madbeanpedals::forum

Took a long break from music, hopeful about a possible new job and new city...

Relapsed into playing video games some, wondering what you all like. My recs:

Duck Game (pc, soon ps4 and xbox). Multiplayer hysteria, sometimes arbitrary. Patiently waiting for an update this year. Great retro music.

Rocket League. Soccer with rocket cars. Addicting, frustrating, fun

Insurgency. realistic fps, couple hits and youre done. Tensest game ever, great sound design.

The Division & Fallout 4 on the PS4 for me this month.

Getting ready for Uncharted 4 next month.

Also have been playing a lot of my Dreamcast since I modded it:
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=22595.0 (http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=22595.0)

I am testing games on the HDD but I end up playing them for an hour or more each. lol

Cody

I'm still working on PS 3 games. The newer Tomb Raider has my attention right now.


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Dark Souls 3, Dark Souls 3, and more Dark Souls 3.

What I'm saying is that I've been playing a lot of Dark Souls 3.

Quote from: lincolnic on April 22, 2016, 09:51:53 PM
Dark Souls 3, Dark Souls 3, and more Dark Souls 3.

What I'm saying is that I've been playing a lot of Dark Souls 3.

I'm now jealous! ;-)

I have been regressing for some time. With the announcement of the PS4/Xbone I decided I didn't want an underpowered PC as a console and even at the time sold my Xbox360 and PS3 as I thought I was done... I'll have to borrow a PS4 to play Drake 4 when it comes out as that's about the only game I really want to play on it. Shame they've stopped them developing for the PS3 when it's totally capable of playing these sorts of games (http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2015/07/04/the-last-guardian-ps3-release-no-problem-ueda-interview/#/slide/10) and still has a massive user base. It annoyed the crap out of me when they pulled the rug from under the PS3 long before it was due to be replaced because they felt they had to respond to Xbone. So we get a half arsed console instead that's a little bit prettier and it looks like they're already looking at a PS4k soon... Which is what the PS4 should have been IMO (it's bringing VR to the table) and given the lifecycle of the PS3 (should have been 10 years), would likely have happened if they'd held on... Bah!

Anyhow... Not having anything to play, I got my GameCube and Dreamcast down from the loft and hit the JRPGs hard. I did Skies of Arcadia and Grandia II in turn and realised that there were a tonne of games on the old console that I'd simply missed out on that were f**king awesome. So I started buying them up on the GC and DC...

Which brought me to the conclusion that I enjoyed playing more old school games than modern stuff. This led me on to buying a Wii U because it seemed to be echoing what the DC did in terms of, there might not be a lot of games for it, but they're quality titles and proper games. I also really like what the gamepad brings to the experience. Then I discovered it had Wii backward compatibility...

The Wii was a console that passed me by because I thought it was for non-gamers. All that Wii-sports bollocks and the like. Well I couldn't have been more wrong. There's a HUGE amount of great title on that, so I thought I'd get those bought up while they were available and cheap (this has become a theme, and a bit of an addiction).

All of this made me realise that I'd been a bit harsh getting shot of the PS3 (luckily I'd kept the games for that), so I bought a new (old) one. The Xbox 360 doesn't really get a look in because quite frankly, other than online stuff, there's only Forza III and Kameo on there that I'd ever want to play.

By this point, I think my regression kicked in proper and I decided I was going to get all the consoles I used to have (not going back as far as the Atari 2600 or pong clone I had, that would be excessive). So I finally fixed my biggest console selling error when I got shot of my Super Nintendo and bought another. Games can be a bit pricey on this one to be fair, but I've managed to get most things I'm after. Some of the horrifically expensive games I've managed to cover with Virtual Console on the Wii and Wii U for very sensible money. I'd love to run them on original hardware, but I'm simply not prepared to pay the silly money they've become for some of them.

Ah virtual console and the PSN classics have managed to score me a great deal of old titles for the SNES and PS1. That's been an absolute cash saver as they cover a LOT of old JRPGs (which I have a particular weakness for). Oh yeah, and the PS3 plays PAL PS1 games, so I started hoovering them up too.

Finally, because I sold my old PS2 compatible PS3 and bought a slim (non-PS2 compatible), I should have a PS2 landing at my door any day now. This one has proven to be a bargain machine as the games are literally a couple of quid each.

Oh and computer gaming has also been resurrected (sold my gaming PC a few years ago). I sold my ninja iMac and bought a 2008 Mac Pro with a very specific graphics card that allows it to be fully compatible across multiple OSs. Allowing me to run Mavericks, Snow Leopard, Windows XP and Windows 7. So I've got a tonne of old games on XP, and a few new on 7. It's pokey enough to run Fallout 4 ok, so it's fast enough for me. I really should play that at some point... Also gotta give a shout out to GOG.com for being an awesome place to snag old games.

Almost forgot the N64 (which covers NES also via an emulator)! Mainly because I suspect I'm still struggling to get the video performance that I want from that. Partly the N64's fault, mostly my modern TV's terrible low res analogue signal handling. I've done an article on that side of things also that covers my woes with old consoles vs modern TVs (that keeps getting updated also... It's very UK-centric) here (http://juansolo.co.uk/geekery/videowafflage1.html).

While this has been going on I haven't really been able to play a lot of games. Currently, when my bro comes over once a week we're hitting Super Tennis, Bomberman and Sensible Soccer really hard on the SNES, but that's about it. I still need to complete Xenoblade X on the Wii U (I'm 100 hrs in on that...), but that's on hold while the hording is taking place.

Lately I have been playing Counter Strike: Global Offensive, but I'm no good in it. Been way too long since I last dived into the CS world..

Quote from: jtn191 on April 22, 2016, 07:48:12 PM
Rocket League. Soccer with rocket cars. Addicting, frustrating, fun

My friend texted me earlier today and told me this is open for everyone this weekend in Steam. I'll have to try it out. :)

Quote from: juansolo on April 23, 2016, 12:36:13 AM
I did Skies of Arcadia and Grandia II

Is Grandia II good? I remember playing Grandia on playstation and it was amazing. When I picked it up I didn't know what type of game it was. Turns out it was one of best PS games ever along Vandal Hearts and Final Fantasy VIII.

I was reading this wii is the newest console I have. To me classic is NES and such. I just sold my Dreamcast and PS2 to fund the pedal hobby.

I do have a 3ds which is pretty cool. I played through Bravely Default last year. Great game in the style of the Final Fantasy series. It was worth the cost of the 3ds just for that game. Great gameplay system, and a cool story to boot. It lets you turn off random encounters, I thought I'd hate the feature but I ended up loving it.

Shovel knight is a good retro Sidescroller if you're interested in such.

I've been playing through the remake of Final Fantasy 4 lately. Probably going to have to buy something when the FF 7 remake comes out though.

Never been a console fan. But lately I've been playing some of the old arcade classics on mame.

Other than that, I've been playing Mount and Blade (not warband), Just started on Deadbolt, Broforce, max Payne 3 (not super fun), tried GTA 5 (dull, really), the new xcom2, still going on Fallout 4 occasionally but that's gotten a bit boring. I might just go and finish it off now that I'm tough enough and found my kid...

Super hot was a great game.

Quote from: Jebus on April 23, 2016, 02:39:33 AM
Is Grandia II good? I remember playing Grandia on playstation and it was amazing. When I picked it up I didn't know what type of game it was. Turns out it was one of best PS games ever along Vandal Hearts and Final Fantasy VIII.

Vandal Hearts is a classic. There's a 3rd one of them that I never knew about!

Grandia II is utterly awesome. THE best combat mechanic in a JRPG in my opinion (it's semi-realtime-turnbased). The main character is an amusing asshole, and Millenia when she rages is brilliant.

Xcom 2 and Pinball Arcade.

Rocket League! Waiting for Dark Souls 3 to go on sale. Reverting back to FFXI before they shut it down for good.

Juan Solo, speaking of emulators, I get struck with nostalgia every spring. The Sonic series and Banjo Kazooie were platforming at its peak.

Speaking of MAME, King of Fighters is one of my favourites on there.

It isn't as good as the DOS classic "One Must Fall 2097", but I like it :)

I used to play games somewhat obsessively before the kids came along but theres not much time left for that.  Occasionally one of my friends comes around with his pc and we play Divinity Original Sin for a number of hours and drink beer which is alot of fun. 

A little off track and further down the nerd-dom slippery slope, we (3 of us) had planned today to play a card / dice game called elder sign today, a fantasy flight game set in the cthulhu mythos. Its pretty quick and simple to get in and out of a game. We would play mansions of madness which has more atmosphere then Elder Sign but that's just too much work to get started :o

Quote from: HamSandwich on April 23, 2016, 09:32:53 AM
Rocket League! Waiting for Dark Souls 3 to go on sale. Reverting back to FFXI before they shut it down for good.

Don't wait! Just get Dark Souls 3. I'm nearly at the end of my first playthrough and I'm already thinking about the next.

Insurgency! Love it, especially co-op mode. Great tactical shooter, bit more 'realistic' in style (No cross hair, no HP's)

Brutal Doom's Hell On Earth levels are fun, even if they remind me of the Red Faction "Return To Earth" levels :)

Quote from: nzCdog on April 24, 2016, 04:02:35 AM
Insurgency! Love it, especially co-op mode. Great tactical shooter, bit more 'realistic' in style (No cross hair, no HP's)

Chyeah, I just wish modes were named/explained a bit clearer.

@Willybomb, GTA V is a blast but I feel like the story and multiplayer implementation could've been tightened up. Great with friends though!

Quote@Willybomb, GTA V is a blast but I feel like the story and multiplayer implementation could've been tightened up. Great with friends though!

My nephew plays it non stop online pretty much.  I played GTA3 to death though but I think my tastes have changed.

I installed Call of Juarez: Gunslinger today, the commentary and story are fairly entertaining.  Tried Dark Souls II, couldn't get into it.

Confirmed video game slut er... enthusiast here. Since I can remember I always had something to play. My first was a big ole' grey Gameboy brick with Kirby's Dream Land. I remember my mom shut it off (it was bedtime) by unplugging the power adapter and I completely lost my mind. Tantrum at the heat level of 1,000 suns. I'll never let my mother live that down, EVER. That game is f'n hard.

Today I'm all about the PC. I absolutely love consoles and handhelds (definitely not jealous of Juan's stash, definitely not. Not one bit... dammit) but having a powerful PC gives me everything to at least play. I can emulate Wii and Gamecube through Dolphin, emulate N64* through either Project64 or Mupen64, GBA, GBC, SNES, NES, PSone, Dreamcast, and finally a few Nintendo DS games. It's nice to HDMI my PC display to my TV and play nearly any older game I want during parties and whatnot.

*Funny how it's been over 20 (!) years and not one single piece of software can TRULY emulate the Nintendo 64 properly. I know the reasons but it's a bit silly that I can sync Wii peripherals via bluetooth and play Wii games flawlessly on my PC, yet we still can't find a way to fix the f_ckin' graphics on Pilotwings 64. Insanity, dread, etc... I have it on console so it's all good.

On PC, my main girl, this is what's up -

Alien: Isolation - This is a must play. It pays homage, looks gorgeous, its difficult, scary, and paranoid. I genuinely love this game and want to hug it. I wish I could actually hug the game. It jumped very quickly to my top 5 favorite games ever. Play. It. Now. 10/10. Masochist's dream (nightmare?).

Fallout - I'm gonna get reamed for this one. I love RPGs, especially Action RPGs, but for the life of me I can't get into these games. Tried many times. No need to convince me, it's not gonna happen. Yawn.

Mass Effect - Needs no introduction. I've beaten the series so many times and I will continue to lose a social life because of this series. Can't wait for the new one! Probably my favorite franchise ever.

Hitman - This series will always be with me. I really enjoy beating a level, restarting it, and beating it in completely different ways. Played 'em all, love 'em all.

GTA - Meh. Repetitive but fun stories. Nothing I'm wild about, although Red Dead Redemption was awesome.

Half-Life - Duh, awesome, love it, always will love it.

Portal series - If you like to get shit-talked by an AI and think outside the box and ignore your girfriend and burn dinner then go to bed exhausted yet satisfied, it rocks. Love it.

Middle Earth Shadow of Morodor - Dark, violent, very hard, stylish. It's not a LOTR game for kids. Very cool.

Dragon Age - Was very, very excited for Inquisition. Amazing, detailed plot with characters that seem alive... they're surly, mean, and you can never please everyone. The actual gameplay was a HUGE disappointment though. Boring combat. Ruined the game IMO, it had massive potential. "Lets work super hard on everything but the parts in the game where you actually PLAY." - Developers.

Crysis series - Badass.

Dishonored - Badass.

Gears of War - Badass.

The Witcher - Badass as F.

Elder Scrolls - Fun, gets stale.

Deus Ex Human Revolution - PLAY IT NOW. Currently enjoying it for the third time. Great gameplay, slick graphics, slick everything. So good.

I'm missing a bunch but this is what I've done in the last 6 months or so, I'll be back with more.

GAME ON.

EDIT - Very much looking forward to the release of No Man's Sky. Hopefully the gameplay is fun, it looks absolutely beautiful! Link'd pics below.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiBuvrstazMAhUO1mMKHUI_D78QjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2F2015%2Fjul%2F12%2Fno-mans-sky-18-quintillion-planets-hello-games&psig=AFQjCNGZQNlMk5S77PutLUWtQDxIq9v_YQ&ust=1461764108653357 (http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiBuvrstazMAhUO1mMKHUI_D78QjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2F2015%2Fjul%2F12%2Fno-mans-sky-18-quintillion-planets-hello-games&psig=AFQjCNGZQNlMk5S77PutLUWtQDxIq9v_YQ&ust=1461764108653357)

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjJ1JqOtqzMAhVO9WMKHVcCCb0QjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fno-mans-sky.com%2Fpress%2Fsheet.php%3Fp%3Dno_man%27s_sky&psig=AFQjCNGZQNlMk5S77PutLUWtQDxIq9v_YQ&ust=1461764108653357 (http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjJ1JqOtqzMAhVO9WMKHVcCCb0QjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fno-mans-sky.com%2Fpress%2Fsheet.php%3Fp%3Dno_man%27s_sky&psig=AFQjCNGZQNlMk5S77PutLUWtQDxIq9v_YQ&ust=1461764108653357)

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjzlfqftqzMAhVI02MKHSrqA3QQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fattackofthefanboy.com%2Fnews%2Fdev-promises-no-mans-sky-ps4-will-stable-rate%2F&psig=AFQjCNGZQNlMk5S77PutLUWtQDxIq9v_YQ&ust=1461764108653357 (http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjzlfqftqzMAhVI02MKHSrqA3QQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fattackofthefanboy.com%2Fnews%2Fdev-promises-no-mans-sky-ps4-will-stable-rate%2F&psig=AFQjCNGZQNlMk5S77PutLUWtQDxIq9v_YQ&ust=1461764108653357)

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjNltGxtqzMAhVExWMKHYX3BeoQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gamespot.com%2Farticles%2Fhow-to-play-no-mans-sky-a-detailed-breakdown%2F1100-6435316%2F&psig=AFQjCNGZQNlMk5S77PutLUWtQDxIq9v_YQ&ust=1461764108653357 (http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjNltGxtqzMAhVExWMKHYX3BeoQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gamespot.com%2Farticles%2Fhow-to-play-no-mans-sky-a-detailed-breakdown%2F1100-6435316%2F&psig=AFQjCNGZQNlMk5S77PutLUWtQDxIq9v_YQ&ust=1461764108653357)

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjy0-PhtqzMAhVRw2MKHWDjD2MQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DtYoGN2zgXQU&psig=AFQjCNGZQNlMk5S77PutLUWtQDxIq9v_YQ&ust=1461764108653357 (http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjy0-PhtqzMAhVRw2MKHWDjD2MQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DtYoGN2zgXQU&psig=AFQjCNGZQNlMk5S77PutLUWtQDxIq9v_YQ&ust=1461764108653357)

Quote from: lincolnic on April 22, 2016, 09:51:53 PM
Dark Souls 3, Dark Souls 3, and more Dark Souls 3.

What I'm saying is that I've been playing a lot of Dark Souls 3.

Hell's yeah!. My 7 year old just hit NG+.  And my PVP Chaos Pyromancer is coming along nicely!

Quote from: Torgoslayer on April 26, 2016, 06:38:15 AM

Quote from: lincolnic on April 22, 2016, 09:51:53 PM
Dark Souls 3, Dark Souls 3, and more Dark Souls 3.

What I'm saying is that I've been playing a lot of Dark Souls 3.

Hell's yeah!. My 7 year old just hit NG+.  And my PVP Chaos Pyromancer is coming along nicely!

I'm probably going to wrap my first playthrough tomorrow (went with a quality build, hard to beat refined Dark Sword). Do you really have a 7 year old who can beat a Souls game? Because that's way more impressive than my video game skills were at that age.

Back on to Everybody's Golf 5 (actually Minna no Golf 5, the Japanese version has way more charm). Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I find out there's a 6... I've ordered that, sweeeeeet.

The PS2 collection is filling out nicely at the moment. I bought a console, two controllers, memory card, component lead and 19 games (so far), and I think it's barely cost me much more than £150! Definitely been the bargain console of the recent acquisitions!

trying to get deeper into Dark Souls 3, just wish it wasnt feeling so linear

dark souls 1 is definitely the best in my opinion (thus far)

Just started the F.E.A.R. series.  The first one is really good for an older FPS. 

Quote from: LaceSensor on April 29, 2016, 12:48:07 AM
trying to get deeper into Dark Souls 3, just wish it wasnt feeling so linear

dark souls 1 is definitely the best in my opinion (thus far)

I want to try these games sometime in the near future.

Quote from: stringsthings on April 29, 2016, 02:25:39 AM
Just started the F.E.A.R. series.  The first one is really good for an older FPS. 

Quote from: LaceSensor on April 29, 2016, 12:48:07 AM
trying to get deeper into Dark Souls 3, just wish it wasnt feeling so linear

dark souls 1 is definitely the best in my opinion (thus far)

I want to try these games sometime in the near future.

If you are a sucker for PUNISHMENT then I recommend these, it's a love hate relationship. lolz. All kidding aside they are very fun games. I've played through DS1 3 or 4 times ( i didn't really care for DS2). It's SUPER frustrating but incredibly rewarding at the same time.

...and today I got given a second PS2 and a box of games!  ;D

Quote from: juansolo on April 29, 2016, 09:12:25 AM
...and today I got given a second PS2 and a box of games!  ;D

And you thought you had to sell pedals to get nice things😀

I've had it so wrong all these years!  ;)

I've been playing the latest Tomb Raider and Just Cause 3.

I just heard they are coming out with a sequel to Red Dead Redemption. That was one of my favorite games on the 360.

Day of the Tentacle for PSVita, I loved old LucasArts games as a kid, and wish they would put up The Dig, Full Throttle, and more of the Sam and Max stuff..

Quote from: Lubdar on April 29, 2016, 02:43:55 PM
Day of the Tentacle for PSVita, I loved old LucasArts games as a kid, and wish they would put up The Dig, Full Throttle, and more of the Sam and Max stuff..

Oh cool, had no idea it was on the  Vita also.. I bring my Vita to work most days.

Cody

Yeah some pretty awesome nostalgia

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

So I fell into it... I stopped by GameStop on the way home from work and picked up Dark Souls 3. I think I will make a char and do some reading before I jump in head first this weekend.

Cody

DotT is in my wishlist on GOG. I've fond memories of that game. Just waiting for the inevitable point it's discounted (/Yorkshireman).

Created a 2nd partition on the PC to run Win7.... now I can play Hogs of War again...
Absolutely fantastic game, narrated by the late great Rik Mayal :)

I installed RetroPie on my Raspberry Pi 3. Already put in dozens of PS1, NES and Genesis roms. Seems to work great with PS3 controllers too. I probably need to pick up some cheap bluetooth controllers dedicated only for this purpose. Great platform to play old games. :)

Quote from: Jebus on April 30, 2016, 06:19:54 AM
I installed RetroPie on my Raspberry Pi 3. Already put in dozens of PS1, NES and Genesis roms. Seems to work great with PS3 controllers too. I probably need to pick up some cheap bluetooth controllers dedicated only for this purpose. Great platform to play old games. :)

Did you install it over the vanilla Raspbian distro?

I've had the Pi3 for a couple weeks, I'm really impressed what $35 gets you. My list of "one day" projects has doubled.

Quote from: Jebus on April 30, 2016, 06:19:54 AM
I installed RetroPie on my Raspberry Pi 3. Already put in dozens of PS1, NES and Genesis roms. Seems to work great with PS3 controllers too. I probably need to pick up some cheap bluetooth controllers dedicated only for this purpose. Great platform to play old games. :)

Make yourself a USB arcade stick for AdvanceMame. I've also got a old ZIP Stick (better Competition Pro 5000 knock off from back in the day) that I've converted to USB to use with an Amiga emulator :)  Still on the look out for a Suncom Tac 2 in decent condition. That was my joystick of choice... Getting them is a real PITA though.

I've only just got my Pi2 running Retropie... They need to stop updating it so fast ;)

Quote from: EBRAddict on April 30, 2016, 07:36:48 AM
Did you install it over the vanilla Raspbian distro?

I've had the Pi3 for a couple weeks, I'm really impressed what $35 gets you. My list of "one day" projects has doubled.

Nope, I didn't install it on top of any existing Raspbian. I used the distribution they have here: https://retropie.org.uk/download/ To be honest I haven't even checked which Raspbian it runs on. :P

Quote from: juansolo on May 01, 2016, 01:04:34 AM
Make yourself a USB arcade stick for AdvanceMame. I've also got a old ZIP Stick (better Competition Pro 5000 knock off from back in the day) that I've converted to USB to use with an Amiga emulator :)  Still on the look out for a Suncom Tac 2 in decent condition. That was my joystick of choice... Getting them is a real PITA though.

I've only just got my Pi2 running Retropie... They need to stop updating it so fast ;)

Yeah, I should! I think I have some old USB joystick at my parents place. I need to see if it still works and is it any good. :) Wireless joystick would be awesome since I'm using the RaspPi with my TV. :P

Quote from: Jebus on May 01, 2016, 06:27:48 AM

Quote from: EBRAddict on April 30, 2016, 07:36:48 AM
Did you install it over the vanilla Raspbian distro?

I've had the Pi3 for a couple weeks, I'm really impressed what $35 gets you. My list of "one day" projects has doubled.

Nope, I didn't install it on top of any existing Raspbian. I used the distribution they have here: https://retropie.org.uk/download/ To be honest I haven't even checked which Raspbian it runs on. :P

I installed it over the top of Raspbian since I have other stuff to do with that Pi... but I noticed MicroCenter has Pi3 in-store for $30 so I might pick up two more and use one for RetroPie and one for Kodi. It might be cool to put 4 in a clear acrylic case with a PSU.

And luckily I found my 2TB HDD from 2011 stuffed with ROMs and BINs from a coworker who was a crazed MAME fanatic.

Quote from: Lubdar on April 29, 2016, 02:43:55 PM
Day of the Tentacle for PSVita, I loved old LucasArts games as a kid, and wish they would put up The Dig, Full Throttle, and more of the Sam and Max stuff..

Full Throttle is getting remastered next! Until then, you can get The Dig on Steam/GOG and Sam and Max also on GOG.

QuoteStill on the look out for a Suncom Tac 2 in decent condition

Best. Joystick. Ever.

I had one back in 85/86, and it only dies because it fell off a chair and broke the shaft internally.  Kicked the shit out of all the Quickfire and Hotshot joysticks we went through that only lasted weeks...

Day Of The Tentacle has been remastered on PC if you haven't seen that.  Full Throttle was cool but there wasn't any way to NOT finish the game if that makes any sense - you just had to keep trying all the combinations.

Heh that's excellent news about full throttle! I used to love me some adventure games...

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Quote from: lincolnic on April 28, 2016, 09:47:41 PM

Quote from: Torgoslayer on April 26, 2016, 06:38:15 AM

Quote from: lincolnic on April 22, 2016, 09:51:53 PM
Dark Souls 3, Dark Souls 3, and more Dark Souls 3.

What I'm saying is that I've been playing a lot of Dark Souls 3.

Hell's yeah!. My 7 year old just hit NG+.  And my PVP Chaos Pyromancer is coming along nicely!

I'm probably going to wrap my first playthrough tomorrow (went with a quality build, hard to beat refined Dark Sword). Do you really have a 7 year old who can beat a Souls game? Because that's way more impressive than my video game skills were at that age.

I do. He watched me play DS1&2 and then jumped in himself with Bloodborne. He beat that before I did and then did DS2 up to NG++ now he is LIVING DS3. He wants to try a No-Death run. I am very proud, and only slightly disturbed. It's funny, he isn't very good at age appropriate games, like Mario and Little Big Planet.

There was a deal going for Dustforce DX, for fans of Super Meat Boy. I missed it.

Quote from: Torgoslayer on May 02, 2016, 07:10:17 AM
I do. He watched me play DS1&2 and then jumped in himself with Bloodborne. He beat that before I did and then did DS2 up to NG++ now he is LIVING DS3. He wants to try a No-Death run. I am very proud, and only slightly disturbed. It's funny, he isn't very good at age appropriate games, like Mario and Little Big Planet.

That's pretty amazing. I hope he doesn't invade me.

I just started my second character in DS3 today. Pyromancy go! (Didn't jump into NG+ yet for character 1, might keep that one in the first cycle for the DLC.)

I rekindled with Dark souls 2. I've stopped halfway through and now I'm pretty lost concerning where to go, what equipment to use etc. But it's fun. Until you die. Over and over and over. (Btw. I hate these skeleton-wheel things. They are to most annoying enemies ever, especially when they come in bulk. I really need some better pyromancies.)

Quote from: m-Kresol on May 03, 2016, 12:20:38 AM
I rekindled with Dark souls 2. I've stopped halfway through and now I'm pretty lost concerning where to go, what equipment to use etc. But it's fun. Until you die. Over and over and over. (Btw. I hate these skeleton-wheel things. They are to most annoying enemies ever, especially when they come in bulk. I really need some better pyromancies.)

Pyromancy is fairly weak in DS2, sadly. You may find more luck with hexes, since your build is already mostly specced that way.

DS3 update: second character is making progress so much faster than the first. Areas that were tough the first time are a breeze, bosses and minibosses are going down without any trouble. I guess I'm still playing with endgame reflexes. Still can't get the hang of the parry timing in this one, though.

My week is now planned!

(http://www.evolvingconsole.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/img_0762.jpg)

Cody

Quote from: selfdestroyer on May 10, 2016, 03:52:40 PM
My week is now planned!

(http://www.evolvingconsole.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/img_0762.jpg)

Cody

How are the Uncharted games? People say it's tomb raider with a dude...is that true?

Quote from: flanagan0718 on May 10, 2016, 04:01:49 PM
How are the Uncharted games? People say it's tomb raider with a dude...is that true?

I guess you could come to that conclusion but for me, I keep coming to these games for the story/acting/puzzles. When I first played Uncharted 2 I had a hard time playing other "cinematic" games since the Uncharted series has some of the best voice acting and character development and I consistently tried to run comparisons. It has a Indiana Jones kind of feel to it. The series is not a real "run and gun" style game, its more puzzle solving and movie watching... and it happens to have gun play in between.

I'm probably the wrong person to ask since I am a super fan with the series. Notice the strategy guide under the game? I will most likely not need it but I love the artwork so much it makes a great book to thumb trough. Also helps add to the collection of the others I have haha.

If you have a PlayStation 3 pick up Uncharted 2 and give it a go. If you have a PS4 then grab the HD remake of the first 3 games.

Cody

Nice uncharted 2 is pretty cheap now too. I'll have to grab it. Thanks for the recommendation!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Lately I had been playing Stardew Valley. Bit of casual fun if you're into farming.

Start replaying Fallout 4 a bit.

And keep going back to Dota 2.

Nearing the endgame for my second Dark Souls 3 playthrough, trying to figure out if a chaos-infused weapon is worthwhile. Anyone have any thoughts? I've been doing a pyromancer build, so I've been rocking a raw Astora Straight Sword and leveling Int/Faith equally.

Or maybe a lightning infusion?

Uncharted 4 might push me over the edge for a PS4. Though now it's probably worth me waiting for a PS4K/Neo/whatever they're going to call it.

Got uncharted 4 yesterday.

'Indiana Jones in a game' is a pretty accurate description IMO.

Looking forward to playing the latest installment!

Quote from: lincolnic on May 11, 2016, 10:01:59 PM
Nearing the endgame for my second Dark Souls 3 playthrough, trying to figure out if a chaos-infused weapon is worthwhile. Anyone have any thoughts? I've been doing a pyromancer build, so I've been rocking a raw Astora Straight Sword and leveling Int/Faith equally.

Or maybe a lightning infusion?

I went Chaos Longsword on my pyro as soon as I could make it on my first playthrough. 40 int 40 fth and pyro rings, it wrecks face! PVP, PVE, whatever, go for it.

If it has "Assassin's Creed" or "Metal Gear" in the title, I play it.

Finally bought a PS3 (I don't play enough to justify paying for current consoles) a few months back, have a back log of games I need to plow through now.

brutal doom ... counterstrike source ... on console, Mario Kart 64  and Goldeneye 64

Quote from: Torgoslayer on May 12, 2016, 08:06:34 AM

Quote from: lincolnic on May 11, 2016, 10:01:59 PM
Nearing the endgame for my second Dark Souls 3 playthrough, trying to figure out if a chaos-infused weapon is worthwhile. Anyone have any thoughts? I've been doing a pyromancer build, so I've been rocking a raw Astora Straight Sword and leveling Int/Faith equally.

Or maybe a lightning infusion?

I went Chaos Longsword on my pyro as soon as I could make it on my first playthrough. 40 int 40 fth and pyro rings, it wrecks face! PVP, PVE, whatever, go for it.

Nice. I'm told the Thrall Axe gets crazy scaling with a chaos infusion too...if I have two gems (not sure), I'll try both!

Had a brief hoon on Quake, with the DarkPlaces engine (satisfyingly, at 1920x1200, full AA, full AF, I can pull over 300fps).

It's amazing how even now that game can get you going.

It's also amazing how slow and steady modern FPS games are in comparison. Hide behind a wall, fire some shots, duck back behind something...

As opposed to the traditional Quake-era circle strafe, run like hell, dodging enemy fire, and Speed Is Life.

Just got Uncharted 2 this afternoon. Might start it tonight after I'm finished with my "husband-ly" duties (dishes and laundry lol).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have been home with the flu for the past 2 days, sucks.. but I did get to finish Uncharted 4. I took my time and found 80% of all the collectables on first run through. Statistics show me at 18 hours of game play. lol

I am going to now play through again with the "bonus" unlimited ammo and find what treasures and journal notes.

I like how on the chapter select screen it shows you what collectables you are missing.

I REALLY loved this game. It was a emotional rollercoaster and I was on the edge of my seat 90% of the time. Can't wait to see what is next for Naughty Dog.

Cody

Quote from: selfdestroyer on May 17, 2016, 03:52:10 PM
I have been home with the flu for the past 2 days, sucks.. but I did get to finish Uncharted 4. I took my time and found 80% of all the collectables on first run through. Statistics show me at 18 hours of game play. lol

I am going to now play through again with the "bonus" unlimited ammo and find what treasures and journal notes.

I like how on the chapter select screen it shows you what collectables you are missing.

I REALLY loved this game. It was a emotional rollercoaster and I was on the edge of my seat 90% of the time. Can't wait to see what is next for Naughty Dog.

Cody

Well, the flu sucks, sorry for that.  My soon to be 8 year old sons only birthday wish was for uncharted 4.  Had to go buy a ps4....

I played through the first 3 with him on my lap when he was 4ish.  Not sure how I feel about him going alone on Uncharted 4.  My self worth has taken a hit!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

Trackmania Turbo.

Just finished the remastered DOTT.

Quote from: Willybomb on May 19, 2016, 07:24:37 AM
Just finished the remastered DOTT.

How's that? I haven't been impressed with many remasters. The Grim Fandango one introduced playability problems and we preferred the unremastered Monkey Island.

I'm into Uncharted 4 at the moment.

I'm really enjoying it so far. Great fun.

Naughty Dog make some amazing games.

The Last of Us is still up there as the best game I've ever played.

I'm playing old school right now. I'm playing Wing Commander 3, a version that works on Win7 I bought from gog.com. And it's glorious! Take that, you furry freaks!

Quote from: midwayfair on May 19, 2016, 08:55:39 AM

Quote from: Willybomb on May 19, 2016, 07:24:37 AM
Just finished the remastered DOTT.

How's that? I haven't been impressed with many remasters. The Grim Fandango one introduced playability problems and we preferred the unremastered Monkey Island.

I found the same. I usually play in ScummVM. I just played Police Quest a few weeks ago, and brought back all kinds of memories.

Cody

The PC-Engine Duo has landed (Turbo Grafx 16 in US speak) :)

MORE CONSOLES!  :o

Quote from: midwayfair on May 19, 2016, 08:55:39 AM

Quote from: Willybomb on May 19, 2016, 07:24:37 AM
Just finished the remastered DOTT.

How's that? I haven't been impressed with many remasters. The Grim Fandango one introduced playability problems and we preferred the unremastered Monkey Island.

The best remastered video game I've seen was Leisure Suit Larry 1, the VGA remaster. That was a funny game!

Quote from: alanp on May 19, 2016, 10:53:23 AM

Quote from: midwayfair on May 19, 2016, 08:55:39 AM

Quote from: Willybomb on May 19, 2016, 07:24:37 AM
Just finished the remastered DOTT.

How's that? I haven't been impressed with many remasters. The Grim Fandango one introduced playability problems and we preferred the unremastered Monkey Island.

The best remastered video game I've seen was Leisure Suit Larry 1, the VGA remaster. That was a funny game!

I was promised boobs and never got them in that game. lol Marketing to teenage boys at it finest.

Cody

Quote from: juansolo on May 19, 2016, 10:51:20 AM
The PC-Engine Duo has landed (Turbo Grafx 16 in US speak) :)

MORE CONSOLES!  :o

Hows the audio on yours? The Duo is notorious for the audio caps to go bad. But the replacement of them is not that bad at all. I had one but sold it not long ago to help fund my Princeton Reverb. lol

Cody

Quote from: selfdestroyer on May 19, 2016, 11:08:11 AM

Quote from: juansolo on May 19, 2016, 10:51:20 AM
The PC-Engine Duo has landed (Turbo Grafx 16 in US speak) :)

MORE CONSOLES!  :o

Hows the audio on yours? The Duo is notorious for the audio caps to go bad. But the replacement of them is not that bad at all. I had one but sold it not long ago to help fund my Princeton Reverb. lol

Cody

Fully re-capped, RGB modded and jailbar mod :) All rockin'

Quote from: juansolo on May 19, 2016, 01:14:00 PM

Quote from: selfdestroyer on May 19, 2016, 11:08:11 AM

Quote from: juansolo on May 19, 2016, 10:51:20 AM
The PC-Engine Duo has landed (Turbo Grafx 16 in US speak) :)

MORE CONSOLES!  :o

Hows the audio on yours? The Duo is notorious for the audio caps to go bad. But the replacement of them is not that bad at all. I had one but sold it not long ago to help fund my Princeton Reverb. lol

Cody

Fully re-capped, RGB modded and jailbar mod :) All rockin'

So awesome.. Should last you a life time now. Grab a HU card of Military Madness if you don't have one already. I played the hell out of that game back in the day.

Cody

Back to Skyrim for the 3rd playthrough. I just can't help it...got tons of unfinished games but Bethesda has some jedi-mind sh*t on me.

