yeah, that article was really well written, and it made you think whether you were the one playing a game or if it was the game playing you, so to say.

really though, i'm glad i'm not addicted to/spending money on MMOs, while i have nothing against people who like it, it's not something that i'd really want to get into.

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Legend Of Zelda-Ocarina Of Time
God I love emulators and this game.

David Wong has some other articles on gaming but those aren't very good, they're full of dumb generalization, inaccuracies and ridiciulous misconceptions about the video game industry, he really knows nothing about that stuff and comes off as confused, raging fanboy.

This article is informative because it's about the psychological aspects, David Wong is one of the less retarded members of cracked, unfortunately he doesn't even try to be funny and that's a big negative for what's supposed to be a humor site.

My best gaming moments have all been in MMOs :) You have to remember everything gets a little more personal and a little more important. It elevates the game to a higher level of importance which means the personal gain for reaching goals in itis so much higher. Getting new stuff becomes a bigger reward .. Beating people in PVP becomes a bigger reward - and so on.

I've spent most of my MMORPG time in the norwegian game Anarchy Online which launched in 2001. It was my first MMORPG and playing it after release was just incredible. It was tough as hell, it really beat us up and it took about a year to really get into the game mechanics as it's ridiculously advanced and there's so much to learn. It's easier now that there's money in the system and people know their way around, but back then, everyone was piss poor starting out in a horribly hard game.

Although there are plenty of people who play more than I do, I really had a life in there - or rather, a few. At first, I approached it very much like a pen and paper roleplaying game and so did my friends.

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That's the city Tir in the screenshot. When we started out, we had a beggar's guild in this city and our aim was to know everything about everyone, including intelligence. We would actually spend hours running and dodging dangerous wilderness to get down to omni-1, the enemy city (although there was a fragile sort of peace between the two factions back then). We reported back to other guild leaders and actually had a longer running mission about finding out about this omnitek employee who was creating something of a cult .. hm!

Sometime later, we had made some money and started the Tir City Watch. We had red uniforms, patrolled the streets and helped out newbies. We had quite a few recruits that we put through training, like finding eachother by coordinates out in the wilderness or crossing the Mort desert, which was full of dangerous monsters, on foot.

After an expansion which allowed for land control, we started a new guild, Clan Imperialist Army where we played warmongers who tried to unite the clans against the omnitek faction. Every week, a whole bunch of clan leaders came together and discussed to figure out how to best beat our enemy. I've had more political speeches in that game than I have spoken or presented anything in real life which is actually quite a bit.


There's plenty more to tell about all the time spent in other guilds and other friends, but my point is Anarchy Online was more than just a game to me and my friends, for better or worse. We had lives in there and playing it was incredibly rewarding. It's just a bit sad and perhaps a bit spooky that none of those rewards really last. :p:

edit :

I don't play MMORPGs at the moment by the way. It's still fun, but the pioneering spirit and the marvel of playing in a world which was incredibly huge like you could never explore it all, was just magnificent and I haven't really felt it since 2001/2002. Anarchy Online had a lot of computer generated landscape - tons of it. It is much bigger than any other MMORPG I've played, including World of Warcraft. The quality of the nature is less, but it gave it a great sense of realness. Playing in such a world for the first time was really special to me.

I've never bothered delving into an MMORPG. I think with that sort of thing, unless you're in there from the very beginning, you're going to have a very lonely and tiresome climb to the top. Plus, I'm not a fan of buddying up with random players online - my Live account is only comprised of people I know in reality. Though I might purchase Star Wars The Old Republic when it is released, only because I am quite the Star Wars geek.

is this still active? i played for a few months in 2005. they offered a full free year of basic service if you started up in January of that year. it was good for a bit but like all the others, once the grinding in the middle levels started my interest waned and i just stopped. think my main character was somewhere around level 50-60.

my favourite MMO is still City of Heroes though, haven't tried anything else that really clicked that well for me. Champions Online was close, i'd have to try it a few more times though.

