Grumpy Gamer Worth Playing

Worth Playing

Jul 5, 2005 twenty past ten am

Is there anything out on the PC these days worth playing? And no, this is not some rhetorical question leading to a rant on the sorry state of the industry, this is a real question. Is there anything out on the PC worth playing because I found $50 and it's itching to be spent. Yeah, I know...homeless, red cross, cure for cancel, credit card payments, bla bla bla bla.

I just got back from my weekly pilgrimage to Fry's to cruise the PC Games aisles and found row after row of boxes with the same 4 images on the front: Army guy with gun, Creepy horror guy covered in blood with gun, Big Orc with gun-sword, Skinny chick with sword and combat-thong. My eyes glazed over after a few passes up and down the aisle as I waited for one of them to seduce me into a purchase, but it never happened. The marketing vibe of these boxes is indistinguishable from the background radiation of the universe itself. If physicists really want to find all the Dark Matter in the universe, I suggest they look in the PC Games aisle.

On the back of one of the boxes were four screen shots with the following captions:

Explore vast worlds
Interact with interesting people
Mind-blowing 3D graphics
Multiple weapons to choose from

I kid you not. Someone got paid to come up with those. Paid. With real money. Money the publisher could have spent on my game.

Not wanting to let the terrorists win, I did buy a copy of Destroy all Humans for the XBox. I remember seeing this game at E3 back in aught-o-four but never heard anything else about it. There was a lot about the game that really intrigued me, so I figured it was destine for the budget isle and an abysmal 92% from the game rags.

It's curious that Destroy all Humans is coming out at the same time as the War of the Worlds movie. Did they delay or rush the release to ride the coattails of the movie's massive marketing campaign? The game's music composer was on NPR a few days ago, so I imagine that it's working to some degree. Of course, they don't have Tom Cruise ranting about Scientology, so chalk one up for the genius movie marketers. Genius. Pure Genius.

What the game business needs is more designers and developers on TV ranting about their waco-ideologies and looking like an idiot. Much better than:

Explore vast worlds
Interact with interesting people
Mind-blowing 3D graphics
Multiple weapons to choose from

Genius. Pure Genius.

Other people's comments:

<scratches head> Have you played psychonauts?

Yes, I've played Psychonauts. That is the #1 Grumpy Gamer Contact Question for the month.

Nothing against Psychonauts, but I tend not to play PC games that are ports from Console games. The controls are rarely implemented correctly and PC Games have have a very different play feel that I want when I play a PC game. If I want the Console feel, I'll play a console game.

I'm a wannabe console owner, so I play PC games almost exclusively with gamepads (which I guess also makes me a masochist). Psychonauts plays beautifully on the PC with a gamepad, and is easy to set up. Also, if you want a good pad, get one of the new logitech rumblepads. Don't get the one without rumble, it will break.

I liked playing psychonauts with the mouse and keyboard.  Sure, I was constantly switching my keys around trying to find out which was more comfortable for using the psychic powers, and there were some parts that were probably much harder, but I think the ability to spontaneously look at whatever I please, via the mouse, was worth it.  Also, those analog sticks on the xbox controllers give me hell, I swear.

Newer games I know are ok:  Oasis, anything by Chronic Logic.  Telltale's poker is interesting.

Pariah seems interesting, so does Advent Rising, and Kill all Humans which you mentioned.

I'm mostly playing older releases, like Syberia and Broken Sword II, and Infernal Machine and bad mojo redux.   Ballance, the game, is pretty fun but it's more zen that exciting.

I've been meaning to get Beyond Good and Evil.

I also think anything Metroid is awesome...at least so far(1 and 2 were lacking though).

I have exactly the same problem, so I've been playing Deus Ex through for the third time now.
Funny, I still find new things from that game =)

Yeah, I'd say your best bet is to go find any old classic games that you missed the first time round. A couple random suggestions off the top of my head; thief 1&2, giants kabuto, last express.

Personally, I've got a pile of cube and xbox games I have to catch up with.

The Last Express definitely. Played it nine times and found new stuff every time.

I was relieved when the trial period on "Oasis" from Mind Control Games ended, because otherwise I would have spent 6 hours sitting at the computer clicking little squares connecting cities and finding staff power.

