WHAT PLAY YOU?

[JLM]

I wll be venturing Hemel-wards fairly often to visit those who have not yet escaped its clutches.

 

Our Halo sessions incorporate all kinds in terms of skill level. A few of us are in the 35-40s skill range, others are much lower. We don't exclude anyone for being rubbish, but might play social skirmish or something rather than ranked games if one of the players is worried about "dragging the team down". Playing for fun is very much the key though. We've all pretty much peaked in terms of skill level and now just play for the banter and to create more stories and theatre mode moments. Oh, and occasionally upsetting a team of generals, particularly in objective games when the whole becomes greater than the sum of its n00bs.

 

I never play Halo online on my own. I did lone wolves for a bit but it's nowhere near as fun. I always play with at least one friend, and if possible with a party of four or five of us. Even getting absolutely murdered is fun with a group, but the most important thing is that the moments of triumph in FPS games are often so much sweeter when they're shared.

 

Re: Rock Band:

 

I've never played it online either, would be interesting to give it a try.

 

Guitar, Bass and Drums on medium are no problem at all for me.

 

I can do hard Guitar and Bass on a good chunk of the songs but will probably die on the harder ones towards the end. I used to be very good at drums on hard but have completely lost it due to lack of practice. I have become embarrassingly shit but will be working hard to get my mojo back.

 

I am much better at most of the songs on Rock Band 1 due to familiarity, but like I says, I'm working at it and will improve on all fronts.

 

As for the XBL friends list policy, I used to share the "erm... who are you?" policy when a random added me, but now I tend to just ask them where they got my tag (in a nice way!) and check to see what games they play. If they line up with mine (ie lots of Halo and SFIV) then I'll keep them on the list. Every so often I purge it because I'll have people I haven't actually played with for months on there, but generally there's more than enough space to add people without discrimination.

 

My list is: People I know, people from UKFF, people from RLLMUKforum and then people who proved to be challenging and/or friendly SFIV opponents. Oh, and occasionally people who bonded with our little group during Halo battles. The latter is becoming a rarity because the number of cool people on there seems to keep dropping though.

[FLips]

For everyone interested, the DS roms of "Mario and Luigi:Bowsers inside story" and "Scribblenauts" are up. If anyone wants links, PM me.

[CAREBEAR LUVVA]

For everyone interested, the DS roms of "Mario and Luigi:Bowsers inside story" and "Scribblenauts" are up. If anyone wants links, PM me.

 

You'd be lucky to get Mario & Luigi to actually work though, there are people crying all over the internet because Nintendo have managed to come up wtih some anti-piracy protection that actually does what it's supposed to do. Scribblenauts is ace though, highly recommended to anyone with a DS and no morals :-)

[FLips]

For everyone interested, the DS roms of "Mario and Luigi:Bowsers inside story" and "Scribblenauts" are up. If anyone wants links, PM me.

 

You'd be lucky to get Mario & Luigi to actually work though, there are people crying all over the internet because Nintendo have managed to come up wtih some anti-piracy protection that actually does what it's supposed to do. Scribblenauts is ace though, highly recommended to anyone with a DS and no morals :-)

 

Yeah I encountered that quite fast, it just doesn't let you pick a save file. What an arse, as it's not a game i'd actively go out and buy. Scribblenauts is rather fun though, shooting cats down from roofs and cheating at fairground bottle games by smashing them up with a hammer are all very good.

[CAREBEAR LUVVA]

I accidentally shot the girl on the bottle level, and she went apeshit on me knocking the bottles down herself in the process

Edited September 13, 2009 by CAREBEAR LUVVA

[FLips]

I accidentally shot the girl on the bottle level, and she went apeshit on me knocking the bottles down herself in the process

 

I smashed the stand to bits with a hammer and passed it haha!.

 

BIG NEWS, PEOPLE!.

 

There are patches out for Bowser's Inside Story for the M3 and CycloDS cards out now that apparently have it running fine. You'll know where to get them already most likely, but I have them via PM if you can't find them.

