WHAT PLAY YOU!? Version 3.0

[Loki]

48 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

entered the cheat code to play as a sheep instead.

She doesn't deserve you mate.  That is legendary, I wish I'd known about that back in the day.

 

I'm feeling nostalgic, but also sad because today EA/Dice have turned off the servers for Battlefield 1943, the only old game I ever regularly revisit, having played it now on 360, Xbox One, and Xbox X.  It's very much the end of an era, my favourite shooter ever, and as of this afternoon no longer playable.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Loki

[Merzbow]

Speaking of shooters from that era, I found a cheap copy of Far Cry Instincts on the 360 which was an early remaster of two og Xbox games. Before Far Cry became the meme filled open world games, they're pretty fun and although the stealth is janky you really feel like you need to use it and setting up traps always feels cool.

It looks nice for it's age, too.

[Jazzy G]

The R360 usually had G-LOC on it. I remember my step-dad going on it because I wasn't tall enough at the time. 

That Ridge Racer with the MX5 was in one of the arcades you used to be able to walk through to get onto the Pleasure Beach. If I recall it was £2 a go. 

I wasn't aware of the Manx TT sheep cheat, but I did like playing as the horse in the Saturn version of Daytona USA. 

[Matthew]

3 hours ago, FelatioLips said:

s the Namco Arcade the one next to the London Eye?

No I think they were talking about the Trocadero which is in Picadilly Circus.

 

Both of which are now closed down however.

[DavidB6937]

I only remember Namco being the one near the London Eye?

"Originally opened as Namco Station in August 1997, it operated as one of the capital's leading family and corporate entertainment centres for 25 years, closing permanently in August 2021 due to redevelopment plans blocking a lease renewal."

I only went to that a few times. The Trocadero had my heart.

[SuperBacon]

This is a cracking read I found today.

https://tedsegablog.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-rise-and-fall-of-london-trocadero.html?m=1

Had forgot all about Alien War! It was wicked. 

As far as I remember, Sega World became Namco World for a bit before it all got taken away.

This has also reminded me that my old man found out my sister was pregnant with my first nephew as she couldn't go on the Pepsi Max Drop on my 14th birthday, and when he asked why, she had to tell him.

What a place!

[Loki]

4 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

I only remember Namco being the one near the London Eye?

"Originally opened as Namco Station in August 1997, it operated as one of the capital's leading family and corporate entertainment centres for 25 years, closing permanently in August 2021 due to redevelopment plans blocking a lease renewal."

I only went to that a few times. The Trocadero had my heart.

It was indeed by the London Eye when I conquered worlds there.  I think it had moved FROM the Troc, and then moved again to somewhere bleak before finally closing before the pandemic.

[Bellenda Carlisle]

4 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Had forgot all about Alien War! It was wicked. 

 

I went there for my 13th birthday then my big brother got a job there as one of the space marines! That place ruled.

[Vegeta]

17 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

She cared even less when I was SO cool and went on the Manx TT superbike game and entered the cheat code to play as a sheep instead.

 

I mean COME ON. The music itself is worth it!

... okay, I'm lucky I got a second date.

That is so much of my childhood there, thanks for the memories sir

[johnnyboy]

eFootball finally has a league option so that you can play through against the computer with your Dream Team.  Glad that's come out just as all my star player contracts are expiring.  Grrrr.

[FLips]

Been so incredibly excited to play Baldur's Gate 3 with my wife since it launched. Xbox version finally came out and it's one of the worst implemented and infuriating Co-op experiences I've ever had. A bizarre party system that splits you into 2x2 groups where none of the dialogue is shared, so for example the rogue in our party can't involve himself or make choices in any of our dialogue unless we are at that time controlling that character. If you play splitscreen it places your gamertags and profile pictures on the top left of the screen completely blocking the minimap and UI. Battles break out randomly like it's Pokemon but only drag nearby people in, which makes sense on paper but is terrible because of the forced party split so you'll find yourself outnumbered with other party members miles away.

