I was just wondering :

My shelf is piling up on Games, many of which are even quite new.
The only Problem : they're either Bug heaven or boring as hell.

What's with that, am I getting too old for Gaming or have my expectations risen so high that there's nothing out there that could satisfy my demands ?!

The last Game I actually played to the end was FarCry 2, and I didn't like it.
They should have named it "Collin McRae - Mercenary edition". Most of the time driving through the scenery to solve the missions.
AI can see and fire through dense vegetation (which does a good job covering the AI as the player can't target them anymore, but doesn't work the other way around).
AI is resetting objects in the world as soon as a sector is left (say hello to Stalker) and brand new weapons are either useless or start malfunctioning within 2-3 game days, which is laughable.

While we're at it... So we have this lonesome mercenary that during the story develops some kind of passion to the african people and starts helping them.
Yet, in order to fulfill the missions one is expected to kill more people (inlcuding his own friends) than an average civil war would cause casualties... ?! Jez, what a BS... talk about a psychopatic storyline.

Fear 2 :
Oh, different HUD with artificial grain overimposed by default (so I actually have to disable "more ugly GFX" option in Menu *ugh*), worse SFX and effects than Fear 1 and, well, plays like a Level Pack for Fear 1 - minus Bullet time they screwed up somehow. Uninstalled after a few levels.

GTA 4 :
Hm, strange to see so much hype about a game that refuses to launch with an ATI Radeon card installed despite the latest patch on a fresh install. Guess NVidia players have a good time with it.
Also interesting that (as opposed to the notes on the packaging) it tries to make the player register to 3 different Services, none of which are required for offline Gaming. WTF....
Uninstalled before even playing once.

Hint to Rockstar Games (tm) :
When a player wants to install a game, the only validation required is an original DVD in the Drive and a Key. Online activation is pushing it, but acceptable these days - BUT everything beyond that is simply unacceptable...
(I mean... hell, it's easier to setup and re-register an old SGI Irix 6.5 Operating System with SGI service division than getting this game to install - plus it won't make your Firewall make you think you're trying to install a Trojan Pack, considering how many completely unrelated Websites are attempted to be contacted during Install)

------------------------------------------------------

So now I have the situation that the CPU and GFX Hardware world offers all I could only dream of in the old days - but have no Game whatsoever to feed it that would offer any fun :P

How stupid is that >:(

About GTA IV, I installed it for about 10 hours  ::) because I must reinstall OS... It solve problems. GTA worth it ;)

That's the reason why I sticked to indie games. I recommend Zeno Clash - its quite a crazy game, but I liked it. :) Although, it's quite short

I feel exactly the same, there are no more cool games...Quake, Carmageddon, Half Life, Starcraft, Sin, Blood2...and many many older games ruled.
BUT...
if you search, you can still find nice games.

Right now, I'm enjoying X-Men Origin : Wolverine, it's a cool game, I tried the demo on XBOX 360 and I liked it.
You mentioned FEAR2, I think it's nice, but there is nothing new in it.
The Painkiller serie is also nice.
Tomb Raider Underground is not bad if you like adventure style.
If you like cool graphics, Crysis is a good option, although the story sucks a lot and the game is way too short.
There are a few more games, but right now I'm at work, if  get home, I'll look on my HDD and see what else I have installed there  ;)

I agree, the good stuff is old. The new stuff mostly isn't worth it.

Back in the nineties stuff was still fresh, new genres appeared and technology allowed for better graphics (not just 3D, also 16bit and later 32bit colours). RTS, FPS, FlightSim, RPG's, they all rose to heights in that decade.

Back in those days it also didn't cost much to make a good game compared to now.

The only real innovation I can think of that took place in this decade, was MMO, not much innovation going on compared to the previous decade.

GEARS OF WAR PC version.... ::)

OH - DEAR - GOD - NOOOOOOO! :o

Kind of in the same boat... Been playing Portal but you can only go through the same lvl's so many times. Finally built a nice system, quad core, dual 3870 vid cards and nothing really to play that I've been interested in.

Baulders gate series, awesome - Interplay is dead though. There is NWN but after going through it more then once or three times, can't get into it any more.

Morrowind and the rest of the series, not bad but I got stuck after finding out that stuff lvl's the same as you and only difference is gear, had to restart it as it was near impossible to go anywhere. Not a fun task, at least for me. Should have looked into it better before dumping a bunch of time into it. That was my fault.

Fallout 3 from what I heard is pretty good but haven't been able to get it.

Thief series was great but years in between releasing a new one and lack of mods for it... Thief one and two had a ton of mods with people even making a UT mod to multi-play it = great. Thief 3 for as much as they put into it still lacked something. Rumors of Thief 4 maybe coming out but who knows.

Rainbow Six 3... Used to be fun until they made it so you could respawn in multiplayer. I liked the fact that once you were dead, you stayed dead until the next match started. Made you think before running into a place with guns blazing to die and just respawn again to do the same thing.

Played WoW for about a year and half and trying to find a way to reclaim my lost time with that one.  :P  Fun but gets old and the kids.... oh good grief. Instant gratification on everything.

I don't know man, mines being used as a DVD player now, it's about all I do with it, either watch movies or listen to music that I have stored on it.  That's what I call an epic gaming machine.    :'(

thief 4 is official.lets hope they get it right (the chances are good,the eidos guys are actually roaming around the ttlg forums listening to the fans)-thief3 was not a bad game,but its just as you said,it lacked something.

I'm replaying system shock2 right now-its unbelievable,but after all those years,that game still manages to scare the sh!t out of me..it's brilliant.

I think that's what we are lacking today-while there are good games around,none of them are..brilliant.

I`m in the same boat to a q9500 dual 4850s and nothing much usefull to play except movies . Farcry2 to much the same  Crysis warhead shame there wasn`t more levels and medieval 2 total war is good but hard to face after  Rome total war

i think a retro gamer rebuid is in order

ps47 wrote on 27.05.09 at 23:25:22:

I'm replaying system shock2 right now-its unbelievable,but after all those years,that game still manages to scare the sh!t out of me..it's brilliant. I think that's what we are lacking today-while there are good games around,none of them are..brilliant.

