Frikin' PC Games!

[elbee]

Hey guys,

what pc games do you play??

[ziznak]

oh dear... lets seeeeee
right now I've got shortcuts to...

Warzone 2100: RTS abandonware that has lived on via fan dev community

Scorched 3D: Beautiful Online Artillery opensource game based on the old school scorched earth game from the 90's

GTA SA: playing through for mostly nostalgic reasons. And for avatar screenshots.

Red Alert2:  Best RTS C&C ever made

Delver: PC version of an Indy android POV roguelike dungeon crawler.  Active in dev community.

COD1 and 2: mindless multiplayer FPS fun.

CODMW2:  trying to get cracked version multiplayer up and running.

Q3: more classic mindless FPS

Star Wars Battlefront II: will never be uninstalled

Warsow:  Very cool free FPS uses cartoonish rendered characters not the usual 3d models.  not too many active servers in US though.   

I'm also very active with a game community around a little game called Dweller which is an android indy dev'd roguelike.

What are you into?? I love finding new cool games so...this thread is right up my alley.

[BobGrau]

Star Wars Battlefront II: will never be uninstalled

Ayyy-fucking-men to that.

[Mind Flayer Monk]

Day of Defeat
Company of Heroes

[elbee]

I miss the good old days when it wasn't just about blowing up the latest graphics cards,

Any games your into atm?

They don't have to be old, just as long as there good!

[Mind Flayer Monk]

Day of Defeat is old and still good! First person shooter/counterstrike clone

[Agent : Orange]

Star Control 2, updated to run on modern PCs:
http://sc2.sourceforge.net/

Hell yeah

[MV/Liberace!]

recently i've been playing warcraft 3 and sim city 4 (or whatever the last one is).

[ziznak]

Star Control 2, updated to run on modern PCs:
http://sc2.sourceforge.net/
Hell yeah

I had no clue... I haven't seen this in years this was the only Star craft I ever played.  I love indie/fan dev'd games.

recently i've been playing warcraft 3 and sim city 4 (or whatever the last one is).

Warcraft 3 is a classic RTS... I gotta find a version.  Sim city always started out fun but then turned into an anxiety attack... I would play for hours and eventually think to myself... what am I doing this is more like a job at this point!

Yo Monk do you play DoD online much?? I've been doing mostly Quake 3 lately for my online shooter fix.

[McPhallus]

recently i've been playing warcraft 3 and sim city 4 (or whatever the last one is).

I used to play Sim City (every version) until I had filled up the entire map.

You might want to check out Cities XL (I think that's the name of it).  It's kind of the modern version of SC.  It has a tons of options, and you can even zoom down to the street level and watch people walk around.

[MV/Liberace!]

I used to play Sim City (every version) until I had filled up the entire map.

You might want to check out Cities XL

i'll take a look at that.

[Mind Flayer Monk]

Yo Monk do you play DoD online much?? I've been doing mostly Quake 3 lately for my online shooter fix.

I play here and there, but its one of the few games I haven't quit playing after 10 years (the mark of a good game).
In general, I enjoy the WW2 genre of games.

Quake 3 was a really fun multiplayer as well.

[Grimace]

I'm a fan of Minecraft myself, which most have probably heard of and either love or hate it. Civ 5 I'm into if you include the new expansion that actually makes it feel on par with Civ 4. (which imo is still the best, but I am a sucker for Civ 5's eye candy. Still, no unit stacks in vanilla mode sometimes makes things seem a bit easy.) I still have a SimCity 4 install on my old laptop with a shitload of mods that I think SC4 can't do without. I love setting up a school and a strip club pops up adjacent. Oops. (I saw something pretty similar once in FL. I wonder if the kids got a free show?)

I am also one of those weirdos that has a 30+ gig Flight Simulator install directory and still gets use out of his old school Microsoft Sidewinder joystick. Not for everyone, but I find flying heavy iron from the east coast to the Caribbean relaxing as hell. I'd love to experience the final approach to Princess Juliana International on St. Maarten as a passenger one day, but for the time being taking an old school L-1011 there while a glass of cold beer rests by my side is entertainment enough.