Let me take a quick look at my game shelf here... How about Sid Meier's Pirates or Freedom Force vs the 3rd Reich? Quality stuff, both of them. Freedom Force has a demo too.

Or if you'd rather use part of the 50 to buy beer, I'd suggest Oasis (http://gameblast.shockwave.com/landing/landingIndex.jsp?id=oasis) or Deadly Rooms of Death (http://www.drod.net/).

People need to drop the bias against ports since the vast majority of games that are going to be available for the pc will be ports. If they are done right, (such as GTA SA) I don't mind at all.

At the moment I'm hard press to think of anything worth playing on the pc that isn't a port or a MMORPG. Not that I think MMORPG are worth playing. I don't but if I did, Guild Wars looks good. The best pc only game released this year I can think of is Freedom Force vs the Third Reich.

Just my two cents on Psychonauts for the pc. I bought bother the Xbox and pc versions and felt the pc version had the better controls. Also Double Fine relased a patch that fine tuned the camera that made the last level a lot easier/"funnier".

I don't think of it so much as "bias against ports" -- for me it's really "why play a port on the PC when I could just play the original on my Xbox?"

If I'm going to sit at a desk playing a game instead of being sprawled across my couch, I at least want the game to play to the PC's strengths instead of making me think "man, this sure would have been better on the couch with a controller".

Of course, I haven't bothered to resurrect my gaming PC since its motherboard died a couple of months ago because there's just nothing I want to play on the PC these days that won't run on a laptop, so maybe I'm not the best example here.

Psychonauts is a pretty good game imo , and though its a port the controls aren't frustrating . I hate platformers but the story, style, and gameplay overshadow that fact that its a platformer. As for ports, though I dislike the concept of being second to the console some ports are excellent and worth playing.

50 whole bucks ?!?!
Why not donate them to "Buy a car for Ron Gilbert" ?

oh ...
wait...

you ARE Ron GIlbert, and you'll end up getting those 50 bucks back...
Stupid.. !

Anyways, did you ever play Starwars : Knight of the old republic 1 ?
SW:KOTOR 2 pretty much sucks, don't bother with it, as there are vast rolds to explore, interesting people to interact with, mind-blowing 3d graphics, and multiple lightsabers to choose from.

But SW:KOTOR1, had something most games i played recently didn't have, and that's gameplay. a good story based gameplay.

I also enjoyed beyond good or evil a while back if you havn't tried that.
I also enjoyed the last 2 harry potter games. They were immensly cute and addictive. Rictusempra !

I havn't tried it myself, but i also heard that Moment of silence (a 100% point and click adventure game) is pretty good. and it's waiting on my shelf next to an unopened box of World of warcraft, which i intednt to break open and play with starting next week and until the guys from MMO rehub come, let us know if you restart playing WoW.

Oded Sharon
Buy a car for Ron Gilbert.

Darwinia is worth a look.
http://www.darwinia.co.uk/

Darwinia is cute, but way too short. I was pretty disappointed that I finished it in just a few hours. If it'd had twice as many levels, then it may have been worth the money I paid for it.

Looks like there's a burgeoning modding scene for Darwinia, so you should be able to get "expansion packs" for it either now or very soon.

introverision dont do expansion packs. But there is a modlling scene for it and adding new and makeing new levels is a lot of fun.

GTA: SA on the PC is excellently done. Brilliant. Outstanding.

However, my rating should probably be toned down a little, due to the fact that I had just "finished" Star Wars: KOTOR 2. I say "finished" because basically I realised I had spent 3 evenings playing the game, done nothing but attack-attack-attack-attack-attack-die-reload-attack-attack. I stopped playing because I realised I WAS WASTING MY LIFE.

And GTA: SA does rock. Just don't mention the damn plane controls.

Try turning mouse piloting off. No idea why they had that set to On by default.
Don't know if it was too much of the same but I found SA fairly tedious.

If you aren't sick of match-3 games then Big Kahuna Reef is an excellent example.