SS2 rocked mostly, ending needed to be tightened up though.

ps47 wrote on 27.05.09 at 23:25:22:

thief 4 is official.lets hope they get it right (the chances are good,the eidos guys are actually roaming around the ttlg forums listening to the fans)-thief3 was not a bad game,but its just as you said,it lacked something. I'm replaying system shock2 right now-its unbelievable,but after all those years,that game still manages to scare the sh!t out of me..it's brilliant. I think that's what we are lacking today-while there are good games around,none of them are..brilliant.

Sweet, thanks ps47. I had heard rumors but haven't looked into it to much. This is very cool. Agreed, Thief 3 wasn't a bad game at all but it did lack something, what exactly I don't know, but it just didn't have the same feel as the first two games.

I'll have to check out System Shock 2 though. Haven't played it at all.

@IG88 retro game box sounds good but I've got one setup. I just don't like running old games at 800x600 or less. Besides, I've gotten lazy and started running my really old games in DOSBox.  :P  

It is hard to get into anything any more. Maybe it's as Falcon said.... (cringe) Old age.

I'm somewhat looking forward to StarCraft II, looks like Blizzard Enertainment are still following their oldschool rules - maximum internal Testing and absolutely rigid gameplay/map balacing.

Other than that, I'm also using my HighEnd Rig as a Flash Game player (out of pure boredom), Jukebox and DVD player...

Still, kind of tragic.
When you're a kid, you get what you can and the entertainment was awesome, even with very little.
Now I can basically afford any rig and game I want - but there's hardly anything that appeals to me :P

-------------

I played Crysis and initially thought it had a couple of nice points (armor suit w/ cloak etc.)... But after a few hours I realized this Game was far too easy, even on max. difficulty - and as usual, threw away lots of its potential.
AI companions only dumb cannon fodder as usual, you end up as the lonely ranger most of the time as usual. You're supposed to kill the "unhelpful bad guys from some axis of evil" on the way as usual.
Jez, how stereotypic, playing it often felt like I'm gaming through a typical Bush Propaganda campaign. Shouldn't be like that, the linear plot should have been alot more twisted than that.

Speaking of linear, it's amazing how much effort they still put into making your gaming route a straight line and even give you GPS to find it ffs. I think even Wolfenstein 3D had more than one route you could pick in some levels...

What I miss in all of those Graphics Monster engined games is the love to detail. It's the small things that often make the difference, and in Crysis there simply were none (except serving as scenery for nice Screenshots maybe).

..I (mostly) blame it on the change that games underwent in the past few years-in the good old times (geez that sounded weird),games were made by small(er) companies,sure,money was always involved,but games were considered more like art than a source of serious income.now its all different-games are not made for gamers/fans,but for maximum profit,screw fans and gamers,the more shiny trash we can produce and sell,the better.


the example I like to use is IO interactive-if I'm not mistaken,they were just five guys,sitting somewhere between north and baltic sea,not even knowing how their main game character should look like,so they ordered pizza..and the pizzaboy was looking quite strange (bald man with dry lips),and behold,hitman (mr. 47) has been born,and along with him,a very interesting and innovative game.

no way something like this is going to happen today-you need a ton of advertising,shiny graphics,motion capture etc for a game to be a commercial succes-and that costs money,lots of money..locking the game developement exclusively in the hands of giants like Sony or EA (purchase evvrrythiing).

once something starts to be all just about money,everything goes down the drain,be it games,music,or movies.


jandarsun8 wrote on 28.05.09 at 00:51:51:

I'll have to check out System Shock 2 though. Haven't played it at all.

watch out,the game requires a ton of fixing/tweaking if you want to run it on a modern machine..maybe I should quit being lazy and finally translate this to english ::)


btw,there is an online petition to release the thief/shock2 source code,I know that online petitions are usually not much help,but its worth a try-without the source,the games can't be modified properly,and we are forced to use a milion hacks to get it working,just like I mentioned..

The last game I played through was Quake 4  :-/
WHEN I play it's the Wii or rarely the XBOX 360.
I'm waiting for Diablo III (or DN Forever ;D ) - at this time my PC will have me using it for gaming again ::)
At the moment it's an overpowered surfing-/music-machine..

Games have went downhill. I mainly play new games on my 360 and sometimes on the wii. Neither system much, the wii even less.

I played resident evil 4 on the wii. I was very impressed with that game. Alot of fun. But thats about it for games on the wii. I was planning on buying Resident Evil 5 on the wii. But its not happening. ::)

I could count the 360 games Ive bought on both hands since the system was released. Most games are fun for a couple days, then get old quick. Gears of war 1 was alot of fun, mostly multiplayer. Gears of war 2 was ok. But they tried to "micro-manage" the multiplayer to make it what they wanted and turned alot of people off.

Battlefield bad company mulitplayer was alot of fun.

The 2 standout games are Fallout 3 and Bioshock. Bioshock was great, it had a good atmoshpere and fun gameplay.

Fallout 3 was the best in my opinion. I actually sold it and am kicking myself because they've came out with 3 more expansions for it. >:(  

There are some good games. But they are few and far between. Ive actually played dungeon keeper 2 more in the last 2 days than Ive played the xbox in over a week.

I looked around for some older games and came up with screamer 4x4, leadfoot(bought them on ebay). Both really fun game and work great on the v5500  8-)s

This topic is actually why I decided to get a computer going with the voodoo card. All the games I played about 10 years ago were just gathering dust. Games like Unreal, Unreal expansion pack na pali, GLquake, Quake expansion packs, Quake 2, Half-life, starcraft, etc etc etc. They just dont make them like they used to.

I also dont care what anyone says. Unreal is a great looking game even now, in my opinion.

Uhm, I agree, the original Unreal and UT99 looks awesome, even on a V2 SLI setup in 1024x768.

The graphics have evolved, other things too, but maybe it was that "first love", I dunno, the kids of our days seems to enjoy new games and make "yuck" when they see old games, like Quake1/Unreal/Carmageddon. In a way, I understand them, I couldnt play very old games (like Tetris) back in 96-98...