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Way. Too. Fucking. Hard.

Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty fun game but I can't even make it past the first part of the first level. That's kind of frustrating and I have to say frustrating games tend to lose my interest after a while.

Don't worry, you just really suck at that game.

The first two levels are easy, the third level is really when it gets fustrating. There's only 4 main stages and 3 bonus stages (which IMO are the most fun part of the game) so to compensate for the lack of stages it does get pretty challenging. Not as bad of a game as people make out.

If you want to get pissed try playing the GG version, it's terrible. :laughing:

Have you ever played Knight Online?

One of my biggest complaints about it is, as far as I can tell, if you die you have to completely start the level over. So, for example, I was playing just a few minutes ago and actually did better than I had ever done. I made to a couple different sections I hadn't been to yet, collected a crystal, the whole nine yards, then I died and it's like none of that ever happened. Grrr.

For the last 3 years I have only been able to find my ff7 disc 3. Im on vacation back home in FL atm and found the first two discs. I still got the old ps1 here as well, and have been fighting the urge to Cloud it up as of late, knowing I'll get to the third disc and start fiending like a crackhead. WHAT DO I DO!

Duh, smoke some crack you crackhead.

enjoy the first disc and the start of the 2nd, then very slowly grind your character levels up for as long as possible before you trigger the transition to disc 3.

Since my move to Montreal, I have not owned a television. Having no television means I have not played any console games in a rather long time (I miss my xbox360). Therefore, I have to divert my gaming needs to my laptop. One favourite website of mine - for over a couple of months now - has been Play Fun Multiplayer Games Free At OMGPOP.
This website is basically a domain for multiplayer games of all variations. Once you have created an account you can customize your profile with perks, which are purchased with 'coins' that you earn when you win a match etc.
They have a variety of games from a pictionary-esque game, a game called "balloono-pop" (I believe), and a handful of other fun multiplayer games.
I highly recommend this site for anyone with some spare times on their hands, who do not want to spend any money.b:beer:

Thank you sir. I began the process, but have been abruptly interrupted by 'Borderlands' another decent game.

^ don't worry, the awesomeness of Borderlands subsides after about 2 weeks max. it's unfortunate, the potential was awesome, but by the end of it, it's over. there's just too little story to draw you in and the characters are so hollow that you never really give a crap about accomplishing anything aside from getting (hopefully) good loot.

I haven't played that game but your criticisms really annoys me.

1. The story and character development isn't that deep, who f*cking cares? It's a video game.

2. WHY is a short game a bad game? A lot of my favorite games can be beaten in a day. Does Super Mario Bros have enough content to keep you hooked for 2 weeks straight? No. But it's better than a lot of games that fall into that category.

Uusually the best games are short little experiences, like orgasms, which can then be revisited whenever you want. When RPGs lose their luster and you've fully powered up, well you can always start over again.

It's ridiculous that a game can have a month's worth of replay value and still be considered too short, I never complained in the day when games only lasted an hour, no one did, because they're fun, that's all that matters. Now people care waaaaay too much about quantity, not enough about the quality. Video games don't need to be f*cking novels.

Borderlands wasn't as good as I thought it would be, although I only played the single player which is obviously important. Nevertheless, mr dave hit the nail on the head pretty much. There's just very little in the game to motivate you to keep playing after a while. I'd say as a mix of FPS and RPG, it doesn't quite manage to get the best parts from both genres. As an FPS, it gets very repetitive and as an RPG, the story and so on is just too sparse, uninteresting and didn't motivate.

That's what it was for me anyways. I'd been playing it for quite a while, but one day, I just realized I didn't want to play it again.

Well, if it has RPG elements then criticizing the story is a legitimate complaint I guess. That's the only kind of game where the story is very important.

Borderlands looks very interesting though, has very unique visual style to it. I'm a fan of cel shading.

