The Official "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread

[strigori]

Strigori, what are you arguing? That people should be buying new instead of used? I'd like to avert your attention to post #189 in this thread, in conjunction with this post.

The idea that used game sales hurt developers is a huge misconception - it's simply not true. Buying used or new doesn't affect devs as much as people tend to believe. Blizzard made half a billion dollars in one quarter of 2011, and still laid off over 500 employees. Buying used always hurts the publisher more, but buying new ALWAYS helps the publisher more. When a retail store sells out, they order directly from the publisher, thus padding the publisher's profits and sales and creating royalties for the devs (sometimes - not all the time).

The real issue is publishing companies simply wanting more from the used market, and that's it. As I've already pointed out, publishing companies are doing more than fine off of new game sales alone. Their attempts to assault the used game market with online passes, for example, has more to do with profit padding than anything else. They don't need that money - they just want it.

Not everyone is Blizzard. Blizzard does not make console games, and there really is no such things as a used computer game. A computer game comes with an account key, and most companies link those with a user account based on email. Hence no used market, the PC biz is more effected by outright piracy. And I think most of the lay offs at Blizzard come from a shrinking World of Warcraft user base.

Lots of smaller studios go under every year. The smaller guy gets crippled more than anyone else. There is also a difference from a Dev Studio and a Publisher. Its the dev studios that are more at risk of going under, its the creative part that suffers. It does not help them. What's better. Selling 1 copy that gets passed around 5 times or selling 5 games? I'm arguing that used games hurt the industry, and put studios (the brains and heart that actually make the games) out of business. It has also lead to the creation of online passes as publishers see their profits slide away into the retail outlets pockets. The thing is with how Gamestop works, they will have a situation where many, if not most, titles never need to be reordered after the initial shipment. Simply due to the high speed trade ins that do happen. I assure you a game that was new last Tuesday will be available used there by the following Tuesday at most locations. I know how retail operations work as to the onhand and the projected numbers for inventory.

EA is not the only one using Online Passes either. THQ (Saints Row the Third, Warhammer 40k Space Marine), Sony (Twisted Metal, Uncharted 3), Warner Bros. (Fear 3) are some I found with just a couple min looking in the PSN store.

And I would have to look, but I'm pretty sure Gamestop made more money than THQ did last year.

 

[Enhance]

90 percent of the employees laid off by Blizzard had absolutely nothing to do with game development, and none of them were from the part of the company that works on World of Warcraft. Although shrinking WoW subscriptions were probably the culprit, most of the layoffs are speculated to have come from non-integral positions i.e. customer service representatives.

Again, I'm not really arguing that used games don't hurt the gaming industry - they do. However, they don't affect them as much as people are led to believe. As I mentioned in an above post, there are several gaming companies that brought in record profits last year purely based on new game sales alone. Again, record profits on new game sales alone - meaning sans the online pass profits, special editions, etc. The idea that publisher's are seeing their profits "slide away" is, again, a tiring misconception that is fed to gamers from publishing companies. EA, for example, is personally projecting $4.2 billion in 2012 profits. Activision's 2011 profits were $4.76 billion, up from 2010's $4.45 billion. They don't need those online passes because of "sliding profits" - they simply want to make more money, and the numbers show this.

Sure, the smaller gaming companies suffer, but smaller owned companies suffer in all industries. We shouldn't be making out small dev/publishing companies as being uniquely screwed by 'the man', when small companies are screwed over by larger companies in all areas of business. It's not a happy thing, but it happens.

Again, buying used is fiscally smart for the consumer, even if it hurts the publishing companies. I will continue to do it because it's money savvy, just as saving money in any other part of my life is. Plain and simple - they don't need my money, they just want it. I don't fault them for wanting to make more money - that's part of this country's culture. I do, however, fault them because they don't need it.

 

[MLB 51]

Sony and Microsoft are trying to kill off the second hand game market with their new consoles.

