Video Games - The Big Ones

It's that time of year again. Christmas is nearing, and that means all the good games are coming out. Christmas is a veritable orgasm of awesome games that all come out at the same time, and then we return to the barren rest-of-the-year, when we're lucky if even three worthwhile games come out.

I have four games on my list (do you italicize video game titles? I'll be lazy and not): Batman: Arkham City (already bought), Uncharted 3, Modern Warfare 3, and Skyrim. Batman was an awesome game. So awesome to fly through the city and grapple up buildings. Plus, the amount of villains they packed in is awesome. If you're a Batman fan like me, definitely worth your time.

I'm looking forward to Uncharted 3 and Modern Warfare 3. Uncharted 2 is still one of the greatest games ever made. I rarely play a game through more than once, and I've played it through 3 and a half times. I think it'll be near impossible for it to be topped by 3, but I have little doubt that 3 will be another game-of-the-year contender. As for Modern Warfare 3, what can I say? After I play everything else, MW3 multiplayer will be the extent of my gaming until next Christmas. People are giving it bad ratings because it's a lot like MW1 and MW2, but that's okay with me. Don't mess with a thing that works. Infinity Ward is smart, because they didn't, and it'll probably be the best selling video game of all time, just like MW1 and 2 were.

But my real excitement is for Skyrim. It. Looks. ****ing. Incredible. I don't like using the word "epic," but here it's apt. Huge map (16 square miles), armor and swords, shooting magic out of both hands at the same time, gorgeous graphics, what will surely be an awesome story, and tons of dragons, and possibly 300+ hours of gameplay. If this game is as awesome as I anticipate, Uncharted 3 and MW3 will be waiting a while to be unwrapped. Whereas I'm waiting for Christmas and asking for MW3 and Uncharted 3 as gifts, I'm going out and buying Skyrim. My grades and social life may suffer, but it's a risk I'm willing to take.

So, what games are you looking forward to?

I am also eagerly awaiting Skyrim. I loved Oblivion, despite its few obvious flaws which I'm hoping are resolved in this sequel. I'm also hoping my poor little laptop is ready for it without me having to invest too my extra money in external drivers.

Other that - I don't know, I'm not much of a gamer because I am not a fan of FPSs, which dominates most of the gaming market.

Half-Life 2: Episode 3. That's coming out soon, right?

Oh, wait...

I don't often play video games either, I'm anticipating Skyrim too though, Oblivion was awesome, and Bethesda as a studio rarely disappoints me. Blizzard also has a tentative release date for Diablo III in Q1 of 2012, maybe as soon as January, I want it bad, so much of high school was eaten up by Diablo 2.

I'm a Batman fan! Maybe there's a game for me. :blush5:

I'm an RPGer, so my games all came out last Christmas (especially Fable III and Dragon Age II). I've actually never been addicted to a single FPS, not even Bioshock which is right up my ally, so this year I'm not looking forward to much. I always love WoW Christmas though (for the Horde!).

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Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf

I'm an RPGer, so my games all came out last Christmas (especially Fable III and Dragon Age II). I've actually never been addicted to a single FPS, not even Bioshock which is right up my ally, so this year I'm not looking forward to much. I always love WoW Christmas though (for the Horde!).

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I should renew my account, I got cataclysm but I never bothered to play it. I just could never play WoW compulsively enough to be good at it, you seriously can't have a life and play that game well.

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Originally Posted by OrphanPip

I should renew my account, I got cataclysm but I never bothered to play it. I just could never play WoW compulsively enough to be good at it, you seriously can't have a life and play that game well.

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I know, people who play WoW like a normal person are always so self-conscious, and for good reason. If you don't play brilliantly and know all of the terminology, you'll get your *** handed to you by the other players. I was almost completely silent for an entire year when I first started playing that game.

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Originally Posted by Charles Darnay

I am also eagerly awaiting Skyrim. I loved Oblivion, despite its few obvious flaws which I'm hoping are resolved in this sequel. I'm also hoping my poor little laptop is ready for it without me having to invest too my extra money in external drivers.

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I'd love it play it on a super-powered PC. People always say that gives you the best graphics. Definitely don't have the money for it, though, and I love using an actual controller.

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Originally Posted by OrphanPip

I don't often play video games either, I'm anticipating Skyrim too though, Oblivion was awesome, and Bethesda as a studio rarely disappoints me. Blizzard also has a tentative release date for Diablo III in Q1 of 2012, maybe as soon as January, I want it bad, so much of high school was eaten up by Diablo 2.

