Rock, Paper, Shotgun

As Adam and I lay out boxes of tissues (for crying, you disgusting pig) in order to discuss To The Moon for a Verdict this afternoon, it makes us wonder: what games have made you cry? Yes, yes, Tomb Raider: Angel Of Darkness. We’ve all done that joke. But really, bravado aside, when did you get moved to weeples?

I’ve written about the two previous games that saw me shed a tear a couple of years ago, and I talked to Charles Cecil about the process four years ago (wow, our site’s really old). (I mention these to stave off complaints from those claiming we always go on about this – twice in four years, whingebags.)

So go on – defy convention and name the game that made your eyes all dribbly.

It’s Satan’s birthday on Monday, which means it’s time to sit inside and pretend no-one’s home while the neighbourhood kids prowl for candy. But what games should we be playing while we make absent? It seems to me like Costume Quest is the thematically cute suggestion, and Amnesia is the Actually Scary suggestion. But what else? Your thoughts, please, folks.

So, if the (reportedly false) rumours are to be believed (update: and apparently they’re not. Hooray!), the future of Doom 4 might be in doubt. Which raises a question: what do we want from a fourth Doom game anyway? Should the next Doom game keep it old skool with a key-collecting run-and-gun? Or should it up updated to compete with the contemporary manshoots? Do we still want demons on Mars? And should it showcase the next generation of graphics, or do something new with the way shooters work? If you were in charge, what would you do?

Personally I quite like the idea of re-releasing a blow-by-blow remake the original game in an astonishing modern engine, with the only gameplay concessions to modern design being mouse-look and so on. Failing that, a single-button iPhone game, like Canabalt with cacodemons. (Not really. Likely.)

I suppose this question will largely be interpreted as “what game are you best at?” but I actually have a more specific motivation for asking. While I was probably best at Speedball 2 or Quake III in terms of raw twitchy gaminess, my best developed skill from a game was definitely fleet commanding in Eve Online. It was a skill within the overall mastery of the game. I wasn’t the best pilot, or the best trader, or the best diplomat or best at Eve in any general sense, I was just really good at fleet commanding and running gangs. I’m a little sad that this skill is now languishing after years of work.

Anyway, it made me wonder whether you lot had any specific talents you’d like to share? Perhaps, unlike John, you are a particularly good healer? Or are you a brilliant WoW auction house ninja? Or something else more exotic? The most interesting claims will win points in the subgame of RPS that I call “keeping Jim amused while this DLC downloads”.

Go!

Okay then! My rambling foray into PC hardware continues. Later in the week I am going to do another PC-build post with a better, clearer version of what we discussed here. That’ll also contain some suggestions about cheaper builds and also some suggestions for what to do if you can’t/won’t build your own machine. In the meantime, however, I want to hear some opinions on the topic of gaming laptops. I tend to cart around various categories of netbook these days, with no real intention of gaming on them, even if they can actually muster a fair bit of PC gaming’s history. But I am aware than many people do having laptops with considerable more oomph. What I want to hear about is your feedback on laptops that you use for gaming. What are the specs? What was the cost? How happy are you with it? Any niggles? Would you recommend it?

Speak!

There’s almost too much to play! I probably should be hammering noobs on the Battlefield 3 beta, but it really could be anything. Hell, I have that epic game of Supreme Commander to get done, new Minecraft to explore, Dead Island to continue, Stalker mods to work on, and some secret things to preview. But what do you think I should play? What are you going to play? Suggest me do!

And yes, I probably will just end up being paralysed by choice and end up laying down in the sun…

This is entirely anecdotal, of course, and entirely unscientific, but 2011 has been the first year since we started RPS that I’ve really noticed a rise in the number of you guys talking about upgrading PCs, or building entirely new PCs. The main reason for this seems to be Battlefield 3, but it’s also been true to a lesser extent for The Witcher 2, and to some degree just for the general upward trend in PC gaming performance.

So then: hands up if you bought a graphics card in the past year! (So since September 2010.) And also let me know how much you spent.

o/ (£199)

Something brought up by the article below – in which the way gaming causes us to change our behaviour in the real world is discussed – is quite how brilliant that stuff actually is. It’s the same thrill you can get from watching a superhero film, or being inspired by a character in a book. Those bizarre, often hilarious moments in life, when you’re taken back to a gaming experience. I think they deserve celebrating, so let’s all do that below.

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Oh hello. I am back after a lovely holiday. It was the first full week for at least four years that that I did not play some kind of electronic game. What that means, however, is that I now have a pile of stuff to get through: Monaco multiplayer preview code, Red Orchestra 2, Minecraft 1.8, and some preview code for A Valley Without Wind. Exciting stuff, but not exactly easy on my free time. (I want to continue my game of Dead Island, too. I’m a couple of hours in.)

Anyway, this thread is actually about you lot. I assume everyone has finished playing and replaying DXHR, so what’s next on the reader pile? What have you been playing?

An open question for the floor: how much stock do you put in Steam’s achievements, now they’ve been around for a couple of years? I only ask because they’re cropping up in more and more games, yet yet they don’t seem to have hahahahaha achieved the same game-cultural significance as Xbox 360′s ones, where folk from all walks of life seem invested to the point of violence in their Gamerscores.
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