[SA Chris]

Randomly. has anyone completed The Conduit? Is it just me or does it get seriously fucking hard all of a sudden when you have to get into the monumnet by the river? Made good progress up to this point and then totally shut down.

[Falling Down]

I had a really good spell before Easter and got quite a way through but can't seem to play now as I'm on a really tough stage but have lost the reflexes and the knowledge so just keep getting killed. 

Got a copy of LA Noire but fear its just good looking linear button mashing...

[Falling Down]

After I wrote that I went back on to Crysis and just walked through that stage I was struggling with  without firing a weapon.  Chris, i reckon there are times when it's better to stealth your way through it.

[SA Chris]

I tried stealthing it, picking them off with a sniper rifle, but they just keep coming through the portals and you get nowhere unless you get in and destroy the portals

[Fiend]

Finished Far Cry 2, was good for reasons mentioned above, but not great cos it was too long and not varied enough.

Started Dead Space 2 (with the essential remapping control patch to fix the broken initial release), it's Doom 3 with better monsters and atmosphere but cumbersome over-the-shoulder perspective and annoyingly counter-intuitive controls. Very good in some ways but I wish I was fighting the monsters more than the auto-aim/run/use/weapon-change control problems.

Also started Bulletstorm (after 30 minutes fucking around with Games For Windows Live just to get started), it's Painkiller with less stupid horde combat and more stupid gungho OTTness. It looks very cool, easy to control and pretty fun. A good contrast.

[tommytwotone]

Sony announces PS3 price cut and new stripped down, cheaper PSP:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/aug/16/sony-announces-playstation-price-cuts

Intrigued but the cut-down PSP, I used to have one and really loved it - until some lowlife nicked it out of my bag in a boozer in East London. Might get me one of the new ones, was great for gaming when travelling / on holidays etc.

[slackline]

New ones don't have WiFi (according the RegHardware).

Which led me to this report of an Android app that allows you to use your phone as a Six-axis controller (for £1.03, although it sounds a bit flakey)!

[slackline]

Sony also announce Playstation (3D) TV.

(Shouldn't this thread by in Computers, technology and the internet sub-forum?).

[SA Chris]

Depends on your view of gaming "culture" or if the term is an oxymoron.

[slackline]

   Well there is certainly a "gaming culture", I guess whether that is considered "cultured" is the crux.  Bothers me not, its just I went looking for this thread in the Computing section.

[Fiend]

Gaming is an interactive media art form 

[Bubba]

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/online_gaming

[Jaspersharpe]

 

[Fiend]

ASSNOOB GAYNOOBERS NOOBLE GAYGAY 

In Squeek's honour I've been playing plenty of games recently, mostly Bulletstorm and Dead Space 2 in addition to SC2 and watching my geek girl play Mass Effect until she can't see straight. 

[Fatboy]

Hilarimoose!!

In other news I am so psyched for the imminent release of Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge!
There is no confirmed release date for Europe yet but the Aussie and NZ editions are being released next week and the following week respectively, so I reckon it will be maybe the week after for us over in this part of the world.

The are some great videos over on the developers YouTube channel.
There is an 'official' rugby world cup game (RWC 2011) about to be released but is just a rehash using an old engine and having played the demo is cack after 5 minutes.

[superfurrymonkey]

This is amazing. Wonderputt a very original online putting game http://www.kongregate.com/games/dampgnat/wonderputt 

[fatdoc]

 Deus X.

very inspiring world to lose yourself into. 2 of us playing it in the house... so many different paths.. few convergancies... varied zero frustration game play.. hard.. very hard... sucks you in.. the multiple influences of the old game still there.. with added global media control over society and the wealth gap regarding medicine and your chances for passing your DNA on to the next generation across all societies deepening being a new feature...

stealth, big guns & intelligence all play a big conscious part in the game.

a true 2011 video game.. no FPS arcade shooter.. you wake up thinking how you could have done better..


a must for all, on all platforms. this is what we play single player video games for.