I'm a huge DotA player. Probably legally qualifies as an addiction now; but I've been having internet issues so that might frustrate me enough to get myself off it  :P

Quote from: madbean on May 19, 2016, 05:20:50 PM
Back to Skyrim for the 3rd playthrough. I just can't help it...got tons of unfinished games but Bethesda has some jedi-mind sh*t on me.

I used to be an adventurer, like you. But then I took a soldering iron to the knee.

Been playing Legend of Zelda (1987) when I have a few spare min.  Never played it the first go around :)

Console Tetris continues and I've managed to once again get everything to fit in the stand and wired up... Really going to be struggling if I add any more though!

(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13227030_10154278102252160_6033954336503917360_n.jpg?oh=f3ff3754dfabe905e70935f5f9e309aa&oe=57E08773)

Dang Juansolo! He got the NES in the back too. I wanted a Dreamcast in the early 2000s to give my parents a break from buying me a PS2, they got the PS2 instead!

Banjo Kazooie (on emulator) and Rocket League are the staples now. Even if you dont like soccer, cars, driving, or rockets...you need to try Rocket League.

QuoteHow's that? I haven't been impressed with many remasters. The Grim Fandango one introduced playability problems and we preferred the unremastered Monkey Island.

I enjoyed it.  It's particularly worth playing for the directors commentary.

I never played it when it came out originally, so I'm happy to play it it's high res glory.

Quote from: jtn191 on May 20, 2016, 06:32:43 AM
Rocket League are the staples now. Even if you dont like soccer, cars, driving, or rockets...you need to try Rocket League.

It's so true. Every couple of nights I swear I'm retiring because the games went so poorly, yet there I am again, back at it.

"They are only 5 minute games! I can stop whenever!" I say. 5 minutes games...

Playing a fun rogue-like game from Steam called Skyhill.  It's fairly addictive.

I'm MAD hooked on Overwatch right now.  It's actually stopped my pedal hobby.

Started a new play through of Dank Souls 1. It's amazing how much you can skip when you know what you're doing.

Quote from: flanagan0718 on June 06, 2016, 06:55:20 AM
Started a new play through of Dank Souls 1. It's amazing how much you can skip when you know what you're doing.

LOL. straight to quelaag, rings second bell first!

Quote from: Torgoslayer on June 06, 2016, 07:29:33 AM

Quote from: flanagan0718 on June 06, 2016, 06:55:20 AM
Started a new play through of Dank Souls 1. It's amazing how much you can skip when you know what you're doing.

LOL. straight to quelaag, rings second bell first!

Didn't even think of that!! I did skip Blighttown though. Easily the worst part of the game! Now onto Sen's Funhouse!!

:'( :o ::) >:( :-\

I roll pyros, so I'm always down to the swamp first for my spells. I won't invade in sen's today. Give you a break!

I'm cracking out on DriveClub (Addon content) and Doom this last week. Just trying to avoid the heat some here in Fresno. Its been 104 degrees or so around these parts.

Cody

Quote from: Torgoslayer on June 06, 2016, 08:46:04 AM
I roll pyros, so I'm always down to the swamp first for my spells. I won't invade in sen's today. Give you a break!

lolz thanks!

Quote from: flanagan0718 on June 06, 2016, 06:55:20 AM
Started a new play through of Dank Souls 1. It's amazing how much you can skip when you know what you're doing.

First stop: Catacombs, for the Gravelord sword.

Quote from: flanagan0718 on June 06, 2016, 09:50:02 AM

Quote from: Torgoslayer on June 06, 2016, 08:46:04 AM
I roll pyros, so I'm always down to the swamp first for my spells. I won't invade in sen's today. Give you a break!

lolz thanks!

I never have invaded anyone and hate those who do. It seems to me they always spawn at the worst moment possible

Quote from: m-Kresol on June 07, 2016, 08:07:40 AM

Quote from: flanagan0718 on June 06, 2016, 09:50:02 AM

Quote from: Torgoslayer on June 06, 2016, 08:46:04 AM
I roll pyros, so I'm always down to the swamp first for my spells. I won't invade in sen's today. Give you a break!

lolz thanks!

I never have invaded anyone and hate those who do. It seems to me they always spawn at the worst moment possible

I felt the same way at first but If i invade someone that has beginner level stuff I try to level the playing field. Also i NEVER heal when I invade some one and always let them deal with the enemy(s) they are fighting at the time. Also I bow before engaging this shows I am ready and they are ready. I hate it when people don't show the same respect, They typically do but sometimes an a-hole will come up and backstab me while i'm bowing. At that point its black knight halbert +5 time!!!

Anyone play PSN dark souls or are you all PC gamers? If you're on PSN what's your handle?

Quote from: flanagan0718 on June 07, 2016, 08:27:43 AM

Quote from: m-Kresol on June 07, 2016, 08:07:40 AM

Quote from: flanagan0718 on June 06, 2016, 09:50:02 AM

Quote from: Torgoslayer on June 06, 2016, 08:46:04 AM
I roll pyros, so I'm always down to the swamp first for my spells. I won't invade in sen's today. Give you a break!

lolz thanks!

I never have invaded anyone and hate those who do. It seems to me they always spawn at the worst moment possible

I felt the same way at first but If i invade someone that has beginner level stuff I try to level the playing field. Also i NEVER heal when I invade some one and always let them deal with the enemy(s) they are fighting at the time. Also I bow before engaging this shows I am ready and they are ready. I hate it when people don't show the same respect, They typically do but sometimes an a-hole will come up and backstab me while i'm bowing. At that point its black knight halbert +5 time!!!

Anyone play PSN dark souls or are you all PC gamers? If you're on PSN what's your handle?

LOL. I didn't know about the invasion mechanic when I was invaded (and wrecked) for the first time, but I knew instantly it was for me. psn:  DaddyDomSpanks.

Quote from: Torgoslayer on June 07, 2016, 08:39:12 AM
LOL. I didn't know about the invasion mechanic when I was invaded (and wrecked) for the first time, but I knew instantly it was for me. psn:  DaddyDomSpanks.

Mine is flanagan424

sucked back into brutal doom now that they've ported the new Doom weapons into it

Portal and Portal 2 are INSANELY addictive. Great story, and amazing puzzles.

Quote from: alanp on June 29, 2016, 03:47:44 PM
Portal and Portal 2 are INSANELY addictive. Great story, and amazing puzzles.

Plus the sarcastic witty banter from the robots makes it pretty funny! Now I want to play Portal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I felt a little ridiculous wearing this chef's hat.

The difficulty ramps up quite a bit in Portal 2, though -- more mechanics to bear in mind, plus a greater love of putting the one portal capable surface you need for the puzzle in a place you won't spot until you've spent ten minutes searching. Maybe I'm just thick :)

Quote from: alanp on June 29, 2016, 10:52:53 PM
The difficulty ramps up quite a bit in Portal 2, though -- more mechanics to bear in mind, plus a greater love of putting the one portal capable surface you need for the puzzle in a place you won't spot until you've spent ten minutes searching. Maybe I'm just thick :)

I'm still stuck near the end of portal 2.  Great game

Quote from: madbean on June 29, 2016, 05:20:45 PM
I felt a little ridiculous wearing this chef's hat.

Ridiculously awesome!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote from: alanp on June 29, 2016, 10:52:53 PM
The difficulty ramps up quite a bit in Portal 2, though -- more mechanics to bear in mind, plus a greater love of putting the one portal capable surface you need for the puzzle in a place you won't spot until you've spent ten minutes searching. Maybe I'm just thick :)

Steve Merchant was very funny as Wheatley, really enjoyed both games.

Returned to PlagueInc.  The zombie necrovirus is proving difficult to exterminate humanity with.

This summer is kicking my ass already. It was 108 degrees here last week.. ugh..

So that being said, I stayed inside and played Diablo III with expansion on PS4. I beat the full campain and expansion in 3 days with a Demon Hunter and finished off at level 65. I need to do a bit of grinding to get to 70 to unlock other things to do. I forgot how much I loved the Diablo series.

Also still playing through Doom (2016) on the PS4. Have been taking my time on it and having a blast. Multiplayer is TERRIBLE but the campaign is pure gold. Grab the first mission demo if your on the fence about playing it.

Cody

Recently finished Rise of the Tomb Raider. Great if you like jumpy puzzle games.

Currently on Just Cause 3 and Playing 7 Days to Die with some coworkers (after hours lol).

If you guys are into creative puzzle games (portal etc.), The Talos Principle was a really fun and difficult puzzle game. The plot is super interesting as well, if you choose to follow it, and the mechanics are pretty cool too.

Spent an hour chasing my tail before I found that to install and run Blood Rayne 1, you need to disable realtime antivirus, for some reason (this is the Steam version, not some warez site.)

Oh, and it has that annoying multi-monitor thing where if you scroll the mouse too far and click, Windows will think you are clicking on the desktop and not the game, and minimize the game, mid action.

It's still fun, though. More fun than BR2, IMO -- what, she suddenly forgets how to use all kind of firearms, except for the gimmicky pistols you get?

That's something I quite like about BR1 -- she picks up firearms that enemies drop, and shoots them until the magazine runs out, at which point she throws it away and either scavenges more firearms from corpses, carves up corpses with her two arm-sword things, or plain-out vampire-attacks.

Quote from: alanp on July 09, 2016, 02:46:16 AM
Oh, and it has that annoying multi-monitor thing where if you scroll the mouse too far and click, Windows will think you are clicking on the desktop and not the game, and minimize the game, mid action.

This drives me nuts with Quake 1/2 in steam at work..

Cody

At this point, I am a very, very wealthy killing machine. It's getting a bit harder to find big quests now so I am doing lots of caving. I probably should stop playing but it's just too much fun.

Also, a pic of a horse I found frozen in perpetual shock.

Started on Arkham Knight.  Finished it once and now I'm going for all the trophies on the 2nd pass.

QuoteBlood Rayne 1

I agree, BR1 was a fun game.  Just a FUN game.  No massive pretensions of anything, just some cool ideas well executed.  I also agree that BR2 wasn't as good.  Couldn't get into it.

The Blood Rayne movie... well... that was a Uwe Bolle effort.  Probably a little above his normal output but not as good as Postal (which was pretty damn funny actually).

I've never bothered to watch ANY Uwe Boll movie. I work on an assumption that they're a massive tax dodge for his investors.

BR2 got a bit up itself in the story department, and the pistols it introduced were derpy.

This looks like it could be fun.

http://kotaku.com/nintendo-announces-the-mini-nes-will-play-30-classic-g-1783660997

I have most of these games already but this thing is probably worth it for the ease of HDMI. Not to mention doing away with the need to blow on cartridges.

Wireless controllers certainly wouldn't hurt though.

Just started Dark Souls, they were right to call it the "prepare to die edition"....

Quote from: Lubdar on July 14, 2016, 10:12:48 PM
Just started Dark Souls, they were right to call it the "prepare to die edition"....

Understatement! I've played through 3 times now. great game. I'm playing DS2 now. It's ok, they changed quite a bit but it just takes some getting used to.

QuoteI've never bothered to watch ANY Uwe Boll movie. I work on an assumption that they're a massive tax dodge for his investors.

That's all true I'd say, but the Postal movie is ... Dunno how to describe it... Very satirical, and very funny.  I loved it personally.

Sadly, my Skyrim character has turned evil. He's killin' everybody up in there.

Bought the latest Hitman game over holiday.  50% off.  I like it.  The graphics are excellent and the gameplay is interesting.
It's quite the challenge to find all the ways to complete a contract.  It's kind of the ultimate replay game since it encourages the player
to replay the contracts in different ways.

(Some people complained that they didn't like the online connection feature, but it doesn't bother me since I play at home.)

Just upgraded to Rocksmith 2014 Remastered.

But, just finished The Fire In The Flood.  It's a bit buggy, but man, what a great game.

I've been fully embracing my retro geekery today...

http://juansolo.co.uk/geekery/videowafflage8.html

While playing Hitman, there's an episode where your target is a singer in a pop rock band.   One way to get access is to disguise
yourself as Abel De Silva, a replacement drummer that has an awesome english accent.  Just did this and played the drums
as 47.   Incredibly lol funny.  :) :) :) 

I just spent the last hour playing Thumper in PSVR. I love this game so much.. there is a good reason they call it Rhythm Violence.



Cody

Spent far too much time playing Community Test Chambers in Portal 2. There are some real crackers in there.

I love the portal series. Glados, Cave Johnson and Wheatley were hilarious. and it's fun to have puzzle games with more story and optical finesse.
Also, the ads were awesome:

I've been playing Avernum:

http://www.avernum.com/avernum/index.html

Fantastic old epic RPG. This is apparently the third time it's been released, with an update in the late 90s (I think) as well. It's brilliant. There's a good story -- save the world if you want, but no "chosen one" crap. It's got an incredibly deep (heh) world to explore, with largely open access to the whole place (you have more than enough rope to hang yourself constantly). It's got witty dialog and a lot of really great humor scattered around, from dorky word play and star wars references to "subtler" and corny stuff (like the Gremlin creature names: Gremlin, GREMLIN, Stinky, Speedy, Holy ...). Resources are scarce enough to make you actually use items and feel bad about it on normal difficulty.

I had recently tried a couple times going back to Ultima 7 and I just can't do it. Its interface is super clunky and the graphics really don't hold up (as in, everything looks confusing and the text is hard to read). Ultima 4 actually holds up better but I'm not sure that game is "replayable" in the same way (because you make your own story, and that's more or less the point of the game.) (On the other hand, Ultima Underworld 1 and 2 actually hold up spectacularly well.) I really wish Richard Garriott had put some money into re-mastering the good Ultimas (4-7) instead of getting bogged down in what I'm now realizing has simply turned into a perpetual beta MMORPG ... I kickstarted Shroud of the Avatar because they claimed it would be an old fashioned single player with some multiplayer support, but it's been years and everything they do is just for the online version.

Anyway, Avernum is scratching my Ultima itch.

Also got a ton of 90s point and click adventures in an GOG sale. I'd never heard of this one:

https://www.gog.com/game/toonstruck

You get sucked into your own animated show, the Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun show. It looked hilarious, but check out the voice artist roster: Christopher Lloyd, Dan Castellaneta, Dom DeLuise, and Tim Curry.

this is what happens when you find out the NES Classic doesn't have Contra https://retropie.org.uk/ (https://retropie.org.uk/)

Last game I played was Bravely Default for the 3ds. It's fun if you are into Final Fantasy type games. Just saw that there is a sequel, it's going to be next on the list.

Quote from: thesmokingman on December 18, 2016, 07:01:46 PM
this is what happens when you find out the NES Classic doesn't have Contra https://retropie.org.uk/ (https://retropie.org.uk/)

I think that is basically what is inside the NES Classic anyway. I've heard there is no shared technology between it and an original NES. But who can find one to check.

The classic does have Super C though, which I like better because it's a little more difficult. It also has Simon's Quest which is such a terrible game that it makes me almost not want to buy one.

Quote from: thesmokingman on December 18, 2016, 07:01:46 PM
this is what happens when you find out the NES Classic doesn't have Contra https://retropie.org.uk/ (https://retropie.org.uk/)

I just built myself a retropie system on a Raspberry Pi 3, using some 8bitdo NES30 Pro Bluetooth controllers.  Its awesome to be able to play through all the games I used to when I was young, and the ones I always wanted to play.  And yet, what I've been drawn to playing is Link's Awakening from the Game Boy on my 55" TV....

Oooo, this supports Commodore 64? Now, Now I'm tempted :)

Quote from: dan.schumaker on December 19, 2016, 05:13:58 AM

Quote from: thesmokingman on December 18, 2016, 07:01:46 PM
this is what happens when you find out the NES Classic doesn't have Contra https://retropie.org.uk/ (https://retropie.org.uk/)

I just built myself a retropie system on a Raspberry Pi 3, using some 8bitdo NES30 Pro Bluetooth controllers.  Its awesome to be able to play through all the games I used to when I was young, and the ones I always wanted to play.  And yet, what I've been drawn to playing is Link's Awakening from the Game Boy on my 55" TV....

Budget wise how much did it end up setting you back?

The whole legal grey area thing is what always keeps me from doing that. Although I have a pretty good stash of games, suppose it's okay if I limited it to just those.

I have less than a hundred in the raspberry pi and the necessary accessories. I bought it to help with university as I worked through the CompTIA Linux+ so now it needed a new purpose. obviously, you can spend more or less than I did depending on what you have on hand or how fancy you want to get with it. I didn't have controllers so I had to invest there.

Quote from: Matmosphere on December 19, 2016, 10:27:42 AM

Quote from: dan.schumaker on December 19, 2016, 05:13:58 AM

Quote from: thesmokingman on December 18, 2016, 07:01:46 PM
this is what happens when you find out the NES Classic doesn't have Contra https://retropie.org.uk/ (https://retropie.org.uk/)

I just built myself a retropie system on a Raspberry Pi 3, using some 8bitdo NES30 Pro Bluetooth controllers.  Its awesome to be able to play through all the games I used to when I was young, and the ones I always wanted to play.  And yet, what I've been drawn to playing is Link's Awakening from the Game Boy on my 55" TV....

Budget wise how much did it end up setting you back?

The whole legal grey area thing is what always keeps me from doing that. Although I have a pretty good stash of games, suppose it's okay if I limited it to just those.

Its not too bad getting a system up and running, about the same as a DIY BBD Delay :)

It was $35 for the Pi, and I splurged $20 on a case.  The biggest expense for me was the bluetooth controllers.  But if you are fine with USB ones, that can take a lot of the cost out.  It can definitely be doable for under $100.

If you don't care about playing N64 or PS1 games, just 16-bit and below, you can setup a Raspberry Pi Zero system for even less.  The Raspberry Pi Zero is only $5.

I guess that makes me a cheap drunk, I'm only after an 8bit emulation, not even 16bit!

Latest Pi Project: http://juansolo.co.uk/geekery/amibian.html

Quote from: juansolo on December 21, 2016, 06:47:06 AM
Latest Pi Project: http://juansolo.co.uk/geekery/amibian.html

So cool John!

Cody

GTA V for me currently. This game is kinda too much for me sometimes but it can be really fun. Trevor is like a caricature of an evil hillbilly. Right now I'm stuck on trying to pilot the damn helicopter!

Quote from: selfdestroyer on December 21, 2016, 03:15:49 PM

Quote from: juansolo on December 21, 2016, 06:47:06 AM
Latest Pi Project: http://juansolo.co.uk/geekery/amibian.html

So cool John!

Cody

It may not be pretty, but it works nice. It'll get the Commodore badge on it when it arrives. I've also got a Raphnet USB to 9 pin adaptor on it's way so I can run two sticks for two player action.

There's something perverse about browsing the web wirelessly on an Amiga. It's quite amusing how different it looks. But keep it sensible (ie just use Amiga sites) and it's actually useful for getting those whdload images for example, without having to mess around on another computer.

So somehow I missed the memo about my entire gaming childhood becoming collectable (nes and snes) and I went and bought one console each, in case things got any worse.  They weren't too expensive...but some of the prices for games are absurd...(Megaman, Zelda, and pretty much every single other favourite game I had... :-X)

I have a feeling this is going to get expensive. 

I've been a gamer for decades, but the whole console thing passed me by entirely. Never owned a console, never spent more than maybe an hour collectively in my life playing on one. Always been a C64, then a PC gamer.

Trying to use a console controller with my thumbs feels, to me, like you're trying to play by tapping the keyboard with your pinky toes. Too used to using all ten fingers.

I'm sure there will come a time in the not so distant future when I wake up one morning and gasp with the premonition that commodore 64's are expensive and rare :)

I spent a lot of time on a c64 as well.  I'm not a console guy.  or a pc guy.  I just play / use whatever I find enjoyable at the time.

Oh, I've got a C64 tucked away in Dad's shed, with strict instructions to NOT get rid of it.

Disc drive with it doesn't work, though.

Quote from: alanp on January 08, 2017, 08:51:47 PM
I've been a gamer for decades, but the whole console thing passed me by entirely. Never owned a console, never spent more than maybe an hour collectively in my life playing on one. Always been a C64, then a PC gamer.

I never got into consoles either.  My first experience with computer games was on a university mainframe back in the late 1970's. 
I think I just just equated gaming with computers.  Been enjoying PC games for a long time.  At one time, I did have a C64.
It was primitive, but fun.

Quote from: chromesphere on January 08, 2017, 08:38:59 PM
So somehow I missed the memo about my entire gaming childhood becoming collectable (nes and snes) and I went and bought one console each, in case things got any worse.  They weren't too expensive...but some of the prices for games are absurd...(Megaman, Zelda, and pretty much every single other favourite game I had... :-X)

I have a feeling this is going to get expensive.

I've done this also and I'm going to recommend you something that I wish I'd known about before I'd spent £600 on SNES carts... Flash Carts.

https://krikzz.com/store/ if you're in Europe, https://www.retrotowers.co.uk if you're in the UK, http://www.stoneagegamer.com if you're in the US.

Basically one cart with an SD card in it with a load of cart rom images on it and a menu on the front. There are plenty of vids showing how they work on You Tube. That said, there is another side effect to having them. The SD2SNES for example can play MSU-1 games. So Zelda, Chrono Trigger, and a load of others with full CD quality sound, from a cartridge on a SNES. It's brilliant. Also you get fan translations, so Secret of Mana 2, which was only released in Japan for example, in English. There's tonnes of those. Unreleased stuff too like Starfox 2, though you can't play that one yet as the Super FX isn't currently emulated on that cart. Finally there's a huge homebrew scene on all these old consoles now that you can play. Final upside is that a couple of the also allow you to play older games emulated on them. Like for example I can run Master System games on my Megadrive (Genesis) and NES games on my N64.

I highly recommend them. The SD2SNES is VERY expensive mind you, but it's the dogs bollocks. I've got the Everdrive64 for the N64, Turbo Everdrive for the PC-Engine (Turbo GraFX) and the Mega Everdrive X7 for the Megadrive (Genesis).

Quote from: stringsthings on January 08, 2017, 09:50:16 PM

Quote from: alanp on January 08, 2017, 08:51:47 PM
I've been a gamer for decades, but the whole console thing passed me by entirely. Never owned a console, never spent more than maybe an hour collectively in my life playing on one. Always been a C64, then a PC gamer.

I never got into consoles either.  My first experience with computer games was on a university mainframe back in the late 1970's. 
I think I just just equated gaming with computers.  Been enjoying PC games for a long time.  At one time, I did have a C64.
It was primitive, but fun.

I did both... I've always preferred to game on consoles though.

The first machine we got was a Binatone Pong box, followed by the ubiquitous Atari 2600. After that I had a brace of Sinclair Spectrum computers (pretty shit to be fair, but the C64 was hugely more expensive), Atari ST, SNES, Amiga 500, PSX, loads of PCs, Jaguar, GameCube, Dreamcast, Switched over to Macs from about here, PS2, PS3, Xbox360, WiiU, PS4. Recently I've been filling in some gaps with the retro thing and bought a PC-Engine, original Xbox, Saturn and Megadrive.

Prices are starting to get silly though as they're now of an age to appeal to the nostalgic with cash in their pockets. Some of the prices of the cartridge games are stupid. I would have bought them all in all honesty, but when you're starting to look at £200+ for one game, it's just gouging and I'm gonna find alternatives (flash carts). Stuff like the Neo Geo has always been expensive though. I'd love one, but the prices are insane. For an AES with a Flash cart you're looking at around £800 all up. Wanna buy original games for that, you can look at $5000+, it's madness. The other problem I have with it, is that it's EASILY emulated. A £30 Raspberry Pi will easily emulate one flawlessly and there are ways to use the controllers or similar with them.

It's a shame really, but thats the whole collector thing (which I very much am not) just driving prices into the stratosphere. It's also why I'm getting all the hardware in and sorted as quickly as possible...

Emulation is an option though. I really wanted to buy an Amiga 1200 or 4000. But again, costs were getting silly working that out. £250 for a 1200, another £80 on that to get a CF HDD replacement, then you need a old monitor and other miscellany on top of that. Also it makes it more difficult to build as a machine. Or you can build an emulated A4000 on a Raspberry Pi 3 for a little over £60... It kinda pains me that I've done the latter rather than used real hardware, but it feels so much like a real A4000 it's uncanny. Plus it's so compact and easy to do. I can live with it.

There are details of stuff in the more geeky corner of my website: http://juansolo.co.uk/geekery/index.html

Quote from: alanp on January 08, 2017, 08:57:25 PM
Oh, I've got a C64 tucked away in Dad's shed, with strict instructions to NOT get rid of it.

Disc drive with it doesn't work, though.

There are modern solutions to that ;)

Like Juan, I too am a nut for classic gaming and collecting. I have been actively collecting for the past 14 years but I have been a gamer since I was 5-6 years old. I grew up in a house with a Kaypro 2000 computer. My father has always been in the computer field one way or another and there was no shortage of cool computer gear around the house. From Kaypros to Sinclairs to Commodores ect.. It was great.

Since I dub myself a collector of the game hardware and not of the games them selves, the Everdrive/flash carts John speaks of have been my go to devices. I really ramped up on them this last year. I can not say enough good things about the Everdrives and the quality of the builds. There are tons of clones/knock offs of the Everdrives  but they do not have the long term support and build quality like the actual units designed and built by Krikzz. I would avoid the clones if at all possible, I fell for a few of them due to price but ended up replacing them actual Everdrives from StoneAgeGamer.

I have some pictures of most of the flash carts I own on my gaming blog if anyone cares to take a look at them.
http://www.evolvingconsole.com/ (http://www.evolvingconsole.com/)

Most the "want & have" lists are out of date on my blog but I will soon update all that mess. I have been working on my collection a lot already this year and trying to document and store my stuff better. My main goal is to get stuff listed that I own since I am constantly buying doubles or ever triples by accident. Not always a bad thing but I am running out of space for this hobby. lol

This stuff is really getting a lot of attention these days which is good & bad.. I love hearing/seeing people appreciate the classics, but it sucks since its getting harder to get your hands on stuff at a good price.

For those of you that are interested in collecting, I recommend learning the basics of repair on game consoles. Buying broken system and repairing them is a great way to collect and same some money. Stuff like, most systems have soldiered on fuses that can pop and cause a system to not get power.. etc..

Also, play the things for gods sake.. don't just horde the hardware. Nothing beats getting a groups of friends over and playing some classics.

Cody

Taking the Amiga over to my brother's tomorrow with the express intention of playing Sensible Soccer all day... ;)

C'mon, play Gods. Speedball 2, at the very least. Something by the Bitmap Brothers.

Rocksmith 2014 Remastered.

Quote from: alanp on January 09, 2017, 08:51:00 PM
C'mon, play Gods. Speedball 2, at the very least. Something by the Bitmap Brothers.

Speedball might get some love. But Sensi is where it's at when it all comes down to it.

Quote from: selfdestroyer on January 09, 2017, 10:57:06 AM
Also, play the things for gods sake.. don't just horde the hardware. Nothing beats getting a groups of friends over and playing some classics.

Yeah that's the thing.  I'm looking at some of these classics like Zelda (snes and nes), TMNT turtles in time, megaman (pretty much anything megaman)...the price of these carts, I would be afraid to even use them...I think some games are now just collectable :(

It'd be a crime to have those games and never play em.

We got my six year old this thing called "Bloxels" for Xmas. The idea is that you can make your own video game on an iPad. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SF-BCPtb_GM

It's actually fun as hell to use. I've played it more than him so far.

Quote from: selfdestroyer on January 09, 2017, 10:57:06 AM
For those of you that are interested in collecting, I recommend learning the basics of repair on game consoles. Buying broken system and repairing them is a great way to collect and same some money. Stuff like, most systems have soldiered on fuses that can pop and cause a system to not get power.. etc..

Ive bought 2 snes's, first one had an issue (was a private sale, I got stooged...).  It has a graphic issue, some random pixels and some carts are missing graphics.  I guess this isn't an 'easy fix' :( from what I've read could be a faulty CPU (or graphics chip...cant remember...one of the chips).  SNES chips are smd, a lot of trouble replacing a chip, a new system is probably cheaper (at the moment at least).  I should probably just rip it open to have a look around for anything obvious.

Quote from: chromesphere on January 11, 2017, 06:35:09 PM

Quote from: selfdestroyer on January 09, 2017, 10:57:06 AM
For those of you that are interested in collecting, I recommend learning the basics of repair on game consoles. Buying broken system and repairing them is a great way to collect and same some money. Stuff like, most systems have soldiered on fuses that can pop and cause a system to not get power.. etc..

Ive bought 2 snes's, first one had an issue (was a private sale, I got stooged...).  It has a graphic issue, some random pixels and some carts are missing graphics.  I guess this isn't an 'easy fix' :( from what I've read could be a faulty CPU (or graphics chip...cant remember...one of the chips).  SNES chips are smd, a lot of trouble replacing a chip, a new system is probably cheaper (at the moment at least).  I should probably just rip it open to have a look around for anything obvious.

Might be worth hitting the CPU and memory chips with a heat gun. Couldn't hurt at this point to try.

Cody

Thanks Cody, good idea!  So do you mean, just heat up the physical chip?  Easy enough.  Reflowing the solder joints might be a bit more challenging.

Quote from: chromesphere on January 11, 2017, 07:13:07 PM
Thanks Cody, good idea!  So do you mean, just heat up the physical chip?  Easy enough.  Reflowing the solder joints might be a bit more challenging.

By using the heatgun on the ICs you are "reflowing it" in sorts. It's more like fixing any small broken joints and/or helping with corrosion that might have happened. I used to do this on Xbox 360s to help with the memory chips causing the RROD (Red Ring of Death!!!) lol

Cody

Thanks Cody, ill give it a crack.  Actually only just ordered the security bits (becoming obvious these are essential when owner this vintage gear) :)

Sensi got some love, along with Alien Breed, Chaos Engine, Speedball 2, Super Skidmarks and ATR from what I remember. But mainly Sensi.

Picked up the Jaguar yesterday, been playing Tempest 2000 since. Can't wait to get some spinner controllers sorted for that.

Quote from: selfdestroyer on January 11, 2017, 08:27:58 PM

Quote from: chromesphere on January 11, 2017, 07:13:07 PM
Thanks Cody, good idea!  So do you mean, just heat up the physical chip?  Easy enough.  Reflowing the solder joints might be a bit more challenging.

By using the heatgun on the ICs you are "reflowing it" in sorts. It's more like fixing any small broken joints and/or helping with corrosion that might have happened. I used to do this on Xbox 360s to help with the memory chips causing the RROD (Red Ring of Death!!!) lol

Cody

We did the same thing to an original PS3 of a friend that froze. Allowed us to restart, create a PSN+ account and transfer all his save games before it finally stopped working. Apparently some of the smd solder joints just get bad over time because the pcb is flexing a bit because of the heat.

Original 'fat' PS3's were bad for it. I had a very first edition one and of all the people I knew who had them (probably 4 or 5) mine was the only one still running. So I sold it while it still did (working ones were worth quite a bit of money) and bought a slim which are more reliable.

Original XBox360's were REALLY bad for it though. I think I had two RROD 360's. Got an Elite after that, and when the new (again more reliable models) came along, got shot of that and got a slim.

I didn't even bother with the rev 1 PS4 or Xbone. Got myself a PS4 Slim when they came out. Haven't bothered with the Xbone yet as there's only Forza Horizon 3 I'd want to play on that. Given that the Forza series are my favourite racing games, after they turned Forza Motorsport into a DLC-fest (intentionally released about a 1/4 of a game. You want the rest do you? You'll have to pay again, and again to get it) and intentionally ruined Forza Horizon 2 on the 360 (FH1 runs perfectly well on a 360...), they can bollocks.

It's a shame really. Especially when you take apart older consoles a bit (as I tend to do) and see just how well made they were. Even up to the original Xbox, which is a mini-tank. You just expect corners to be cut now. So like any new release these days where they rush to get them out and on shelves, you wait for the updates.

I have a PS3 slim and had no problems with it. However, it never liked Sacred 2. After playing it for a while, the PS3 would freeze quite often. Weird enough, that problem transfered to other games too. Once I stopped playing sacred 2 all the other games would work reliably again.

Thankfully my wife doesnt build pedals and visit this forum...

So yeah, I've gone a little bit nuts lately accumulating NES and SNES games. It would have been a lot cheaper if i had of got onto it sooner. Nostalgia gets me every time.  This is probably half of the games I've ordered lately.  UN Squadron and Zelda were expensive :( Im mainly collecting the games i had when i was young, not trying to be a completionist and buy every game available...for some reason my favourite games, and the ones i had when i was young are rare (zelda-link to the past, un squadron, castlevania...turtles in time...TURTLES IN TIME...)

Anyway, I was thinking of getting a second NES and modding it, stereo output with the RBG video output mod....

Seriously, what the hell has happened to me?

Heh, closest I ever got to that was playing Sonic and Alex the Kidd for a couple minutes once.

I found the main problem with Sonic was that the little bastard went TOO fast, and levels wound up being a case of memorising what is offscrean, since you otherwise faceplant into it a quarter of a second later.

Just starting my first play through of Shadow Of The Colossus" now. Should be fun.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just starting my first play through of Shadow Of The Colossus" now. Should be fun.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just starting my first play through of Shadow Of The Colossus" now. Should be fun.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had that on the kids' PS2 - 2ndhand, off ebay.  Was dodgy, would often crash, which was a shame, because I was absolutely intrigued by the artwork.

This week has been all devoted to 2 games.

The Division - Playing this for the 3rd time with a buddy of mine who just got a PS4 and he really wanted to play. After a week of playing on and off we just hit level 27. Can't wait to do the Underground & Survival addons with him next. I really love this game but I am happy to take a few months break in between playing.

Resident Evil 7 - I'm playing this exclusively in PSVR. I am a HUGE horror fan and this does not let down. It is so creepy and tense, I love it! I;m about an hour in and look for time to sit in a dark room and jack in. I have been called a machine since i seem to be immune to any of the motion sickness that others are experiencing. I shut off all the VR visual aid stuff and turn on free walking. I am really enjoying it and look forward to playing it a few times.

Cody

Quote from: chromesphere on January 23, 2017, 09:48:32 PM
Thankfully my wife doesnt build pedals and visit this forum...

So yeah, I've gone a little bit nuts lately accumulating NES and SNES games. It would have been a lot cheaper if i had of got onto it sooner. Nostalgia gets me every time.  This is probably half of the games I've ordered lately.  UN Squadron and Zelda were expensive :( Im mainly collecting the games i had when i was young, not trying to be a completionist and buy every game available...for some reason my favourite games, and the ones i had when i was young are rare (zelda-link to the past, un squadron, castlevania...turtles in time...TURTLES IN TIME...)

Anyway, I was thinking of getting a second NES and modding it, stereo output with the RBG video output mod....

Seriously, what the hell has happened to me?

Quote from: chromesphere on January 23, 2017, 09:48:32 PM
Thankfully my wife doesnt build pedals and visit this forum...

So yeah, I've gone a little bit nuts lately accumulating NES and SNES games. It would have been a lot cheaper if i had of got onto it sooner. Nostalgia gets me every time.  This is probably half of the games I've ordered lately.  UN Squadron and Zelda were expensive :( Im mainly collecting the games i had when i was young, not trying to be a completionist and buy every game available...for some reason my favourite games, and the ones i had when i was young are rare (zelda-link to the past, un squadron, castlevania...turtles in time...TURTLES IN TIME...)

Anyway, I was thinking of getting a second NES and modding it, stereo output with the RBG video output mod....

Seriously, what the hell has happened to me?

I just kept all that stuff. It's still a blast, but I need to replace some batteries though.

(http://i.imgur.com/RH50txU.jpg)

The nes looks shockingly good on my HDTV.

With all this retro bubbling up, this video probably bears mentioning :)

Yeah I know a lot about the foibles of old kit.  A perfect example is the ST that was discovered in a neighbour's loft. It lasted about 2 hrs before it died. Though it was the PSU (common problem, it runs way hot) so re-capped that. Nope, mainboard is toast :(

Still I have a lot of parts now. Got another mate grabbing his down from his loft and will take it from there.

