Video Games Thread

[jman]

Thats weird - earlier I was hard pushed to think of anyone that the steambox (or equivalent hardware) would appeal too...certainly not me.

PC enthusiasts - will play on their PCs.
Console enthusiasts - will play on their consoles.

Two completely different markets - I cant see how one product can unify them.. it wont have the console exclusives that make the console great, and it wont be "tech" enough to make it worthwhile if you already have a half decent pc.  You'll also be tied to steam - which means no pre-owned games.

The only advantage I can see it bringing is - pc gaming on a large tv - am I fussed about that - no.

As much as I love Valve, I wish they would stop this hardware bollocks and actually release some software.

[jman]

Woohoo, just hit 90k GS tonight - just 10k to go. 

Also did it on my 300th xbox 360 game that I've played (according to xbox.com)

 

[styles]

Has been rumoured for quite a while, but Crytek have now confirmed they won't be bringing Crysis 3 to the Wii U.
Getting past the marketing speak, it seems the game just wouldn't sell. To be honest, I would've thought it'd be worth bringing out even if it didn't make a profit, though. I'm not a big fan of Crysis, but bringing a graphical benchmark game to the U and showing off how it performs against the 360 and the ps3 would've been a good move for Nintendo (assuming it would perform favourably in comparison with those ageing machines).




Nice to see something other than Blops2 in my play summary, for a change.
I really need to get some other games played. Or at least play the COD campaign. My gamerscore is stagnating!

That's an average of almost 6 hours per day. That's outrageous mate!!

[Late]

Tis a bit worrying, isn't it!
I should cut down, but there's not a massive amount for me to do between our lass going to bed at around 11pm and me going to bed at about 3 or 4am.
Tempted to start watching a TV show again from the start (maybe The Shield, or Sopranos) in that time slot.

I read a canny rumour...

We're years away from that patent coming to fruition but that would be awesome lol...

Boom, lol.
Proof of concept, revealed by MS today.

TBH I can't see it being properly developed, as it's usefulness is next to zero - but I still think it's fantastic. I'm not so excited for what it is, as it's only a step, but anything that brings immersive reality (a la Star Trek holosuites) a step closer is a good thing - and this does just that.

[bealec]

Tis a bit worrying, isn't it!
I should cut down, but there's not a massive amount for me to do between our lass going to bed at around 11pm and me going to bed at about 3 or 4am.
Tempted to start watching a TV show again from the start (maybe The Shield, or Sopranos) in that time slot.

I read a canny rumour...

We're years away from that patent coming to fruition but that would be awesome lol...

Boom, lol.
Proof of concept, revealed by MS today.

TBH I can't see it being properly developed, as it's usefulness is next to zero - but I still think it's fantastic. I'm not so excited for what it is, as it's only a step, but anything that brings immersive reality (a la Star Trek holosuites) a step closer is a good thing - and this does just that.

[jman]

LOL, it does look good albeit mega tacky 

Wow.. made a bit of wonga on my games on ebay - not going to argue that you definitely make a bit more money selling them via ebay versus selling in a shop, I actually sold a few games for more than I paid for them brand new for instance....but some of the people who use ebay are complete and utter morons - its just annoying.

[jman]

Yay, pc is all back up and running - just tried Borderlands 2 and its looking very nice indeedy do.  Loving my SSD as well - everything is so fast!!  Now all I need to do is wait for Sim City 5 - probably my 2nd most anticipated game of the year after GTA5.

Also got myself full copies of Autodesk Maya and Unity - going to try out a few animation and coding things over the coming year with a buddy.   

[Late]

Yay, pc is all back up and running - just tried Borderlands 2 and its looking very nice indeedy do.  Loving my SSD as well - everything is so fast!!  Now all I need to do is wait for Sim City 5 - probably my 2nd most anticipated game of the year after GTA5

GTA and Sim City are two of my top three for 2013, along with BioShock Infinite.
My list

[jman]

Bioshock has taken too long to come out now though.. I'll probably buy it at or near launch saying that though - I loved the first two.

