Entertainment : Video Games

I can second Ocarina of TIme (played on N64 a million years ago).

I don't play much, but I am really into the Sims games.  I like building houses and poeple and ruining their lives - imagine!  And I can neither confirm nor deny that I have created Sim versions of my novel characters...

I just finished Batman: Arkhan City.  And I'm pretty sure that I am Batman now....

Finish Red Dead, Nick. It gets so amazing.

The Bioshock series is pretty awesome.

I liked Alan Wake, but I prefer something like Dragon Age (the first one) or the old turn-based Baldur's Gate (and Fallout 1 & 2 or Planescape: Torment).  I'm waiting to play Skyrim until there's more hours in a day.

Bioshock's opening scene and Modern Warfare's nuke explosion were two of the best moments in gaming, storytelling-wise.  They both blew me away.

Love games. Bioware and Ubisoft own a huge chunk of my soul. My absolute favorites are Mass Effect 1 & 2. I'm counting the days until the third game is released. Also on the all time favs list: Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2, Assassin's Creed, and the Prince of Persia series.

I can forgive a lot in a game if the storyline is sufficiently engaging. Bioware rarely lets me down, though Dragon Age 2 was rather lackluster compared to the first game.

I find most video game stories to be pretty generic and uninspired. You mentioned Monkey Island - all those Lucas Arts adventure games were awesome, I loved them as a kid. The only video games that really impressed me with their storytelling were the Metal Gear Solid games and Shadow of the Colossus. I have this DVD that came with Metal Gear Solid 3 that's just the cinematics and I watched it with my roommates who didn't like the gameplay. It was pretty much just like watching a movie (albeit with PS2 graphics), which is something I don't think can be said for any other game.

I don't really play games anymore, though. Sometimes I fire up NCAA Football but only during the offseason. It's like methadone for my football addiction.

Bioshock 2 is a favorite of mine just recently too. I thought it was a horror so I've been told but I bought it brand new for $10, nervous as shit when I put it in my disc tray (360 all they way) and enjoyed every minute of it with no fear. Never played a game that had such a unique and riveting way of story gameplay. Part of my top games with a plot next to Red Dead Redemption which is also a favorite. I've taken to enjoy single player campaigns over co-op because the little brother can be a little shit and the balance with co-op gameplay really narrows down the full potential of the story.

Like Halo: Reach for example, great series been a huge fan since Combat Evolved but Reach has so minimal story factors and mostly action driven with no critical points of why this and that was happening. I already knew what happened since I read the first three Evolved books and was so excited on launch night to see how Bungie would execute the story into a game, in the end I was mildly disappointed though it is still a good game. Assassin's Creed is also a great series personally I love history and stealth so I get orgasms when I play it. What the hell is better than being a master assassin honestly?

Should be expecting Revelations tomorrow evening, mouth already watering.

My life permanently ends when I open Skyrim on christmas morning. :}

What I like with Bioshock is you got the choice to either heal the little girl or steal all her energy to increase your power and it affected the ending of the game.  I like games with alternate possible endings.  For example, if I decide to murder a village full of innocent people in the game, one of their children should return and shoot me in the head at the end of the game.  That would be awesome.  It's like, you beat the game yay and then you get shot in the head for being a dick.

I like eavesdropping on role playing conversations in MMO's (currently playing Rift). There are certain servers where the players role play to the game's set lore and a lot of times what unravels is some sort of cheesy fantasy harlequin romance. With lots of adverbally adverbs. The players really come up with the best shit sometimes.

*[Beelzebaby] delicately clutches the amulet she farmed for three days to obtain, wistfully gazing over her gaudily armored shoulders at [TankAndSpank], who reminds her of some guy she used to pretend to love online.*

*[TankAndSpank] stares lovingly at [Beelzebaby]'s battle thong.*

I really liked playing RPGs some years back because of the story lines. Memorable to me were FFVI and Xenogears for the playstation. If there is a good storyline, it's about as engrossing as reading a good book - like those old 'choose your own adventure' books back in the day. And you get to kill shit!