Personally, I like many of the games out there. [old and new] At the age of 23, I got my first computer when I was 16.  Needless to say, I have been playing a lot of games I missed out on over the years.  (now with my V6k.. *drools*)

Some lack certain quality, but sometimes they make up for it in another areas. (gameplay/storyline vs. graphics)  Sad but true, we won't be able to re-live those first expereinces of playing games like Half-Life or Unreal... you know, the games with Epic storylines and graphics. (for their time)  I have had much fun with the following games in the past/currently, regardless of the lacking quality. (some more enjoyable than others)

Red Faction 3 (really f'ing good actually)
Batman - Arkham Asylum (not out yet, but looking forward to it)
Bioshock
Crysis/Crysis - Warhead
F.E.A.R.2
FarCry 2
Left 4 Dead
Mirror's Edge
The Chronicles Of Riddick - Assault On Dark Athena
Tom Clancy's Hawx
Race Driver: GRID

Some games that are a bit older are still amazing too:

UT3
Doom 3
Qauke 4
Prey
HL2/CSS/DODS
COD4
Postal 2
Vivisector Beast Within
Condemned Criminal Origins
Pain Killer
Devastation: Resistance Breeds Revolution
Vampire - The Masquerade:Bloodlines
Tribes Vengeance
The Chronicles of Riddick - Escape from Butcher Bay
Flatout/Flatout2

Just keep your eyes open people, the games are there. :)

As far as even older games I enjoy, there is always:

Quakes/Unreals
Half-Life [and all expansions]
1nsane
CS 1.6
Starsiege
Recoil
Dirt Track Racing
Serious Sam(s)
Clive.Barker's.Undying
RTCW
American McGee's Alice
AVP
Hitman
Soldier of Fortune

As a gamer, I play what is available and try to enjoy it.  No better feeling than completing a game that is sub-par.  

Game on people, game on.  8-)

Update:// I was just playing Devastation: Resistance Breeds Revolution, and wow... a great game.  A few bugs, but an amazing game based on the Unreal engine. :)

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/3344/clipboard01ufd.jpg

Another game I am freakin excited about is called FUEL.

Official Trailer -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8nGh-ow-34

The f'ing amazing weather effects -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MtguG0ii_k

Making of Fuel.  (must watch)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtlBnE_imGg

No offense, but that's quite exactly the type of Game that I was talking about.

All focussed around pretty graphics, but the racing looks less interesting than the 1995 Game "Destruction Derby" or some generic Playstation "Drive 'em Up" game with 0% realistic physics for kids with a tiny 2-Button controller in their small hands.
(don't by any means say it couldn't be fun running on a Playstation with several players attached on a 50" Plasma screen)

It's not the playable Graphics demos without reasonable content I'm interesting in, that's what I was ranting about ;)

Don't you mean Demolition Derby? Man that game was excellent!

@below; You're right, don't know why I keep thinking it's called demolition derby.

Nope, the one I mean was called "Destruction Derby"

FUEL is already leaked for the X360... ::)

...not that bothered really - I have better things to play. 8-)

paulpsomiadis wrote on 31.05.09 at 03:32:02:

FUEL is already leaked for the X360... ::) ...not that bothered really - I have better things to play. 8-)

The thing to do is legally obtain a copy... like me.  ::)

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/591/dscf1840.jpg

FUEL is nothing but a nice graphical racer, boring and bland according to the reviews. Got really bad reviews.

Havent played it yet tho, would like to find out for myself.  :)

All I read was:

Tim wrote on 31.05.09 at 18:26:09:

FUEL is a nice graphical racer

This is why I don't read reviews or listen to what other people have to say... I figure it out for myself and if I like it, that is all that matters.   8-)

Some of you guys might have to lower your standards/expectations for games a bit, or you will never be happy or find any new games enjoyable.  Feels good to be me.  :D

rottentreats wrote on 31.05.09 at 19:27:03:

All I read was: Tim wrote on 31.05.09 at 18:26:09: FUEL is a nice graphical racer This is why I don't read reviews or listen to what other people have to say... I figure it out for myself and if I like it, that is all that matters.   8-) Some of you guys might have to lower your standards/expectations for games a bit, or you will never be happy or find any new games enjoyable.  Feels good to be me.  :D

The graphics sell the game, the gameplay actually keeps you playing.  ;) It seems that less and less games have both these days. Bioshock and fallout 3 come to mind. Mass Effect was another great game. It wasnt as pretty as bioshock, but it was great fun.

The biggest problem I have is that Ill get a game because it looks good, and seems fun. But, after playing for a couple days, I have no desire to sit down and play it anymore. And usually I dont know why. Those are the games I end up selling.

Mass effect, bioshock, and fallout 3 on the other hand, were games that I actually looked forward to because I was interested in what was going to happen next.      ;)

I am also having a lot of fun with [Prototype] :)

I dont know guys, maybe the games didnt really get ugly - maybe we just got old?  ;)

I stopped playing new games after Test Drive and went back to playing good old games for DOS. I've gotten myself a Roland SC-55, K6-III and a nice "little" torrent from piratebay with 8gb of free/abandonware games for DOS. Nothing like playing Monkey Island or Settlers 2 (not the new version, but the original one!) on Roland SC-55.

Also Duke3D is still one hell of a game.

The only "newer" game Im playing is Warcraft III - DOTA... and that on V5 5500 rig, which makes it just a bit more tasty  8-)

I think that the magic of older games lies in "imperfection", when compared to new games. Newer games try to add tons of features, but it makes the gameplay somehow complicated. I grew up on Commmand and Conquer series, maybe many of you like old C&Cs too. But beggining Generals, the series lost its main point, C&C3 and RA3 are no better. I still play RA2-YR, mostly modded, but it's still funny, despite badly written engine (many units = choppy gameplay, no mater what HW you are running).

 

The last game I though was worth buying, was Galactic Civilization II plus the addons for it. Though I haven't really played it in a while.

Right now I'm playing OpenTTD again, crappy graphics as some might say, but a lot of fun to play. It keeps you busy.

My list of most favourite games is mostly old-school; Dune II, Command & Conquer Red Alert, Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun, The Settlers II, Transport Tycoon Deluxe, Destruction Derby, Interstate '76, Need For Speed 3 Hot Pursuit, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Jagged Alliance 2.

