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

[monkeyman]

I've lent Arkham City to someone at work. I think when I get it back I'll mop up all the side quests (I never came across Deadshot or killer croc or Zsazz) then play the DLC. Certainly more interesting than challenge rooms.
Has anyone seen the box art for the GOTY edition by the way? It's awful.
Hayleigh was saying the other day that box art doesn't really matter as you barely look at it anyway, but I dunno, if a game has nice box art I'm much more likely to keep hold of it. I also just like looking at some of my boxes now and again. Lame I know.

[logger]

Kid made to argue with himself on MW3 (Very NSFW language)

[zeden]

That is gold. Might have to give it a try myself given how prone I am to arguing with moronic people while I play Halo. Seems like every time I play I end up running through my repertoire of accents in order to confuse the morons who can't tell which one is the real voice.
There's little better than opening my mouth in a lobby full of angry young Americans and getting a whole load of "go fuck the Queen and drink some tea" only to confuse the hell out of them with a nice broad American accent. I've had full blown conversations with some of the prats before dropping the bomb that I've been taking the piss for the whole time. Online gaming is about 40% game and 60% heckler management for me it seems.

[Silky]

This is why I rarely use my mic. When I do it's in parties of friends.

[Rua]

That is the single most annoying thing, ever.

[GundamGuy_UK]

Hayleigh was saying the other day that box art doesn't really matter as you barely look at it anyway, but I dunno, if a game has nice box art I'm much more likely to keep hold of it. I also just like looking at some of my boxes now and again. Lame I know.

I'm sure you and I have had this conversation before, about how important packaging is. Not for things like everyday products or the toys I collect (I never keep them sealed in their boxes), but the box and the manual are all that separates it from just downloading it. I especially like it when collectors editions have special artwork or a cool box.

The Arkham City GOTY box is just horrible. The title is dwarfed by the massive "10/10!" on the front, and is almost hidden completely by all the accolades. It's nice that the game did well and they're proud of it, but come on.

I like cover art to be striking, and that often means without much on the cover. Not in a bland way, I'm talking games like Skyrim or the BioShock collectors edition - very simple, just the logo but somehow striking. They tell nothing of what's inside, and are full of mystery and potential for it. It's the same reason I loved seeing the Akira DVD on shop shelves when I was younger; the cover tells you absolutely nothing, but is also really good.

This is also why I hate the Mass Effect covers so much, because they have never felt right due to having (for me) a complete bloody stranger stood on the cover. Mass Effect is full of such beautiful imagery and design, yet they went for the generic "I have a gun!" and "Walking moodily towards the camera" covers, with (in my case) somebody who means nothing to me.

If I had my way, this would have been the Mass Effect cover art:


That took me less than five minutes in MS Paint. It's cool, it's striking, and it means something (they use Mass Effect to work). For Mass Effect 2 you could have have the new Normandy, or anything. The collectors version is nice, with just the N7 on.

This post has been edited by GundamGuy_UK: Apr 24 2012, 01:09 PM

[Silky]

Anyone know the best xbox live app for showing your new achievements on facebook?

[logger]

That is the single most annoying thing, ever.

I like when he calls him squeaky voiced.

[Llama]

Anyone know the best xbox live app for showing your new achievements on facebook?

Well you can just share them directly from the Xbox, if you want! There used to be a good one on there but it seems it got deleted :/

[monkeyman]

Has anyone else played the Dragons Dogma demo? It's not graphically amazing, your allies chat too much (apparently this can be toned down in the full game) and there are a few other niggles but; I really enjoyed it. The combat is solid, though could maybe use a lock on feature; there are good combos and special moves; you can grab onto and climb bigger enemies to stab them in specific places; and you can give simple commands to your Pawns.
It feels a bit like Dark Souls x Monster Hunter x Elder Scrolls. So Japanese with a bunch of Western influences.

Some of the enemies are pretty cool too, the demo features a Chimera and a Griffon to fight. The demo was a bit too limiting though, it could've done with showing the openness of the world a bit.

This official Xbox magazine preview does a pretty good job of showing it off...and also how creepy it gets at night time:
http://www.oxm.co.uk/39938/features/dragon...ans-own-skyrim/

So yeah, it's pretty rough around the edges but there seems to be a lot of good stuff in there. Think I'll pick this up next month.

This post has been edited by monkeyman: Apr 25 2012, 09:54 AM

[Silky]

Off work ill again and nothing makes me smile quite like Theme Hospital.

[Llama]

Off work ill again and nothing makes me smile quite like Theme Hospital.

It's brilliant how well that game still stands up. I return to it about once a year for a play, just excellent, especially the music.

[Everlong]

Scottish kid calling himself a "p*ki" and "c**n" is pretty odd, heh.

I rarely play Call of Duty online anymore, but when I do... Everyone on mute!

[sweetbutinsane]

Off work ill again and nothing makes me smile quite like Theme Hospital.

It's brilliant how well that game still stands up. I return to it about once a year for a play, just excellent, especially the music.

We had a demo of it when we had our Playstation and I absolutely loved it. I'm quite sad it's gone now.

[Ade]

This week, I ha' been mostly playin'... L.A. Noire. And bloody well loving it, that's fer damn sure. Hobbes, you was right. Aside from that, Burnout Paradise has also been demanding a huge chunk of my gaming time.

Bleedin' games. I'm developing PlayStation Thumb again.


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The Last of Us! looks pretty awesome.

Woah. Only just seen this. And I'm sold already.

You're not wrong! The devs have said the majority of the game will be against other survivors, but the infected look so fucked up and awesome:

^ I name this one 'Popcornhead'.

When I watched Planet Earth years back and saw the fungus that inspired the one in Last of us I said that it would make a good film plot. A game is even better. Specially if Naughty Dog are doing it. 

That looks fantastic - PS3 only though, non?

Eee, I won't be unhappy if that's the case, although I will feel slightly unhappy for all you 360-ites. But only briefly.

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I'm HansGrohlo - anyone's free to add me, by the way.

That is an amazing tag.

Haha, thanks. It was Dave's nickname at school because his parents nearly called him Hans.

It's a good job his parents didn't name him 'Bo', then...