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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

It’s a doggy dog world.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.

…and a burning sense of injustice to juice the soul.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

The lights are all blinking red.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

There is one struggling party in US right now, and it’s not the Democrats.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Fight them, without becoming them!

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

It’s easier to kill a dangerous animal than a man who just happens to have different thoughts/values than one’s own.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Israel is using food as a weapon of war. Unforgivable.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

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You are here: Home / Popular Culture / Gamer Dork / Game Theory

Game Theory

by Soonergrunt|  December 8, 20117:32 pm| 184 Comments

This post is in: Gamer Dork, Open Threads

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What kind of games do people play?  Card games, board games, sports, mind games, computer games, console games?

What kind of computer if that’s your thing?  What kind of console?

I’m currently playing left4dead and left4dead2 from my steam account on PC.  I have a pre-order in for Star Wars The Old Republic, and as soon as my new computer parts get here, I’ll build a new PC for the game–I needed a new PC anyway, this was just an excuse to go big on it.

If games aren’t your thing, what is?

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Reader Interactions

184Comments

  1. 1.

    jharp

    December 8, 2011 at 7:34 pm

    Crossword puzzle from the L.A. Times. In ink with no mistakes. It’s tougher than you’d think.

  2. 2.

    cathyx

    December 8, 2011 at 7:34 pm

    Love card games, board games, and mind games. Computer games, not at all.

    I think if they were invented when I was a kid, I would be really into them. I have no interest in starting it now.

  3. 3.

    Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn

    December 8, 2011 at 7:37 pm

    If I’m not lurking here or gadding about on FB, my head is buried in Photoshop. Unless I’m out on a shooting spree with my Canon G12.

    But, yeah, I do love me some Photoshop.

  4. 4.

    HumboldtBlue

    December 8, 2011 at 7:39 pm

    RTS — all the good “old” one — Blitzkrieg, Total War, 2nd Manassas, Napoleonic Wars and Scrabble, hearts and spades.

  5. 5.

    boss bitch

    December 8, 2011 at 7:40 pm

    I’m not a gamer like some people here. The games on my computer are the ones installed by the computer company. I also have Bejeweled 3 and play free games on Pogo.com.

  6. 6.

    Malraux

    December 8, 2011 at 7:41 pm

    Table top RPGs and board games are my preference followed by console gaming. Unfortunately I moved recently and haven’t had a change to get with a new group.

  7. 7.

    jeff

    December 8, 2011 at 7:45 pm

    Games like Age of Empires and Rise of Nations have periodically ruined my life.

  8. 8.

    Violet

    December 8, 2011 at 7:45 pm

    I played Bookworm on the plane flights this past week. I find it very addictive.

  9. 9.

    Jane2

    December 8, 2011 at 7:45 pm

    Puzzle games, hidden object games, adventure narrative….pretty tame stuff not requiring anything special. And my shame spiral is an abiding love for Gardens of Time on FB.

    And I’ve never been kicked off a plane for my Words With Friends addiction.

  10. 10.

    Phoenician in a time of Romans

    December 8, 2011 at 7:49 pm

    Oh, God help me – I recently dug out and reinstalled “Crusader Kings” from Paradox Interactive. Grand scale strategy game, taking a medieval dynasty, arranging for marriages and children, conquering the infidel and maybe a few Christian neighbours, and grabbing titles.

    I started with the duke of Apulia in 1066. It’s nearly 1200 or so and his great grandchild is the King of Naples, North Africa, Egypt, Jerusalem, Arabia, Castille, Leon and a few other places – and eying a sadly vacant French throne…

  11. 11.

    Suffern ACE

    December 8, 2011 at 7:50 pm

    I like bowling, even though I’m not very good at it. I’ll play most card games, but for some reason I can’t get into Bridge.

  12. 12.

    KG

    December 8, 2011 at 7:52 pm

    I play holdem, live games. I play NCAA football on PS3 (and if I ever get around to getting Madden this year, that too). Use to have Civ3 on my Macbook, but took it off because there were too many nights when I looked up to see the sun rise.

    If I’m being physically active, then basketball occasionally or water polo if I can convince myself it’s worth it

  13. 13.

    Walker

    December 8, 2011 at 7:53 pm

    I am currently playing Heroes of Might and Magic 6. But tomorrow I have to play a lot of games. Grading student projects.

  14. 14.

    Yutsano

    December 8, 2011 at 7:56 pm

    Family pinochle tournaments during the holidays. My grandfather cheats on counts. It’s great.

  15. 15.

    EriktheRed

    December 8, 2011 at 7:57 pm

    Left 4 Dead 2, BioShock and Dead Island are my games of choice at the moment.

    They all totally kick ass, IMHO.

  16. 16.

    Moonbatting Average

    December 8, 2011 at 7:58 pm

    PS3: L.A. Noire, Dead Rising 2, Red Dead Redemption, MW2
    PC: Empire Total War

    Hey Soonergrunt, a while ago you had a post including links to some freeware registry cleaners and general PC scrubbing ware. Can you link to it or just re-suggest in this thread? Thanks!

  17. 17.

    piratedan

    December 8, 2011 at 7:59 pm

    Civ4 for the PC and online games I waste time on goofy stuff like trophy fishing online, torn city and space merchant realms. I have been known to haunt pogo for time wasters as well.

  18. 18.

    Sock Puppet of the Great Satan

    December 8, 2011 at 7:59 pm

    On iOS: King of Dragon Pass, Starbase Orion, Bard’s Tale, Smalleorld, Elder Sign: Omens.

    Board games: Dominion, Thunderstone, Dixit, Defenders of the Realm, Quirkle, Ascension, The Adventurers.

  19. 19.

    Linda Featheringill

    December 8, 2011 at 7:59 pm

    I was introduced to computer games about 10 years ago or so. I love them. Puzzle games are nice. And a number of games that the macho guys would laugh at.

    I really like games that include a lot of reward with scoring. Sounds, light shows, sparkles, etc. Good for the poor, battered ego.

  20. 20.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    December 8, 2011 at 8:01 pm

    I am currently hooked on this

    http://games.yahoo.com/game/gemclix

    It is cool, fun game, cool music, bombs and shit, my highest level on blitz mode is 64.

  21. 21.

    Raven

    December 8, 2011 at 8:02 pm

    At 62 I try to swim a mile a day, 7 days a week. We walk 2 miles in the morning before breakfast. Taking care of the troubled Lil Bit and hangin with her and the Bohdi and having a full time job about fills things out until kickoff, tipoff or that dreaded first pitch. Of course, there is Balloon Juice.

  22. 22.

    Amanda in the South Bay

    December 8, 2011 at 8:02 pm

    I’m currently playing Federation Commander with a friend. Fed Com is the streamlined version of Starfleet Battles, a superduper complicated Star Trek (sorta-esque) table top simulation game.

  23. 23.

    Martin

    December 8, 2011 at 8:03 pm

    Lots of different kinds, but Dwarf Fortress is my perennial favorite.

  24. 24.

    jharp

    December 8, 2011 at 8:05 pm

    I am for sure a game dweeb.

    I have no idea what you people are talking about.

  25. 25.

    dopealope

    December 8, 2011 at 8:06 pm

    Mostly xBox 360 games. I am currently playing Skyrim, and have been doing so for 2 weeks. It’s an incredible game. My favorite games have been Fallout 3, Bioshock, and the Mass Effect Series …

  26. 26.

    PaulW

    December 8, 2011 at 8:06 pm

    I’ve been on City of Heroes for the longest time. I’ve tried other MMOs but none kept my interest.

    I was big into Battlezone and Command & Conquer series. My favorite multiplayer before getting into CoH was Jedi Knight: Outcast (I LOVED playing lightsaber duels).

    I was into the Myst series but didn’t keep up after III. I didn’t hear good things about the last entries…

  27. 27.

    mike the dealer

    December 8, 2011 at 8:06 pm

    Settlers of Catan is the best board game ever made, everyone should play it.

  28. 28.

    Phoenician in a time of Romans

    December 8, 2011 at 8:07 pm

    On iOS: King of Dragon Pass

    IOS? And where did you get that? – I’ve been looking for a copy for ages.

  29. 29.

    Gregory

    December 8, 2011 at 8:08 pm

    I’m a gamer! I got my start playing 1st edition D&D back in the day, and my first video game was a Pong set. Yeah.

    I currently play:

    Video games:
    Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
    Fallout 3
    Scott Pilgrim vs the Arcade Game
    Rock Band 2

    Computer games
    Left4Dead / L4D2
    EVE Online (an MMORPG
    Knights of the Old Republic, via Steam

    Tabletop games
    Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition (currently DMing a game)
    Munchkin
    Dominon (a deck-building card game)
    Forbidden Island (a cooperative treasure hunt game)
    ETA: Settlers of Catan

    Games I bought but haven’t found time to play yet
    Pandemic (a cooperative disease fighting game)
    Lunch Money (a card game about schoolyard brawls)
    And, possibly in the near future, Warhammer 40,000, gods help me.

