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The greatest day in the history of the world

Tiny by Phildopip on

Grand Theft Auto IV is released today. I put down my preorder on this puppy a couple of months ago, and if I could've skipped work today to play it, I would have. Unfortunately I had too much going on.

So, does anybody have it yet? Has anybody played it? Both Xbox Magazine and IGN have given it 10/10. IGN hasn't given any game a 10/10 since Soul Calibur in 1999.

Also, if anybody's down for some multiplayer on Xbox 360, my gamertag is Phildopip.

Poll
What are you looking to the most?
Grand Theft Auto IV
24 votes
Mario Kart Wii
16 votes
Ninja Gaiden II
3 votes
Iron Man (movie)
12 votes
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (movie)
16 votes
How babbys are formed
34 votes

105 votes | Poll has closed

1 recs | Comment 231 comments

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I havn't ever really gotten into the GTA games.

I may start but I just love playing COD4 still and I am looking forward to the Civilization game thats coming soon.

How does the online work? Is it like a deathmatch or something?

by hcoguy on Apr 29, 2008 9:53 AM PDT   0 recs

We already have Mario Kart Wii

and like any Mario Kart game, it is fun. Unfortunately, though, it just doesn’t blow me away with racing goodness, and by God that wheel attachment is hard to use.

by Two Rs and Two Ls on Apr 29, 2008 9:54 AM PDT   0 recs

Actually the greatest day in the history of the world will belong to

The day http://ps3.ign.com/articles/869/869746p1.html comes out.

Who ya gonna call?

Though I do expect GTA4 to kick all kinds of ass, and will be on my way shortly to get it.

by marinator on Apr 29, 2008 9:55 AM PDT   0 recs

I don't care for GTA

I don’t judge people who play it, but for myself it just doesn’t feel right you know? I wish there was a way to play it as a good guy. I know that isn’t the point, but I just don’t like playing a bad guy in such a “realistic” game. Messes with my karma.

by thewyrm on Apr 29, 2008 9:57 AM PDT   0 recs

In this one supposedly you can be more of a good guy.

You have your own cell phone and can call the cops on the baddies if you see someone doing something you may deem morally wrong.

by marinator on Apr 29, 2008 9:59 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

If I have the option to play a straight up good guy

then I will definitely check it out. I made it through about three hours of San Andreas before I just didn’t like the choices I was being forced to make.

by thewyrm on Apr 29, 2008 10:01 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Actually, the last two games show the evolution of the player.

In GTA: San Andreas, and with GTA IV (supposedly…I haven’t played GTA IV yet) at first your player may seem like a bad guy (random killings, robberies, etc.) but eventually they start trying to better themselves and start earning a more honest living.

I reject your reality and substitute my own!

by Phildopip on Apr 29, 2008 10:03 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

If I had a PS3/X-box 360 then I would care.

I’m about a year behind every one else video game wise. The last one did kick all sorts of ass. Sadly I have very little time for video games aside from WoW and the occasional Magic the Gathering: Online.

by aestivalis on Apr 29, 2008 10:01 AM PDT   0 recs

WoW?

That should take up all of your free time alone. It did when I was hooked, sadly. I actually lost a couple friends to WoW, they are like Smeagol now hiding in their basements playing WoW.

by marinator on Apr 29, 2008 10:03 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Wow is just the same ol'

MMORPG exp crunch. I really don’t see why it has been so much more successful than any other.

by thewyrm on Apr 29, 2008 10:07 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

It has elf chicks...?

That and great support from it’s staff. Though it does tend to get very boring when you hit 70 and have no time for raiding.

by aestivalis on Apr 29, 2008 10:13 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I went into isolation,

when I started WoW, burning my lock up to 70 in about four months… then I realized my girlfriend was on the verge of leaving me and I had no time for raiding so I DE’d all my purples, and gave away my entire inventory and all my gold.

by sammy on Apr 29, 2008 10:18 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I never really got into WoW.

Then again, I always thought it was kinda stupid to pay a monthly fee to play a video game.

I played Guild Wars for a while with some friends, but then school got in the way and that was pretty much the end of my experiences in MMORPG’s.

Felix Hernandez may be The King, but Justin Upton is a GOD.

by Goose on Apr 29, 2008 10:28 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I've spent a few years playing MMORPGs

but that was back in the heyday of EverQuest. WoW never seemed that interesteing. Maybe I’m just too old school.

by Llewdor on Apr 29, 2008 10:40 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I played Dark Age of Camelot for a year

True Story: I realised I had to quit playing when my buddy called me up to say “Hey everyone is going out tonight, when should I pick you up?” I actually said “I can’t go out with you because my guild is holding a ceremony to induct our new members.” When my fake life began taking precedence over my real life I discovered I had a problem.

by thewyrm on Apr 29, 2008 10:43 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Luckily, my EQ time coincided with me living alone, working nights,

and all my friends from school had left town. I had literally nothing else to do.