 

[Blackshirts007]

Can you guys help me out with a new game. Im in the market for a new one, but im such a picky gamer, its tough for me to be pleased...im looking for the most realistic, fun campaign game. By realistic i dont mean im opposed to alien warefare ect, just amazing graphics, real life like people etc. i will say ive played many games but am not satisfied with many. I play a lot of sports game but want a good campaign game, i dont necessarily care about online play (that's what my COD's and Battlefield are for) i tried assasins creed 3 and liked it for the most part. I hadnt played the first two so i didnt completely understand everything but that was ok, oh and i traded it in after about 10 hours because i got stuck on an area for about 3 hours and got pissed so i traded it in. I put about 50 hours on skyrim and then got bored and traded it in. im hearing good things about Mass Effect but havnt played the other two. I just need some advice on a new game.

 

[strigori]

Can you guys help me out with a new game. Im in the market for a new one, but im such a picky gamer, its tough for me to be pleased...im looking for the most realistic, fun campaign game. By realistic i dont mean im opposed to alien warefare ect, just amazing graphics, real life like people etc. i will say ive played many games but am not satisfied with many. I play a lot of sports game but want a good campaign game, i dont necessarily care about online play (that's what my COD's and Battlefield are for) i tried assasins creed 3 and liked it for the most part. I hadnt played the first two so i didnt completely understand everything but that was ok, oh and i traded it in after about 10 hours because i got stuck on an area for about 3 hours and got pissed so i traded it in. I put about 50 hours on skyrim and then got bored and traded it in. im hearing good things about Mass Effect but havnt played the other two. I just need some advice on a new game.

The Mass Effect series is one of the best. Mass Effect 1 could probably be skipped to be honest, the gameplay is nothing like 2 and 3. But I would highly recommend playing ME2 before ME3.

Dragon Age is another solid line, though Origins and 2 are a bit different. Origins is more old school, no voice on the main char, and a harder game than 2. Solid all around characters and story though. DA2 borrows more from Mass Effect. Fully Voiced main char. And it is a really good game, the negatives you will see from some reviews is due to it breaking from some aspects of the genre, but judged in its own right, its good.

L.A. Noire might fit the bill also. It handles like GTA4, but the story has more in common with the movie L.A. Confidential than anything else.

If you are on PS3, Heavy Rain is something I would recommend if you are after characters and story. The gameplay is a bit different as there is no 'failing' everything you do, or don't do, just changes the story some. It's more of an interactive movie than a pure game, but I loved it.

And lastly I'll mention Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It has some similarities in gameplay to Skyrim, in the sense that you can solve everything but the boss fights in multiple ways, varying between stealth, guns blazing, or talking in some cases. It has FPS mechanics for the most part tied with abilities you buy with experience to customize your play style.

I have beaten all the games I mentioned, and can answer any questions on them.

 

[Blackshirts007]

Can you guys help me out with a new game. Im in the market for a new one, but im such a picky gamer, its tough for me to be pleased...im looking for the most realistic, fun campaign game. By realistic i dont mean im opposed to alien warefare ect, just amazing graphics, real life like people etc. i will say ive played many games but am not satisfied with many. I play a lot of sports game but want a good campaign game, i dont necessarily care about online play (that's what my COD's and Battlefield are for) i tried assasins creed 3 and liked it for the most part. I hadnt played the first two so i didnt completely understand everything but that was ok, oh and i traded it in after about 10 hours because i got stuck on an area for about 3 hours and got pissed so i traded it in. I put about 50 hours on skyrim and then got bored and traded it in. im hearing good things about Mass Effect but havnt played the other two. I just need some advice on a new game.

The Mass Effect series is one of the best. Mass Effect 1 could probably be skipped to be honest, the gameplay is nothing like 2 and 3. But I would highly recommend playing ME2 before ME3.

Dragon Age is another solid line, though Origins and 2 are a bit different. Origins is more old school, no voice on the main char, and a harder game than 2. Solid all around characters and story though. DA2 borrows more from Mass Effect. Fully Voiced main char. And it is a really good game, the negatives you will see from some reviews is due to it breaking from some aspects of the genre, but judged in its own right, its good.