    I also attend GenCon in Indianapolis every year. It’s quite an experience.

  30. 30.

    SKI

    December 8, 2011 at 8:09 pm

    Civ IV – the ultimate “One More Turn…” addiction

  31. 31.

    Martin

    December 8, 2011 at 8:09 pm

    @Phoenician in a time of Romans: App store. $9.99.

  32. 32.

    a.j.

    December 8, 2011 at 8:10 pm

    Really enjoying EVE online lately, because it’s the only full-on MMO that I know of that you can play for free if you play enough of it.

    They have a nice 21-day refer-a-friend trial if anybody wants one (full disclosure – if you sign up there’s a large in-game currency reward that you can have or we can split).

  33. 33.

    darkmatter

    December 8, 2011 at 8:11 pm

    @Soonergrunt: You should play some Saints Row: The Third.

  34. 34.

    Gregory

    December 8, 2011 at 8:11 pm

    By the way, honorable mention (games I love but don’t play any more) goes to:

    Battletech
    Call of Cthulhlu
    Traveller
    Champions
    ETA: Twilight: 2000
    Neverwinter Nights
    Civilization III
    Dead Space
    Resident Evil

  35. 35.

    Roger Moore

    December 8, 2011 at 8:12 pm

    Angry Birds. And somebody on here convinced me to go to GOG.com and buy Master of Magic. I played it when it first came out, and it’s as big a time waster today as it was back then. Maybe more so, since I no longer have to reboot into DOS mode to play it.

  36. 36.

    zubalove

    December 8, 2011 at 8:12 pm

    I play mostly on my x360 and through OnLive, a new game streaming service.

    I’ve been heavy into RPGs lately. Dragon Age on the 360, Divinity 2 on OnLive, and Skyrim on Steam.

    Life is actually pretty damn good, you know.

    I’ve thought about loading Final Fantasy 7 on my laptop and patching the graphics. I mean, why not? That game still rules.

  37. 37.

    Benjamin Franklin

    December 8, 2011 at 8:16 pm

    MindFuck, comes to mind.

  38. 38.

    Twisted Martini

    December 8, 2011 at 8:20 pm

    I’m a PS3 guy myself, currently working my way through Dead Space 2 which is amazing. I love the driving game-Need For Speed and Burnout was a great one too. Picked up Grand Theft Auto 4 for $10 bucks and was thoroughly entertained for months.

    Not really an online or multiplayer guy but my son lives on Steam.

  39. 39.

    eyelessgame

    December 8, 2011 at 8:21 pm

    RPGs, heavily, for the last 35 years. Tons of board games. Freeware online mini-boardgames.

    FPSes make me nauseous, except for Ultima Underworld, which every five years or so I pull out and replay.

    ETA: Oh! and King of Dragon Pass! I’m a Gloranthaphile and the game is wonderful.

  40. 40.

    eyelessgame

    December 8, 2011 at 8:22 pm

    Oh! And King of Dragon Pass! Because I’m a Gloranthaphile. Wonderful game.

  41. 41.

    hitchhiker

    December 8, 2011 at 8:22 pm

    Always word stuff for me . . . scrabble, bananagrams, boggle, crosswords (especially the pun-themed ones). Also like pick-up soccer games at the park.

    I haven’t ever played online character games, or x-box, or any game on my iphone — which means I’m lost in this thread.

  42. 42.

    Jane2

    December 8, 2011 at 8:23 pm

    @Martin: Yay, another time waster! Thanks!

  43. 43.

    MikeJ

    December 8, 2011 at 8:24 pm

    @jharp:

    Crossword puzzle from the L.A. Times.

    Rich Norris is ok, but for clever I prefer Shortz, for tough Stanley Newman’s Newsday Fri & Sat.

    I wrote a program to download all the good ones from their various sources and read them even though some are uclick, some are brainsonly, some are acrosslite. Solving on a computer I can generally do NYT Monday in about 2:30 and top out at close to 15 for a Saturday. Which means I’ll never be competitive, but I try to enjoy my amateur standing.

  44. 44.

    realbtl

    December 8, 2011 at 8:25 pm

    I play um…
    1 dobro
    2 one of my 3 steel string acoustic guitars
    3 my bastard tele
    4 elec bass

    Sorry, no silicon involved.

  45. 45.

    Tbone

    December 8, 2011 at 8:27 pm

    Used to play a lot of cards back in the day, I’ve really been missing that lately. Spades, hearts, pitch, euchre, and of course asshole.

    But the best was 66,which my grandparents taught my cousin and I in junior high. Best card game ever, but I’ve never met anyone else who knows it unfortunately.

    These days it’s mostly mandolin.

  46. 46.

    Bubblegum Tate

    December 8, 2011 at 8:27 pm

    I play NES games on the Wii. And I’m trying to figure out how to get this emulator to work so I can play Rivers of Light from the Adventure Construction Set (which I played back in the day on the Apple IIe–such an awesome game).

    I used to play contract bridge, but I’ve fallen off from that. My mom still bugs me to pick it up again, but I don’t know anybody else who plays.

  47. 47.

    NobodySpecial

    December 8, 2011 at 8:29 pm

    If it’s a game, I can get some form of entertainment from it.

    On my PS3, I’m going through old stuff on the wait for new stuff – mostly stuff I never really got time to fool with when it was new. So right now it’s Oblivion.

    On my PC, Steam is my friend as well, and I used to play one hell of a Whitey on Zombie Panic: Source. I just finished off ME 1/2 on a new playthrough and still haven’t quite finished off Dragon Age.

    Every other month or so, I go to Scrabble Night at the local coffee shop.

    I would have played more RPG’s and board wargames, but my town’s a bit weak on that stuff, or used to be. However, I did just get to playtest a new game that I found hella fun and would be glad to recommend to anyone – it’s called Space Monster.

    Oh yeah, and older games. Nobunaga’s Ambition: Rise To Power on my backwards compatible PS3. Panzer General Forever on my PC. And the nice folks over at Good Old Games (gog dot com) got my money a while ago for Heroes of Might and Magic 3 and the first Ultima trilogy.

  48. 48.

    CynDee

    December 8, 2011 at 8:30 pm

    1. Tennis ball with my black lab
    2. Solitaire (“Patience”) with real playing cards.
    3. No game: as it says on a bookmark I brought back from Oxford, “They say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.”

  49. 49.

    PhilC

    December 8, 2011 at 8:30 pm

    No one will play Diplomacy with me. Anyone in the SF Bay Area interested?

  50. 50.

    Gregory

    December 8, 2011 at 8:32 pm

    Unfortunately I moved recently and haven’t had a change to get with a new group.

    A friend of mine met his current gaming group on Meetup.com, so you might try that.

    If you play D&D, they sponsor a Wednesday night game session called Encounters at various game stores. You can plug your ZIP code into their Web site to see if anyone near you is hosting.

    I’m fortunate that both my daughters like D&D; I DM a game for them and their friends.

  51. 51.

    Arclite

    December 8, 2011 at 8:32 pm

    I’ve been replaying both Plants Vs Zombies and Borderlands on my PC Steam account lately.

    I love the strategy mixed with humor of PvZ. You can pick this game up for around 5 dollars on most platforms (try it free on the PC at the above link) and get a couple dozen hours of play (at least). The wide variety of plant types mean that you can be very creative in your solutions to the levels. There’s no one “right” way to win. Also, this game has been ported to almost every platform on the planet: Android, iphone, ipad, PC, Apple, xBox, Playstation, Nintendo DS, and even Linux (!). It’s also really easy to get into, as the game very slowly ramps up the challenge. Highly recommended.

    Borderlands is a shooter, but with a skill tree and other RPG elements. It has a Diablo-style loot system with an infinite number of different kinds of guns, so each loot drop potentially has a great weapon in it. There’s a nice campaign with various quests, the art style is comic book cel-shaded, the violence is over the top, and there’s a lot of humor. I never buy DLC, but I bought the all DLC for this, b/c I was having such a great time with the gameplay. It’s a lot of fun, and the world it creates is unique. It is very different from games like Call of Duty, though, so be sure to check out some vids before you pick it up. I’ve seen it on sale for as low as $5. At that price, it’s a steal.

    Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty arrived in the mail yesterday, so I’ll be playing that next…

  52. 52.

    dmsilev

    December 8, 2011 at 8:33 pm

    Right now, oscillating between Skyrim and Civ V. Which has produced some moments of cognitive dissonance. “What, I can’t Fireball that Mongol archer?”