[Carnage]

I've been playing Dead Island on the 360 for a while and with installation and the recent patch, many of the launch problems are fixed. Great co-op and lots of fun plus all the gore you could want. A fair bit of RPG type stuff so kinda like Fallout but with zombies. I enjoy the fact that there aren't many guns (even when you get them they're only really good on humans) and although the fps melee combat can be a hit-or-miss (geddit), once you've got it dialled its pretty intuitive.

But.... Dead Island got booted for the mighty Gears of War 3 which I've gotta say is fucking awesome. Excellent campaign and they finally got the multiplayer right. No lag, good weapon balance and fun maps. Plus horde has been upgraded with the tower defence style elements. I can't see this leaving the tray for a long time........

[miso soup]

I always go back to Dirt 2 sooner or later.  One of the best games ever.  Looking forward to Dirt 3 but I don't buy games until they're in the 2 for 20 pound section at Blockbuster.  Been playing Battlefield 1943 a lot recently but only if my mates are on, Dirt 2 is the only game I ever play online with randoms.  Crysis 2 was a bit crap I thought, was quite nice in terms of atmosphere and stuff but not enough to make up for it being a very bog standard first person shooter.  Far Cry 2 I also thought was good but a little short of great.

[Fiend]

Just finished Bulletstorm, Singularity and Dead Space 2 in quick succession...

Just ordered RAGE, Space Marine and Crysis 2...

Waiting for Deus Ex HR, Dead Island and Alice Madness Returns to drop in price a bit...
Pretty good time to be a PC action gamer 

[BB]

Pretty good time to be a PC action gamer 

...and a shut-in! 

"MOM! I NEED MORE HOT POCKETS!"

[Fiend]

LOL, not sure what a shut-in is but the weather does a damn good job of shutting us in up here. Okay it's glorious today....and then pissing down all weekend. I need my shooter games!!

[Fiend]

RAAAAAAAGE!

The racing bits are utterly awful. The driving inbetween missions is pointless.

The rest of it rocks. Gameplay is solid, albeit in a modern duck and shoot FPS way rather than a classic visceral ID way. The vibe of the wasteland is pretty cool - helped in part by the graphics and scenery being awesome. Ambient sounds work nicely with it too.

[Fiend]

Finished Rage. It was very cool apart from the last mission which was rushed and characterless. I really wanted more of the rest of it. The looks and atmosphere are stunning and the gameplay is fun. I got used to the driving bits in the end, it's mainly the first obligatory race track that is utterly awful.

As a contrast, and while waiting for DX3:HR, I dabbled in the original Gears Of War as some simple shooter action to pass the time. It is a very interesting experience considering how this was lauded as such a classic game....

Pros:
+ It looks pretty cool for the time, still looks good today.
+ The squad system works pretty well.
+ Flanking enemies is quite fun.

Cons:
- Everything is in a shade of grey.
- Squad members are generally stupid and go down easily.
- You can revive them but can't be revived yourself.
- The checkpoints are sometimes badly spaced and there is no manual save.
- Some checkpoints are right as unskippable cutscenes start, forcing tedious reviews.
- Unskippable intro clips/logos.
- Far too many cutscenes, all the bloody time and spoiling immersion.
- The characters and dialogue are completely awful.
- Both your squad and the enemy models have irritatingly juvenile proportions.
- Picking up items is slow and tedious.
- The blood is daft cartoonised nonsense.
- There is no context for how it starts.
- The health indicator is in possibly the worst position ever, right where it gets completely obscured by gunfire and right where you're trying to look through the hud.
- The enemy look almost identical to your squad members (and have little character regardless).
- The gameplay is super-repetitive.
- The cover fighting is very artificial with concrete shit everywhere.
- The shotgun is completely useless given the gameplay when you get it.
- Running controls are awful: lag before running, change in perspective, awful lack of turning, awful headbob.
- Can't vault/mantle obstacles without going into cover briefly first.

Basically it's striking me as a clear and objective bad game. How was it ever popular again??

[fatdoc]

I'm thinking of losing my world....

Elder scrolls anyone??