I suck ass at FPS games so I don't play those much... I played the hell out of Skyrim when it came out but I think I went a little nuts with it and I've been kind of avoiding getting back into my character, since I get OCD and want to explore every inch of side-quests and uncover each damn rock before proceeding with the main quest.


                 |
Awesome V

Star Control 2, updated to run on modern PCs:
http://sc2.sourceforge.net/

Hell yeah

By the way, what are your opinions on the upcoming sim city 5? I am both excited and a bit anxious about it, I used to love city building games and such in the mid-late 90s and I just don't see much out there these days... SC4 was the last great one to me, but I was also really into the Sierra Caesar/Pharaoh/Master of Olympus titles. I'm on the fence as far as what I've seen of the art style, but I think it has some potential as long as they allow modding as in the past games. It seems like they're going to insist on some annoying form of DRM, but whatever, if it looks good enough I'll snag it. I still don't own Diablo 3 but I'll get it after I see a considerable price drop, haha. I got D1 '98 and didn't get D2 until until about 2003 so not much reason to rush into this one.

[Agent : Orange]

Here comes a rant. You've all been warned.

I'm really sick of the (for lack of a better word) "consolization" of PC games. By this, I mean back in the day the PC was a unique platform for some of the most complex and involved games out there. Now it seems like the PC game scene has become a dumpster for all of the console games that companies want to cash in on by making multiplatform releases for. Despite the graphics, even Skyrim felt like a console port, and pretty much all of the big name titles have been released cross platform for economic reasons. Easier to cash in on a larger user base after all. But this has cheapened the experience in my opinion. 

The low point of this trend for me was Space Marine. After finally getting my hands on the game I connected my Logitech USB pad, because I'm playing a console game anyway right? So I may as well make the most of it. But guess what happens when you try to configure the controls? A diagram of an XBox controller pops up and unless you're specifically using one of those, it seems you can't configure a pad with that game. My response was basically, "fuck that. I'm done with this". And I really haven't been able to get the sour taste out of my mouth since. That is really inexcusable and lazy on the part of the developers. Worse, seeing new games based on old properties - like a personal favorite from back in the day, Syndicate - turned into all out shoot em ups in the style of Modern Warfare really does nothing for me. Plus the state of games on release now is terrible. Without an inane number of patches, many of the games contain critical flaws and errors out of the box. This, combined with repetitive multiplayer modes mean you can pretty much forget about playing a new game without a net connection. The "single player" Diablo 3 (or as I call it, WoW-Lite) is the worst offender on that front.

Not only does the PC have a superior interface, (mouse and keyboard), it has a large hardware base which can provide potentially the most intense visuals and effects. I find it hard to believe that the PC market has stagnated so badly in light of the console format. Surely there has to be some unique independently produced games out there which are groundbreaking and novel in some way. Right? Or has working outside of the large publishing houses basically died a sad death?

Does anyone have any suggestions for an oldschool PC gamer like me? I don't have much time to invest in games nowadays but I can be suckered back from time to time when something interesting gets my attention.

[Darisi]

Games?   Really?

[Mind Flayer Monk]

I'm really sick of the (for lack of a better word) "consolization" of PC games.

I find it hard to believe that the PC market has stagnated so badly in light of the console format. Surely there has to be some unique independently produced games out there which are groundbreaking and novel in some way. Right? Or has working outside of the large publishing houses basically died a sad death?

Does anyone have any suggestions for an oldschool PC gamer like me? I don't have much time to invest in games nowadays but I can be suckered back from time to time when something interesting gets my attention.

I think alot of that is from the XBox and "Games for Windows".
The only thing that seems to do well are games that just don't translate well to console-such as RTS-or MMOs.

