So, what're you playing?

[Xanthippe]

When I have played anything the past week, it's been Populous (original). Until yesterday when I got Puzzle Craft on my iphone. I have catassed my way to level 15 already.

[jakonovski]

Playing through Walking Dead during the Xmas break. Just finished the first episode. Shit is intense.

[CaptainNapkin]

Playing through Walking Dead during the Xmas break. Just finished the first episode. Shit is intense.

I'm doing the same, just about finished with episode 3. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times I've actually yelled out "holy shit" or "that's f'd up." Also messing around with Don't Starve, and a little Diablo 3. I'm kinda stuck with short play sessions with mouse only until my back/arm issues are fixed, and those all fit the bill.

[Sheepherder]

edit: I've decided, I don't like the story. This RPS interview says it all (spoilers!): http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/12/19/far-cry-3s-jeffrey-yohalem-on-racism-torture-and-satire/

Holy shit, it's a goddamn Internet troll in game form. What a cunt.

I'm not the only one imagining this guy wearing a beret, am I?

[HaemishM]

I picture him with a wedgie and his head being flushed in a high school toilet.

[Ruvaldt]

I too am playing through Walking Dead during my Christmas vacation, and it's pretty amazing so far.  I'm on episode 4, and have really been startled by how quickly the story/characters can shift under my feet...and I like it.  Really gripping stuff. 

Still, if you didn't like the choose your own adventure books when you were young you might not like it as much.

[Paelos]

I'm playing the Dawnguard portion of Skyrim.

Actually I started from scratch on my second playthrough as an Imperial who joins the legion and is a stealthy archer, so I just finished the legion parts and I'm going through the thieves guild parts.

[Numtini]

Add me to The Walking Dead group. Picked it up last night on Steam sale.

[Sky]

About seven hours into Two Worlds II (or tutu as I call it). I know it will surprise many that I'm enjoying another eurojanky rpg.

The eurojank is definitely strong with this one, but there's some decent systems buried in there. Not sure I'll complete it (I never finished the first one), but I got it cheap and I'll more than get my dough out of it just roaming around.

Amalur and Drakensang 2 on deck, but I'm holding out for a flash on Risen 2. Otherwise I'll buy it on the last day and play that. All my hopes and dreams of playing Rocksmith were shattered by my venomous almost-spouse (who listened to me when I said don't buy anything for me...). So maybe my fault. But I'm hunting a deal on that one, too (if anyone should see a physical copy for cheap).

[rk47]

Two Worlds 2 had that 'big but empty' feeling for me.
Never finished it despite being so close to an end, there's nothing pushing me forward.
The open sandbox world was ruined when you run into locked doors (quest only) in caves and even tents.

Budget Oblivion is what I'd equate it to.

For now, I'm playing Farcry 3.
I can see why this game is touted as 'Skyrim with Guns' the free-form exploration is fantastic. However, it was ruined by the 'Skill Progression locked by Campaign' model... and the 'crafting from animal parts' is a one-off deal. Once you skinned that tiger for bigger ammo pouch, there's no reason to kill another tiger except for self defense.

If there's a mod to remove the skill-block system, I'd be all over it.
And the UI is obviously made for console - the amount of bullshit occupying my screen when the tool-tip pops annoy me. 20% of the screen is consumed by 'HEY CHECK OUT THIS TUTORIAL / NEW CRAFTABLE BUDDY!' - how do I disable this shit? And no turning off music ? What the fuck? Do I need an action track to know I'm being shot at?

Tried 15 mins of Dishonored, wasn't impressed. I'm getting Mature Fable vibes here, I killed everyone in the first tutorial level, and it was SO much easier than stealthing. So what's the carrot here? A different ending? Whatever, closed it and put it on hold till Farcry 3 bored me.

[MisterNoisy]

Rally expansion has me driving in Forza Horizon again.  Playground/Turn10 may have accidentally made the best rally game of the generation, because this is pretty damned fun.

[HaemishM]

Started up Alan Wake on the PC tonight on a lark. The controls are total shit jankiness whether I'm using a controller or the mouse/keyboard. The voice acting for Alan could be much better. The story and atmosphere seems pretty good, though I'm not sure how much I can stand the jankass controls.

[Ruvaldt]

Finished The Walking Dead.  Game of the year for me.  It really is extraordinairy.

Now back to Borderlands 2.

[Zetor]

Playing through the Walking Dead (got it on the 50% steam sale, like most others in this thread  ) right now. I'm not familiar with the comic or the TV show, but so far the game(s) is pretty solid, railroaded gameplay or not. Also checked out Duels of the Planeswalkers, which seems like a fairly cheap way to play some Magic.


e: I did snicker a bit when I saw the BANANG can in the RV's cockpit. I wonder if there's a plush Sam or Max in the game somewhere...

[jakonovski]

Finished Walking Dead, another vote for GOTY right here. Some dumb story beats here and there, but overall an order of magnitude above the common story based game.

[Signe]

People who have kinect - what do you play with it?

