The Video Game Thread

[Dawn]

So, I just picked up my PS4 at the store, and I am extremely happy. If you guys want to add me, my nick is JohnCenawwefan14. Ridiculous, Ik. Tell me that you are from GDS when you send me a request.

[D-Lyrium]

 

Squeeeeee.

 

It's interesting that the game's storyline starts near the end of S3 and ends at the end of S4. Not where I'd have chosen to place it, especially since it revolves around a family from the North. You'd think the end of S1 building up to the end of S3 would be the logical choice. But I guess if it works...

 

Also going to be interesting to see how they've managed to spread a family like the Forresters across the whole of Westeros and even Essos. Hopefully the phrases 'shoehorned' and 'square peg' can be avoided. ¬_¬

 

I do like the art style though. TWD and TWAU were based on comic books, so look like comics. GoT is based on medieval fantasy, so looks like an oil painting (er... sometimes). It's a good idea. Bit dubious about it's execution given the trailer, but we'll see I guess.

 

Also, BOOO to them going with Show Tyrion instead of Book Tyrion, scar-wise. Totally dropped the ball on that one. I mean, it makes sense since they're basing the game mainly on the show (in terms of character appearance and voice actors etc), but even so...

 

Love the fact that Ramsay Bolton is in the game though.

[FINisher]

Been waiting for that GoT -game for a long, long time. Also I bought the X-COM meets Blood Bowl, "Mordheim City of the Damned" on Early Access. :3

[moon_lit_tears]

<p>This makes me super happy!!</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>

Ramsay Snow?</p><p> </p><p>

You sicko...<img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

[packerman120]

Far Cry 4.... OMG it is so fun! Finally the game Ubisoft needed, an easy candidate and possible winner for FPS of the year by far.

[D-Lyrium]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="moon_lit_tears" data-cite="moon_lit_tears" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="28397" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>This makes me super happy!!<p> </p><p> </p><p> Ramsay Snow?</p><p> </p><p> You sicko...<img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png"></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> It was late. ¬_¬</p>

[Undertaker666]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Clarity" data-cite="Clarity" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="28397" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Holy crap.. An undertaker666 sighting. Thats rarer than a bigfoot or loch nass sighting</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> <em>"Coming soon to a forum near you!"</em> <img alt=":cool:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/cool.png.f00d2562b2c1d873a09323753efdb041.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> In other news, 'This War of Mine' is awesome. If you liked Zafehouse Diaries (especially the difficulty of it) but wanted a more serious take on survival then it might be right up your alley.</p>

[tjb000]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Undertaker666" data-cite="Undertaker666" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="28397" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><em>"Coming soon to a forum near you!"</em> <img alt=":cool:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/cool.png.f00d2562b2c1d873a09323753efdb041.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><p> </p><p> In other news, 'This War of Mine' is awesome. If you liked Zafehouse Diaries (especially the difficulty of it) but wanted a more serious take on survival then it might be right up your alley.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> This War of Mine is in fact awesome. I've done some things I'm not too proud of in that game to survive.</p><p> </p><p> Currently playing This War of Mine and Dragon Age: Inquisition. Very much enjoying DA: I too. Though I think a lot of my time has been trying to set my graphic settings just right for my somewhat dated GeForce GTX 680. It's still a fairly powerful card even for today's standard, but it's definitely showing its age with newer AAA games.</p><p> </p><p> I have the choice of either locking my game at 30fps with all graphic settings either High or Ultra or averaging 60fps with mostly High graphical settings (with a few things on medium and other tweaks) and deal with the occasional dip in framerate when dealing with a heavily busy area in the game. I decided to go for 60fps and deal with occasional drops as the game still looks beautiful even with slightly lower graphic settings. I tried it with a lock at 30fps and it didn't look THAT much better than the other option. I'm spoiled these days as 30fps is less than ideal for me.</p>

[D-Lyrium]

This War Of Mine is one of those fringe games that interests me, but is quite far down the pile of List of Stuff To Buy.

 

In other news, Geoff Keighley is self-promoting some video game awards this year, since last year's sucked so much. Here are the noms, as per http://thegameawards.com/nominees/

 

Jury Voted:

 

Game of the Year

Bayonetta 2

Dark Souls 2

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Hearthstone

Shadow of Mordor

 

For me that's basically a two horse race. Bayonetta vs. Hearthstone. None of them would be a 'bad' win, IMO, though Inquisition came out about 30 seconds ago, so probably only got here via hype.