    Plus random time wasters on the iThing. It’s pretty good for board games; Ticket To Ride and Carcassone being my current favs.

  53. 53.

    Jamie

    December 8, 2011 at 8:33 pm

    As far as pure video games, I spent way too much time with Age of Empires, and the original Quake.

    These days, I’m reverting to tired old geek form and playing FICS (chess) when I’m awake, and FIBS (backgammon) when I don’t want to think more than a couple moves ahead.

    On the subway, when I’m not reading blog posts, Plants vs. Zombies is inexplicably cute.

  54. 54.

    dmsilev

    December 8, 2011 at 8:35 pm

    @MikeJ:

    I wrote a program to download all the good ones from their various sources and read them even though some are uclick, some are brainsonly, some are acrosslite. Solving on a computer I can generally do NYT Monday in about 2:30 and top out at close to 15 for a Saturday. Which means I’ll never be competitive, but I try to enjoy my amateur standing.

    You’re somewhat faster than I am (~3 minutes on Monday, usually around 20 for Saturday), but some of the leader board times for the late week puzzles are amazing. How in God’s name does anyone besides the puzzle creator do a Saturday NYT puzzle in 5 minutes?

  55. 55.

    Malraux

    December 8, 2011 at 8:36 pm

    Gregory @ 28: be careful with lunch money. It’s the only card game I’ve played where the players unanimously agreed to stop before we came to blows. It gets personal really fast.

  56. 56.

    PurpleGirl

    December 8, 2011 at 8:36 pm

    Match 3 games (bejeweled, collapse, bounce out, etc.), jigsaw puzzles, mah jongg. I’ve watched friends play table top RPGs, and computer shooter games of various sorts but I’ve never gotten into those.

    I also read SF, crochet, make jewelry.

  57. 57.

    khead

    December 8, 2011 at 8:36 pm

    Pick a board game… I’ve played it. It gets pretty boring in the boonies.

    I once had to have someone remove Starflight and then Railroad Tycoon from my hard drive. To get through different semesters in college. Sid Meier is awesome.

    I’ve played everything you can imagine since mainstream computer gaming started in the late ’70s. Arcade co-ops, Atari 2600, Intellivision, Atari computers (400/800), NES….. then moved to the IBM/PC. Played mostly strategy games until grabbing a copy of COD 3 for the computer. Then I went out and bought an XBox. It was like finding an old friend – an old friend with really nasty graphic capabilities. The first game I bought COD 4 opened with a dude getting his throat slit. That’s a long fucking way from Combat on the Atari.

    BTW, I suggest using the frying pan while playing Left4Dead 2. The CLANG noise alone is worth it.

  58. 58.

    TooManyJens

    December 8, 2011 at 8:38 pm

    My new favorite game is “figure out WTF could possibly have gotten my last comment stuck in moderation.”

  59. 59.

    rikyrah

    December 8, 2011 at 8:41 pm

    I’m an Angry Birds and Doodle Jump addict. I also love the old classics – Donkey Kong and Pac Man

  60. 60.

    Chuck Butcher

    December 8, 2011 at 8:41 pm

    Competitive shooting – Nat Match, Cowboy Action
    Xbox360 – currently Skyrim, favs FO3, FO-NV, Oblivion, ME, ME2, AC and ACetc, Halo etc, RedDead, FPs are my preferred.
    Harley riding – you might not think of that as a game, cars and trucks make sure it is.
    Cards – euchre, pinochole, canasta, blackjack, spades, hearts
    Politics – oh c’mon, tell me it isn’t…

  61. 61.

    Three-nineteen

    December 8, 2011 at 8:42 pm

    I’m going to a card party tomorrow night. Gonna lose big at euchre and sheepshead while drinking heavily.

  62. 62.

    Desert Rat

    December 8, 2011 at 8:43 pm

    Ooh, ooh. Can I play.

    I do a lot more tabletop RPGs than anything else these days. As such, my video game list is short:

    Europa Universalis: Rome. It’s a great Paradox Interactive Game where you take control of an ancient empire from the days of the Rise of the Roman Republic through the first Emperor, Augustus.

    On the tabletop RPG front, I’m currently GM’ing the following:

    The classic Call of Cthulhu campaign “Masks of Nyarlathotep” via Skype.

    A Star Wars alternate-universe game “Anakin Takes a Bullet”, in which the Skywalker line is wiped out of the history books when Anakin is shot and killed during the podrace in Phantom Menace.

    A Dirty World-A very rules light film noir game. I occasionally run one shots of the game when we’re looking for a break from some of the others.

    On hiatus:

    D&D/OGL 3.5 Fantasy, Midnight setting. Imagine a campaign setting where Sauron won, Sarumon is his chief undead lieutenant, it’s a hundred years later, and the good guys are all dead, exiled, or scattered and you’ll get an idea of the setting.

    d20 Modern Darwin’s World. Your standard post-nuclear exchange Post-Apocalyptic campaign in a very rich and detailed setting.

  63. 63.

    MikeJ

    December 8, 2011 at 8:47 pm

    @dmsilev: It certainly is faster on the computer simply because the clues are always n the same place, and you can switch the clue from vertical to horizontal with one key press and no time lost trying to find the clue.

    How do they do a Saturday that fast? No idea. The thing that slows me down most is not immediately writing in my first guess, as I’d rather have blanks than wrong answers. That means I look at two or three crosses to verify that everything jibes with my original guess. Which means that when I start filling I fill three or four without thinking, but I’m keeping more state in my head than on the paper screen. People who enter their first guess, and actually get them right, would be much faster. Five minutes for a Saturday still seems insane.

  64. 64.

    Soonergrunt

    December 8, 2011 at 8:47 pm

    @Moonbatting Average: https://balloon-juice.com/2011/11/25/free-toys-because-everybody-likes-free-right/

  65. 65.

    reality-based

    December 8, 2011 at 8:48 pm

    Oh, God, I am so OLD – first on a Unix terminal, and thn back on the original IBM PC, with 128K of Ram, I got hooked on Rogue – the ascii version. A friend just reminded me of it, I found it again on Abandonia, and now I am just as hooked again! (have a saved game on level 20 that is calling my name as we speak! )

    Other than that, the NY Times Sunday crossword – in ink – and
    WHIST, a family obsession verging on a blood sport. When the clan gathers on the farm every summer, my nephews – the Governing Body of the Amundrud Farm Whist League organize the annual tournament – we draw for partners, I drew the youngest grandhild this summer, I was dethroned – but wait till next year!

  66. 66.

    gentlemanlyGeek

    December 8, 2011 at 8:49 pm

    Wizards of the coast steals my time and money with magic (infect ftw) and D&D.

    I also rock surf mod on counterstrike source and dabble in call of duty and indie games.

  67. 67.

    gaz

    December 8, 2011 at 8:50 pm

    I’m an occasional gamer (every once in awhile, one sucks me in, but it’s not uncommon that I go months without firing one up either). A binge gamer maybe? =P

    Anyway, I use my ps3 for games mostly. It’s job usually is to let me stream movies to it, and for it to play blurays. I was thrilled when I found out it could play games too =P

    OTOH, I have a PC I use too… sometimes. I WILL NOT PAY $$$ for a graphics card that costs as much as a game console though – so I play what I can with what I have.

    MY pc is an e8500 wolfdale with a sad little nvid8400GS craptastic DX9 card someone gave me – I re heat sinked it and zip tied a big fan to it to get a few more cycles out of the card. I can play fallout 3 new vegas and skyrim, which happen to be 3 of my favorite games.

    Now that I think on it, it’s been pretty much Skyrim for me lately – exclusively. I love a good RPG. Especially bethesda’s offerings. (no flames, I *like* the fact that they are glitchy, okay?!!) hehe

  68. 68.

    Kris

    December 8, 2011 at 8:50 pm

    Ridiculous ones, but…

    (1) Quakelive (Free online FPS, can’t go wrong, mindless)
    (2) Legend of the Red Dragon (LoRD), an old BBS game. Like D&D, I suppose. One of the first ‘online’ games there ever was. Hard to believe you can still find it. Try lord.stabs.org, lord.nuklear.org.

  69. 69.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 8, 2011 at 8:53 pm

    Civ series, some first person shooters, KOTOR and KOTOR II, the Jedi Knight series (which are, technically, first person shooters although once you’ve got the saber it’s all you should be using, except for specific situations that call for the sniper rifle), SimCity series.

    MMO…best MMO EVER, at least in design and potential, Star Wars Galaxies, before they ruined it and put it into a slow death spiral that concludes this month. I still miss it. Like WoW as well, although it’s dumbed down from the original SWG combat system.

