sweasel.com

Can you Steam:
http://store.steampowered.com/
???

Yes, I’m on Steam. I’ve been using their store listings to make up my mind.

Should correct, the HalfLife franchise was the last, not counting Dead Space.

Well, I would love to recommend my game but it is a newly released indi developed family friendly action-adventure game. The only flying projectile is a water balloon and I made it as visually stunning as one could make a side scroller with the severe pixel limitations that I was under.

Sometimes working under constraints is the most interesting work. Once upon a time, I could do things with 16 colors you would not believe.

C’mon, you have to link to your game…

I’m not a gamer (haven’t the time or the patience.) But I will probably buy a new Mac when Diablo III is finally released.

Steam? Nah, the DRM stuff just makes me twitchy as hell.

I’ll stick with gog.com (Good old Games) and take inexpensive trips down memory lane there, without the accursed DRM crap.

*spits*

(So Tiger, tell us how you really feel?)

Thanks for the plug sweez 🙂

And the older, low rez games they had to cram on a few floppies often were better-made, less buggy, and more smoothly designed than today’s super pretty games.

My first computer was a Commodore 64, and it was amazing what we could do with only 64k. Loooong time ago.

Constraints are what it’s all about in gaming industry! I studied with an eye toward working in 3d movies, with nearly unlimited budgets, frame rates of 60 or above and poly counts that would equal or surpass the US federal debt.
It has not been an easy adjustment.
Anyway, thank you for asking, the game is called Herding Katz and can be found at http://www.herdingkatz.com. We have a free trial or you can purchase thru paypal with 25% going to Nowzad Dogs to aid in the rescue of Iraq and Afghanistan Dogs and Cats adopted by our service men and women.

Nice shot of the Shuttle passing over the Aurora Austrialis….

http://i.space.com/images/i/11002/original/southern-lights-aurora-shuttle-atlantis.jpg?1310761930

[…]

Time to find the banhammer, SWeasel, and to wield it most viciously.

If you can manage to ban the little shit from the entire Intarwebnutz, wouldn’t hurt my feelings an iota.

And he will then have achieved his aim. I would not blame Stoaty for using the hammer; but I think it would be far more effective to starve him out. He wants the attention–and he craves the sense of vindication he gets when someone bans him for what he perceives as saying what he really thinks, in the face of all these wimpy folks who don’t have the guts, yadda, yadda, yadda. If it were possible to ensure that noone responded in any manner to any of his posts (except, possibly, to do the “Crazy Uncle Joe/cunt, piss, nipples!” post), it would be equally effective, and would not force Dame Weasel into taking an action so contrary to her general nature and philosophy.

Oh fer… Just IP block it and be done with it.

To address the first part of your post, my fine Stoatie, I’d like to see those in congress adamant about *not* *raising* the debt limit to call 0’s bluff and become adamant about *lowering* the debt limit.

Please ignore this post I’m making to see if simple HTML tags work here.

Please ignore this post I’m making to sea see if simple HTML tags work here.

Oh, for fuck’s sake, Oceania…that’s, like, toddler behavior. I trolled the interwebs for years with style and panache.

Raise your game.

By the way, it looks like the Dead Pool is gerpluckt from the front pagey, and the linkee pointeth to the dead “Dead Pool”…

Yeah, you can still get there by wading through to “Previous entries”…

Yeah, I’m going to update it. I’m paddling around in the innards of my setup now.

I’ve got a dozen domains hanging off three hosts and I need to consolidate them all down to one. Which means, among other things, moving this blog.

Plus I’ve discovered I accidentally let a domain expire and some scalping asshole has grabbed it. Feh.

kick his scalping ass Stoatie!!!!

Fallout 3 is an immersive, visually stunning, deadly, spooky first-person shooter. The Game Of The Year edition comes with all the add-ons included. Here’s a teaser vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j15Uee_mL3A

Gotta go with CCo, I absolutely loved Fallout 3. The only caution I’d give you is to save early/often in separate game saves as it can be a bit twitchy at times and throw you back to the desktop with an application crash.

Then again, with something with something as rich in content, I’m kinda forgiving of the occasional crash so long as I can restart/reload.

Definitely get the Game of the Year edition if you’re going to get this game, it’s worth it to have all the extra add-ons all in one.

As to the domain name squatter… I hope there’s a special level in Hades for such slime.

I should have had more faith in our hostess. Style and panache, indeed–in all things!

I gotta agree with CCo and Argentium G. Tiger Weas, Fallout 3 is a great rpg. If apocalyptic ain’t your bag though, Bioware games are always good (Dragon Age, Mass Effect). A bit less freedom though compared to Fallout 3. In F3 if you get tired of running the story quests you can just wander freely. And 300 hours later you can always freshen things up with some good mods.

Interesting story involving Fallout 3 and intelligence contractor
http://kotaku.com/5011913/intelligence-group-mistakes-fallout-3-screens-for-terrorist-propaganda

I love Fallout 3, but I would disagree that it’s very ‘spooky.’ They did the harsh, post-apocalyptic vibe well, but that’s not really the same thing.