New stuff just doesn't seem as fun anymore; too much to do and most of the time it's badly implemented.

Age of Empires 3 provided a lot of fun for me, for a long time.

Btw, Monkey Island is being remade.

http://www.gametrailers.com/game/the-secret-of-monkey-island/11405

For me it was The big shocker at the E3 announcements. Can you imagine playing that. WOW. Finally, the voices that go along with it. Glad they kept the real Guybrush Threepwood voice over. Excellent.

elfuego wrote on 05.06.09 at 23:00:41:

I dont know guys, maybe the games didnt really get ugly - maybe we just got old?  ;) I stopped playing new games after Test Drive and went back to playing good old games for DOS. I've gotten myself a Roland SC-55, K6-III and a nice "little" torrent from piratebay with 8gb of free/abandonware games for DOS. Nothing like playing Monkey Island or Settlers 2 (not the new version, but the original one!) on Roland SC-55. Also Duke3D is still one hell of a game. The only "newer" game Im playing is Warcraft III - DOTA... and that on V5 5500 rig, which makes it just a bit more tasty  8-)

LOL I think you hit it right on with that, we're all getting old.  :P

Well... maybe not old but many of us have been around to see the evolution of gaming (we're on a forums dedicated to a company that's almost 10 yrs dead after all). I work as a lvl IV Help Desk tech, middle man with working with the network guys (helping out where I can) and the Help Desk team. There are two guys there that have never worked with DOS, Win 3.1 and one hasn't even touched Win 98.

With us seeing what games used to be and what they are now, we've watched it grow, get better and lately the bad. With EA making multi-million dollar deals to get games on the shelves , it has all become about money.

It was based off of money before, don't get me wrong, you still needed cash to pay for the food you ate but that wasn't the complete focus that it is today. There wasn't a deep seated need to port everything from one plat form to the next for maximum exposure.

With having games cross different platforms and with certain platforms having a limited amount of space to hold data, they try to make it look as good as possible with minimal story line with an exception to few. With having graphics that look as good as they do, it takes more time to code and with that more money so story lines have dropped, the whole scale of the games have dropped.

The Ultima series or even way back, Might and Magic used to take months to complete now everything is based on hours or days, not weeks or months. Even Baulders Gate you weren't going to get through in a week. I don't know... just my take on the whole thing.

^^ thats true. You know, I read a lot about the "new" Bioshock game, and what I read was "awesome game", "10/10", "97%" grades and similar and I forced myself to finish it, just to see what's so good about it. I finished it in a day and found nothing except for old-refurbished pipemania. When I remember that I needed weeks to finish Wolfenstein 3D and Duke 3D...

Even though I am sure I can finish Prince of Persia (DOS) in less then 1h now, I remember that I needed much more time back then, when I didnt know the levels, or how to fight properly. The bitmap brothers game GODS is a perfect example of a hard platform game that you definitely need some time to finish. Newer games end in hours, just as you said...
...but I guess with a good reason behind it. Multiplayer was almost impossible back in "our days" and now the biggest income comes from multiplayer based games. Thats why single player is suffering. It will continue to do so. Why would a programmer waste time with AI, when he can assume that people are going to play amongst themselves :)

Thought this little article was rather fitting being that we were just talking about how games are more about money now.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/140003

Some of these games have pulled in 350 million US$ or more. This, I'm afraid, is why we have the games that we do. Mass market everything.

hehe, GTA IV, the only PC Game in history that often can't even be played because it fails to launch even with latest Patch applied ;)

(btw, does anyone want it ?)

Nah, haven't gotten into that series at all.

FalconFly wrote on 18.06.09 at 11:32:11:

hehe, GTA IV, the only PC Game in history that often can't even be played because it fails to launch even with latest Patch applied ;) (btw, does anyone want it ?)

I'd be more than happy to take it off your hands  ;D,I have every single GTA game, except this one
:(,just done a quick check on 'can you run it' site,hell yeah,no worries
:D

Well, send me your mailing address and it's yours (beware though this might be a german edition - language etc. - , not sure if you can switch languages)

I still love and adore Unreal tournament and Zeus: masters of Olympus,I still play them now when I have a spare hour or so,brings back memories of my old P3 1.1ghz machine  :)

Hello all. I'm new here and... this thread explains exactly what brought me up here :)

(to be noticed, my current rig is a C2D E8400 with a Radeon 4850, what's quite fair ATM but I only use it for Race Driver Grid or NFS Pro Street)

I got bored of all those "nice-graphic-0-fun" games and I decided to put back in service an old P166 (I just lacked a 3DFx TBH) as I wanted to play again the games that thrilled me 12 years ago.

What are those games? Some are now unknown:
- Sea Legends
- Theme Park
- POD
- Megarace 2
- F1 Racing Simulation
- F22 ADF
- Destruction Derby 2
- Transport Tycoon (the original one, not OTTD or TTDLX)
- Duke Nukem 3D
- GLQuake
- NFS2
- Dungeon Keeper 1&2
- and some others I won't name because the list is wide!

I think that the current issue with gaming is that they put all in graphics/realism but do not think about the true fun.

Well, I'm a big FPS fan and I remember the 98-2000 period. Damn, it was nice. Unreal, Half Life, Blood 2, Sin, Undying, Mortyr, Requiem and many many more greats shooters. Now, they are a lot less and they make them more complicated, it's not just shoot everything :(

But, there are nice modern shooters too : Crysis (great graphics and physics) Half Life 2 (same - graphics and physics + awesome maps, you feel that you are there), Timeshift (gorgeous graphics). Recently I finished Wolfenstein (the new one). Great game, the end was a bit frustrating, too hard, but the rest is cool, you have a ton of weapons, maps are large and detalied.

I agree with everything except the new Wolfenstein... :-/

This game COULD have been so much more, especially with Raven Soft. at the helm. ::)

Instead it just typifies most modern releases - lots of spangly graphics and a total lack of gameplay. :P

It sucked pretty fierce... :(

It's gotten quite bad right now.