  70. 70.

    Mark S.

    December 8, 2011 at 8:55 pm

    X-box gamer. I like sandbox rpg’s. Oblivion, Fallout, etc.

  71. 71.

    Jamie

    December 8, 2011 at 8:56 pm

    Oh, I forgot – kingdomofloathing.com. For a certain type of person, it is very addictive. It is basically a metagame- outside of FPS, you can play pretty much any game in existence in it. Combine with stick figure drawings, pop culture jokes, insanely attentive developers and a good mix of young and older folks, and it is addictive. They do one-off special events at major holidays, and so Crimbo is in full swing right now.

  72. 72.

    stickler

    December 8, 2011 at 8:56 pm

    Huzzah for all the Paradox Interactive love. I’ve played Europa Universalis and Hearts of Iron in several progressive iterations (and both nearly derailed my Ph.D. dissertation). I’ve been trying to get into Pride of Nations, but I can’t figure out the interface and it keeps crashing.

    Big real-time strategy games where you get to command industry, military, and research are awesome. But defeating the USSR in 1942 is still a gigantic PITA.

  73. 73.

    dmsilev

    December 8, 2011 at 8:58 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: KOTOR was great. KOTOR II was great for the first 80 percent or so, and then just sort of deflated with a sad little whining noise.

  74. 74.

    gaz

    December 8, 2011 at 8:58 pm

    @Kris:

    Legend of the Red Dragon (LoRD),

    props for the LoRD ref. heh. an oldie, but goodie.

    Years before I met my wife, she ran a renegade setup out of her parent’s house ;)

  75. 75.

    Soonergrunt

    December 8, 2011 at 9:00 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Yeah. It concludes this month because The Old Republic drops for pre-purchase players on Tuesday the 13th, followed by the rest of the world on the 20th.

  76. 76.

    gaz

    December 8, 2011 at 9:01 pm

    @Mark S.: i prefer the playstation, but I’m totally with you on your game tastes…=)

    My oblivion character (on ps3 – GOTY edition) has roughly 30k magicka (not a typo). it crashes sometimes. I play oblivion to smurf it. I think I beat it once, just to see. That’s not why I play it =P

    I got perfect 10/100 char build for fallout 3 with the brotherhood addon too. =P

    I play to build perfect characters – I don’t play to win. that’s why I love the stuff bethesda has made since (and including oblivion). it’s hacktastic.

  77. 77.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 8, 2011 at 9:01 pm

    @dmsilev:

    KOTOR II was rushed out the door without being completed, and it shows, badly, in the endgame, where all those loose ends don’t get dealt with.

    The vile marketing asshats at LucasArts insisted it must be out for the Holiday season, and Obsidian had to hack and slash to meet the deadline. There’s a project out on the tubes to restore a lot of “lost” content that can’t be accessed in the game, but is on the original disks.

  78. 78.

    stickler

    December 8, 2011 at 9:03 pm

    OH! I almost forgot the games that ate much of the 1990s for me: Master of Orion and Master of Orion II. God, the hours I spent building empires and besieging Antares.

    And, of course, Sid Meier (devourer of time) and the Railroad Tycoon games and the Civ series.

  79. 79.

    Soonergrunt

    December 8, 2011 at 9:03 pm

    @dmsilev: You guys do know that KOTOR II was like that because it shipped unfinished, right?
    There are a few projects out there to properly unlock a lot of the content and finish the game.

  80. 80.

    fordpowers

    December 8, 2011 at 9:04 pm

    Settlers of Catan.
    Best board game eva!!

  81. 81.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 8, 2011 at 9:05 pm

    @Soonergrunt:

    My system is too old to even attempt TOR, if I could afford to get it, so unless the lottery happens, I won’t be there.

    SWG was a fantastic game that was poorly implemented, and much of the crying over it is over lost potential. The design was flat out brilliant, the execution, however, sucked. Still was a very good game, IMHO. It was immersive and great for SW fanbois and grrrls. I used to ride my dewback all over Tatooine.

  82. 82.

    DecidedFenceSitter

    December 8, 2011 at 9:07 pm

    Board games: Race for the Galaxy, Eminent Domain, and Ascension: The Godslayer.

    Video Games: Playing my way through the Assassin’s Creed series (up to Brotherhood); Skyrim; decided that on a limited budget SWTOR wasn’t for me.

    Table Top Gaming: Deadlands and Dresden Files RPG.

  83. 83.

    jharp

    December 8, 2011 at 9:07 pm

    @MikeJ:

    Thanks. I will check them out.

  84. 84.

    Fargus

    December 8, 2011 at 9:07 pm

    Board games all over the place. I’ve recently been into some of the more complex ones. If you wanted to try some out, I’d recommend starting out with:

    Settlers of Catan
    Carcassonne
    Ticket to Ride

    Those ones are easy to get into and a ton of fun to play. After that you can start working with expansions to those, or get going on some more complex games, like:

    Dominion
    Power Grid
    Puerto Rico
    Small World
    Agricola

  85. 85.

    Chuck Butcher

    December 8, 2011 at 9:08 pm

    The Xbox360 fans can “friend” me at cbutcher1 on Xbox Live.

  86. 86.

    Crashman

    December 8, 2011 at 9:08 pm

    Wish I saw this thread earlier!

    Picked up Fallout: New Vegas on a Steam sale and trying to work through it. I’ve also got Bastion waiting in the wings. I’m hoping that Santa leaves me a copy of Skyrim or Saints Row 3 this year.

    We’ve got a lot of Steam users on here, right? Someone should create a Balloon Juice Steam group!

  87. 87.

    SFAW

    December 8, 2011 at 9:09 pm

    Pocket pool.

    Usually right-handed.

  88. 88.

    DecidedFenceSitter

    December 8, 2011 at 9:10 pm

    @Sock Puppet of the Great Satan: If you like Thunderstone and Dominion, take a look at Eminent Domain, space galaxy theme with a deck building mechanic.

  89. 89.

    gaz

    December 8, 2011 at 9:10 pm

    @DecidedFenceSitter: I *really * liked the one assassin’s creed game I played.

    Until I figured out how to get a 100% connect/kill rate with assassination move during combat. Every time, every connect. They made it waay too easy to pull off.

    Other than that, the combat system and everything was great – it’s too bad there’s the major spoiler w/ the hidden blade

  90. 90.

    daveNYC

    December 8, 2011 at 9:12 pm

    All Skyrim all the time. Thing is worse than crack.

  91. 91.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 8, 2011 at 9:13 pm

    Board games I like, Scrabble, Pictionary, Monopoly, Risk
    Card games I like Bridge, Hearts, Poker and many that I have forgotten the names of, that I played as a child.

    Even my kitteh plays Scrabble

  92. 92.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 8, 2011 at 9:13 pm

    @daveNYC:

    Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri

    SMAC for short :P

  93. 93.

    dmsilev

    December 8, 2011 at 9:14 pm

    @Soonergrunt: Yeah, I know. It’s a crying shame, since there’s a pretty good game there that just got slammed by trying to meet an arbitrary ship deadline.

    I’ve heard about the “put in the unfinished bits” project, but haven’t actually tried it for myself.

  94. 94.

    RossInDetroit

    December 8, 2011 at 9:15 pm

    I don’t game at all. I absolutely killed at Asteroids 30 years ago but modern computer games don’t hold my interest. I’m a better than average Gin Rummy player but nobody in my family plays.
    I know this isn’t what you asked, but for recreation I read technical electronics stuff. I will consider myself noogied for being a nerd.

  95. 95.

    gaz

    December 8, 2011 at 9:16 pm

    @daveNYC: i feel ya. I think I’m gonna bail – I need to score ;)

  96. 96.

    Cliff in NH

    December 8, 2011 at 9:16 pm

    Just got F1 2011, so heading off to practice 2 of the second race soon, also Dirt 3 and Civ V .. just one more turn …

    I’ve Got other games from some crazy sales, but those are the ones I am playing ATM.

  97. 97.

    gaz

    December 8, 2011 at 9:16 pm

    @RossInDetroit: me 2 – pic chips are fun, right?

  98. 98.

    robertdsc-PowerBook

    December 8, 2011 at 9:17 pm

    I play exclusively PS3 games: Modern Warfare 3, Black Ops, Modern Warfare 2, Grand Theft Auto 4, Metal Gear Solid 4, the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, Medal Of Honor, InFamous 1 & 2, and The Force Unleashed 1 & 2.

  99. 99.

    Crashman

    December 8, 2011 at 9:18 pm

    Oh, also been on a crazy Minecraft kick… again. Can’t pull myself away from that damn game, if you can call it that.