Also due to have a Commodore 64 and a 48K Spectrum land next week... that should be interesting!

I just pre-ordered Bethesda's Prey which comes out tomorrow.

Hopefully it's as good as it looks

(http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/480490/header.jpg?t=1493834145)

Quote from: peAk on May 04, 2017, 05:23:18 AM
I just pre-ordered Bethesda's Prey which comes out tomorrow.
Hopefully it's as good as it looks

Is this one at all related to the Prey game from a few years ago? That one was decent (but kind of repetitive IIRC).

Currently sitting on my desktop waiting to play or finish. I'm glad I got most of these games super cheap cause it takes me forever to finish a game.

I Recently got a PS4 so I've been playing Bloodborne frequently. I need to finish Uncharted 4 and play through the new DOOM game.

Quote from: peAk on May 04, 2017, 05:23:18 AM
I just pre-ordered Bethesda's Prey which comes out tomorrow.

Hopefully it's as good as it looks

(http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/480490/header.jpg?t=1493834145)

I am quite interested in this, you'll need to let me know how it is.

This week so far it's been:

Portable: Mario Kart 8 on the Switch
I can get in a few races at work on breaks.

Home: Yakuza 0 on PS4
Such an "over the top" game, been having a blast.

Cody

Quote from: chromesphere on January 23, 2017, 09:48:32 PM
Thankfully my wife doesnt build pedals and visit this forum...

So yeah, I've gone a little bit nuts lately accumulating NES and SNES games. It would have been a lot cheaper if i had of got onto it sooner. Nostalgia gets me every time.  This is probably half of the games I've ordered lately.  UN Squadron and Zelda were expensive :( Im mainly collecting the games i had when i was young, not trying to be a completionist and buy every game available...for some reason my favourite games, and the ones i had when i was young are rare (zelda-link to the past, un squadron, castlevania...turtles in time...TURTLES IN TIME...)

Anyway, I was thinking of getting a second NES and modding it, stereo output with the RBG video output mod....

Seriously, what the hell has happened to me?

I'm saying nothing...

(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/17883880_10155303115427160_2544408271834487494_n.jpg?oh=5f87909a20d6aed0843fdaecbfede52f&oe=59C1BE18)

(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/17759741_10155273824337160_6647705958843443965_n.jpg?oh=82d2c4ab4feb46876a3456aedb98dd92&oe=5985AD1C)

Quote from: juansolo on January 29, 2017, 04:51:43 AM
Yeah I know a lot about the foibles of old kit.  A perfect example is the ST that was discovered in a neighbour's loft. It lasted about 2 hrs before it died. Though it was the PSU (common problem, it runs way hot) so re-capped that. Nope, mainboard is toast :(

Still I have a lot of parts now. Got another mate grabbing his down from his loft and will take it from there.

Also due to have a Commodore 64 and a 48K Spectrum land next week... that should be interesting!

Yeah bit of an update there... PSU actually was the cause of all of the problems with the STFM... In the meantime I also got given an STE. Short version, dropped the STE PSU into the STFM and it was marvellous, so stuck another 512k into that, made it spanky and flogged it. Spending the money on an A1200... Which I've utterly gone to town on. The STE I also have to a degree, but haven't decided the future of that one yet (details here (http://juansolo.co.uk/geekery/sthell.html)).

The C64 was a bit yellow, but otherwise working ok. Swapped some caps in the PSU just to be sure though. That's what I started the Retrobrite process (http://juansolo.co.uk/geekery/retrobrite.html) on.

The Spectrum I went mad with (http://juansolo.co.uk/geekery/uberspeccy.html).

If you're wondering why I haven't made many pedals of late... I really must get around to doing a write up on the A1200 as that's been on an interesting journey. Currently waiting for a wireless PCMCIA card to land so I can get it onto the internet. Which is not as mad as it sounds as there are about 3 sites that are good for getting Amiga software from (aminet being the biggy) and it'd be nice to get it direct. But yeah, it ain't gonna be replacing my mac as a web browser that's for sure!

Eeeewwww.

John, I hate to tell you this, but...

You seem to have a couple of Power Macs under your desk.

I mean, a collection of Nintendo consoles are kinda okay (if edging on Zelda-Mario-Weeaboo, to my Sega-influenced brain), but a Mac?

;) ;) :P :P

I've pretty much done it all computer-wise. Had my stint putting together PCs when it was 50+ jumpers to set on a motherboard and multiple memory configs to get things to run in DOS. I still do PCs but as partitions on the mac. The machine on the left is a very specific vintage of Mac Pro that can (and does) run Snow Leopard, Mavericks, WinXP and Win7. It'll actually run Sierra, but I don't see the point in doing so currently. It's also got El Capitan on there, but I never use it. It just saves a lot of space and can run a lot of the older stuff, which I'm more interested in. The machine on the right is a PowerMac G5 which covers most of the old Mac software. I'm still searching for a minty PowerMac G4 Digital Audio (733mhz if poss). That'll be the next computer that'll be running OS9. If I went all the way back I'd like an Apple IIGS, but they're silly money now, and it'd just be a novelty really if I did.

I'm a UNIX guy at heart so I know more of what I'm doing on Macs than I do PCs. I get a bit lost on those these days as I've been out of it for so long. That said I stopped at Macs in 2008 because everything since has been, well, a bit shit.

Quote from: alanp on May 04, 2017, 10:16:11 PM
Eeeewwww.

John, I hate to tell you this, but...

You seem to have a couple of Power Macs under your desk.

I mean, a collection of Nintendo consoles are kinda okay (if edging on Zelda-Mario-Weeaboo, to my Sega-influenced brain), but a Mac?

;) ;) :P :P

Hahaha.....I approve this. Just say no to Mac.  :P

For the past several weeks, I've been playing the Long War 2 mod/version of Xcom 2. 
It's really more of a total overhaul of the game than a mod.  Very well done and super challenging.
I really enjoyed the original Xcom game back in the day and I loved Xcom: Enemy Unknown.

If you've played the vanilla version of Xcom 2, I can recommend LW2.  It's got a steep learning curve,
but it really adds a lot of new things to the game.

A couple months ago I played through an obscure 90s adventure game called Toon Struck. Gig has it for a couple bucks. The gameplay' pretty typical, but it's hilarious and the voice cast is insane (it stars Christopher Lloyd and the supporting cast is basically every big name cartoon voice actor from the 90s).

I've been having a game here and there on Fifa 17 since it came out.


Liverpool in my career mode have just done the magic treble; League, FA cup and Champions League.

They also now have Neymar, Dybala and Hazard up front.

The way it should be in real life... one can dream  ;D


Next step is getting the mighty Doncaster Rovers* (my local team) into a similar position.


_{*They are one of the top, top, English clubs if anyone is wondering who they are....  ;D}

Well, for the Mac fans above, I've just bought a PowerMac G4 for £10 that I'll be picking up tomorrow ;)

You love it.

I'm sure there's a reason why so cheap :P

I started Stardew Valley last night...

Quote from: storyboardist on May 05, 2017, 11:26:15 AM
I started Stardew Valley last night...

I put about 6 hours in on the PC ver.. but quit when I heard it's coming to the Nintendo switch. I rather have it portable. I tried running it on my GPX Win but it was kind of a PITA on the controls.

Its a great game. A little more "grown up" from Animal Crossing.

Cody

Quote from: alanp on May 05, 2017, 10:50:19 AM
I'm sure there's a reason why so cheap :P

Because I'm awesome ;)

It's not exactly new, but I just started playing "Papers, Please". It looks like a Commodore 64 game sort of. You play a customs/border agent in a fictional Eastern European country, and you have to check people's passports, visas, etc, and decide whether or not to let them cross the border. It's awesome!

Especially for Alan... ;)

(https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/18319226_10155392981867160_8875558408356334914_o.jpg?oh=6923c76270ee7bc9111b9934adb5ff5c&oe=59789F87)

I've been getting into the remastered Lucasarts adventures, mainly for the commentaries as I played a lot of them *years* ago...

I've been hooked on 'Duet' for the last few weeks.  Such a simple game concept, but really addictive, and implemented with such polish.  Amazing electronic soundtrack in the game as well. 

Normally I'd get bored with this sort of game pretty quickly, but this one seems to have grabbed me. 

http://www.duetgame.com

Quote from: juansolo on May 10, 2017, 11:52:18 PM
Especially for Alan... ;)

Ah, the good old Quicksilver. I remember it well.

Still got my B&W G3, but I moved it to the garage.

Quote from: culturejam on May 11, 2017, 05:28:39 PM

Quote from: juansolo on May 10, 2017, 11:52:18 PM
Especially for Alan... ;)

Ah, the good old Quicksilver. I remember it well.

Still got my B&W G3, but I moved it to the garage.

Where you have a shrine to it's awesomeness...?

Bumping this because I saw a few mentions of Raspberry Pi here.

I game infrequently, but I'm considering a Retropie system so I can play anything I could possibly want. I've got a ton of old S/NES, GB/ GBA, and N64 carts but the problem is that the consoles are old and not always functional.

How hard is setting up a Raspberry Pi when you have no Linux/ command line terminal experience? Are there any guides to it that show step by step screenshots of the setup?

Or can one buy an SD card preformatted for Retropie?

I have little Linux experience I'm afraid, but if you want to be able to play your old carts themselves, I can wholeheartedly recommend the Retron systems.  The Retron3 (NES, SNES, Genesis) is only 36$ on Amazon at the moment. The Retron5 is a bit pricier, but can play a lot more systems.

Quote from: somnif on June 30, 2017, 08:48:10 AM
I have little Linux experience I'm afraid, but if you want to be able to play your old carts themselves, I can wholeheartedly recommend the Retron systems.  The Retron3 (NES, SNES, Genesis) is only 36$ on Amazon at the moment. The Retron5 is a bit pricier, but can play a lot more systems.

My consoles still function, but then there's the hassle of plugging and unplugging or relying on a hub, having enough room for the consoles. I'd much rather go for an emulator and be able to play more than just my collection of carts. Especially since I'm moving and trying to purge a lot of stuff to lighten the load.

Retropie 4 does pretty much everything for you and there's easy guides to follow also. You'll still have to source the roms to run, but that's no a huge biggy. Having a bit of Linux knowledge can definitely help make things easier, but I don't think it's essential as there's enough help online if you get stuck. Get a Pi3 if you want to run some of the more modern stuff on there, it'll just make a better job of it.

Thanks for the info. I might do the Pi build later, but I just discovered OpenEmu which seems to run just about everything I'd want to play on my Mac.

OpenEmu works really well. Multi-disk games are a little bit fiddly, but otherwise, it just works.

The hardest thing about Retropie is imaging the MicroSD card. There isn't much Linux to it and it's all menu driven if you want it to be.

The key to making it fun is sourcing the ROMs, but be careful of, um, "aftermarket" ROM packs because they seem to be infested with dubious executables of slavic heritage. Just upload the ROM files to the Pi, but don't install or run anything on your PC.

Oh and I've been playing bungling through Obduction on the PC. If you're a Myst/Riven fan or into head stretching puzzles it's worth a look.

the hardest part about the retropie is storage space, because that dinky little 16GB microsd you put in it isn't going to hold your playstation collection. now I'm running a linux file server just to feed the thing roms, movies, and music.

Quote from: thesmokingman on July 03, 2017, 08:52:57 AM
the hardest part about the retropie is storage space, because that dinky little 16GB microsd you put in it isn't going to hold your playstation collection. now I'm running a linux file server just to feed the thing roms, movies, and music.

I have a 32GB microSD with retropie and all the small roms on, a further 128GB USB drive in there with all the CD images on. This also helps if you're experiencing stuttering when having all the CD images on the microSD as I was. It pretty much eliminates that.

Been playing Doom (2016) lately.   Very enjoyable.  Graphics are excellent.
The levels are very inventive and the gameplay is fast, twitchy, and generally unforgiving.
The soundtrack is also very good; a nice metal-like sound.
I'm not a very skilled player, so I'm sticking with "normal" difficulty which is one notch above the easiest.

For better players, there's three harder levels.

Been away from Madbean and music/pedals but I've been playing lots of H1Z1 King of the Kill, occasionally Rocket League, I beat Yooka Laylee. Preordered "The End is Nigh" and spiritual successor of (and for fans of) Super Meat Boy, coming out like tomorrowish!!

I've also been learning Unreal Engine 4...

I picked up Shadow of Mordor in the steam sale.  Need to put it aside now, semester break is over :P

My brother gave me "One Piece Pirate Warriors" as a gift on steam.

I quickly found out that it wasn't so much a gift, as it was getting it out of his steam collection. Amazingly poor console port.

Whoever came up with the PC control scheme for airplanes in GTA: San Andreas is going to get a punch in the nose if I ever meet him.

It might be "accurate", but it's bloody awful to use, with digital keyboard.

The plane controls in Saints Row are a lot, lot, LOT nicer to use.

Quote from: alanp on August 06, 2017, 11:39:43 PM
Whoever came up with the PC control scheme for airplanes in GTA: San Andreas is going to get a punch in the nose if I ever meet him.

It might be "accurate", but it's bloody awful to use, with digital keyboard.

The plane controls in Saints Row are a lot, lot, LOT nicer to use.

Just wait til you encounter the RC airplanes. They make the plane missions look like the easiest thing in the world (thankfully they're optional missions, unlike that god damned flight school)

Never played any Bioshock games before, but Infinite is very, very neat. Wound up losing track of time entirely.

The lack of inventory system blows goats, though, as does the two-weapon, two-power mechanics.

Super Breakout :)

Yay, COMMODORE!

And seeing a non-Wii nintendo console is still weird, for me. I think that I saw more of those Acorn ARM computers growing up, than I ever did Nintendos. Apart from Game Boys, those things were everywhere (along with Chinese "Block Game" handhelds.) Sorry if I harp on, but this is why it always feels so unbelievably weird for me for an ultra-rare (to me) console to be deified by so many people.

I'm playing lots of Destiny on PS4 lately. Those games with the "I need to get to max level and get the best equipment possible" aspect à la Diablo 2 always get me hooked up.

Quote from: alanp on August 26, 2017, 11:10:15 PM
Never played any Bioshock games before, but Infinite is very, very neat. Wound up losing track of time entirely.

The lack of inventory system blows goats, though, as does the two-weapon, two-power mechanics.

Loved all the Bioshock games. The atmosphere is just very different from other games. I also liked the weird story from Infinte

Currently playing Mad Max, lots of stuff to do for a completionist, if a little repetitive in that aspect.  Can't believe they're pronouncing "Dinky Di" incorrectly though.  (For those who don't know, it's pronounced "Dinky DIE", goddammit).  Love the postapocalyptic setting, the accents aren't bad for the most part, needs Imperator Furiosa though.

I have been a PS4 guy since launch but I recently got a "broken" Xbox One launch model for $60. Just needed the OS reinstalled and all is well. I decided to open it up and and swap out the 500GB HDD that came with it for a Seagate Slim 2TB. That was easy enough so now I have been buying all the exclusives I missed over the last 3 years. So far I beat Gears of War 4 last night and working on Forza Horizon 3. Its taking me awhile to get used to the Xbox One controller but I have been managing. I still will buy all the non-exclusive games on my PS4 since thats where most of my friends are (Sorry Storyboardist) but I do like not missing out on some of the Xbox One exclusives.

Also have been playing Uncharted the Lost Legacy on the PS4. That game looks AMAZING and playing as Chloe is very fun. Just like all new Naughty Dog games, the voice acting is superb and the animation is next level. Really enjoying it so far.

Cody

Been playing the Shadow of Mordor game. It's good, a bit repetitive but I'm only 1/2 way through it. It's pretty easy to get caught up in the "vengeance" of the game.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote from: alanp on August 27, 2017, 12:51:35 AM
Yay, COMMODORE!

And seeing a non-Wii nintendo console is still weird, for me. I think that I saw more of those Acorn ARM computers growing up, than I ever did Nintendos. Apart from Game Boys, those things were everywhere (along with Chinese "Block Game" handhelds.) Sorry if I harp on, but this is why it always feels so unbelievably weird for me for an ultra-rare (to me) console to be deified by so many people.

What I find weird is the love for the NES in the US as it just passed us by here. I never saw one back in the day. Indeed it was rare to see a Master System, but there were people with those. While the whole video game crash went on in the states we were oblivious to the whole thing as we'd already switched over to computers. The Spectrum and C64 were massive here (the 8-bit Atari's less so as they were hugely expensive). Then the Atari ST came along and a short time later then Amiga, and that was it. It was only after that that really we picked up consoles again with the SNES and the Megadrive (Genesis). As for the NES, we just didn't get it. The games for it were so massively expensive here that no-one had one.

For me this whole retro-trip has been a bit nostalgia, and a lot because I'm enjoying restoring/repairing this old kit and making it live another 30 years (hopefully). Though I think I'm nearly done now. I've got a bit more shuffling around to do, and I might have to grab a 7800 at some point. But otherwise, I'm out of space!

Quote from: alanp on August 26, 2017, 11:10:15 PM
Never played any Bioshock games before, but Infinite is very, very neat. Wound up losing track of time entirely.

Fed up with it now. I'm near the end, and tired of homicidal retards, in endless, endless waves, and NPC helpers who bugger off for a smoke every two seconds.

Quote from: alanp on August 29, 2017, 01:10:28 AM

Quote from: alanp on August 26, 2017, 11:10:15 PM
Never played any Bioshock games before, but Infinite is very, very neat. Wound up losing track of time entirely.

Fed up with it now. I'm near the end, and tired of homicidal retards, in endless, endless waves, and NPC helpers who bugger off for a smoke every two seconds.

Sounds like Christmas time when I was working at the music store...HAHA!

I loved Bio-shock and Bio-shock 2. Infinite wasn't as good IMO. it felt pretty repetitive and they changes the controls too.

Saw a Jim Sterling video where he mentioned how a "Wallu ee gee" (I can only guess "Evil Twin Luigi") doesn't get the respect the character apparently deserves.

The character in the videogame footage Sterling shows looks, for all the world, like a Weeaboo Dick Dastardly.

Ive been on a bit of a game buying frenzy this year, ive started to accumulate an impressive hoard, "divorce scale quantities" you could say.  Growing at viral speed...

I'm finding the cheapest platforms to collect for are the Wii, Wii U and the PS2 and PS3.  Majority of these games I've picked up for $3-5 each, some more some less.  You just have to search actively and you can find most games under $10. Also the consoles themselves are pretty inexpensive, I bought a wii with 2 controllers and all cables for $15 and a PlayStation 2, no cables or controllers for $2 on the weekend at a market.  Seriously...2 bucks...I couldn't not buy it...

Now all I need is 30 years of free time to play them all :D

Yeah PS2 and original Xbox are particularly cheap, it's not rare for me to get 10 games for less than a tenner. 360 and PS3 are only slightly more expensive with the games usually rolling in at a few pounds each. Wii ain't bad, it's a little more for some of the more rare items. Wii U is already starting to climb in price though. It seems everyone's already pegged that as the next 'collectors' platform. Thankfully there's only two games left I want on that.

In the disc based software, there's some big money items in the Saturn and Neo Geo CD camp, which is annoying as a few of them I want at coming in at £100-150 and I'm just not willing to pay that (highest I'll go for a single game disc based game is £50). For that I fall back on piracy, because quite frankly I'm not lining the pockets of the price gougers. Where possibly I do buy the games on Virtual Console and what have you so at least the publisher/developer actually gets a slice. But I have no qualms in pirating stuff they'll never see a penny from that people are running up the price of.

Cartridge stuff is just stupid and the reason that all my cart based consoles run flash cards. I got most of the things I wanted on cart on the SNES, but it was grabbing those last few like Chrono Trigger and the like. Bare carts going for £100... So I originally bought them on the Virtual Console for the Wii. But it's not the same so I got the flash card instead so I could play it on original hardware (and play fan translations and MSU-1 stuff). As soon as I got it I sold up all my carts. I only something like 4 left out of a draw full now.

Space and convenience also plays a large part in this to be fair, and the kit itself already takes up a huge amount of it.

Quote from: juansolo on August 31, 2017, 12:14:54 AM
Wii U is already starting to climb in price though. It seems everyone's already pegged that as the next 'collectors' platform. Thankfully there's only two games left I want on that.

Funny you say that John. I'm not heavily into the retro game scene but when I very rarely read peoples comments online about the wii u I only seem to see negativity and an accompanying full list of reasons why its so bad...but when I play mine with my son we have a riot and to be brutally honest with you, I see very little difference between it and James' Switch (apart from improved portability and a few minor things of course).  I've been saying to my wife, despite what I hear people say I have no doubt it will be collectible.  It went totally unnoticed and once some time passes and people look past the social noise and appreciate the system for what it is, the demand will climb.  I'm glad I have 90% of the games for that system also, while they are available!

The Wii U was easily my favourite platform of it's time. So many really, really good exclusive games, Wii backwards compatibility (I never had one), means I've got tonnes I run in it. It reminds me of the Dreamcast in that there wasn't a lot out for it, but what was out was really good. Quality over quantity.

But people didn't buy it because it didn't have the 3rd party support, which I didn't really understand. Who buys a Nintendo to play COD?!

Quote from: juansolo on September 01, 2017, 07:11:51 AM
The Wii U was easily my favourite platform of it's time. So many really, really good exclusive games, Wii backwards compatibility (I never had one), means I've got tonnes I run in it. It reminds me of the Dreamcast in that there wasn't a lot out for it, but what was out was really good. Quality over quantity.

But people didn't buy it because it didn't have the 3rd party support, which I didn't really understand. Who buys a Nintendo to play COD?!

I agree about the Wii U. My son and I played Disney Infinity almost daily for quite a while. That was such a great game and idea. No idea why they decided to stop designing for it. We still play very often.

Quote from: Govmnt_Lacky on September 01, 2017, 08:54:42 AM

Quote from: juansolo on September 01, 2017, 07:11:51 AM
The Wii U was easily my favourite platform of it's time. So many really, really good exclusive games, Wii backwards compatibility (I never had one), means I've got tonnes I run in it. It reminds me of the Dreamcast in that there wasn't a lot out for it, but what was out was really good. Quality over quantity.

But people didn't buy it because it didn't have the 3rd party support, which I didn't really understand. Who buys a Nintendo to play COD?!

I agree about the Wii U. My son and I played Disney Infinity almost daily for quite a while. That was such a great game and idea. No idea why they decided to stop designing for it. We still play very often.

It just wasn't selling. I honestly put that down to the controller just bumping up the price of the thing massively. It's a brilliant thing when it's utilised right, don't get me wrong. But part of me thinks that if it'd just had the standard pro controller (which I stand by to be the best controller ever designed) and was £100 cheaper, they'd have sold tonnes more.

The irony of course is that because the Switch is selling so well, they're just porting all the top Wii U games to it anyhow. 90% of the catalogue appears to be them, and people are raving about them. So it's not like the games were bad! Shame that I have no interest in a portable and re-buying games I already own at full price or I'd get one.

Nintendo are a weird company sometimes. I like that they always try to innovate, but sometimes I just want a games console to play games on...

I saw an interesting video by Jim Sterling, who reckoned that the Wii U never sold hugely due to confusion on the part of consumers over what it was supposed to be.

Was it a handheld, a lounge game machine, the new Wii, or what?

Id go one step further on that Alan and say wat is a wii u? First time id seen one in action and worked out wat the hell it was, was only at the start of this year! Really poor marketing. They shouldnt have called it wii u as well. I no they were trying to cash in on the wiis success but i think it only added to the confusion

WHats sad is I am a console collector and Nintendo's marketing was so bad I even thought the Wii U was just a tablet upgrade for the Wii.. It was out maybe a year before I realized it was a separate console. It was one of the worse marketing launches I lived through. All it would have taken is a new name and it would have sold much better IMHO. I softmodded mine and tossed a external HDD on it and loaded just the Nintendo published exclusives. Works great for when the nephews come over.

Cody

Quote from: selfdestroyer on September 06, 2017, 11:20:29 PM
WHats sad is I am a console collector and Nintendo's marketing was so bad I even thought the Wii U was just a tablet upgrade for the Wii.. It was out maybe a year before I realized it was a separate console. It was one of the worse marketing launches I lived through. All it would have taken is a new name and it would have sold much better IMHO. I softmodded mine and tossed a external HDD on it and loaded just the Nintendo published exclusives. Works great for when the nephews come over.

Cody

And, to make matters even better, just like EVERY recent Nintendo launch, they had extreme "shortages" upon release, and for months afterwards. Seriously, they've used that excuse so often that its starting to sound like they're crying wolf every time I hear it.

One explanation I've heard is that Nintendo are approaching it from a toymaker's perspective, not a gaming company's perspective.

If you're selling toys, you deliberately understock and overcharge. It makes it sought after -- every generation has had THAT toy... you wanted to be the first kid in your social circle to have objet X, and lord it over everyone else... "Okay, you can play with it for a moment... IF..."

If you're selling computer games, saturate the market. It's as much a social as an antisocial experience, these days. People talk about how far they've got through the campaign, or bullshit about how they got twenty headshots in a row last night, etc... the only people who get rich from deliberately understocking computer games are the scalpers.

I bought this game a while ago for xbox and missed it when my system shit the bed. It was on sale on the PSN over the weekend for $4.50 so i had to get it again. It uses the D-pad and 2 buttons (run and jump), that's it. Hours or fun (hatred and frustration)!!!

New gaming related build: Neo Geo arcade stick.

(https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/21368636_10155825278382160_1237795311188626562_o.jpg?oh=fa1e8445b1abb02d17309f086d943b5a&oe=5A20D03A)

(https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/21414714_10155825278377160_1357737912632128406_o.jpg?oh=d662dbccdae4868ab9b43303950d554a&oe=5A5C8D9D)

Love the color scheme and the ground bus!

Having a good time playing Xcom 2 with the "War of the Chosen" expansion/mod.
It's really quite a different experience than the vanilla version ( which I did enjoy ).
It's more like Xcom 2.5.   Wasn't cheap ($39), but I'm getting my money's worth.
Xcom 2 is about the only game I've paid full price for ( on release date ).

Any other Xcommer's out there?

Quote from: juansolo on September 08, 2017, 11:26:55 AM
New gaming related build: Neo Geo arcade stick.

(https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/21368636_10155825278382160_1237795311188626562_o.jpg?oh=fa1e8445b1abb02d17309f086d943b5a&oe=5A20D03A)

(https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/21414714_10155825278377160_1357737912632128406_o.jpg?oh=d662dbccdae4868ab9b43303950d554a&oe=5A5C8D9D)

Cool John, never would have thought of using a hammond enclosure, whats the size?  Is that a Seimitsu joystick?

Im building this for James at the moment, lord knows he deserves it after the sh!t he's been through last few months.  (He's doing well, life has returned to normal, he's walking and nearly able to run).  I will post some more photos when its finished, still have to install the plexiglass, paint it and controller board.

Quote from: chromesphere on October 07, 2017, 01:06:58 AM

Im building this for James at the moment, lord knows he deserves it after the sh!t he's been through last few months.  (He's doing well, life has returned to normal, he's walking and nearly able to run).

That's great news! glad to hear James is doing well. Also, your arcade controller looks awesome. He'll be thrilled to have it.

Quote from: chromesphere on October 07, 2017, 01:06:58 AM

Quote from: juansolo on September 08, 2017, 11:26:55 AM
New gaming related build: Neo Geo arcade stick.

Cool John, never would have thought of using a hammond enclosure, whats the size?  Is that a Seimitsu joystick?

Im building this for James at the moment, lord knows he deserves it after the sh!t he's been through last few months.  (He's doing well, life has returned to normal, he's walking and nearly able to run).  I will post some more photos when its finished, still have to install the plexiglass, paint it and controller board.

That's a 1550GBK (black) enclosure. I've built 4 sticks in these and it's just the right size without being too big. The stick is a Seimitsu LS-40 Arcade Joystick, which is just bloody lovely. I've tended to use cheaper arcade parts in the past, this is by far the best stick I've ever used. Buttons are Seimitsu PS-14-DN 24mm Screw In Arcade Button. 30mm buttons take up a bit too much space in the 1550G so I've switched to these. Not quite as clicky as the big ones, but still very, very nice buttons and more suited to this enclosure.

I've also finally joined the Xbone party... I picked up an Xbox One S a couple of days ago. Mainly to play Forza games, though the Forza 7 game it came with I've instantly put up for sale as games built around micro-transactions and loot crates rub me so far the wrong way that I find it offensive. It's a full priced racing game, not a gambling sim or a Free To Play game that has them in there to fund it. Still, I've got Forza Horzon 3 with it that I'm playing at the moment, and a friend is sending me Forza 6 to play for the running around in circles thing.

I am fairly disappointed with the sheer lack of platform exclusives on it. It's really barren. I think I'll be buying all of about 8 games for it. Everything on it seems to be a 3rd party port. Which doesn't bode well for it's future... Then again, that must be what people want as lack of 3rd party support on a platform rich with quality 1st party titles killed the Wii U. Doesn't worry me, I've bought consoles in the past just to play one or two games. I've only got two games for the Atari Jaguar for example. It's all you need.

Otherwise, I get a UHD player out of it, which is a nice bit of future proofing.

Cool John, great / simple idea for an enclosure!  Are you connecting it to your PC (neo geo roms?) or the neo geo console?  How are you do that (pc) without a controller board?

I've got a JLF in James arcade stick and OBSN-30's for the buttons, in hindsight with his little fingers I could have probably just used 24's, but I guess these controllers last forever so its future proof. 

Making the enclosure out of wood and by hand is a lot of work.  I've done this once before and it was quicker, I didn't have to plan, but still a lot of work.  He's very good with his belongings though and I know he will look after it.  Just waiting on the plexiglass and the controller board to show up now.  The controller board is one of those cheap "zero delay" pcb's you get on ebay.  We are playing a bit of ps3 together and this pcb is supposed to work with the ps3 as well as pc.  Also, there is an adapter I saw on ebay for $10 that can make ps3 controllers work on the switch, might work might not, worth a go.

I'll post some final photos when its done.

Just replayed "The Talos Principle". Probably my favorite behind Half-Life, Elder Scrolls and Fallout series. It's so relaxing and fun. The DLC is a bit more frustrating but still rewarding.

Quote from: chromesphere on October 08, 2017, 07:40:47 PM
Cool John, great / simple idea for an enclosure!  Are you connecting it to your PC (neo geo roms?) or the neo geo console?  How are you do that (pc) without a controller board?

I've got a JLF in James arcade stick and OBSN-30's for the buttons, in hindsight with his little fingers I could have probably just used 24's, but I guess these controllers last forever so its future proof. 

Making the enclosure out of wood and by hand is a lot of work.  I've done this once before and it was quicker, I didn't have to plan, but still a lot of work.  He's very good with his belongings though and I know he will look after it.  Just waiting on the plexiglass and the controller board to show up now.  The controller board is one of those cheap "zero delay" pcb's you get on ebay.  We are playing a bit of ps3 together and this pcb is supposed to work with the ps3 as well as pc.  Also, there is an adapter I saw on ebay for $10 that can make ps3 controllers work on the switch, might work might not, worth a go.

I'll post some final photos when its done.

It's going straight into a Neo Geo CDZ so no need for a controller board. The first stick I made is my emulator stick. I'd do it with the new bits if I was doing it again now. http://juansolo.co.uk/geekery/picade.html

That uses a Raphnet USB game 12 board to talk USB to the Pi/PC. As I say I'd use the smaller buttons doing it again and have two rows of 4 buttons on top as it's lacking a couple to use as collar buttons on PSX emulation. I'll do it at some point and sell this one likely.

Also I had a bit of a rant on Facebook about the Gran Turismo Sport Demo...

Oh my god I'd forgotten how utterly, utterly tedious the licenses are in Gran Turismo. JFC every single game... WHY, just WHY!! It's the seventh f**king game. I know how to drive in a straight line and stop again. I've had six whole games practice at it. JUST LET ME PLAY FFS.

Crashing twice now and the server being out of action isn't exactly inspiring me with confidence right now...

There are 50 of them FIFTY. But that's not all, noooo. You've got to at least do 25 of the bastards before you can do anything useful in the game as far as I can tell... It also takes forever between each one loading and selecting for a grand total of a few seconds driving in a straight line over and over again. I'm losing patience rapidly here. Those loot crates are starting to look appealing in Forza 7 suddenly.

Oh and now the server is down all I can't actually play it. Because single player games now need to be connected to the internet, because reasons.

I really, really hate modern gaming sometimes. It's enough to already make me not want to bother with this one. I suppose it was nice to get a demo of it though to find that out.

Yep bored now. Bollocks to this one. Project Cars 2 it is.

--

Ok that was a few posts, but I think it carried my rage/disappointment well enough... But am I done... I don't think so!

--

Modern AAA games have become the cess-pit of the gaming industry. It's all become about maximising the monetisation of the games to milk the consumer just that bit more. So in has crept loot crate/boxes, a real-world gambling system from free to play games in $60 titles. Just because you haven't paid enough for them.

Firstly there's the ethical question and indeed legality in putting fruit machine mechanics into games aimed at under 18's... This is basically grooming them for future gambling addiction. Nice. Next is the insidiousness of how they're implemented to get you to buy them.

So you take a game and you make it grindy. Excessively so, so you buy a loot crate for the chance to make the grind easier. Yes really. Shadow of War 2, the whole end game sequence you *can* play, but it's so stupidly grindy to make you just pony up for the crates to ease the pain. To the point that the endgame is essentially locked behind a pay wall. This is a single player game FFS!

The multi-player games tend to contain pay to win mechanics. Getting your arse kicked? Well you'll have to buy some crates then to get some of those sweet, sweet items that are being used on you to even the odds!

Even buying the crates is optimised to get more cash from you. You have to buy in game credits, which inevitably are available in packs that are just not quite enough to afford a crate. So a crate might be 600cr, but you can only buy in game credits at 500cr, 1000cr, 5000cr etc. So you have to buy more than you need.

I find the whole thing abhorrent. I will not support this sort of thing and the single only thing the publishers understand is not making money. This has been proved to work. People finally had enough of AAA games being unfinished games filled with bugs that might get fixed if you're lucky with Andromeda. Bioware kinda got the wrong idea about that and thought that it was Mass Effect's fault rather than themselves for being greedy bastards. But still, it bit them hard. We need to do the same with these current practices or honestly, see the end of the video game market.

Now it's not all bad, there are shining lights of goodness in this murky industry. Divinity Original Sin 2 manages to be a game without any of that nonsense. It's reasonably priced, not plagued by game breaking DRM, no micro-transactions, it's complete, it's not a buggy mess, it doesn't have season passes. It doesn't have game hobbling mechanics in there purely to bleed you of more cash. I beg people to support games makers like this, who are in it to make the best games they possibly can for our enjoyment. Which is what this is supposed to be about.

"The Last Of Us (remastered)" was on sale on the PSN for $10 recently. Because I Love this game and have played through it 3 times already...I bought it again. Working on another play through of that.

Currently playing factorio with a friend, quite a cool logistics management system (sounds more dull than it actually is)

I finally bit the bullet and built a gaming PC. I have been eyeing parts for the past month and finally got a budget together and pulled the trigger.

Processor: i7 7700K
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix Z270I (I went with micro ATX since I wanted a smaller case)
RAM: 16GB DDR4
GPU: GeForce GTX 1080 OC 8GB
M2 SSD Drive: WD Black 512GB M.2  (For OS)
SSD Drive: Crucial MX300 525GB SSD SATA (For Games)
Case: Fractal Design Define Nano S

I have not built a PC in YEARS and I was very surprised how easy things have become over the years. This thing fired right up, I was amazed on just how fast the read/write times are on the M2 SSD. I was able to boot Windows 10 Pro in under 4 seconds.. like all the way to an idle desktop.. .just crazy. I popped in the BIOS and there is an easy "check this box to overclock your CPU" and I was able to get my i7 from 4.2ghz to 4.9ghz with no fuss. My temps are around 33c.

