Max Payne 3? I can't get to Gamespot from here... what's the plot? I thought they pretty much ended the story with the last installment. Also bummed about Rockstar. They treatment of the PC port for GTA IV still makes me mad.

He's gone on early retirement and left NY...and from there on things apparently went down the drain. Lots of action will be involved, and according to the developers it will be "the most cynical part of the saga yet".

Yeah...sounds bad.


Been playing "The Maw" and finished it...it's short but sweet. After a while they seem to run out of original ideas a bit, but the game was a ton of easy fun. Design is great (the maw itself is hilarious) and the game had me smiling at numerous occasions. Very polished and smooth, and worth the cash. I've seen a lot crappier games that are only slightly longer and cost 4-5 times as much.

Also played some Red Alert 3, and I don't care what anyone says but it's fun fun fun! Only played Soviets so far but the over-the-top FMW acting, the camp, the girls, the insane units (mind-controlled warbears, soviet conscripts with molotov cocktails for secondary ability, Zeppelin bombers, amphibious APC's that can fire infantry from a circus cannon...dude. Awesome.) and just overall polishedness and hilarity makes for a great relaxing mix. I just realized yesterday that the warbears' secondary attack is a scream that, according to the short description: "Stuns nearby enemy infantry for a moment. Also tenderizes meat." The game is packed with that shit.

One minor gripe is that it's too easy, by and large. Playing on medium with AI taking control of the co-op army (every mission is co-op) and while my ally seems to succeed in getting him- or herself wiped on occasion I almost always seem to breeze through the missions. Usually my ally just buffers between the enemies and me until he dies and I build up a nice army and wipe away all opposition on my own.

Still, great fun. Almost wish I could co-op it with someone.

Finished Red Alert 3 and had so much camp fun that I am contemplating getting the expansion for it. Man, there was a level in there where all the presidents at Mount Rushmore revealed superweapons, like eyes shooting lasers and AA batteries coming out of their skills.

(skip to 00.30)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chL5gWso204



Anyway, playing Crysis now. Still getting the hang of everything (the suit controls, the weapons mods, tactics etc) but GOD the game looks good. And the Korean AI is pretty good. Atmosphere is chilling so far too.

The first half of the game is great, in my opinion. It devolves a bit in the second half. If you enjoy Crysis, you may want to pick up the expansion for cheap. I think it's got securom, though, so beware. God I hate DRM. But anyway, the gameplay is fun... more of a shooter than Crysis, but avoiding the pitfalls of the second half.

Mm, k. I'll play Warhead afterwards I'm sure.

Still having fun in blowing the shit out of things, but getting irked by small bugs. I'm gonna get picked up by a chopper at the extraction point, but they tell me the LZ is still hot so I need to clear it. I frag a bunch of Koreans in nanosuits (tough crackers) and check the whole area for charlie, but nothing. Yet the chopper refuses to pick me up.

Sigh. Guess I'm gonna have to cheat my way out.

Btw, Crysis is pretty hard. I mean, nothing I can't handle, but it sure is a step up from the more casual shooters I've played recently. This game must be borderline insane on the hardest setting. There are SO many Koreans, and they're pretty smart as AI goes.

Don't think I got the hang of the nanosuit really yet though. Like the stealth, it goes down faster if you move right? Took me ages to realize that.

heh...yea... if you move it drops faster. I usually move up slowly in stealth, then as the energy is about to run out I go prone behind a rock, turn it off and let it charge. As for your chopper pickup, I never had a problem there. Strange. Are you sure all the NKs are all dead?

Anyway, yes, the difficulty level is pretty high. Wait until later in the game. It gets frustratingly difficult at times. I did play the first half of the game on the hardest settings, though... so long as you take your time and come at things intelligently, it's doable. The second half, not so much.

Haven't fired the game up again yet - too busy (outside of work busy I mean). But I can say this: as long as the second half of the game isn't "Far Cry I finale" (also known as INSANELY) difficult I'll be allright.

Hmm rumors of Metal Gear Solid 4 to be released on the X360. Exclusive games are of the devil, have you ever heard anyone complaining that a game is released on the mac or linux?

mildly off topic?

I think console exclusive games are dumb, but most 'computer' games are Windows-exclusive so who am I to complain? I can understand the rationale, though... coding a game in Windows is entirely different from coding a game for Linux.

Nah, ox's topic is fine for rumors , and his brother has 360 too.

Lol, even if I do have access to an Xbox 360 I'd never play MGS and I doubt my brother would either. We mostly use it to kick each other's asses in SFIV, Fifa, NBA Live and race games really. He occassionally buys a big shooter title like Gears of War 2 and CoD4, but I think he's starting to realize that they aren't as good as PC shooters. Other, more deviant games genre-wise, don't interest him and only make it to the PC from my side.

Ok, after fixing my driver troubles I played a lot of Crysis and finished the game last night. What a great shooter...I mean, it was a little short and the gameplay sometimes a bit clunky (suit functions in particular), but on the whole I was impressed.

The graphics were jaw-droppingly stunning at times...especially inside the alien base - wow, just wow. The design was great too, and the interaction with the rest of the army towards the end felt like you were really part of some greater warmachine (but I didn't like the flying sequence).

Loved how you ran into Prophet late in the game again...he's obviously undergone some strange test or something, which will only be revealed in the next installment. But the axe he has to grind with the aliens seems rather personal.

All in all, a superb FPS. Enough variation in gameplay, smart enemies, stunning visuals and a large freedom. Not as much as FC2, but you can't have it all I guess. Oh and I had to done down the graphics for the final fight(s)...too much happening at once, low FPS. Apart from that I ran the entire game at high settings on a high resolution.

I heard Warhead is less aliens and more KPA? If that's true i'm definitely giving that a try as well. The aliens were cool and didn't bother me, but the sneaking up on KPA and fighting in the jungle was more intense.

P.S. I'm almost done with my initial 'games to play' list

Warhead has no aliens in it at all, so yea, you'll probably like it. It also has more fun blowing-crap-up run-and-gun type fighting. Def more of a traditional FPS. The engine is also optimized a bit or something...overall it runs better.

Mm, k, thanks. I think the same friend I lent Crysis from has Warhead too...so I'll harass him about it. If they manage to iron out the small engine stutters on high settings with a lot more Korean warfare...I'm down with that. To say the least.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09 ... plex/50563

Something for ox.