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I've heard it's a lot like Fallout with the gameplay, which is just fine with me, because those games were brilliant.

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Originally Posted by Vonny

I'm a Batman fan! Maybe there's a game for me. :blush5:

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I think you'd like it. It's a total nostalgia trip for fans of the brilliant 90s cartoon, as all the characters are voiced by the same people. That voice is always how Batman will sound to me . . . not Bale's death metal growl.

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Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf

I'm an RPGer, so my games all came out last Christmas (especially Fable III and Dragon Age II). I've actually never been addicted to a single FPS, not even Bioshock which is right up my ally, so this year I'm not looking forward to much. I always love WoW Christmas though (for the Horde!).

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You're not looking forward to Skyrim? It looks like an RPGer's wet dream.

I can't go back to playing WoW. I can say I truly had an addiction in my life, and that was WoW. When I started dreaming that I was playing it nightly, I knew there was a problem. Every time I see the new stuff the next expansion gives, I feel this twinge, a longing to play.

If I ever do get off the wagon, I'll have no choice but to start fresh, as a few months back I was informed that my account was deleted because I bought an epic mount (that's how bad it got). Probably a good thing.

Indeed Skyrim and I have been drooling for years in anticipation of Diablo 3, luckily Diablo 2 still kicks booty after all these years.

Damn you Bethesda, you would have to set the new Elder Scrolls game in Viking country...

I might wait a bit on Skyrim, actually. I loved Oblivion and Morrowind, but Bethesda does have a habit of releasing their games too early, meaning the first release is always a bit buggy. I'd prefer to get the game on PC as well, which will probably mean I'll need to do a bit of an overhaul on my old PC...

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Originally Posted by Lokasenna

Damn you Bethesda, you would have to set the new Elder Scrolls game in Viking country...

I might wait a bit on Skyrim, actually. I loved Oblivion and Morrowind, but Bethesda does have a habit of releasing their games too early, meaning the first release is always a bit buggy. I'd prefer to get the game on PC as well, which will probably mean I'll need to do a bit of an overhaul on my old PC...

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PC sure is the way to go :banana:

I can't wait for Skyrim. I went out yesterday and put the pre-order in. I played 1100+ hours of Oblivion. Now with Skyrim coming out, my social life is going to take a drop. Major drop now that I think of it, but I also think that the new Assassin's Creed is coming out and I may have to check that out down the road. I played Brotherhood and I loved it, hell I still play it all the time. I hope Revelations doesn't disappoint.

I loved the first Assassin's Creed. Was super stoked for the second, but then super disappointed when they changed the controls around so I couldn't play. I have to use my legs for the triggers since I can't hold the controller, and since you need to hold R1 to run, and R2 brings up your weapons menu, I couldn't hold down R1 without also hitting R2. If the new one has a customizable or different controls, I'll probably get it.

I don't get why they don't let you customize the controls any way you want on every game. It would make tons of games I can't play playable.

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Originally Posted by Mutatis-Mutandi

You're not looking forward to Skyrim? It looks like an RPGer's wet dream.

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The thing is, I've never played any other Elder Scrolls games so I'm not as excited for this one since I'm not a fan yet (not like Fable/FF/DA). I'll buy it and see how it goes.

Five hours into Skyrim and it is definitely The Big One. It should keep me going all next year with replays, dlc, and mods.

the atmosphere feels a lot closer to Morrowind than Oblivion, but the overall effect - it exudes quality and a sense of depth that's been missing in games lately, perhaps owing to the history of the afore-mentioned, but I'm preparing for immersion all over again.

And I've already killed my first dragon, which was how I kept wanting Dragon Age to be in the big battles - first person that is. Haven't had any luck with the mammoths and giants yet though; they're ridiculously difficult and when they team up even worse. Need to level up my magic spells. All in good time...

There are a couple of niggles, but relatively minor, and having waited five years I don't want to let myself think that there's anything wrong with it.

The Q key is now a quick use button, which is a great idea for when the fights start raging (C is now the autowalk/run).


Time to get back there!

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Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf

The thing is, I've never played any other Elder Scrolls games so I'm not as excited for this one since I'm not a fan yet (not like Fable/FF/DA). I'll buy it and see how it goes.

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I've actually never played an Elder Scrolls game, either. Skyrim just looks great, and Fallout 3 was amazing.

