DAMN! damo is dropping some deep science these last few pages. heed his words.

oh man...andryoo, get on the tiger woods 08. we're still in the middle of 07 and it's pretty damn fun. great course selection and it even has some arcade style games to play with it as well that are pretty fun.

and another BIG YES for Skate.

I got sucked into Universe At War lately. Has a very 90's Starcraft feel to it. Tough obviously, no where near as balanced as that mighty RTS. Wish the designers had added the ability to play the strategy section as a turn based game. Similar to their last games, Empire At War and Forces Of Corruption. That was a nice way of handling turn based tactics, I thought.

I just got TF2! Haha, what blast. I havn't a clue what I'm doing half the time but this is the best online fun I've had in ages. Anyone who's into their online gaming should really be playing this. I can't believe I've waited so long to get this.

So I started playing Galaxy two days ago and feel a huge weight lifting off my shoulders as its been years since I've gotten into any game other than ones like GH or DDR or Brainage. But this game is in a class of its own. Incredibly fun and a joy to play. I'm actually making time to play video games for the first time since Windwaker but am trying to keep myself to an hour a day so I can make it last but it's been difficult and I expect it will get more so, the further along I get. Thank you Nintendo.

Fuck I need to get Galaxyz. I got stuck on Mass Effect, and I'm contemplating starting over. I've been dying at the same fight for like 3 days straight. Apparantly playing as a Vanguard is tougher than I thought it would be. I'm only logged in 7 hours, and I'm kinda loathing the idea of starting over. But I gotta get through it. Maybe I just suck.

Where are you stuck? Spoiler warn for others if necessary.

So I'm finally charging towards the end of Half-Life 2 this afternoon, in the 12th mission (of 13), and get to a long corridor with a bunch of dudes coming at me and big metal things I can lob at 'em with the gravity gun.

The game freezes -- potentially the first time the new 360 has frozen since I picked it up in August. No worries; restart, I was checkpoint'd right before that segment. But it freezes again at essentially the same spot. Restart. Freeze.

Fuck.

Have there been any reports of issues? My disc is flawless, but I bought the game in October and won't be able to swap for another copy now. I'm letting the system cool down before I give it another shot, but I might have to see if I can rent one from Blockbuster long enough to finish HL2 and hope the Episodes aren't fucked.

EDIT: Shit. I'm contacting Valve support.

Wow, thats odd. Seems like a problem with the actual game itself. Luckily you're close to the end so it's no biggie. But you'll miss miss important parts of the game storyline which is annoying.

Have you tried ep.1 yet? Is that ok?

i've gone on a mario rampage on bought a copy of Mario Sunshine to play on my Wii. And I just downloaded on Super Mario World too, sadly though, the gamecube controller does not work perfectly for the game. It is hard to run and jump in the same smooth motion that I am used to.

Sunshine so far is rather awesome. Yes, the environments aren't as varied as I would like, and yes the camera is god-awful, but I really like the relaxed feel to the game.

Not really spoilarz, but just in case.

[spoiler]I'm stuck at that fight with Benezia. The second fight. My friend told me it's one of the most difficult fights in the game. I can kill Benezia, but those asari commando bitches keep killing me. I have Liara, and Garrus who is fucking useless. I think my party isn't strong enough to beat her yet. After I rescued Liara I went to Noveria instead of going to that other galaxy. Haven't done many sidequests either so my level isn't that great.I don't have Singularity either which I heard is a useful power.[/spoiler]

I don't want to play the game anymore. I think I should start over. What's the easiest class to use?

I just want to see some alien jubblies GOD!

edit

I think I'll just get out of there and do some other quests.

My gf just let the cat out of the bag. I'm getting either Galaxy or Orange Box for Xmas. Most likely it's Galaxy, but I'll be happy either way though. Now I really need to finish Mass Effect. It's kinda sad. I need to finish this game so I can focus on this other game that I want to play more. skate is on the way too. Whaaat?

Valve Support told me to delete all my save files and enter a code to unlock all the missions. Did so and just completed the game. It's clearly not an isolated incident, but it must be some kind of issue caused by an earlier action in the game. Whatevs, it's done, hoorah! And, uh, WTF at the ending.

The goal now will be to finish the episodes by the end of the year, but finishing both by then seems unlikely. In addition to the holidays, I have six writing assignments to do over the break for various outlets. Some of those won't take a long time, but a couple will. Plus, I want to pump some more time into Mario Galaxy, and I'm expecting to get Geometry Wars Galaxies over the weekend.

Just unwrapped SM Galaxy and RE4 tonight, going to be a lot of wii-playing tomorrow.