I don't play video games, but I did play Assassin's Creed several years ago. I have to admit, that game was pretty freakin' awesome. 

I work in the game business! So yes, I love gaming. It's true that there are games out there meant to only suck away your dollars and life. I happen to work primarily in those sorts of games... it crushes the soul. (At the moment, though, I'm working on a pretty cool game. I'll tell you guys about it when it actually releases!) Then there are games like The Sims, Minecraft, etc where you don't actually do anything but live in a virtual world and try to get more stuff. I love Minecraft, but I will not hesitate to say that game offers little in terms of ingredients to my brain stew.

However, there are AMAZING games out there and I see a lot of you mentioning them. My favorites:

Silent Hill 2. Jesus! This game. It's coming out for the ps3 this year and I'm going to try playing it again. I love the story, I love the symbolism, and I love James. (In a way, James helped me out in creating the kid in my NaNoWriMo project this year.) My roommate introduced me to the game about five years ago, and we still quote lines and joke about it. "Do I look like your girlfriend?" comes up in conversation often. 

Come to think of it, every horror story I've written has been heavy on SH elements. Because that game teaches you what creepy can and should be. nothing is scarier than the dark parts of your own mind.

The Other Silent Hill Games, mostly 3 and 4, but not really Homecoming. I still haven't beaten Homecoming. I think I know what the end is and that is why I hesitate to continue. I don't want to spoil the ending for myself, but I think I might have to look it up if I'm ever going to finish the game. I get so attached to characters... can you imagine how I felt when I found out what happened to Mary in SH2? Jesus!

Persona 4. My favorite game of all time. OF ALL TIME. I have a thing for characters and every character in the series is believable, funny, and deep. The story progression is perfectly paced. The twists and turns fill me with glee. And the voice actors are AMAZING. My favorite part of the story to this game is the overall theme of accepting yourself for who you are. It's a theme that can come off as preachy, but Persona 4 balances it well.

My favorite time waster games are Minecraft, Sonic Riders, (or whatever it's called, I don't know, it has sonic and he rides a cool looking hoverboard or something) any DBZ game, and Left 4 Dead 2. I LOVE L4D2. While it doesn't have much of a story, the game is awesome for team building exercises. 

I watched my roommate play a bit of Uncharted, so I picked it up last weekend. I'm pretty sure that game will make it to my list, as well.

@Kirk: I would, but I don't even own a gaming system. I think the last one I owned was the Gamecube, and I sold it to my friend after a month of having it. I'd get one, but all I'd play is Assassin's Creed and Rock Band. Love Rock Band, too. Use to get hammered drunk and play that. But, it's just not worth the investment for those two games. I'd probably get bored with it anyway and end up selling it. Hell, I don't even have a decent television to play on. All movie watching (don't watch tv) is done on the laptop. I'll stick to books and Open Office. LOL! 

Is anyone here a Warcraft junky? My friend is and I just don't get it. I tried it and maybe it's because I don't have the patience for RPG's, but I was bored in like two minutes. Not for me. Of course, he's the same way about me and writing. He just doesn't get it. His wife hates it. Has threatened divorce. People have lost families, jobs, friends, lives over this game. Like I said, I just don't get it. What's the allure?

That's cool. I understand the occasional play. But, my friend spends hours and hours playing. He sits his 8 year old son in front of the tv with an X-Box controller and that keeps him occupied. I just don't understand the non-stop playing. I guess to each his/her own.

I'm gonna go with some old school survival horror, silent hill, alone in the dark, the clock tower and resident evil. By far my favorite horror games and clock tower is the only game that I just stopped playing but I was like eight at the time so don't judge le to harshly. Best story driven game your going to get is bioware at this point, best damn gaming company to date I say. Rockstar is great to though as far as story goes.

I play Words With Friends, though i kind of suck at it. I'm Kclawes if any cares to start a game.