  100. 100.

    Rob Eberhardt

    December 8, 2011 at 9:20 pm

    Dark Souls will rip out your heart and stomp it (in a good way) and you’ll say “THANK YOU”… Also really enjoy playing networked Puerto Rico on the iPad.

  101. 101.

    Wil

    December 8, 2011 at 9:24 pm

    Canasta with real cards.

    On the computer I’ve been playing Rogue, the first non-text adventure game ever invented, found on mainframes at institutions and universities back in the early 80s.

    It weighs in at a whopping 98k for the whole game, requires a DOS emulator, and is insanely difficult in the way only those early games that couldn’t rely on graphics or sound had to be.

    If you are under 40, you’ve probably never heard of it.

  102. 102.

    Gravenstone

    December 8, 2011 at 9:26 pm

    Currently playing WoW and awaiting SW:TOR. I’ve dabbled in virtually every MMO to come down the pike (RIFT being the most recently abandoned example). As long as they don’t have a non-consensual PvP element, anyway. EQ ruined that for me – silly guildies decided to start on a PvP server.

    Have Skyrim, and have gone on a handful of extended forays but find it somewhat unfulfilling. Maybe I just need to give it more of a chance. I have any number of other PC games I occasionally revisit (Civ IV/V, Pirates!, Fallout 3, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, etc…), but nothing seems to hold my interest terribly long. Bought an X-Box 360 for Fable 2, and have never played the stupid thing. Such a waste.

    Playing in a couple DnD4E games online (play by post). Miss the actual face to face interaction of RPGs. But I’ve gotten progressively more crotchety and borderline misanthropic as I age, so I doubt the gaming groups exactly miss me in return.

  103. 103.

    Djur

    December 8, 2011 at 9:28 pm

    @Sock Puppet of the Great Satan: I am so glad King of Dragon Pass is on iOS now. It’s one of the best games ever made and it spent years languishing in near-unavailability.

  104. 104.

    MikeJ

    December 8, 2011 at 9:30 pm

    @Wil:

    It weighs in at a whopping 98k for the whole game, requires a DOS emulator,

    The last roguelike I played was zangband with a gui front end. but your comment on the filesize reminded me of something that will be of interest to the geeks in the audience: Things That Turbo Pascal is Smaller Than.

    Smaller than touch.

  105. 105.

    Mark S.

    December 8, 2011 at 9:30 pm

    @gaz:

    What’s smurfing?

  106. 106.

    Admiral_Komack

    December 8, 2011 at 9:31 pm

    Angry Birds on my iPhone (great for doctor’s appointments).

  107. 107.

    Chuck Butcher

    December 8, 2011 at 9:32 pm

    @daveNYC:
    Lvl50, 100 full up Heavy Armor, 100 Daedric Smithing, 84 Enchanting, 100 full up Two Hand, 90+ Sneak, pathetic magics. Tank on horseback.

    Solitude, Whiterun, Markarth full houses, empty Rifkin one, can’t get Whitehelm or Rifkin Thane. Killed Alduin, recently and too early.

  108. 108.

    Djur

    December 8, 2011 at 9:32 pm

    Right now: Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey. Terraria. Fallout New Vegas. I’m DMing a campaign of D&D 4th edition. Just Cause 2, the best non-RPG sandbox game ever made.

    Favorites: I regularly revisit Star Control 2 and Nethack. I really liked VVVVVV. Ultima VI/VII/VII pt. 2 are three of the best games ever made. Deus Ex.

    Board games: Catan, Carcassone.

    I’m currently working on one of my perennial game ideas that will likely turn out to be unplayably nerdy.

  109. 109.

    Satanicpanic

    December 8, 2011 at 9:33 pm

    Was on WoW for a while, now doing LOTRO (though I kind of hate it, but it’s “free”). Play hold em with friends every now and then but I suck and play it mostly just to troll my friends. Like tavern games, play those pretty regularly.

  110. 110.

    PurpleGirl

    December 8, 2011 at 9:36 pm

    @khead: ooooh, I liked Railroad Tycoon. That’s one board game a friend got me to play. He had a group of IBM friends who came over on Sundays to play. He wrote a program to automate some of the game. (I really don’t remember too well what the program did.)

  111. 111.

    Joel

    December 8, 2011 at 9:36 pm

    I stopped playing video games for almost a decade.

    Then I downloaded Portal 2….

  112. 112.

    Rafterman

    December 8, 2011 at 9:39 pm

    TF2 on Steam. I’ve played a little L4D2.

    Portal was an amazing game, and I just bought Portal 2 on sale. All of the Half Life series kicked ass as well.

  113. 113.

    zmullls

    December 8, 2011 at 9:41 pm

    My sons are finally old enough to play decent board games with me, and occasionally we spend a Friday or Saturday night playing. We do play Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride and Carcasone as mentioned above.

    I do the Sunday NY Times Crossword, when I get the time, and save the cryptic crosswords from the back page of Harpers (I have years worth to go through).

    But the Best Board Game Ever prize goes to Cosmic Encounter, without which Settlers of Catan and its ilk would not have been possible. I played it in the 1980s in college. Just last year I finally sold off my prized original Eon pressing of the game because Fantasy Flight finally re-released it (5th version of the game) and got it so absolutely right I didn’t need to save the original.

    If you’re a board game person (Catan, etc.) you must get Cosmic Encounter. Can be played with 3 people but game is optimal for 4 or if you’re lucky, five. (Six people becomes almost impossible.

  114. 114.

    bin Lurkin'

    December 8, 2011 at 9:41 pm

    Currently teaching myself G-Code, CAD, CAM and CNC machining on my Mach III retrofitted Bridgeport Series I Interact milling machine. At the moment milling threads with helical interpolation is what’s making my face all keyboardy.

    All the joy of programming computers with the added fun of several thousand pounds of metal with razor sharp spinning bits moving at high speeds with the force of a hydraulic ram.

    Here’s a briar burl and antique elephant ivory spinning top I made last week on the mill.

  115. 115.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    December 8, 2011 at 9:43 pm

    On the Mac: WoW, and thru Steam: L4D and L4D2, Torchlight, Portal. I am waiting for Diablo 3 to come out.

    iPad: Trade Nations, Angry Birds, a crosswords app

    For a tabletop/card game, there’s Munchkin, which I see someone has mentioned already.

  116. 116.

    Darkrose

    December 8, 2011 at 9:45 pm

    PC RPG’s and MMO’s. Currently replaying Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age, and doing a lot of Rift. I need to start working on City of Heroes for the winter event, too.

    I haven’t pre-ordered SWTOR. I’m not actually hugely into Star Wars in general, and I’m concerned that the hype for this is going to far outstrip the game itself. Also, I’ve learned from painful experience that there is no such thing as a Bioware game that works on day 1.

  117. 117.

    SRW1

    December 8, 2011 at 9:47 pm

    If games aren’t your thing, what is?

    Game theory.

  118. 118.

    Kris

    December 8, 2011 at 9:51 pm

    @gaz:
    No problem. The sites seem to be dwindling, so if your wife cares to give it a go out of nostalgia, she’d be more than welcome.

    @stickler:
    Too many hours spent playing MOO2. Custom race, of course–that was the only way to go. What were they…Mensar or something as the ‘base’ and then make them even smarter? :-)

  119. 119.

    RossInDetroit

    December 8, 2011 at 9:56 pm

    @gaz:

    me 2 – pic chips are fun, right?

    I found an Arduino kit at RatShak yesterday. I was looking for depletion mode JFETS, which they also had.

    I was a microcomputer nut in the ’70s (6502 & Z80) but I’m mostly analog now. I’ll take up the microcontroller thing when I have an application tha tneeds one. But that’s a deep rabbit hole to dive into if you have a background in programming and hardware. Like crack…

  120. 120.

    tkogrumpy

    December 8, 2011 at 9:58 pm

    Sorry, I’m way too old to waste any time playing games. I have a few things I want to accomplish in the limited time I have left before my brain turns to mush.

  121. 121.

    Tim P.

    December 8, 2011 at 9:59 pm

    Used to be heavily into WoW, but I gave it up as the magic just seemed to be gone.. still pop in for some battlegrounds occasionally.

    Currently playing Skyrim, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and, of course, my perennial standbys Team Fortress 2 and Civ IV. Recently went through Neverwinter Nights 2 again, played evil this time. Also picked up X-Com: UFO Defense from Steam for a few bucks the other day.. excellent purchase. :)

    Tabletop-wise, I’m in the middle of two D&D 3.5 campaigns (don’t care for 4ed) as a Barb/Warblade and Cleric, respectively.

