The gaming thread

Asininedrivel

caviar connoisseur
Apparently (apparently) Episode 3 of HL2 was going to have the Portal gun, and some kind of crossover (both games are part of the same cannon I think? There was some reference to the Half Life universe in Portal 2 from memory).

I always thought they wouldn't do a sequel until they had something revolutionary for the genre to showcase, like how the second game had the physics engine. Half Life Alyx fits that mould and looks unbelievable, but I can't get excited about VR let alone fork out the many many $$$ for all the gear to play it.
 
Last edited:

Asininedrivel

caviar connoisseur
Eff knows why but I fired up Simcity 4 (yep, the one from 2003) a couple of weeks ago. Ah back in the good old days when EA could buy a software company and not totally screw up every franchise that gave said company value (that would come later).

simcity-complete-north-bustle.jpg


Anyway, SC4 is still really good. The transport algorithm can be an hf (your sims are like proper humans e.g. quite stupid and will ignore better transit options to choose the most direct route then sit in traffic for 9000 years) but the benefits of providing well funded health, education, mass transit and looking after the environment really pay dividends. It's an absorbing time sink linking dozens of cities you build together and watching an entire region grow. Plus it still runs well on my ancient PC.
 

tubby74

Likes Bikes and Dirt
been looking over upgrading my trusty G27 for a while and the day i ordered load cell pedals, moza wheels and bases went on sale so put in a 2nd order for them whilst waiting for the first. R9 wheel base, CS wheel and SRP pedals. theres a lot of hype over reasonably priced direct drive wheels so be fun to see how this plays.
 

gippyz

Likes Dirt
I have been playing Star Wars: Fallen Order over the last couple of weeks.
There has been some near rage quits with the controller almost thrown.
And it hasn't been the combat but rather the platforming aspect of the game.
Exactly my experience. Took me a while to get through some of the obstacles, some of which were not even obvious how to get through. I'm hoping they make it a bit easier for the new upcoming jedi survivor.
 

ForkinGreat

Knows his Brassica oleracea
I have been playing Star Wars: Fallen Order over the last couple of weeks.
There has been some near rage quits with the controller almost thrown.
And it hasn't been the combat but rather the platforming aspect of the game.
If completely stumped, youtube walkthrough clips on the section in question can help with that. It has saved me a farkton on replacing controllers. ;)
 

bear the bear

Is a real bear
If completely stumped, youtube walkthrough clips on the section in question can help with that. It has saved me a farkton on replacing controllers. ;)
The issue is how finicky the controls are with the platforming/ parkour sections.
Jump at the rope, catch, jump at the second rope in the same direction, nope two metres to the left, die, rinse and repeat, or :mad:
Hit ice slide section, cant hit corners, no brakes, die, rinse and repeat, or :mad:
wall run double jump, new wall double jump, new wall double jump completely random direction, die, rinse and repeat :mad:
 
Last couple of weeks I have been crook as, so with a lot of time on my hands and Easter a write off it was time for some serious game time.

Too sick to focus on the hecticness that is Bruz Eternal, @Asininedrivel provided inspiration and I downloaded Cities: Skylines. Only on console, as I am not worthy for master race.

So Numptville was born, and peaked at a population of 27,000 Numpts.

I will admit, mistakes were made, like putting the water supply downstream of the poo pipes. Some of these issues were rectified, some became other problems that no number of dog parks could resolve.

And so the Numpts began to leave.

Got everything stabilised around 15,000 Numpts, but any population growth was soon met with a decline. The football stadium only had 7 attendees, no one went to the cinema, I started to close hospitals as the Poodemic subsided, turned the buses of etc etc but it seemed I was stuck.

And so, an ultimatum was issued, cheer up Numpts or there will be wrath.

There was no cheer, so there was wrath.

First the poo pipes, water and power were all turned off. This did not result in the speedy decline I was expecting. So next was the deletion of a number of public buildings, which as the wrath grew became indiscriminate destruction of anything, and then everything.

