What you play NOW!!Update..

[malcore]

Been almost a year since I last asked this...

NOW what are all you gamers giving your attention to?


For me, Ravenshield, IGI2 and Shadowbane were just released here. I divide my time mainly between these three, among others.


Also, what is/was your least favourite, most disappointing or downright annoying game?

There is a terrible game many of my students play here called RO or Ragnarok Online. Brutally cheesy and horrible game. Online only and after purchasing must pay $20US per month to be able to play. I despise this game!!

I also found Soldier of Fortune 2 to be extremely irritating.

Then there are the lesser name games which show great potential, but are either too rough around the edges or too bloody difficult to really enjoy: Namely , Iron Storm.

[saphalline]

I played the Iron Storm demo, for about an hour! You're right, not quite there and I didn't even get off a shot the first time I went into combat. Stupid snipers...

Anyway, been busy. Too busy to play a whole lot of games, but mostly I've been devoting my time to Everquest. I know, I know, it's old but this is the first time I could start playing it so back off! :D

As for annoying games, gee I don't know... I don't have enough money to go splurging on the latest hyped games so I always research every game I play. PC Gamer is a decent source and the many online review sites are great, too.

I will say that I found GTA: Vice City to be a good game in its own right, but the developers did a poor job of porting the graphics engine over to the PC. I mean, come on! 800 x 600 in 16-bit color?? For a game that uses DX7-caliber visuals, I expect more. I can play UT2003 at higher settings than that! :eek: My P4 with dual-channel DDR and GF4 Ti 4400 can push major polygons, so next time they port a console game, they better not make a built-in emulator to slow down my system! Done with rant.

[malcore]

Man! Don't talk to me about ports!!

I tried the PC version of Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance. Took up 7GB, yes 7 GB of hard drive space and wasn't optimized for play with Radeon cards. Using a 9700Pro, the graphics were terrible and very slow. Unplayable. After a month a patch was finally released, but the controls were extremely awkward. No mouse use.

Worse than trying to play the original DOOM after being spoiled by high end graphics FPS games.;)

I'm a little spoiled here when it comes to games. Granted some are released a month or two later than in the US, but for some reason the price is about half. Usually around $20-25 US. So I've bought a few disappointments.

[Ghost_Hacker]

Morrowind is the game I'm playing right now. I got the PC version so I could use the construction set and all the mods. It's an open ended game so you can do whatever you like, no need to follow the main quest line if you don't want to. I love this game.

But the big game I'm waiting on is Star Wars Galaxies, should be out this summer (I hope). SWG is also an open ended game which is the type of PC gaming I'm into.

[NiroTToriN]

Current games that I'm enjoying:

UT 2003... Bought it when it came out, still lovin' it. Especially with some of the new user maps. If you have the game, check out DeepSprinta, a CTF map. Make sure you have a good system tho, it's resource intensive!

Splinter Cell-One of the more enjoyable games I've played it a while. Very fun.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003-One word WOW!! New style golf interface. Lots of eye candy and well executed and easy to play, hard to master. Gentle learning curve. Annoying graphics of audience members tho. =/

Delta Force: Black Hawk Down... The latest iteration of the Novalogic Delta Force series. Single player is weak, but multiplayer shines. What's not to like about riding in a Hummer with a .50 cal or using a minigun from a Blackhawk?!

Finally, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4. Only played the demo so far, but it's a frenetic game with the console feel. (go figure!) It's basically a port from the PS2, but for those of us without a PS2, it's nice. That'll be my next purchase...

[Whyzman]

GH...might be under construction...but looking mighty fine! ;)

BTW...I did some checking on Star Wars Galaxies...and I'm rather confused as to whether it's out in some parts of the world...just not here yet...

[John0904]

Release date is the 26th of this month.

