The Bill's Now Playing Video Game Thread (Now with Bames)

[Spooky Apparition]

So this makes me wonder: What's next in terms of stuff that will sell this much?

I think even if people are getting slightly more discerning about plunking down $60 every year to stare down gun sights in slightly different settings, FPS will still consistently be the highest selling games regardless of how well COD does (not counting abberations like GTA).

look at the new consoles: Killzone is the most anticipated PS4 launch game, and PS4 game in general until Infamous comes out I guess. Titanfall is the most anticipated xbone game, and then for multiplats people already think Destiny is the second coming. even from this gen, I just read that Borderlands 2 has shipped like 6 million copies... it seems almost niche compared to the 'big' shooters, but it's still waaaaaay more than most games could ever hope to do. people will never get stick of their guns

[Spooky Apparition]

I dunno, I think the barriers to entry to create a massive open-world game like GTA5 are ridiculously huge and make it pretty damn risky for someone to try to capitalize on GTA's success... if a game like Tomb Raider, which didn't seem like it had THAT big of a budget, can sell 3.5 million or whatever and be considered a failure in today's game development environment, it'd take some sheer balls (cross-reference) to commit $100 million on a new open-world franchise/game. Those games are always such big events, same with Elder Scrolls and Fallout, etc., whereas smaller studios have been consistently pumping out FPS since the mid '90s.

Not that I wouldn't be incredibly happy if that shift happened... I'd take that type of game over the best military shooter any day.

[Comrade Slinky]

[The Schwartz]

so far I like Ghosts a lot. All the reviews bark on the SP but that's to be expected so I'll throw them a bone. Maps are the best since MW2 and also about 5x bigger. Matches are insanely fun so far and ghost dogs are awesome. You can tell they spent a lot of time designing multi-leveled maps as there are multiple spots to run free on 2nd and 3rd stories. I've played a couple maps twice and spent separate runs completely on the ground and the other only on woofs

[copstache]

so far I like Ghosts a lot. All the reviews bark on the SP but that's to be expected so I'll throw them a bone.

[james]

I just think the annualization of games is unsustainable. The games will either suffer (see the last few Assassins Creed installments) or people will just get sick of it. Arkham Origins seems like a step toward annualization since there will be a next-gen one supposedly and despite the fact that there's nothing wrong with the game, it's just not exciting me because it's so similar to the last one.

Within a single franchise, and with the exception of sports titles, you are correct. Tony Hawk, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, etc were all pretty much annual franchises during their respective reign and all that happened was that the consumer base got burned out on them with the passage of time. Franchising a video game series is pretty much an invitation to ruin unless you really take your time and work it as a flagship series.

I'm not saying that Megaman 6 sucks but... I mean, you know.

[abdominalpillaging]

Did a no death run of Lords of Thunder. Kinda easy, but game is awesome.

TG16/DUO or Sega CD and which difficulty settings?

Sega CD at whatever is default. I dont have my Turbo Duo R yet, but I'll play through Lords and Gates of Thunder once it comes in.

Actually just finished Snatcher for the first time. In typical Kojima fashion Ive been watchin about half an hour of cutscene before the ending.

[valgalder]

Did a no death run of Lords of Thunder. Kinda easy, but game is awesome.

TG16/DUO or Sega CD and which difficulty settings?

Sega CD at whatever is default. I dont have my Turbo Duo R yet, but I'll play through Lords and Gates of Thunder once it comes in..

Ah ok cool. Yeah the Sega CD version is A LOT easier than the Duo version. Both are amazing games though. The Sega CD version doesn't have the suicide bullets and the armor is a lot more powerful as well as the sword. Music is a little better in the Sega CD one though.. both have a killer soundtrack though.

[doomeddisciple]

Agree on the over saturisation of the COD franchise - GTA worked cause it doesn't try and shovel out one every 12 months

[riley-o]

Started Bioshock Infinite Saturday evening and I was most of the way done by Sunday night, last night was just

SPOILERSPOILER_SHOW

running through the last airship and doing that last big battle on the deck.