I'm using a Special Edition Radeon 4890 to display my Desktop.
What a waste, as I don't even have an OpenCL Application to use it to process data :P

But maybe it's just that I'm through with playing, who knows...
We do tend to get older...

paulpsomiadis wrote on 11.10.09 at 19:21:26:

I agree with everything except the new Wolfenstein... :-/ This game COULD have been so much more, especially with Raven Soft. at the helm. ::) Instead it just typifies most modern releases - lots of spangly graphics and a total lack of gameplay. :P It sucked pretty fierce... :(

I agree 100%    ;)

About the single player games though. Half life and Unreal really started to improve on single player. I love playing Quake, but from I remember everyone said single player quake wasnt any good. Maybe that was due to having next to no story. I think thats why I liked bioshock. Because of the story/setting. But, Bioshock was strictly a single player game.

I enjoy playing bad company on the 360. But to be honest, Ive only played through 1 Single player level. Multiplayer is ALOT of fun.

I'm STILL enjoying Fallout 3 btw. Man, I love that game.    :-*

I'll give this "new" game a try!
http://www.serioussamhd.com/

I recently played carmageddon 1, and I'm pretty sure they don't make games like that anymore :(

Carma 1 and Quake 1 were GODLIKE, there will NEVER be such cool games anymore :(

Ok, for any RPG fans that liked the way Baulders Gate or NWN's played, I have to believe that your going to love Dragon Age: Origins (after you change the default control system at least).

Finally a game that takes longer than a day to get through. From what I've read, there's 60+ hours at least with all the quest in it. I've got 10 hours dumped in it since x-mas and I'm only in the third town.

There's an actual story behind it, the characters have some pretty good conversations with each other in the party, the graphics look sweet, character builds so far seem to be pretty cool and later options for characters, from what I can tell, look to be sweet. An Arcane Warrior? Finally, I get to stab someone in the ass while giving them severe heart burn by throwing a fireball down their throat.   ;D 

If your an RPG fan, DA is a must have. Bioware did one hell of a job on this game at least in my opinion.

mmm what abouth Hexen II ?Half-life?Sin?Messiah?
Fear?Doom III
Fear & Doom III were the most scary i ever played !!

Well, as about new games, Dead Space and Supreme Commander impressed me greatly. I even managed to finish them but it was a bit annoying :). At the same time, Quake 1/2/3, Forsaken, MDK 1/2 and Total Annihilation never bores me and it is still interesting to play them again and again.

I actually completed (twice) an RPG recently : Risen

Although initially boring (darn, where do I find me a Sniper Rifle), the game nicely picked up all the way towards the end. Just ended a bit too quickly, basically just as it got interesting. Overall it looked & played very much like Gothic 3, just without all the critical bugs (although the Player Character can still get stuck when moving into a few certain spots, but that was neglectable)

The NPCs though still are as bland and scripted as in any RPG 10 years ago - the highly praised AI engine... just doesn't exist. Just cheap, predictable scripts following very basic and obvious rules.
Seems a real AI is still "mission impossible" for almost all Game creators - luckly that didn't hurt the game that much.

Another attempt I took at a well-known and highly praised game : Anno 1404
The bad thing about it though : in the past I already played "The Settlers 3"...
Apart from the obvious graphical advantages, Anno 1404 simply can't touch the decade old Settlers 3, hence I found Anno just - boring.

A Game I at least had a lookout for was CoD - Modern Warfare 2.
Luckily, I watched alot of in-game videos and analyzed them.
It allowed me to quickly realize that this game is as bad (single player) as all other CoD's after CoD 2.
Actually even worse, as "AI" is non-existent, the game difficulty apparently made for a typical console 12-year old and the entire gameplay more of a stereotype interactive movie (a la Rebel Assault) than an actual 1st person shooter (which would require a functional AI instead of cheapest scripts and somewhat realistic difficulty).

That made my decision not to buy it an easy one.
No point in playing a Graphic Card Demo with child-type difficulty, running through linear levels that allow for less tactical flexibility than even the 1992 made Wolfenstein 3D.

All new FPS games suck, its all been done before only better, sure they they look nicer but they lack any real gameplay. They only last a couple of days and are easily completed on the hardest level (if you can be bothered). Online play is sometimes their only feature worth playing. All went downhill atfer RTCW, MOHAA era IMHO.

COD Modern warfare, prime example of suckfest(very pretty).

There are some good ones...Fallout3/Borderlands/S.T.A.L.K.E.R

Recently played Bioshock 2 - GREAT improvement on the original! :D

...still too short though. ::)

Bayonetta RULES - I just hope that Platinum Games listen and create a souped-up PC version... 8-)

Looking forward to Heavy Rain and God of War 3 - but they are exclusives for PS3 only. :P

Also looking forward to Alan Wake on the X360 (PC version has been cancelled apparently - idiots!) ::)

Im looking forward to getting Bioshock 2. Next month Bad Company 2 will be coming out and Im looking forward to that. I played the original exclusively for about 6 months without buying another game for the 360.

Rant On: I was greatly dissapointed by Gears of War 2. I played the original for over a year online without buying another game. When Gears 2 came out they just ruined the online play. It seems like they tried to micromanage it to the point that it was no fun anymore. For instance, people would sprint up to an enemy and melee them before the other guy had a chance to react. So, they decided to add a delay after you would come out of a run until you could shoot or melee. So, you would sneak up on someone, then run up to them from behind and try to shoot. Then you would stand there like an idiot for a half second. By then they would usually see you and turn around and shoot you instantly. That was just one of the added screw ups they had. All these things came from constant mandatory game updates. It was sad to see such a fun game get screwed up because the developer thought they knew better than the end user. Gears 1 was much more popular online than Gears 2 is. Im guessing for those reasons. Rant Off:

sb306, you just said another reason why there are not many cool games anymore - consoles :( Almost everything has to be ported to PS3 and XBOX 360 now. Developers have to stick to a limited platform, both consoles are quite old now, graphics cannot be improved any more. Yes, believe it or not, a lot of games were cool in the old days because they had awesome graphics back then. You say Quake - boring, old, limited colors, but think back then...true 3D, awesome real time lighs for rockets...polygonal monsters, not just 2D sprites...Quake2 - coloured lights, transpartent water and glass. Quake 3 - animated textures, etc... Now, we have shaders and stuff, but we have them from too long, nothing really new is appearing because console limits the graphics.