I spent a lot of time with Iggwilv the Shadowknight.

by Llewdor on Apr 29, 2008 11:00 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I was playing a female

on a role-playing server. That got a little awkward, but frankly the amount of time you invest into an MMORPG wouldn’t you rather stare at a hot girl for hours on end?

by thewyrm on Apr 29, 2008 11:05 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I didn't roleplay my character so much

but I did tend to roleplay a female player. I found that was the best way to get free stuff. I took my female Dark Elf into a common area one day and said, “Wow, Wood Elves are CUTE!!” and literally 8 Wood Elf guys fell all over each other giving me stuff. It was stupid.

by Llewdor on Apr 29, 2008 11:13 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Oh, and I beta-tested DAoC.

But only briefly. I had much more extensive beta experience with Anarchy Online and Star Wars Galaxies (SWG was a pretty good game until they removed the two best character classes in Beta 2 – Miner and Industrialist).

by Llewdor on Apr 29, 2008 11:11 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I was super excited about SW Galaxies

I even bought the 80 dollar deluxe edition. I played for about four days before I realized that it sucked ass. Never played it again.

by thewyrm on Apr 29, 2008 12:04 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I played it four about 4 months

but that was all pre-release. As soon asthe beta ended, I never gave it another thought (except to lament two things – how badly they screwed it up through their insistence that every possible moment of gameplay be considered “fun” by the majority of players, and what a shame it was that such a good facegen tool was wasted in a crappy game like that.

by Llewdor on Apr 29, 2008 1:59 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

EverCrack is a more epic, fantasy-oriented game

So that drives a lot of people.

WoW is more of a PvP environment, even though many people will say otherwise. The entire game base is to kill the other side. Always has been, always will be.

Basically, it all really depends. WoW can be a lot of fun though as long as you don’t go overboard. Sadly, there are a lot of weak-willed people out there who hate their lives and want to crawl into a cave and start over, and WoW caters to that excuse.

by cwel87 on Apr 30, 2008 8:16 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

My favourite MMORPG was and continues to be EVE Online.

EVE is a great game (though I haven’t played it in a couple of years). It’s less social than the other games because you never see the other characters – just their ships – so people seem less inclined to start casual conversation, and the learning curve is damned-near vertical, so that keeps out a lot of casual players. But I really enjoyed it. I spent hundreds of hours mining asteroids by myself.

by Llewdor on Apr 30, 2008 9:36 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I can never stick with EVE - at most, I've played it for a month or two at a time

Once you get past the newb stage, if you don’t have people, what on earth do you do? Run lvl 2,3 missions in a Drake, forever? If I could find a cool place to park (with people) I’d play more seriously. Right now, I just start up a new trial when I get the urge to look at pretty space ships in warp drive.

by Jordan of Boise on Apr 30, 2008 10:18 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I enjoyed solitary trading. Buy goods one place - sell them in another.

It took a lot of time to work out where the profitable trade routes were, and whether you could afford to take the shorter routes through low-security space (yes, if you made the trip in a shuttle first and bookmarked all the jumpgate locations), and whether you were willing to smuggle illegal goods.

I also enjoyed solitary mining.

by Llewdor on Apr 30, 2008 10:32 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Everyone is giving this game 10/10

A lot of the reviews I’ve read have called it possibly the greatest game ever.

My roommate is getting it tonight…

by patsfan on Apr 29, 2008 10:03 AM PDT   0 recs

Hmmm. . .

Alpha Centauri, Final Fantasy 7, and Baldur’s Gate may have something to say about that.

by thewyrm on Apr 29, 2008 10:06 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Firaxis held an online vote once

for the fans to pick their next project. AC2 got over 75% of the vote. Where the hell is it? You should try the Fall from Heaven 2 mod for Civ 4. It is almost as good as AC. Basically AC, only fantasy instead of Sci-Fi.

by thewyrm on Apr 29, 2008 10:09 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Linky?

I mean I like Civ, I really do. But Civ for me was always one of those “Hmmm, I’m bored, what should I do? Oh, I’ll play Civ” type games. AC was like COD4 – it was a “the faster I drive home/earlier I get up, the quicker I can play!” kind of game

by seattlebruin on Apr 29, 2008 10:19 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I like the parallel there but am I missing something about AC?