I guess the big move in games right now is to handheld games you can play on your cell phone. That and very simple games you can play in your web browser like Bejeweled and Farmville.

[Camazotz Automat]

I can absolutely whip all your asses in the game pictured below.

Other than that...

[attachimg=1]

[analog kid]

That looks quite awesome, whatever it is.

[BobGrau]

Is that the Mayan calander?

[ziznak]

I think it's a version of "Simon" from that movie "sleeper."

[b_dubb]

i figured it was a prop from Space 1999

[McPhallus]

Here comes a rant. You've all been warned.

I'm really sick of the (for lack of a better word) "consolization" of PC games. By this, I mean back in the day the PC was a unique platform for some of the most complex and involved games out there. Now it seems like the PC game scene has become a dumpster for all of the console games that companies want to cash in on by making multiplatform releases for. Despite the graphics, even Skyrim felt like a console port, and pretty much all of the big name titles have been released cross platform for economic reasons. Easier to cash in on a larger user base after all. But this has cheapened the experience in my opinion. 

I had a similar experience trying to get the new Ridge Racer game to work.  I guess it's a given that that one's a console port, but it refuses to work with my Thrustmaster game pad and insists on having the Xbox controller. 

The PC has been dying as a gaming platform since the mid-90s.  I can remember when flight sims were about more than just target shooting and would come with keyboard overlays because so many commands and settings were available to the player.  But those days are long gone, I think.  It's a shame, since we now have multi-core 64-bit processors and insane graphics cards, but not many interesting games that really take advantage of them. 

I think mobile platforms are really the future of gaming.  Touch screens actually work pretty well for many types of games, although I've yet to see a decent flight sim.

[ziznak]

I've got a DSXL with an ACEKARD that holds like 200 some odd games and I have a bit of homebrew installed on it as well. The original quake and doom2 ports and the best roguelike ever made "powder" on the DS are great. Touch screens are definitely awesome I think that's why I still play the darned thing as my main portable.  I wanna upgrade to a 3DS eventually. 

I've noticed most of the PC games that I still play are older games that I fell in love with years ago. 

Case in point: Agent Orange mentioned that opensource Starcraft 2 which I've installed and have been playing off and on all weekend since. 

For controllers I used to have a sidewinder game pad but the only thing I used it for was a Nintendo 64 emulator.  Nothing like classic Mario Kart... I'd have a few people over just drinking and what not and I would fire up Mario Kart from time to time.  You'd be surprised how quickly that would just suck people in only to spit them out 3 hours later.

BTW thanks Agent Orange

[Agent : Orange]

. 
Case in point: Agent Orange mentioned that opensource Starcraft 2 which I've installed and have been playing off and on all weekend since. 

Glad to hear you've been getting some kicks out of it, one of the best games around

[Grimace]

Worse, seeing new games based on old properties - like a personal favorite from back in the day, Syndicate - turned into all out shoot em ups in the style of Modern Warfare really does nothing for me. Plus the state of games on release now is terrible. Without an inane number of patches, many of the games contain critical flaws and errors out of the box.

Heh, the Syndicate "reboot" or whatever the hell one wants to call it boggled my mind. I had caught wind of the game and was thinking, "hmm... a re-release of the original with graphics tailored to contemporary systems will be cool, let me watch some gameplay... oh... nevermind." Also with the patches, it ticks me off how the general consensus from people on game forums and such is, "DEAL WITH IT, A PATCH WILL COME OUT." If memory serves correct, back in the day patches were generally there to just add more features and maybe tweak a minor issue or two, not to have to be expressly released to fix a game breaking bug or embarrassing graphical glitch.

I had a similar experience trying to get the new Ridge Racer game to work.  I guess it's a given that that one's a console port, but it refuses to work with my Thrustmaster game pad and insists on having the Xbox controller. 

