Videogames

[ProfMonnitoff]

I just finished VVVVVV. Even though it's only about 2 hours long, it's easily the best $15 I've spent on a game recently. There's a free demo you can play online, but the full game expands on the mechanics so much. Best twist on platforming I've seen in a long time.

Some later sections are incredibly difficult. I had to try the final room about 200 times. Not quite as masochistic as I Want To Be The Guy but almost getting there.

Here are some other games I'd recommend to people who generally don't like games. All of these are free:
Within a Deep Forest - at its most basic, a platformer where you're a bouncing ball.
Knytt and Knytt Stories - cute/atmospheric platformers that still have great gameplay
Dino Run - Meteors are falling from the sky and you're a dinosaur.
Cave Story - Not really sure how to explain this one except that it's a twist on Metroid.
N - Excruciatingly difficult ninja platformer

[Faust]

FtB, you read my mind. I see videogames as a more-modern version of choose-your-own-adventure books...I can remember as a small kid sitting with my back to the wall in the library paging through those books (and occasionally cheating, keeping the last page marked in case I didn't like the way my choice turned out).

Strange, because you are always limited by what the programmer has programmed in, no? Granted, in modern games there are different routes to take and more variety, but you are still limited in that respect. On the flip-side, you are limited by the book's plot, but you are FREE to make your own mental pictures.

A friend of mine once gave me the best justification for techno music that I have ever heard- he said because it's essentially instrumental, as opposed to rock songs, it's like reading a book, and a song is like watching a movie, because the lyrics determine so much more than music does.

[Servo2000]

Even the former 'what the programmer has programmed in' isn't always true. Second Life (while not a game I have any interest in) has a pretty functional scripting language inside of the game - as a result, if you feel 'limited' by what's in the game already you can simply build, design and program what you want yourself.

[Servo2000]

EVE always has great stories - been tempted to get into it but never actually done it. Seems like an admittedly too-steep learning curve for how much time I can invest.

[ProfMonnitoff]

Wow, you were part of that? I first read that article several years ago, and found it very interesting. It seems that the freedom the developers gave players in EVE led to very interesting results. Of course players are still limited by the framework of what has been programmed, but it has been used extensively in ways not anticipated by the developers.

Another example of unintended gameplay is rocket jumping in Quake. Basically, rockets have a blast that sends you flying, and some players decided that this was more fun than shooting each other. Here's a video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...3143278425715# (the action starts about 3 minutes in)
The profound meaning of this? Absolutely none, but it's kind of cool.

In Second Life, not so much - you can create anything, as long as "anything" is an anthropomorphic penis or a media-hype-led online presence of a company that is forgotten the second they hear about twitter or whatever the next big thing is.

[tomatous]

^Aside from Rocket Jumping, Strafe Jumping was never intended either (at least not in the original quake, since then it was implemented as a standard). I have quite a background in quake..

Rocket jumping spawned different game modifications, such as rocket arena, where self rocketing didn't damage the player, and would allow for some interesting ways to get around the maps.

Speaking of quake, and free games, you can't beat this. Runs in your web browser, so the only thing you have to install is a firefox applet: http://www.quakelive.com/#home

/\ It's essentially quake 3 with a fixed netcode, and multiple game modes. Full blown buddy system with tiers, so new players aren't raped into retirement before getting to try the game.

*dodges LOLcats*

[Bubu]

The game industry has not produced many--if any--sublime works of art or it would not be struggling so much for respectability. Literature and music are better received as art forms because those fields have produced across centuries numberless masterworks whose enduring beauty and relevance have been tested and proven; works which allow the audience into the profoundest depth of the human genius. Until video games do the same, and I am not sure it will happen, the genre will continue to suffer the stigma of low-grade entertainment.

Art or no art?

[ProfMonnitoff]

Pretentious link

Even more pretentious link

To be honest I love reading these things though. The Meta Gear Solid guy has some of the coolest trains of thought ever. He wrote pages upon pages about MGS2 actually being set in Virtual Reality, quite an entertaining read.

[Bubu]

[FlintsDoorknob]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyQ8nGMTuqY

Killer 7. Also Flower, Sun, and Rain and Silver Case. It can be a form of art.

[interest1]

where society is heading. say goodbye to grandma.

[Torchiere]

I played EVE on and off for a year before, trained into BS's, inties, then stopped playing. I've always wanted to go lowsec pirating but I'm just too much of a carebear (my ISK!! ) to play this game. It's really a game that you need to make it fun or else you burn out on mining rocks.

And merz, you are the last person I would have imagined playing EVE, or even MMOs.

a little story about my personal adventures in online gaming (from pcgamer uk)

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[Eason]

I never understood the EVE thing, from what I've heard it's basically committing to another job in your free time where you have to do repetitive menial tasks. That said, I've never played it.

Finished Mass Effect 2 the other day on Hardcore with my vanguard, don't know if I'll try again on insanity. Not being able to pick up a second bonus weapon kind of kills it. :( Really like the game though, I'd put it up there (but behind) Deus Ex and System Shock 2.

Plants vs. Zombies- still fun, good way to unwind with my 30 minutes of free time at the end of the day.

[ProfMonnitoff]

Square Enix is making Deus Ex 3 and its about a man with swords in his arms and retractable sunglasses augmented into his face in his face

The Icarus reference is stupid especially considering where that one went in the first game. The Rembrandt reference in the video is just as stupid. I'm guessing it will be as lame as part 2.

http://gdc.gamespot.com/story/6253458/eidos-montreal-on-designing-deus-ex-3?tag=top_stories;title;1

A developer actually said this:

"Dude, this guy is augmented. That's transhumanism," he said. "He has too much fun with transhumanism, and then he burns and falls to his death--this is my metaphor; this is perfect."

[Servo2000]

Good lord. I still play the first Deus Ex on occasion. Practically every time somebody mentions it I have this weird desire to re-install it.