  122. 122.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    December 8, 2011 at 10:04 pm

    Adding another vote for all variants of Munchkin. Family time is always enhanced by back stabbing each other.

  123. 123.

    gaz

    December 8, 2011 at 10:14 pm

    @RossInDetroit: I still love the 6502

    I wrote an NES emulator once just for kicks.

    This though, is pretty effin neat. 6502 in javascript (NES) =)

    http://fir.sh/projects/jsnes/

    clearly, somebody had waay too much time on their hands. Braggin rights though. and go go gadget html5 besides =P

  124. 124.

    dead existentialist

    December 8, 2011 at 10:15 pm

    Dominoes. I like to connect the dots.
    . . .
    . . .

  125. 125.

    otto

    December 8, 2011 at 10:18 pm

    Learnin’ chess. I can’t play long video games. I have enough story and stress in my own life.

  126. 126.

    kdaug

    December 8, 2011 at 10:24 pm

    Billiards.
    Betting games with cards (apparently the “p” word puts you into moderation).
    Skyrim.

  127. 127.

    Sock Puppet of the Great Satan

    December 8, 2011 at 10:28 pm

    “@Sock Puppet of the Great Satan: If you like Thunderstone and Dominion, take a look at Eminent Domain, space galaxy theme with a deck building mechanic.”

    Cool. Although I depleted my gaming funds ‘cos of FFG’s holiday sale.

    As mentioned, King of Dragon Pass is at the App Store. I loved the PC version, and was a Beta tester for the iOS version. Think I was the first to finish a Long Game. I’m a big Gloranthaphile and have about 8 linear feet of bookshelf of Glorantha and Runequest stuff.

    Pandemic was mentioned and is a great Co-op board game, as is Forbidden Island, Castle Panic, and, if you’re a sucker for punishment, Ghost Stories. I have the iOS version of Ghost Stories and have yet to win.

  128. 128.

    Sock Puppet of the Great Satan

    December 8, 2011 at 10:30 pm

    For all the Masters of Orion 2 fans, you should try Starbase Orion on iOS. Very MOO2 like, has a decent AI, but really shines in multiplayer.

  129. 129.

    J.W. Hamner

    December 8, 2011 at 10:41 pm

    I play computer, console, and board… though my 360 is probably the most dusty of all.

    Lately I’m playing Skyrim, Dungeon Defenders, Castle Ravenloft, and War of the Ring. Used to play a lot more strategy games, but I had trouble getting into both Shogun 2 and Heroes VI so maybe I’ve lost that loving feeling.

  130. 130.

    khead

    December 8, 2011 at 10:42 pm

    I looked through the thread but I may have missed it….

    Does anyone play bridge anymore?

  131. 131.

    kdaug

    December 8, 2011 at 10:46 pm

    @Chuck Butcher: Lvl 40. Archmage of the College. Nightingale (head of thieves guild). Enchant 100, Destruction 98. Richer than Scrooge McDuck.

    Leaving the main storyline to the end.

  132. 132.

    lol chikinburd

    December 8, 2011 at 10:47 pm

    Just prior to refreshing the BJ tab and reading this I was finishing up in Kingdom of Loathing just before rollover. This year’s Crimbo content is scaled down a bit from previous years, and there’s no obvious story angle, but it’s still engaging enough so far.

    Also, Guardian crosswords. I’m an Araucaria fanboy; if you Garrosh people see an undead warlock named after him, that’s me. Speaking of which, WoW, though burning out a bit. Would be breathlessly anticipating Diablo 3 if my video card weren’t too old for it. Sudoku on my phone. Considering World of Goo. That’s about it.

  133. 133.

    Gregory

    December 8, 2011 at 10:51 pm

    the Best Board Game Ever prize goes to Cosmic Encounter, without which Settlers of Catan and its ilk would not have been possible.

    This, yes. how could I have forgotten that one? (Maybe because I haven’t played in twenty years…I still have the game, though the box is in pieces.)

  134. 134.

    kdaug

    December 8, 2011 at 10:53 pm

    @bin Lurkin’: Fucking badass.

  135. 135.

    reality-based

    December 8, 2011 at 10:56 pm

    @Wil:

    see my earlier comment –

    I have a theory that what you name your rogue avatar really matters in a karmic kinda way – for example, Inigo Montoya is a very good rogue, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a wimp, and Wesley Wyndham-Pryce is surprisingly good – he ALWAYS finds a two-handed sword in the first or second level!

  136. 136.

    Argive

    December 8, 2011 at 10:56 pm

    This is a busy season for console gamers (I’ve got a PS3). I’ve got Skyrim, Batman: Arkham City and just ordered Uncharted 3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution was fantastic, maybe Game of the Year if it wasn’t for Arkham City.

  137. 137.

    gsim

    December 8, 2011 at 10:58 pm

    @Roger Moore: master of magic is still one of the biggest time sucks ever, and yet it remains playable after all these years. i still fire it up on impossible for a good challenge.

    looking at the rest of you it’s clear that i’m way behind, as i have a pile of ps3 games sitting in a corner waiting to be completed. still working through me2 but i get so distracted by the depth of the game that it seems i waste an hour just reading stuff in the codex every time i fire it up.

    for quick fun: bionic commando rearmed 1 and 2 (basically combines the original NES game with Contra-style co-op), N (flash game), various campy DS puzzle games on the 3DS, and the worst game ever, Word Mole (when i’m stuck on a train with no wi-fi or wireless service and only my old blackberry)

  138. 138.

    zmullls

    December 8, 2011 at 10:58 pm

    @Gregory:

    It’s worth buying the reprinted version from Final Fantasy. It’s very close to the original game, and it’s printed quality. Great redesign.

  139. 139.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    December 8, 2011 at 11:07 pm

    I’ve been gaming on the pc since the dark days of the 80’s, so I still like to pull out some of the old ones (Quake II, Quake III (+Team Arena), Doom I & II, Hexxen and so on) to rip around in for some good times. Same with some newer old titles (Serious Sam FE & SE, Max Payne & MP II, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and the like). I really enjoy L4D & L4D2 but have been spending most of my free time lately in Team Fortress II (recently scored a salvaged #30 crate and sold it yesterday for 9 refined!). I like TF2 because it’s hilarious and yet serious at the same time. There are specific tactics for each class, depending on the loadout and whether it’s playing offense or defense, so it takes some real thinking to evaluate the action and select a class and loadout for the tactics needed to push ahead. The cartoonish nature of the characters makes it hilarious to play.

    Win or lose, it’s a blast to play and that’s why I like it. Also running through Portal 2, enjoying GlaDOS picking on me for being overweight…lol!

    ETA: Also have DOS Box on my system so I can load those REALLY old games (Cosmo’s Adventures, Redneck Rampage, Jazz Jackrabbit and so on).

  140. 140.

    MikeJ

    December 8, 2011 at 11:11 pm

    @otto:

    Learnin’ chess.

    I used to play tournies, but quit playing when I couldn’t keep up with the study time required.

    For a beginner I’d suggest you get Bobby Fischer‘s book. You’ll actually feel like you’re learning something and it’s not just dense lists of moves. Don’t be ashamed of reading Pandolfini even if he often writes for kids. He’s good at communicating complex ideas and can help you go from absolute beginner to mid level club player. And play the same opening (even if some book said it was lousy) over and over, every time you play. Then you get used to the situations that arise.

  141. 141.

    khead

    December 8, 2011 at 11:12 pm

    I want to add that M.U.L.E may be the greatest computer game ever.

  142. 142.

    dadanarchist

    December 8, 2011 at 11:14 pm

    Cribbage.

    I play against a good friend online – it’s not the same, but it’ll have to do.

  143. 143.

    Chuck Butcher

    December 8, 2011 at 11:16 pm

    @kdaug: Leaving the main storyline to the end.

    I meant to, but running out of quests I could seem to activate I went a bit too far to back out. College, Theives Guild, Dark Bro, Companions all done – agh, can’t Pickpocket to get TG back in repute but lead all.

    I’ve run into a couple glitches that are trying my patience and stalled quests completely. Don’t know about getting Married or picking a side in Civil War. Can’t get out of Jorrvasr w/o locking machine so I can’t go in there now.

    If on Xbox Live friend me cbutcher1 and can chat

  144. 144.

    kdaug

    December 8, 2011 at 11:23 pm

    @Chuck Butcher:

    If on Xbox Live friend me cbutcher1 and can chat

    Sry – PC

    ETA: Work both sides (Yes, Virginia, there are double-agents).

  145. 145.

    Jrock

    December 8, 2011 at 11:32 pm

    @MikeJ: Ben Tausig owns both of those fools. His puzzle in the Chicago Reader can make you punch a car. It’s amazing.