The PC has been dying as a gaming platform since the mid-90s.  I can remember when flight sims were about more than just target shooting and would come with keyboard overlays because so many commands and settings were available to the player.  But those days are long gone, I think.  It's a shame, since we now have multi-core 64-bit processors and insane graphics cards, but not many interesting games that really take advantage of them. 

I think mobile platforms are really the future of gaming.  Touch screens actually work pretty well for many types of games, although I've yet to see a decent flight sim.

There are still plenty of graphical mods to bring that FS2004 or FSX install right in line with what would be released this year, certainly more than my modest desktop can handle. Add some third party aircraft from PMDG or CLS and the FSPassengers mod and there's a shitload of complexity to keep you busy, haha. (The FSPassengers career mode adds quite a dimension to the game as well, making the virtual world seem much less lifeless.) Lastly, adding proper AI with the "World of AI" traffic packages rounds the game out well to add a level of traffic density than M$ probably never imagined out of the box.

Now with all this I just mentioned, M$ decides to instead release MS Baby's First Flight Sim ahem, "Flight" which removes just about everything I loved about the long running series and instead wanted to cash in on DLC and I guess "bring casual users in." Yo, M$, that usually doesn't work. At this point flight sims cater to a niche of users who don't want to play with a gamepad and do silly "find the guy who fell off his sailboat" missions. I do admit the multiplayer in Flight looked kind of fun, but I was still baffled that this is what they came up with.

As for mobile gaming, I just can't get get past the touch controls for more controller-intensive titles. GTA 3 is on the iOS, sweet, and so is a lack of ps2 controller to actually enjoy the game, haha. There are some cool titles that have come out for iOS though... though they are super-casual, I do enjoy the games from Kariosoft just to sit and kill some time while out and about. It makes me cringe to think "mobile games" are the next big thing... then again, as someone who sees the state of PC games in the 90s through rose-colored glasses, lots of things now make me cringe.

[Grimace]

Nothing like classic Mario Kart... I'd have a few people over just drinking and what not and I would fire up Mario Kart from time to time.  You'd be surprised how quickly that would just suck people in only to spit them out 3 hours later.

Game is fuckin' timeless. Haha, do you ever get into those situations where two people insist on playing the same character? If I can't play as Toad, I'm going to be god damn DK and knock Toad off the pavement as much as possible.

[scottydawg]

Star Trek Armada 1&2, old school game, but there is a great modding community out there. They've developed great hacks where you can have ships from Star Wars, Babylon 5, Farscape and others into the mix. My boys got hooked on it to for a couple of years. Now Damion is ito World of Warcraft, and Jimmy into Minecraft 7 and  GTA "Hill Valley" Back to the Future Edition!

[ziznak]

Game is fuckin' timeless. Haha, do you ever get into those situations where two people insist on playing the same character? If I can't play as Toad, I'm going to be god damn DK and knock Toad off the pavement as much as possible.

Unfortunately it's been years since I played the 64 version but on the DS I use toad in the standard rob kart and If I cant be toad I'd go with yoshi in 64 or drybones in DS... same thing.  what I love about the DS is that if you have a wifi hookup you can always find little chinese kids too play online.  gotta be careful though a lot of them have rom kards like me and utilize the cheats such as unlimited spikey shells... ruins the game.

[Camazotz Automat]

That looks quite awesome, whatever it is.

It looks even better in person. For decoration value, it's pure computer geek retro heaven. I'm surprised I have not seen it in the background of The Big Bang Theory.

Is that the Mayan calander?

Ha!

I think it's a version of "Simon" from that movie "sleeper."

Good one. Both in the comparison to Simon and to the appliance geometry of Sleeper.

i figured it was a prop from Space 1999

It's certainly possible.  Directors have used it in both low budget and not so low budget efforts when a "futuristic" prop was required. To turn it off, you must pull the blue shroud forward and all the way down. That really clinches the sphere/Eames/eyeball effect.

[MV/Liberace!]

By the way, what are your opinions on the upcoming sim city 5?

i know nothing about it other than the fact it's coming.  i'm looking forward to it.