Agreed, burn all the consoles. Or let PC gamers play against them online, they will soon get fed up of losing all the with their useless controlers  :'(

Personally, I dont have the time, nor the money to keep a computer up to date. With that being said, there are no new games that I could compare to the classics. Like Quake, Quake 2, mechwarrior 2, Duke Nukem, etc etc etc. This is probably the reason why Ive only bought maybe 7 games since the 360 came out.

Theres alot of trash out there. But the main problem is gameplay. Graphics are nice, but Glquake still looks great in my opinion, even with all the graphical advancements there have been. Playing Unreal in Glide at 1280x1024, you would be hardpressed to be able to tell that the game is actually 12 years old.

So in my opinion, the problem isnt consoles or graphics. Its more a problem the quality of the gameplay or lack there of.

To take that a step further, it could also be the developers catering to the casual gamer and releasing trash.   ::)  And since a casual gamer is going to almost always have a console, that would mean that almost everything released will be trash.

There are still some bright spots though. Bioware released mass effect on the 360 and pc. Its a single player only game(which you rarely see anymore) and it was alot of fun. And they had great sales. As they did with Mass Effect 2. So developers still get rewarded for a great game. It just takes alot more effort than just slapping something together for the usual console gamer and charging $60 for it. Or naming something "Call of Duty etc etc etc" and have people flock to buy it for $60 just because it says "Call of Duty".

Ok, Im done.   ;)

Red Dead Redemption. Pure awesome.

Ninja Gaiden - Awesome when it came out on the Nintendo Entertainment System.  Even better on the Xbox and PS3!

I'm having a great time with Singularity.  For those who have not heard of it I would recommend checking it out. 

These vids are from 2009, but definately do the best job describing and showing the game.

Singularity Live Demo, Part 1  - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3C-v4qlSZw
Singularity Live Demo, Part 2  - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJdSf6LFeKk

If you guys are looking for a cool and fun game for the PC then you should try Red Faction: Guerrilla.  The game had some issues when it first came out, but the latest patch has fixed it up nicely. 

The single player part isn't bad, it's a sandbox type game like Grand Theft Auto.  The multi-player part is where the real fun is at.  It has a very nice variety of backpack power-ups and a wide range of weapons.  The action can get pretty intense, especial in team game play modes.  I find it to be a way cooler experience than say MW2 multi-player.   

It's super cheap right now and can be found in the bargain bin or on Steam.  The player base is small, but dedicated.  With the low price and announcement of the next game in the series, I've seen a major influx of new players. 

A friend of mine also mentioned Singularity to be a very cool game. But it only tooks him two days to pass through the game. Well, it is at least from Raven Software - I may have a look at this game in the future.

What I could recommend to any RTS fan:

Men of War and the standalone addon Red Tide. Great realistic gameplay, great graphics and days of intense fun. In addition you can play mission in coop mode via I-net. :)

Another game which is quite cool is Commanche 4. It's like flying around with a high tech helo (which the US military finally cancelled :( ) while playing Quake 3;) Great action game and still quite good graphics.

All I am going to say is StarCraft II.  I never play RTS type games, but I am actually really enjoying it. :)

rottentreats wrote on 29.07.10 at 13:58:59:

All I am going to say is StarCraft II.  I never play RTS type games, but I am actually really enjoying it. :)

You will enjoy it until some 5 year old South Korean beats you in less than a minute with an SCV rush  :'(

Alien Swarm is a really cool free game. I doesn't get too boring, because Insane difficulty level really asks for teamwork.

Tim wrote on 09.08.10 at 21:15:29:

Alien Swarm is a really cool free game. I doesn't get too boring, because Insane difficulty level really asks for teamwork.

Looks interesting, shame Im retired from online fps  :)

oldskool wrote on 29.07.10 at 17:51:23:

rottentreats wrote on 29.07.10 at 13:58:59: All I am going to say is StarCraft II.  I never play RTS type games, but I am actually really enjoying it. :) You will enjoy it until some 5 year old South Korean beats you in less than a minute with an SCV rush  :'(

I'm playing it right now and it's a pretty well made game. Certainly enough to spend some time :)

oldskool wrote on 09.08.10 at 21:34:04:

Tim wrote on 09.08.10 at 21:15:29: Alien Swarm is a really cool free game. I doesn't get too boring, because Insane difficulty level really asks for teamwork. Looks interesting, shame Im retired from online fps  :)

You could use the console and add some bots when hosting a game. That way you don't have to bother with other players.

oldskool wrote on 29.07.10 at 17:51:23:

rottentreats wrote on 29.07.10 at 13:58:59: All I am going to say is StarCraft II.  I never play RTS type games, but I am actually really enjoying it. :) You will enjoy it until some 5 year old South Korean beats you in less than a minute with an SCV rush  :'(

That's what I also thought ;)

For the PS3 -> MotorStorm: Pacific Rift

So awesome and addicting!   8-)

razrx wrote on 09.09.10 at 22:54:38:

For the PS3 -> MotorStorm: Pacific Rift So awesome and addicting!   8-)

Indeed.
That's the problem, games on console are much better lately, that's why PC games sucks more and more.

Played Uncharted, Killzone 2...I've never seen anything comparing to that on PC. Black on the original XBOX is stunning, it's hard to believe that a console that has inside something like P III 733 and GF4 Ti4200 is able to display such good graphics.

Also, Forza Motorsport 3 on XBOX 360 looks so real, you could swear it's a movie, not a game.

More and more games are appearing only on consoles, PC gets left behind :(

Yeah, that's why I bought into the PS3.  Lot's of awesome games for only 300 dollar hardware.  I was looking for a video card for about 300 and decided to just keep the 8800GT and buy a PS3.