Games? Hell yeah. This 1080 just screams at what ever I throw at it. I was playing some older games like Borderlands 2 with all graphic settings set to Ultra and I was getting over 200fps and no screen tearing at all. I then loaded up Battlefield 1 and did then same, Ultra setting and I was amazed how smoother everything was. No hitching, tearing or slowdown.

I think next I will pick up a new monitor. I really want to get a G-Sync 165hz monitor just for this gaming rig. I have been looking at a couple Dell models since I can get a 2k resolution TN monitor with 1ms of lag for under $400. We will see..

Time to play a slew of PC games I missed out on due to my crappy GPU in my laptop.

Also, I have been playing Cuphead like crazy. Great/hard game with some of the best artwork I have seen in years. Its one thing to see the artwork in screenshots, but to see it in motion is out of this world. Great stuff.

Still playing some of Ghost Recon: Wildlands with my buddy on the PS4. He and I don't get to play much together but when we do, we destroy that game. Haha

I've mostly been playing "Playerunknown's Battlegrounds" aka PUBG aka PLUNKBAT. Occasionally I'll play "Friday the 13th The Game" (PC), and even less often, my old favorite, "Don't Starve Together".

Anyone looking for an RPG that will kick your arse 9 ways to sunday should check out Divinity: Original Sin.  I haven't had a fight that I've haven't had to reload multiples times due to complete party death since the tutorial cave.

Finally finished James Arcade Stick.  Pretty happy with the final result.  James asked for a Q'bert theme.   He's a fan of some of the old game characters from watching that 2015 movie 'pixel' with Adam Sandler.

Sanwa JLF joystick, ridiculously good quality and sanwa OBSN buttons which are very light touch and fast. Tasmanian oak and pine sides with some bamboo pins through the front panels.   Plexiglass top of course.

Some of the things im happy with are the look, much less bulky looking then my arcade stick, using on 12mm wood for the sides instead of 18mm

The controller board is also a better option (a "zero delay" pcb from ebay, pretty cheap, $6 including jumpers shipped) then the ripped wireless keyboard pcb i used in mine which does actually cause delay. 

One thing i'm not happy about is the slight bow in one of the pieces of wood.  I checked the box for square when assembling, but i neglected to check for a bow.  So there's a small gap of about 1 or 2 mm on one side. 

Over all really happy with it.  It can plug into pc for mame or ps3 for mainly fighting games (tekken, mortal combat, street fighter etc).  James and i have a blast playing all the old classic arcade games.  He has a real appreciation for even some of hte older, less graphically stimulating titles (mr do, lady bug, space panic, etc etc)

Looks awesome Paul!

Q-bert FTW!!  :D

Thanks guys.  They are a rewarding project (arcade sticks), even if you are as rubbish at woodworking as i am :D

Awesome arcade stick!

Finished a second playthrough of Prey. If you liked bioshock you might like it.

Quote from: EBRAddict on October 21, 2017, 05:02:06 AM
Finished a second playthrough of Prey. If you liked bioshock you might like it.

Good to know. I almost bought this yesterday but haven't a lot about it. I'll check it out now.

I'm in the middle of going through Bloodborne. It's from the same guys that did the Dark souls games. It's brutally hard, you'll die constantly, but the scenery and atmosphere is spectacular. Also, you don't have a shield, so dodging only :o

Quote from: m-Kresol on October 24, 2017, 09:45:40 AM
I'm in the middle of going through Bloodborne. It's from the same guys that did the Dark souls games. It's brutally hard, you'll die constantly, but the scenery and atmosphere is spectacular. Also, you don't have a shield, so dodging only :o

One of the most beneficial things to learn how to do in this game is "stun". I didn't know how to do this until 1/2 way through my first play through. It made the game much less impossible lol.

Basically when an enemy is lurching at you (example the werewolves) shoot it with your pistol or blunderbuss. Then you'll hear a high pitched noise and the enemy will stagger. Right then is when you BEAT THE PISS OUT OF THEM!! I loved this game. Played through it twice and strongly considered going again too.

I finished all the single player content of Destiny 2 on my PS4 last week and started a new char on the PC version last night.

Cody

Working my way through Dishonored 2 atm. After that I'm gonna play through Metal Gear Solid V. It's one of the free games of the month for those of you with a PS+ account.

Quote from: sonnyboy27 on October 25, 2017, 12:52:44 PM
Working my way through Dishonored 2 atm. After that I'm gonna play through Metal Gear Solid V. It's one of the free games of the month for those of you with a PS+ account.

Never played a Metal Gear Solid game. I might just download it to check it out. are they any good?

I haven't either. But it's rated really well by a bunch of sites. So I'm excited to try it out.

Quote from: flanagan0718 on October 25, 2017, 01:21:15 PM

Quote from: sonnyboy27 on October 25, 2017, 12:52:44 PM
Working my way through Dishonored 2 atm. After that I'm gonna play through Metal Gear Solid V. It's one of the free games of the month for those of you with a PS+ account.

Never played a Metal Gear Solid game. I might just download it to check it out. are they any good?

I like the early ones... I tried to get into The Phantom Pain and I just couldn't. I can put up with a certain amount of Kojima's brand of insanity, but in that one he went too far I felt. There's a good game in there, you just have to wade through what feels like hours of cut scenes to actually play the game for 20 mins. It's like he REALLY wants to make a movie, a particularly barking one at that, but reluctantly has to put a bit of game play in there also.

The early ones however, MGS and MGS2 in particular, are excellent.

Snake? Snake... SNAAAAAAAAKE!!

i keep wanting to play dishonored 2 but get distracted.  loved the first one and have put a few hours into the second.  now it's actually uninstalled and i need to mod my PS4 with a new drive to fit it back on.

also on the MGS free PSN download / never played before bandwagon.  the free games are pretty great, enjoyed goofing around in just cause 3.

looking to buy a nintendo switch too.

bloodborne!  one of the greatest games ever.  tied equal with DS1 in fromsoft world.

Quote from: flanagan0718 on October 25, 2017, 01:21:15 PM

Quote from: sonnyboy27 on October 25, 2017, 12:52:44 PM
Working my way through Dishonored 2 atm. After that I'm gonna play through Metal Gear Solid V. It's one of the free games of the month for those of you with a PS+ account.

Never played a Metal Gear Solid game. I might just download it to check it out. are they any good?

the Metal Gear series is quite brilliant. A friend of mine is a huge fan, apparently the story is well thought trough from MGS 1-4. I've played through MGS4 and MGS3 and enjoyed them both.
have to get mgs5 then, thanks for the tipp.

Quote from: selfdestroyer on October 25, 2017, 09:47:04 AM
I finished all the single player content of Destiny 2 on my PS4 last week and started a new char on the PC version last night.

I played a lot of destiny 1, but haven't pulled the trigger on destiny 2 yet. What I hate is that they just shut down many online features now that destiny 2 is out. I joined rather late and was never able to do a sparrow race or finish the iron banner. there are just a few quests now that are not doable. quite lame.

Quote from: oip on October 25, 2017, 04:03:21 PM
i keep wanting to play dishonored 2 but get distracted.  loved the first one and have put a few hours into the second.  now it's actually uninstalled and i need to mod my PS4 with a new drive to fit it back on.

also on the MGS free PSN download / never played before bandwagon.  the free games are pretty great, enjoyed goofing around in just cause 3.

looking to buy a nintendo switch too.

bloodborne!  one of the greatest games ever.  tied equal with DS1 in fromsoft world.

I think one of the recent firmware updates actually allows you to just plug in an external hard drive via USB if you don't want to bother modding it. Just be sure to get a compatible and reasonable fast drive.

thanks, i need to look into this - i like the idea of just replacing the internal drive but i'm pretty sure it's actually more expensive to buy the equivalent than a standalone.. which is a little crazy

Bizarrely I found that internal drives were more expensive than externals. I upgraded mine before the firmware release which was a tad annoying as I had to re-install all my games to the new drive... But yeah, I bought an external Seagate 2TB drive, popped the drive out and swapped them over so I now have an external 500GB drive and an internal 2TB one. It would have been so much easier just plugging the bloody thing in had Sony been a bit quicker with the update.

Just picked up Wolfenstein: The New Colossus.

It is glorious. The writing is just as good, and just about everything feels a little updated. Sharper graphics, better kills, more weapons, fun fun fun. Still ever so slightly ridiculous, and just as absurdly paced as New Order was. Why yes, I did just get out of a coma, of course I can instantly join the fight. Wheeeeee.

That said.... its a bit of a buggy mess at the moment. Even with the beta steam patch I keep running into little graphical glitches. Without the patch it seems many people are finding it unplayable (on PC anyway). Bit of a shame, but one they are aware of and working on at least.

Now, back to finding creative ways to introduce these nice Nazi fellows to my hatchet. Or perhaps my laser turret. Or my fire grenades. Or my stompy stompy death boots.

Quote from: madbean on October 09, 2017, 06:28:16 PM
Just replayed "The Talos Principle". Probably my favorite behind Half-Life, Elder Scrolls and Fallout series. It's so relaxing and fun. The DLC is a bit more frustrating but still rewarding.

Steam had a sale this weekend, $10, $13 for game + DLCs. Thanks for the recommendation, I'm glad I picked it up.

Quote from: somnif on October 29, 2017, 04:37:57 AM
Just picked up Wolfenstein: The New Colossus.

It is glorious. The writing is just as good, and just about everything feels a little updated. Sharper graphics, better kills, more weapons, fun fun fun. Still ever so slightly ridiculous, and just as absurdly paced as New Order was. Why yes, I did just get out of a coma, of course I can instantly join the fight. Wheeeeee.

That said.... its a bit of a buggy mess at the moment. Even with the beta steam patch I keep running into little graphical glitches. Without the patch it seems many people are finding it unplayable (on PC anyway). Bit of a shame, but one they are aware of and working on at least.

Now, back to finding creative ways to introduce these nice Nazi fellows to my hatchet. Or perhaps my laser turret. Or my fire grenades. Or my stompy stompy death boots.

Not sure if you are a AMD or Nvidia guy but..

I had issues with it when changing from 1080p to 1440p. I would get a BSOD and my machine would reboot. I then found out Nvidia released a hotfix for its video drivers found here: http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4575 (http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4575)

After installing this I had no more errors with graphic settings in general.

Really enjoying the game so far. They are really pushing the envelope with this one... and I like it.

Cody

I've not run into any bluescreen-level errors, just the occasional texture glitch or jitter. That said, the beta patch required me to update my graphics driver (which I had updated literally the day before) before it would let me play, so I suspect Bethesda knew what was up.

But it does take glorious over the top ridiculousness to new levels. Nazi flying saucers in Roswell, hell yes.

I bought this game called "Capsized" on Steam for like $3. Not the greatest game but wow...the music and art direction are really cool.

I've been living in past playing a bit of Portal 2 for my YouTube channel (shameless plug) (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4gdOVbNawsmNHXLydMNJVw)... And some of the Division for kicks. They've finally fixed it enough that I enjoy playing it again. Though the gear/loot grind can get kinda old.

I'm about to build a new PC in the next week or so. Just waiting on a few packages from NewEgg. Already got the new Assassin's Creed (came with my processor), so I'm looking forward to that.

Quote from: juansolo on September 08, 2017, 11:26:55 AM
New gaming related build: Neo Geo arcade stick.

(https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/21368636_10155825278382160_1237795311188626562_o.jpg?oh=fa1e8445b1abb02d17309f086d943b5a&oe=5A20D03A)

(https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/21414714_10155825278377160_1357737912632128406_o.jpg?oh=d662dbccdae4868ab9b43303950d554a&oe=5A5C8D9D)

Hey John, thinking about building one of these (for my neo geo cd) and wanted to ask, how did you do the wiring / 15 pin cable for this?  Like, did you make the cable, or hack an old controller, etc?

I bought a Neo Geo controller extension cable from eBay, it was about £12 IIRC, and I just lopped the end off.

The wiring is easy as the Neo doesn't have any weirdness in it. It's just literally wires, a common and one per switch. http://old.pinouts.ru/Game/NeoGeoJoystick_pinout.shtml

The parts I used:
Seimitsu LS-40 Arcade Joystick
Seimitsu PS-14-DN 24mm buttons
Hammond 1550GBK enclosure
A Neo extension lead
12mm cable gland

I went Seimitsu as it's the stuff used by SNK, it's a bit more expensive than the parts I've used in the past, but in all honesty, they're so much better, I think I'd use these from now on because I like them so much.

If you want to go with my layout I can post the drilling template if you like.

Ah ha!  Extension cable, good idea.  I've done this building colecovision controllers in the past (hacking extension cables).  Yeah its all switching by the look of it like the MVS arcade machine would use (jamma etc).  Nice and simple, no active circuitry good one.

I usually use Sanwa in my arcade sticks but i might try Seimitsu for something different (and being the neo geo brand of choice makes it more appropriate), thanks for all the info mate, very helpful!

Paul

Quote from: chromesphere on November 30, 2017, 03:46:38 AM
Ah ha!  Extension cable, good idea.  I've done this building colecovision controllers in the past (hacking extension cables).  Yeah its all switching by the look of it like the MVS arcade machine would use (jamma etc).  Nice and simple, no active circuitry good one.

I usually use Sanwa in my arcade sticks but i might try Seimitsu for something different (and being the neo geo brand of choice makes it more appropriate), thanks for all the info mate, very helpful!

Paul

I read all of your comments in your accent.

The other reason to use the neo extension rather than just buying some 15 pin D plugs is that they're way longer than a standard D. Something I only noticed after I'd ordered some 15 pin D plugs... The ext lead just makes life simple.

So I thought I'd do another catch up on the retro goodness.

Being in the UK we're used to dealing with multi-standards and what have you. Indeed it was rare in the past not to have a chipped console so you could play imported games. All those RPGs that the US got that we didn't, or the Japanese shoot-em-ups. Well I've been sorting out the few consoles I have left that aren't capable of playing originals from other regions (annoyingly it's really easy to play pirate stuff but not the real thing... Backward I know).

First up was my Dreamcast. Already sat in a US shell from Cody as my UK shell had yellowed particularly badly (I'll retrobrite that at some point, but I like the red swirl of the US console), it was otherwise a standard UK console. I've swapped out the bios chip in that for one that can play originals from any region. Also my DC sounds like a tornado when running so I had a friend 3D print me a fan housing and a replacement eject mechanism that goes around a bigger Nocturna fan. It's now a thing of beauty.

The PS2 has been a bit weirder. I have a chipped PSX, no probs there, but a stock slim PS2 that was running FreeMcBoot. As I say, that still means I can't play NTSC originals so I decided to chip that (that's fun...). However, in the meantime I managed to bag a PS2 Debug Station from Rockstar Games (was used during the development of GTA San Andreas apparently). These elusive beasts are region free out of the box and should, in theory play anything...

We'll that's sort of true. It'll play any PS2 disc from any region no problem. Marvelous. However, and this goes for any of these Debug Stations, even though it's region free, it'll only play PSX software correctly in the standard that the machine is by default. So PAL ones play PAL games fine, but if you play an NTSC game it gets a big border at the bottom and runs a little slow. Likewise if you had a NTSC Debug Station and put a PAL disc in, you'd lose 100 lines of the picture and it'd run too fast... That was annoying as I thought I could get down to just having one machine to play all my software.

This was made weirder by the fact that there was a similar story with my freshly chipped PS2 slim. It'll play any PS2 software from anywhere no problems also. But PSX software, that particular model has a problem where it will burn out the coils on the laser mechanism for some unknown reason. Mine even without chipping it, it's just an inherent fault. There is a work around, but annoyingly, where I fitted the chip is where the mod needs to be done, and there's no way I'm pulling that bugger back out again! It's not a nice thing to fit. So now I have 2x PS2 and a PSX... Typical! Though I'll probably end up using the Debug Station as the primary one as it's now got a HDD in there to run some games that I simply can't get here.

I think that's me up to date... I got a Atari 7800 also that took some serious restoration, not sure if I haven't mentioned that one already.

Missed one, here's the inside of the slim. The thin green wire is Kynar. Some of those connections required my reading glasses and a magnifying glass.

I've also added a couple of things I knocked together for gaming night, a different type of game. I wonder who'll figure out what they are...

Dice box  ahh...tray :)

LOL, didn't realise it'd put the filename up ;)

tbh I didn't even see the file name.  John its a shame you live on the other side of the world (or maybe I do), I have a feeling you and I would be good gaming buddies :)

I wouldn't say I'm big into boardgames but I like them for a change.  I really like the fantasy flight Arkham horror themed games.  Mansions of Madness (2e) was great, I have to spend some more time with it.  MOM(1e) was a little too complicated. 

I put this video up of some (ahem...amateur) figure painting of the MOM(2e) figures a while ago on my "everything that's not pedal related" channel.  Its a little long winded, but then that's my videos for you :)

https://www.youtube.com/embed/lh5bbelK4oc

Ah you're better at painting than me. Thankfully my mate's daughter is a bit of a ninja at it and has turned out some stonking things. But I have to admit, I still enjoy doing it. We're currently running through the Tyranny of Dragons (5e) campaign with his kids who are really getting into it. Currently one of them was going a bit loot whore murder-hobo, hopefully him getting dropped twice and killed on the 3rd occasion (our cleric, his mum, brought him back) will make him realise he's not an invulnerable death machine ;)

All the stuff is over at their house so I'll get one of them to take a pic of a couple of the miniatures to post.

Update: The blue dude is mine, came out blurry annoyingly, the others are hers.

I should have figured this would be a place with other D&D players. I'm running a 5e campaign with my wife and some friends right now. We're doing an experiment where we swap DMs every 8 weeks. I'm up to bat right now and it's way more challenging than I had expected. There's so much to keep track of.

I've never sat behind the screen. Threatened to do it once but it never panned out. But yeah, I have a great appreciation for a good DM. Lot of stuff you have to have in your noodle, and you really need to be able to think / improvise on your feet.

U pick up some bargains in your game collecting travels. Picked up all this stuff at the market today for $25. Tonnes of wii. Its not exactly expensive nobody wants the wii (at the moment) but 25 bux for all this stuff is just a score. Well..it is to me :)

Your power adapters have weird plugs....

(And I don't think those are Wii memory cards  ??? )

Quote from: somnif on December 16, 2017, 06:38:55 PM
Your power adapters have weird plugs....

(And I don't think those are Wii memory cards  ??? )

No theres are definitely normal, yours might be weird? :) ha
Yeah the guy had all sorts of stuff.  It was like flock of seagulls to an open packet of chips.  A Wii easter egg hunt.

You've got a golden shower of Wii, there!

(I regret nothing.)

Quote from: chromesphere on November 30, 2017, 02:11:32 PM
I wouldn't say I'm big into boardgames but I like them for a change.  I really like the fantasy flight Arkham horror themed games.  Mansions of Madness (2e) was great, I have to spend some more time with it.  MOM(1e) was a little too complicated. 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/lh5bbelK4oc

I love MOM, acctually I love all the cthulhu stuff ffg puts out. If I had to choose I'd pick Eldritch Horror over the others tho. But I have to say the minis really really suck. Really not so much fun to paint.

Did not realise that this thread is also for Boardgames. I finally recieved a few Kickstarter games from a year ago (when I had the cash for it :( ). Looking forward to try Dark Souls TbG, Kingdom Death Monster and Gloomhaven soon(ish). Those will be/are fun to paint :)

That's a whole load of Wii!

Totally agree though, with a few exceptions, old hardware is pretty cheap at the moment. I got in there thankfully before the resurgence of the retro scene so got a lot of it cheap and indeed quite a bit given. I put the feelers out on Facebook at the time to see if any of my friends had old kit stuck up in their lofts that they didn't want any more. I got a few things out of that.

I've gotta get round to looking into modding the Wii, Im amazed that Netflix is still supported on it.

John or anyone if youre reading and know of someone after an N64 in the UK gimme a shout, Ive got one that needs a good home but don't want to suffer the eBay sale and "it doesnt work on my HD telly" frigabout.

Fraid not, I've got a modded to hell one, and I know Cleggy (who's also into a bit of retro gameage) is weirdly not a fan of the N64.

When I have a few minutes to game I like building stuff in Fallout 4, but when I want to jump in, it's Witcher 3. Incredible narrative experience, that.

Monopoly Gamer was a fun experience once kids were done fighting over who got to be Peach ... probably going to use expansion pieces for stocking stuffers.

Dark Souls 3 was on sale on Steam, so I got a copy.

While it took ages to load, to my great surprise it actually RUNS on my ancient PC.

However...

It ***SCREAMS*** console port. And a very badly done one, laden down with A, B, RT, LT, and lots of other console-isms. I was instructed to press 'R' at one point to mess with the camera.

My character drank a potion.

Most games, you can press escape to get out of sub-menus. In DS3, pressing escape does nothing except indicate your frustration to the little magic gnomes who laze about in the CPU and haul out crystal-wolf-dragon things when needed.

When my character was ambling up to the crystal-wolf-dragon-thing, I found some text messages. Going through the Keybindings submenu, I discovered something.

When DS3 tells me to press 'A', I should not press 'A'. I should press 'E'.

When DS3 tells me to press 'B', I should not press 'B'. I should press 'Q'.

Only the little baby Jesus knows what all the keys for riposte, parry, and the rest are supposed to be. I worked out that Ctrl is light attack, LMB is heavy attack, and RMB is block. The game feels clunky, not smooth, but I chalk this up to my ancient potato of a computer. 4GB of RAM and a Core 2 Duo is not a recipe for happy little magic gnomes.

Got my ass kicked by a crystal-wolf-dragon thing (yes, the text message told me not to go that way), and got fed up with the world's laziest console port. Bah.

Playing the remastered Planescape Torment currently.

Uploaded this video to my other "random stuff" channel.  Just me talking about some of my Wii collecting "bargains" and a few tips for others new to it all. 

Check it out let me know your thoughts!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4gTMSB_l9w&t=7s

Haven't played much for years but I've been hooked on Zelda BOTW on the wiiU.

I think I'm gonna play Bloodborne tonight and hopefully kill that last optional boss form the dlc I haven't killed jet. Really hyped about the Dark Souls Remaster announcement, so i have that wierd craving for some soulsboren. I love it <3

Quote from: chromesphere on January 13, 2018, 03:08:50 AM
Unloaded this video to my other "random stuff" channel.  Just me talking about some of my Wii collecting "bargains" and a few tips for others new to it all.  Check it out let me know your thoughts!

Watching your Wii thing now. I'm only missing odd things I want on Wii and bizarrely not really the rare stuff (thankfully picked most of that up before the prices started to rise). It was one of the pleasant side effects of the Wii U though, as I'd never had a Wii thinking it was all Just Dance and Wii Play bollocks. There's some really seriously awesome stuff on there.

Though I haven't got Fire Emblem, that's insane money here now sadly.

Quote from: gtr2 on January 13, 2018, 09:16:39 AM
Haven't played much for years but I've been hooked on Zelda BOTW on the wiiU.

Still haven't got around to that yet. Picked it up, but was too wrapped up in Horizon at the time to really get into it. Must revisit it.

Latest thing I've played and completed was Hellblade. Short, but perfectly formed. Very nice game that.

Personally I'm in the midst of building an old gaming PC. I've managed to get so far without doing it, but there comes a point when you need a PII and Voodoo 3 combo going into an CRT to capture, IMO, the golden age of PC gaming (well the age that I was massively into it). So a friend is donating a machine, I've picked up a 400mhz processor for £6.50 and the big spend has gone on the Voodoo 3 at £40. I should hopefully have that all together in a few weeks. DOS and Win98SE most likely. I'm weirdly looking forward to it. I know the PC needs a bit of love, but it's a worker.

Oh yeah and I wrote some words about my consoles and computers. Now the pictures are shite. I will do some proper ones at some point, but all my kit is wired in and I just CBA to dig it all out to photograph it. As it is, I've got precious little space as it is, so I don't have a massive collection, but they are mostly modded.

http://juansolo.co.uk/geekery/consolecollection.html

http://juansolo.co.uk/geekery/computercollection.html

Quote from: Andlord on January 13, 2018, 09:25:00 AM
I think I'm gonna play Bloodborne tonight and hopefully kill that last optional boss form the dlc I haven't killed jet. Really hyped about the Dark Souls Remaster announcement, so i have that wierd craving for some soulsboren. I love it <3

YEAH...finally beat that bastard :D 100% of the dlc achieved!!!
Time to buy Dark Souls 3

I got talked into buying a Switch for xmas.  Have been an anti-console person up to now. 

The Switch is fun.  Controllers are a bit small in the sideways mode for longer sessions.  They are fine connected into some sort of holder though. 

Enjoying Rocket League, Mario Kart, the kid is in love with Zelda, and the Snipper Clips game is hilarious fun.  And my partner is very excited that Donkey Kong Country is coming out on Switch in a few months. 

Quote from: Andlord on January 13, 2018, 12:52:09 PM
Time to buy Dark Souls 3

I did some googling, and found a process to fix the lazy-port-fuckups with DS3 on the steam forums. Now I just need to get around to installing the half-dozen mods and patches it lists.

Quote from: alanp on January 13, 2018, 01:40:03 PM

Quote from: Andlord on January 13, 2018, 12:52:09 PM
Time to buy Dark Souls 3

I did some googling, and found a process to fix the lazy-port-fuckups with DS3 on the steam forums. Now I just need to get around to installing the half-dozen mods and patches it lists.

That is one of the reasons I quit gaming on PC (that and the fact that I do not own a PC capable of more than Age of Emieres 3).
How do you like the game so far?

Currently playing the GOG edition of Planescape:  Torment.  Interesting game.

I picked up Rimworld the other day and have been playing with it. Its very much akin to things like "Dwarf Fortress", managing a community with absolutely ludicrous amounts  of adjustable variables. Only in this case with Prison Architect-esque graphics rather than ascii art. Its a lot of fun, if society management is your sort of thing.

But, it so far still has a very rough "early access" sort of feel. There are hundreds of adjustable and monitorable things to keep track of, but only 2 or 3 viable crops to grow, for example. I'm sure it will shape up and fill out a bit over time, and I look forward to it, but for now its really more fascinating than engaging.

You guys should play : Getting Over It by Bennet Foddy.



A game about starting over. Must be good for pedal failures and starting over everything again.

Never heard of that, that's borderline evil.

Yeah Getting Over It was made by the same dude behind QWOP. The guy loves odd, frustrating, infuriating control schemes.

That game isn't made to be played, it's made to watch someone play.

well, I have finished the climb twice and pretty disappointed with the reward.  ;D

Quote from: midwayfair on January 14, 2018, 11:32:07 AM
That game isn't made to be played, it's made to watch someone play.

You mean "watch someone have a nervous breakdown"  ;D

Quote from: juansolo on January 13, 2018, 11:51:41 AM

Quote from: chromesphere on January 13, 2018, 03:08:50 AM
Unloaded this video to my other "random stuff" channel.  Just me talking about some of my Wii collecting "bargains" and a few tips for others new to it all.  Check it out let me know your thoughts!

Watching your Wii thing now. I'm only missing odd things I want on Wii and bizarrely not really the rare stuff (thankfully picked most of that up before the prices started to rise). It was one of the pleasant side effects of the Wii U though, as I'd never had a Wii thinking it was all Just Dance and Wii Play bollocks. There's some really seriously awesome stuff on there.

Though I haven't got Fire Emblem, that's insane money here now sadly.

Fire emblem was a tough one to find at a reasonable price (hopefully "free" once I offload this mountain of crap that came with it).  I had a couple of close calls but the deals didn't happen, I was too slow or someone offered to buy all the other stuff they were selling to get fire emblem.  So happy I can cross that one off the list.

There are so many games on the wii its ridiculous.  1500 or something?  Id say majority is average or rubbish.  But there are still 200+ awesome games on the system.  I think its got a bad wrap because there is so much junk most people that owned the system bought any old titles and then faced disappointment when the games turned out to be rubbish.  ie It was hard for the average joe to find the gems.  I think that's why the typical AAA's still sell for a decent price, they were no brainers for everybody, people are wanting to buy those games back.  But I guess you could say that about any system...

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty complete with my wii collection now.  Theres a few others (lol theres always a few others), but I really am feeling 95% the way there.  I'm keeping only the good stuff and selling off all the crap.  Ive had to set a standard for wii.  "nothing under a meticritic 7/10 goes into that cabinet".  Even that is being generous (so many games for it out there, its ridiculous :( )

I try not to buy anything that doesn't appeal to me. So at the moment I've got what did, and luckily I managed to get most of that when it was cheap. I also don't do multiples, so my Gamecube collection has taken a hell of a beating when better versions of things have come out on the Wii and Wii U. But then, that funds more. So my collection isn't vast, but I like to think it's quality over quantity.

My biggest problem is a chronic lack of space. My DVD/Blu-Ray films have already felt the brunt of that by me essentially throwing all the boxes away of all but a handful of them, and sticking them into CaseLogic CD bags. Something I REALLY don't want to have to do with the games. I've kept more valuable stuff in their boxes, but the films mostly were just a box with a disc in taking up tonnes of room (over 1000 films not counting TV, anime or animation). I've had a re-shuffle recently and got a new bookcase so I can get my CDs out of storage (yep, a shed load of those too).

Same goes with the hardware really. I want to build this new PC and ideally have it running a 15" CRT VGA monitor for the required effect, I've just no idea where I'm going to put that. I might have to compromise on this one for a bit and run it into a panel with something else, but I'd really rather not. I've already got two older systems on panels that I really would like to get onto CRTs at some point because panels are wrong for them.

The sad thing is, I've been buying up a load of 90's PC games in the last week for the new machine. I can see the boxes for them going into the bin and a CaseLogic case taking the discs and manuals. I know some 'big box' collectors will wince at that, but space man. So little space.

And then there's this guy:

been playing mario kart 7 on the 2ds ... hadn't played a newer version of kart since double dash on the game cube so it was cool to see new characters, karts, weapons, etc. definitely more challenging than I remember mario kart being as well.

Double Dash is still the daddy of all Mario Karts.

I made the HUGE mistake of buying a raspberry pi machine and loading retro pie on it. Now I'm hooked (again) on all the greats I grew up with. Already beat Contra 4 or 5 times!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I made the HUGE mistake of buying a raspberry pi machine and loading retro pie on it. Now I'm hooked (again) on all the greats I grew up with. Already beat Contra 4 or 5 times!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have Mario Cart DS which I think came right after Double Dash and it's fun as hell. Haven't played it in a while but it's a good mix of fun and challenging. A few of the levels are downright disorienting though.

I've been doing the retro game thing as well lately. I managed to find a snes Classic a week or two ago. I've always had a slew of NES games but only ever had a few SNES games. This is the first time I've been able to play Super Metroid and I'm absolutely hooked. Hadn't ever done super Castlevania either. I figured I'd I jump right back into Final Fantasy or Link to the Past but those are gonna have to wait.

The enoromous game collection grows....
This weeks "score".   Wipeout 2097, Wip3out, and GT2 for $2 each

I've been watching my kid play Zelda Breath of the Wild for the last few weeks, and Wednesday had the house to myself, so decided to give it a try.  Just for half an hour, to see what it's like. 

Six hours later, managed to get off the couch before the family got home.

I've decided that yes, it's a good game, and I will have to play it until I've collected all of the things.  All of them.  :P

Quote from: mjg on January 25, 2018, 08:58:19 PM
I've been watching my kid play Zelda Breath of the Wild for the last few weeks, and Wednesday had the house to myself, so decided to give it a try.  Just for half an hour, to see what it's like. 

Six hours later, managed to get off the couch before the family got home.

I've decided that yes, it's a good game, and I will have to play it until I've collected all of the things.  All of them.  :P

:)

All I can say is, god help me...

Kiss all your money goodbye if you're collecting cart based NeoGeo stuff!

Quote from: juansolo on January 30, 2018, 12:17:07 AM
Kiss all your money goodbye if you're collecting cart based NeoGeo stuff!

I would say collecting as such but im getting some of my favourites...so thats like 10-12 games...so yeah...kiss my money good bye :(

Been playing Sniper Elite 4 for about a week ago.  It's a solid sniping/stealth game.
Nice graphics and some really hideous voice acting.

League Bowling was my personal favorite neogeo game. Only ever played it in the arcade though.

Used my tax refund to get a Switch and Zelda:BotW. Been enjoying it so far. Only down side.... my TV doesn't have an HDMI port, so its the tiny screen for me! Interesting system, so far. The control scheme is a little clunky (particularly the forced motion control sequences) but by and large it works. No worse than the N64 controller really.

Also picked up Mario Odyssey, but haven't gotten around to playing it yet. Still obsessed with finding seeds and annoying horses.

Quote from: somnif on March 04, 2018, 12:22:00 PM
Still obsessed with finding seeds and annoying horses.

Those seeds, man, once you get a few you can't stop.  And then the giant broccoli does his maraca dance, and wow.  Speechless.   ;D

I have been playing a lot of Into the Breach. From the makers of FTL, which I also loved.

I am a huge Advance Wars fan and this definitely scratches that itch.


Cody

Quote from: somnif on March 04, 2018, 12:22:00 PM
Used my tax refund to get a Switch and Zelda:BotW. Been enjoying it so far. Only down side.... my TV doesn't have an HDMI port, so its the tiny screen for me! Interesting system, so far. The control scheme is a little clunky (particularly the forced motion control sequences) but by and large it works. No worse than the N64 controller really.

Also picked up Mario Odyssey, but haven't gotten around to playing it yet. Still obsessed with finding seeds and annoying horses.

Funny me and James have been playing this lately.  Whenever its James turn he just runs around setting fire to everything.  Instead of "Zelda" I ask him if he wants to play "James Grass Fire Simulator 2018"  :)

Swapped over to Farcry 4 for a bit.

New Doom is amazingly fun.

With Doom 3, you were constantly worried. "God, I hope another monster doesn't pop up, my computer chair can't absorb anymore pee."

With New Doom, you're constantly on edge and excited. "God, I hope another monster appears, so I can *rip it's face off!*"

Quote from: alanp on March 04, 2018, 08:37:32 PM
New Doom is amazingly fun.

With Doom 3, you were constantly worried. "God, I hope another monster doesn't pop up, my computer chair can't absorb anymore pee."

With New Doom, you're constantly on edge and excited. "God, I hope another monster appears, so I can *rip it's face off!*"

Plus: Oh wow, I can actually see stuff!

Been playing Divinity: Original Sin II lately. Basically DnD mixed with Diablo. Been streaming it too just for kicks. Not sure how funny it is out of context, but this happened last night we all lost it. Still laughing at it this morning  ;D

Divinity is ridiculously hard.  I gave it a few days of play and mothballed it in the end.

My son introduced me to Fortnite on PS4.

I quickly remembered why I detest online gaming so much! How does anyone have any fun or NOT get discouraged when you last all of 1 minute in the game before being snuck up on and shot/eliminated?

Also, something I found odd was the complete reversal of what I remembered to be the norm when it came to Beta testing. So, apparently Fortnite has a version of the game where you can battle monsters to save the world. This game option is considered "buggy" and you can only have access to it if you PAY for it. Allegedly, after the version is finalized, it will be offered "for free???"

I remember when the Beta versions were free to try and test and then you had to pay for the final version. Why would I pay to play the "buggy" version of the game only to have it available for free later???

Am I missing something here?

The only game I play these days - and have played on and off for the last 30 years or so - is Nethack. Still haven't ascended, in fact not even close, but hope springs eternal.

https://www.nethack.org/

Quote from: Govmnt_Lacky on March 26, 2018, 06:01:54 AM
My son introduced me to Fortnite on PS4.