When is the European Release Date?
"That will be a separate announcement for the future and I honestly don’t know the answer except that we want to be aggressive about localizing to other countries."
Ghost_Hacker,
SWG is not an open ended game. Everything is programmed by the developers. There are no files that you can change. It is a regular MMO game like UO, EQ, AC.
Thought I'd let you know before you bought the game and found it wasn't an open ended game.

Here is the official site:
http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/

I got 2 SWG preordered for the wife and me. :)

[Ghost_Hacker]

Thanks,Whyzman it's getting there :)

Everything is programmed by the developers.

Last time I looked so is every other game :D Thanks for the warning, but by open ended I don't mean you can reprogram the game any way you want. (Frankly I not interested in programming or scripting my own games YIKES :) ) Open ended, for me, means you do not have to follow any script , like say in Half-life or Diablo (In these games you can't get to the other levels unless you do the "quest") in open ended games the ending of the game is up to you. In Morrowind, for instance, I don't have to do the main quest to finish the game. I can just do all the side quest or explore the land.

You can do this without using MODs or creating your own scripts, but just using what the devs. put in. In SWG there is no script, no ending, your just in SWG to live your virtual SW life, that "life" takes you where you decide for it to. That's open ended for me. :)

Yeap the release date was just annouced this week. I just have to wait for my preordered box to arrive!!

Oh joy!!! :D :D :D

Anyway, hope to see you in game. Are you joining the Starsider server? I belive that is the "role playing" server.

[John0904]

Ahhh, I see what you mean. :)

I guess there are different meanings for open ended.
I was thinking more along the lines of Neverwinter Nights. Which means you can literally change anything from start to finish. As in open ended source code.

But I know what you saying now. Any decision made, doesn't mean there is an end.

Know what server you are going on? I haven't decided, but I am considering maybe a west coast one. Maybe we can all "hook up". :)

[Ghost_Hacker]

Wow,I never knew you could do that in NWN!!


I'll proable join Starsider first, since that's the big Role playing server. I'm hoping it doesn't fill up before I get a chance to join it, seems like each server can only hold so many playing players ( hope that makes sense :D ) so it could be hard to play on that server anytime you want to.

[John0904]

Hmmm... I never considered a role playing server. I might have to do that. :)

By the way, I read some where that they cut the servers list by half. As to which ones, I don't know. Only way to know for sure is to wait till the game is released.

[Jiggy]

At this time im play Counter Strike untill i get my hands on Doom111 and Half Life2, bring it on....

[poordevil]

I have been playing sims.No not "The Sims"! flight sims and racing sims.Mostly that old sim Red Baron 3D,but also IL-2.For racing sims I like NFS Porsche Unleashed and Nascar 4.

There aren't any new games out right now that interest me.Half life 2 might be good.I dunno about Doom 3.I think it will be more of a demo for IDs new engine than an all out, deep, story driven game.I remember reading a quote attributed to Carmack that went something like "In 24 months you can make a great game or you can build a new engine,but you can't do both."

[Deagle]

Currently I'm playing Ris of Nations:) I want to try all the new FPS games as soon as I build my new comp:D

[Ghost_Hacker]

TODAY IS THE DAY!!!!!!


Star Wars Galaxy is out............ YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS


After my copy arrives in about a week, if you don't see me on these forums for the next few months, you'll know where I'll be :D :D :D

[killercow]

Battlefield 1942 Desert Combat .30 MOD (http://desertcombat.com/) and Battlefield 1942 1.4 patch (http://www.eagames.com/official/battlefield1942/gamedemo.jsp?state=01010) . Also I am still into counter-strike. Unreal Tournament 2003. HALFLIFE 2 AND HALO 2 ARE COMING OUT AROUND THE SAME TIME (give or take a few months/weeks). Which will kick as.....butt. Halo 2 is just ...... well watching the demo is like playing Halo 1 its so cool. Half life2 can't wait until counter-strike comes out as a mod for half life 2!