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Originally Posted by MystyrMystyry

Five hours into Skyrim and it is definitely The Big One. It should keep me going all next year with replays, dlc, and mods.

the atmosphere feels a lot closer to Morrowind than Oblivion, but the overall effect - it exudes quality and a sense of depth that's been missing in games lately, perhaps owing to the history of the afore-mentioned, but I'm preparing for immersion all over again.

And I've already killed my first dragon, which was how I kept wanting Dragon Age to be in the big battles - first person that is. Haven't had any luck with the mammoths and giants yet though; they're ridiculously difficult and when they team up even worse. Need to level up my magic spells. All in good time...

There are a couple of niggles, but relatively minor, and having waited five years I don't want to let myself think that there's anything wrong with it.

The Q key is now a quick use button, which is a great idea for when the fights start raging (C is now the autowalk/run).


Time to get back there!

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Glad to hear positive feedback.

I heard, for console version, the main complaint is long load time and glitches. I can live with the load times if the game is good enough (which I'm sure it will be), and I can live with glitches as long as they're not horrible. Bethesda does have a habit of releasing glitchy games, though, but they usually get patched out pretty quick.

Getting it this afternoon. So stoked.

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Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf

The thing is, I've never played any other Elder Scrolls games so I'm not as excited for this one since I'm not a fan yet (not like Fable/FF/DA). I'll buy it and see how it goes.

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Even as older games, they're well worth playing - I still go back to both Morrowind and Oblivion for enjoyment. And you can pick up the complete Morrowind (both expansions and extra DLC) for less than a tenner now.

Since games are the wave of the future, hopefully someone will eventually create a game that renders the mythology correctly rather than being an abomination of the source material. A beautiful and accurate (and gory) rendering of mythology could be done that would inspire an interest for further study.

You're going to love this Loki. Up in the mountains there's Borealis at night - done particularly realisticly) - and you can catch salmon in the river, fight a few Grendels with weapons and spells of your choice, and gather a small army to assist in bigger battles. The new caves and dungeons are great fun, and the general detail is amazing - it's just like being a mythological Viking (if you choose).

The new histories, literature and poetry fill in the world, while the old ones are still there for re-reading, and it all adds to the magic. Many times already I've been taken aback with the visuals and new scenery, the look and behavior of the monsters, completely forgetting it's a game.

At times it's breathtaking. I want to tell you everything I've discovered so far, but don't want to spoil it for you. There are things in it that just make you go @%#$! Did that just happen! I can't believe that just happened! I can't believe it's still happening!


Mutatis - load times on PC are invisible :)

Vonny - It has been tried, but usually it doesn't work well because the exposition of the plot doesn't translate, for the same reason it doesn't work in film either, no matter how expensive the effects and stunts - though maybe an actual scholar could submit a decent script.

300 was a start actually because it wasn't 'real' like The Iliad tried to be (which felt small and boring as a result). There was something about the chunky animations in Jason and the Argonauts that looked otherworldly when I was young.

I don't think digital animation (at least as it's been used so far) is the answer. A number of things have to come together really, like a good, visionary director who knows how to create believable tension and striking cinematic sequences - ah but perhaps that's another thread for another day...

Played about 6 or 7 hours (rough estimate) and can honestly say this is one of the best games I've played in a long, long time. I play on the PS3, and the load times aren't that bad.

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Originally Posted by MystyrMystyry

You're going to love this Loki. Up in the mountains there's Borealis at night - done particularly realisticly) - and you can catch salmon in the river, fight a few Grendels with weapons and spells of your choice, and gather a small army to assist in bigger battles. The new caves and dungeons are great fun, and the general detail is amazing - it's just like being a mythological Viking (if you choose).

The new histories, literature and poetry fill in the world, while the old ones are still there for re-reading, and it all adds to the magic. Many times already I've been taken aback with the visuals and new scenery, the look and behavior of the monsters, completely forgetting it's a game.

At times it's breathtaking. I want to tell you everything I've discovered so far, but don't want to spoil it for you. There are things in it that just make you go @%#$! Did that just happen! I can't believe that just happened! I can't believe it's still happening!

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I'm really envious! I've been looking at the minimum specs required to run it though, and my PC falls laughably short. I'll do some upgrading, but my techno-savy friend who I rely on for anything computerised is currently in New Zealand - perhaps when he's home for Christmas I might be able to persuade him to work some magic on my clunky old thing...

It does look awesome though, and the reviews have all been positive.

