What are you playing at the moment?

[sabrage]

If we're on the subject of "greatest d-pad", there can only be one:

Played a bit of Risen, thanks to Gamergate's Void program... The start-up ads are really annoying, compounded by the fact that they gave me one for WoW: Cataclysm. ("Coming December 2010!") I'm assuming that I'm going to be running into enemies who can easily kill me on a regular basis? Is it impossible to block creatures?

On the flip side, if I was in the mood, recovering from some poor decisions resulted in some glorious 20-30 minute battles against said bosses with satisfyingly smug smile on face. It really was such a good battle system. :)

That's exactly why I'm sticking with Ys.

[internetonsetadd]

I recently returned to Just Cause 2 and finally got around to playing Alpha Centauri. Civ 2 is the only game from its franchise that I played, and SMAC is a wet dream in which nostalgia is making out with awesome. I didn't realize how well developed the sci-fi-ness of the game was.

[Spider Jerusalem]

finally getting around to finishing dx:hr. i quit after the first boss fight made me kill someone.

:(

[Lukasz]

I actually installed DXHR few days ago. It works ladies and gentlemen. barely but i do get 25 and more fps so im okay with that.
decided to not play stalker anymore. ill wait for new computer so i can replay it from a to z with complete and max graphical settings.

[icemann]

If we're on the subject of "greatest d-pad", there can only be one:

PS2 controller for me anyday. Besides n64 and genesis emulation (which I barely ever do anyway) the controller has been fine for any emulation related gaming I've wanted to do. My trusty ps2 controller has lasted me since 2001 without issue. I can't think of any controller I've used for any other system that has lasted that long. And I've been using it quite regularly throughout that time due to emulation.

[Voon]

Trying to play Dorf Fort in ASCII, right now. And trying to play this is half the challenge.

[Ravelle]

I actually installed DXHR few days ago. It works ladies and gentlemen. barely but i do get 25 and more fps so im okay with that.
decided to not play stalker anymore. ill wait for new computer so i can replay it from a to z with complete and max graphical settings.

I never had FPS issues with that game.

[Kodeen]

Played a bit of Risen, thanks to Gamergate's Void program... The start-up ads are really annoying, compounded by the fact that they gave me one for WoW: Cataclysm. ("Coming December 2010!") I'm assuming that I'm going to be running into enemies who can easily kill me on a regular basis? Is it impossible to block creatures?

It's been a while since I've played it and I don't really remember the mechanics of combat, but I think you can block. I remember slow methodical battles with packs of wolves, I must have been blocking. I do remember that it left the best impression on me of any PB combat system.

Speaking of Void, how does the advertising work? Is there just one displayed at the beginning of each play session?

[NecroKnight]

Home- a small indie psychological horror game.

[alms]

Finally started messing around with Simcity 4 Deluxe after it sat in my library collecting dust for, like, a couple years. I only played the original Simcity because after that, 2000 and 3000 looked too complicated to me and when 4 came out I wasn't paying attention to games.

My first city after the tutorials, the patch had this nice river in the middle I carved using the canyon tool. So nice, until I tried to build a bridge on it, when I was greeted by a "cannot build network on this type of ground" error which I couldn't get around in any way. Eventually I gave up and terraformed a connecting ridge :P

You want a Streetfighter 4 Fightpad
, its the best D pad I've ever used, but its not as clicky as a genesis or snes or wii classic but its very precise and I only play arrow key platformers like spelunky or whatever with it.

It doesn't have analog sticks, does it? I need them to play Lunar Flight.

[Heliocentric]

It doesn't have analog sticks, does it? I need them to play Lunar Flight.

No, I pop in an official pad with twin sticks for Luna Flight, driving games and anything that is super xboxpad or death in its controller configuration.

I actually enjoy driving project reality tanks with it too, the extra speed control really helps.

[sabrage]

Speaking of Void, how does the advertising work? Is there just one displayed at the beginning of each play session?

The one time I launched Risen the other day, it played (streamed?) three unskippable, fullscreen advertisement videos before launching the game proper.

It doesn't have analog sticks, does it? I need them to play Lunar Flight.

I would go with Sony's Playstation controller, then. Either a PS2 controller with an adapter, or a PS3 controller with a Bluetooth receiver. Definitely the best combination of analog sticks+d-pad I've used, though the d-pad is definitely lacking compared to some of the 16/32-bit mainstays. I've also heard good things about this Hori pad, which also has the added benefit of a USB termination. I've never used it myself, but I imagine that for someone like me with rather large hands it would be a better fit than the tiny Sony footprint.

