.    Why did I put this game off for so long?
Started up Anno1404/Dawn of Discovery.  I should have avoided this like the plague.  There goes my free time.

Started up Infinite Undiscovery just to see how bad it really was.  Oh god.  I thought people were exaggerating.  Worst opening ever.  EVER.  It turns into a pretty standard Tri-ace game like 2-3 hours in though, so if the pattern for me holds, I'll get 3/4ths of the way through it and then get sick of some bullshit combo the mobs in whatever area I"m in are using, and quit.  If I showed any sense, I'd quit now, but I'm not that smart.

[Ratman_tf]

Slowpoke here. After our recent round of upgrades, I'm working through Mass Effect for PC. I keep thinking that if they cut out some of the storyblahblahblah and put in some more actiony elements I'd fall in love with it. And whenever I ride the elevator, I think of Metroid Prime. 

[Yegolev]

Started up Infinite Undiscovery just to see how bad it really was.  Oh god.  I thought people were exaggerating.  Worst opening ever.  EVER.  It turns into a pretty standard Tri-ace game like 2-3 hours in though, so if the pattern for me holds, I'll get 3/4ths of the way through it and then get sick of some bullshit combo the mobs in whatever area I"m in are using, and quit.  If I showed any sense, I'd quit now, but I'm not that smart.

In the first village, I figured out I could sit in the store and craft my way to riches.  I lost interest pretty quickly afterward.

Also, annoying_stereotypes++.

[jakonovski]

I'm trying to thin my 360 backlog again. Mercenaries 2 qualifies as a great game because of Jennifer Hale's voice acting, but I'm foreseeing throw-a-controller-at-the-tv kind frustration if/when the more difficult missions show up.

[HaemishM]

Slowpoke here. After our recent round of upgrades, I'm working through Mass Effect for PC. I keep thinking that if they cut out some of the storyblahblahblah and put in some more actiony elements I'd fall in love with it. And whenever I ride the elevator, I think of Metroid Prime. 

They throw a lot of narrative things at you in places where it really only works in game land. It kind of breaks me out of the story, but it's the Bioware formula. Some of it is just overkill though, and I don't even mean the side quests. Some characters are really unnecessary for the story. It isn't that it's bad writing, it's merely superfluous. And yet, I still love the game.

[Ratman_tf]

Slowpoke here. After our recent round of upgrades, I'm working through Mass Effect for PC. I keep thinking that if they cut out some of the storyblahblahblah and put in some more actiony elements I'd fall in love with it. And whenever I ride the elevator, I think of Metroid Prime. 

They throw a lot of narrative things at you in places where it really only works in game land. It kind of breaks me out of the story, but it's the Bioware formula. Some of it is just overkill though, and I don't even mean the side quests. Some characters are really unnecessary for the story. It isn't that it's bad writing, it's merely superfluous. And yet, I still love the game.

Their world building rather rocks. If I were still RPGing (ye olde D&D kind) I'd probably be doing up a new sci-fi campaign right about now, out of inspiration. I just wish, like you say, they'd tighten the bolts on the narrative.