I quickly remembered why I detest online gaming so much! How does anyone have any fun or NOT get discouraged when you last all of 1 minute in the game before being snuck up on and shot/eliminated?

Also, something I found odd was the complete reversal of what I remembered to be the norm when it came to Beta testing. So, apparently Fortnite has a version of the game where you can battle monsters to save the world. This game option is considered "buggy" and you can only have access to it if you PAY for it. Allegedly, after the version is finalized, it will be offered "for free???"

I remember when the Beta versions were free to try and test and then you had to pay for the final version. Why would I pay to play the "buggy" version of the game only to have it available for free later???

Am I missing something here?

Nope, that's pretty much the norm now for large studio produced games (think Ubisoft, Activision, EA and the like). The main reason is because they're huge companies that work on financial years and their main focus is their shareholders. So games get released before they're finished so as to tie in with financial goals, rather than when they're actually finished. Also because they care less about the games, they'll farm out work on the game and cut corners to minimise spend. This results in abominations like Mass Effect Andromeda. Being big businesses, when these games fail, they then just cut the studio that made it, and buy in the next currently successful game studio, bend them to their model, then repeat. It works for at least one sequel because people don't pay attention to the publisher as they should. But before long they all end up the same way.

Add to this, because mobile gaming is now making more money than anything else, they're making these games operate like mobile games. But you usually have to buy them at full price first. So artificial grinds in game to make you want to buy the microtransactions to make the game less grindy. Some of the worst ones give the payer advantages over other players. They basically cease to be games any more and become random number generator based gambling games skinned to look like something else. Hell they've even patented mechanics that are designed to sell microtransactions at the expense of fair gameplay.

Basically it all comes down to money as to what's ruining games right now, and it's been coming a long time. Buggy games became the norm from PCs because it was easy to release games with minimal testing then patch them later. The current generation of consoles, which are essentially low powered PCs allow the same, so the practice has migrated to them. Some games never get patched and rely on modders to fix them, which they do! Skyrim is a perfect example of a game that's bugged to hell, is STILL being released on new platforms without being fixed, yet there's a fan patch for the PC version that fixes hundreds of bugs in it (I'm not exaggerating there).

It's not all doom and gloom though. There are still studios out there that seems to actually want to produce enjoyable, complete and finished games. They're just drowned out by the big players that are popular with the masses, who turn out re-skinned FIFA, Madden, COD, etc every year. There have been some belting games that have been released without any of the above bullshit. Divinity Original Sin II as mentioned above is a perfect example of a game that doesn't take the piss. It was £30, doesn't have game breaking DRM yet still sells (because they haven't taken the piss on price), it doesn't have locked day one content that you have to pay for on top of the purchase price to unlock other parts of the game. It's a complete and finished game. Horizon Zero Dawn was another. A full game! The horror. When they released DLC it was several months later because it wasn't part of the game they'd split off to sell to you, and it was a good amount of extra play time worth the cost also.

Man that also reminds me of another thing that's common now. Releasing a game that's basically a shell, charging £60 for it, then adding content to it to buy afterwards to make it playable. That's actually a thing now. I can't remember whether it was Destiny 1 or Battlefront 1 that did that first... Or indeed releasing a sequel then cutting out parts that were in the original to sell to you as add-ons.

The biggest problem in all this is that it works. People keep paying them the money and as long as they do, games will continue to become more and more like mobile games. Because quite frankly they can make a shit-tonne of money with far less effort. Which is why I don't play online games anymore and only buy games that are devoid of these practices. Hopefully the Battlefront II saga will do something to stop them and maybe even legislate out the totally predatory practices from these games. Until then... Retro gaming is where it's at man. The games industry could fold tomorrow and I wouldn't care. I've got hundreds of old games to play that were actually designed to be fun.

Anybody play Kingdom Come: Deliverance / is it any good?

Its Far Cry 5 day!

Grabbing it on PC tonight.

Ok gamers! Need some recommendations!  ;D

Looking for a game. Want it to be a shooter. For the PS4. Want to be able to play 2-player split screen. Either in versus or team mode. Fighting against the environment to either eliminate enemies OR accomplish missions.

And.......... GO!

Quote from: Govmnt_Lacky on March 28, 2018, 05:37:33 AM
Ok gamers! Need some recommendations!  ;D

Looking for a game. Want it to be a shooter. For the PS4. Want to be able to play 2-player split screen. Either in versus or team mode. Fighting against the environment to either eliminate enemies OR accomplish missions.

And.......... GO!

Overwatch is a cool game

I don't own it but played the demo and played it at a friends house. loads of fun.

Quote from: flanagan0718 on March 28, 2018, 06:11:37 AM
Overwatch is a cool game

I don't own it but played the demo and played it at a friends house. loads of fun.

Got that one. There is no non-network co-op gameplay. I want a game where I do NOT have to go online to do some co-op PvE. Prefer split screen. Something I can play with my son and work together going after zombies or bad guys to accomplish a mission.

Quote from: Govmnt_Lacky on March 28, 2018, 06:52:34 AM

Quote from: flanagan0718 on March 28, 2018, 06:11:37 AM
Overwatch is a cool game

I don't own it but played the demo and played it at a friends house. loads of fun.

Got that one. There is no non-network co-op gameplay. I want a game where I do NOT have to go online to do some co-op PvE. Prefer split screen. Something I can play with my son and work together going after zombies or bad guys to accomplish a mission.

Take a loot at this place:
http://www.co-optimus.com/games.php (http://www.co-optimus.com/games.php)

You can filter for split screen and what not.

Cody

https://www.seeedstudio.com/Raspberry-Pi-Acrylic-DIY-Retro-Game-Arcade-Kit-p-2906.html (https://www.seeedstudio.com/Raspberry-Pi-Acrylic-DIY-Retro-Game-Arcade-Kit-p-2906.html)

Paging JuanSolo...

Quote from: alanp on April 01, 2018, 11:51:05 PM
https://www.seeedstudio.com/Raspberry-Pi-Acrylic-DIY-Retro-Game-Arcade-Kit-p-2906.html (https://www.seeedstudio.com/Raspberry-Pi-Acrylic-DIY-Retro-Game-Arcade-Kit-p-2906.html)

Paging JuanSolo...

I was going to do something like that in a 1550G enclosure. Could easily get it in there.

I'm like 25 hours in on Far Cry 5 and really enjoying it. The story is not that great but the "open world murder simulator" is in full swing. Its so fun to run around and clear the map off of objectives.. its obsessive.

Cody

Quote from: selfdestroyer on April 10, 2018, 01:16:04 PM
I'm like 25 hours in on Far Cry 5 and really enjoying it. The story is not that great but the "open world murder simulator" is in full swing. Its so fun to run around and clear the map off of objectives.. its obsessive.

Cody

I loved Far Cry 4. It was a ton of fun to just run around and get the small missions done. Plus slaughter the bad guys!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I really enjoyed Far Cry Primal, actually.  FC3 was pretty good, the Buzzer in FC4 is fun, but FC4 isn't as fun in all honesty.

Currently playing Brutal Legend, and Borderlands - the Pre-sequel.  I'm enjoying going back to older games on my 2 year old (nearly three!) i7 laptop.

Last month PSN had the DLC for bloodbourne on sale. So I'm currently chipping away at that. Thinking of picking up Far Cry Primal at some point.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I really like FC3, FC4 was a ton of fun but I liked 3 more. Really want to try 5 when it comes down in price a bit.

Just started playing Fallout 4 though after finishing Bioshock for the first time so I'm gonna be in that game for a good while.

I finally joined the masses and got a PS4. Been playing through the Uncharted trilogy and Crash trilogy. Also been playing a ton of Fortnite and Brawlhala. My name is TRAILERXCORE. Come thrown off a ledge!

Accidentally bought a Wii, so have hacked it so I can install all my Wii & GameCube software onto memory sticks. For no other reason than I can (I have a perfectly functional GameCube and Wii U).

I have not had a console in 15-ish years....or whenever ps2 had resident evil 2-ish

Anyways, buddy got me hooked playing Fortnite - gotta check out Mortal Kombat/Tekken type stuff, but

Besides Gran Turismo, what are some realistic moto GP type games? Do i want the rossi one or ???

And are there games you can play with people actually in the room w u? Lol - what is the mario kart of the Ps world? PS4 not been in the house for 24hrs and wifey gonna take a hammer to me, the 10yo, the PS or all of the above

I've put in about 20hrs on Far Cry 5 on PC, running full settings at 1440p on a large monitor. It's visually gorgeous. I think the gameplay is pretty good, though some elements are repetitive or unbalanced (like helicopters). Like most Far Cry games the story line is bizarre and entertaining enough that I don't skip through the cutscenes. There are a few annoying features but overall I give it two thumbs up.

Quote from: EBRAddict on April 16, 2018, 07:31:34 PM
I've put in about 20hrs on Far Cry 5 on PC, running full settings at 1440p on a large monitor. It's visually gorgeous. I think the gameplay is pretty good, though some elements are repetitive or unbalanced (like helicopters). Like most Far Cry games the story line is bizarre and entertaining enough that I don't skip through the cutscenes. There are a few annoying features but overall I give it two thumbs up.

Same here.. almost 40 hours in and I just got the last mission unlocked (I love open world side missions also so I squeeze as much time as I can out of these games). I'm playing at 1440p @165hrz and its amazing and I have not dipped below 70fps. This game sure looks great with all its textures and lighting in full swing.

The story definitely has some cheese in it but its not as bad as some reviewers have said it was..

Cody

I never buy full priced AAA games but Far Cry 5 was just too tempting. I'm in it for the glitches and random bear attacks.

i am so tempted to buy it, had great fun playing far cry 3.  hate the cutscenes and dumbass storylines but clearing outposts was endlessly entertaining.

on a similar note it's taking willpower to not grab the new god of war.

I played Far Cry 3 and enjoyed it.  Still haven't played 4 yet.  I'm sure I'll eventually get around to it.
I like to wait until games are old and cheap.  So 5 will be a ways off.

Still enjoying Sniper Elite 4.

Latest addition (the one on the right). Both modded with an UAV board (gives S-Vid and Composite output) and proper buttons to replace the awful normal button strip the select and reset normally has.

Been trying to snag a fully functional 2600 for a while. My first, it's now obvious, was faulty as I could never get a good pic from it. Cleggy got number 2 and we made a nice machine out of the pair of them (the black one). I then picked up a 7800 that was in a hell of a state and restored that thinking 'this'll cover 2600 stuff also, win/win!'. Except it couldn't run PAL-60 games and the picture isn't brilliant (it isn't on a 7800). So this is attempt 3 for me. Another sold as parts/untested one on eBay. This one's a belter. Great picture out of the box, and even better with the UAV now fitted. Seems to work with all software too.

I'm a happy chappy.

Quote from: juansolo on April 19, 2018, 08:22:04 AM
Latest addition (the one on the right). Both modded with an UAV board (gives S-Vid and Composite output) and proper buttons to replace the awful normal button strip the select and reset normally has.

Been trying to snag a fully functional 2600 for a while. My first, it's now obvious, was faulty as I could never get a good pic from it. Cleggy got number 2 and we made a nice machine out of the pair of them (the black one). I then picked up a 7800 that was in a hell of a state and restored that thinking 'this'll cover 2600 stuff also, win/win!'. Except it couldn't run PAL-60 games and the picture isn't brilliant (it isn't on a 7800). So this is attempt 3 for me. Another sold as parts/untested one on eBay. This one's a belter. Great picture out of the box, and even better with the UAV now fitted. Seems to work with all software too.

I'm a happy chappy.

Juan,

What version of 2600 is that? Is that a re-issue? Definitely doesn't look like the original versions with the slide switches  ???

It's a 2600 Junior. First there were the heavy sixers, then the regular woody (which we all had back in the day) with six switches. Then there was a 4 switch version of the woody, and one available in black (usually called the Vader). Then at the end of it's life came the Juniors in '86. The black facia'd Juniors were only available in Ireland if I recall correctly.

I've been going for them because it's easier to perform video mods to them to work with more modern TVs and because they're little. But mainly because they're really cheap ;) £15-£20 is about the going rate for one. Which is good because it can be quite challenging to get them to behave themselves. As I say, my third attempt was the charm.

That is seriously dating you, Juan. Even I would consider any kind of Atari to be granddad territory.

Quote from: alanp on April 19, 2018, 09:29:16 AM
That is seriously dating you, Juan. Even I would consider any kind of Atari to be granddad territory.

I'm only 36 and me and my cousin played plenty on his when we were kids ... it was his brother's (who's older by several years), but even so ...

I was at the comic book shop today (was thinking of getting the Superman 1000 issue until I found out it was eight issues that cost several dollars each) and they recently got a collection of SNES games from someone ... still in shrink wrap. It was like a dozen games. Who the heck buys video game cartridges and leaves them in the box unopened? What kind of madness is this?

Nevertheless, I thought to myself, "Juan would appreciate this ..."

Also, they had a gold Zelda cartridge, which I've never seen in person.

Quote from: alanp on April 19, 2018, 09:29:16 AM
That is seriously dating you, Juan. Even I would consider any kind of Atari to be granddad territory.

I had one of these before the Atari as a kid:

(http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/userdata/images/large/47/97/product-84797.jpg)

Which is essentially a British Pong machine (same internally as the Grandstand I think).

....46, for the record ;)

Quote from: midwayfair on April 19, 2018, 08:15:09 PM

Quote from: alanp on April 19, 2018, 09:29:16 AM
That is seriously dating you, Juan. Even I would consider any kind of Atari to be granddad territory.

I'm only 36 and me and my cousin played plenty on his when we were kids ... it was his brother's (who's older by several years), but even so ...

I was at the comic book shop today (was thinking of getting the Superman 1000 issue until I found out it was eight issues that cost several dollars each) and they recently got a collection of SNES games from someone ... still in shrink wrap. It was like a dozen games. Who the heck buys video game cartridges and leaves them in the box unopened? What kind of madness is this?

Nevertheless, I thought to myself, "Juan would appreciate this ..."

Also, they had a gold Zelda cartridge, which I've never seen in person.

I bought Joust for the 7800 recently, still shrink-wrapped, and I had exactly the same reaction. Why?! 31 years...

FWIW, none of my games are shrink-wrapped. I don't see the point in owning games you can't play. That's just weird.

Oddly the NES is one of the only systems I don't own. They kinda passed us by in the UK. I'm not even sure I've ever seen one in person. The Master System was bigger, but still not particularly widespread. We were heavily into computers by then Spectrum (horrid, I had 3) and C64 mainly from the 8-bits, then ST and Amiga. By the time the PC started taking over, I had both a PC and a SNES so I could still play old arcade style games on something. The SNES is easily my favourite console of all time.

For those that might be interested, there is a geeky section of my website also: http://juansolo.co.uk/geekery/index.html Well for as long as it lasts, as I'll be cancelling my hosting in a couple of months. I'll look to getting a static IP and sticking it all on a raspberry pi at some point after that.

been working out the kinks of a portable retroarch/emulationstation system on windows 10 ... gained some systems over the retropie my kids are using (jaguar, 3do, n64, psp, and dreamcast). makes me wish I had more RAM and processor so I could run gamecube, wii, and ps2.

I'm running retro-pie also. But these days as I have most of the original systems, I just run arcade stuff on it.

Quote from: midwayfair on April 19, 2018, 08:15:09 PM
Also, they had a gold Zelda cartridge, which I've never seen in person.

I have one of those from a yard sale purchase a while back. Fully working NES with a bunch of games, most importantly that gold Zelda.

I love when people don't know what they're clearing out of their basement.

I remember when the gold cart came home ... first time I was able to save a game ... literal game changer because up to that point, you either had to be good and fast and able to finish up a game quickly or have the time to play it to the end (if the game had one)

re: arcade games on the pi ... I've really got to narrow mine down. I think my final burn alpha rom set is something like 29 gigs and a large number of multiple versions/revisions of a single title. makes the menu extremely hard to navigate.

Juan, I've got at least two (maybe three and possibly four) NES's laying around that should all work. If you have any interest in owning one o doin' a trade drop me a line.

Quote from: Matmosphere on April 20, 2018, 02:09:37 PM
Juan, I've got at least two (maybe three and possibly four) NES's laying around that should all work. If you have any interest in owning one o doin' a trade drop me a line.

If you're in the UK I might give that a try. At the moment I'm cheating as the N64 with an Everdrive can play NES titles. But unlike the Megadrive with the Master System stuff, it's emulated so not quite right.

Quote from: thesmokingman on April 20, 2018, 12:34:12 PMre: arcade games on the pi ... I've really got to narrow mine down. I think my final burn alpha rom set is something like 29 gigs and a large number of multiple versions/revisions of a single title. makes the menu extremely hard to navigate.

Ah this is a problem of the modern age, too much choice/too many options (300 channels and there's nothing on... When back in the day, we had 3). Same goes for if you run some of the flash carts or what have you. I've found that resisting the temptation to put EVERYTHING onto a cart/emulator is the key. Or at least if you do put everything on there, put a directory on it also with your selection of say your top 50 games maximum. I never go into the 'complete' folders on my machine unless I learn of some hidden gem and want to try it.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/40990/Mafia/ (http://store.steampowered.com/app/40990/Mafia/)

MAFIA IS ON STEAM.

Sorry for the angrycaps, but this is one of the BEST storytelling games I've played. Ever. Hands down. This game sucks you in and doesn't let go until Don Salieri says you may leave.

And it works in windows 10!

Happy birthday to me :)

Playing loads of Far Cry 5. My PS4 handle is TRAILERxCORE. Let me come blow up your cultists!

Quote from: juansolo on May 02, 2018, 10:27:36 AM
Happy birthday to me :)

Nice, are the holes aligned so you can tate the screen if you want or will it take a bit of modding? Looks like some fun for my desk at work. lol

Quote from: selfdestroyer on May 02, 2018, 03:18:16 PM

Quote from: juansolo on May 02, 2018, 10:27:36 AM
Happy birthday to me :)

Nice, are the holes aligned so you can tate the screen if you want or will it take a bit of modding? Looks like some fun for my desk at work. lol

The holes are for screen tiltage, but the whole kit is designed with modding in mind. So lighting the marquee, running from battery, bigger screens etc. I'm running from a Raspberry Pi but there are mounting points for a Mini ITX in there if you want to go mad. There are all the templates for the marqee, controller board and screen surround if you want to customise it to look like your favourite arcade machine. It's a really fun and well designed kit.

For me the 8" screen and Pi combo is right. The screen proportionally looks right and the super low-res stuff you're running on it (it's 800x600 4:3) also looks surprisingly good without having to resort to filters. It's a doddle to put together and is easily done in about 3 hours or so being careful. No soldering required. I highly recommend it.

I don't even think it's bad value. It's £180, just add Pi and PSU, so all up about £215 or so. https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/picade

Loads of videos online for them.

Quote from: trailer on May 02, 2018, 11:43:37 AM
Playing loads of Far Cry 5. My PS4 handle is TRAILERxCORE. Let me come blow up your cultists!

waiting for the price to drop like I always do.  I guess I should play FC4.

Quote from: stringsthings on May 03, 2018, 10:30:52 AM

Quote from: trailer on May 02, 2018, 11:43:37 AM
Playing loads of Far Cry 5. My PS4 handle is TRAILERxCORE. Let me come blow up your cultists!

waiting for the price to drop like I always do.  I guess I should play FC4.

Never played FC4 but I have read good things about both 3 and 4. 5 suffers from repetitive side missions like most open world games these days, however I haven't been bored at all with it. I do wish there were more weapons, clothes/skins, and customization options.

Not really worth a thread of its own so dumping here.  In a bid to get james more active (he loves nerf gun fights around the house, we run around for hours shooting each other), i bought a new nerf gun and had a go at painting it.  Turned out steampunkesque.  Looks pretty cool in the flesh.  Hoping that the primer and lacquer hold up to the abuse :D

Most excellent!

My first computer was a C64 breadbin. I played so, so, so many games on that thing.

Oh, and it was also where I cut my teeth on BASIC. (I later spent a lot of time with Turbo Pascal 7. Not so much for more than a decade.)

I also encountered tape a very long time in my computing career. Years of disc drives (anyone remember cutting 5.25" floppy discs by hand for double sided operation?), and then a teacher at school gave me a bag full of tapes with games.

"Wow... these.. are.. slow. Dude, do you have a copy on disc?"

Everything in the early days was on tape for us. It wasn't until the ST and Amiga that we fully embraced the floppy. On the one hand it made the games cheap and super easy to pirate, on the other it meant anyone could write games and act as their own distributor. So it birthed the bedroom coders and the UK computer gaming boom.

Finally got a chance to play another game of mansions of madness.  So much better to play on a cold rainy night, really builds up the atmosphere; some of our most memorable games.  Not sure if you make out whats happening on the finale room tiles but, yeah, needless to say by the state of the board...ahhh...we lost....

Soon...Very VERY soon there will only be...

(https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Dark-Souls-Remastered-HDr.jpg)

I'm still grumpy about how BAD a port Dark Souls 3 is on Steam. Grrrrrr.

That point when you print out a map for your next session. Carefully divide it up into bits in photoshop, print all the pages, trim them with a guillotine, carefully tape them together, and then realise that you've printed the same map twice rather than both floors...

World of Tanks and GTA when I need to make a short break from something :)

My wife's been running a game of 5th edition D&D for the last few months. I'm playing a dwarven bard. His instruments are bagpipes, caliope, and dwarven pipe organ. He has a penchant for putting his foot in his mouth or unintentionally insulting people. He was raised by gnomes and identifies as a gnome if you call him a dwarf, or a dwarf if you call him a gnome.

He also has a talking sword! It's inhabited by a spirit we found in an old book in a library. (It's a long story.)

Recently, the party's ranger stole my bagpipes, painted "I love halflings" on it, rubbed hot peppers on the mouthpiece, and wrapped the bag with wires to make it hold less air. Guess who's not getting inspired any time soon ...

Also recently, I dug out the old magic cards to play a "new" magic format called Old School that's just the cards from 1993 and 1994 (sometimes 1995). This was the end of an extremely long game where I got killed by funguses (I'm on the left):

(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/js4Dd4FMuqq6R4hL9Z0lzw2wwKJdscktnTL6BUiasOkAsOp6SIfUzaMnwb9J7UaQxUgQHw-tWkDyCBoUmGMyEyjpzj4BghD_d70H=w1863-h903)

It's a surprisingly good format, especially since there are never any new cards :P If anyone's near Baltimore and interested in playing, I set up a website for the Baltimore group: http://baltimoreoldschoolmtg.wordpress.com. (We allow proxies in case you just can't help yourself and need to play with expensive cards.)

Quote from: midwayfair on May 24, 2018, 09:41:14 AM
My wife's been running a game of 5th edition D&D for the last few months. I'm playing a dwarven bard. His instruments are bagpipes, caliope, and dwarven pipe organ. He has a penchant for putting his foot in his mouth or unintentionally insulting people. He was raised by gnomes and identifies as a gnome if you call him a dwarf, or a dwarf if you call him a gnome.

He also has a talking sword! It's inhabited by a spirit we found in an old book in a library. (It's a long story.)

Recently, the party's ranger stole my bagpipes, painted "I love halflings" on it, rubbed hot peppers on the mouthpiece, and wrapped the bag with wires to make it hold less air. Guess who's not getting inspired any time soon ...

This is fantastic. Been in a 5e campaign with some friends for the past couple of years. We've been doing basically a 1 year season and then changing it up. Played a sneaky rogue in the first campaign who was out for blood and puns. Now I'm a more respected Tempest Cleric but we've been taking turns as DM so he hasn't been around much. DMing is really hard, especially keeping track of everything.

Quote from: sonnyboy27 on May 24, 2018, 10:06:10 AM
This is fantastic. Been in a 5e campaign with some friends for the past couple of years. We've been doing basically a 1 year season and then changing it up. Played a sneaky rogue in the first campaign who was out for blood and puns. Now I'm a more respected Tempest Cleric but we've been taking turns as DM so he hasn't been around much. DMing is really hard, especially keeping track of everything.

Yeah, my wife spends a LOT of time preparing for adventures. I slightly prefer DMing to playing, but I also have a more thoroughly fleshed out world and a lot of experience as a story teller that lets me wing things fairly often.

The way you've structured things sounds like a good way to keep people interested.

Quote from: midwayfair on May 24, 2018, 10:12:20 AM

Quote from: sonnyboy27 on May 24, 2018, 10:06:10 AM
This is fantastic. Been in a 5e campaign with some friends for the past couple of years. We've been doing basically a 1 year season and then changing it up. Played a sneaky rogue in the first campaign who was out for blood and puns. Now I'm a more respected Tempest Cleric but we've been taking turns as DM so he hasn't been around much. DMing is really hard, especially keeping track of everything.

Yeah, my wife spends a LOT of time preparing for adventures. I slightly prefer DMing to playing, but I also have a more thoroughly fleshed out world and a lot of experience as a story teller that lets me wing things fairly often.

The way you've structured things sounds like a good way to keep people interested.

That's awesome. When a DM can flush all of that out it makes for an awesome adventure. As a DM, I had an idea of what I wanted the players to do but had trouble creating enticing hooks to pull them in that direction. Still working on that bit of it. We also were playing in about 1.5-2hr increments so there wasn't much time to go exploring and stuff. Been watching a bunch of Critical Role and Aquisitions Inc to get some ideas and see how they move things along though.

The rotating DM thing was an experiment to see who liked it the most and would want to maintain it. I'm enjoying being a player at the moment. Still getting the hang of RPing well and being in character. The season type thing just worked out because we decided to rotate at the one year mark. Our current DM is about to have a baby though so we'll probably be taking a break for a good while, unfortunately.

Quote from: sonnyboy27 on May 24, 2018, 10:27:34 AM
That's awesome. When a DM can flush all of that out it makes for an awesome adventure. As a DM, I had an idea of what I wanted the players to do but had trouble creating enticing hooks to pull them in that direction.

First thing is avoid too many choices, and always drop hints with the rule of three. Players don't necessarily pick up on stuff, but if it's mentioned three times, they will always notice. This is a general story telling thing, in fact -- notice that folk tales use the rule of three fairly often. It's an ancient memory aid.

I think one of the secrets is not to try to entice the players to do what you want. If you give them a bunch of adventure hooks and they pick one, they might still feel railroaded. One of the best ways to handle it is to just let the players do stuff and have a pile of maleable encounters that you can pick from at a moment's notice. The players write the story that way, and you simply provide the obstacles for them to overcome. Sometimes you can railroad them in a way that's not obvious, or pull them in from the most unlikely of circumstances.

Say you want the players to explore the sewers under the city. Well, no matter how much you talk about treasures, I'm not voluntarily going in a sewer, it's dangerous down there. But I might go shopping. And the shop keeper might be missing and I might be intrigued enough to go looking for them in the back room, at which point the floor collapses and at least a couple players fail their saves to avoid falling down the hole. The party's not just going to abandon them, and now they're in the sewers where you wanted them. Here the players got railroaded, but there was a possibility that they didn't (all of them save), and even if they didn't, maybe now they're concerned about about other places collapsing and they go do the thing anyway.

The last campaign I ran, my gimmick was "What's the worst possible outcome from the PCs doing something they think is helpful?" The way to run that one is that you find one absolutely irresistible adventure hook (or railroad them at a point where they're okay with it in the beginning), and then you let them "win" but with dire consequences. If they run away from responsibility, then you can have them hounded for that. If they try to fix the bad situation, that's more opportunities to have things go south, and more opportunities for them to feel like they need to fix it. This also gives you plenty of time to prepare for the next session, because you can pretty much always end on a cliffhanger.

Quote from: flanagan0718 on May 21, 2018, 09:08:25 PM
Soon...Very VERY soon there will only be...

(https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Dark-Souls-Remastered-HDr.jpg)

YES!!! 8 hours left on the countdown.....
Then YOU DIED.

Quote from: Torgoslayer on May 24, 2018, 01:45:09 PM

Quote from: flanagan0718 on May 21, 2018, 09:08:25 PM
Soon...Very VERY soon there will only be...

(https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Dark-Souls-Remastered-HDr.jpg)

YES!!! 8 hours left on the countdown.....
Then YOU DIED.

100% ACCURATE!
Are you a pc gamer or PS4? My PSN handle is flanagan424


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote from: flanagan0718 on May 24, 2018, 03:12:07 PM

Quote from: Torgoslayer on May 24, 2018, 01:45:09 PM

Quote from: flanagan0718 on May 21, 2018, 09:08:25 PM
Soon...Very VERY soon there will only be...

(https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Dark-Souls-Remastered-HDr.jpg)

YES!!! 8 hours left on the countdown.....
Then YOU DIED.

100% ACCURATE!
Are you a pc gamer or PS4? My PSN handle is flanagan424


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ps4. nofomofo. My 9 year old has beat all the soulsborne games but this one. He is stoked and "praise the sun"-ing everyone.

I'm running a game of Storm King's Thunder for my friends and their kids. I too am finding that I prefer DMing to playing (it's my first time behind the screen), and it seems to be going well... Well they haven't decided to go back to the old campaign yet where I was a player anyhow. I'm also going to be running a pirate themed one shot for their daughter and her friends next week which should be fun.

As for the players I occasionally ask them what sort of things the characters want to do between sessions so I can tailor the game to them. Thankfully SKT is really sandboxy if you want it to be and doesn't have a time limit to drive them on. They can just hang out in the world if they want being low level adventurers, raiding tombs and what have you. I just mentioned to them, when you fancy getting back on plot, let me know and I'll push you in the right direction.

I am also creating my own little corner of Faerun. The kids are probably a little too young at the moment to get involved in the political aspect of things I've built into it, but I look forward to running that maybe later for them. If anything, I'm just enjoying creating that world and it's contents.

As a player I enjoy playing complicated characters. I tried running a righteous paladin and it just didn't work for me at all and I got bored really quickly. Which is a shame as the mini I painted for him was AWESOME! My longest running character is a blue dragonblood tiefling sorcerer (before Critical Role made them popular). Who was/is a spy. I love that guy, but he's really messed up and has a lot of inner conflict regarding his heritage, being a tiefling with the blood of a blue dragon trying to be a good guy in a world that mostly hates him.

Oh yeah, as for prep, I spend way too much time on it sometimes. But the players do seem to appreciate it. This is for a day of D&D. I haven't finished prepping all the encounters yet, but these are the maps and the handouts (65 pages of A4... counting the map I did twice admittedly):

QuoteRecently, the party's ranger stole my bagpipes, painted "I love halflings" on it, rubbed hot peppers on the mouthpiece, and wrapped the bag with wires to make it hold less air. Guess who's not getting inspired any time soon ...

That is all perfectly reasonable where bagpipes are concerned.

Quote from: midwayfair on May 24, 2018, 10:56:35 AM

Quote from: sonnyboy27 on May 24, 2018, 10:27:34 AM
That's awesome. When a DM can flush all of that out it makes for an awesome adventure. As a DM, I had an idea of what I wanted the players to do but had trouble creating enticing hooks to pull them in that direction.

First thing is avoid too many choices, and always drop hints with the rule of three. Players don't necessarily pick up on stuff, but if it's mentioned three times, they will always notice. This is a general story telling thing, in fact -- notice that folk tales use the rule of three fairly often. It's an ancient memory aid.

I think one of the secrets is not to try to entice the players to do what you want. If you give them a bunch of adventure hooks and they pick one, they might still feel railroaded. One of the best ways to handle it is to just let the players do stuff and have a pile of maleable encounters that you can pick from at a moment's notice. The players write the story that way, and you simply provide the obstacles for them to overcome. Sometimes you can railroad them in a way that's not obvious, or pull them in from the most unlikely of circumstances.

Say you want the players to explore the sewers under the city. Well, no matter how much you talk about treasures, I'm not voluntarily going in a sewer, it's dangerous down there. But I might go shopping. And the shop keeper might be missing and I might be intrigued enough to go looking for them in the back room, at which point the floor collapses and at least a couple players fail their saves to avoid falling down the hole. The party's not just going to abandon them, and now they're in the sewers where you wanted them. Here the players got railroaded, but there was a possibility that they didn't (all of them save), and even if they didn't, maybe now they're concerned about about other places collapsing and they go do the thing anyway.

The last campaign I ran, my gimmick was "What's the worst possible outcome from the PCs doing something they think is helpful?" The way to run that one is that you find one absolutely irresistible adventure hook (or railroad them at a point where they're okay with it in the beginning), and then you let them "win" but with dire consequences. If they run away from responsibility, then you can have them hounded for that. If they try to fix the bad situation, that's more opportunities to have things go south, and more opportunities for them to feel like they need to fix it. This also gives you plenty of time to prepare for the next session, because you can pretty much always end on a cliffhanger.

This is super useful, especially the rule of threes part. I'll definitely have to keep that in mind the next time I step up to run a session. Also, thanks for the example scenario; that makes things a lot clearer. I want to provide players with choices and the ability to run around in a story of their making and this definitely cleared up some thinking for me.

Do you have any resources you like to pull from when world building, creating encounters and such?

Quote from: sonnyboy27 on May 25, 2018, 06:37:04 AM
Do you have any resources you like to pull from when world building, creating encounters and such?

I mean, books and movies and such always work, as well as heavily story-based video games like the Ultima Series (within reason, don't lift a campaign obviously, just the tropes used). I read a lot of folk tales -- a big tome like Calvino's Italian Folk Tales can give a lot of ideas that aren't the typical Grimm and Perault stories everyone knows. Victorian literaturized folk tales can also be good, because it's the material on which the fantasy genre is based. And published adventures can make a great supplement -- you don't have to use them literally, you can warp them to your world.

Sometimes I'll just gauge the players' reactions to NPCs just mentioning a type of monster, say "faeries," and if they have a strong reaction either way, that's a good indicator that it will make a good adventure. Just know the difference between "I hate fighting against that because it's miserable" and "I hate those and would like to fight them." Shadows and Bodaks bad. Clever faeries that grind the players' gears with puzzles and madness good.

I've mentioned fae twice, and it's because it works. My wife also used it recently with a completely different set of people, and the reaction is always fantastic.

My lot hate oozes and mimics. I throw one in there every now and then to keep them on their toes :)

Quote from: juansolo on May 25, 2018, 08:03:22 AM
My lot hate oozes and mimics. I throw one in there every now and then to keep them on their toes :)

Mimics might be my favorite monster.

Quote from: Torgoslayer on May 24, 2018, 03:41:28 PM

Quote from: flanagan0718 on May 24, 2018, 03:12:07 PM

Quote from: Torgoslayer on May 24, 2018, 01:45:09 PM

Quote from: flanagan0718 on May 21, 2018, 09:08:25 PM
Soon...Very VERY soon there will only be...

(https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Dark-Souls-Remastered-HDr.jpg)

YES!!! 8 hours left on the countdown.....
Then YOU DIED.

100% ACCURATE!
Are you a pc gamer or PS4? My PSN handle is flanagan424


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ps4. nofomofo. My 9 year old has beat all the soulsborne games but this one. He is stoked and "praise the sun"-ing everyone.

Been playing here and there. Just beat the gaping dragon! The ground is literally littered with summon signs. It so awesome!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote from: Torgoslayer on May 24, 2018, 03:41:28 PM

Quote from: flanagan0718 on May 24, 2018, 03:12:07 PM

Quote from: Torgoslayer on May 24, 2018, 01:45:09 PM

Quote from: flanagan0718 on May 21, 2018, 09:08:25 PM
Soon...Very VERY soon there will only be...

(https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Dark-Souls-Remastered-HDr.jpg)

YES!!! 8 hours left on the countdown.....
Then YOU DIED.