L.A. Noire might fit the bill also. It handles like GTA4, but the story has more in common with the movie L.A. Confidential than anything else.

If you are on PS3, Heavy Rain is something I would recommend if you are after characters and story. The gameplay is a bit different as there is no 'failing' everything you do, or don't do, just changes the story some. It's more of an interactive movie than a pure game, but I loved it.

And lastly I'll mention Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It has some similarities in gameplay to Skyrim, in the sense that you can solve everything but the boss fights in multiple ways, varying between stealth, guns blazing, or talking in some cases. It has FPS mechanics for the most part tied with abilities you buy with experience to customize your play style.

I have beaten all the games I mentioned, and can answer any questions on them.

thanks for the info, i played the heavy rain demo and really enjoyed it, it seemed a little challenging if you arnt used to the style of play.

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

Can you guys help me out with a new game. Im in the market for a new one, but im such a picky gamer, its tough for me to be pleased...im looking for the most realistic, fun campaign game. By realistic i dont mean im opposed to alien warefare ect, just amazing graphics, real life like people etc. i will say ive played many games but am not satisfied with many. I play a lot of sports game but want a good campaign game, i dont necessarily care about online play (that's what my COD's and Battlefield are for) i tried assasins creed 3 and liked it for the most part. I hadnt played the first two so i didnt completely understand everything but that was ok, oh and i traded it in after about 10 hours because i got stuck on an area for about 3 hours and got pissed so i traded it in. I put about 50 hours on skyrim and then got bored and traded it in. im hearing good things about Mass Effect but havnt played the other two. I just need some advice on a new game.

Personally, I would recommend the Mass Effect series, like strigori said, also, i would play ME2 before ME3, as ME3 is just much more enjoyable when you have a little background from ME2

 

[walksalone]

just pre-ordered this...

 

[MLB 51]

Can you guys help me out with a new game. Im in the market for a new one, but im such a picky gamer, its tough for me to be pleased...im looking for the most realistic, fun campaign game. By realistic i dont mean im opposed to alien warefare ect, just amazing graphics, real life like people etc. i will say ive played many games but am not satisfied with many. I play a lot of sports game but want a good campaign game, i dont necessarily care about online play (that's what my COD's and Battlefield are for) i tried assasins creed 3 and liked it for the most part. I hadnt played the first two so i didnt completely understand everything but that was ok, oh and i traded it in after about 10 hours because i got stuck on an area for about 3 hours and got pissed so i traded it in. I put about 50 hours on skyrim and then got bored and traded it in. im hearing good things about Mass Effect but havnt played the other two. I just need some advice on a new game.

Personally, I would recommend the Mass Effect series, like strigori said, also, i would play ME2 before ME3, as ME3 is just much more enjoyable when you have a little background from ME2

Mass Effect 2 is pretty awesome. I have played through it like 4 times now. Still can't gain loyalty of all team membersand can't finish without atleast 2 members dying.

 

[Enhance]

Can you guys help me out with a new game. Im in the market for a new one, but im such a picky gamer, its tough for me to be pleased...im looking for the most realistic, fun campaign game. By realistic i dont mean im opposed to alien warefare ect, just amazing graphics, real life like people etc. i will say ive played many games but am not satisfied with many. I play a lot of sports game but want a good campaign game, i dont necessarily care about online play (that's what my COD's and Battlefield are for) i tried assasins creed 3 and liked it for the most part. I hadnt played the first two so i didnt completely understand everything but that was ok, oh and i traded it in after about 10 hours because i got stuck on an area for about 3 hours and got pissed so i traded it in. I put about 50 hours on skyrim and then got bored and traded it in. im hearing good things about Mass Effect but havnt played the other two. I just need some advice on a new game.

Personally, I would recommend the Mass Effect series, like strigori said, also, i would play ME2 before ME3, as ME3 is just much more enjoyable when you have a little background from ME2

Mass Effect 2 is pretty awesome. I have played through it like 4 times now. Still can't gain loyalty of all team membersand can't finish without atleast 2 members dying.