 

Developer of the Year

Blizzard

Monolith (Shadow of Middle Earth, FEAR, Gotham City Imposters)

Nintendo

Telltale

Ubis...ahahahahahahha. Ubisoft Montreahahahal.

 

No. Just no. If Ubisoft win this, I riot. Like, properly riot. There is just no way. Surely this belongs to Telltale or Blizzard?

 

Indy Game of the Year

Broken Age ISN'T EVEN FINISHED YET FFS.

Monument Valley

Shovel Knight

Transistor

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

 

Basically in descending order of awesome already there.

 

Best Mobile/Handheld Game

Bravely Default

Hearthstone

Monument Valley

Super Smash Bros 3DS

Threes!

 

I have no idea what any of these are except Hearthstone, and therefore no opinion, although since when are mobile games and handheld games similar in any way? I know technology has come on a bit in recent times, but c'mon.

 

Best Narrative

South Park: The Stick of Truth

The Walking Dead, Season Two

The Wolf Among Us

Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Wolfenstein: The New Order

 

Haven't played it, so not sure if the Stick Of Truth nomination here is just someone having a laugh, but given the competition this has to go to Valiant Hearts, right? Two of them are based on comic books, Wolfenstein is Wolfenstein. If you're talking about narrative in a video game, it's got to be Valiant Hearts vs. potentially South Park.

 

Best Voice Acting Performance

Adam Harrington (Bigby Wolf, Wolf Among Us)

Kevin Spacey (Jonathan Irons, CoD:AW)

Melissa Hutchison (Clementine, The Walking Dead S2)

Trey Parker (Various, South Park: TSOT)

Troy Baker (Talion, Shadow of Mordor)

 

I think it's good that voice actors get an award. I think it's bad that Trey Parker is nominated for it. I think it's an absolute travesty that Corinne Kempa isn't. But leaving personal bias at the door... no, no even leaving bias at the door Corinne Kempa still wins. More realistically though, Troy Baker'll win this one. He's not even nominated for his best performance this year, that's how badass he is. He can win with his inferior performances. ¬_¬

 

Best Soundtrack

Alien: Isolation

Child of Light

Destiny

Sunset Overdrive

Transitor

 

Again, massive personal bias dictates my favourite here (Transistor. Darren Korb is amazing), and it's not helped by the fact that I haven't played any of the others.

 

Best Remaster

GTA:V

Pokemon

The Last of Us

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

The Master Chief Collection

 

Shame there isn't an award for "STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!" What's more annoying than the fact this category even exists, is that 3/5 of the above are remasters of games that came out LAST YEAR. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I hope the Master Chief Collection wins. At least Halo 2 was worth remastering. How do you even 'remaster' a Pokemon game anyway?

 

Best Action/Adventure Game

Alien: Isolation

Assahahahahsin's Creed: Unity

Bayonetta 2

Shadow of Mordor

Sunset Overdrive

 

Bit of an eclectic mix, but I guess that's what happens when you combine two pretty vague genres into one. Not sure what to pick here; as long as it's not set in France and actually works, I guess it's a worthy winner.

 

Best Shooter

CoD:AW

Destiny

Far Cry 4

Titanfall

Wolfenstein: The New Order

 

It would be sort of ironic if, now that they've actually made a good one, CoD doesn't win. I'd go with Titanfall, personally. Pleasantly surprised to see Wolfenstein doing so well in nominations. I liked the game, but it was hardly groundbreaking awesometacular stuff.

 

Best RPG

Bravely Default

Dark Souls 2

Divinity: Original Sin

Dragon Age: Inquisition

South Park: The Stick of Truth

 

So... no Wasteland 2 on the list then. I just... If we're going to call Dark Souls an RPG, that's fair enough, but SOUTH PARK IS ON THIS LIST AND WASTELAND 2 IS NOT.

 

Best Fighting Game

Killer Instinct: Season Two

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax

Super Smash Bros 3DS

Super Smash Bros Wii-U

Ultra Street Fighter IV

 

Ok guys... I know fighting games are generally under-represented these days, but in wrestling when all but two of our roster are men, and the two women are an identical twins tag team, we tend to just skip the women's title. Three of these games are DLC for older titles. The other two are THE SAME GAME ON DIFFERENT PLATFORMS. Why is this even here? Are there not five actual fighting games released this year? It might be that there aren't, though I'm pretty sure there were... though I'm equally sure all the examples I can remember all sucked, so I guess there's that. Hell, it wouldn't be a stretch to put WWE2k15 in here. If Dark Souls can be an RPG, WWE games can be fighting games.