100% ACCURATE!
Are you a pc gamer or PS4? My PSN handle is flanagan424


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ps4. nofomofo. My 9 year old has beat all the soulsborne games but this one. He is stoked and "praise the sun"-ing everyone.

Been playing here and there. Just beat the gaping dragon! The ground is literally littered with summon signs. It so awesome!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Played a bit of the new God of War. Taken me a while to get a grip with the combat, but once it clicked I'm liking it a lot. I'm not sure it's the 'Best Game Ever' as the hype would have you believe right now. I prefer Horizon in that respect. But it's very good.

Quote from: flanagan0718 on May 29, 2018, 06:35:46 PM

Quote from: Torgoslayer on May 24, 2018, 03:41:28 PM

Quote from: flanagan0718 on May 24, 2018, 03:12:07 PM

Quote from: Torgoslayer on May 24, 2018, 01:45:09 PM

Quote from: flanagan0718 on May 21, 2018, 09:08:25 PM
Soon...Very VERY soon there will only be...

(https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Dark-Souls-Remastered-HDr.jpg)

YES!!! 8 hours left on the countdown.....
Then YOU DIED.

100% ACCURATE!
Are you a pc gamer or PS4? My PSN handle is flanagan424


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ps4. nofomofo. My 9 year old has beat all the soulsborne games but this one. He is stoked and "praise the sun"-ing everyone.

Been playing here and there. Just beat the gaping dragon! The ground is literally littered with summon signs. It so awesome!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just got my SL1 pyro to NG+. Just have to run around a bit and gather the last few upgrades and I'll be invading full time from now on.

i've regressed way back to old ways from PS3 days, sitting at SL50 and too lazy to finish the game, just sitting in anor londo rotating invasions, forest invasions and co-op

Passed a major hurdle today in Sniper Elite 4.  After you play thru the levels several times, you get to know where
the enemies are in a general sense.  So it's much easier to up the difficulty after some repetition.  So now I'm on the highest
difficulty and trying to get thru the campaign.  The trick is that you can't save.  So if you get killed, you have to start the current
level over again.  The 8 levels are pretty big so it's not an easy feat.  I just finished level 6 which was a real PITA.  It must've
took me 20+ tries.

Excellent game if you like a stealthy game where patience really pays off.  You don't have to play stealth, of course.
That's just my play-style.

Quote from: Torgoslayer on May 30, 2018, 07:45:47 AM

Quote from: flanagan0718 on May 29, 2018, 06:35:46 PM

Quote from: Torgoslayer on May 24, 2018, 03:41:28 PM

Quote from: flanagan0718 on May 24, 2018, 03:12:07 PM

Quote from: Torgoslayer on May 24, 2018, 01:45:09 PM

Quote from: flanagan0718 on May 21, 2018, 09:08:25 PM
Soon...Very VERY soon there will only be...

(https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Dark-Souls-Remastered-HDr.jpg)

YES!!! 8 hours left on the countdown.....
Then YOU DIED.

100% ACCURATE!
Are you a pc gamer or PS4? My PSN handle is flanagan424


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ps4. nofomofo. My 9 year old has beat all the soulsborne games but this one. He is stoked and "praise the sun"-ing everyone.

Been playing here and there. Just beat the gaping dragon! The ground is literally littered with summon signs. It so awesome!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just got my SL1 pyro to NG+. Just have to run around a bit and gather the last few upgrades and I'll be invading full time from now on.

Nice I think you may have smoked me the other night!  Hahahaha!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Had a bit of a re-org. It'll won't stay this tidy for long...

Looking good John!

My buddy and I just finished Rainbow Six Wildlands in Co-op last night.. we had a blast doing so. Definitely got our moneys worth out of that game. I keep forgetting to look at my stats and see how many hours I have clocked in that game. I would guess over 80 hours.

Quote from: selfdestroyer on June 05, 2018, 12:57:05 PM
Looking good John!

My buddy and I just finished Rainbow Six Wildlands in Co-op last night.. we had a blast doing so. Definitely got our moneys worth out of that game. I keep forgetting to look at my stats and see how many hours I have clocked in that game. I would guess over 80 hours.

Nothing quite like those old school co-op missions!  We just got a Switch, first console since PS2.  I like Mario Kart and have bee playing a bit of FIFA leading up to the World Cup. 

Biggest time absorber is this one tho on Steam for PC :o
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qhD62Nzat1c/maxresdefault.jpg)

The Mad Max sandbox game is fun.

But with how fucking rare ammo is, and how stingy the game is about actually letting you carry any, it feels at times a great deal like King of Fighters or Fists of Fury meets Mad Max, total beat-em-up brawler.

They should do a sequel to Fury Road with Terry Bogard. Or Iori Yagami, he could also play bass guitar to the Doof Warrior's lead guitar as well as beating the crap out of people.

I only ever shot the caller dudes (can't remember what they were called) or if I was getting mobbed. Otherwise it was all beatage.

I enjoyed Mad Max too.  I've left it for a while though as I'm up to hunting down the last guy and my car is pretty much maxed out (HA!) but I feel like completing a bit more.  You're right about the stingy ammo, but I enjoyed the takedowns and executions.

I think I'm starting to go off Mad Max The Game.

It has started to devolve into endless waves of idiots being thrown at me, boss battles a la Devil May Cry or whatever, and both of those annoy the piss out of me. (I leave the Top Dog sites until last in any zone, if I can manage.)

Okay, Mad Max The Game can now go jump off a cliff.

It's obvious that the devs, in the last half of the game, just gave up completely on making it difficult, and yet still a lot of fun.

"We'll give them a boss with the same mechanics as every OTHER boss (charge, wild swing, mash attack while boss recovers from dumb-ass wild swing), but this time, we'll spam adds like there's no tomorrow!"

All the quests I'm on or have left to do involve boss battles with adds spamming. That Top Dog base that is just an arena, and that's it, the Arkytekt mission that involves a load of spam with the boss (and if you clear them all for a straightforward boss battle, congratulations! The game is now going to spawn a load MORE adds on your low-HP, low-shotgun-ammo arse!), and the post-Gastown-Races-boss.

Just... ugh.

No.

The first half of the game is a ton of fun, and the camps and bases are very inventive and a good test of skill and imagination (running back to the car and harpooning them one by one as they run out of their base is a good laugh), collecting History relics is fun (seeing the narrative building through photos and hand-written notes), but when the game just goes "to hell with it", and just spams shit...

No.

My latest project. Managed to grab an example of my first video game console from 1977. No idea if it works or not yet, so that'll needs sorting potentially, then it'll need fettling to work on a more modern TV. Weirdly looking forward to getting this up and running and playing pong.

Wow, that is really good condition, John!

Quote from: alanp on June 20, 2018, 07:08:55 PM
"We'll give them a boss with the same mechanics as every OTHER boss (charge, wild swing, mash attack while boss recovers from dumb-ass wild swing), but this time, we'll spam adds like there's no tomorrow!"

Are you really telling me that you don't use an add blocker?

Add, as in additional monsters, not ad as in advertising :)

Quote from: alanp on June 21, 2018, 01:32:19 PM
Add, as in additional monsters, not ad as in advertising :)

Don't ruin this.

I got so fed up with retardation in Mad Max the videogame that I threw my hands up and got a trainer from a reputable site, and then cheesed the last couple of bosses.

I won't spoil anything, but do NOT expect a great ending to the game, or even a GOOD one.

I'm back on The Division. Got pumped watching the trailer for The Division 2 and linked up with a buddy on the PS4 to start new chars.

I'm a huge sucker for the post-apocalyptic landscape games and I think development team did a fantastic job on level design and level of in world detail.

Can't get enough of this game.  The soundtrack is simply hilarious.

Picked up No Man's Sky after hearing how much it has improved in its latest update.

Honestly? Its not bad. The interface and menus are an utter mess, but if you enjoy slower more sedate game play it may have something for you. Only if its on sale, mind, no way is it a 60$ game yet.

But I can enjoy methodically collecting, crafting, repeating my way through a story.

Quote from: stringsthings on August 02, 2018, 10:15:26 PM
Can't get enough of this game.  The soundtrack is simply hilarious.

That looks awesome.

Quote from: somnif on August 03, 2018, 01:12:26 PM
Picked up No Man's Sky after hearing how much it has improved in its latest update.

Honestly? Its not bad. The interface and menus are an utter mess, but if you enjoy slower more sedate game play it may have something for you. Only if its on sale, mind, no way is it a 60$ game yet.

But I can enjoy methodically collecting, crafting, repeating my way through a story.

Its still a fun game in an inebriated state.. can be a pretty chill game.

Quote from: selfdestroyer on August 05, 2018, 06:33:08 PM

Quote from: somnif on August 03, 2018, 01:12:26 PM
Picked up No Man's Sky after hearing how much it has improved in its latest update.

Honestly? Its not bad. The interface and menus are an utter mess, but if you enjoy slower more sedate game play it may have something for you. Only if its on sale, mind, no way is it a 60$ game yet.

But I can enjoy methodically collecting, crafting, repeating my way through a story.

Its still a fun game in an inebriated state.. can be a pretty chill game.

I'm also really digging the post-rock soundtrack.

I bought it a while back (pre the NEXT thing). It was oddly soothing to play for a while. Then I stopped as I struggled to find a point in it beyond that.

So, my current neo geo aes controller is annoying me.  A few reasons, its heavy, uncomfortable and the cable doesnt make a solid connection with the DB15 plug.  So i decided to make a new one, similar to the james Qbert controller.  They are never "perfect" (my trademark), Im not the best with wood, but its small, comfortable and has the usual awesome sanwa joystick and buttons i usually use. A big upgrade!

Making your own Neo stick is part of the Neo experience :) I built mine in a 1550G and love it. Really need to get around to making a PC-Engine adapter so I can use it on that too... Had the bits in for weeks now to do it, just need to get off my arse.

Yeah, i had a diy neo geo controller but it wasnt cutting it so this is version 2. 
Theres a group shot.  Top one is for mame (wireless keyboard encoder).  qbert is james (zero delay keyboard encoder) and the new mame controller.  The JLW is very clicky...might have to swap that for a JLF at some point.

KING OF FIGHTERS.

That game is AWESOME.

Terry Bogard.

Iori Yagami

Mature.

Vice.

Man, so many great characters!

It's a game.  It's a watch.  It's... a Nintendo Game&Watch.  1 bit graphics!  5 frames per second! 

Found this in my junk pile in the garage - a 1981 Nintendo 'Octopus' game.  It had stopped working some 30 years ago, and new batteries didn't help, so it got thrown in the pile. 

Pulled it apart on the weekend, and found the issue.  The green capacitor in the left corner should have been put into the little space.  Instead, it was bent up and being crushed by the back case.  Desoldered, bent it back into place and added some fresh solder, and hey, it fired right up!

(http://graybloomfield.com/guitar/misc/octopus-game-and-watch/thumbs/P8181579.jpg)

(http://graybloomfield.com/guitar/misc/octopus-game-and-watch/thumbs/P8181580.jpg)

None of the buttons worked - all the contacts had oxidised or had some sort of gunk on them, so I scraped them off and everything worked again.  Also discovered that the tiny little metal buttons come out, and will fall on the floor. Searching with a torch for 5 minutes found one underneath a nearby stereo, and another about a metre away behind some storage bins.

Seeing as I got it working, I thought I could clean it up a bit. The front panel has a bit of damage, so not much can be done there. The screen is pretty scratched up, and it looks like younger me must have decided to paint the octopus' eyes at some point. The plastic front of the screen comes out easily, so I pulled it all apart a 2nd time, cut a nice clean piece of plastic to replace the dirty one, and the put it back together again.

(http://graybloomfield.com/guitar/misc/octopus-game-and-watch/thumbs/P8181581.jpg)

Of course, now it stopped working completely. #$*!!!

Back to troubleshooting for about half an hour, but nothing seemed to be working.  Eventually I noticed that there was something on the screen, if I looked at it on a funny angle with the light just right. Waaaaiiiit a minute. LCD screens. They have some sort of polarising filter. I knew that. AAARRRGGHHH.

The dirty piece of plastic that I'd removed and replaced was actually a polarising filter, that the LCD needs to be visible.   :-[

(http://graybloomfield.com/guitar/misc/octopus-game-and-watch/thumbs/P8181583.jpg)

Put the dirty plastic back in, and hey, it is all working again.

(http://graybloomfield.com/guitar/misc/octopus-game-and-watch/thumbs/P8181584.jpg)

It's all now working great, and I was able to sit down and play it for what must be the first time in about 30? years. Score of 304 straight off, which was hilarious, as my 11 year old had a go and got a total of 4. At last, a video game that I can beat him at!

That's awesome.

Quote from: mjg on August 22, 2018, 02:33:52 AM

Found this in my junk pile in the garage

junk is in the eyes of the beholder

"Junk" as in "stuff that doesn't work but I'll never throw out because I'm a hoarder".

One day I might need the last 5 bike lights that stopped working.  You never know.   :D

Cool repair Matt!  This was my sisters game (octopus), but i really liked it as a kid. 

I still have it in my game cupboard.  "you can have it back if you want..?? no? ok"  :D

I'll probably never throw away my stock of components.    If I have kids, they can buy them from me!  :D

oh man that game and watch restore is awesome!  deep in the nostalgia banks.  turtle bridge was my jam

Quote from: oip on August 23, 2018, 11:19:23 PM
oh man that game and watch restore is awesome!  deep in the nostalgia banks.  turtle bridge was my jam

excerpt from a review of "Turtle Bridge" that I found on the interwebz:

"... Sound is the customary beeps and tones that featured with Game and Watch titles, but with the games having less processing power than a pocket calculator, the playability and "one more go" factor that this game offers cannot be ignored.  And even now, with the likes of the DS and PSP on offer, these games still offer hours of fun... "

I'm  still waiting for  Turtle Bridge 2.  It's supposed to be released next summer!   :D

bonus joke: 

Q: Why did the turtle cross the bridge? 
A:  Because the bridge was full of chickens!

Dead Cells!

Ever since it came out of early access on PC I have been playing it. I also picked it up on Nintendo Switch and get some time with it at lunch at work. Great game!

Quote from: stringsthings on August 24, 2018, 02:51:24 AM


excerpt from a review of "Turtle Bridge" that I found on the interwebz:

"... Sound is the customary beeps and tones that featured with Game and Watch titles, but with the games having less processing power than a pocket calculator, the playability and "one more go" factor that this game offers cannot be ignored.  And even now, with the likes of the DS and PSP on offer, these games still offer hours of fun... "

now i really want to play it!  i might look for an emulation or something

i also remember the 2 screen game and watch versions having an extra 'woah' factor

Quote from: oip on August 25, 2018, 06:50:18 AM

Quote from: stringsthings on August 24, 2018, 02:51:24 AM


excerpt from a review of "Turtle Bridge" that I found on the interwebz:

"... Sound is the customary beeps and tones that featured with Game and Watch titles, but with the games having less processing power than a pocket calculator, the playability and "one more go" factor that this game offers cannot be ignored.  And even now, with the likes of the DS and PSP on offer, these games still offer hours of fun... "

now i really want to play it!  i might look for an emulation or something

i also remember the 2 screen game and watch versions having an extra 'woah' factor

If I had a lot of time on my hand, I'd code up a version 2.   ( lots and lots and lots of time )

Well i just got Dragon quest xi so.... goodbye workbench for the next 2 months i guess ^^ i could use the break! Got on a roll of faulty builds this past month and i aint in the mood to debbug them xD .

Quote from: Yahoo67 on September 04, 2018, 12:57:49 PM
Got on a roll of faulty builds this past month and i aint in the mood to debbug them xD .

me 3

Spent nearly all weekend re-playing Elixir Studio's _Evil Genius_. Strongly, strongly recommended. It's on Steam.

One of the "tortures" perpetrated upon agents of justice, is the minion performing the Moonwalk in front of them, complete with "Hee-Hee" noises.

Evil Genius is great.  Dedicating whole sections of the island to a deathtrap corridor, with a fridgeroom at the end to keep the corpses in...

I picked up an Xbox 360 for 15% at Goodwill, then spent 15$ to buy Red Dead Redemption GOTY.

I've always wanted to play this game but could never justify buying a console for just one game. Hooray thirft shops!

Had to open it up and clean it though, damn thing smells like stale beer and had 8 pounds of cat hair in it. Works though, no red ring, though there is a bit of whine that makes me thing the dvd drive may have a bearing on its way out.

Quote from: somnif on October 06, 2018, 10:43:02 PM
I picked up an Xbox 360 for 15% at Goodwill, then spent 15$ to buy Red Dead Redemption GOTY.

I've always wanted to play this game but could never justify buying a console for just one game. Hooray thirft shops!

Had to open it up and clean it though, damn thing smells like stale beer and had 8 pounds of cat hair in it. Works though, no red ring, though there is a bit of whine that makes me thing the dvd drive may have a bearing on its way out.

The air intake on some models of 360 is poorly filtered. When I replaced the DVD drive after 5 years it was full of gunk.

That said, I'm excited for the new Red Dead. I can't decide on PC or console.

Quote from: EBRAddict on October 07, 2018, 05:52:54 AM

The air intake on some models of 360 is poorly filtered. When I replaced the DVD drive after 5 years it was full of gunk.

That said, I'm excited for the new Red Dead. I can't decide on PC or console.

Assuming it even makes it to PC.... there is a reason I had to wait 8 years to play the first RDR!

Agents of Mayhem got a review from Zero Punctuation saying that Volition hadn't moved on, at all, from Saints Row when they made the game.

Cool, I thought, I like Saints Row! And while Yahtzee was fairly negative, he's negative about every game. Even NewDoom. The only game he's ever given a positive review for was Portal 1.

It's arse. The controls are arse, the interface is arse, the cars handle like arse. The difficulty relies on you mastering the fiddly superhero power crap, and you have to change between characters, who have different powers. I'm sure that if I played it a lot and memorized all their powers and special abilities, I could clock it, but I would rather waste neurons on DIY, beer, and games like Mad Max and Evil Genius. Or Saints Row 2 and 3. (4 was kinda fun, but too up itself, and the superpowers thing got bloody annoying.)

Been ill for about a week now so have been hitting the games reasonably hard. So decided to do some concise game reviews...

Forza Horizon 4 - A great game that's slightly spoiled by the enforced fruit machine that's more key to in-game progression than actually playing the racing game. Because if there's one thing this game likes doing, it's encouraging you to pay more to progress easier... I really dislike it when they intentionally make games frustrating to milk more money from you after you've already paid for it. It's a modern disease that needs to end. I'll give it a 6/10 because it actually ruins what is otherwise an excellent game. I guess I'll go back to Forza Motorsport 6 (not 7, that's even worse than Horizon 4. But they realised they'd pushed it too far there and dialed it back here), where it still feels like it's a racing game for the most part, rather than a racing game themed fruit machine. I'm bored of these gambling mechanics in mainstream games now. Any I find that have them from this point forth I'm just avoiding.

Steamworld Dig 2 - Really enjoyed this one. Like the first, (an up to date dig-dug / boulderdash thing with robots), just refined and much better. Solid 8/10. Thoroughly enjoyable right to the boss fight at the end, which I tried a couple of times then just watched how things turned out on youtube. I really CBA with bossfights these days.

Megaman 11 - A game for people who still have memories and reflexes. I have neither so it seems unfairly hard Not the games fault, it's just not made for me. For what it's worth, looks like the best Megaman game in eons. Can't really score it as I'm too shit at it, and that's not the game's fault (it's that sort of game).

Shadow of the Tomb Raider - Obviously TR and Uncharted are linked, they both borrow heavily from each other. I actually preferred Rise of the TR to UC4, but I really enjoyed Lost Legacy, which I thought was a much tighter and better game than both. Which brings us to Shadow... Which to this point feels like it's really trying really hard to be Uncharted, but is lacking in the polish to pull that off. Stuttering audio and out of sync cut scenes all pulling you out of the immersion. I had a 'waiting for streaming' message the other day when just walking from one area to another. The set pieces being a bit clunky/twitchy and requiring me to look online to find out if I'm actually trying to do the right thing (I was) but the game was for some reason just not letting me and insta-killing me instead. It just feels rushed and untested. I've played this one for a few days solid now and it's just not pulling me back.

OnRush - This was a surprise. Totally not worth it at the release price, which was insane. I picked it up for something like £15 which it's well worth. Completely frenetic arcade racing game. Way more addictive than the premise would have you believe. I was worried it was online only (a strict no buy for me if that's the case, I don't play online games), but it works without.

https://www.mobygames.com/game/extreme-pinball (https://www.mobygames.com/game/extreme-pinball)

Installed DosBox to have another blat at Rock Fantasy. The music for that table is great. (And I love the fighting knights on the medieval table, very cool.)

But I remember being one hell of a lot better at this game when I was a teenager.

Epic Megagames, before Gears of War. It's personal preference, but I prefer Doom and Painkiller, to hiding behind chest high walls, along with bloody slow movement. Epic had a lot of cracker games, back in the 90s.

Quote from: juansolo on October 20, 2018, 02:09:44 AM

Steamworld Dig 2 - Really enjoyed this one. Like the first, (an up to date dig-dug / boulderdash thing with robots), just refined and much better. Solid 8/10. Thoroughly enjoyable right to the boss fight at the end, which I tried a couple of times then just watched how things turned out on youtube. I really CBA with bossfights these days.

We (james and i) didnt have the momentum to finish this one (we finished the first Dig).  Which is kind of strange because the 2nd was overall just more interesting.  Prehaps we got distracted, im not sure.  we've picked it up 3 times now but the joy just fizzles.  Again, not sure why, it was a decent game.

A steamworld heist 2 would be good :) man, some of those fights were intense

Picked up Day Of The Tentacle Remastered.

I'd clocked it back in the 90s, and had quite forgotten just how good the humour in it is!

Quote from: alanp on October 29, 2018, 09:03:33 PM
Picked up Day Of The Tentacle Remastered.

I'd clocked it back in the 90s, and had quite forgotten just how good the humour in it is!

Oh, man, Alan, you just blew my mind back to the good ol' days with that one!  Makes me want to just blow off everything for a day or two and play that.  That and maybe Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders.

Rex Nebular was good, too.

How are the knives and forks arranged on the table?

However they land when I throw them from the kitchen!

Quote from: alanp on October 29, 2018, 09:03:33 PM
Picked up Day Of The Tentacle Remastered.

I'd clocked it back in the 90s, and had quite forgotten just how good the humour in it is!

cool!

This might sound stupid, but I really liked playing the original Farcry. The islands were beautiful, the rusting old Japanese warships were fun to stalk mercenaries in, and I was having a whale of a time.

Right up until the mutant thing showed up. Ugghh... can no longer be bothered.

I finished Farcry 1, and feel the same. The whole mutant thing felt like a bit of a gimmie and predictable.

I couldn't get into farcry 2 because of the instantly repopulated guard checkpoints. Clear one, drive 100m down the road, turn around to see guys milling around.

Finished Farcry 3, shame the most interesting character gets killed halfway though.

Farcry Primal was fun, especially the caveman trying to fly. Taming animals was cool. The mammoth missions not so much.

Farcry Blood Dragon was fun for a bit. DNF.

Farcry 4 has been good so far, but getting a bit bored with it and it's sitting defunct ATM.

Farcry 5, I'm hoping for good things.

I got over 40 hours in on Red Dead Redemption 2 on the PS4. I have been keeping my nose clean for the most part on the first play through. I can't wait to play trough next as a total outlaw asshole. lol

I played 'Subsurface circular' recently.  Kinda of the walking simulator genre, except you spend the whole game sitting in a seat on a train.  You play a robot detective trying to solve a murder by talking to other robots on the train. 

It is beautifully made, has some interesting thought provoking stuff, and yeah, you are a robot detective.  Which is cool. 

You can knock the game over in a few hours, so it was a nice distraction for an evening.

I'm playing God of war on PS4 at the moment. Never played any of the prequels but I really enjoy this one. The gameplay is very cool with a Castlevania feel to it: run around, look for goodies and harass some monsters with your axe/blades along the way. Has a great flair/atmosphere/setting, awesome graphics and a nice story too.

Stupid question time... in Call of Duty Ghosts, one level has you going through a worksite with halon fire systems.

According to CoD, halon gas blows up like TNT.

According to my inner common-sense, a fire suppression system whose main agent explodes is pretty damn stupid.

Am I right in thinking that the chief hazard with halon is suffocating to death, not dying in a firey explosion?

Quote from: alanp on November 27, 2018, 08:10:51 PM
Stupid question time... in Call of Duty Ghosts, one level has you going through a worksite with halon fire systems.

According to CoD, halon gas blows up like TNT.

According to my inner common-sense, a fire suppression system whose main agent explodes is pretty damn stupid.

Am I right in thinking that the chief hazard with halon is suffocating to death, not dying in a firey explosion?

That is my understanding. We used it as a fire suppressant in a server room years ago at a co-lo.

Its also my understanding that Ghosts was by far the worst COD game.. I remember plowing through it skipping cut scenes just so I can get back to the "murder simulator" and less of the stupid story... but what do I know..

Im over 80 (gestimated) hours in Red Dead Redemption 2. I am addicted to turning every stone in this game.. which feels impossible. It's so full or detail and color and not to mention some of the open world jank that brings smiles to my face. lol

Quote from: alanp on November 27, 2018, 08:10:51 PM
Stupid question time... in Call of Duty Ghosts, one level has you going through a worksite with halon fire systems.

According to CoD, halon gas blows up like TNT.

According to my inner common-sense, a fire suppression system whose main agent explodes is pretty damn stupid.

Am I right in thinking that the chief hazard with halon is suffocating to death, not dying in a firey explosion?

They can give a pretty substantial Whump if you breach the container (high pressure). But they're non-flammable.

Picked up a ps4 on Black Friday (woo, early adopter... cough).

So I've not got Spiderman, as well as picking up the first three Uncharted Games, and Horizon: Zero Dawn (which were also on sale).

Been playing through the first Uncharted tonight. Rather enjoying it so far, though the aiming controls are horrid. Seems like the aiming reticle just picks a random spot on screen to end up whenever you hit the aim button, regardless of where it was a second ago.... Not that bullets really seem to end up in the spot you're pointing at anyway, just vaguely in that direction.

I said f'ck all the bad reviews, I am going to try Fallout 76.

Call me crazy, but I am loving it.

...and this is from a die hard Fallout 3, New Vegas, 4, Oblivion, Skyrim lover.

Anyone on PC looking to explore the wasteland with me, username: moogerfooger_

Quote from: Willybomb on November 08, 2018, 09:50:10 PM
I finished Farcry 1, and feel the same. The whole mutant thing felt like a bit of a gimmie and predictable.

I think I've worked out why that turned me off.

Going from human soldiers to mutants of any kind in the same game instantly screams "We're going to ramp up the difficulty like you wouldn't believe!", and implies the difficulty curve is going to go logarithmic, if not exponential.

QuoteGoing from human soldiers to mutants of any kind in the same game instantly screams "We're going to ramp up the difficulty like you wouldn't believe!", and implies the difficulty curve is going to go logarithmic, if not exponential.

One of the Wolfenstein games did exactly that.  Actually, they probably all do, but it started out fairly bog standard and all a sudden (probably about half, 3/4 the way in) I was getting jumped by a random levitating armored robot zombie that depleted all my ammo.  Can't remember which Wolfenstein it was, may have been that reboot back in the early 2000's.

My eyes got misty at the end of Red Dead Redemption 2.

Quote from: Willybomb on November 30, 2018, 12:18:08 AM

QuoteGoing from human soldiers to mutants of any kind in the same game instantly screams "We're going to ramp up the difficulty like you wouldn't believe!", and implies the difficulty curve is going to go logarithmic, if not exponential.

One of the Wolfenstein games did exactly that.  Actually, they probably all do, but it started out fairly bog standard and all a sudden (probably about half, 3/4 the way in) I was getting jumped by a random levitating armored robot zombie that depleted all my ammo.  Can't remember which Wolfenstein it was, may have been that reboot back in the early 2000's.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein ... they were called Lopers

Quote from: thesmokingman on November 30, 2018, 03:10:04 PM
Return to Castle Wolfenstein ... they were called Lopers

My list of replays every year or two: entire Half-Life series, the Jedi Knight series and RTCW.

:)

I haven't had much time to play anything lately. But I did get a game called "Little Nightmares" on Steam for a few bucks. It's a decent 2.5d scroller. Not my favorite, but I do seem to like indie side scrollers a lot these days!

I keep meaning to go back and finish Blue Shift and Opposing force.  I should go back and finish RTCW.

Quote from: Willybomb on November 30, 2018, 05:18:07 PM
I keep meaning to go back and finish Blue Shift and Opposing force.  I should go back and finish RTCW.

They are all really worth. Plus, Black Mesa (HL1 in the Source engine) is a lot of fun!

Yeah, just checked out the gameplay of RTCW, and It's looking a little dated, not sure I enjoyed it all that much back then either so I might not worry about it.

Black mesa sounds cool.  Tried HL2, couldn't really get into it.

Picked up The Curse of Monkey Island for $1 at a garage sale today.

Here's a few games that I picked up recently... Big box style. :)

(https://www.parasitstudio.se/uploads/2/4/4/9/2449159/published/games.jpg?1543665665)

I had a decent game collection when I was a young kid, but the boxes were all lost when I was moving around alot.
I still have the original discs and CD cases. So i'm trying to buy back the titles I once had (and love).

I really want to replay all of the Monkey Island games.  (Actually, I only played 3 of them back in the day).

Some memories:

a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle (and a shop specializing in such)

the corrosive properties of grog

a giant cotton swab as a key

borrowing a book called Great Expectorations

winning sword fights through creative insults

sawing the peg leg off of a sleeping pirate

making vichyssoise avec rat hairs

I've spent the last couple of weeks hacking my Wii and Wii U. Much of that has been spent trying to get HDDs to work with their utterly non-compliant USB ports (got there in the end). Now I'm reading all my games into them, which is taking some time. Once hacked though, man those things are probably the best consoles known to man. The Wii particularly, it's emulator support is incredible, and it's ability to output most of them at 240p is awesome. I also runs all my Gamecube games from HDD, so the Gamecube is now purely a Gameboy Advance :)

Finished Uncharted 1 (oddly flat ending, like a weekly tv show of Indiana Jones)

Starting Uncharted 2. Shocking how much better the graphics and controls feel given its a game from the same generation. The plot logic still fails if you think about it for more than half a second, but at least I don't feel like I'm aiming with my elbows.

Quote from: juansolo on December 02, 2018, 01:09:53 AM
I've spent the last couple of weeks hacking my Wii and Wii U. Much of that has been spent trying to get HDDs to work with their utterly non-compliant USB ports (got there in the end). Now I'm reading all my games into them, which is taking some time. Once hacked though, man those things are probably the best consoles known to man. The Wii particularly, it's emulator support is incredible, and it's ability to output most of them at 240p is awesome. I also runs all my Gamecube games from HDD, so the Gamecube is now purely a Gameboy Advance :)

One of the things I remember with the WiiU was I had to use one of the USB cables that looks like a Y that has 2 USB ports that plug in to the WiiU. The USB ports on the WiiU do not output enofgh power to spin up a USB3 drive. I used a WD Slim 2TB drive on mine and used this cable:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005M0ICG2/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005M0ICG2/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

It's finicky as hell. I've been through 4 drive enclosures until I've got a pair that work.

The family bought me Civilization VI for Xmas, so I guess there goes all my spare time for the next few months.  ;D

(http://alanp.info/images/retropie.JPG)

This is Juan's fault.

Fun, though.

I'm going to hold off trying Playstation games on it until the heatsinks arrive in the mail. It's got a ton of Sega Master System games on it though!

I got persona 5 for xmas. First JRPG I've played in ages, and it's sunk a ton of time the past few days.

Must... collect... everything...

Yesterday, I played this game for a month.

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/Getting_Over_It_with_Bennett_Foddy_screenshot.jpg/220px-Getting_Over_It_with_Bennett_Foddy_screenshot.jpg)

Oh, and so's you know... when I mentioned to my sister that I was setting up this retropie thing to play Sega and Nintendo games, her response?

"Make sure it has Alex the Kid and Sonic, those were the games we played growing up!"

Quote from: alanp on December 28, 2018, 02:45:03 PM

This is Juan's fault.

Fun, though.

I'm going to hold off trying Playstation games on it until the heatsinks arrive in the mail. It's got a ton of Sega Master System games on it though!

Yessss, yesss, feel the nostalgia flow through you!

I wouldn't worry about the heatsink. Been doing this for years and never put one on there.

Also... only a step away now from doing this:

http://juansolo.mooo.com/geekery/picade.html

Bottom of the page has the latest incarnations of the Picades (updated recently).

When hobbies collide! I got Soul Calibur VI for Xmas, and quite frankly the character creator in it is as much fun as the game itself. So I created the last two D&D campaign's parties in there as players. Getting them out of the game for a bit of photoshoppage isn't quite as straight forward. But fun none the less!

(https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/49589752_10157138948647160_1963422270479138816_o.jpg?_nc_cat=111&_nc_ht=scontent-lht6-1.xx&oh=24e6120d40e67ff9ff764a4518c413a1&oe=5C992BF3)

Quote from: juansolo on December 29, 2018, 02:10:07 AM
Bottom of the page has the latest incarnations of the Picades (updated recently).

Juan, with a stock RetroPie install, what are the keys for insert coins with the MAME emulator?

Its been 1 week....

I've already put in more than 60 hours in Persona 5....



Send... help... think I may.... be dying.....

Quote from: alanp on January 01, 2019, 09:19:35 AM

Quote from: juansolo on December 29, 2018, 02:10:07 AM
Bottom of the page has the latest incarnations of the Picades (updated recently).

Juan, with a stock RetroPie install, what are the keys for insert coins with the MAME emulator?

IIRC whatever you chose for start and select when you configured your controller. At least that's how I've always had it set up.

Started playing Tomb Raider 2013. It's fun, but linear as hell, and it loves cutscenes. Lots and lots of cutscenes. And 'Press X To Not Die' moments. I also don't like how Lara tends to look like she's been rolling in mud fairly often.

Fun game, though.

After about a week I uninstalled "Getting Over It". Too hard and I was playing it too much. I even edited the game files to change the gravity setting but it really did not make the game any easier. The developer is a freaking sadist.

Still playing too much War Thunder.  Returned to Jagged Alliance 2 for another go.  Should try the 1.13 update sometime...

My son has went from playing best fiends to angry birds to know plants vs zombies, so I am playing that and soon to be painting them on a pedal or two.

I am playing Super Smash Brothers Ultimate to try and get better to beat my brother in it and rub it in until he cries and begs for mercy.

Tooting my own Horn, 2019 edition!  8) I made some of the boss characters for Darksiders III and finally got around to making a couple renders.

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/aR0zzL (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/aR0zzL)
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/GXvn6V (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/GXvn6V)

(https://i.imgur.com/Dxy0t1B.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/I1kU3o7.jpg)

Finished up Red Dead 2 on Xmas break, now Im back on Destiny 2 on the PC and Diablo 3 on my Switch. Been traveling a lot the last few months for work and the Switch has been my right hand man!

Level 47 Fallout 76

Screw the haters, my friend and I are having a blast. Bugs and all.

I am not a gamer... let me start with that.

My son had gotten me interested in a game he has for the PS4. It's called Just Cause 3 (I think it is an old game but, I am not savvy with these things) I have been playing it off and on for a few days now. I love the gameplay and the story line. It is occasionally buggy and it crashes every once in a while but it is none-the-less very fun.

My problem is a facet of the game where you have to grapple from rooftop to rooftop in a short amount of time to disable "audio monitors." This in itself is extremely frustrating and almost makes me not want to play the game. They give you 1:19 to repel all over town to disable 6 monitors and it seems damn near impossible.

Anyone have any ideas or hints on how to get these stupid things disables in time?