Lucky man -- both are absolutely brilliant.

Scratch my earlier comment about maybe not beating Half-Life 2: Episodes One & Two by the end of the year. I might be done with Episode One tonight! An hour and a half deep and on the fourth of five missions? That's insane. And awesome.

get ready for one of the most insanely brilliant games of recent memory (SMG). I loved it while play it, but once I beat it, and started going through it the second time, I was really taken back by how absolutely brilliant the level design on this is. (Going back and playing SM Sunshine, only highlights this fact).

SPZ, re: Mass Effect:

I had a little problem with whats-her-face, but not so much that I thought I needed to start the game over. I was a vanguard like you, and had the other two humans in my party, and I really think that was the best (easiest?) mix the game had to offer. Plus, I had gotten Liara and done the other planet mission that's available first, as well as a handful of sidequests, so I was pretty much good to go for anything by that point. If you're still having trouble, just... do that stuff. Yes.

I've played Persona 3 a little bit this week. It's an interesting game for sure. I thought it was going to be a bit more like Bully and you'd have to micromanage your time in a day, but thankfully it's not like that. Your party does get tired though, so you can't have endless battles like I'm used to doing in RPGs. Seems like the story might end up being pretty good, too. Not epic, but a nice weird, twisted tale of teenagers shooting themselves in the head to evoke their actual inner demons.

Yeah my friend said to go all combat on her and use Ashley, and or Wrex. I actually left Noveria to do other side quests just cause I'm sick of seeing that same area for almost a week. I'll go back there eventually. But thanks!
I will not bow to this game!

That final sequence in Half-Life 2: Episode One was intense. And that was a much more interesting chunk of gameplay than HL2 as a whole, but three hours is still incredibly short. I'm happy with it, because I tend to lose interest in lengthy games and I wanted to get to Episode Two ASAP (will start tonight), but I can see how people would be disappointed to drop $20 on it last year.

I'm getting insane value out of The Orange Box.

Tell me about it. Orange Box is easily the best think I've purchased this year game-wise. I havn't even touched Portal or EP:2 yet. TF2 is just amazing. I've decided that I find it most fun to be a sniper. Although its most fun being sniper if you're always attacking, providing you pick a relatively open route. Also being a spy is great fun.

Dear Guitar Hero 3:

I am sorry for looking down my nose at you, and your predecessors, the last few years. You blew my fucking mind last night, and I can't wait to do it again.

XOXOXO,

Sam

Well, I've played 6-7 hours of Persona 3, and it's easily the most repetitive RPG I've ever played. Get bored with 70 hours of random battling? Try this shit out. I've only progressed about a month's time in the game though, and a week or two of that was spent unconscious. I feel that there's going to be plenty left as the year progresses. I just don't see how there could be right now.

Still, the game manages to be fun. It's not perfect obviously, but it's got that whole OCD thing going for it where you always just want to do one more thing and then two hours have passed and you're still playing, doing one more thing.

Ha, after I start Episode Two tonight, Team Fortress 2 will be the only part of the Orange Box that I haven't tried yet. It looks beautiful, but multiplayer shooters are rarely my forte. I'll give it a shot at some point, though.

Got Geometry Wars: Galaxies (Wii) today from my brother-in-law -- hoo-ah! Just had to drive six hours to/from Wisconsin to get it. Boo-ah.

in TF2 I am either a Spy(Stabby, Stabby) or an Engineer (Pitching a tent).

Yeah. I found that despite the high repitition, it encouraged a relentless perfectionism that was addictive. The worst thing for me was making Persona. I found myself wasting endless amounts of time in pursuit of that perfect combination of skills and stats. And then, soon enough, I'd have to do it all over again once I had reached a higher level and unlocked more naturally powerful types.

I know I'm lame, but this is my first time playing this...



Enjoying it greatly so far, but I'll be damned if it isn't the most difficult Zelda game I've played so far.

I need to replay that bad boy.

without a doubt, one of the best games of all time.

Bought my kids the High School Musical karoake game for Wii. IT was like a necessary evil - I knew it would be their favorite gift, but at the same time, I wasn't exactly thrilled with listening to off-key renditions of songs I can't stand. I had a headache after 20 minutes, but they loved it, so I guess all is good.

Now that a bunch of the EA Sports games have dropped in price to $20 as they usually do this time of year (at least the PS2 versions), I'm thinking about picking up FIFA 08 today. I'm not much of a soccer fan at all, but I enjoy playing the video game soccer. Strange.