[alms]

No, I pop in an official pad with twin sticks for Luna Flight, driving games and anything that is super xboxpad or death in its controller configuration.

I actually enjoy driving project reality tanks with it too, the extra speed control really helps.

I'm gonna stick to the official pad then, I'm too cheap to get two

I've also heard good things about this Hori pad, which also has the added benefit of a USB termination.

I'll check that one out, thanks. Wired is plenty good for me, I'm not gonna use it with anything different from a PC anyway, and I was gonna get the X360 pad just because it's become the de facto standard for PC games.

[TailSwallower]

Felt a hankering for some Tower Defense, searched around and found Cursed Treasure and proceeded to spend most of the day playing the goddamn thing. Armor Games have a knack for publishing super-addictive games.

Deliberately didn't include a link. Your productivity levels will thank me later.

[Lukasz]

I never had FPS issues with that game.

did you run it on 4850 amd 3200 2Gb of ddr1
?

[LTK]

Now playing Trine, from the Frozen Synapse bundle. Very pretty and surprisingly enjoyable!

[vinraith]

Playing back through Mass Effect 2 in anticipation of getting 3. I'm making a second run with the same character I played through the first time, so started at level 27 or so, and popped the difficulty up to veteran. It's interesting, they pulled most of the RPG mechanics out, but there's a pretty solid tactical shooter in there in their place. The problem I'm having, though, is that the longer set piece battles have nowhere you can save, so any slip up (be it due to the "space does everything" controls or bad collision detection or my own ineptitude) can set me back half an hour. That's not cool, and I'm not sure how long I can put up with replaying long sections like this.

I'm not sure how much of the difficulty is coming from the "replaying an old character" element, so I'm considering starting over with a new character instead (but trying to stick it out on veteran). Hell, I'm afraid to use my vanguard's charge skill anyway with things the way they are, too easy to screw up and get killed, maybe I'll make a more paragon-inclined female infiltrator and see if that works for me.

[Oshada]

Felt a hankering for some Tower Defense, searched around and found Cursed Treasure and proceeded to spend most of the day playing the goddamn thing. Armor Games have a knack for publishing super-addictive games.

Deliberately didn't include a link. Your productivity levels will thank me later.

That's a good one, although it has a nasty habit of periodically wiping your progress. Bloons Tower Defence 5 is my current addiction, it's amazing how they keep improving it.

[sabrage]

Oh god. Why did I start The First EncountAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH on Hard Mode?

On that note (actually a completely unrelated note) which one of the DND Anthology games should I start with? (Bear in mind that I know next-to-nothing about DND rulesets)

[Heliocentric]

Playing back through Mass Effect 2 in anticipation of getting 3.

I'm not sure I could stand replaying #2 to completion, but I guess a core missions run would be fun, I scarcely 100%'d it last time. Mass Effect 1 I finished 3 times, I honestly think all the people who said ME2 was an improvement were either only thinking about the conversations or were playing with a controller. Crap like approching an enemy base in cover of a hill in the mako then setting garrus and ashley (this is before she tragically dies: Canon) up with sniper rifles and going to make a drink while they clear house ^_^

Okay, that's an edge case, but you actually seemed to have some strategic choices in a few parts of ME1, this never happened again. I mean, where is the scene in ME3 where you drive a tank/atlas (so no jumping) through London fighting reaper forces able to call down some strategic support depending on who you made friends with?

Calling down a squad of Geth Prime to drop on top of some Banshee's, then calling some Quarian fleet fire support or Salarian anti material snipers to destroy a harvester. Maybe a team of Asari Biotic Commandoes or a Krogan battlegroup like the end of ME2 chose to hole the line.

At what point did they fail to realise how badass that would be.

On that note (actually a completely unrelated note) which one of the DND Anthology games should I start with? (Bear in mind that I know next-to-nothing about DND rulesets)

This is an easy one, Planescape but you need to promise me that you will tough it out until you reach Pharod.
The rules hardly even matter in Planescape, just punch people until they fall over with highish (1-16))constitution you will regenerate health at a healthy rate, set 14 or so strength and you can punch your way through half of the fights if you use Morte's distraction skill well.