I think I stopped playing it with a couple weeks. I am still playing Civ4 w/ BTS at least a couple times a week.

Maybe I just didn’t give it a fair shake, I was getting out of gaming a lot around when that came out and have only recently been back in.

by hcoguy on Apr 29, 2008 10:21 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Yeah, you probably didn't give it a long enough trial

I hated AC at first because I tried to play it like a RTS C&C style game, and it just doesn’t work that way. Once I learned how to make it work, it got a LOT more fun. You kinda have to enjoy the nerdiness of making up your futuristic units (not a problem for me – I am very literally a rocket scientist), but the depth of the game is incredible. What I liked the most was how many different ways the game would play out, even though everything (combat, resources, production) was fairly simple in nature and intuitive to understand.

Plus, once I found out you could make Invisible Submarine Carriers of Doom, I OWNED every time, even on the hard difficulties.

by seattlebruin on Apr 29, 2008 10:27 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Already did that

I have mastered any and all strategy involving the water. I make a special probe team cruiser and then make a new water base right by an opponents port base and then just run it there every turn and steal credits. Then I use the credits to hurry more probe teams and steal everything in sight

by seattlebruin on Apr 29, 2008 10:51 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

If you play on an archipelago planet, naval superiority

does make the game laughably easy. Keep your enemies at bay until you can do orbital insertions with your drop pods and destroy all their resources. Everyone else is trapped on a little island and you control the entire world.

by Llewdor on Apr 29, 2008 11:03 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I started playing CIV4 about a month ago.

I am still getting used to the different strategies playing against the computer. I can’t say I enjoy all that much because I am playing against the computer.

I have yet to try multiplayer. This must be where the real fun is.

by Wilder. on Apr 29, 2008 10:32 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I am horny for the Xbox 360 one coming out.

Its scaled down obviously but looks like the multiplayer will be a lot of fun and of course less time consuming.

by hcoguy on Apr 29, 2008 10:35 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

See, this is the problem I have with the CIV games.

They are waaaay too time consuming to get maximum pleasure out of. Games like Warcraft, Starcraft, and Command & Conquer seem to have it perfect. You can get a good game done in 2 hours. The CIV games take 4+ hours… and that is against the computer.

by Wilder. on Apr 29, 2008 10:37 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Civ2 was the first game that I ever stayed up more than 24 hours to play continuously

When robots take over the world and use our bodies as batteries, they won’t build us The Matrix, they’ll give us Civilization.

by Jordan of Boise on Apr 30, 2008 9:22 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Civ4 is a massive improvement over Civ3

but still not up to the standard set by Alpha Centauri.

by Llewdor on Apr 29, 2008 10:46 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Nothing will ever be up to AC's standard

I really don’t believe there will ever be a better game made. That is not hyperbole, I honestly believe that.

by thewyrm on Apr 29, 2008 10:47 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

When I was moving out of my parents' house

I bought two games in anticipation of soon buying a computer (yes, I bought the games first). Those games were Alpha Centauri and Baldur’s Gate.

It’s all been downhill from there.

by Llewdor on Apr 29, 2008 11:05 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

This is a really bad idea.

I’m am totally downloading this.

by Llewdor on Apr 29, 2008 10:41 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

To this day

I still have all the wonder videos and tech speeches memorized. Remember, it is every citizen’s final duty to go into the tanks.

by thewyrm on Apr 29, 2008 10:11 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

The pinnacle of military deployment approaches the formless;

if it is formless, then even the deepest spy cannot discern it, nor the wise make plans against it.

by Llewdor on Apr 29, 2008 10:43 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

AKA the cheapest thing ever

I used to read the strategy guide for that game as bedtime material

by seattlebruin on Apr 29, 2008 10:45 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I didn't find the CPU used Probe Teams that often.

But since I played the University a lot (almost always), I really needed it.

by Llewdor on Apr 29, 2008 11:08 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

University is money

I’m always University or Pirates in the expo so I can be relentless with my navy

by seattlebruin on Apr 29, 2008 11:09 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I was a Gaian

I would breed spores and spores of mind worms and use Planet against everyone else. God I’m a nerd.

by thewyrm on Apr 29, 2008 11:09 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I tried other factions, but I realised once when I was leading the world in research

with the Believers that I was really just playing everyone as if they were the University, so I might as well have just been the University.

I named all of my bases after German scientists. I always started with Einstein, Oppenheimer, Schrödinger, and Heisenberg.