A relatively recent (but old enough to be cheap) choice would be Bioshock — it’s not Dead Space spooky, but made me a jump more than a few times.

If you like the Half-Life games and haven’t played Portal, you have to give it a shot. It doesn’t really fit well into any categories, but it’s definitely worth the dinero.

Heh. One option for the “scalping asshole” would be to route your favorite troll’s postings to “his” site…

No, my domain now points to one of those stupid placeholder pages. I can only assume they picked it up hoping I’d want it back. The only reason I do is I’ve used mailing addresses using that domain.

Is it worth playing Fallouts 1 and 2 first? I’m kind of anal retentive about game franchises. It looks gorgeous. I mean, in a devastating way. Bioshock, too.

Though I’m half tempted to do something in the sword and sorcery line next or ancient lands or something, just to make it as different as possible from Dead Space.

Ah, nevermind about Fallout 1 and 2 — looks like they’re Diablo-style view-from-above. Not my favorite format for a shoot ’em up.

Brad’s right that Fallout 3 is not spooky in making you jump. It’s more of a creeping through the destruction while listening to GNR thing. GNR is a radio station that plays things like the Ink Spots “I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire”. Massive replay potention, as the people will treat you differently depending on how good or bad your karma is, which depends on how you act in the game. Versions 1 and 2 are completely different from 3, but available from gog.com.

It’s very old, but did you ever play American McGee’s Alice? I loved that, very creepy.

Newer, how about Bioshock?

I thought about Alice, but there’s a new one out and it’s still in the expensive range. Bioshock is on the list.

No good sword and sorcery titles? I think sci fi and architectural themes work best with the current 3D software tech. They still aren’t getting organic shapes all that well. But, you know, for a change.

Dead Pool sidbar link fixed.

If you want sword and sorcery stuff Oblivion is a good one. It’s by Bethesda too but a bit older (2006) than Fallout 3. Still has the open world feel, visuals might be a bit dated now. Also has the trademark Bethesda bug problem so save often. Not real creepy though. Steam has the game of the year edition with all the additional content for $20. Oh yeah, Bioshock is highly recommended too, good one Brad and Richard.

I’m not a gamer m’self, but my hubby loves Dragon Age – and as our computers are in the same room I’ve overheard some of the dialog – it can be quite amusing! (Such as the golem the party discovered which had been immobilized for some time; they reanimate him, and he turns out to be quite articulate in conversation, but seems to have a strong dislike for birds… 😉 )

Hm. Oblivion looks interesting. Creepy isn’t an absolute necessity.

One of my favorite games of all time was a children’s educational title called the Island of Dr Brain.

Have you considered Mass Effect? I recommend ME2…

Stoatie: You do not need to play out Fallout 1, 2, or Fallout Tactics to be able to jump into, and enjoy Fallout 3. All of the fallout games take place in different geographical regions, and you play a different main character each time, so you can jump into the series at any point.

If you really want the back-story (and additionally help with Fallout 3 when needed) check out the Fallout Wiki, called “The Vault”:

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_Wiki

Oblivion: GameSpot score 9.3
Dragon Age: 9.5
Mass Effect: 9.0

I’m an idiot. I should just pick a title rated above 8.5 and go. Sadly, my Steam account is one of the ones I used the defunct email address for. I’ll have to get it sorted before I buy anything.

Well, I’d go with Stalker Call of pryipat or something like that. It’s wonderful good fun! (also Fallout is AWESOME as well.)

[…]

You don’t have freedom of speech in somebody else’s livingroom, Oceania. -sweasel

Skip Mass Effect, go straight to Mass Effect 2, and in less than a year ME3 will be released.

I’ve never enjoyed a single-player game so much.

Oceania: The real problem with you using the word “nigger” here is mainly that it’s such a lazy insult when there are so many other more interesting and accurate insults available to any educated person. I mean I could simply call you an ignorant sheep-fucker, and while I would be completely right people here would no doubt reproach me for not being more witty.

DH has been consumed by this game lately.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect

*looks up* oh ew, none of that crap is gonna fall on me is it?

If you’re looking for a great space opera RPG, you can’t go wrong with Mass Effect. The first is better than the second in my opinion, but both are excellent. The only better space RPG is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (1, with 2 running a close second). You can get it dirt cheap, but it might take some tinkering to get running nicely on modern equipment — e.g., some configurations may need ‘unofficial’ patches to run full screen on a high-resolution monitor.

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games are good — and a bit suspenseful/creepy — but I found them a bit too slow and repetitive for my taste.

Both Oblivion and Dragon Age are great fantasy RPGs. If you want a big fantasy world you can spend days playing around in without even touching the main quest, go with Oblivion; if you want a more tightly plotted story and a game you can see all the content of without putting in 40-hour weeks, choose Dragon Age. The Witcher is also really good, and a bit darker, but the interface takes some getting used to.

For a scary shooter, I’ve heard good things about F.E.A.R. and it’s on my to-do list, but I haven’t taken the time yet to play it.

Can’t think of any others at the moment, so I guess I’m done geeking out for now.