Contrariwise, I usually prefer console games ported to the PC because the controls get better. Despite getting a PS2 pretty much just for San Andreas, I ended up buying the PC version as well because I felt I had better control with a mouse on the prequels. Halo I enjoyed much more on PC than Halo 2 on Xbox. I didn't even blink between Psychonauts on PC and elsewhere...

Well, you could always try Strange Adventures in Infinite Space....

You've probably already heard of and/or played it (after all, it's several years old now), but I highly recommend The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind if you're into RPGs.  It kept me immersed for months on end, and even now (2 years later) I still play it.  I'm also looking forward to the next in the series, entitled "Oblivion".

Another game of similar vintage/genre is Gothic II ... everyone I know really loved it, but I just could never get into it.  Maybe it was bad timing (I bought it when I wasn't really looking for another diversion).

Good luck in your search.  I'm crossing my fingers for another fantastic adventure game to hit the shelves before I die.  I reckon I've got about 55 years left in me... think that'll do it?

I can name about 15 adventuregames that looks interesting and will be released in 2005 and 2006.

Examples: Fahrenheit, Martin Mystere, Juniper Crescent, Al Emmo, Dreamfall...

I wish people would stop all this "the adventuregenre is dead. :(" just because LucasArts doesnt make adventuregames anymore.

Ok, how about good adventure games are dead? There hasn't been a good one in 5 years or so.

Yes, perhaps I should have been more specific. In my opinion, adventure games are dead. It's a shame.

I myself have played at least 3 great adventures the last 2-3 years. Syberia 1&2 and Broken Sword 3. And all the upcoming adventures that looks interesting makes the future look bright.

Broken Sword 3 was very good (though it had too many damn crates). For me, the pinnacle was 5 years ago with The Longest Journey, and that is due to be revisited later this year. So I refuse to believe that Adventure games are dead - I just think they need to learn to adapt :)

I had a lot of fun playing Outpost Kaloki (http://www.ninjabee.com/outpostkaloki.html). The demo is free and the full game is only $20. I found out about it on some independent games page, probably ages old. Lately I've mainly been playing old games that I never finished. I'm waiting for We Love Katamari. Sure, it's basically just a rehash of Katamari Damacy but that is still better than most of the rest of what's coming these days...

E3 seemed to feature tons of sequels, sqaud based shooters and sequels to squad based shooters. There were a ton of warmed over re-releases of games from the 80s too. And The Bible game. Very little to look forward to in the coming year that I saw. The GDC demo for Spore was very impressive, but who knows when that will be done. Some of the most entertaining stuff I saw at E3 was on the Nintendo DS actually.

Good luck finding something fun to play.

Have you heard of Monkey Island?

Monkey Island? wasn't that the new MMORPG from EA?

Dude, I have been absolutely hooked on Lux for the past month. It's basically an online Risk game, so nothing really new, except I can't stop playing it. Cool graphics and a very competitive community.
http://sillysoft.net/lux/

Did someone mention Dreamfall? I can't wait for that game. I may take a week off work just to play it :) :)

There's an interesting dialogue driven game called Façade that Idle Thumbs just reviewed.

You can request a freeware copy of it in its site.

http://www.interactivestory.net/

I was always disinterested in %99.5 of PC games, there's nearly nothing there but dull and repetitive FPS games and some RTS games.

There are 2 good pc games out right now:

1. Guild Wars. (Fantasy chick in thong genre)
2. Battlefield 2. (Soldier with gun genre)

Both require a very high tolerance for other people. However, on the rare occasion that you find a nice bunch of other people (or better yet, play with your friends) they are perhaps the most satisfying games you can play. Both have persistant online characters and neither charge anything for online play. I'm guessing you'd lean more towards GW than BF - they're very different games but both contain a huge amount of gameplay per dollar.

I'm not sure what to recommend, but If I came into fifty bucks the PC game I would purchase is Sid Meier's Pirates.

There's a demo for this game called "Eets" that I found quite enjoyable. It's basically a mix between The Incredible Machine and some crazy emotion game. I think I heard of it via Penny Arcade; in case you're wondering.

I'm only two levels into Thief 2x but it's good. More Thiefy goodness. Oh, wait, that still leaves you with the problem of having $50.