[Yegolev]

We get high/drunk and yell things at Bing.

[koro]

Nothing. Dancing like a loon in front of the TV got tiresome ages ago, and there is nothing else of worth out for it.

[Khaldun]

Playing Far Cry 3. I like the open-world structure, but:

a) Don't like the setting/narrative. I especially hate that I have to play as white-bread spoiled American asshole boy trying to save my fellow Aryans from scary dark people while also helping out the noble savages. I'd like it more if I was one of the locals who agreed to help out some spoiled Americans while trying to get rid of pirates/invaders.
b) Animal crafting is poorly implemented--you have to deal with the fucking animals for most of the game unless you make an asston of repellant but there's nothing to be gained by skinning them except a small amount of money.
c) I've fixed six radio towers but the store still doesn't have anything appreciably new in it.

[rk47]

Exactly my thoughts as well, but really - the radio tower reminds me too much of Ass Creed observation point.
I fucking hate it, it's so unchallenging to do and just an exercise of finding out the developer's path to get up there.

[Rendakor]

I agree rk, except that I generally liked doing them in AC because the platforming was easy and controlled well. Landing the jumps for some of them is fucking tedious in FC3, and first person platforming is shitty in general.

[Yegolev]

Some FarCry3, which is pretty good for a FPS.  Pretty shitty for a RPG.
Lego Lord of the Rings The Movies The Game is very wonderful, gameplaywise.  As for the dialog, I don't agree with their decision.  It's definitely less funny than any of the previous ones, but of course Tolkien is SRS BZNS.

[jakonovski]

Fired up Sleeping Dogs, took 10 minutes until my HD4890 blew up. Machine wouldn't boot at all. Went to the computer store, bought a GTX660. Everything is way prettier now.

[Yegolev]

They still have computer stores?

[Thrawn]

Earthbound for the first time! 

Between semesters, slow time at work, got the HTPC upgrade and working with emulators installed.  Good to go.

[jakonovski]

They still have computer stores?

Russian tourists love them.

[Khaldun]

The framing narrative and characterization for FarCry3 is so bad it's almost making me stop the game, even though I like the combat and the open-world gameplay. Like, this character has already killed a jungle full of bandits and made a Robinson Crusoe set of full gear from animal skins, but he still acts like a wuss when skinning animals? Or gets all pissy when he folds a small blind in poker against a big preflop raise? Or after stealthily taking down an entire prison of bandits, starts screaming "LIZA I'M COMING" as he infiltrates the base?

Why do developers spend a fucking fortune building an environment, character models and all that and then hire a bunch of 5th grade boys to do the writing?

[lamaros]

I can only assume it is because:

A: they pay fuck-all. Which is not really an excuse as many fine writers live on shit all.

B: games are made by people with poor understanding of writing and they like adolescent crap.

[rk47]

What you described are pre-scripted stuff that doesn't take into account of the amount of violence you inflicted before going into the main campaign.
If you had progressed through the campaign without exploring, most of the character's emotional reaction would make more sense.

Hence I propose the solution to Ubisoft: Remove the Sandbox element from the game and have the player proceed through a gauntlet of set pieces ala the best selling narrative modern shooter, Call of Duty: Black Ops II

[Segoris]

Earthbound for the first time! 

Between semesters, slow time at work, got the HTPC upgrade and working with emulators installed.  Good to go.

Such a great game, RIP BuzzBuzz!

[Soukyan]

Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken. Really goofy, funny, fun game.

Videos of my horrible gameplay at http://www.youtube.com/user/French4Grape

[Rendakor]

Started the Torgue DLC in Borderlands. Wow, they really dialed the insanity up to 11; this shit is hilarious.

Finished all the tutorials in Towns, haven't actually started the game proper yet.

On the tablet, still playing Dungeon Village which is really cool. Grabbed NFS: Most Wanted for it because it was $1; the controls aren't great but the game looks amazing. Wish there were more quality games on the Android market.

[Zetor]

Playing Batman:AA (GOTY) right now after picking it up on a 75% steam sale. Game's pretty fun and enjoyable, but GFWL needs to die in a fire.

Exhibit A: I am currently trying to start the game, but the GFWL service is unavailable or something ("Windows Live ID service not available"), which means I can't play -- since apparently you can only save games if you're logged into GFWL. The GFWL overlay also seemed to crash randomly earlier, but at least that didn't prevent me from playing. Fucking clownshoes.

e: suspecting it's some sort of firewall thing, though it worked just fine a few hours ago... gonna look into it, anyway.
e2: turns out live.com itself is pretty much dead, at least from Hungary. Sigh.

[Bzalthek]

Portal 2, complete.  Skyrim, complete (fuck you immortal Alduin bug!), still have 12+ fucking games to work on.  Thinking Sleeping Dogs will be next.

[Signe]

Anyone play Dead or Alive 5?  Is it good?  Geez, two year break from everything and it's almost like I don't know anything anymore!  Everything is new again.  I wonder if I'm still allergic to chocolate!!!!