  146. 146.

    gaz

    December 8, 2011 at 11:34 pm

    @bin Lurkin’: roqon

  147. 147.

    gaz

    December 8, 2011 at 11:37 pm

    @otto: A rough game of chess can make a decent RPG seem short by comparison =)

  148. 148.

    Chuck Butcher

    December 8, 2011 at 11:53 pm

    @kdaug:
    Got to tell you, 50in HD screen is killer…

  149. 149.

    Chris

    December 9, 2011 at 12:14 am

    Board Games: Puerto Rico, Dominion, Tigris & Euphrates, Caylus, Power Grid, 7 Wonders, Race for the Galaxy, Carcassonne

    Computer Games: Portal 2 and my all-time favorite DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold.

  150. 150.

    RobertB

    December 9, 2011 at 12:29 am

    PC: WoW, but I’m gradually phasing out of that for SWTOR. Tonight might have been my last raid with the guild I’ve been with for four years. L4D2, Borderlands, Diablo/D2. Played the hell out of Master of Orion and MoO2. MoO3 kind of sucked.

    Board: I’m lucky enough to have CABS in my hometown http://www.buckeyeboardgamers.org/ . This is like having a 100-person gaming convention in your town every weekend.

  151. 151.

    Will

    December 9, 2011 at 12:45 am

    XBox 360. I play shooters (Call of Duty series, Halo series, Gears of War series), role-playing shooter hybrids (Fallout3, Red Dead Redemption), boxing (Fight Night series), Guitar Hero, and evil games (the Grand Theft Auto series). Or I should say I DID play those games. Haven’t had much time to for a good while. But yeah.

  152. 152.

    Will

    December 9, 2011 at 12:48 am

    @MikeJ:

    That Bobby Fischer book is wonderful. Very simple, straightforward, meat-and-potatoes explanations of winning concepts for chess play. It beats all the other books obsessing over openings any day of the week.

  153. 153.

    J. A. Baker

    December 9, 2011 at 12:57 am

    When we go to see relatives on my Mom’s side of the family for Thanksgiving (in Roswell, NM), we always find time for a game of Liverpool rummy. And a friend of mine got me Dominion for Christmas back in ’08.

    I also have a couple of tabletop RPG groups going. In the last few years, I’ve played Mage (Old World of Darkness), GURPS, Exalted, Scion, and even a couple of homebrew systems.

    But the bulk of my gaming time is devoted to video and computer games. I’ve been an avid gamer since the days of the Atari 2600, and I’ve played all sorts of games. My favorites, however, are RPGs and turn-based strategy (TBS) – especially games in the “conquer the galaxy” milieu. I was a huge fan of Crystalis back in the day (still am) and absolutely loved the original Master of Orion (one of those “conquer the galaxy” games I mentioned earlier – BTW, RobertB, MoO3 more than “kind of” sucked). My favorite Final Fantasy game was Final Fantasy IV (released here as Final Fantasy II), though FF6 is a close second. I also happen to own many of the games in the Fallout series. :-)

    Lately though, I’ve been mostly playing MMOs. I was never really a fan of WoW (too griefer-friendly), but I enjoyed City of Heroes and the followup (from a development perspective) superhero MMO – Champions Online. The MMO I’ve devoted the most time to these days, however, is Star Trek Online. Even though I’ve never been that much of a Trekkie. Go figure.

  154. 154.

    kdaug

    December 9, 2011 at 1:22 am

    @Chuck Butcher: 35″ w/ 5.1 in the man-cave works fine… leaves the big one for the wife.

  155. 155.

    BethanyAnne

    December 9, 2011 at 1:46 am

    Ooo, late to the thread. I’m finally taking a break from WoW, and just bought Skyrim. I play Minecraft lots, too.

  156. 156.

    Uriel

    December 9, 2011 at 2:30 am

    Dark Souls. F’ing Dark Souls. To the tune of like 200 hours. God help me.

  157. 157.

    BruceK

    December 9, 2011 at 4:15 am

    The thing about Eve Online is that a lot of the society is built by the players themselves, and makes an interesting model of how a society develops without government getting in the way (once you’re in zero-security space, which is about three quarters of the map).

    The theory is that the less government interference, the more chances an individual has to rise based on his own merits, right? God help you if you try to test out that theory in Eve Online. If you don’t have at least a fair-sized corporation backing you up – preferably an alliance with a lot of force at its fingertips – once you step away from the government-regulated areas, you’re doomed. Doomed, I tell you!

    People running scams every which way they can, twisting the rules of the universe to the breaking point to get ahead at the expense of others. Ponzi schemes where the scammer walks away laughing because the only way to punish him is to blow him up, but he’s too well defended by his friends with the big guns, and has too many big guns of his own. People who will blow your ship to smithereens and then try to ransom you for every penny you’ve got or they’ll disintegrate your escape pod.

    And the power consolidates. You get some huge freakin’ alliances that can set whatever policy they like, often run by total sociopaths, with no check on their authority.

    In fact, the only way that small-timers can survive at all is by depending on the protections of the spaces covered by law.

    It’s … an interesting place. But not one in which I’d want to live my real life.

  158. 158.

    HeartlandLiberal

    December 9, 2011 at 7:01 am

    Even though I retired last March, I have been working on a consulting gig, with little time for playing.

    But when I have a free moment, I am trying to finish up Baldur’s Gate II. I had never been into that sort of D&D game, but my wife insisted I try it, and it and the first one have been fun.

    I tend to like the single shooter games. On the one hand, I have always enjoyed the classic “Adventure” games which are not really all that adventurous, but require you to solve puzzles at every step of the way, often with you having to figure out just what the puzzle is. The first three Myst games, that sort of thing. I got bogged down in Myst IV and quit half way through. The puzzles included too many ridiculous subtle audio cues, and were not logical, and thus just not fun.

    FWIW, I think the one of the most beautiful examples of this sort of game was Syberia I and II, by Benoît Sokal. Not only one of the most visually stunning such games I have ever played, but with an incredibly moving and touching storyline from beginning to end. Rumors of a third game in the series keep floating, but no date ever gets firmly set, at least not the last time I checked.

    I loved the three “Thief” games, and the first three “Splinter Cell” games. I installed the fourth one, and found the interface so different and characters difficult to control I got frustrated with the practice intro and have not gone back.

    The key to the above games is that all require stealth and careful planning and action. They are the opposite of the type of game in which you just blindly rush in and blast everything to bits. I have never cared for those.

    After reading reviews, I recently logged on to Amazon and bought a series called “Broken Sword”, the first three installments. It sounds like the kind of “Adventure” game I still enjoy. I plan to install it later this month as time frees up.

    And to show you how really boring some people think I can be, I love Train Simulator games. I have played extensively with Microsoft’s original, and have purchased two newer simulations, “Railworks” via the Steam web site, and “Train Simulator 2010 Deluxe”.

    And I have fiddled with Flight Simulator off and on through every version from the first, but never have made myself truly competent at it. I actually was able to get a 747 off the ground recently. But landing it? Well, that did not go so well. Microsoft dumped the franchise, and fired the ACES staff. But this year they have announced there will be a reboot of the franchise. Unfortunately they appear to be planning it as an online only game. I wrote the team via their public comments solicitation email address questioning this, and letting them know it would be the first version of the game I do NOT buy. No answer. But then Microsoft has been good over the years at deluding itself when it gets an idea, even if wrong, fixed in its hive mind.

  159. 159.

    Skip Intro

    December 9, 2011 at 7:02 am

    I play World of Tanks, a free to play FPS on a backdrop of WW2 tanks.

  160. 160.

    RSA

    December 9, 2011 at 7:38 am

    I play Scrabble against a computer opponent, for short periods of time. (I sometimes play on my phone but have never had the time or attention to finish a game.)

    Of “real” computer games, the last one I played regularly was rogue, back in the early 1980s.

    Ironically enough, though, I’m involved with the creation of a 3D game right now (using Unity).

  161. 161.

    Gozer

    December 9, 2011 at 9:09 am

    No Battlefield 3 players here? I play that mostly, along with the Valve constellation of games.

  162. 162.

    kerFuFFler

    December 9, 2011 at 9:13 am

    Portal and Portal 2 are wonderful computer games. The cake is a lie!

    I also enjoy bridge and Pictionary when playing with actual people over the holidays.

  163. 163.

    Larv

    December 9, 2011 at 9:57 am

    For the past month, my life has consisted of work and Skyrim, and very little else. Great, great game, but an incredible timesuck. I’m at over 200 hrs and not even close to done.

  164. 164.

    gelfling545

    December 9, 2011 at 9:58 am

    My family is big on board games. We get together periodically to play Clue (which must be played in character). With the accompaniment of sufficient alcohol, we play Snorta – an interesting take on the card game War with a memory component and animal sounds.