Quote from: Govmnt_Lacky on January 20, 2019, 02:41:55 PM
I am not a gamer... let me start with that.

My son had gotten me interested in a game he has for the PS4. It's called Just Cause 3 (I think it is an old game but, I am not savvy with these things) I have been playing it off and on for a few days now. I love the gameplay and the story line. It is occasionally buggy and it crashes every once in a while but it is none-the-less very fun.

My problem is a facet of the game where you have to grapple from rooftop to rooftop in a short amount of time to disable "audio monitors." This in itself is extremely frustrating and almost makes me not want to play the game. They give you 1:19 to repel all over town to disable 6 monitors and it seems damn near impossible.

Anyone have any ideas or hints on how to get these stupid things disables in time?

Several of the towns have a similar objective, and some towns are trickier than others. An upgrade for your grapple lets you hold down a button to turbo-boost your reel in speed, which can buy you a few seconds here and there. Beyond that the trick is just figuring out where all 6 are before you start so you don't get lost.

Quote from: somnif on January 20, 2019, 03:12:41 PM
Several of the towns have a similar objective, and some towns are trickier than others. An upgrade for your grapple lets you hold down a button to turbo-boost your reel in speed, which can buy you a few seconds here and there. Beyond that the trick is just figuring out where all 6 are before you start so you don't get lost.

I'll have to look into the grapple upgrade. Thanks!

I do know that they have a jet-pack wingsuit that allows you to fly which would make it 10x easier BUT... it is an in-game purchase which makes me think that they put this challenge in so people would buy it  ::)

Quote from: Govmnt_Lacky on January 20, 2019, 04:12:48 PM
I do know that they have a jet-pack wingsuit that allows you to fly which would make it 10x easier BUT... it is an in-game purchase which makes me think that they put this challenge in so people would buy it  ::)

Nah, the flight DLC came out ages after the main game, and the town liberation stuff was all out well before that. The game balance is just a bit wonky at times (Avalanche is much better at game engines than game design when it comes down to it). You'll see similar frustrating moments when you run into forced driving sections, some things are just a little awkward in a game built around the concept of "bigger explosions. no Bigger. No, BIGGER!".

Never did get very far into Skyrim, so I'm having another whack at it.

Lessons learned so far:

Levelling as a mage is horrible. Awful. It doesn't take long before the sheer embarrassment of your follower massively out-dps'ing you causes you to roll a new character. One that has heavy armour and a big-ass sword.

Every single questline will, at some point, require you to travel to the geometrically determined ass end of nowhere. Doesn't matter how much of the map you've explored so far, the game will still find somewhere far, far away from anywhere you've been.

If you go back into dungeons you've cleared, loot the place until you're at max carrying capacity, go back, sell the lot, come back and repeat until the place is as bare as my playing ability, you'll be drowning in gold soon.

Most potions are utterly worthless. The only ones you need are health potions.

Skyrim mages have this awkwardly exponential power curve to them. You're as useless as a tissue paper condom until suddenly you're killing dragons with a wave of your hand.

Utilize followers as tanks, let them take all the hits. Focus on 1 main tree of magic. Level Enchanting along with it. Seriously level Enchanting.

Well, as far as I'm concerned, Guts from Berserk is one of the greatest characters of all time, so I'll stick with my greatsword swinging, heavily armoured Nord.

Quote from: alanp on January 25, 2019, 09:36:36 PM
Well, as far as I'm concerned, Guts from Berserk is one of the greatest characters of all time, so I'll stick with my greatsword swinging, heavily armoured Nord.

With me, no matter what I start out as, I always end up as a stealthy archer. Damn you completely unbalanced arrow damage and ridiculously stupid AI response to stealth!

Controversial: Red Dead Redemption 2, tried to get into it, ultimately got bored and sold it.

I know it's supposedly some sort of masterpiece, but the whole having to feed my horse and knowing there's stuff like gun maintenance on the way... I wanted a cowboy game not a simulator. So I started playing Red Dead Redemption for the 360 instead and found myself enjoying it more. Sure it still plods on at a slow old pace, but there's less micro-management in it and it hooked me in pretty much straight away.

You mean that temperature affecting your horse's testicles, and the food affecting your horse's plop plops, din't excite you? :)

Learning that there was actual ball-physics in the game should have been a warning sign as to the route this one was going down ;)

Quote from: somnif on January 25, 2019, 09:26:25 PMLevel Enchanting along with it. Seriously level Enchanting.

Big time. I've played through Skyrim multiple times, enchantment and smithing are where it's at for me.

Quote from: juansolo on January 26, 2019, 01:39:49 AM
Big time. I've played through Skyrim multiple times, enchantment and smithing are where it's at for me.

Oh yeah, one of the few mods I always install is an ore vein reskin, just so I can actually SEE the bloody things. Amazing how much easier it is to level smithing when you can actually acquire materials.

Started playing Farcry 5, and I never before realised that wild American turkey and skunks would, upon seeing you from far away, drop everything and run towards you, viciously attacking.

Best way to deal with cult outposts in FC5: silenced sniper rifles.

The utter shiznit.

First, circle the outpost and take out all the speaker post thingies, the alarms. When there aren't random cultists wandering around them. (Oh, gawd, now I'm imagining Khorne cultists in Montana.)

Then, take out all the cultists in the compound, now that they can't raise the alarm that you just shot out. Silenced, so they don't know where TF you are :)

Quote from: alanp on April 21, 2018, 12:04:02 AM
http://store.steampowered.com/app/40990/Mafia/ (http://store.steampowered.com/app/40990/Mafia/)

Did anyone get this?

Still worth it.

I haven't felt the need to play anything lately and there hasn't been anything new out that remotely interests me. I'm really hoping that Cyberpunk 2077 comes out this year, though. I plan to lose a good portion of my life to it. That and The Outer Worlds from Obsidian.

I attempted to mod the video output of my Atari XE and trashed it. Now it didn't cost me much, so that's not what irks me. It's that I cannot for the life of me figure out what I've done. I've backed out the changes, I've replaced everything in the path that could possibly go bad, I've gone over it with a magnifying glass looking for damaged traces. I gave in so passed it to Cleggy who traced the signal paths and checked all the voltages. Short of borrowing a scope, we're stumped and I'm really annoyed with myself for somehow breaking the thing.

So I've bought an 800XL that's spares or repair with a view to getting that running instead.

Edit: Cleggy is a fault finding ninja! Bodge wire deployed.

Edit2: Cleggy managed to trash his, and I managed to fix that one, so favour returned!

Finished FC5, and what pisses me off the most is the cult's drug, Bliss.

It's some amazing magic do-all that sounds like nothing I've ever heard of, in terms of indoctrination, telepathy, coercion, and bla bla bla.

I think that it isn't a drug, so much as it is straight up Warhammer 40,000 Warp Corruption. Geez.

Quote from: alanp on February 23, 2019, 01:28:10 PM
Finished FC5, and what pisses me off the most is the cult's drug, Bliss.

It's some amazing magic do-all that sounds like nothing I've ever heard of, in terms of indoctrination, telepathy, coercion, and bla bla bla.

I think that it isn't a drug, so much as it is straight up Warhammer 40,000 Warp Corruption. Geez.

Farcry games always have ridiculous drugs. FC4 had the drug that sent you into your ancestral past and let you learn fighting techniques and such from them.

I had a tooth extracted on Friday morning so I spent the whole weekend taking tylenol 3's and playing games.

I beat Far Cry: New Dawn, If you liked FC5 then this is a great 12 hours or so added to it. The story was actually pretty good.
Started Metro: Exodus, Really loving the graphics in this games but the voice acting.. its terrible. Not in a so terrible its good kind of way.. just terrible. So I decided to play it in Russian with English subtitles and its a lot better.

Played 10-12 games of Apex Legends and now realize I am TERRIBLE at the battle royal games. Im going to leave them be for now.

Well I thought my XE was toast so I bought a spares/repair 800XL as something to either restore or scavenge for parts. I tend to do this as these are the ones on eBay that are at sensible (ie cheap) prices. They're usually missing PSUs, have lived in attics for 20 years and 'well it worked last time I used it in 1997' sort of thing. However you can tell a lot from a photo, like this one, other than being dirty, actually looks quite intact. Also, you can see the brown PCB for the keyboard, which marks this as an earlier machine with a mechanical keyboard. Basically even if I can't repair it, the keyboard, Pokey and GTIA easily cover the cost.

So it lands and unlike both previous XE's (mine had a dodgy PIA, Cleggy's had a dodgy joystick port and GTIA), this one actually works perfectly! It was filthy however so it got stripped and cleaned thoroughly. It's not even yellowed enough that I'm considering retrobriting it, it just doesn't need it. First jobs have been simple enough; pull and replace all the electrolytic caps and perform the 'make the video not shit' mod. Which is down to Atari doing some really random stuff with the video output of the XL and XE machines when it comes to part values. Also, they generate Luma/Chroma native (S-Video), but the XL oddly doesn't output it despite having all the bits there to be able to. It doesn't take much to put it back in, but unless you want it switchable, you lose composite (don't use it, so don't care). I've also pulled the RF modulator, because I have plans for it's enclosure (it'll get gutted and used for a mount for a 3.5mm jack plug so I don't need to drill the case to add stereo out).

So that's where it's at at the moment. I've got a Ultimate 1MB upgrade on the way for it (much more than a memory upgrade) and a stereo board. When they land they'll be dropped in and it'll be done. But it's just nice to pick up an excellent machine for very sensible money. Now just need to get some old 7800 Ballblazer or Commando carts to scavenge some Pokeys!

Wow that is a clean 800XL!

Quote from: selfdestroyer on February 25, 2019, 01:44:21 AM
Wow that is a clean 800XL!

What it looked like in the auction:

I saw some videos of Metro Exodus that looked like fun, so I went to the Steam page. Not available on steam, see Epic Store. I am ***NOT*** getting yet another damn launcher (not to mention username/password) and, after finding out that Deep Silver pulled the dick move of doing this a week before release, I don't really want to reward this behaviour with money.

On to other morally dubious games, I think I have a nice weapons loadout in FC5 :)

1: 45/70 rifle, extended mag, scope, silencer. I suspect it's 45 Long Colt based, but I have no idea. I only know what 45 Long Colt is due to the anime series Trigun.

2: Blood Dragon premium rifle. I think it's 50 cal, but again, no idea. Get the scope, mag, and silencer upgrades. This one is for things that Just Don't Die, like those small brown skunk things (the game calls them wolves, dunno why), bears, and those irritating cultists with brains enough to get bulletproof vests and helmets. The 45/70 is for long range shooting of things that die easy, like radio alarms, and cultists dumb enough to run around with just a jersey for armour.

3: Alternate between an upgraded RAT4 rocket launcher, for ornery flying things and big-ass driving things, and a M60, for facing multiple enemies of any sort. There's no kill like over-kill.

4: A revolver with the most damage you can find, upgrade it if you like. It's mostly for firing out the window as you drive anyway. Revolver, because in games they tend to do more damage than non-revolvers. (Mafia 1 was the only exception I can remember offhand -- the 1911 in that game did more damage than most revolvers.)

5: Meh. Baseball bat, pipe, whatever you like.

Been playing Nioh quite a bit - lots o' fun.

Super excited about the Final Fantasy rereleases coming out on the Switch.

Played Subnautica this week. Most tense and terrifying thing I've played in years.

Fun as hell, but the sound design and darkness is so unnerving. Loved it.

Quote from: alanp on March 07, 2019, 08:29:11 PM
I saw some videos of Metro Exodus that looked like fun, so I went to the Steam page. Not available on steam, see Epic Store. I am ***NOT*** getting yet another damn launcher (not to mention username/password) and, after finding out that Deep Silver pulled the dick move of doing this a week before release, I don't really want to reward this behaviour with money.

On to other morally dubious games, I think I have a nice weapons loadout in FC5 :)

1: 45/70 rifle, extended mag, scope, silencer. I suspect it's 45 Long Colt based, but I have no idea. I only know what 45 Long Colt is due to the anime series Trigun.

2: Blood Dragon premium rifle. I think it's 50 cal, but again, no idea. Get the scope, mag, and silencer upgrades. This one is for things that Just Don't Die, like those small brown skunk things (the game calls them wolves, dunno why), bears, and those irritating cultists with brains enough to get bulletproof vests and helmets. The 45/70 is for long range shooting of things that die easy, like radio alarms, and cultists dumb enough to run around with just a jersey for armour.

3: Alternate between an upgraded RAT4 rocket launcher, for ornery flying things and big-ass driving things, and a M60, for facing multiple enemies of any sort. There's no kill like over-kill.

4: A revolver with the most damage you can find, upgrade it if you like. It's mostly for firing out the window as you drive anyway. Revolver, because in games they tend to do more damage than non-revolvers. (Mafia 1 was the only exception I can remember offhand -- the 1911 in that game did more damage than most revolvers.)

5: Meh. Baseball bat, pipe, whatever you like.

45/70 is the 45-70 cartridge... .45 cal, 70 grains of black powder ... mostly long rifles and gatling guns ... 45 long colt was a pistol cartridge that was also used in carbines

I don't play much, but when I do its mostly old stuff again. These days I bought Sid Meier's Colonization from GOG and it is GLORIOUS! I'm reliving 1994 all over again. Back then I didn't even have a computer to play it on so I secretly installed it onto several university computers. Ah, the many days I wasted playing this game. Still great fun. 

Been playing Rikki and Vikki on the 7800. A new release! Also the most expensive game I've ever bought with the postage and import duty/fees costing as much as the game itself. Buying new games from the States isn't fun, their postal system is broken when it comes to charges and ours just takes the piss at this end when it comes to imports. Anything more than £15 in total value, inc postage, is taxed at 20%. For performing this charge the post office charge a flat rate of £8 on top of that. The postage alone on this game was $24... So yeah $60 game ends up costing $113. It smarts a little and I've only done it once before and had a beaner send it to me with some other stuff to ease the fees, so it wasn't so bad last time. But these games tend to have very limited runs and because of this, when they're gone, prices for them get even more stupid.

Anyhow, slight moan aside, R&V is easily the best game on the 7800 (a console I really like for it's arcade conversions). Great fun!

The Division 2... Wish I could have brought my character over from the beta, oh well. Just means I need to play it more. lol

Cody beat me to it. Division 2 here as well. Played the absolute crap out of the first one with 2 of my brother-in-laws and my father-in-law as well, first on Xbox One, then PC. It's kind of tradition now for us to have LAN parties periodically through the year. Today was the first we've done one on PC... A bit more to lug around than when we played on console. Very much worth it though. Played about 9 hours straight this morning/afternoon (with a burger break somewhere in there).

(https://i.postimg.cc/t4DSS7vr/2019-03-16.jpg)

...I swear they had fun. haha

I miss the good ol' LAN parties. Memories of Unreal Tournament, Quake and what ever popular Rainbow Six game it was that year.

I should ask my mom for some pictures.. I bet she has some with 6 or 7 giant CRT monitors in her living room and all my friends in tier pajamas surrounded by mountain dew cans... The golden years..

And, as the night wore on and twitch reflexes got worse, firing up your filesharing program of choice...

Quote from: alanp on March 16, 2019, 10:32:56 PM
And, as the night wore on and twitch reflexes got worse, firing up your filesharing program of choice...

Exactly!

I've been drinking and Humble and Steam sales both took a bite out of me just now....

Humble had Civilization 6, Stellaris, and a bunch of other strategy games for 15$ all together.

Steam had a SEGA sale so I decided to get the utterly ridiculous Bayonetta (5$) and marginally less silly Binary Domain (<4$).

Damnit I'm supposed to be grading lab reports right now  ::)

Quote from: selfdestroyer on March 16, 2019, 10:30:55 PM
I miss the good ol' LAN parties. Memories of Unreal Tournament, Quake and what ever popular Rainbow Six game it was that year.

I should ask my mom for some pictures.. I bet she has some with 6 or 7 giant CRT monitors in her living room and all my friends in tier pajamas surrounded by mountain dew cans... The golden years..

Indeed, it's an era of games I really miss. We got to the stage where we were hiring a sports hall and setting up in there... UT, Q2 CTF, Q3A, AvP. So much fun. Multi-player games are always so much more fun in person.

So, another retro-update from me. So this is where my soldering action has been of late. I like to pick up spares/repair computers and consoles from Ebay, then repair and restore them. We've had a busy couple of months in that regard with also upgrading, breaking, buying another (the XL), then fixing both the Atari XEs. So here's a group shot and a gut-shot of the upgraded 130XE and 800XL. Along with the new 7800 I picked up last week then S-Video modded.

I don't like drilling old computer cases so we re-purposed the RF modulators by gutting them, then taking a blow torch to the phono jack to remove it, replacing it with the 3.5mm stereo jack for the stereo upgrade. Likewise there is minimal drilling in the back of the 7800 as we've re-used the RF hole, the unused switch hole next to it and fitted a nice sensible power jack in place of the proprietary one.

Anyhow, it's all an excuse to post a load of pics, so here they are!

I ran out of attachments, here's the 7800

I too loved the LAN parties.  I remember being the first person in town (got my local shop to find one for me) to have a 3dfx Voodoo1, and people couldn't believe what the graphics were like with those things.

Quote from: juansolo on March 17, 2019, 11:47:17 AM
Indeed, it's an era of games I really miss. We got to the stage where we were hiring a sports hall and setting up in there... UT, Q2 CTF, Q3A, AvP. So much fun. Multi-player games are always so much more fun in person.

One (relatively) big one I used to go to in the early 2000's, they had their own three-phase power distribution setup, and owned a couple of 24 port 100mB/s switches (with two 1GB/s backbone ports each) -- this was back when gigabit lan was only really starting to appear, domestically.

For an extra big special LAN party they did, they actually borrowed military power equipment from Lincoln Army Base, near Palmerston North (they were located in Massey Uni, in PN).

Quote from: somnif on March 16, 2019, 11:23:37 PM
Humble had Civilization 6, Stellaris, and a bunch of other strategy games for 15$ all together.

I have determined that I am very, very, very bad at Civ 6.

Quote from: somnif on March 25, 2019, 09:27:43 PM

Quote from: somnif on March 16, 2019, 11:23:37 PM
Humble had Civilization 6, Stellaris, and a bunch of other strategy games for 15$ all together.

I have determined that I am very, very, very bad at Civ 6.

Yeah, me too, but that hasn't stopped me playing 100s of hours of it. 

I picked up Tacoma when it was free the other day.  Enjoying it so far, but I am finding that as I get older, I get more motion sick from playing 1st person games.  This one is set in a space station, so i don't look out the windows at everything spinning past at strange angles.   :P

Playing through Fallout New Vegas. It's drawing me in a lot more than FO3 did, I don't think I got past that first city with the live bomb in the middle.

So far, I'm working for Mr House, and both the NCR and the Legion are dumb enough to let me do whatever the hell I want in their regions. I cranked Speech to 100, as fast as possible ;D super hax!

... I think the NCR and Legion have realised I have no intention of helping them at all. Dang it. TANSTAAFL, I guess.

Finished FNV, working for Mr House. You can cheese your way through a surprising amount of encounters with Speech 100.

Might have to play through and try the other factions, NCR and Legion.

Mass Effect Andromeda is actually quite enjoyable.

So it's not Mass Effect 2. It shipped utterly broken and unfinished. I played it a little pre-patch (scary!) then played it post patch and have stuck 80hrs into it completing the game.

The main things they did wrong:

Actually finish your game before releasing it - The backlash from the state it was in on release was utterly justified. This game hadn't been polished or tested at all. The animations were a joke, the bugs were rampant. Anyone who played the game could see that Addison needed re-recording. It's like they got a cleaning lady who was passing to go into the booth and record all her lines. click for the full horror... (https://youtu.be/_TUO-GNI1U8?t=68)

Remember your audience - The combat's great, "people will play multiplayer", I suspect was the thought going through someone's head as they stroked themselves into a frenzy thinking about the loot boxes. Totally missing the point that Mass Effect fans are in it for it being a Sci-Fi RPG. So when you water down the story and remove most of the role playing... Well that's not going to go down well.

Post patch it's not actually that bad. Certainly worth every penny of the £6 new I picked it up for. Had it been in this state at launch I think it'd have been a reasonably solid 7/10. It's not any higher because it's still rough. Addison is the poster child for everything wrong with Andromeda for good reason. The choices are limited to straight vs sarcastic with no real consequence to either. The story is a bit meh.

There are still bugs though there's less. Massive slow down in the Tempest happens a lot, I've had Ryder's head on backwards during a conversation, also her face go textureless so she looked creepy as hell. I've had a few broken quests. All stuff we've come to expect and to a degree accept with modern AAA games. I say we, if I'd paid £60 for this I still wouldn't be very accepting of it. At say £30 in the post patch state. Sure, I can accept an un-polished, un-tested game that still manages to actually be quite fun.

That's the thing, the underlying game despite all the bugs and the corner cutting, is actually fun. You think to yourself, invest a bit more in the story, put choices back in there and, you know, QA your product and this could have been the Mass Effect game everyone wanted. Instead, ME gets cancelled. It failed because nobody bought it, and that means the IP is obviously done.

No it failed because people are getting sick with lazy, broken games being sold on the back of a strong IP. Look at Deus Ex. Hey, this is a really strong popular franchise. "We can make so much more money from it if we sell the game twice by splitting it in half". People found out and didn't buy half a story because what's the fucking point!? So they cancelled the 2nd half of the story and cancelled the IP. Because it's obviously the IP that's at fault.

To a degree I understand them. They're not interested in the games they're pushing. They've got IPs that they can re-skin and re-sell annually and people lap that shit up. FiFA, Assassin's Creed (there's only two good games in that franchise and one of them is a pirate game dressed as an AC game), COD, etc. RPG's actually take a bit more effort. Effort that they're not prepared to put in. Which is a crying shame.

It's how the likes of EA work. Soak up companies with strong IPs, release mediocre products that push their games as a service agenda, then when they fail, close the studio and buy another strong IP. We've seen it with Visceral where they took a magnificent Sci-Fi survival horror game and turned it into an action game filled with weapons and MTX (basically COD). It failed, they shut the studio and and have now bought Respawn. So many legendary and innovative studios have been gobbled up and shat out by the likes of EA and Activision, and it just keeps happening over and over. It's a crying shame. But that's why we are where we are with modern games I suppose and the fact that AAA has become a dirty word.

GOG has recently added Warcraft 1 to its roster so I got it for old times sake. Wow, speaking of a gaming culture shock. No selecting more then 4 units max, no clicking on a place on the map or enemy to get them moving or attacking, not even getting the screen to move to a different position on the map by moving the mouse, only by clicking inside the mini map. How far we have come since those days of old.

Make it Orky!

Challenge yourself and play Dune 2.

I could never bring myself to play C&C or the like. They always felt like huge, massive Dune 2 rip-offs to me.

QuoteI could never bring myself to play C&C or the like. They always felt like huge, massive Dune 2 rip-offs to me.

I would say that they're more evolutions as it's the same company.

Indeed Dune 2 on the Amiga is the daddy of them all, then refined with Dune 2000 on the PC. Westwood then went on to make Command and Conquer and Red Alert. I think Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 were the last pure Westwood games before EA started to devour them. On the other side of the fence was Blizzard doing Warcraft, then Warcraft 2 and Starcraft. All outstanding games. Once they all went hero based I lost interest, though C&C Generals is a blast.

I was big into RTS games back in the day. Some other great games are Warzone 2100, Total Annihilation and Ground Control. If you really want to blend your mind, try it in 3D with Homeworld (Cataclysm is the best of the bunch there)

Yeah, we had many LAN sessions around AoE2, KKnD, Total Annilation, Warcraft 2.  Duke3d, Xwing Vs Tie Fighter, Quake 2... all good fun.

Quote from: alanp on April 08, 2019, 09:04:18 AM
Challenge yourself and play Dune 2.

I once did. Got reasonably far into the campaign, then in a mission I hit the production limit for the number of buildings I could build and haven't touched it ever since. I'm a huge turtle player so I like to build more fortifications and gun turrets then the Maginot line.

QuoteI could never bring myself to play C&C or the like. They always felt like huge, massive Dune 2 rip-offs to me.

Oh, I LOVED C&C at the time. I only got Dune 2 a long time after those, so C&C and Warcraft 1 were my introduction to RTS games. I also became a huge fan of the Wing Commander games, well, III and IV at least, as III was my first exposure and compared to III and IV the older ones were basically unplayable.

Quote from: juansolo on April 09, 2019, 03:12:09 AM

I was big into RTS games back in the day. Some other great games are Warzone 2100, Total Annihilation and Ground Control. If you really want to blend your mind, try it in 3D with Homeworld (Cataclysm is the best of the bunch there)

Age of Empires II was always my favorite RTS game

Quote
I once did. Got reasonably far into the campaign, then in a mission I hit the production limit for the number of buildings I could build and haven't touched it ever since. I'm a huge turtle player so I like to build more fortifications and gun turrets then the Maginot line.

My general strategy for Warcraft 2 was to build anti air towers out from my central base constantly.  Each tower was covered by two or more. If I was feeling like a bit of fun I would build a cannon tower and hedgehog it with AA.  Wasn't hard to do, basically had a peon working on expansion covering the routes to any mines and whatnot.  Half the map would be dotted with towers.

QuoteI also became a huge fan of the Wing Commander games, well, III and IV at least, as III was my first exposure and compared to III and IV the older ones were basically unplayable.

WC1 came out on a budget label in the mid 90's and came with all the hard copy maps, posters, books and I played it to death.  Moved onto WCIII when it came out, finished that, but I failed at any WC after that.

I remember the one with Clive Owen being really good... Privateer 2, I think...?

I was never any good at RTS.  I much preferred turn-based games, like the Warlords series.  Anyone else remember those?

LOVED Massive Assault when it comes to TBS games. People always used to complain about how hard that was and I never really understood that, until I tried to replay that recently. I suspect I'm more than a little rusty at them.

Started playing _The Bureau: X-Com Declassified_. I was having a lot of fun (apart from the fiddly squad management crap) until it crashed. I don't feel like playing through those first couple hours again. (Stupid me forgot to save.)

You can definitely tell the game is set in the Sixties, though. Everyone smokes, constantly, everywhere.

Finally found something I want to play.

Just ordered that. Never even heard of it then ACG reviewed it and it looked right up my street. Came out of nowhere! Looking forward to it landing.

Quote from: madbean on May 14, 2019, 10:00:10 AM
Finally found something I want to play.

This looks great. I watched a little bit of a game play video on YouTube but just for a second, I did not want to spoil anything. Looks like Skyrim with an emotional story. Count me in!

I am still playing The Division 2 on PC, PS4 and Diablo 3 on the switch.

Thought it'd be amusing to do a pickups pic... Yeah I buy some weird stuff.

Almost forgot my classiest purchase by far!

The Rez 'Special Package' (as it was sold in Japan, and only Japan for reasons that are soon to become apparent...). sadly it's missing the special package cover and it's not the Japanese version of the game. However this is the first, and as far as I'm aware only game, to be sold with a, errrm, vibrator attachment. Now it's creator tries to sell it like those old bass transducer things but for a video game, but he's fooling no one what it's actually for. Look under Trance Vibrator for a deeper explanation of it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rez

Anyhow, I got it super cheap and just couldn't resist.  ...I also washed it SUPER thoroughly just in case...

John no hentai.

Just did the first chapter in A Plague Tale: Innocence. So far it's very interesting. I will definitely continue playing this, the characters and visuals are great so far.

I jumped back on Fallout: New Vegas again today. It's kinda become a yearly ritual at this point, with probably a dozen playthroughs and over 2500 hours under my belt, god help me. Luckily there's always new mods to keep it fresh.

The story in FNV is so good and compelling... I tried to get back into FO3, but after it crashed my be-bothered-ness got up and went. Obsidian's KOTOR game was just as compelling, for me.

As for which faction to support? Mr House, I think. Everyone else is like, we're hanging on, we're surviving, let's get past this... while Mr House is the only one with an actual goal, vision, and a solid plan to get there.

Quote from: alanp on May 16, 2019, 10:17:27 PM
The story in FNV is so good and compelling... I tried to get back into FO3, but after it crashed my be-bothered-ness got up and went. Obsidian's KOTOR game was just as compelling, for me.

As for which faction to support? Mr House, I think. Everyone else is like, we're hanging on, we're surviving, let's get past this... while Mr House is the only one with an actual goal, vision, and a solid plan to get there.

I tend to gravitate towards Yes Man. No gods, no masters! I do help the NCR out without actually siding with them, as their citizens' hearts are in the right place, but their endemic corruption and imperialistic tendencies need to be curbed if they are to succeed as a nation, and I feel like being denied the Mojave without being utterly destroyed is the right kick in the pants they need to turn inwards and reexamine their priorities as a nation. As for Mr. House, sure he talks a big game, but looking at the state of every part of New Vegas that's not the strip shows you where his priorities really lie. In the end,  he's just another egotistical jackass who fancies himself a god (even if he denies it, his attitude says it all) when he's really just a shriveled abomination in a tube who should have died with the rest of the old world. I take a special pleasure in caving in his head with a golf club after pulling him out of his stasis chamber to remind him that he is just a man after all, and all men must die (plus, I love the Bioshock reference).

Quote from: alanp on May 16, 2019, 12:17:16 PM
John no hentai.

I have a couple of Senran Kagura games. Peach Beach Splash (kinda like Splatoon crossed with Mario Sunshine) and Estival Versus (Dynasty Warriors type stuff). Which are both actually really good games... Honest... But that's as close as I get to Hentai. More fan service than anything else.

I was gifted a copy of Just Cause 4 for my birthday this past weekend.

I adored JC2, and JC3 was ridiculous fun, but JC4?

Kind of a let down really. The art work is not great (some of the character models have a real dead-eyed-puppet thing going on), the story is less punchy, none of the characters are as memorable or likeable (even Rico is less charming), and even the gameplay itself just feels a bit... less.

Its gone back to a JC2 style "chaos" meter for unlocking stuff, but with JC3's territory model, and it doesn't really gel. In JC2 you'd just unlock missions by causing chaos, and in JC3 you'd liberate territory by actually... liberating it, clearing out towns and destroying bases and whatnot.

Now you "send out squads" from an options-screen map and just click to open a new area, with chaos being how you generate new squads. Its a clunky system that doesn't really feel as involved.

As for characters, instead of the hilariously over-the-top Di Ravello of JC3, you just have... a dude in a suit (with his creepy uncanny valley face). Of your allies, none can really compare to Sheldon, or Mario, or Dimah. They're just like, the people who happened to be standing near by in the first town when shit went down, no connection to Rico. (There is one coked-out Hollywood producer that is mildly amusing, but mostly as a one-off gag, not sure how I will deal with them in the long term. )

And they've kinda muddied up the controls. Your grapple hook now has so many attachments and settings that its easy to fumble finger things trying to figure out wtf the situation needs at the moment.

I'm only a few hours in, maybe it will even out a bit further on, but for now it just seems such an odd step backward.

Quote from: alanp on June 14, 2018, 11:05:47 PM
It has started to devolve into endless waves of idiots being thrown at me, boss battles a la Devil May Cry or whatever, and both of those annoy the piss out of me. (I leave the Top Dog sites until last in any zone, if I can manage.)

Just Cause 3 was on special, so I bought it from the Steam Store.

Hugely fun!

Although... you can tell it's an Avalanche Studios game, because they do the same thing they did with Mad Max -- want to ramp up the difficulty? Just throw endless waves of nonstop goons at the player!

I think I can finally put down Legend of Zelda: Breath of the wild.    I attempted to find all of the collectable Koroks in the game.  I got about 880 of the 900, so I'm pretty happy with that.  Total time played is about 390 hours now. 

We've been trying Unravelled 2.  Good fun for two players in the first half, but then the difficulty seemed to ramp up to finicky annoying levels.  Usually ended up with me shouting at the tv. 

Fired up Rocksmith 2014 and dug up my USB - 1/4" cable that came with it. (No, I didn't get the special edition that came with a real guitar...)

Firstly, I had forgotten how bad I am at actually playing guitar. I can do open chords, and that's about it. Secondly, I'd forgotten how long it's been since I actually practised.

I had also forgotten how fast the game is to ramp up the "Dynamic Difficulty" -- play without screwing up too badly for a minute, and the game will immediately start lumping more notes and more strings in, at which point my fingers knot themselves in a panic.

I got Rocksmith 1 the day it came out, and I have 2014 remastered too.  SOOOOO much DLC and ODLC available for it.

Turn the dynamic difficulty off and slow the song down, no point half learning a song just to find out it's been dropping 6 notes in between notes.

Outward is fantastic on Steam

much improved n64 emulation on the pi 4 ... I feel like this is only going to get better seeing as I'm on a hacked together install of retropie on top of an early raspbian image. for now I'm a happy camper

I'm playing Ion Fury. It's pretty damn fun for a new FPS based on the build engine (Duke Nukem 3D ect.)  ;D

Broken Sword 2, an old point and click with cartoon cutscenes. Pretty deece.

The Broken Sword series are really rather good. Been playing through 5 on and off for a while now.

Just completed God of War on the PS4. Good grief that's a good game!

Currently playing through Shadowrun Hong Kong again for a change of pace.

Still having fun with Skyrim on PS3.

Quote from: alanp on March 07, 2019, 08:29:11 PM
On to other morally dubious games, I think I have a nice weapons loadout in FC5 :)

It occurs to me that you can get a very odd view of other countries from vidya games and movies.

I wonder how many impressionable kids now think that in America, big rig tractors rumble around with twin M60 machine guns, and SUVs have swivel-mounted M60s as optional extras?

Far Cry 5 the Game was fun. The ending was utter dogshit. My head-canon is that the next morning, authorities found Deputy Rook running around wearing her underpants on her head, with tipped over barrels of a mysterious hallucinogen around her, and dead cultists... once recovered, Rook claimed to have seen her friends being held by the cultists, despite witnesses reporting these people being safely holed up far, far away.

Deputy Rook is currently being treated for heavy exposure to hallucinogenic drugs, and is not responsible for the death of cult leader Seed. (A source which did not want to be named noted that, if you drug up someone who has a heavy machine gun and really doesn't like you, don't be surprised if they blindly shoot you.)

I just finished Control on PC. I really dug it and highly recommend it. But, I heard it runs like ass (Very low framerate) on Xbox One and non-pro PS4, fair warning.

The aesthetics really remind me of movies like, Beyond the Black Rainbow, Under the skin, The Void etc.. The story can be a bit hard to follow but its worth it.

I've got Farcry 4 and 5 on my laptop to finish sometime, but 5 runs fairly slowly and is a drag to play really.

Quote from: Willybomb on September 23, 2019, 04:38:25 PM
I've got Farcry 4 and 5 on my laptop to finish sometime, but 5 runs fairly slowly and is a drag to play really.

I never really enjoyed 4. The player character was dull and flat, the factions you play for were both wildly unlikeable, the bad guys weren't charismatic or interesting (other than Pagan Min who buggers off after the first mission and doesn't show up again till the end), other than the Setting itself (the Himalayas are pretty), the game was just... meh.

Given they'd flattened the player character even more in 5, to the point of making them a silent protagonist, I assumed things had only gotten worse. Haven't gotten around to buying it, nor even pirating it, yet.

I had FC3 for PS3 and went to try and play it recently and it runs horribly. I did a bit of research (god bless Digital Foundry) and found that running the 360 version on a Xbone actually yealds a smooth running games so did that instead. More so than playing the Classic remasters on the same. Which was bizarre.

Anyhow, in the meantime I started plaing Days Gone and I have to say, after an initial 'yeah ok this is trying to be Horizon Zero Last of Us and it's not quite as good as either', it really started to come together with it's own personality and I'm really enjoying it. Think Sons of Anarchy 28 Days Later and you've got the tone of the game. It's really very compelling.