The game really isn't clear on what you can and can't do once dialogue has been chosen too. In one part I spoke to a Rat who told me to follow it to a house that I had to break in to. I break in, there's a paralysed woman inside. I speak to her, pass the dialogue checks but can't do much else. The bad UI shows a book as white (meaning it's safe to pick up) so I pick it up and the game thinks I stole it anyway, she calls for the guards and I fail all my dialogue so get sent to prison. We break out, go back to town and collect our weapons which they have mixed all four characters items into one chest so we spend fucking ages trying to sort it, and then we go back to the house to continue dialogue with the woman and she calls the guards immediately putting us back in the same spot. So that whole dialogue and mission is permanently gone now and we can't even go near it without being arrested. We just turned the Xbox off.

Even outside of the Co-op issues the game isn't really all that impressive. A terrible UI in general on console with options all over the place between about 3 or 4 menus to do basic things like jump or sneak, which should be quickmapped onto buttons at the very least, it's full of bugs like characters freezing in scenery (my wife got stuck in a ladder and I got stuck on a barrel) or dead character models standing back up in place when the game thinks you're not looking at them. Not sure where all this Game of The Year winning dialogue is either because the supporting characters barely speak and your created characters don't have voice lines so most the dialogue is silent and nothing you wouldn't have seen in Skyrim two gens ago except they make you roll dice to pick it.

Actually gutted because we both wanted to love it and quite frankly it's a mess. I really enjoyed the old Baldur's Gates and things like Neverwinter Nights and Icewind Dale, so i'm familiar with the gameplay but this just ain't it. Really do not understand how it's won Game of The Year.

Edited December 9, 2023 by FelatioLips

[Jazzy G]

Presumably it's won GOTY because the PC version plays really well, but it subsequently hasn't been very well optimised for consoles. That definitely doesn't sound like a great way of playing. The whole Game Awards is just some industry fanwankery anyway, isn't it? They toss out some awards to promote a few of the year's best games according to their panel of journalists, then stick a load of trailers on. Like a gaming journalism Christmas party. 

[Bus Surfer]

My Xbox Gamepass Ultimate expired a few days ago. Can anyone confirm what the cheapest way is to resubscribe? 

I've seen a few bits about buying 12 or 24 months Gamepass Core, and then buying one month of Ultimate which apparently converts all of it to Ultimate? 

Many thanks! 

[Weezenal]

57 minutes ago, Silky Kisser said:

My Xbox Gamepass Ultimate expired a few days ago. Can anyone confirm what the cheapest way is to resubscribe? 

I've seen a few bits about buying 12 or 24 months Gamepass Core, and then buying one month of Ultimate which apparently converts all of it to Ultimate? 

Many thanks! 

I did it that way before it changed to Gamepass Core and it was 1 year Gamepass for 1 year of Gold for up to 3 years. I think you can get 2 years of Gamepass Ultimate for 3 years of Gold now. 

[johnnyboy]

1 hour ago, Silky Kisser said:

I've seen a few bits about buying 12 or 24 months Gamepass Core, and then buying one month of Ultimate which apparently converts all of it to Ultimate? 

https://support.xbox.com/en-GB/help/subscriptions-billing/manage-subscriptions/xbox-game-pass-core-faq

Officially it's a 3:2 conversion when you upgrade at the minute - **they can change the conversion ratio at any time**.  Anecdotally I still see odd posts about people who have had it convert at 1:1 now.  Don't know if that's account specific, luck, or fibs.

With the price difference, especially if you pick up cheap core months from cdkeys etc, you can still save substantially.  E.g. 6 months core at £17.99 is 4 months of Ultimate when upgraded.  Even on cheap code sites Ultimate is £25+ for 3 months.

You can still save a fair bit, but gone are the 1:1 upgrade days of yore.

Edited December 10, 2023 by johnnyboy