Yeah, gotta say I agree with the overall sentiment here. Everytime I go into my local branch of Game and look at the PC shelf I immediately turn around and head over to the XBOX corner. This year has seen a number of let down Doom 3 (tech demo), Half-Life 2 (a on-rails FPS - maybe I'm viewing HL1 through nostalgic rose tined sunglasses).

For me the stand out games in (relatively) recent months have been Oddworld: Stranger Wrath, Coker - Live & Reloaded and WipEout: Pure on my trusty PSP. There's been one or two PS2 titles recently that made me wish I hadn't given my PS2 away.

Donate 50 bucks to ScummVM.

Siberia 1 was good, Siberia 2 was too linear.
Broken Sword 1-3 are nice.
Gabriel Knight 3 was VERY good. A bit buggy, but good story and gameplay.
Runaway: A road adventure was a great time spent. Very nice cartoonish graphics and nice story.
Return to Mysterious Island had a nice story and multiple solutions to some puzzles, but a bit clunky ui.

But the best adventuregame I've played for a while was The Black Mirror. So hard to stop playing and very good story.

Stay away from Aura: Fate of ages. Got some puzzle, but OH-SO horrid ui.

Hummm, I realize now that almost all the games I mentioned here as good are not-very-new games. Maby it was better before...

Well since your most recent trip echoed my exact thoughts I kid you not several months ago, it became a rhetorical rant on my end.

Hell most of these games are the exact same game if you just swap out models, levels, and weapons between each of them. Its like they all made games out of the one movie trailer. IN A WORLD OF CHAOS (its always a world of chaos). TIME IS RUNNING OUT (time is always running out). ONLY ONE MAN (always only one guy) QUAKE NUKEM PAYNE (or girl) can save the day from terrorists bla bla.

Anyhow game recommendations.

Adventure wise, I played through post mortem and still lfie recently (there is a shared protagonist between the two in the "series"). $10 and $40 respectively, and there's a free "prelude" to still life on the main site that is free and may whet your appetite for a completely different type of adventure totally.

Guild Wars is another reserved recommendation from me depending on how much you like pvp games ( I feel they dropped the ball big time there) and if you still have any taste left for FPS', Gunz online despite the silly name has been the first FPS to rekindle the fun for the genre since Quake 1. (www.gunzonline.com and is free)

forgot to mention the main site for still life, http://www.stilllife-game.com/

The Black Mirror is nice if you are immune to crappy "it-wasn't-in-our-budget"-endings.

How about another take at NetHack?

I just finished Knights of the Old Republic 2, very engrossing game with some minor bugs and pretty easy combat (which I somehow prefer). Story is much much better than the Episode III movie (which sucks a lot).
But, as I see from Oded Sharon's comment, I should maybe try also the first KotOR (and I will). For a long time I haven't become hooked to a game in such a way, therefore my recommendation.
I love Psychonauts demo and can't wait to get the whole game. Meanwhile playing Pirates!, still the same great fun as its first rendering from 1987 (which kept me awake until morning). Repetitive gameplay, but aside from that, pure fun.

The first KOTOR is far more consistently engrossing, IMO. The second, to me, felt like an uninspired clone with the more interesting bits (a trial, a great plot twist, and far more of a feeling that you are being judged)

The combat is pretty easy in the KOTOR games, but it's too damn repetitive. It smacks of filler sometimes, especially in KOTOR 2, where you know you will get through the combat, but sometimes it can take you 3 hours to do it - turn corner; slash beast; slash beast; turn corner. Could you not, just occasionally, let me get from A to B in less than an evening?

Maybe my problem is I want it to be an adventure game too much ;)

KOTOR 2 is one of the best RPGs I've played, but I wouldn't say that the bugs are minor. I wouldn't count a crash at least every hour as minor. Aside, its a XBOX port.

I have to agree with Ron, there aren't really any PC-exclusive games that have come out recently that have caught my fancy.

Gish - http://www.chroniclogic.com/index.htm?gish.htm
Cletus Clay - http://www.squashysoftware.com/cletus.php (out soon)
Cave Story - http://agtp.romhack.net/doukutsu.html (this one is free)

Cave Story is pure retro-gaming flavoured brilliance!

