So, what're you playing?

[jakonovski]

I subbed to EQ2. God help me.

[Rasix]

It only ever got panned by stone-cold retards.  It's got one of the highest ever ratings on metacritic.

I agree.  You always run into the anti-establishment folks that insist that the game was terrible.  It just seems odd, and funny, to me.

I have a strong dislike of Half-Life 2 which has nothing to do with being anti-establishment or retarded.  It simply dragged for me, especially the vehicle sections.  That's not to say that I think other people are stupid for liking it or that it's a terrible game, but for me it just felt too tedious to slog through although I did get fairly close to the end.

I'm not a huge fan either.  I don't think it's a bad game at all, it just doesn't do much for me.  In addition to the long vehicle parts, it gave me horrendous motion sickness.  Both HLs did.

The biggest factor is that plain FPS does nothing for me and to me that's what HL2 is.  To prove I still I have working brain functions, I place Halo far, far beneath it, although I could actually physically finish Halo.  A perfectly executed, masterpiece plain FPS has only a bit more appeal to me than a well executed rhythm game.  The HL series, FEAR, Crysis, or any of the CoD/Battlefield games: they just don't excite me at all no matter how many nifty set pieces they manage to work in.

So, while it may be the Citizen Kane of shooting shit, it's not in my personal top 20, even as an honorable mention.

So, on topic, I played a lot of DeathSpank last night.  I'm not going to bother with the last hours of the SC2 beta.   Still going to buy.

[Paelos]

The biggest factor is that plain FPS does nothing for me and to me that's what HL2 is.  To prove I still I have working brain functions, I place Halo far, far beneath it, although I could actually physically finish Halo.  A perfectly executed, masterpiece plain FPS has only a bit more appeal to me than a well executed rhythm game.  The HL series, FEAR, Crysis, or any of the CoD/Battlefield games: they just don't excite me at all no matter how many nifty set pieces they manage to work in.

I feel the same way about FPS. If it's just shooting shit with no character development or crazy loot options, no amount of storyline is going to make me suddenly rave about the game.

[Sky]

Jumping between Riddick, Overlord and TF2....but got sucked back into FFH2. Love that game so much.

HL2 was boring for me, and of course it's on rails. I prefer stuff like Far Cry that's a bit more open and replayable - to the point where I'd reload some fights even if they went well, just to try new things out. FEAR was interesting and maybe one of my more favorite 'pure' shooters. A Battlefield series game played on a good server with two clans facing off is probably the height of the shooter experience at the other end of the spectrum from the sandboxy Far Cry single-player style.

[Yegolev]

Half-Life 2 insists upon itself.

Alan Wake.  Not that great of a decision for someone with terrible stress issues.  Enjoying it other than that.

[HaemishM]

The only problem with Half-Life 2 is that it did go way too long on some pieces of the game, especially the vehicles and the big set piece battle across the city. Other than that, it was a great game. The episodes were much better experiences because they were short enough that they never dragged, which left plenty of time for story.

[Surlyboi]

I liked HL2 and Halo. And, if you really want to get into why a lot of Halo fans dislike HL,  you have to go back to Marathon.

That said, I'm playing Alan Wake and hopping around occasionally in Fallen Earth. I'd start playing the SWG Emu again, but that would either mean partitioning a bootcamp drive on my Mac Pro or building a new PC. Neither of which I can be arsed to do at the moment (mostly because if the fiancé caught me gamin, rather than doing my all to help plan the wedding, I'd be proper fucked.)

[Musashi]

To be clear, you'd only be a stone-cold retard if you took the time to write a unwarranted negative review of HL2.  You don't have to like every different kind of game there is to be a non-retarded cool guy.  Different strokes, and all.  But the comment made it sound like there were a lot of negative reviews of it.  And there aren't.  And the reason for that is because even if you're not a fan of the genre, you can still appreciate it as a well crafted product.

[Yegolev]

(mostly because if the fiancé caught me gamin, rather than doing my all to help plan the wedding, I'd be proper fucked.)

This seems like a lose-lose scenario.  Good luck and whatnot.

I came very close to preordering Commander: Conquest of the Americas, but I came to my senses.  Such as they are.

[ghost]

But the comment made it sound like there were a lot of negative reviews of it.  And there aren't. 

But there aren't a lot of bad reviews of it.  The comment was made because every time I read someone mention that they like HL2  there is an inevitable onslaught of folks that need to express their views about how it is in some way crappy.  At least here people are kind enough to say "it's a well done game, but just not for me". 

[Yegolev]

The wife and I played co-op Deathspank, PS3.  Funny and well-done.  Also, pretty sure he is voiced by the same guy who did Captain Quark, which is also entertaining.

[Ard]

It's not unless he was doing it under a pseudonym, even in interviews.  It's just some guy that sounds exactly like him and the guy who played the Tick in the cartoons.

[Segoris]

It's just some guy that sounds exactly like him and the guy who played the Tick in the cartoons.

This. Here's the links to the voice actors in question
Michael Dobson - Deathspank

Townsend Coleman - The Tick (cartoon)

Patrick Warburton - The Tick (Live Series) - Yes I know this wasn't needed, but I felt like linking anyways

Jim Ward - Captain Quark

[Yegolev]

It's not unless he was doing it under a pseudonym, even in interviews.  It's just some guy that sounds exactly like him and the guy who played the Tick in the cartoons.