Borderland is a great game, however it is too repetitive. A game has to end at one point, and while some are longer than others Borderlands still has a high replay value. The loot is pretty rewarding, but you are bound to move on eventually.

thanks, and that's pretty much it, the potential from the onset was amazing. i had high hopes for this title and it disappoints not because of what is there but because of all the little things that could have been implemented to take it from being really good to being freaking great.

the loot system was awesome, finding a wicked amazing gun that suits your play style to a tee early in the game felt awesome. only then you find yourself on the run to the final boss and you're still firing that same gun because the game has dropped every other possible type of hand cannon besides the kind you really liked because it's got 'billions of guns'.

but the biggest slap to my face that i felt from that game - why didn't the 'ending' unlock another playable character?

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not a bad turn based strategy game, although i have to get used to actually using strategy, hehe :D

Because the ending sucked freaking donkey dick.

It was so.. so... soooooo bad. Just, horrendous. Ugh. Terrible. Terrible. Horrible.

It's like they ran out of time at the end and were like, "ok, think of the most cliche thing known to man and put it at the end! Then, like, don't give them any loot or anything. Just make the game end!"

I prefer Titan Quest (not very similar, but sort of similar loot system). Borderlands was fun, but Titan Quest I keep coming back to.

They turned advance wars into a RTS? Why? It was one of the best turnbased games I've laid hands on.

oh my mistake, it is a turnbased game. sorry, i haven't played too much strategy titles so i got my words mixed up. i'll edit my post now.

Anyone else get the new map pack for MW2?

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Fucking-A this is a fun game! It basically plays like a remake of Super Mario 3 with better graphics and that's a great thing.

Haven't got a chance to play it. I was skeptical of the idea of 4 player, is it any good?

I've only played one player so far but it's really, really fun.

believe all the hype behind the new Mario Bros.

I'm taking that as a good.

^ oh yeah! if you have a wii and enjoy simple FUN old school games you'll have an absolute blast with the new Mario Bros. at first the extra players on screen feels a little disconcerting but after about a level you get used to how your friends play and it gets exponentially more fun with more players.

^

I second this. The new Mario is good old school fun...and having 4 players on the screen at once is a ton of fun. Sometimes if you are playing with someone who is really terrible (which is sad to see...it's a freaking sidescroller) it gets frustrating. Otherwise, good stuff.

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Seeing as I intend to stay away from all the work I have to do for a week yet, I've dug this out for the first time in a while. For some weird reason I feel the need to try and get Accrington Stanley into the Premiership. One and a half seasons in, 8th in League 1 - not bad so far.

Not played FM in a while, I don't want to get bitten by the bug right this moment. It is an awesome game though.

Definitely. It's a horribly addictive game too - I remember back before I had much else to do (aka uni) I used to play it religiously. I think taking Wigan to a Champion's League semi was my finest hour on it. Good times!

I love taking the lowest league available and a club with a terrible money situation. Winning the league in the first season and making the club run a profit is very rewarding, though you've pulled most of your hair out by then, lol.

Yeah, frustrating too, I forgot that bit, especially when the computer has a tendency to make games waaaaaaaay more incident-packed and dramatic than they always are (like you're 4-1 up with five seconds left and then concede three). Picking lower league teams is definitely the way to go - even if I supported any one of them, picking Arsenal, Man U or Barcelona would get pretty boring after a while. There's just no challenge in steam-rolling the top divisions.

Theres a forum on the SI site all about Lower League Managing, with their own rules to make it more realistic (like not scouting in places that the real club wouldnt be able to get to etc) and it's quite fun once you get stuck in, plus there is a random lower league team generator if you're stuck on who to pick, lol.

I haven't played the latest edition yet, but I will once I have a spare year to get lost in.

That forum sounds really interesting actually - might have to give it a go. I made a point in picking Accrington to play a club that've never won a major trophy or made it to the top two leagues (makes it more satisfying when you take them there), and it would've been much simpler to just get one from a random generator or whatever. I'll bear that in mind next time, aka when I get the latest edition (still using the 2007-8 one - I'm just that far behind the times) or, as you say, next time I have a year to spend playing the thing day and night.