[ShardOfJustice]

Came out in 1998 still a great game. If you know what the microsoft gaming zone is its like an online gamespy thats 5 times as big with 5 times more games. Anyways, that were its played and sorry to advertise but my site on it is here (http://www.shard-ow.tk), and the zone is here (http://zone.msn.com), and if you are interested in playing you should go to another one of my sites which is here (http://www.start-outwars.tk) .

It's a 3rd person action sci-fi shooter made by microsoft and singletrac and its a great game check it out.

http://www.geocities.com/das_justice/idlejumpingjack.jpg

[Ghost_Hacker]

Oh god, here we go again!!!!


I was just browsing the Star Wars Galaxies forums to see how folks liked the game and what do you know...already there are 56 pages of postings for tech help and it's only been out less that 48 hours :(

Seems even if you have a good system (latest vid cards, 1G of memory, latest proc) you still have to run the game with min settings to cure "crashes to desk tops", "black screens", and very, very slow frame rates( we're talking <10fps and the game will only support 30fps max)

Not to mention the normal things one must always do when troubleshooting PC game problems.


Arghhhhhh......PC gaming has got to die already.... GIVE ME A CONSOLE VERSION OF THIS GAME.....


Till then I just pray I have better luck with this game then the average Star Wars geek :D .......

[ShardOfJustice]

The Tech will get lower as the most common problems become common and easily solved by almost anyone.

[Whyzman]

Hehe...Ghost, if there are do-able solutions you be the man! ;)

Seems like the idea would be to have a troubleshooting disk that would analyze systems and point out the problems and incompatabilities before one gets totally frustrated...

I realize I might be California Dreaming...:rolleyes:

[ShardOfJustice]

Also in no time at all the problems will be solved with required patches.

[Ghost_Hacker]

Ok.. got Star Wars Galaxies 2 days after it was released. ( Boy I gotta recommend using the free shipper saver at Amazon, just as fast as UPS and since its the post office guys they deliver on Saturdays!!!!)


Anyway, other than a slight problem getting the program to run with zonealarm, I am running this program on my old computer. Yes that right on a 650 AMD, 32MB Radeon....I did not need to upgrade...YESSSSSS... (Granted I don't have all the Eye candy turned on but I don't play games for eye candy but for content) and what's even better.... folks who have spent hundreds of dollars to upgrade to the latest this and that are screaming about lousy frame rates and what not...HEHEHEHEHEHEHE

I pity those fools stuck on the PC upgrade treadmill..spend on suckers..:D :D :D

The game is GREAT... still they are having rollout issues causing an almost daily release of patches and rebootings of their game severs. Other than that the game is all that I thoght it would be.


Well, gotta go..... back to the SWG :)

[malcore]

HEHE:D

Nothing like a cheap gamer who snickers at hardware freaks:D :D


Roll on G_H .


See ya in a few moths!!!:p


PS, how are the servers??

[Ghost_Hacker]

Not bad... They've added about 3 more in the last week or so becasue some are filling up.

They also reboot the servers every day at 6:00AM PST, but thats only supposed to be for the first few weeks of July. ( you know their rebooting when you char. shows up in his undies :D )

Give me a "shout" when your online and mabey we can hookup for some missions. :)

[malcore]

Sounds good!!

May be a while. Looks like it's going to be one of those games that takes a few months to make it to the shelves here.


Unless ..... I break down and order from the States.

Think it's worth it G_H ?

[Ghost_Hacker]

I forgot the servers are rebooting now, so I'm back..:)


Anyway, about your question. Hmmmmmm...that's a hard call.

The game is not yet stable. It's fun, if you can put up with the frame rate issue ( more system memory helps here > 512MB, never run the game with shadows turned on also helps) and the server outages.

Plus they keep changing things in an effort to "nurf" some aspects of the game. Some folks are complaining about what that is doing to their chars. and the way they have buit them.

The first month is free so you could ride out the storm for awhile like me, but waiting at least a month might be best.