What about Telltale Texas Hold em. http://www.telltalegames.com

how about monkey island 4?

hehe, just kidding.

half life 2 might be an action fps, but it can still amaze with everything, call of duty is old but still brilliant, quake 3 is a classic, and rome total war is always good.

Empire Earth 2.

This is the problem I'm having. I always used to pay through the nose for new PC parts but there has been so little out that isn't ported for the PC thats actually new or at least quite fun. Component prices are increasing and the time between upgrades is decreasing. This year I was trying to decide wether (sp) to get a 7800GTX to replace my 6800GT (which is only 6 months old!) and some RAM e.t.c. or to get a HDTV for the new HD consoles and DVD players. I decided to go with the TV in the end. This was to a few reasons:

1) £400 (in GBP) for entry level AMD DC? No thank you.
2) Upgrading Already? No thank you.
3) What games am I playing on my PC atm? MM1, MM2 (maniac mansion), Deus Ex, Diablo 2, Duke Nukem 3D, the first 3 MIs and Xwing + Tie fighter. All replays. I bought BF 2 but got bored within a week or so. Theres very little coming out too (thats really good)

Anyway back to the main point. Urrrmmm.... nope drawing a blank really. Unless there are some old games you haven't played yet. maybe..... the Freedom Force games?

(Sorry just noticed they have been mentioned a couple of times before).

Also there is a interesting section on Maniac Mansion in Issue 151 of Edge. On sale until tomorrow.

That is a fucking excellent article. Thanks for the heads up.

If you haven't already - play Planescape: Torment. Best immersing story ever.

Let me understand...when you speak about that silly caption on the box you say 'Money the publisher could have spent on my game.' You mean that actually no publisher would give you money for a game?I thought it was your choice not to produce games in this period. If the situation is that no publisher would give Ron Gilbert a big budget to come up with a game, I think that gaming world is losing something big, and we have to expect a long period of games of the'
*Explore vast worlds
*Interact with interesting people
*Mind-blowing 3D graphics
*Multiple weapons to choose from'
kind.What a pity...

"Yeah, I know...homeless, red cross, cure for cancel, credit card payments, bla bla bla bla."

Hey, don't underestimate the need for a cure for cancel! We really need to cure all those cancels. If we don't, there will never be any more good games. Cure cancel now and buy a great game tomorrow. Something like Sam & Max 2...

Zen Puzzle Garden by Lexaloffle games
Why?

    * Explore vast gardens
    * Interact with your interesting self (very Zen like)
    * Mind-blowing
    * Multiple rakes to choose from

And I don't get paid

that's a really good one I hadn't heard of. Might buy it - there's a 30 day money back thing.

I went to the store two days ago, and let the terrorists win. I didn't purchase a single game...

There are quite a few good games out there; they just don't make it onto the store shelves. They can be downloaded for a modest fee, though.

This is cool, because I get to plug my totally un-retail-friendly game 'Democracy' with out feeling too much like a salesman
http://www.democracygame.com
Its like a single player nationstates, with real countries, lots of depth and lots of complexity. It doesnt have a choice of weapons or any large breasted elven chicks though. Its also pretty popular. Somehow I got 71% in PC Gamer with it, despite it being a one-man effort.
But if for some strange reason you didnt instantly buy it, I'd recommend Pirates! or Lux as others have already done.

Strange Adventures in Infinite Space.
http://www.digital-eel.com/sais/
SAIS is different every time it is played. Stars, planets, black holes, nebula mass, alien patrols, items, lifeforms and other encounters are randomized for each new Strange Adventure.

  # Playing time: 5-20 minutes
  # Number of players: solo
  # Difficulty: variable
  # Replayability: infinite

And a couple of links about this game
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20050502/carlson_pfv.htm
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20040915/adams_pfv.htm

15$ full version demo avalaible I really enjoy it

Play Psychonauts

/hasn't read any other comments

There is this great series of games... what were they called... ah! Monkey Island! The only problem is that some fat-lazy-ass-fucker forgot to finish off the serires and pissed off one of the biggest cults in the world. I don't suppose you guys know the name of that guy.

George Lucas?

Dude...
If you really don't know who I'm talking about then you shouldn't be reading this blog.

