toxicitizen

Yeah, Half-Life 2 has some truly amazing level design. When I was playing it for the first time, I remember a moment where the only visible way to proceed is to go down a big hole in the ground but there's no ladder or anything, so it's a short platforming section where you make your way down by jumping on the large wooden beams on each sides of the hole. It took me a few minutes to realize that that was the way down and then I stood there for another minute wondering "no, seriously, is this REALLY the way down?". Valve have a way of designing levels that sometimes feel like you shouldn't be where you are, and that's just awesome.

I agree that getting a boxed copy of a Steamworks game seems kinda pointless, but I can't really argue with someone who prefers owning a physical copy. I'm the same way with consoles. I would never buy digital versions of PS3 games (like MAG or ACII) that have a physical copy. Though that mostly comes from not being convinced that my PSN content will carry over to the next-gen playstation.

Only 10$? Then I take it you didn't pre-order it on Steam since the 10% pre-order discount makes it 15$ lower than the PS3 version. Which begs the question: if you went for the PC version, why wouldn't you pre-order directly through Steam? It's cheaper, and you'll have to register it anyway.

Well, the similarities are there. But I played Darksiders looking for a Zelda-like experience and was kinda disappointed on that aspect. The game is still amazing, it just wasn't quite what I was looking for at the time. It feels like they toned it down during development. The second half of the game isn't really like the beginning. I've since started playing 3D Dot Game Heroes and THAT is a Zelda-like game. Hell, it's a full-on Zelda ripoff. And since I haven't owned a Nintendo console since the 64 (except for the DS), I am loving the hell out of it!

You might want to stick with it a little longer then. The Twilight Cathedral ( I'm assuming this is what you meant when you said first "castle") is really not representative of the rest of the game. I found that overall the game is much more like God of War than it is like Zelda. I'd say like 70/30. Most of the puzzles are pretty damn simple, too. Don't judge the whole game based on Twilight Cathedral (which I thought wasn't that great of a dungeon). It's like after finishing it they decided to scrap the whole Zelda-dungeon thing and go in a different direction but still kept it in the game In a later area, I only realized that I was actually in a "dungeon" when I ran into the boss.

19.99$ on Amazon.ca Had been meaning to get it for a while now (ever since launch, actually. I had liked the demo, had kind of an Uncharted vibe to it). But in the end it got relegated to the "waiting for a price drop" list. I'm also considering Resonance of Fate (which is going for like 26$), but I'm not 100% sure if I'll get it yet.

Yeah, that's definitely Greg Grunberg (or if you prefer, Parkman from Heroes). I recognized him right away when I watched the new trailer/gameplay video I seriously can't wait for this game. Getting a distinct "Heavy Rain" vibe from it. Kinda hard to explain, but I guess both games being about murder investigations might have something to do with it.

Finally grabed Castle Crashers on PSN. It was 30% off so I went for it. Also, out of curiosity, grabbed that "Test Yourself: Psychology" thing that came out today. Apparently, I have average reflexes and a high ability to discern patterns and analyse things.

Ha, I don't even remember that part. Guess I might be due for a new run through it. When it first came out, I only played it once, which is unusual since I usually play a MGS game to hell and back until I can't stand it anymore. When Subsistence came out, I must've played it like 5 times in a row with my last run spent hunting down all those damned frogs to get the stealth camo... Never again O_O. But anyway, I think that might have been because I had only just gotten my PS3 and had other games I was eager to play. Took me over a year to even give MGS4 a second run. I loved the Darkness, I'm wondering what they're going to do in the sequel. That ending was, indeed, pretty sweet. So unusual for a game to end like that, too. Brillo. Man, you guys are almost making me want to dust off my copy of The Darkness to actually finish it. It must've been sitting on that shelf for close to 2 years now... Weird thing is, I don't really know why I never finished it. I remember enjoying it enough. But I think constantly hearing that it was shit might have subconsciously convinced me I was wasting my time playing it...

Being that most of his games are about vehicular combat, God of War was kind of a departure from his comfort zone. Ask if he sees himself ever leaving that comfort zone again and doing something different from what he's done in the past.

I don't think any game ever brought me to actual tears, but some did make me choke up a bit. Off the top of my head, at the end of MGS4, when Then there's the part in SOTC when But generally I need to really care about a character for it to affect me that strongly. When a character I liked dies in a game, it generally sucks, but rarely am I genuinely sad about it. The only thing in recent years that I remember genuinely bringing me to tears was the Lost series finale. I must've teared up at least half a dozen times while watching it Though some of it were tears of joy, depending on the characters. *sigh* ... I miss Lost

Ha, must've missed it. I don't think I've read much of the Crysis 2 thread, now that I think about it I considered getting the leak but I figured I'd rather experience the proper final version. So basically the settings are the same for the full (as in, single-player as well) product? Yeah, definitely glad I cancelled my pre-order, then. As things are right now, I'll probably download the game to play the single-player once and then buy it much later when it goes dirt cheap on Steam. Definitely doesn't feel like Crytek deserve my money on this one.