Darkness fell, the population dwindled, and the destruction raged on..

In the wee hours of the night I had deleted everything I could, the Numpts had all left. I had money left over and I planted as many giant redwoods that I could.

As the dawn broke, and the sky lightened to reveal the landscape, all that remained of the Numpts of Numptville were the cemeteries and the landfill.

Mars Radio plays softly in the background.

Cue credits.
 

quannum

Likes Dirt
After sitting in my Steam library for months, I’ve finally started playing Cyberpunk 2077. Surprised to say it’s actually quite good, I guess two years of patches have turned it into the game it was meant to be.

Being short on both time and skill I’m playing it in noob mode, but it’s got enough narrative and gameplay to make it fun and interesting.
 
Numptopolis is fairing much better than Numptyville with 90k Numptopians now in residence

But there are dark clouds brewing, that will be much harder to solve than the poodemic.

Traffic.

I went a bit nuts with the high density building. Everything I build now is high density, and has been for some time. I like making the Numpts live right on the highway, I even build roads so they can build apartments on the median strip between the lanes of the highway.

In the endless quest for more numpts I took my eyes off the og area and it wasn't until I was playing with the cinematic view that the problem became evident.

A line of 10 garbage trucks, nose to tail not moving, a heap of buses impossible to count as they started to form the bus version of the human centipede, deadies and sickies piling up everywhere as ambos and hearses join the party.

So it would appear a major rework of the road system is in order.

However there is an allure to Plan B, yes B.

1. Cut all road access from the outside world;
2. Relocate the poo pipes upstream;
3. Cancel all health, education, waste, fire and police services;
4. Build a dam wall;
5. Watch and wait;
6. Commence a new city, Numptopia.
 

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
Numptopolis is fairing much better than Numptyville with 90k Numptopians now in residence

But there are dark clouds brewing, that will be much harder to solve than the poodemic.

Traffic.

I went a bit nuts with the high density building. Everything I build now is high density, and has been for some time. I like making the Numpts live right on the highway, I even build roads so they can build apartments on the median strip between the lanes of the highway.

In the endless quest for more numpts I took my eyes off the og area and it wasn't until I was playing with the cinematic view that the problem became evident.

A line of 10 garbage trucks, nose to tail not moving, a heap of buses impossible to count as they started to form the bus version of the human centipede, deadies and sickies piling up everywhere as ambos and hearses join the party.

So it would appear a major rework of the road system is in order.

However there is an allure to Plan B, yes B.

1. Cut all road access from the outside world;
2. Relocate the poo pipes upstream;
3. Cancel all health, education, waste, fire and police services;
4. Build a dam wall;
5. Watch and wait;
6. Commence a new city, Numptopia.
Have you been attending the Trump city planning school?

Sent from my M2012K11AG using Tapatalk
 

dancaseyimages

Mountain bike pornographer
Started and finished Dead Island 2 which was good fun but too short.
Halfway through Spiderman remastered, its giving very AC vibes with the missions and story but it is engaging.
On PS5 by any chance? Want to sell? I was going to pre order it a while ago but wasnt sure how long it would be, just finished Far Cry 6 (interesting but not enough to be a 'totally new' experience).
 

fimpBIKES

Likes Dirt
spiderman is great, miles morales was good too if not a bit short.

I still regularly use my Vita and laptop is on its last legs, so keeping an eye on the Asus ROG Ally reviews
anyone else still using handhelds?
 
finished reading one of the Witcher books, got inspired to fire up the game and go looking for some interesting side quests I hadn't done

The two DLCs are down to $35 for the both of them, I heard good things about them, another 30 hours of game play so for the next month or so I am Geralt of Rivia.

My wife will not enjoy this next month with my witcher commentary "hmm the toaster , warm, must be toast somewhere' or "hmm, dog turds in the yard, mmm, yep dog turds, lucky I didn't step in them" etc etc etc etc etc

My son even less so when I start to refer to him as Dandelion
 
Top