Bioshock 1 and 2 have to be some of the best stories in videogames EVER, ( though the obvious source inspiration was Ayn Rands Atlus Shrugged, I feel these games are BETTER hands down than her novels could ever dream of). Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Final Fantasy 3 (in America, in Japan its 6) and 7, The Legend of Zelda Series, The Half Life series and the Suikoden Series. Videogames should be a medium enjoyed by ESPECIALLY writers. We have to intergrate all forms of art in order to gain more knowledge of our own. Yes, at times they open up peoples minds to the more violent and dark aspects of human nature, but at the end of the day, everything does, and thats not bad. We have to explore all choices and learn responsibility when learning how to use all our creative gifts, so the good aspects of our nature are nurtured. Smoke weed, chew mushies, fuck, play videogames then write and create.

P.S. I didn't want to mention affiliation, but, Lok'tar orgar for the Horde, although my characters are a tauren, 2 undeads, and a goblin respectively, and I have no orcs.

What platform do you have it on? It usually hasn't been messing up on ps3 until the save got about 60 hours long. 360 isn't as bad for it unless you don't have a hard drive like me. Unless it's just like completely freezing up though and you wait a few minutes until it's hopeless and turn it off it's probably just something you'll have to deal with with an elder scrolls game. If it is just completely stopping though I'd get the disc exchanged because I had to do that with my first copy, couldn't get out of whiterun on that disc. I don't know anything about the pc version though.

READ A BOOK!... End of story...

I'm simultaneously a huge gamer and a hater. Video games are my drug. A habit I need to kick to become a productive member of society (although seriously, who cares about society?). Not that I'm anywhere near as bad as the hardcore MMO players who pour every moment of their waking lives into the game, not even a quarter as bad as that. In fact these days I play maybe an hour a week if that, maybe five hours a week if I'm on a 'binge'. But I spent way too much time playing them when I was younger, time I could have spent hanging out with my friends, making life experiences, learning valuable skills. Instead I just grinded a lot in MMOs, shot a lot of people in Halo.

I kind of think of myself as a reformed addict. I subscribe to the 'once an addict, always an addict' way of thinking. I've pretty much kicked the habit, I don't need to play games like I used to, they're not part of my daily (or often, weekly) routine. But I worry that a sip of wine, a single toke will send me back to my old, suicidal ways. Okay, that's overexaggerating, because I will play games under certain circumstances. Like if my boyfriend is seriously bugging me to play Halo, or if the new Elder Scrolls game comes out ;)

Anyway. ADVENTURE GAMES. Love them. Adore them. Will never regret a single moment I spent playing one, I have too many good (and memorable) memories. The Gabriel Knight series. The Longest Journey. The Last Express. Leisure Suit Larry. A trillion others. Lovelovelove.

I have spent a ridiculous amount of time playing the Halo series. Halo 2 was my great love, but friends dragged me into Halo 3 and Reach. Reach I hate.

MMOs. I did enjoy Ultima Online. The Realm was my fave, no one has ever heard of it though. Everquest was too much of a timesuck. Phantasy Star Online was cool but ultimately unrewarding.

I adore RPGs. Knights of the Old Republic. The Persona games. Final Fantasy. Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Dragon Age. Too many JRPGs to remember.

Okay, so thinking about it, I love video games, really I do. I just love time more. Love getting better at things I'm passionate about.

Life is just cool.

I like odd games. For instance, the nightmarishly complex micromanagement game dwarf fortress. I like nerdy games like dungeon crawler-types, I loved bioshock, and HITMAN. HOLY FUCKING SHIT. It makes you feel beyond awesome after killing someone without being seen ONCE. Such an xcellent game. Team FOrtress, Deux ex, yes yes.  I agree, great games.

@missy high five for persona 4!

One thing that pisses me off LOADS is those Valve fans who've only played Portal 2, and call a gravity gun an "orange portal gun".

Next year Pete, finally, been like 6 years.

Is anyone else getting turned on by girls talking about playing video games?  Forget penthouse forum or eRotica, just give me a girl talking about Bioware RPGs and Grim Fandango and I'm good to go.