Nope - if you honestly think Ron didn't complete the series because he's lazy, you're the dumb prick who shouldn't be here.

I know that he is not lazy, and LucasArts is the one I should piss on, but I am pissed off and like to take my anger out on forums.

For someone who's a fan of such funny games, you sure are good at missing a joke. ;)

Call me pathetic but I haven't been compelled to play anything else since World Of Warcraft came out last November........

Save your money and replay Fallout2.

Man I loved both Fallout and Fallout 2 but I was one of those unlucky UK gamers who got stuck with a buggy version and never got to the end of either due to the mulitple updates / restarts due to updates and issues.

I still played the crap outta both games though, even with the problems - sign of a VERY good game!

I keep finding myself drifting back to the comfortable maelstrom that is Civilization 3...

If you have any interest in text-based games, I highly recommend this page:

http://www.adamcadre.ac/if.html

The only problem is, there's no way to spend your $50. It's all free.

You're pretty much talking to the guy who invented point-and-click adventures because he hated typing games so much...

Dear Grumpy Gamer (and readers)

Can you please read my Xanga site and let me know as to what you think of it. It contains both my videogames orientated dissertation as well as a 500 word article which I submitted to Edge as part of my recent application to be a staff writer (although I'm hoping that they give me the role as column writer instead).

http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=zimzum101

By the way, have you read this month's Edge? One of the guest columnists uses religion in the context of videogames...

I've had a similar problem in not only PC games, but in console and handheld. I don't think I've played a game I've liked since God of War a couple months back. Nothing really new out to play, not until this Fall. I'm tempted to actually play my PSX version of Chrono Trigger which I never managed to start.

I really liked the concept of URU Live.
I participated in the beta and saw the whole thing shape up. It became a really nice community and a whole new way to play an adventure game (multiplayer).

Too bad it was all cancelled 3 months after its release :(

Ron, I really think you should make another Space Quest.

http://wiw.org/~jess/sq7.html

Unfortunately, that was cancelled in 2002.

destory all humans is a poor mans Psychonaughts!

Have you played this game called Grand Theft Auto San Andreas? There's like a lot of advertisments on TV for it. I guess no one has heard of it :( so they are really trying hard to sell the game.

Yes.

But save your $50, because this one is free.

Go play NetHack! if you haven't already. I cannot recommend this game highly enough. Be prepared to give it some time, it's got a very peculiar learning curve, but ulitmately the pay off is worth it.

Forget the latest 3D Hardware cards, it's in ASCII, and will run on a 286.

It could change your entire concept of what a computer game is, was, and should be.

Then again, it might just make you think 'OMG, people actually play this'?

http://www.nethack.org/

On the contrary I would seriously warn people against these types of games if they (a) don't mind games with simple graphics and (b) have an addictive personality.

I (a) and (b) and spent quite a bit of my time playing these computer games - time I would quite like to have back.

Addictive gaming is not the same as enjoyable gaming. I was seriously addicted to these games but cannot remember having enjoyed them for one minute.

And if you'll excuse me I'll go to my Addictive Gamer Support Group and try to win my soul back from Neverwinter Nights, my current addiction.

Everything seems to be "mindblowing" nowadays... gives me a headacke.

I'm surprised you found the PC gaming section in a store.

I went to EB Games and Gamestop and had to use a spyglass, compass and a gristled old treasure map just to find a few beaten up copies of Pirates and I don't even remember what else.

I kept asking the guy behind the desk "So, where are the PC games" and he'd just point and say "Over there man." I'd look and see nothing but Xbox and large marketing posters. I'd ask "Right here?" he'd reply "No, man, right there!"

It was like a game of hot and cold...

My eyes glazed over after a few passes up and down the aisle as I waited for one of them to seduce me into a purchase, but it never happened.

I know that feeling. Might sound trite but last time I really felt seduced into purchasing a PC game was when I saw Grim Fandango on the shelves.

Well, now that I think of it (and being trite again) I'm really itching to buy Psychonauts but I'm somehow afraid that on a PC I might not fully get the intended experience. I might buy a second hand Xbox when they become cheaper.