Am looking forward towards Gears of War, Army Of Two and ArmA 3 later in the year too


I was playing Civilization 4 last night - I love turn-based games - theres a game called Omerta : City of Gangsters coming out soon which is turn-based - its by the people who did Tropico 4 - might be worth a punt if you like strategy games.

[bealec]

So I've finished the story of AC3. Still loads to do as according to the game the main story only makes up about 40% of the game.

Thoughts....

At the beginning I really wasn't enjoying it. It felt clunky and slow compared to the last game. It may have just been the Haytham character that's been made intentionally slow I'm not sure but it just didn't feel right. It looks amazing and the settings good but I was worried this would be another Saints Row 3 for me (Loved the first two Saints Row's hated the third)

Thankfully when I became Connor it felt like the AC's of old.

The combat system has been changed and made more difficult I feel which is a good thing because before you could just counter kill every enemy. You can still counter kill but it's not as easy as it was before and some enemies can counter your counter.

Desmond is more involved in this game and obviously this is the end of his story. In the Desmond parts you get to travel to New York, Brazil and back to the Abstergo offices where it all began which is a cool.

There's still lots to do such as frontiersmen missions and missions to take control of the districts as well but I have Batman AC to play so ill come back to em.

All in all a good game but it did have me worried.

[AVFCRoss]

Strong rumours that the PS4/720 will both be announced before May (or around May)...Even if these are true, I still don't expect either of them to hit this year...Probably around spring/summer next year is a more plausible release window, even if they are announced as early as May.

[harv]

Strong rumours that the PS4/720 will both be announced before May (or around May)...Even if these are true, I still don't expect either of them to hit this year...Probably around spring/summer next year is a more plausible release window, even if they are announced as early as May.

Developers have had dev kits for a while now. We should see both released in November/December this year, Spring and especially Summer are terrible times to release a home console. Nobody has any cash to spare after Christmas until April or May and by then they're saving for Summer holidays.

The best time to release a home console is November or December, before Black Friday and Christmas shopping starts.

Portable consoles tend to do better in Spring or Summer because a few people buy these things to take with them on holiday, but even then it's still daft to release them around that time. I can't see any reason for it tbh.

[AVFCRoss]

Strong rumours that the PS4/720 will both be announced before May (or around May)...Even if these are true, I still don't expect either of them to hit this year...Probably around spring/summer next year is a more plausible release window, even if they are announced as early as May.

Developers have had dev kits for a while now. We should see both released in November/December this year, Spring and especially Summer are terrible times to release a home console. Nobody has any cash to spare after Christmas until April or May and by then they're saving for Summer holidays.

The best time to release a home console is November or December, before Black Friday and Christmas shopping starts.

Portable consoles tend to do better in Spring or Summer because a few people buy these things to take with them on holiday, but even then it's still daft to release them around that time. I can't see any reason for it tbh.

The PS3 was released in Europe in March, and it still sold a solid amount of units. Sony will give Japan a few months exclusivity too, which is pretty much nailed on (as they did with the PS3), so I think next spring is a tidy estimate.

[harv]

The PS3 was a failure at launch in all territories, in fact it was a failure for around 2 years until they decided to panic and cut the price significantly, there were even a few months where the GBA outsold it

Most people simply don't have that sort of money going spare at that time of the year.

November/December this year is the only sensible time to release a current gen console. And if Sony and Microsoft don't want another Vita situation on their hands then both consoles will have to release for less than 400 quid. And they'd be mad to go the subscription route over here too, chavs on council estates will abuse the fuck out of it lol.

[Late]

Gotta agree with Harv (to a degree) on this one.
I'd be amazed if we don't see at least one of the next gen consoles around November this year - and probably/hopefully both.

A few rumours here, including possible launches in Oct and Nov for Sony and Microsoft respectively, and a potential price in the $350-$400 range. I'd been expecting a £400 launch, but if those US$ figures are correct I imagine we're talking £300-£350 which sounds good (but I'm not going to get excited until we get details rather than speculation, as so much depends on how the two consoles shape up in a straight comparison)...