OK, interesting because I first said "That's the guy who voiced The Tick" and my wife says "Patrick Warburton?"  and I'm like "No, the cartoon..." and she says "No, that's the same guy who did Captain Quark." and then I'm saying "Oh yea, I totally hear it now!".

[Ingmar]

Sam & Max 304 out today supposedly!

[Yegolev]

RDR, finally got the boar teeth and now I am supposed to kill fucking cougars with my knife.

[WayAbvPar]

RDR, finally got the boar teeth and now I am supposed to kill fucking cougars with my knife.

Are you in Whitechapel circa 1888?

[Yegolev]

RDR, finally got the boar teeth and now I am supposed to kill fucking cougars with my knife.

Are you in Whitechapel circa 1888?

1911.

[Murgos]

RDR, finally got the boar teeth and now I am supposed to kill fucking cougars with my knife.

Are you in Whitechapel circa 1888?

1911.

I got it.  Cougars.  Heh.

[Yegolev]

RDR, finally got the boar teeth and now I am supposed to kill fucking cougars with my knife.

Are you in Whitechapel circa 1888?

1911.

I got it.  Cougars.  Heh.

Damn my lack of contemporary television knowledge.

[Vision]

I got Gundam Battlefield report (Senki) and was pleasantly surprised. The controls are tight and Gundam units pretty cool. My teammate AI are fucking retards but what do you expect from Namco-Bandai. The online is a blast though, even if I suck at it.

Also got Armored Core for Answers, and in the face of the complex kanji menus and crazy ass controls (First Armored Core Game) I opted to finish Gundam before playing around in an ice-skating robot where going out of bounds means you lose.

[Yegolev]

Lego Harry Potter.

[Rasix]

Finished DeathSpank.  Well worth it. 

Time to enjoy some gaming masochism with The Void, while I wait patiently for SC2.  My mom is visiting on the release date and I won't be able to pick up the game at midnight.  Bummer.

Thinking about picking up Limbo, but I generally don't care much for platformers.. and it's a platformer.

[jakonovski]

I was pulled back into tabletop gaming (Warhammer Fantasy 8th ed!), so very little video gaming this week, a bit of DeathSpank. Going to buy Limbo on Sunday however, should be a pleasant one day thing.

[Yegolev]

Just Cause 2 has rekindled my love affair with games.

[Abagadro]

Lego Harry Potter.

The boy and I are playing this a lot. Pretty well done.

[Yegolev]

Lego Harry Potter.

The boy and I are playing this a lot. Pretty well done.

I find that I am left out of the loop while my wife and son co-op this.  They have struck me down and taken my place.  Luckily, Just Cause 2 lets me not care so much.

[Sky]

Found my Mass Effect disc, started a playthrough as a renegade. Lamont Shepard kicking some ass, not bothering with the taking of names. Two things stand out after recently completing ME2.

1. It's bizarre hearing my white paragon Shepard's voice coming out of my black renegade. I've only played the one character all the way through ME 1&2, the voice is identified with a white blond dude. Hearing my badass black dude with the same voice is unsettling.

2. I have a serious appreciation for the improvements in ME2.

Playing as an Infiltrator, not sure I want to stay on that path. The tech abilities in ME1 seem underwhelming.

[jakonovski]

I played some more Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. I take everything back everything good I may have said, it's in fact an utterly terrible game. The realism only goes skin deep, after that it's all about arbitrary objectives failing what should be successful missions, targets that are mysteriously indestructible except with the weapon the devs intended for you to use, hordes of idiotic enemies with x-ray vision and spawn triggers so badly placed you can see them appear out of thin air.  

Avoid at all costs.

[Tebonas]

Mafia from the Mafia 2 Preorder, liking it so far.

[Ingmar]

1. It's bizarre hearing my white paragon Shepard's voice coming out of my black renegade. I've only played the one character all the way through ME 1&2, the voice is identified with a white blond dude. Hearing my badass black dude with the same voice is unsettling.

Yeah I have this exact same problem when I try to play a different Shepard of the same gender as the one I played first.

[Yegolev]

1. It's bizarre hearing my white paragon Shepard's voice coming out of my black renegade. I've only played the one character all the way through ME 1&2, the voice is identified with a white blond dude. Hearing my badass black dude with the same voice is unsettling.

Yeah I have this exact same problem when I try to play a different Shepard of the same gender as the one I played first.

After the monstrosity I created in Saint's Row 2, these minor voice mismatches don't bother me much.

[Rasix]

Time to try DF again.  Zenu, help me.

I will be unable to pick up SC2 at midnight.  Well, I could, but then I'd be the worst parent in the world.

[Trippy]

I will be unable to pick up SC2 at midnight.  Well, I could, but then I'd be the worst parent in the world.

Or the best if the kid is old enough to play

[Rasix]

He's 13 months old.  While now walking, his micro is pretty crappy.

Qualifying for worst parent in the world would be leaving my sleeping child alone in the house (mom's going to DC for the week) while I pick up a copy of SC2.