The only new stuff I sometimes feel compelled to buy is on the Gamecube, but more often than not I end up buying old games that I missed the first time round.

<awed>
wow.. your comment is so hyperlinked..
</awed>

Thank you.

how about monkey island 5? oh wait...

how about splinter cell Chaos Theory
You could watch how he does it, then use your new skills to sneak into lucasarts and steal back the rights to MI, i cant wait for Monkey Island 3A "the secret revealed or your money back"

I read "Or your mommy back."

Grand theft auto San Andreas is a way cool game. Definitely worth the money.

This was a good thread. It made me discover Gish and Zen Puzzle Garden which I'm both enjoying immensely.

Great interview with Ron in the latest Edge (issue 152) where he is talking about a game he is making!

In my humble opinion there isn't a single game worth the time or money, nothing recent anyway.

y ea

GOD OF WAR HAS HAD ME ENTERTAINED CONSTANTLY OVER THE LAST WHILE.
I MEAN ITS PURE ADVENTURE GAMING,FORGET ALL THIS MODERN DAY STEALTH STUFF,GIVE ME MINOTAURS AND ZEUS ANYDAY.

EASY TO PICK UP AND PLAY FOR A MINUTE OR AN HOUR,ITS THE WAY GAMES ARE MEANT TO BE!

I must say, while it's not a 'game', I've had fun toying around with Gene Pool. (http://www.swimbots.com/) It's less a game and more an interesting toy. It's an 'artificial life simulation' that has tiny organisms swimming around, eating, and procreating. When two swimbots mate, they pass on parts of their genetics to their children.

My favorite feature is actually that you can save any swimbot you create. And reload it later to see if one type is 'better' than another. Anyone can download it and check it out. And if you dig it, email me and I'll send you a swimbot that is guaranteed to overtake your gene pool in no time.

Whoah!

OK, I'm a huge fan of every game you've ever worked on, so I've just got to get the shock out of my system.

OMYGODYOU'RESTILLALIVETHAT'SLIKETHECOOLESTTHINGEVER!!!
huff *puff*

-one of your many number one fans

Don't worry man. I'm sure Ron says the same thing every morning.

I'd have to say that Battlefield 2, even with some of it's faults, has been the most fun I've had in a PC game in quite a while. Yes, it's somewhat of a stale genre, but no one has done squad-based online FPS with lots of cool vehicles than the Battlefield series (especially including the old Desert Combar mod for the original 1942).

Kotor 1 is one of the best games I've ever played (maybe the best). Kotor 2 is really good, but the plot weakens considerably halfway through the game, when in the original it gets so much better.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but games magazine recommends Another Code (Trace Memory in the US). It suggests that the DS could be the way forward for adventure games. For example, in AC you can blow into the mike to mist up windows, you can use the stylus to scribble notes, you can use one screen to see where you are, and the other screen to examine things... but the game is pretty short (5-6 hours). Alternatively, if you want a Big game, they just love Killer7. Both games are genuinely innovative (they say, and they are usually right)

have you played the Paradox games? Im currently hooked on EU2. I also here CK and Victoria are very good, though the latter is a bit heavy on micromanagement.

asdf HOI2 rrrrrrawwkksssssss

(that is: try Hearts Of Iron 2 by Paradox.. WW2 strategy game. It's awesome.)

Ranting about his wacko ideology didn't work for Pesce - the VRML script designer...

For some reason I play the 8 year old Total Annihilation more than Battlefield 2.

I agree with all of you, there really isn't much out there. The games that really caught my eye this year was psychonauts, pirates, freedom force vs the third reich and half-life 2 (which was fun the first time around but wasn't worth the headache that is steam) though sadly I haven't played psychonauts or pirates yet 'cause i'm a poor starving student.

What I am currently playing right now is Thief2x (great, has somewhat patched up the hole left when LGS closed) and morrowind (also great)

May I suggest Uplink

http://www.uplink.co.uk/

    * Explore the internet
    * hack into interesting people
    * Mind-blowing 2D graphics
    * Multiple platforms to choose from

I'm currently playing American McGee's ALICE, it's based on the quake 3 engine and I find it fun to play, althought i am drunk.