  165. 165.

    Gromit

    December 9, 2011 at 10:10 am

    I’m still playing the original Modern Warfare (AKA Call of Duty 4) on my Mac, 5 years after its release on that platform, and 6 years after its release on consoles, though playable servers are dwindling. Too many servers insist on ridiculous “Tactical” rules. I get not liking bunny-hoppying, which the game designers could have simply solved by not letting you fire while jumping (just as you can’t fire while sprinting). But beyond a certain point, these servers come to resemble those childhood games in which some sore loser would insist that any move that imparted some advantage was cheating.

    On my iPad/iPhone, I’ve been playing Whale Trail a bit. It’s kind of like a trippier Tiny Wings, with a bit of the Pac-Man pellet-gobbling and role-reversal mechanics to spice things up.

  166. 166.

    Karounie

    December 9, 2011 at 10:21 am

    We are a family of pro game designers with gamer kids. We play everything we can get our hands on. Some games that have really stood out for me over the years:

    card: Magic the Gathering, Netrunner

    board: Puerto Rico, Dominion, Acquire, Cosmic Encounter, Labyrinth

    digital: Battlezone, Super Mario Bros, WipEout (or MarioKart), Zelda Ocarina of Time, Ecstatica, Crazy Taxi, Starcraft, GTA San Andreas,Pikmin2, Civilization I-N, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Shadow of the Colossus, Call of Duty 4,Portal, Harvest Moon

    MMOs World of Warcraft, Club Penguin

    At Thanksgiving, we washed off the SNES and sat down as a family (2 adults, 2 returning-home college students and an 8 year old) to play the original Zelda – pretty geeky bunch, the gangstas probably wouldn’t lets us roll with them.

  167. 167.

    twiffer

    December 9, 2011 at 10:30 am

    360. skyrim. skyrim. more skyrim.

    once i get around to getting a new machine, i’ll likely get the pc version, cause i want mods. but i typically go the console route. couch is comfier, and i like the big screen (yeah, i know i can hook a computer up to it and use a controller with the pc; still a pain to do that.)

    skyrim and likely nothing but, till ME3 ships. though old republic might actually tempt me to take the plunge into a MMO.

  168. 168.

    aretino

    December 9, 2011 at 10:47 am

    I play old-fashioned board wargames. (I love the smell of cardboard counters in the morning …) I have some of the old Avalon Hill and SPI titles, and a few from the contemporary successor companies. I play them solitaire, which suits me fine these days. Most of the fun for me is in seeing how the games model the battle, not in competing.

  169. 169.

    Rorgg

    December 9, 2011 at 10:58 am

    Got back into the Lord of the Rings Online about a month ago. Having a blast.

  170. 170.

    Karounie

    December 9, 2011 at 11:00 am

    Oops, I forgot: some love for Katamari Damacy!

  171. 171.

    Protothad

    December 9, 2011 at 11:35 am

    StarCraft II… me and the girlfriend team play on some serious Zerg killing whenever we can spare a free hour. Other than that, she is addicted to tower defense games and I play the occasional brainless FPS.

  172. 172.

    HG Hay

    December 9, 2011 at 12:35 pm

    Got a PC laptop after 8 years of a mac last year. I had never been a big gamer but checked out Steam and Left 4 Dead just because. I’m kind of hooked on games now and have been playing through a lot of what I missed over the years – Half Life games, Deus Ex, SW:KOTOR, etc.
    Sadly, I hadn’t purchased the laptop expecting to game and it isn’t really up to snuff for brand new games – it did well with Portal 2 but I’m guessing The Old Republic would fry it.

  173. 173.

    meadrus

    December 9, 2011 at 1:54 pm

    I’m surprised to see no one (that I could find here) mentioning MAME. It’s a *free* Mac/Windows emulator for classic arcade games that plays the actual game ROMs (also free, Google for them). I bought a dual analog USB joystick specifically to pay “Robotron 2084” and it was money dam’ well spent. Download MAME32 (which has an integrated user interface), search for MAME ROMs, and you can be playing literally hundreds of arcade classics on your computer for free. I just discovered “ESP Ra.De.”, an especially beautiful and insane shoot’em’up. MAME32, people.

  174. 174.

    gaz

    December 9, 2011 at 2:01 pm

    @HG Hay: Using a laptop for gaming is a pretty terrible idea unless you have money to burn, and you don’t care that your $8000 thief magnet is only portable if you are not in the middle of playing a game (otherwise you must set the alienware monstrosity on a several pound bulky cooling pad)..

    way to burn through cash for a non-portable laptop. Or for a laptop that won’t play anything released 6 months after the laptop’s ship date.

    get a desktop for gaming. if u like lan parties, get a microatx PC with a handle on the case (I use one myself, works great – about the size of the smallest microwave oven u can buy )

    better yet – save your cash and get a console.

  175. 175.

    gaz

    December 9, 2011 at 2:40 pm

    @HeartlandLiberal: WRT to your adventure game fetish =) – I’m not sure how much the appeal overlaps to RPG for you – but I will say this:

    If you like games that are immersive, require extensive problem solving, + every action of yours has a consequence…

    For my money, you could do far worse than Fallout 3.

    I’d recommend new vegas only to people that first play fallout 3. somehow, new vegas just isn’t the same I think, without having the familiarity of it’s predecessor under one’s belt…

    But fallout 3. It’s like zork was – incredibly immersive at the time, but darker, deeper, and 3d…

  176. 176.

    MathInPA

    December 9, 2011 at 3:24 pm

    So many different things. My Steam list, let alone the other stuff, from Civ to SMAC to WoW (Dropped out recently) to City (not as interested any more, but on Justice server occasionally), goes on forever. I am a born and bred gamer geek, but my true roots are in RPGs, of which I’m in one Exalted online tabletop, and running another one on alternate weeks.

    Exalted is… everything. The original conception was going to be the pre-breaking original World of Darkness. They started mixing in epic fantasy, myths from Gilgamesh to Hercules, Aztec lizard kings, anime, the Great Old Ones (makers of the world and the gods), ninja bureaucrats, a China-Rome mix, the ruins of a post-scarcity supercivilization ruled by insane god-kings with the soul of superheros, etc. It is a universe where anything can happen, style is rewarded, and you have a chance to save the entire world on a regular basis– or help speed its doom into Chaos, Oblivion, or ultimate corruption.

  177. 177.

    Scott Supak

    December 9, 2011 at 3:55 pm

    Civilization V. Doing well on “King” mode now.

  178. 178.

    someGuyInAustin

    December 9, 2011 at 4:16 pm

    Poker – Hold ’em and Omaha
    Video games – Mostly Team Fortress 2

  179. 179.

    KSE

    December 9, 2011 at 5:17 pm

    Just finished Saints Row 3, although I still haven’t found anyone to play co-op with. It’s exactly as stupid and over-the-top as advertised, was pretty fun but not much of a challenge. Just started Batman: Arkham City, another sandbox game, which is fantastic so far. I frickin’ love Mark Hamill as the Joker.

    Speaking of co-op, if anybody’s looking for someone to attempt Portal 2 co-op, look me up, I’m “keinsignal” on Steam.

  180. 180.

    Crza

    December 9, 2011 at 6:47 pm

    Right now I have been all about Dark Souls. As if that wasn’t masochistic enough, it reignited my love for 2009’s equally brutal and awesome Demon’s Souls. I am just wallowing in repeated deaths over here and for some reason I’m enjoying it.

  181. 181.

    gaz

    December 9, 2011 at 7:09 pm

    @Crza: I beat the Getaway.

    Level 8 (IIRC) consisted simply of a single car chase. It took me a month to beat that part.

    I’ll never subject myself to the kind of torture that is games like Dark Souls, the Getaway – et al. Not anymore.

    I think they should use them as an enhanced interrogation technique, except that I’m fairly certain that there is some sort of international treaty that bans the practice.

  182. 182.

    gaz

    December 9, 2011 at 7:17 pm

    arg.. okay dark souls wasn’t what I thought it was… I was thinking of another game, and now I can’t remember what it was called. This is going to bug me all night.

  183. 183.

    gaz

    December 9, 2011 at 8:42 pm

    @Mark S.: You asked what smurfing was, I lost that in all the fray:

    I think it originated as a gaming term to describe the act of falsifying your info on an online game to be able to do things others couldn’t

    Eventually (at least among people I talk to) the term seems to have morphed to mean, essentially, hacking a game to make it so you can do things the designers didn’t mean you to do.

    in 1986 parlance, we called it turtle tapping. w00t

    heh

    adding, cheat codes, and debug console codes don’t count

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