Crysis spoilt me for immediacy on reload. Now anything that takes longer than two seconds can really destroy the mood. Bulletstorm which is one of the best FPS's of all time can take longer than fifteen seconds to load, which, added to putting checkpoint saves just before having to do something tedious and/or a sit through a boring cutscene all over again before you finally get to the action was a bad design choice.

From quicksave to quickload is less than a second, so you feel you're still where you were without a gap - love it! This is especially good owing to the amount of dumb demises I've suffered from misjudging the jump distance by an inch. I suspect that was a design consideration being up there in the rocky icy mountains and everything. I got pushed off a cliff by a grizzly which felt particularly nasty, like it had cheated :(

The kid's playing Skyrim and enjoying it, despite the bugs, but I'll wait for at least one more patch, maybe two. At least it doesn't hit the low standards of Fallout: New Vegas, which should never have been released in that condition. Serves them right that it's selling for only $12.99 barely more than a year later.

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Originally Posted by Calidore

The kid's playing Skyrim and enjoying it, despite the bugs, but I'll wait for at least one more patch, maybe two. At least it doesn't hit the low standards of Fallout: New Vegas, which should never have been released in that condition. Serves them right that it's selling for only $12.99 barely more than a year later.

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My son wants Skyrim but right now both sons are busy with Modern Warfare 3. My youngest is also a huge fan of Fallout and he seemed to be pleased with New Vegas but he is quite easy to please.

Me, I'm old school. I'm anxiously awaiting the new Zelda game for the Wii. :D

I couldn't get into New Vegas at all. It was just a glorified DLC package.

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Originally Posted by Idril

Me, I'm old school. I'm anxiously awaiting the new Zelda game for the Wii. :D

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Skyward Sword is going to be :banana: :banana:

The review I saw gave it a perfect 10, same as Ocarina. I must say my expectations aren't nearly that high but any Zelda game results in a minor amount of drooling on my behalf.

I haven't played a Zelda game that wasn't brilliant.

I wish Nintendo would man-up and make an actual, powerful system so Zelda could get the epic game it deserves. The Wii is so weak, it can't even begin to do what the 360 and PS3 can.

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Originally Posted by Mutatis-Mutandi

I wish Nintendo would man-up and make an actual, powerful system so Zelda could get the epic game it deserves. The Wii is so weak, it can't even begin to do what the 360 and PS3 can.

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I think the main issue is having to use the Wii remote. It's not like there's anything wrong with a controller.

Does anyone have any good suggestions for DS games for boys that are not entirely mind rot? I know my boy loves Mario and all, but when it is ALL he'll play, video game time is seriously limited. I'm wondering if there are any good puzzle games or word games that he might actually enjoy.

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Originally Posted by Mutatis-Mutandi

I wish Nintendo would man-up and make an actual, powerful system so Zelda could get the epic game it deserves. The Wii is so weak, it can't even begin to do what the 360 and PS3 can.

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I think there is something to be said about the cartoony feel of Zelda - one reason why I preferred Windwaker to Twilight Princess. I would hate to see Zelda start mimicking God of War styles.

A powerful system and a large, epic game doesn't equal adult and gory.

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Originally Posted by LadyLuck

Does anyone have any good suggestions for DS games for boys that are not entirely mind rot? I know my boy loves Mario and all, but when it is ALL he'll play, video game time is seriously limited. I'm wondering if there are any good puzzle games or word games that he might actually enjoy.

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I'm told that the Ace Attorney games are extremely good. If I understand correctly, gameplay is puzzle-oriented, but there's also a narrative attached, so it's not just busy-work.

Anybody having any RPG suggestions? GTA/SIMS style?

For what console/platform?

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Originally Posted by Pensive

Anybody having any RPG suggestions? GTA/SIMS style?

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If you like GTA, Saints Row The Third (came out yesterday) might be right up your alley.

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Originally Posted by RobinHood3000

I'm told that the Ace Attorney games are extremely good. If I understand correctly, gameplay is puzzle-oriented, but there's also a narrative attached, so it's not just busy-work.

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Thanks! Call it horrible, but I'm all about tricking my children into learning something. I've thought about seeing if I could find one based on Sherlock Holmes, but I haven't found anything like that.

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Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf

I haven't played a Zelda game that wasn't brilliant.

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Majora's Mask was not a favorite of mine. It has some brilliant moments but it was so tedious to play. And those temples were just excruciating, they took such a commitment of time to finish. I prefer having more temples that are a wee bit shorter.

Im upgrading my pc for Skyrim and AC Revelations this Christmas