Just sent in a Steam support ticket asking them to cancel my pre-order. I tried the MP demo and while it's not terrible... a lot of it just feels wrong. For starters, when you launch it and arrive at the title screen, you are told to "Press Start". So much for PC being the lead platform and not a console port, uh? Then the graphical settings are just retarded. You have "Gamer", "Advanced" and "Hardcore" with no freaking indication of which is higher or lower. And no way whatsoever to customize the settings. It's one of those three and nothing in-between. In addition, there's no way to adjust your FOV and the controls in general feel sluggish and slow. Not very PC-like, which is weird considering Crytek was one of the most PC-friendly devs (along with Valve) only a few years back. Then there's how the maps in the demo are such small, confined affairs. Compared to the original games more sprawling environments filled with vehicles, you have to wonder how much they changed their design philosophy. Basically the whole thing feels like it was changed to cater to the Call of Duty crowd. I'm still very much looking forward to playing the single-player, and for all I know the SP campaign might be more in-line with how the original games were. But the demo made me realize that I'm not willing to bet 60$ of my limited budget on whether or not Crytek changed their design philosophy completely. Plus, the demo is obviously a quick and dirty console port, which makes it look like Crytek lied when they claimed the game was not going to be a console port. So yeah, now I have 60 bucks that I can spend on something else. I'm thinking maybe MvC3, but I'm not 100% sold on it yet.

Yeah, Dean. While most PC games can technically run in HD resolutions without any issues, a lot of them don't support it properly. For example, stretched HUDs. That kinda shit drives me nuts. I own BG&E on Steam but my gamepad was kinda wonky with it and I wasn't crazy about its M+K controls, so I've been waiting for the HD makeover... Just one of those rare games that I feel plays better with a gamepad/on a console. And if they're bothering to re-release it on PC as well ( first I hear about that, though), then I think it's safe to assume they put a little bit more work in it than just cranking up the resolution (like fixing textures and such so they look better in the new res). Also, Beyond Good and Evil HD is a 360 exclusive?! What... That sucks, I was sure I had heard it was coming out simultaneously on PS3... I'm assuming timed-exclusive, but still.. that's bullshit!

I wanted to get Severed today, but I still haven't played Extraction, so it would be kinda pointless to get it right away...

Well, turns out the info was good. Catherine localization confirmed, releasing over the summer http://ps3.ign.com/articles/115/1152734p1.html

Kind of an unknown website as far as I can tell, so make of it what you will. But here is some potential good news: http://beefjack.com/news/gamestop-lists-catherine-release-for-26th-july/ edit: here's a cache of the original gamestop listing http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ZQU2hfmlJc4J:www.gamestop.com/ps3/games/catherine/90445+gamestop+catherine&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com

Hahaha I also got that "Do you still like us?" email, and when I couldn't find any clickable area that linked to anything I was wondering what the hell it was about

Just went and pre-ordered this on Steam I was already planning on pre-ordering Portal 2 (me and a friend are splitting a 2-pack so it's only going to cost us 40 bucks each), but then I realized that my monthly budget allowed me a second pre-order. It was either Crysis 2 or Dragon Age II. DAII obviously has more content but in the end I decided against it because I have a thing where I stop playing RPGs after about 40 hours and only get back to them months later, and I'm already trying to get back to Fallout: New Vegas, so it seemed ridiculous to buy another epic-length RPG when I've already got one waiting to be finished. Plus, I absolutely loved the original Crysis (and Warhead) and have been looking forward to Crysis 2 a whole lot more than I have been for DAII. Also, the Crysis 2 trailers have been increasingly awesome lately.

They still hold up pretty well, actually. The atmosphere never goes away with the Thief games. Some levels will still scare you crapless regardless of age. True that. They were pretty dated when I played them a few years ago and they were still some of the best games I had ever (and still have) ever played. The first one fucked with me big time with it's giant spiders (at one point I was surrounded in a cave and one of them jumped and I lost sight of it and well... long story short: I ran blindly, quicksaved when I felt safe, and realized I was completely lost (and god knows the map in those games was no help ). Anyway, Thief was great but Thief 2 was such an improvement in every aspect. I still hope they'll one day appear on Steam

I never was much of a Battlefield fan. Wasn't much into online gaming until these past few years, so I never really got into the series until Bad Company. And even then, Bad Company got my attention mainly because of it's single-player campaign. It seemed to have a fun story. That being said, I really like what I've seen of Battlefield 3 so far and am definitely looking forward to it. Anyone knows if it'll be online-only or if there will be a single-player campaign of some sort?

Yeah, I get what you mean. Though personally I hope Deus Ex remains consistent with previous games. It's a prequel but it could hint at future events. Thief, I don't consider to be as sacred. So long as they get the gameplay right, I'll be happy.