There's a trick to this. If you really want everybody to live, you need to have every single person loyal to you (duh) and choose the correct people to do specific assignments in the end. For example, only certain characters can do the walking biotic field part, one of them being Samara. If you ask anybody else to hold the biotic bubble in place, someone will die.

Now, the real trick comes early in the game. I expect one of the people who's always dying is either Miranda or Jack, because they have an argument and you have to pick sides. If you don't have a high enough paragon/renegade score, you can't save them both. So, what can a person do? Talk to Miranda and other crew members between the main missions, obviously, but you also have to do Miranda's loyalty mission asap AND Jack's loyalty mission the second it becomes available. You see, the game scales your paragon/renegade scores based on your progression in the game. If you wait to do Jack's loyalty mission until the end, the game requires you have to a higher P/R score to keep both Jack and Miranda loyal. Later on, this scale is extremely high because the argument is huge. But if you do their missions asap like I told you, the level for which your P/R score has to be is significantly lower, therefore, your P/R score should be high enough for you to keep them both loyal.

 

[strigori]

Can you guys help me out with a new game. Im in the market for a new one, but im such a picky gamer, its tough for me to be pleased...im looking for the most realistic, fun campaign game. By realistic i dont mean im opposed to alien warefare ect, just amazing graphics, real life like people etc. i will say ive played many games but am not satisfied with many. I play a lot of sports game but want a good campaign game, i dont necessarily care about online play (that's what my COD's and Battlefield are for) i tried assasins creed 3 and liked it for the most part. I hadnt played the first two so i didnt completely understand everything but that was ok, oh and i traded it in after about 10 hours because i got stuck on an area for about 3 hours and got pissed so i traded it in. I put about 50 hours on skyrim and then got bored and traded it in. im hearing good things about Mass Effect but havnt played the other two. I just need some advice on a new game.

Personally, I would recommend the Mass Effect series, like strigori said, also, i would play ME2 before ME3, as ME3 is just much more enjoyable when you have a little background from ME2

Mass Effect 2 is pretty awesome. I have played through it like 4 times now. Still can't gain loyalty of all team membersand can't finish without atleast 2 members dying.

There's a trick to this. If you really want everybody to live, you need to have every single person loyal to you (duh) and choose the correct people to do specific assignments in the end. For example, only certain characters can do the walking biotic field part, one of them being Samara. If you ask anybody else to hold the biotic bubble in place, someone will die.

Now, the real trick comes early in the game. I expect one of the people who's always dying is either Miranda or Jack, because they have an argument and you have to pick sides. If you don't have a high enough paragon/renegade score, you can't save them both. So, what can a person do? Talk to Miranda and other crew members between the main missions, obviously, but you also have to do Miranda's loyalty mission asap AND Jack's loyalty mission the second it becomes available. You see, the game scales your paragon/renegade scores based on your progression in the game. If you wait to do Jack's loyalty mission until the end, the game requires you have to a higher P/R score to keep both Jack and Miranda loyal. Later on, this scale is extremely high because the argument is huge. But if you do their missions asap like I told you, the level for which your P/R score has to be is significantly lower, therefore, your P/R score should be high enough for you to keep them both loyal.

There can also be an issue with Mordin. If you come down brutally hard on him for the genophage work, you will lose him and it has nothing to do with P/R scores.

 

[Enhance]

That's why I always go the paragon route. I would choose renegade Shepard if his responses weren't so idiotic and/or stupid. It's like in ME3 - the renegade choices almost always result in you choosing not to gain an ally for whatever arbitrary reason. That, or you're just a d!(k to everybody. I always hoped the ME team would make the Renegade more Bruce Willis/Die Hard bad a$$ than Schwarzenegger/Terminator 1 @$$hole.

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

That's why I always go the paragon route. I would choose renegade Shepard if his responses weren't so idiotic and/or stupid. It's like in ME3 - the renegade choices almost always result in you choosing not to gain an ally for whatever arbitrary reason. That, or you're just a d!(k to everybody. I always hoped the ME team would make the Renegade more Bruce Willis/Die Hard bad a$$ than Schwarzenegger/Terminator 1 @$$hole.