RaverX wrote on 09.09.10 at 23:12:56:

Indeed. That's the problem, games on console are much better lately, that's why PC games sucks more and more. Played Uncharted, Killzone 2...I've never seen anything comparing to that on PC. Black on the original XBOX is stunning, it's hard to believe that a console that has inside something like P III 733 and GF4 Ti4200 is able to display such good graphics. Also, Forza Motorsport 3 on XBOX 360 looks so real, you could swear it's a movie, not a game. More and more games are appearing only on consoles, PC gets left behind :(

PC games started getting rubbish when they started developing them with porting them to consoles in mind, and now they are developed more for consoles than pc as they represent a bigger profit.
Gone are they days when you could laugh at your friends pathetic cut down version of a pc game, you both get the pathetic cut down version of a pc game.  >:(

Consoles produce great graphics because developers know exactly what hardware they are dealing with and are able to run at lower fps and controller speed. Playing you favourite First Person Shooter on a console is usualy a bad experience, all lag and controller accel and "smoothing" (online stuff is also horrible).

I only wish PC gamers could play online against Console gamers, I think we would see a rise in sales of gaming PC's .

Consoles do racing games very well and "button bashers", perfectly suited to the hardware.

Another blow to the PC gamer - XLink Kai http://www.teamxlink.co.uk/

XLink Kai is a global gaming network - bringing together XBox 360, XBox, Playstation 3, Playstation 2,  Gamecube and PSP users, in one integrated community.

Just thowing a few things out there... I try to enjoy games as much as possible. (even though they aren't as well made as they use to be)

I played through Medal of Honor on my XBOX360 and it was fairly fun... not the best.  I am currently playing Call of Duty: Black Ops, and that is pretty freakin awesome.   Not a big console kind of guy, but I modded the system and it's kind of fun to just sit around on the couch and play games. :) (big screen/home theatre kind of fun)

Not too much to say on the PC market as of right now... Minecraft is pretty fun for an Indie type game, fairly addictive. (and time consuming)  The Ball is is a pretty fun puzzle type game.

I can't wait for something new and awesome... I may be holding my breath for awhile.

God of War series.  I was impressed with GoW 3 so I bought the God of War Collection to play the first two.  They're all really awesome!  Lots of button mashing, but also some puzzles and lots of enemies.  Very cool game.

rottentreats wrote on 04.11.10 at 01:53:40:

Just thowing a few things out there... I try to enjoy games as much as possible. (even though they aren't as well made as they use to be) I played through Medal of Honor on my XBOX360 and it was fairly fun... not the best.  I am currently playing Call of Duty: Black Ops, and that is pretty freakin awesome.   Not a big console kind of guy, but I modded the system and it's kind of fun to just sit around on the couch and play games. :) (big screen/home theatre kind of fun) Not too much to say on the PC market as of right now... Minecraft is pretty fun for an Indie type game, fairly addictive. (and time consuming)  The Ball is is a pretty fun puzzle type game. I can't wait for something new and awesome... I may be holding my breath for awhile.

Interesting considering Black Ops doesn't come out until next Tuesday :o  I guess your xbox 360 is really modded....to the point you probably don't want to connect online with it ;) ;) 

Here are my current favorite games that I've invested some time into.  Some are oldies but goodies:

Xbox 360:
Halo Reach - Spent a good deal of time on this one...but it's growing old.  Would probably get back into when the XIM3 get's released.

COD4 - Picked this up for $13....also have it on PC.  Worth a few hours of play to boost my gamerscore

COD5 - Got this for the zombie CO-OP action, but found the campaign to worth the price of admission.

PC:
Blacklight: Tango down - Picked it up from Steam for $7.50.  Multiplayer only, kind of intense gun fighting, cool atmosphere (think Blade Runner).  Would be awesome if it had a single player campaign.

Batman: AA GOTY Edition - Also got it from Steam for $13.  Well worth the super cheap price. 

Gears of War - Snagged this back in July once MS released it as a GFWL download.  Way better than the xbox version.  Single player is worth playing for some cheap fun.  CO-OP mode is decent, but the rest of the multiplayer modes are ho-hum and hardly anyone plays. 

Half Life 2 - I know what you're thinking...WTF?  I've had it in my collection for at least 5 years and never finished it.  Replaying it now to get the steam achievements and to enjoy a classic.

I've also got at least another 100 games in my backlog that could use some attention.  So many games...so little time

I don't know is any one here has given Gothic 4 a shot but its ok and the pc version is a hog as any modern game is. Cough cough better have a good quad or its lag on any card. Got a GTX460 that I have to nuke to 850mhz just to be playable.

Halflife 2 Biggest disapointment in gaming history.

oldskool wrote on 18.11.10 at 23:07:57:

Halflife 2 Biggest disapointment in gaming history.

Really? Wow, that's rare. :o

Half life was one of those landmark games, I remember playing it when it first came out and thinking wow. Half life 2 had a lot to live upto and didnt.

oldskool wrote on 19.11.10 at 08:39:17:

Half life was one of those landmark games, I remember playing it when it first came out and thinking wow. Half life 2 had a lot to live upto and didnt.

Hmm interestingly I used to think the same about Halflife, but playing that game again it really wasn't all that great actually. I thought Halflife 2 with both episodes were one of the best games ever made. :)

I agree. Half Life 2 was much better. But it's quite normal - Half Life appeared in 98 and HL2 appeared in 2004 - 6 years later.

The graphic in HL2 is awesome, the pshysics are incredibly good.

IMO, best games appeared in 96-98, when 3d acceleration appeared.

But they evolved until 2006-2007, then it stopped, almost nothing interesting appeared, because consoles gained too much popularity (XBOX 360 and PS3).

Now we have GTX480, but no games to take advanced of it. We have i7 CPUs, even with 6 cores and 12 threads. We have PhysX. But no game is better in PsysX than HL2...

Crysis was the last game that had very good graphics, nothing else better appeared since 2007 :(

Too true, isn't that funny.

And the next best thing graphics wise (IMO) is again Crysis (2) coming up. Although ID's new engine is very impressive as well.

Crysis 2 will NOT have very good graphics. I played the "alpha" version on XBOX 360 and it was quite shitty :(

Maybe the final version will be better and the PC version will have better graphic, but it will still be worse than Crysis 1 - I can bet anything on that.

As for id Tech 5 ... it will have some nice things, but ... that's all. Last good looking id engine was Quake3, Doom3 was way too artifical - exagerated bump mapping and shadows.