Another one of his games to watch out of is bad day LA (looks like fun actually, if your into GTA imo)
http://www.enlight.com/bdla/

I agree with psychonauts, thats just pure brilliance, most decent games today are made by a company that has less than half of what big companies like EA have, have some REAL creative talent (Take introvision for example, most of the guys spent their time trying to get companies to publish UPLINK, while one or two of them actually worked on the game) and yet don't advertise like whores.

Been playing Fate a little lately. A diablo clone, but only 20 bucks, and has some fun features with pets and stuff, and pretty family-friendly. Not too shabby for a download indie game. Addictive clicky-clicky!

http://www.playfate.com

Was wondering if you had played the 2d adventure game, Eye of the Kraken? It has been released freeware:

http://www.absurdus.net/kraken/game.htm

You should pick up Battlefield to its a great game...High end despite EA's lose coding policy...Do have a question thought form you...Could you or any one possibility send me any information on starting your own game design studio and I have a contract to make a game but I really need to know how much to estimate tasks at. Is there any article that shows a budget break down that you would know about...Thanks?

Dude, http://grumpygamer.com/4904226

Pirates is one of the most charmingly entertaining games I have ever played. it is the only game I can think of with truly mass market - "fun for all the family" gameplay. We still have a lot to learn from Mr Meier. I also started using the word "PIRATY!" and bought a pirate hat to wear while playing it ;)

If you want to go a bit retro "the underdogs" has loads of old games for free download. I suggest "The Incredible Machine" (garrys mod for those that cant deal with a third dimension) and Crusader: no remorse (through dosbox), the most polished isometric action game I have ever played.

Or check some of the new mods for HL2 like the astonishing "Eclipse" and the intense "the hidden". The best though is source forts, beating Will Wright's user created content drive by 18 months or so :)

I was just thinking that most of the good games out today don't make it to shelves. They reside online where they can be ordered or downloaded.

I must recommend playing some mods. Though some games may suck, the mods for them are usually good (they have the "innovation" or "excitment" you may be looking for).

Deathball is a mod for UT2004, a mix between football (in the European and American sense), rugby, and handball.
*note: UT2004 does not suck.

I've noticed I like playing game downloads a lot more because they remind me of how games were back in the day. Straight foward and simple.

I have to agree with most of you: gish is an excellent platformer, with an amazing physics engine (who'd have thought of that as a selling point for a platformer!).

Giants - Citizen Kabuto is also an excellent choice, the lines are incredibly funny but some early levels have a strong learning curve.

Sid Meier's Pirates! Is also an excellent game, with nice graphics, using (but not abusing) shaders, and has a lot of different gametypes (or call it minigames if you want) included (Attack the city - Ship Combat - Sneak into the city - dance with the governor's daughter...)!

Psychonauts... i'll just say this: this game rocks!

And now for something completely different... did any of you try "Trackmania Sunrise"? There's a demo on this Gamers Hell page.
This racing game is like the old stunts game (from the DOS era) on acid! It's like a mix of any racing game with Lemmings (for the puzzle mode), a skateboard game (for the crazy jumps you'll sometimes face),... you can build your own tracks using a built-in editor, and play it directly! This game is a must-have! And it's even less than 50$, so you'll be able to spend the rest of it in Gish or any other game ;)

Back around 89 or 90 my friend's dad got a computer and there was a text based game we used to play. It started out by asking you your name and favorite color, etc. Then you were at a gate and you had to turn something on the gate to enter. There was a dinner of some kind going on and there was something hidden in this mansion. I have been trying to remember more about it and the two words that come to mind are pearl and midnight but I have no idea if I'm losing my mind or if it actually has something to do with the game. Are my feeble clues enough for anyone out there to figure out?

It doesn't match exactly with what you're describing, but I thought it might be mentioning Hugo's House of Horrors. It was graphical, but with a text interface. You started off outside by a gate I think, and there was definitely a dinner of some sorts going on (you needed a mask to join them).

I played it on our 386 in about 90-91 I think.

Pac-man is more fun than alot of these new games.
http://www.neave.com/games/pacman/pacman.swf

Suck ass

Heh heh.

Hey Ron, ever thought about just getting out once in a while?

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