Welcome to the Next Level, a.k.a. The Video Game Thread Options

[Everlong]

I have L.A. Noire, yay!

Can't play it until I get home at 8ish though, booooo!

[monkeyman]

Im waiting til Hayleigh gets home so...well so she can watch me play; we did it with Heavy Rain and it was actually really good having someone there to talk about it with and mebbe help with decisions (she also guessed who the killer was well before I did).

I also Picked up LA Noire today and there are 3 things I like about it already: 

1) It has a proper manual. 
2) The manual smells so nice
3) The Badge pursuit challenge pre-order bonus comes as a cool little envelope with negatives. I assume the images relate to collectables: 





Just makes the purchase feel more worthwhile. I might be strange.

Got a pre-order bonus case "The naked city" too. 

This post has been edited by monkeyman: May 20 2011, 12:41 PM

[GundamGuy_UK]

It's my birthday in a couple of weeks, so I'd feel a bit bad buying it now and then telling my parents almost immediately after that I can't think of anything I want. So I'll be getting it in mid-June, probably without any bonuses (though they'll be on XBLA eventually, I'm sure).

Penny Arcade gave their two cents about it, and gave a good mini review in the process:

Gabriel and I play L.A. Noire anytime there is a spare moment: an interview here, a sidequest there, and there’s times where I could not be happier with it. That’s most of the time, actually. I love getting a call when I’m we’re driving somewhere and flipping a quick case to grab some experience and maybe (maybe!) a new suit. I also like going on cases that burn slow, that unfurl their wickedness, that make me look right at it; I like that the game makes it my responsibility.

If you make a bad call in an action sequence, well, here’s a convenient checkpoint for you to get back underway. Fail it too many times, and here’s your free pass. Screw up one of these interviews, the human side of the equation, and the game doesn’t forgive shit. You just haul your tainted, semi-human carcass to the next case and try not to be such a Goddamn fuckup all the time. Where it matters most, this game is playing for keeps.

The thing that is most funny, at least for us, is that finding out and out lies isn’t especially difficult: it’s figuring out whether a person is telling the truth. The way interrogations work is that for every statement, you can choose to believe it, doubt it, or prove that it’s wrong. We’re getting much better about that middle one. There’s often clean tells for that, communicated by the (generally recognized to be awesome, if not unsettling) face capture. But as we’ve become increasingly aware, you can’t make all your calls based on those faces: you need to know what is actually happening, the whole time. You need to be putting it all together. Because there’s times where they give you calmface because they are calm, not because they’re telling the truth, but because they have absolute faith in their exquisitely manufactured lie.

In many ways, this is an adventure game. It’s got its own take on dialogue puzzles, and it’s even got a modernized approach to the “pixel hunt.” The shooting is whatever, the cars drive like aircraft carriers, and every other suspect thinks that he’s gonna be the one to get away on foot; those things all burn away in the rest of the game’s smoldering heat. I think it’s gonna happen; I might actually finish a Rockstar game.

[sweetbutinsane]

I'm debating whether or not to buy Fable 3 from Play while it's only £18 brand new, or just wait and get it slightly cheaper second hand.

[monkeyman]

It's my birthday in a couple of weeks, so I'd feel a bit bad buying it now and then telling my parents almost immediately after that I can't think of anything I want. So I'll be getting it in mid-June, probably without any bonuses (though they'll be on XBLA eventually, I'm sure).

Penny Arcade gave their two cents about it, and gave a good mini review in the process:

They've said all pre-order DLC will be available for download quite soon after launch

[Nonus Aequilibri...]

I'm debating whether or not to buy Fable 3 from Play while it's only £18 brand new, or just wait and get it slightly cheaper second hand.

New, then it supports Lionhead instead of thieving retailers.

[zeden]

LA Noire hasn't arrived. An email with codes for the DLC has. I am displeased but too tired to really care. Better be here tomorrow or...I dunno, I get pissy or something?

[GundamGuy_UK]

They've said all pre-order DLC will be available for download quite soon after launch

Good-o. Seeing as I'm getting the game as a gift, I'd have no qualms about paying for all the DLC on release.


I've been making my way through Half-Life 2 again. I can't believe it's as old as it is, it's really fantastic to look at. When you think that we were seeing it at E3 seven years ago, it's amazing.

[monkeyman]

LA Noire hasn't arrived. An email with codes for the DLC has. I am displeased but too tired to really care. Better be here tomorrow or...I dunno, I get pissy or something?

I played for about 3 hours. It's good so far. In yo face or something.

@Joe: HL2 is great and does still look great. I really fancied replaying it just recently but it barely runs on my netbook and can't be bothered playing on the PC. I might pick up the PS3 orange box

[GundamGuy_UK]

It works very well on console. The Orange Box is still one of the best value games on the market, I think.

How's the music in LA Noire? Does it have any radio stations or anything, or is it just incidental music?

[monkeyman]

It seems to be all incidental, though having said that I've only been in cop cars so far. I like what I've heard so far. The menu/notebook design is really great as well.

This post has been edited by monkeyman: May 21 2011, 12:03 AM

[Hobbes]

Came in the post today but didn't want to launch into it for fear I wouldn't sleep. Thing that struck me most: 3 BLOODY DISCS! Unbelievable, so worried about what this game's going to do to my productivity but still mega excited to get going.

And I haven't even finished New Vegas yet. Long summer of gaming ahead...

[bigfatrich]

Does anyone have a number for calling Xbox live support in the UK, please. The helpful Xbox info pages are directing me to the US support numbers. I want to cancel my membership as I don't use XBL and would rather keep the £40 it costs

[Rua]

How's the music in LA Noire? Does it have any radio stations or anything, or is it just incidental music?

Mostly incidental, but, there are tunes. Good ones. But you don't control them, you hear them sometimes when you are in a car and the radio happens to be on, or in someones house & they are listening or in a Bar etc.

So far anyway. I like it.

[monkeyman]

It works very well on console. The Orange Box is still one of the best value games on the market, I think.

Blockbusters have the Orange box for £11 (after vouchers I have)....very tempted