Yeah, except for the one where you shoot Udina, that one was pretty awesome. I think you'll find this year's Renegade choices to be a little more not idiotic as previous editions.

 

[Enhance]

That's why I always go the paragon route. I would choose renegade Shepard if his responses weren't so idiotic and/or stupid. It's like in ME3 - the renegade choices almost always result in you choosing not to gain an ally for whatever arbitrary reason. That, or you're just a d!(k to everybody. I always hoped the ME team would make the Renegade more Bruce Willis/Die Hard bad a$$ than Schwarzenegger/Terminator 1 @$$hole.

Yeah, except for the one where you shoot Udina, that one was pretty awesome. I think you'll find this year's Renegade choices to be a little more not idiotic as previous editions.

I tried to do renegade for a little while on my second play through of ME3, but I just couldn't do it. Went back to paragon, but I paid close attention to the renegade choices just to see what I'd be missing out on. Seems like doing renegade would be a lot more difficult, considering that if a certain character/faction isn't integral to the story line, you have the choice of killing them or not using them as an asset. If you went full renegade, seems like you'd miss out on tons of helpful war assets.

 

[VectorVictor]

Can you guys help me out with a new game. Im in the market for a new one, but im such a picky gamer, its tough for me to be pleased...im looking for the most realistic, fun campaign game. By realistic i dont mean im opposed to alien warefare ect, just amazing graphics, real life like people etc. i will say ive played many games but am not satisfied with many. I play a lot of sports game but want a good campaign game, i dont necessarily care about online play (that's what my COD's and Battlefield are for) i tried assasins creed 3 and liked it for the most part. I hadnt played the first two so i didnt completely understand everything but that was ok, oh and i traded it in after about 10 hours because i got stuck on an area for about 3 hours and got pissed so i traded it in. I put about 50 hours on skyrim and then got bored and traded it in. im hearing good things about Mass Effect but havnt played the other two. I just need some advice on a new game.

Personally, I would recommend the Mass Effect series, like strigori said, also, i would play ME2 before ME3, as ME3 is just much more enjoyable when you have a little background from ME2

Mass Effect 2 is pretty awesome. I have played through it like 4 times now. Still can't gain loyalty of all team membersand can't finish without atleast 2 members dying.

There's a trick to this. If you really want everybody to live, you need to have every single person loyal to you (duh) and choose the correct people to do specific assignments in the end. For example, only certain characters can do the walking biotic field part, one of them being Samara. If you ask anybody else to hold the biotic bubble in place, someone will die.

Now, the real trick comes early in the game. I expect one of the people who's always dying is either Miranda or Jack, because they have an argument and you have to pick sides. If you don't have a high enough paragon/renegade score, you can't save them both. So, what can a person do? Talk to Miranda and other crew members between the main missions, obviously, but you also have to do Miranda's loyalty mission asap AND Jack's loyalty mission the second it becomes available. You see, the game scales your paragon/renegade scores based on your progression in the game. If you wait to do Jack's loyalty mission until the end, the game requires you have to a higher P/R score to keep both Jack and Miranda loyal. Later on, this scale is extremely high because the argument is huge. But if you do their missions asap like I told you, the level for which your P/R score has to be is significantly lower, therefore, your P/R score should be high enough for you to keep them both loyal.

There can also be an issue with Mordin. If you come down brutally hard on him for the genophage work, you will lose him and it has nothing to do with P/R scores.

You always run the risk of Mordin dying during the final battle, regardless of loyalty or your assignments through the collector base. Best way to minimize risk is to bring Mordin (and Tali, who is also prone to dying after the final collector base battle) into the final fight w/you. It makes the fight that much tougher, but it's the most surefire way to bring out all twelve members.

On a related note, running Tali and Mordin during the final battle on 'Insane' difficulty is a b!^@h. 'Insane' in ME3 is much easier since you can level up each of the weapons to 10/X, and the number of enemies running biotic barriers seems abnormally low during ME3--only occasionally will you encounter a Phantom or a Banshee--everyone else is sporting shields or is cannon fodder.