I did my usual look around for secrets and dawdle and stare at the setting and everything, and still I was done in a matter of hours. All day today I've been thinking about how much I loved it, despite how short it was, and not even thinking about what does it all mean etc, just the design and the retro-futurism as someone in another thread put it; I'm already thinking about playing through it again because I loved the setting and the city so much and

SPOILERSPOILER_SHOW

how it decays

as you go through the story, and not dissuaded from the idea by how truly mediocre the gameplay mechanics are. I can't think of too many other times where I felt so eager to play through a game again that I didn't think was actually all that much fun to play. I just want to look at it all again.

[The Bill]

Bioshock DlC drops Tuesday. First time I've been excited about DLC.

[The Bill]

Bioshock DlC drops Tuesday. First time I've been excited about DLC.

I am embarrassingly excited to return to rapture.

I know, man. I went to Atlantic City a few times this year and the decor in sections of the Casino* looked like Fort Frolic, and that's all that was on my mind when I'd pass said areas. Bioshock.. Bioshock.. Bioshock.


*I can't remember the Casino's name but I remember the lobby looking like Bioshock

[FVBTVS]

so, someone lent me blops 2.

i've said different variations of this same thing over and over again but its worth repeating. the net code for these games is so bad it's not acceptable for a free to play game. i cant believe people play this shit..

[riley-o]

Riley-- did you like Bioshock the original? I forget. Rapture may be one of my favorite fictional settings ever.

I think liked is a good word for it. I definitely didn't love it because the gameplay itself was so fucking terrible, but again I did love the setting. What both the first and third Bioshock games did so well was twist history together with modern fiction and then turn that into an awesome visual experience. The whole Ayn Rand's Atlantis thing is a pretty undeniably wonderful idea.

[The Bill]

Word is that I'm getting a PS4 for my birthday once it becomes attainable after launch.

I was going to hold off a while before I got a new machine, but no way am I going to tell someone to get me something else.

[FVBTVS]

i'm now positively convinced that sony/microsoft are both employing people to create various types of accounts over a wide variety of websites for the purposes of writing completely insane comments everywhere..

[copstache]

the truly sad part is that they don't even have to. the advertising/brand loyalty colliding with the fact that the manufacturers have effectively switched places this time around is leading to some kind of cognitive dissonance spewing all over the internet.

[Wang Mandu]

Cool article about CD Projekt's beginnings. Love these kinds of articles.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013- ... cd-projekt

[The Bill]

Completely forgot that you get achievements for watching TV & movies on the XBOX One. What are the chances they eventually have them for advertisements? Plus, the Kinect is there to make sure your eyes are actually peeled on the screen.

[The Bill]

I can't fucking BELIEVE some of the shit I read from fan boys on both sides. It's like these companies are their mothers. And for some reason, there can only be one mother in the entire galaxy.

I don't know, back in the day, the school yard seemed like this regarding SNES vs Genesis. Hell, going further back I remember Coke vs Pepsi being an even bigger "Only One Shall Rise" debacle. Internet just shows us a really huge school yard.

[james]

I don't know, back in the day, the school yard seemed like this regarding SNES vs Genesis.

I always try to calm people down by bringing this up - in retrospect, neither system appears to have any meaningful advantage over the other. All that arguing you did as kids was just stirred up by advertising bullshit to make you passionate about buying, etc - game companies won't reward you with extra shit for loving them more, it's not a relationship, etc.


Nothing ever works

[Wang Mandu]

in retrospect, neither system appears to have any meaningful advantage over the other.

Blood in Mortal Kombat.

[FVBTVS]

i'm still pissed about that one

[Wang Mandu]

All my friends had SNES and I had to be a douche and get a Genesis. Super Mario World and Street Fighter II blew my little mind back then and always made me a little jealous. The blood was sweet, sweet revenge.

[james]

MK1 is an unplayable game though... SNES wound up with the superior versions of MK2, MK3, and UMK3 - triggers you fucking cavemen, triggers.

you know what? fuck it, all your game systems are gay and mine are better, and mine are the intendo ones, everything else is gay