IGN placed RE4: Wii Edition in its EOY awards. It received best action game for the Wii. I feel vindicated putting it in my EOY list hahahahaa

Another reason to not feel too warm and fuzzy about IGN's '07 awards. (Half-kidding.)

It was in the system-specific awards, though, right? I'd call that a fair use. Because really, what else are you going to vote for on Wii? If they put it on an overall GOTY-type list, I'd be a bit perturbed.

Got this for Christmas (a little late to the party).

Wow is this simply incredible. The depth of this is huge, and visuals are pretty amazing for a Gamecube (well essentially). Sure it's not difficult in the fighting department, but the puzzles are pretty awesome. I've already logged 10 hours. Honestly I only own this, and Super Mario Galaxy, but the Wii has totally been worth it.

The only disappointment of the game is that I really have the urge to just ride my horse along epic country sides, and the oppurtunity hasn't presented itself yet.

I've been playing Oblivion lately. Good stuff, but I got pretty sidetracked for a while and I beat some of the bigger side-stories (Mehrune's Razor, the Knights of Nine, I'm the new archmage), so I have awesome gear and the main storyline is now almost laughably easy because I can plow through most things in two hits. It's actually kind of fun, but it must take away from the whole "these guys are really evil" thing. The only thing I don't like about the game is riding around the countryside and randomly getting attacked by a monster from an oblivion gate because then you need to dismount, kill the fucker, and continue. Finding that unicorn and riding it around was pretty sweet, though, until it ran away.

I played through Oblivion back around the time in came out, but my data was tragically lost. I've been trying to get back into it so I can play through the expansion stuff. How would you rate the expansion stuff vs the standard game?

Just finished Half-Life 2: Episode Two. Incredible ending; definitely the best segment of HL2 yet.

Gonna go back through Portal now, methinks.

got a xbox 360 elite, woot. dang. this thing is pretty much a computer.


fuck i wanna play double dragon.

edit: anyway, first game is orange box. i've never played a half-life, but given the love for it here earlier i decided to give it a go. went to my sisters and hooked up the 360 to her HDtv. somewhat unimpressed by the visuals here (at least in the original half-life 2). alas, though, i then read that "the visuals are not as good as they should be on 360. This is clearly a port of the original Xbox version."

loving the dystopia though.

This makes me excited. I'm currently making my way through Episode 1 again to refresh myself with what was going on. God, I forgot just how brilliant the dark section at the start of the game is. Genuinely scary stuff.

Started portal last night aswell. One of the most innovative games ever?

okay, i'm playing guitar hero for the first time.
i started off with message in a bottle, then i played Sweet Child O Mine (both on easy). i got 87% on the GNR song. my roommate is about to get booed off stage on Crazy on You (medium), but he's played before. we suck, this is great.

Phantom Hourglass and Mario Strikers have both been excellent multiplayer experiences this week.

I've no clue how to put it in the historical canon after three months of release, but it's definitely one of the most innovative games of 2007. As much as I'd like a sequel, I think I'd be just as interested to see the concept worked into a Valve FPS. Man, that'd take forever to develop/test.

Ironically, I'm gonna put both of these games up for trade on Goozex. I thought Strikers was fun for like the first two weeks, but I feel some of those support characters are way too powerful. I hate playing against someone who use all Old Bones sidekicks, or all Boos. Don't get me started on Phantom Hourglass either. I gave up on that game because of that fucking repeat dungeon bullshit though some people don't mind it. It' a matter of preference I guess. I might hang on to Phantom Hourglass, and give it another chance after I get through Mass Effect, and Mario Galaxy, but I can't play anymore Strikers. Unless it's against Sausage. That match was epic haha.

Yea, I could see either of those getting old pretty fast, but for now I'm loving them. Haven't tried the single-player stuff in Hourglass yet, as my brother has hogged it since Christmas.

Goodamn has my 360 gotten the shit hit out of it this weekend between alternating Orange Box and Guitar Hero 3 marathon sessions. console gaming is so good right now, its just spooky. i have enough games on my "to do" list that i'll probably be set until next year's fall/holiday release schedule.

Anyone else having trouble signing into Live?

yeah, it's been shit for the past week or so.

Yeah, apparently they have the whole team working on repairs, but I've never seen it borked this badly before. Really odd.

Bad timing, too -- was hoping to take a couple of my year-end list candidates online for some multiplayer this past weekend. Didn't last five minutes in Team Fortress 2 before crippling lag killed the experience.

Ugh, I can't even sign in. It's so annoying. I'm supposed to play in a Halo podcast battle tonight(Player One Podcast vs. CAG).

Haha, which side are you repping?

Player One though I enjoy both podcasts =)