Both F.E.A.R and Witcher were on my possibles list. I’ve been going, obviously, by fan ratings.

But that always raises the suspicion in my mind that there’s a quirky game I would just adore that falls afoul of the critics for some reason that wouldn’t bother me.

Paranoic, me.

“…that always raises the suspicion in my mind that there’s a quirky game I would just adore that falls afoul of the critics for some reason that wouldn’t bother me.”

Well then, you OBVIOUSLY have to go for Duke Nukem Forever!

Hahaha…I was looking forward to that one (for, like, twenty years). It sounds like they really dropped the ball.

From what I understand, only if you don’t like the premise behind the original franchise…

Yup Brad, Kotor was one of the best rpgs of its time. “I think he is making fun of you, master. Shall I proceed with wasting the meatbag?” HK47 was one of the most memorable game characters ever. 🙂
Bioware makes some damn good games. I was just checking their list of titles and I have played a good portion of them. They are consistent with strong character development and imo the best storytelling in gaming. Closest to an interactive movie.

oh no…I’m such a nerd

dead pool dead??

hemmersheim: It’s still active, it’s just that there’s a single quotation mark (ASCII 39) at the end of the link on the side-bar that’s messing things up.

This link should (hopefully) work:
http://sweasel.com/archives/8504

Crap. Sorry. Link fixed.

The Metacritic review scores that Steam links to are pretty reliable. Game critics are usually just people that play video games, so they don’t get all hoity-toity and thinky like movie critics. The critic scores and player review scores usually track together pretty well, and when they agree a game sucks it’s a pretty safe bet it does.

I always put a bit more store in player’s ratings, if only because critics seem to LOVE those cinematic cut scenes and other attempts to make games more like movies.

I’ll sit through them, but I’m not happy.

Okey-doke…Oblivion it is. Some of the sci-fi themed games looked amazing, but I want one that’s a big switch from Dead Space for my next one.

Oblivion looks like it’ll keep me busy for a long, long time. But it’ll take about three hours to download 🙁

If you’re feeling adventurous, there are approximately a bajillion mods for Oblivio. Bethseda makes pretty much everything in their games open to being changed by the community. I’d hold off on the big gameplay-changing mods until you decide what you like or not about the game, but some of the graphic overhauls are worth getting right away. Probably the best (& a couple gigabytes all by itself) is the Quarl’s Texture Pack http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=2363

Here are a couple “best of” lists:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/07/16/ten-essential-oblivion-mods/
http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?id=41&view=Articles.Detail

How about a nice game of mumbly peg? Or, then there is Three Grenade Roulette. It’s kind of like Three Card Monte, but with grenades. One of the grenades has the pin out and is shown to the player. All three are then put spoon down in wooden boxes made for the purpose and shuffled. When you pick a grenade and there is the sound, “spoink!” You lose and had best have a good arm.

What?

I haven’t played–indeed even heard of–any of the games mentioned below. I guess that makes me somewhat of a luddite, but I look at it this way: I already have waaaay too many things to waste my time on.

But I have been getting my Etsy page spiffed up…go visit it and get my self-esteem up with clicks that mean absolutely nothing otherwise!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/77989213/used-pewter-cauldrons-for-sale-cheap?ref=pr_shop

Links386, early 1990s golf simulator. Runs great under dosbox.

Or, you know, playing back through all of the old Mario games.

Dontcha wonder how DOSBox would run on a hex-core computer with at least 8 Gbytes of memory running Windows 7 Home Premium, I presume???

|:-]

Ok! Thanks to this discussion I just picked up Fallout III. I’m not usually much of a gamer. The last one I really liked was CIV III. I tried CIV IV and V, but I felt like they were too bogged down.

Reading the booklet for Fallout III I’m wondering how I’m goimg to stay alive out there without a game controller. Seems like going into a post-apocalyptic war with just a mouse looks like a very bad idea.

yeah, good choice. Great game. Plus it has excellent mod support.

Nice Stoaty and some vegetable. Hope you enjoy your games. Actually, I have Fallout 3 on 360 and pc (why?!) and the keyboard/mouse combo works fine. More accurate but certainly not as comfy as gaming from the couch.

Okay, Nina sells cauldrons. And a box of clay salmon.

That’s just totally worth a click.

What I ‘specially liked was the seafood feast–who wouldn’t want a clay calamari and some clay raw shrimp?

Too bad I’m downsizing. . .

Yeah, and today I made toast with jam, about the size of your thumbnail. 🙂

How nifty, Nina! I got into making dollhouse food from polymer clay for a while, by virtue of the fact my 9-year-old niece was staying with us for a couple of weeks, I wasn’t working at the time, and needed something to amuse her. My own personal best was a plate of sushi that would fit onto a quarter. I am blown away by the skill put into these wee feasts by people who do this for a living (or even just on the side).

Very nice work!! I too enjoyed the seafood feast. The squid is just gorgeous. Oh, and the crab on a bed of lettuce made me think of the old Honda Element TV ads. “I peeench.” 🙂

P.S. I’m not much of a gamer. “Sims 3” is my limit.