 

Best Sports/Racing Game

FIFA 15

Forza Horizon 2

Mario Kart 8

NBA2k15

Trials Fusion

 

Another odd category. It's kinda like "Best Musician/Chef". How do you compare Forza Horizon 2 to FIFA 15? More to the point, why is Forza Horizon 2 here instead of GRID:Autosport? Hmm.

 

Best Online Experience

CoD:AW

Dark Souls 2

Destiny

Hearthstone

Titanfall

 

Is it just me, or is the wording of this category oddly specific. Not 'best online game' or 'best online multiplayer', but 'Best Online Experience". It's almost like they're saying "hey, Disconnectiny and Dark Souls 2, you're not winning, so don't get your hopes up". Also, why is Disconnectiny the only MMO, and I use that term loosely, in a category that you'd imagine was only worded in such a fashion so that it could include MMOs?

 

Best Family Game

Disney Infinity 2.0

Fantasia: Music Evolved

Mario Kart 8

Skylanders: Trap Team

Tamodachi Life

 

Somehow I don't see the latter winning here. ¬_¬ Another pretty vague category (especially given Fantasia is in there).

 

Games for Change

Mountain

Never Alone

The Last Of Us: Left Behind

This War Of Mine

Valiant Hearts: The Great War

 

As far as I can work out, Games for Change is a movement focused on creating games that make you think, or in some way transcend the general "shoot man with gun" video gaming ideals. Even keeping this in mind, I still have no idea why Mountain is here. Or why Mountain exists. Or what Mountain is supposed to be. For me, this is between the bottom two games listed here. Never Alone is kinda cool 'n' stuff, but it's not that great of an actual game. Especially not the bits that actually qualify it for this award, as all the cultural exchange stuff is delivered via videos, not gameplay. Valiant Hearts is both a good game, AND a thought-provoking narrative (AND was created by Ubisoft! Though not Ubisoft Montreal it has to be noted). This War of Mine is also pretty good. Shame Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and The Stanley Parable were both released in 2013, otherwise Mountain might not have had to pretend to be a game.

 

Fan's Choice:

(My choices in bold, be aware that voting involves the site posting to either twitter or facebook once per category on your behalf (it's FB only for Trending Gamer for some reason, probably something to do with the tweets counting towards them trending even more on twitter or something))

 

Most Anticipated Game

Batman: Arkham Knight

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Uncharted 4

Evolve

Bloodborne (PS4 exclusive by the creator of the Souls series)

 

Trending Gamer

TotalBiscuit

Jeff Gerstmann (

PewDiePie (Don't you even dare think about it)

Evan "Vanoss" Fong (no, me either...)

StampyLongHead (Minecraft guy).

 

Bit surprised at the lack of Toby Turner here. I guess the Planetside2 debacle has soured him to the community or some bollocks.

 

eSports Team Of The Year

Ninjas In Pyjamas (Swedish, most famous for Counterstrike/CS:GO and being able to spell pyjamas properly).

Team Evil Geniuses (American team known for pretty much every game, mainly SC2, DOTA2 and LoL).

Samsung Galaxy White (Korean LoL team, sponsored by Samsung. Duh).

NewBee (Chinese DOTA2 team, not sure if they play anything else).

Edward Gaming (never heard of them).

 

eSports Player Of The Year

NaDeSHoT

GeT_RiGhT

Rekkles

Firebat

Fy

 

I don't know who any of these people are. Firebat plays Hearthstone I think. I mainly voted for Rekkles because he was doing best out of the PeoPle WhO dOnT sPeLl LiKe ThEyRe EiGhT. And, let's be honest, is by far the prettiest.

 

Best Fan Creation

Twitch Plays Pokemon

Luigi Death Stare

Best Zelda Rap EVER!!!

Minecraft - Titan City

Mine The Diamond

 

This category makes me feel suddenly old, and like gaming has somehow passed me by in the last hour or so. I voted for the Tobuscus song, because it's the only time in the entire thing I got to vote for Tobuscus. Even though Diggy Diggy Hole is FAR superior. That's a sentence I never thought I'd write.

[The Swanton825]

Geoff Keighley...

 

http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/757/260/6eb.jpg

 

that Geoff Keighley? I think I might have found why the nominations are mostly crap. Also, really? A pro gaming category AND an LPer one? I really hate the direction the game industry is going.