[JLM]

YOU WOULDN'T STEAL A DS GAME etc. etc.

 

I must get Scribblenauts. I read an account of someone gluing a dwarf to a switch and then having a giant beat him up, causing the gate activated by said switch to open with each punch landed on the dwarf. Apparently sloppy stylus controls and the fact that your character is moved with the stylus as well as all the objects you manipulate is an almost game-breakingly shit design choice though. I'll give it a bash anyway.

 

In other news...

 

Streetfighter IV is an obsession that won't quit. I don't know if I can possibly post any more about it on here though, so I'll leave that.

 

Death Tank has seen a bit of a resurgence. It's so much fun with four players, especially since the update with all the new (and returning old) weapons.

 

Bigger and better news is that, thanks to ebay, we now have a multitap for the Saturn. Saturn Bomberman was played last night and it was absolutely brilliant. Saturn Bomberman is the best Bomberman. There are plenty of good entries in the series but the selection of battle stages and power-ups along with cool stuff like the Devil (everyone gets a virus) make this the definitive edition for me. Oh, and the fact that it supports up to ten players is a bonus too.

[Chest Rockwell]

In other news...

 

Streetfighter IV is an obsession that won't quit. I don't know if I can possibly post any more about it on here though, so I'll leave that.

 

 

I'm sure you could if you tried. How's the league over on rllmuk going?

[Just Me]

Apparently sloppy stylus controls and the fact that your character is moved with the stylus as well as all the objects you manipulate is an almost game-breakingly shit design choice though.

It really is annoying. I found Phantom Hourglass frustrating enough in that regard, but this compounds the problem. Fortunately it's not really an action game, so mistakes aren't too costly.

 

Scribblenauts is the subject of today's (slightly sub-par) xkcd comic.

 

Sadly, although typing WRESTLER worked, going for a WRESTLING RING to put him in just produced a pretty little band of gold for his finger. Kind of killed his butch aura. Then he was literally killed by my attempts to provoke a fight between him and a BOXER, by firing a GUN into the fray. Oops.

Edited September 16, 2009 by Just Me

[JLM]

Well since you've twisted my arm (which would never happen because I'd totally tech that shit)...

 

The RLLMUK Premier league didn't finish its fixtures because people are lame (Div 1/Div 2/Conference all concluded before the deadline). I finished my games though. 7 wins and 7 losses. Respectable, though the second half was definitely hampered by the house move and the fact that I don't have nearly as much online practice time as I used to. It was something like 7 wins out of the first 9 and then a whole bunch of losses during the run in. Still, a decent showing, safe from relegation and a pleasing win against this dude called Revival who is waaaaaaaaaaaaay better than me and must have been having an off night or something.

 

It's all change for next season anyhow. It's looking like three divisions of 8, lots of drop outs, lots of new faces. Infexious is still playing and will win the premier league, but other than that it's full of the unknown. Which is good.

 

I didn't have the nerve to move away from Blanka for the next season, but I've been spending a lot of time developing my Sakura game. She's a lot of fun but she is hugely reliant on these combo links that have split-second timing and require tons of practice and won't work with even the tiniest bit of lag. It's a challenge for sure. Jumping hard kick - > Crouching hard punch - > Light hurricane kick - > Crouching Light kick - > EX-Hurricane kick - > Follow up of your choice. It's a beautiful thing, but the window between the light hurricane kick and that tiny tap with the light kick to keep the combo going is miniscule. Immensely satisfying when it works though.