Right now UT3 has the best graphics, but HL2 looks much natural, I remember some maps... you are under a concrete bridge - the graphic looked almost like you were there - the concrete texture, the muddy water looked like in real life.

Have a try of X-Plane9,it's really exciting if u like fly- simulation,and Gran Turismo4 on PS2 is also my favourate game.it's right one i spent several years on it, 8-)still waiting...........for GT5 now ;D and sb paly Euro Truck Simulator?It's really funny haha
http://photo2.bababian.com/upload5/20101121/D5EA6A5FE06CDCB253CBA2AB3156A030_500.jpg

oldskool wrote on 18.11.10 at 23:07:57:

Halflife 2 Biggest disapointment in gaming history.

I just finished it again, it was in my opinion absolutely THE game of the year and then some ie still miles better then most games I've played in my live. Anyway, I'm playing EP1 now and boy it just get's better and better. Can't wait for EP3!!!

voodooban_cn wrote on 20.11.10 at 13:55:02:

Have a try of X-Plane9,it's really exciting if u like fly- simulation,and Gran Turismo4 on PS2 is also my favourate game.it's right one i spent several years on it, 8-)still waiting...........for GT5 now ;D

The wait is over :)


Tim wrote on 27.11.10 at 18:30:50:

oldskool wrote on 18.11.10 at 23:07:57: Halflife 2 Biggest disapointment in gaming history. I just finished it again, it was in my opinion absolutely THE game of the year and then some ie still miles better then most games I've played in my live. Anyway, I'm playing EP1 now and boy it just get's better and better. Can't wait for EP3!!!

+1

I liked HL2 a lot. The pshysics, the graphics, even the story was great.

Compared to the original, really! I guess you had to be there when Half-life was released. HL2 game of the year, must have been a poor year for games  ;)
Good graphics don't make a good game.

oldskool wrote on 29.11.10 at 20:50:55:

Compared to the original, really! I guess you had to be there when Half-life was released. HL2 game of the year, must have been a poor year for games  ;) Good graphics don't make a good game.

Play the original again lol. Pretty terrible really.  :P

Agreed, I probably wouldnt play the original again but when it came out it was a very good game.

oldskool wrote on 30.11.10 at 19:08:51:

Agreed, I probably wouldnt play the original again but when it came out it was a very good game.

I totally agree to that. It set the standard for years to come. Loved it. :)

Playing Bulletstorm right now on my 360. (legally of course, I know people and got an early release copy)

Simply put... AWESOME!  8-)

just leaving this here:
http://Maker3D.tk

my newest software.

I tried Bulletstorm on my computer. after getting the annoying things  like have to login with you windows live account etc etc etc I thought ya know what....forget it.

And yes, I tried the pirated version, but I do that for almost every game I intend to buy.
I don't feel like forking out 30+ euros for a game that will stay interesting for no more then 2 hours, so I try them 1st and I almost always see within the 1st half hour if the game will keep me interested, and then I go buy it.

For bulletstorm it is a big NO for me, I hate that kinda crap that I HAVE TO login, else the game won't even start.

@rottentreats - currently playing it on my PS3...f00kin' ROCKS!

@Ultima - I agree with this, the "always online" DRM should be banned...along with ALL DRM in general.
It just hurts consumers and causes more headaches than it's worth!

@everyone - Yup, original HalfLife is WAAAAAY better than HL2 in terms of the innovation it represents...

...and then there was Portal!

@paulpsomiadis - I picked up the complete half life 1 collection from steam for $2.99 a few months back.  Definitely worth it considering I haven't played it in almost 11 years.

As far as new games go, I just picked up Crysis 2 for the xbox 360 for $44 from Amazon and it's pretty good.  Probably one of the best looking games I've ever played on the xbox.  I'm sure the PC version is amazing looking, but I went with the xbox version due to the number of friends I have on xbox live.

I am just gonna say Duke Nukem Forever.  Amazing.

Looking forward to Alice: Madness Returns also..  8-)

rottentreats wrote on 11.06.11 at 06:21:28:

I am just gonna say Duke Nukem Forever.  Amazing. Looking forward to Alice: Madness Returns also..  8-)

I tried the demo on the Xbox 360 last week....but felt underwhelmed by the experience.  It seems like a solid shooter, but there's really nothing special about what I saw.  Reviews from gaming sites have been mixed....but I take those with a grain of salt.  I plan to pick it up when it drops below $40 or so this fall.

BTW, I also tried the bulletstorm demo based on your recommendation above.  It is indeed an awesome game just based on the demo alone.  It's also on my short list of games to pick up at a discounted price tag.

Yeah, DNF was a fun playthrough. (after adjusting the FOV because that defualt 75 just feels like you are zoomed in all the time)  All in all it is good for what it is.  I enjoyed playing it and am playing it again now. (multiplayer is a blast also)

Alice: Madness Returns is where its at though.  I have a true feeling of oldish gameplay that I just love.  I really enjoyed the original Alice and this is just as amazing.  :D

Someone like DNF  :D

Getting hated on everywhere, not that I've played it. Don't want to spoil the oldskool DN3D magic, eduke32 is as modern as I'm going.

Although I do agree that the graphics on DNF are rough and look unpolished... :-/

I DO NOT agree that it deserves all the bad press it's been getting. ::)

Both myself and my mates all have enjoyed the game greatly... :D

BTW - to all those idiot reviewers...the game is NOT meant to be taken seriously! ::)

It takes the mickey out of itself for crying out loud! :P

The DNF demo wasn't all that bad.  I think the problem is we live in a world that is more politically correct than it was back in the 90s.   These yuppie reviewers are probably getting offended by his one liners.  If I didn't already have a stack of games to catch up on...I probably would have snagged it for $50 from Amazon.com. 

BTW, Redbox here in the USA has it in their vending machines for rent at $2 a night.  I fully plan to rent it for a couple nights to at least knock out the single player part of the game.   

BF3 - Hooah! So much fun.


Looking forward to these and so much more:
Serious Sam 3: BFE
Tribes: Ascend
Max Payne 3
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Prey 2
Metro: Last Light
Postal III
GTA V
Farcry 3
Hitman - Absolution