On a side note....When I installed the game it didn't check my system to see if it meet the min. specs. It just installed, setup my account and ran. Now after a patch or two the game comes up and "warns" me that it might not be stable due to the fact that its running on a 650 proc. but it will startup anyway. I never got that warning before, so its possible that if I brought the game today it might not let me run it on a non-spec system. (I think it would anyway ...but you never know...)

Just something to think about...

EDIT DUH....what was I thinking..it would still install and run because you have to log into the game servers to get the newest patch.

Forgive me my ramblings...its too early in the morn here. :)

[poordevil]

Playing in the Stars Wars universe sounds like a lot of fun.I was never a SW fan until I played Jedi Knight :Jedi Outcast.I thought that was a great game! A little slow and sticky in parts like the puzzle solving and those Snipers in town.Over all though it was a great ride.

Rather than hop on SWG I think I will hold out for Knights Of The Old Republic.It is due on the PC this fall,but the Xbox is bringing it out first,sometime this month.I think SWG will be a better game in a few more months.Also the monthly fee to play kind of scares me away.

[malcore]

I'm starting to not like this trend of monthly fees for online gaming myself.

Just coming to the end of my free month on Shadow Bane and am contemplating whether I will pay up or give up. Like the game, but don't know if I will be giving it the time to warrant paying the fee.:(


$40-$50 for a game, $40/month for internet connection, then another $15-$30/month just to play. It's a money maker. And notice how you can't buy the game with both single player and multiplayer. I feel it's the future of gaming though, especially when online gaming hits the consoles big time.

[Ghost_Hacker]

poordevil I agree that SWG will be better in a few months. It was supposed to come out in an Xbox version, so hopefully when Knights Of The Old Republic comes out, mabey by then there will be an Xbox version of SWG too. EDIT Opps..just noticed you said this month for Knights..oh well so much for an XBOX version of SWG coming out too.

malcore Yeah, I hate monthly fees too. This is the only game I have that uses an online game server, so its not too bad. Still I could see where, if you had 2 or 3 games of this type, the monthly fees, game price and upgrading cost could be more than one would want to shell out for an interactive cartoon. :D

I ONLY went for this because I really wanted to try SWG out. If it had been any other game...I would have giving it a pass.

[saphalline]

Seems like the idea would be to have a troubleshooting disk that would analyze systems and point out the problems and incompatabilities before one gets totally frustrated...I could fit something like that on a floppy! Just have it check the Computer Manufacturer field; if it says Compaq or Dell or any other OEM, just spit out a message saying "get a custom-built PC!" :p

Honestly, a little knowledge goes a long way in these cases. Before you try any new break-through game like this, you do a little updating. BIOS, chipset drivers, display drivers, sound drivers, OS updates, etc. That's all it takes! Hehe, yeah, but how many people know how to do all that? It's taken me a couple years to learn all that... :rolleyes:

[Pennyman]

Been playing UO (Ultima Online) for about 3 years now, and even though its a little bit (ok maybe a lota bit) graphically behind other games, i still like the way the game is layed out better than the rest. You get 700 skill points that you can allot to anything you want. I know SWG is setup that way and i will be playing SWG soon as well. After i get SWG, i will be paying 2 UO accounts at 13 a month and a SWG account at 15 a month. But as for games like Shadowbane etc., i dont like them so much because you are stuck with picking a class and then going on to level up that class. That really just sucks :/ . Yes, when i got into MMORPG's i was scared of the monthly fee but now i wouldent hesitate to pay it as most gaming services offer great updates and content to the game and try to keep it as bug free as possible. Then you understand that the company who upkeeps the game has to hire "game moderators", content developers, programmers, graphic artists, website designers, and other positions needed to keep the game up to speed, bug free and constantly changing. I now understand that the 10+ dollars a month i spend on one account goes to the people who have to work 8 hour days on a job just like anyone else. The only thing i have to say bad about MMORPG's is the fact that you buy the initial game and pay the monthly fees and still have to occasionally buy an expansion pack for major releases of content. I personally think they should offer a way to download those expansions at no cost since of course you are paying a monthly fee.