 

I did a bit more championship mode with Blanka recently. Just over 5,000GP now but I tend to do player matches, league fixtures and local games against housemates more often. I beat a couple of people by time over yesterday. One was a Balrog player who got that he has a rock solid defensive game but had absolutely no plan of attack if I decided to respond in kind. So I got a reasonable health lead and then just waited accross the screen, doing short rolls, hops, ducks and occasional taunts just to watch him squirm. It was ridiculous. The other one was a Ryu who had no anti-Blanka game whatsoever. The match ended with me using Blanka's cowardly crouch to go under a fireball, then a super fireball, then an ultra fireball and then taunt as the clock hit zero. Heheh. Streetfighter IV rewards turtling too much, and I've decided that if I catch people who have turtling in mind I will endeavour to hit them a bit and then just challenge them to make a move. So many players on there who are reliant on reversals on reaction, wake up specials and mistake-baiting with no attacking gameplan at all. I will make an example of these people whenever I get the chance. I await the abusive messages that will follow.

 

Where are you Rockwell? Still Xboxless? I have seen Senor Birdman online (and received weird XBL messages), but not so much with the SFIV. I'm not above the occasional spot of Peggle to wind down in the evening, but it's no substitute for face-chomping SF goodness.

[Steve Justice]

After playing my first ever Tomb Raider game last month (Legends) and enjoying it, I thought I would give Underworld a go. Very similar style of play, which I guessed would be the case, with some nice added extras like wall climbing and abseiling. It looks prettier too, and Jessica Rabbit aside, Lara Croft is the only animated/computer generated woman that makes me feel all special inside. I like her pert bum and big boobs and the clothes she wears to accentuate them...

 

Anyway, I'm enjoying the game so far, although I'm still not a fan of the shooting mechanics of the game. Jump and shoot seems the easiest method though. I like looking around the rooms and figuring out the best routes and where all the hidden gems are. Overall, I likes it.

 

[Chest Rockwell]

Goddamn! Why did I ask for that? That post has just made me realise how much I've been missing my SFIV sessions...

 

My Xbox hopefully got picaked up by UPS today. My hard drive has still been in use, and I've still been gaming.. but it's not the same. I haven't been able to Street Fight much online, just against my neighbor (whose Xbox I've been playing on). What little Street Fighting I have been doing has seen me exploring and enjoying using Chun Li and Vega. Also, I still loathe Rufus.

 

Any interesting messages? I know my buddy who was staying over was messaging random people off my friends list, but I don't know what he said.

 

 

Other gaming that I've been doing - completed Arkham Asylum. Loved it. Have started again on Hard. By god it's difficult! But it's forcing me to get shit hot at the fighting.

 

Also, I cracked out a bit of Guitar Hero World Tour for the first time in ages. I forgot how much fun it is! I also forgot how much it pains my hands. The blisters on the right hand fingers, and the carpals tunnels in my left hand ain't up to no good neither.

Edited September 16, 2009 by Chest Rockwell

[Harvey Dent]

Other gaming that I've been doing - completed Arkham Asylum. Loved it. Have started again on Hard. By god it's difficult! But it's forcing me to get shit hot at the fighting.

 

Once you get the hang on countering without the big blue thing above thier head its not too difficult. The jumping evade thing is your friend.

 

The hardest part by far is...

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

The bit after you shut off the water valves and have to fight the big titan geezer and lifts full of goons come down. Make sure you dont get on the titans back until the lifts come down so you can bash the shit out of them, otherwise you get a bit overwhelmed.

 

[close spoiler]

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It is a little frustrating but shouldn't give you too much trouble. Its no "No Fighting In The War Room" on veteran...

Edited September 16, 2009 by Harvey Dent

[darepool]

I've been playing need for speed shift for the past few days. So far so good, the cars look pretty superb and being that i've not been a fan of NFS for a few years, this has definately put some much needed life into the franchise. My one gripe would be that the normal difficulty setting doesn't seem to be that high at all in comparison to colin mcrae ect.

[Adam G]

I got Tekken 4, Sonic Heroes and Tomb Raider: Angel Of Darkness pre-owned recently, Sonic Heroes isn't up to much but it's fun playing Tomb Raider and Tekken again after so long. Although, Angel Of Darkness doesn't have the option to restart a level so I've had to start from the beginning again after stupidly saving when I meant to load while Lara was falling to her death.