Posted in another topic but, gonna repeat here for a "better" response....

Anyone have a take on the Pandora Series consoles? Would like to snag one however, I have read that many of them do not run as well as the original arcade machines (either way too fast or glitchy/slow)

Looking for suggestions on a good one to buy to share some gaming time with my son.

I've no experience with the Pandora. If you're just wanting to run arcade emulation however you can't get much better than a Raspberry Pi running Retropie. How far you take that is entirely up to you. I've got a little desktop arcade box made from a kit (Pimeroni do them, called Picade). But you can do all sorts yourself for very little money if you've got some old bits lying around.

EDIT: Another thing I'll add after building an emulation box out of an old Chromebox, if you're using linux, just stick with the Pi. It's mainly down to the graphics drivers. Linux just doesn't seem to support many of the integrated graphics well enough for a lot of emulation. Or at least it adds a layer of faff that isn't really worth the effort.

Back on Destiny 2.. now that ShadowKeep is out.

Quote from: Govmnt_Lacky on September 28, 2019, 01:39:35 PM
Posted in another topic but, gonna repeat here for a "better" response....

Anyone have a take on the Pandora Series consoles? Would like to snag one however, I have read that many of them do not run as well as the original arcade machines (either way too fast or glitchy/slow)

Looking for suggestions on a good one to buy to share some gaming time with my son.

No idea what your home diy setup is, but I made a bartop arcade running retropie.

It was a super fun project and would be a good father/son project depending on age.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191007/560aeddcb39502ad403e3ea38aaef129.jpg)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

8) Sweeet  8)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpiNDxssUL0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpiNDxssUL0)

If you get motion sickness, you won't want to watch this. These guys must rule in deathmatch.

Quote from: Jay.lingelbach on October 07, 2019, 04:28:16 AM
No idea what your home diy setup is, but I made a bartop arcade running retropie.

... I think I want to know more about this home bar of yours.

Quote from: Jay.lingelbach on October 07, 2019, 04:28:16 AM
No idea what your home diy setup is, but I made a bartop arcade running retropie.

It was a super fun project and would be a good father/son project depending on age.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191007/560aeddcb39502ad403e3ea38aaef129.jpg)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Do you have a link for this? This looks fantastic!!!

I just started Resident evil 7. So far so good. It's a little reminiscent of the first couple, seeming more like a puzzle game, but has good mechanics like 4 and 6. Excited to see how it plays out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Picked up Space Hulk Deathwing Enhanced Edition.

The first mission is fun... until it turns into a hold position and deal with unending waves of enemies. Eventually, the healer runs out of potions (or whatever it is), and my little three man squad gets mobbed to death.

Anyone got any tips?

Finished Days Gone. There were a couple of bugs, but nothing I couldn't get around (after Andromeda, which I perversely enjoyed, it was a polished masterpiece). Really good game. Considering how much I don't like this generation of consoles, it's had some bloody good games on it!

Anyhow, just to show you how far behind I am in the backlog, I'm now playing Divinity Original Sin 2. I've started it a couple of times but gone on to other things. Now I'm 20 hours deep and man, if this isn't one of the best CRPGs I've ever played. Stunning game.

Quote from: juansolo on October 20, 2019, 09:12:42 AM
Considering how much I don't like this generation of consoles, it's had some bloody good games on it!

No console will ever beat the NES in that regard.  8)

Has anyone played Witcher 3? Just came out on the Switch and have considered picking it up. Haven't played any of the other Witcher games. I'm a big fan of Elder Scrolls, Dark Souls, Nioh, and the like - is Witcher 3 comparable?

Quote from: HamSandwich on October 23, 2019, 01:41:37 PM
Has anyone played Witcher 3? Just came out on the Switch and have considered picking it up. Haven't played any of the other Witcher games. I'm a big fan of Elder Scrolls, Dark Souls, Nioh, and the like - is Witcher 3 comparable?

Closer to Elder Scrolls than Dark Souls or Nioh. It is a fantastic game, like if Skyrim had a grizzled Private Detective as a protagonist.

BUT the combat mechanics are overly complicated and a bit clunky, the plot has pacing issues in the middle, and your horse is.... special, making getting around a bit of a chore at times.

If you don't have a PC to play it on, get it, you won't regret it.

If you do have a decent PC, get the PC version, it goes on sale several times a year and it's far prettier (they had to lock resolution to 540p and crunch the draw distances for portable, and it still chews through battery life, but at least the frame rate seems stable from reviews).

Played Space Hulk: Deathwing Enhanced Edition some more. I'm finding this game hard, really hard, but also really atmospheric. You can tell the devs really love 40k and the lore.

The difficulty sounds like some of the horror stories I've heard of Dark Souls playthroughs... if DS didn't have one of the worst cases of lazy, shitty, no-effort-put-in console port-itis I've ever seen. (Press Right Trigger... when the input method is set to goddamn keyboard/mouse... one day, I will dig up some mods and try DS again.)

QuoteDivinity Original Sin 2

Bloody hard, that one.

playing Borderlands 3 a lot lately. that game is soooo relaxing. game on...brain off...100% fun :D

I started hollow knight on Nintendo switch a few days ago and I'm hooked.

Quote from: alanp on October 13, 2019, 12:33:20 AM

Quote from: Jay.lingelbach on October 07, 2019, 04:28:16 AM
No idea what your home diy setup is, but I made a bartop arcade running retropie.

... I think I want to know more about this home bar of yours.

https://youtu.be/JjN0kbcG9j0 (https://youtu.be/JjN0kbcG9j0)

I got the plans from this guys store. Used a raspberry pi running Retropi. You don't have to go full blown arcade machine to use the raspberry pi there are loads of cool cases to put it in. Think original nes or Atari cases.


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I know I'm late to the party, but I've been slowly progressing through Dark Souls 3 on PS4 one death at a time, and enjoying the DS port of Chrono Trigger.

Anyone playing Jedi: Fallen order?

I loved the old Jedi Knight games, so I've been wanting a new single player Star Wars game for years,
but I have read mixed reviews, and rarely have time to play games nowadays. :/

JFO looks like the Star Wars game we wanted (indeed what Project: Ragtag was before it was canned for not having a version of Ultimate Team in it...). For me however it's a bit too buggy at the moment (watch Digital foundry). I think if you have an Xbox One X you might be ok, but otherwise it might be worth waiting a while and seeing if they fix it. As usual it's rough around the edges/unfinished as most games are these days and we might have to wait for them to get their fingers out of their arses and actually fix the problems with it before it's not a mess on base consoles.

So yeah, want it, but won't be even thinking about picking it up for at least 3 months.

Ordered the Oculus Quest for my son for Xmas. Hope it is as good as the reviews that I have read  :o

I finally got around to setting up a ps2 emulator on my machine. Currently playing Persona 3 (its wild seeing all the stuff that changed/improved by the time they got to game 5). Fun game, if a little flat in terms of story and background (compared to p5).

Rather than spending time setting up the world its just "Oh here, here's your new dorm, why is this girl pointing a gun at you, oh hey monsters are attacking", so a kinda in media res thing.

Picked up the Land, Sea, and Air expansion for Just Cause 3, and it was pretty fun :) although I'm glad I got it on special for $5.

No real cutscenes in it, just slideshow montages with voice-overs that a very skilled artist put together at some point.

I also seem to have picked up bad habits from the outposts in base JC3. In those, enemies continuously respawn in escalating fashion, just like Grand Theft Auto, meaning that you're best off ignoring them as best you can, and focusing on just trashing all the chaos objects. Military bases are different, in that once you've killed everyone, they don't respawn (nowhere near as badly as in the outposts, anyway), but by then you've been well trained to ignore people shooting at you, thanks to the outposts.

I had to stop, think about the whole affair, and approach some of the expansion areas by clearing enemies first. Very jarring.

Quote from: alanp on November 23, 2019, 07:46:22 PM
Picked up the Land, Sea, and Air expansion for Just Cause 3, and it was pretty fun :) although I'm glad I got it on special for $5.

No real cutscenes in it, just slideshow montages with voice-overs that a very skilled artist put together at some point.

I also seem to have picked up bad habits from the outposts in base JC3. In those, enemies continuously respawn in escalating fashion, just like Grand Theft Auto, meaning that you're best off ignoring them as best you can, and focusing on just trashing all the chaos objects. Military bases are different, in that once you've killed everyone, they don't respawn (nowhere near as badly as in the outposts, anyway), but by then you've been well trained to ignore people shooting at you, thanks to the outposts.

I had to stop, think about the whole affair, and approach some of the expansion areas by clearing enemies first. Very jarring.

I have had a love/hate affair with JC3. I have completed every trophy except for the 5-star on every challenge AND.. the shout out trophy. I have found it nearly impossible to get 5 stars in every challenge (at least one of every type seems impossible to get a 5-star score) and I have absolutely no control over having some random stranger call me out to best a score.

call me a perfectionist but, I am frustrated by these road blocks in getting the Platinum trophy  :-\

Just "played" To The Moon. I put played in quotes because it's not really a game, it's more like an interactive novel.

All the damn feels, god damn. The closest comparison I can make is to the movie The Fountain.

Just started another point-and-click, Night of the Rabbit.

Ahh yeah, To the Moon has all of the feels.  There is another one by the same developers, called A Bird Story, which is similar.  I'd recommend that one too.

Quote from: mjg on November 26, 2019, 12:24:22 AM
Ahh yeah, To the Moon has all of the feels.  There is another one by the same developers, called A Bird Story, which is similar.  I'd recommend that one too.

Me: Oh, that sounds cool I haven't played anything in a while.
- Looks up To the Moon on Steam.
"This game is in your library".

Oh, dear.

jedi: fallen order

so far much fun!

Started playing "Kentucky Route 0" last night.  Another 'not quite a game' click through story.  This one has less feels, and more just...strange.   Enjoying it so far.

I keep buying bundles of games and not having time to play them.  Trying to get through some of the backlog recently!

Quote from: LaceSensor on November 26, 2019, 09:00:58 AM
jedi: fallen order

so far much fun!

Im playing it on PC and I am having a blast with it but man! this thing is buggy. I cant wait for some solid updates to this game.

Quote from: Govmnt_Lacky on November 23, 2019, 01:44:17 PM
Ordered the Oculus Quest for my son for Xmas. Hope it is as good as the reviews that I have read  :o

Finally got a chance to mess around with this thing. I will say this... if you have the means... GET IT!

The VR experience is AWESOME! Of course, I had to get it tested and set up for my son for Xmas  ;D so I decided to give it a try. I have never done VR before but this thing is amazing. So far, I have only done the tutorials and a few of the interactive videos (roller coaster and HALO jump) but the experience is unreal.

It was a bonus to find out I got all 3 editions of the Vader Immortal game for FREE too.

One of the things that hugely annoyed me in Undertale (which I hated) was how, when the text boxes appear, the constant sound of "A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A" plays, nonstop. It's just as repetitive and annoying as the textual representation would suggest. I cottoned on pretty quick that if I skipped all the text boxes in the game, I wouldn't have to sit through hours of "A-A-A". Apparently I missed some really crucial points by doing this.

But when I brought this up in a chatroom, I was told that the annoying, constant sound for text boxes is common in RPGs.

Undertale is the first game I've ever played that does this. Neverwinter Nights does not do this. Skyrim doesn't. Oblivion didn't. Oldschool 486 era RPGs didn't do this.

Is the annoying text box noise a console thing?

It's a J-RPG thing. as a long time player of them, I can't say I noticed it. That said, Undertale just didn't gel with me at all either. I was really struggling to see why it was so well regarded...

That clicking text thing makes me think of the first Zelda game. I think a lot of those old NES rpg's do that as well.

Reminds me that I've been wanting to revisit the first Dragon Warrior(quest for the rest of the world) game for years now.

Those early console RPGs were some of my favorite games ever despite how clunky they could be. Any one have suggestions for other games in that style that are worthwhile?

I have no idea how it differs on the PC (I played it on Dreamcast), but Grandia II (https://www.gog.com/game/grandia_ii_anniversary_edition) is my all time favourite. I just love the combat mechanic and the plot just made me chuckle. Millenia may be the greatest J-RPG character ever. The protagonist is a bit of a dick, which amuses me also.

It's a game where it's possible to avoid combat, however I enjoyed it so much I fought everything, by the end of the game I was pretty much a god I was so over levelled. Still didn't detract from it however.

I spend close to zero hours a week playing video games these day, and I think I need to change that a little.

I have been looking into steam a little bit and have a few questions I figure you guys will have the answers to.

-if I buy a game that is supported on windows, Mac OS, and Linux can I only download one version, or if I had two computers (say Mac and linux) could I download it onto both?

-anybody try steam with Raspberry pi? I was reading a little about steam link but I don't understand how it works with Raspberry Pi. Do I need a separate, more powerful, computer to stream the games from and the Raspberry Pi is essentially just a hookup for the TV? or do the games just run on Raspberry Pi?

-Lastly, and perhaps most important, Game Recommendations? (I lean more towards retro stuff, not so into 3rd person shooter stuff. Like a good story driven RPG, side scrollers, puzzles)

Polybius by Llamasoft is trippy, absorbing, and a ton of fun. It's a 3D version of Galaga, kind of.

Epilepsy warning, though.

Quote from: Matmosphere on January 17, 2020, 07:27:17 AM
-if I buy a game that is supported on windows, Mac OS, and Linux can I only download one version, or if I had two computers (say Mac and linux) could I download it onto both?

-Lastly, and perhaps most important, Game Recommendations? (I lean more towards retro stuff, not so into 3rd person shooter stuff. Like a good story driven RPG, side scrollers, puzzles)

Yes.

You might like GoG better than Steam based on what you like to play.

I can highly recommend the Spidersoft series (Avernum and Avadon) and Driftmoon for old-fashioned story-driven RPGs. The two Neverwinter Nights expansions (skip the base game -- the story sucks and you don't need it to play the expansions). Also Ultima Underworld I & II if you didn't play them a long time ago (Ultima 6 & 7 are also great story-wise but I just can't get past the interface now).

Oh, and Pony Island for puzzles.

Hard to go past Fallout 1 and 2 for RPGs.  Wasteland 2 was okish.

Ugh, back on Destiny 2.. The loop of Destiny just feels good.

Also started the new Walking Dead Sinners & Saints VR game on my Rift last night. Really impressed by the graphics and melee weapons.

I am finally playing through Bloodborne.  I am loving it, and FINALLY am able to parry. Having gone through the first 2 dark souls behind a shield, it is refreshing. When I get around to Dark Souls 3, we will see if I can not use my shield as much.

Not to mention all of the cosmic horror makes me want to dive deep into some other Lovecraftian games.

I think the whole trick weapon or left-hand and right-hand arsenal really speaks to me. I'm always into the idea of that second stompswitch to change the character of the pedal...

I digress...

Very nice runthrough of Doom2016 easter eggs. Also, surprisingly light and low on spoilers.

Anyone else remember how FPS games were called "Doomclones", all the way until Half Life came out?

Epilepsy warning.

Just finished The Outer Worlds. Kinda like a cross between Fallout 3 and Borderlands. Not the bug-fest of a Bethesda game though, and certainly better on the RPG side of things than they have been for a long, long time. It was pretty good, the right length, all good.

Currently playing through Wreckfest, which is the spiritual successor to the Destruction Derby games on the Playstation. It's bloody brilliant in every way. Easily my favourite racing game for a very long time.

Currently playing "Graveyard Keeper"

It's in the same vein as Stardew Valley or Harvest Moon, but, with cannibalism and zombies.

It's a wee bit grindy and obtuse, not as well polished as the farm games. Lots of "Craft 10 of X to make 5 of Y to make 2 of Z to make one of Thingy" to keep track of. I'm enjoying it so far, but I can already tell it won't be the time sink Stardew was.

Quotewhich is the spiritual successor to the Destruction Derby games on the Playstation

I enjoyed DD1 far more than DD2.  If you like that sort of thing, check out the Flatout series.

Just started playing "Okami HD" on Steam. On the basis of one hour's play so far, it seems quite fun. The garble-garble-garble-garble while text boxes are scrolling is annoying, but more tune-out-able than Undertale was.

Just finished Control on the Xbox and I have to admit, I really quite enjoyed it with some slight reservations. It's very twighlight zoney plot-wise (it actually steals wholesale from an excellent mini-series called The Lost Room (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0830361/) from 2006) and as such some of it requires you to go along for the ride with it a bit. For example I played it knowing nothing about it and I'm walking around this building thinking 'some of these rooms don't have doors into them, that's just shitty Q&A'. It's not, it's very much by design and makes sense. Especially when you realise that the map is a bit fluid... That was a 'oooooh' moment for me. Indeed it's cool coming into it knowing as little as the protagonist because of the way the story is structured.

The not so good is can be simple navigation due to this 'fluidity' at times. There were a couple of moments in game where I had to consult the internet to figure out where the hell I was supposed to be. Which can be a little immersion breaking. Then there are the side quests that culminate in bosses. I dislike bosses, but I quite liked the side quests. It's one of those moments where I wish games could have multiple difficulty settings so that I could leave it as is for the main game and dial it down for the bosses because I just find them frustrating. You learn their patterns quite easily to be honest, but you can get to them when you are not particularly powered up and actually lack the tools to deal with them. The good news is that you can avoid them completely if you wish and come back to them later. However that meant that I completed the main quest, did one, then ultimately was kinda done with them as there was no real reason to do the others. I think with a little bit of tweaking (like a bloody restart point for the boss battles to make you not have to re-track all the way back there and start again!). As I say, you can avoid them completely, the shame is those side quests were interesting, but ultimately too frustrating for me to complete.

Overall a good game. Not as good as Quantum Break, but definitely worth a play.

Back to Wreckfest for a bit... (lvl 30 now)

↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← →B A

Rest in peace, Kazuhisa Hashimoto.

Been getting back into Division 2 with fellow forumite @selfdestroyer. It's not a perfect game, but it checks all the boxes for me. Getting back in shape for the new expansion coming out. Also Cody's jealous of my outfit.

(https://i.postimg.cc/4xgH1tpk/2020-02-28.png)

(Yes those are fringe chaps and cowboy boots and spurs)

Dawned on me that I'd never posted pics of the new PiCade (https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/picade?variant=29210087489619). I used to run a Mk1 which was bigger with a smaller screen, the new one is smaller with a bigger screen ;) So 10" screen in a ickle box. Also I splased out on a Sanwa joystick (https://www.arcadeworlduk.com/products/Sanwa-JLF-TP-8YT-Ball-Top-Joystick.html) for it with a stiffer spring (https://www.arcadeworlduk.com/products/2lb-tension-spring-for-sanwa-jlf-series-joysticks.html) because the supplied stick, though much better than it was with the initial run of the Mk2 cab, ain't as good as that.

Picaage attatched. Even a gutshot, no soldering required (bah!). Really nice kit though. Just add Pi.

Quote from: storyboardist on February 28, 2020, 12:35:16 PM
Been getting back into Division 2 with fellow forumite @selfdestroyer. It's not a perfect game, but it checks all the boxes for me. Getting back in shape for the new expansion coming out. Also Cody's jealous of my outfit.

(https://i.postimg.cc/4xgH1tpk/2020-02-28.png)

(Yes those are fringe chaps and cowboy boots and spurs)

The chaps are what really gets me jealous, and the hat.. ok all of it..

LOL

Having a blast starting a new char with David.

Great job on the PiCase John!

Playing some Yakuza at the moment. Yakuza 0 is 5$ on steam, 1 is 10, and 2 is 15 (or 26$ for all three).

Such wonderfully bizarre games. Long stretches of hard boiled life of crime drama, interspersed with brief fever dreams of toy car racing, bowling, and running a nightclub. Also, you can hire a chicken as an employee for your real estate management business.

Mildly annoying at times when you're 20 minutes into a stretch of cutscenes (entertaining though they are, it does get a bit wearying) and the control scheme without a gamepad is a nightmare, but still fun.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/391/32410123592_8553d04a39_b.jpg)

Bought Mechanicus from Steam. It's a turn-based tile combat thing, and the gameplay works very, very well with how the Mechanicus think and act in lore (this is a group that thinks that replacing half your brain with a computer is a holy way of getting closer to the Machine God). It's hard, though, really hard.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/673880/Warhammer_40000_Mechanicus/ (https://store.steampowered.com/app/673880/Warhammer_40000_Mechanicus/)

I also started re-playing Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords. Maybe it's Windows 10, but I don't remember it crashing anywhere near this much on my old XP machine. And I keep picking up Light Side points... ugh... maybe it's too much Jedi Academy talking, but I've only ever found LS useful for healing, in Star Wars games. In combat (which is 90% of these games, or more)  what you want is Force Lightning (zappy instant death) and Force Grip (either slow choke to death, or a quick grab and throw them into the nearest abyss). Going light side has always seemed to be a way of making life harder for yourself.

PCs being backward compatible is a myth... They're just not (GOG helps, but it's far from perfect), there are some era's that without correct hardware you can forget being able to play period games. It's why I've got four of the things: A Voodoo/PII/Soundblaster equipped Win98 machine, which for me covers the golden era of PC gaming from 1998-2002 or there abouts. Then I've got a couple of differently specced old Lenovos configured as WinXP and Win7. Finally I have my modern machine running Win10 (still about 10 years old mind you because nothing I run is up to date).

That said... one of the most bizarre games computers I have is a G4 Powermac running OS/9. The other myth in the computing world is the mac doesn't have any games. Well from that particular era, it's far, far easier to get a G4 to run games than an equivalent PC and the vast amount of stuff you can think of from back then is available on it. I ended up building that one first and in all honesty, it covered SO much ground it was untrue. Had I not been given the PII and the Lenovo's had cost absolute buttons, I simply wouldn't have bothered with them. As it was it was fun to build them, so I did ;)

Playin' Avernum 3. Continues to be an incredible well-written series, though I guess this was the third time releasing it. (It was originally made in the 90s, and it's gotten an update like every decade, which is some real dedication.)

ON my Mac, by the way. :P

This evening, I picked up Goldeneye for the wii, which I haven't played in years.  I used to be so good at it (except for the final level's shootout, which I believe is terribly designed).  Tonight, I struggled mightily with the very first mission.  ::)

The plot and characterisation really don't hold up to much, but I'm enjoying Shadow of the Tomb Raider, so far. Big dumb action, when Lara doesn't come down with a case of stupid, or a case of emo.

My only real complaints is that one, she isn't quite as pneumatic as in the originals (which is honestly a bit fratboy as complaints go) and two, it's another game where she looks like she rolls in the mud for fun, and thinks that baths are a sign of Roman level decadence that will lead, like Rome, to her downfall.

But, as long as you don't think about it too hard, it can be fun :)

Alan, do you have any thoughts on how it compares with the others in the reboot of Tomb Raider?  I played the first one, expecting Tombs, and puzzles, and stuff like that.  Was disappointed overall - to me it seemed like a first person shooter with lots of 'press button now to dodge crashing airplane' built in.  Which is fine if that's what you want, but I was after puzzles and didn't get them.

Interested to know if they have swung back to more puzzles, or just more of the same shooter+cinematic style.

Quote from: EBK on March 18, 2020, 08:52:12 PM
This evening, I picked up Goldeneye for the wii, which I haven't played in years.  I used to be so good at it (except for the final level's shootout, which I believe is terribly designed).  Tonight, I struggled mightily with the very first mission.  ::)

I found an old copy of Tony Hawk's Pro 3 for the PS1 I didn't know I had over the weekend, while it holds up remarkably well, damn was I surprised at how hard it was.

Quote from: mjg on March 30, 2020, 01:05:14 AM
Alan, do you have any thoughts on how it compares with the others in the reboot of Tomb Raider?  I played the first one, expecting Tombs, and puzzles, and stuff like that.  Was disappointed overall - to me it seemed like a first person shooter with lots of 'press button now to dodge crashing airplane' built in.  Which is fine if that's what you want, but I was after puzzles and didn't get them.

Interested to know if they have swung back to more puzzles, or just more of the same shooter+cinematic style.

I'm with you on this. TR was an odd experience. It was trying to ape Uncharted, but ended up a bit more shoot-em-up than TR. She literally goes from scared teen to professional cold-blooded assassin in a blink of the eye too, which was a tad jarring.

IMO Rise of the Tomb Raider for me is when they got the balance right. I genuinely prefer this to Uncharted 3 and 4. Rise is one of my favourite games of it's kind.

Shadow for me feels like a DLC for Rise... It's just missing something I can't put my finger on.

Quote from: selfdestroyer on March 08, 2020, 05:00:08 PM

Quote from: storyboardist on February 28, 2020, 12:35:16 PM
Been getting back into Division 2 with fellow forumite @selfdestroyer. It's not a perfect game, but it checks all the boxes for me. Getting back in shape for the new expansion coming out. Also Cody's jealous of my outfit.

(https://i.postimg.cc/4xgH1tpk/2020-02-28.png)

(Yes those are fringe chaps and cowboy boots and spurs)

The chaps are what really gets me jealous, and the hat.. ok all of it..

LOL

Having a blast starting a new char with David.

Great job on the PiCase John!

all that modern battle rattle and a janky mosin nagant

Quote from: thesmokingman on March 30, 2020, 04:10:48 PM
all that modern battle rattle and a janky mosin nagant

Hard to say no to 7.62x54r

The most famous sniper of all time used a Finnish-made variant of the Mosin-Nagant. It was mass produced in several countries (Russia, China, Hungary, Poland, Finland, Romania... even the USA produced some) and there will be big variations across them all in terms of quality.

Disclaimer: only shot an air powered slug gun, and I would be surprised if I can even buy one of those without a firearms license.

Quote from: mjg on March 30, 2020, 01:05:14 AM
Alan, do you have any thoughts on how it compares with the others in the reboot of Tomb Raider?  I played the first one, expecting Tombs, and puzzles, and stuff like that.  Was disappointed overall - to me it seemed like a first person shooter with lots of 'press button now to dodge crashing airplane' built in.  Which is fine if that's what you want, but I was after puzzles and didn't get them.

Tomb Raider 2013, I remember as being very linear and full to the brim of quick time events (Press X To Not Die.) I haven't finished it, put it that way.

Other then running through The Division 2 with Storyboardist, I hav ebeen play a lot of Halflife Alyx. I recently upgraded my Rift to a Rift S and love not having to setup 3 of the cameras for 360 tracking. I have had no issues with tracking with the Rift S as of yet. I also love the update the resolution and refresh. I noticed a huge difference with games like The Walking Dead Sinners and Saints and No Mans Sky in VR.

Halflife Alyx is not doing anything "new" to VR but what it does do is take a bunch of mechanics and physics that other games have tried to perfect and really polish it. It feels like a Valve game.. the dialog, the story and the world is fantastic. I am really taking my time with this game and hope it has a great payoff. I have avoided all spoilers up to this point. lol

I'm 1.2 million dollars in debt to a Raccoon, My house is full of insects and dead fish, and I carry several axes with my at all times.


...I got the new Animal Crossing.

It's an interesting thing. While the new graphics are lovely (by Switch standards), there are honestly a lot of things the game does worse than the previous entry. Fewer npcs to interact with, less "stuff" to do, an annoying tool durability system has been implemented, but, I'm still picking up my switch wenever I have a few minutes to grab a few flowers or pop some balloons.

Just wish Nintendo wasn't so frustratingly terrible when it comes to Online implementation, it's a right pain in the ass to try to visit other towns (even on top of the paid subscription service necessary to do it)

After a long gaming hiatus (I used to play PS1/2 as a kid), I purchased an Xbox a few months back mostly to muck around playing Fifa and Forza. Then a few weeks ago I bought Assassins Creed Odyssey as the first 'serious' (i.e non sports) game to try and have put on about 15 hours to date - holy wow. When did games become so dense and amazing. I'm finding it super addictive and just heaps of fun to play. The graphics are fantastic. I do think an online type mode where you could interact with other players would be good fun. Am thinking I might give RDR2 a go next, I heard its pretty good.

GTA 5 and Skyrim are solid go-to games that'll devour some time.

Quote from: petesz on April 04, 2020, 10:49:57 PM
After a long gaming hiatus (I used to play PS1/2 as a kid), I purchased an Xbox a few months back mostly to muck around playing Fifa and Forza. Then a few weeks ago I bought Assassins Creed Odyssey as the first 'serious' (i.e non sports) game to try and have put on about 15 hours to date - holy wow. When did games become so dense and amazing. I'm finding it super addictive and just heaps of fun to play. The graphics are fantastic. I do think an online type mode where you could interact with other players would be good fun. Am thinking I might give RDR2 a go next, I heard its pretty good.

I've been working my way through Mario Odyssey. It's a good time.

I just finished assassin's creed black flag last night on switch. First assassin's creed game I've played and I really enjoyed it. 

AC2 and Black Flag (a pirate game in disguise of an AC game) are the best two of the lot.

I immediately started AC Rogue and like it equally about as much so far. I wish some of the newer titles were also on switch.

I picked up Odyssey, but haven't played it yet. I've finally made the decision to play Witcher 3... I may be here a while.

Quote from: juansolo on April 06, 2020, 01:27:50 AM
I picked up Odyssey, but haven't played it yet. I've finally made the decision to play Witcher 3... I may be here a while.

The Witcher 3 is excellent. Lots and lots of hours to be spent. I finished the first town/section and took a break for some reason. I need to pick that back up.

My brother plays one hell of a lot of Call of Duty multiplayer.

I'm not sure he actually *enjoys* it, given how much he swears while he does so.

Quote from: alanp on February 25, 2020, 09:46:04 PM
Just started playing "Okami HD" on Steam. On the basis of one hour's play so far, it seems quite fun. The garble-garble-garble-garble while text boxes are scrolling is annoying, but more tune-out-able than Undertale was.

I started this on Switch the other day. Played about 8 hours so far.

I also started Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen recently and feeling really lost as to how to approach this game. Anybody ever play this? I could use some advice

I'm kind of annoyed that Switches have fallen prey to price gouging. My two older kids have switch lites but with all this extra time I was thinking it would be cool to buy a regular one and play some games with them.

I bought the switch lite when it came out. I had wanted a regular one but it was just a little more than I wanted to pay and I dont have a TV. The switch lite is perfect.

We got the Ring Fit Adventure for Switch over summer, when we couldn't go outside due to smoke.  It's getting a lot of use the last month as well.  This is a game that actually makes me want to do exercise, so I think they nailed that part of it. 

Also have been hooked on Space Base DF-9 lately,  which has then got me wanting to go back to Kerbal Space Program. 

Played through A Plague Tale. It's an indie and there's a good 8hrs play there I'd say, maybe a little more. I certainly have no issues with it's length. Tonally it's bleak, but it' well written in terms of both story and chars. You'll get annoyed with chars, but then you're supposed to as the character your playing does ;)

I highly recommend it. Put it this way, if this looks like your type of game, it probably is... If you see what I mean...

I got what feels like the last ps4 on earth. Currently playing horizon zero dawn and probably bought enough games to last me the next year.

Started on Just Cause 4 (it was 80% off, on Steam.)

So far, it's a bit tedious, and feels like it's trying to be Far Cry, not Just Cause.

Quote from: alanp on May 23, 2020, 08:49:53 PM
Started on Just Cause 4 (it was 80% off, on Steam.)

So far, it's a bit tedious, and feels like it's trying to be Far Cry, not Just Cause.

JC4 was so disappointing after the ludicrous fun of 3. Sure the balloons are a fun little gimmick, but on virtually every other front it's a step back. Graphics are worse, voice acting is less impressive, the story is more mediocre, and the gameplay loop has taking a step back to be less involved. I still go back to mess about in 3 occasionally, but 4 got deleted off my drive a day after I finished it.

I think part of it is that the map is basically one ginormous, huge, gonzo island, and my simple brain can't chunk that down into areas, like it could with JC3 (the left-hand island chain, the right-hand island chain, and the big daddy island at the top.)

I also get annoyed with arbitrary time limits, like when I have to destroy five widgets in a certain time limit... or they will reset... widgets that I have just blown to pieces, the Rico Rodriguez way. Presumably the little fix-ity fairies come along on a schedule or something.

SnowRunner - Everything is wrong with this 'game'. Its endless fetch quests, its progression is glacial, it's buggy, its UI and mechanics are janky. Yet, I can't stop playing it... It is essentially you driving trucks in the most insanely bullshit terrain ever, delivering stuff. It's quite pretty I suppose, and it's certainly fair when it comes to buying and selling the trucks and parts in game (never changes the prices so you can sell everything if you screw up and buy stuff that's more appropriate). You'll definitely have to watch a few guides to get how the game mechanics work as there are loops to jump through to do stuff.

However it's a strangely zen experience to play. Put some music on and the album seemingly finishes in the blink of an eye. It's a time sink like few things I've ever experienced. The daft thing being that you hardly achieve anything in terms of progression. Man it's slow, but the whole thing is slow. In some terrain I found myself mashing the throttle in low range then putting a podcast on while it climbed itself out.

...and yet I keep playing it.

At this rate I can see me enjoying Death Stranding or Euro Truck Simulator.

as a former CDL holder I can't even with the concept of a truck driving simulator ... cannot even

I scoffed at friends who became obsessed with Eurotruck Simulator... It's escapism of a sort I suppose, so it probably won't work for wagon drivers. Much like I can't see pilots firing up Flight Simulator for kicks.

someone somewhere is driving a virtual tractor or combine as part of some farming simulator game which is ostensibly even worse ... I don't miss farming either. I just googled the factual basis for that claim and sure enough, farming simulator is apparently a multi-platform game available for xbox, ps4, switch, etc

Picked up Jurassic Park Evolution through Humble Bundle.

It's vaguely fun, but not engrossing, and I felt faintly guilty for wasting so much time on it. Plus some of the mechanics annoyed me. If helping the science team pisses off the commerce and security teams, then the company boss needs to call them to his office, tell them to put their big boy britches on, and get over themselves.

Bought "Fire Emblem: Three Houses" earlier today and.... it's silly to say this, but it is irksome for a very silly reason.

The game play is fine, the story and writing are fine, and it has been fun so far overall.

But... it seems they used a ton of the same voice actors as one of my all time favorite games, Persona 5. So it keeps pulling me out of things when I hear Morgana's or Haru's voices come out of these new characters.

My brain is a very silly place sometimes....

I just recently started playing Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness.

I needed to find a way to relax in another world.  So far I like the vast amount of crafting possibilities, nice mountains, and the battle system is surprising given that it was a PS3 game...

Got Vikings: Wolves of Midgard through Humble Bundle. It starts out as a fairly basic Diablo 3 clone in the first few minutes, and is kinda fun.

But I'm glad I didn't pay for it (directly, at least.)

The Exposure mechanic sucks, hard. You spend the whole damn game looking for fires, ALL THE TIME. Including in boss fights, when you kinda have bigger fish to fry.

The difficulty in this game is stupid. I chose 'normal difficulty'. The first "Trial of the Gods" has a Level 2 minimum. At level four, I cannot beat two waves out of six. After grinding the first map four or five times for XP, I cannot beat the first boss in the first dungeon. I don't know if this game expects me to bring along ten mates or something to gang up on everything...

Characterisation, at least so far, sucks. There is the armour guy, the weapons guy, and the chick selling magic doohickeys. I don't know the name of a single thing, except for the actual village, and that is because my character is constantly screaming "FOR THE ULFUNG!"

Do not recommend.

I just started a game called A Small Hike on the switch. It's very laid back but it's definitely fun so far. It's really all exploring and trading and maybe some very simple puzzles. No fighting or anything. The main character is a bird and you can do some gliding. The mechanics of it are good and it's probably what makes the game as much fun as it is. Cool for a nice relaxed laid back time.

Also played a little bit of Mega Man 11, but not enough to really say much so far. Seems a little more difficult than the adverse mega man so far, and the levels get pretty long for this type of game.

I got Overland recently in a massive cheap sale. Bloody hard.