Who’s the nerd now?

by Llewdor on Apr 29, 2008 11:16 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Acamedician Zokharv (?)

Was wicked evil though.

by thewyrm on Apr 29, 2008 11:17 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

How in God's name (see what I did there?) did you lead the world in research with the Believers?

Did this take you like 250 turns to accomplish? Did you steal tech from everyone else?

One time after 225 turns I somehow finished the tech tree and was making three future thought discoveries a turn. Needless to say, I’ve never matched that game score.

by seattlebruin on Apr 29, 2008 11:18 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Do you guys happen to have a cracked copy for PC that I might be able to use?

I only have the game at my parents house, and since I live 1300 miles from my parents, I don’t get to play anymore…

by seattlebruin on Apr 29, 2008 11:22 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I only have them on CD

I think you can download the full game somewhere online though

by thewyrm on Apr 29, 2008 11:24 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Alpha Centauri used to be available through GameTap

but then EA cancelled all their GameTap agreements. Bastards.

by Llewdor on Apr 29, 2008 11:32 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Network Nodes

That’s the biggest advantage the University has – the free Network Node at each base. To match them, you need a Network Node at every base (of course, you know this). It wasn’t sustainable, though – I lost that game.

by Llewdor on Apr 29, 2008 11:38 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Yeah

I spent a LONG time trying to figure out how to get around that with the Gaians or Peacekeepers, but in the end, there’s just no substitute for them. The only other thing I could do was play Pirates and pray that I found good Unity pods at sea every time.

by seattlebruin on Apr 29, 2008 11:48 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

If you can make the University your vassals

and keep giving them bases (as soon as you do they get a free Network Node), you can get your research that way.

by Llewdor on Apr 29, 2008 11:51 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Hmmmm

My next fave strategy was with Pirates in the expansion – I would just go for Unity pods at sea to get free tech and credits early. Then I used credits to buy more boats, more boats to find more pods and explore, more pods = more colony pods = more pop = more research. Self-propogating cycle :)

by seattlebruin on Apr 29, 2008 11:53 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I was always amazed that the CPU factions didn't

actively collect Unity pods – they’re so potentially valuable.

by Llewdor on Apr 29, 2008 2:04 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

My favorite Civ quote

Now it is day and night the irons clang, and like poor galley slaves; We toil and toil and when we die, must fill dishonored graves; But late one night, when all is quiet in the land; I’ll shoot those tyrants one and all, I’ll gun the floggers down; I’ll give the ground a little shock, remember what I say; And they will yet regret they have sent Jim Jones in chains to Botany Bay. “Jim Jones” Traditional

by thewyrm on Apr 29, 2008 10:57 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

FF7 FTW

Though it sits in a stack in my den unfinished along with FF Tactics, FF8, Dragon Warrior 8, and Resident Evil: Code Veronica waiting for the day I finish them.

by aestivalis on Apr 29, 2008 10:10 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Don't bother finishing FF8

A lame ending for a lame game. Not Shadowrun (SNEs/Genesis) lame, but pretty close.

by thewyrm on Apr 29, 2008 10:12 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Yeah.

There was a huge pile of suck between FF7 and FF9. In fact let’s all forget that FF8 even existed and try to convince people that FF7 went straight to FF9 because odd numbers are artsy.

by aestivalis on Apr 29, 2008 10:15 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Although

FF4, FF6, and FF12 all rock. FF10 is decent, but FF10 part 2 sucks the big one.

by thewyrm on Apr 29, 2008 10:16 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Indeed.

Though the only FF (other than Tactics) game I have ever played more than once is the original on the NES. I could play that over and over.

by aestivalis on Apr 29, 2008 10:18 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

I don't know, FF11 is popular with some,

but I’ve never understood the appeal (or of MMORPGS in general, for that matter). FF10 and FF12 are pretty great, though.

by Liebkartoffel on Apr 29, 2008 10:18 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

FF8 started out really well

But completely lost it at the start of the 2nd disk

by Robert on Apr 29, 2008 10:27 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

FF8 was no where near as bad as FF9.

FF6, though, was the greatest game in the series.

by BrianL on Apr 29, 2008 11:05 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

My rundown

FF7- Best all around; FF6- Best story; FF4- Best Charecters; FF12- Best Plot

by thewyrm on Apr 29, 2008 11:08 AM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Eh.

I personally believe FF7 is a bit overrated. I mean, it’s good, but not OMG TIHS IS TEH BESTEST GAME EVAR good.

by BrianL on Apr 29, 2008 11:09 AM PDT