What Video Games Are You Playing?

[dean]

I'm back in the throes of my love affair with Assassin's Creed. My friend recently received a copy of Brotherhood along with his spanking new 360 from his wife as a Christmas present. Not having the current generation of consoles, he hadn't played the first two games, so I traded those with him and am now making my way through the third game.

I really love these games, even with all their flaws. Brotherhood introduced a new game mechanic where "100% synchronization" involves completing the task with various restrictions. I get the idea, but the designers occasionally make it very obnoxious, setting up easy-fail situations that drop you out of full synchronization 30 minutes into the mission. Frustrating, and it drops me right out of enjoyment of the game. And let's not forget the ridiculous collect-a-thon aspects of the game.

But they are great games. I even checked out a book on the Borgias from the library just to explore the world they're created a little more.

I downloaded AC2 on sale at steam a while back but haven't played it yet, but am looking forward to it.  A friend of mine wrote an interesting article relating to the newest entry into the franchise if you are into memory palaces:

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/game-on/2012/01/25/the-memory-palace-of-desmond-miles/

[Trevor]

www.eyegas.com/sproutifarts  + 

Try for the Mega Sore Arse bonus. 

[Jack]

I noticed Shift 2 lets me record 10 seconds of footage and upload it to Youtube, so here's 10 seconds of me driving my Bugatti Veyron

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr73n8NKnlk&context=C34c5b6cADOEgsToPDskKrJh05ttKj2ZzomeuAU1KR

Couldn't quite decide what gear I wanted to be in apparently lol.

[God the Worms]

Ghost n' Ghouls on the Genesis 

[Jack]

The Koenigsegg CCX

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OmcINbzsFo&feature=plcp&context=C390fee6UDOEgsToPDskJEFyNeApvSPzpig4vTHqpD

[Mofo Rising]

Polished off Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood with 100% sync on the DNA. There are a few other guild challenges and shop quests I need to complete before I consider myself done, but that's pretty much it. Didn't touch the multiplayer, and I probably won't, although they do sound like fun. There's also some "purchase exclusive" content and DLC I didn't get, since it isn't my copy. I'll wait until the game is bargain-bin cheap.

These really are great games, but like any open-world game, they tack on meaningless stuff in an effort to increase play-value. One thing I could really do without is the "collectable" aspect. I hate collecting things in games, it's a lazy developer solution for adding play-value. I perform these meaningless tasks because I'm a trained completist, but I don't really enjoy them. Assassin's Creed games have them in spades, which is disappointing for a game that is so narrative-oriented.

I downloaded AC2 on sale at steam a while back but haven't played it yet, but am looking forward to it.  A friend of mine wrote an interesting article relating to the newest entry into the franchise if you are into memory palaces:

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/game-on/2012/01/25/the-memory-palace-of-desmond-miles/

I find those fascinating. Unfortunately I can't read the article because I'm spoiler-averse. Be happy to read it after I've played Revelations, but since I never buy games new, it might be a while.

[Jack]

Been playing Ferrari Challenge for a few days.  It's a nice little game considering I only paid $12 for it.  The physics are quite realistic - punishingly so if you turn all the assists off.  Most Ferraris are mid-engined, so when you decelerate all the weight shifts to the front and you've got that big heavy engine back there just waiting for the slightest provocation to spin around in front of you.  The career mode is very old fashioned, with 3 groups of 5 races each and you have to complete them in order, and you use exactly the same car for all of them.  Once you win a race you unlock a car (a different one!), and then once you buy it you can race it in 3 other races.  I think there are 22 cars total and 16 tracks.  The graphics are pretty good considering the age of the game.  Driving in the rain actually looks really cool.  The tuning options are very limited and you can't upgrade the performance of the cars in any way.

Also playing a bit of NASCAR '09.  That seems pretty fun, with the Sprint Cup series, Nationwide series and Camping World truck series all included (or whatever those series' were called back in '09).  You get all the tracks that make up a full NASCAR season, and most of the cars/trucks that were in the field in the '09 season are in the game.  I turned off all the driving assists and fiddled with the steering sensitivity a bit and ended up with a fairly controllable vehicle.   The tuning options are very deep and - believe it or not - people on the internet treat their tuning setups as closely-guarded secrets, so tuning info. is a bit hard to come by.  And you need to do it or you'll be sliding around all over the place in the corners while the competition drives past you.  The graphics aren't bad at all considering the game came out in 2008.  Right now my problem is that if I put it on medium difficulty I can drive right past everybody.  If I put it on hard difficulty I sit about a block behind the second-to-last-place guy and can't make up any ground.  That's where the tuning comes in I guess.  I did find a few tunes on the internet so I'll give those a try next time I play it.  You have to come up with extremely different tunes depending on if the track is a huge superspeedway like Daytona, or a short little track like Bristol, or a road course like Infineon.

[retrorussell]

[HappyGilmore]

A couple games:

Earthworm Jim- Probably my favorite Sega Game.  Been re-playing it a bit recently.

Sonic The Hedgehog Mega Collection- This disc came out for PlayStation 2.  It has like, all ten old Sonic Games on it.

WWE '12- The newest installment of the WWE Smackdown franchise. 

WWE Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain!- My favorite of the "SmackDown" franchise.  Has the best collection of stars one would want in a game if a wrestling fan.  It has everyone from legends like Ric Flair, Undertaker, Sgt. Slaughter and George The Animal Steele, to guys like Steve Austin, The Rock, Rico, and The Hurricane.

NHL 2005- I'm in a mode called "Dynasty Mode."  Dynasty Mode is an extended "Season" mode, and you control everything: you set ticket prices, make trades, set contracts, draft new players, and play all 82 games of the season and any playoff games.  Right now, I'm in the 4th season with the Philadelphia Flyers.  Season 1, 2, and 3 ended with me winning the Stanley Cup.  So right now, in season 4, I'm 23 games in with 22 wins and 1 tie, and the defending Cup champions.  It's pretty sweet.

[Leah]

Twisted Metal: Black- nice short game with some of the most f**ked up character bios out there, esp. Mr. Grimm's
NSFW!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_hoq_TeGzk

[InformationGeek]

Continuing with Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team.  Still haven't gotten far with them, but they are still pretty fun.  I don't know why I don't play them more often.

[God the Worms]

Shadowrun on the Sega Genesis
Fallout New Vegas

[Jack]

Got my plat for Ferrari Challenge



I'll probably start on Deus Ex:  Human Revolution next.

[Doggett]

Either I've lost my touch or it's really hard!

[God the Worms]

Fallout: New Vegas (PS3)

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)

Todd's Adventures in SlimeTown (Genesis)