[Clarity]

These choices are rubbish.. Dragon Age but no FarCry4?

[The Swanton825]

These choices are rubbish.. Dragon Age but no FarCry4?

 

I don't get why people care about award shows, they're absolutely meaningless. Barring Metallica and Daft Punk I don't think a single band I listen to has won a Grammy. Does it change how awesome I think they are? Hell no. The album/game/etc. of the year is whatever you think it is. Anyone who claims to be the authority on who the best of the best are is full of shit.

[Blackman]

I assume the rest of these cold winter days this year will be filled by WMMA4 and the Game of Thrones adventure, if it releases.

 

If the Witcher adventure game turns out to be released on steam instead of the board game version (which I was planning to get), I might get that as well.

[iruleall15]

Just got a 3DS XL. Does anyone know any way if possible to get GBA games on it? Even backdoor ways? I know its prolly frowned upon but my GBA gMes I got obviously can't go inside it.

[The Swanton825]

Just got a 3DS XL. Does anyone know any way if possible to get GBA games on it? Even backdoor ways? I know its prolly frowned upon but my GBA gMes I got obviously can't go inside it.

 

No, there's no way to play GBA games on any 3DS (unless it's through Virtual Console), you can get a GBA SP for less than 50 bucks off of eBay these days though.

[Blackman]

Just buy an Android smartphone from a couple of years back for 150$ and you can perfectly play any GBA rom.

[D-Lyrium]

It was late. ¬_¬

 

Heeey, I just noticed (after like, a week) that you made me do that thing where I apologise for and correct a thing that wasn't incorrect.

 

[Harmor]

Steam sale so far mainly told me I have far too many games (damn sales - nice circle >_<), but okay I just had to get 'This war of mine' after watching Lets Plays and I can just say it's bloody amazing. I'd go and call it the one and only anti-war game that is even out, the survival gameplay is great and I just can't get enough of it. Additionally, their idea to not make the game itself static but add lots of variables so you can start a new game that'll be quite different from the one you played before is absolutely great. Oh, and the game is certainly not easy - still have to get further than day 24 or so xD...

 

Got Planetary Annihilation for 5 and a bit (cause good buddy has it) as well as the Commander in Chief update for Saint's Row 4 for 2,99€ and that'll be it for this sale. Bit shocked almost Alien Isolation is already on sale, but that's not exactly my type of thing to begin with but still, that's quite something.

[iruleall15]

So does anyone recall which Yugioh game allowed you to walk around? It was the first generation of Yugioh also. It wasn't reshef of destruction or sacred cards. I think it was a world tournament.

[FINisher]

Bit shocked almost Alien Isolation is already on sale, but that's not exactly my type of thing to begin with but still, that's quite something.

 

So were the newest Civilization Beyond Earth and quite a few recently released games and it seems to me that a lot of people are upset because of this, especially people who pre-ordered those games. It also makes buying just released games kinda pointless if they are on sale few months after the initial release. As I've stated before I extremely rarely buy any games when they release nowadays just because of this, especially those that only have single player.. I can easily wait 3, 6 or even 12 months for those games to get cheaper, to -50% or even -75%.

 

ps. I now have 154 games on Steam, approx. 90% of them bought from sales.

[Harmor]

Yep, I do it exactly like you. It's how I managed to get to 404 games on Steam within 6? ... 7? years for far less than you would think I paid for the total. Absolutely works for me!

[The Swanton825]

So does anyone recall which Yugioh game allowed you to walk around? It was the first generation of Yugioh also. It wasn't reshef of destruction or sacred cards. I think it was a world tournament.

 

Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Tournament 2004. Fun game.

[iruleall15]

Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Tournament 2004. Fun game.

 

04 or 05? I looked it up and i think it said 05 but idk

[packerman120]

I don't know what to say about some of those rewards. NINTENDO FOR DEVELOPER OF THE YEAR! They made two good games, Mario Kart and Smash for crying out loud! Telltale should have won that. I mean c'mon, TWD S2, WAU S1, and the first episodes of TFTB and GOT are all incredible. FC4 over Wolfenstein surprised me, as Wolfenstein was a great game. Also, how the hell did Dragon Age win game of the year? I didn't like any of the candidates, but I was rooting personally for Dark Souls 2 myself.

[bigtplaystew]

Critics just love to ooze praise at Nintendo