Games 2015

[Isaac Sauvage]

so yesterday i finally got off my arse and plunked down the whopping $15 for monaco. thankfully paypal did not require me to resurrect my old acct, but merely enter a debit card#.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC7b6642AWM


some time in the past year i had bought another game... the HD remake of spelunky, also for PC.

well the wait was worth it... both games are excellent and deep. my problem with them is that neither one recognises yon good old logitech controller! what the fripp is up with that?!

anyway after much time wasted it appears that games of this sort prefer an xbox360 controller... which i guess finally made it to USB, so you don't need an adaptor anymore like you did with the classic playstation and other gamepads. still, for those with the incredibly common logitech, apparently one needs yet another specialised mapper called x360ce.

i'm particularly interested in getting this working, because both games allow up to four players to play together, which works great for a projector or big-screen situation.

 

[LeeVanCleef]

Oh, no, you don't! You're not luring me into that Spelunky trap again! Spelunky laughs as it laps up the tears that it causes, just like in that South Park episode! It seems like it's a great game, but, man, I'm completely retarded at it!
I've had a 360 controller for... damn, about 8 years? Thing's built like a tank! The D-pad isn't quite as responsive as it used to be, but who the hell uses that? What's amazing is how well the shoulder triggers held up during my endless VP obsession! There's also a great button-mapping program called Xpadder, if you need it.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

really... the 360 controller is that old! so was it USB from the beginning or did the plug evolve over time?


btw kingdom rush origins, mofo!

 

[LeeVanCleef]

Yeah, it's always been USB and it also works on the Xbox 360 as well (go figure!). Dude, you are like exactly two days late with that news! I actually got to physically touch our Ipad over the weekend for the first time in months! I went right to Kingdom Rush and surprise! New game! As soon as I discovered it, Barb came back from the store and snatched it out of my grubby little mitts. So, have you played it yet, Nic? Is there enough different about this iteration that makes it worth the purchase? I also noticed that Frontiers had two new "endless wave" stages. That was rather disappointing. We've evolved enough past Space Invaders and Galaga that we can expect for games to have an end.
The game that has been taking up my time is StarCraft II Heart of the Swarm... with one big fat caveat: I never play online. Never! And a good thing, too. In a test match against the computer to see if I was ready to jump into the fray with the drooling masses, the computer kicked my ass. It's nothing but twitch-play, to see who can grind out the biggest mass of soldiers the fastest. But the single-player campaign is extremely well-done! Who'd expect a RealTimeStrategy game to have a pretty decent story? And, man, no one does sumptuous cut-scenes like Blizzard! And, if you've played RTSes before (even Age of... Mythology? on the 3DS? Is that right, Nic?), you'll find an extremely intuitive interface, probably the best RTS engine of any similar game I've ever played. It's a shame that only the story campaign gives a player room to actually enjoy the "strategy" part of RTS.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

the whole thing is sort of insulting to me because i stuck with awful PC gamepads through many a strife-filled year... gravis-this and sidewinder-that... then *finally* logitech managed to come out with a really good one for an economical price, so then what happens? naturally... bullyboy gates' crew has a major brain storm about USB, leapfrogging past the knuckleheads at sony, nintendo and so forth... and now the xb360 controller is somehow the standard for PC games nowadays. T_T

but anyway yeah just to clarify-- i like xpadder and the rest of the input reassignment layers, but the purpose of the specific utility i posted is to fool a PC in to thinking that a generic stick is a 360 stick. ...sort of like what she said. haw!

anyway, the third kim-dumb rush is another fine one in the series from what i recall. new units, new graphics, and the enemies have secret passages now as you can see above. for a lousy $3 on android it's hard to miss.

RTS's i used to love the hell out of starting with dune II, but they gradually became stressful over time... pretty much coinciding with my health going downhill. therefore turn-based games are mostly my deal these fine days. too bad we live in different tablet dimensions, otherwise i could recommend you a bushel that even you and RTS folksies would probably love.

anyway, your recollect almost be right... in fact me not have "age of mythology" but "age of empires: mythologies" for me DSXL. it's turn-based, like my current ability to cope with life, mister bill the galactic hero, you.

 

[LeeVanCleef]

LOL! That's a fine philosophy, Nic! No wonder I feel like the last nine years I've been doing nothing but the equivalent of being forced to obsessively move little cardboard hexagons with pictures of tanks drawn on them around an endless board. I'd like it to be someone else's turn now!
I cannot say that I have a historically deep love for TBS. In fact, that sentence above is pretty much the experience a friend and I had when we were 12 with a game based on a WWII battle (Tobruk in Africa, I think?) Jeeeeebus, but that game was boring! So, yeah... a deep loathing for TBS... until I discovered XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Now that's what TBS should be! It's a ridiculous format to use to, say, build a Civilization, but it's perfect for a squad of soldiers out to blow aliens away (and man, there is nothing quite as satisfying as when your shotgun soldier blows an alien halfway across a room!). In retrospect, I would have bought the "sequel" for the PS3, Enemy Within, instead of the original game, since the sequel is pretty much the original game with extra missions and powers, but still, it's one mind-sucking game!

 

[bob]

Tada! Long time no see!

Nic, are you on Steam? I have Spelunky through there.

I logged in to see if SHockman was still around, we use to play pool together online and I found another great pool game. It has an awesome lobby system, I usually play challenges, which mean you go into a room and you are queued up to play the winner of that game.

Virtual Pool 4, I have it through Steam, but I think you can download a demo of it online. Here's their site.

http://vponline.celeris.com/vp4offprod

I have it on Steam....

http://store.steampowered.com/app/336150/

 

[Itchigo]

Hi Bob!! Holy crap!! Bob's back!!

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

LOL! That's a fine philosophy, Nic! No wonder I feel like the last nine years I've been doing nothing but the equivalent of being forced to obsessively move little cardboard hexagons with pictures of tanks drawn on them around an endless board. I'd like it to be someone else's turn now!
I cannot say that I have a historically deep love for TBS. In fact, that sentence above is pretty much the experience a friend and I had when we were 12 with a game based on a WWII battle (Tobruk in Africa, I think?) Jeeeeebus, but that game was boring!

no no i hear that for sure... those military simulations are easily my least-favorite turn-based games of all. i'm much more of the 'beer-and-pretzel' gamer type... lighthearted stuff like "spaceward ho!", "strategic conquest" and "carcassonne" are much more my thing.

until I discovered XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Now that's what TBS should be! It's a ridiculous format to use to, say, build a Civilization, but it's perfect for a squad of soldiers out to blow aliens away (and man, there is nothing quite as satisfying as when your shotgun soldier blows an alien halfway across a room!). In retrospect, I would have bought the "sequel" for the PS3, Enemy Within, instead of the original game, since the sequel is pretty much the original game with extra missions and powers, but still, it's one mind-sucking game!

i think we were talking about XCOM in years' past. i played the original version for 8-bits and then found a really svelte one for android with a cool isometric interface. beautiful format for playing a few turns at a time and then saving for later.

Tada! Long time no see!

Nic, are you on Steam? I have Spelunky through there.

I logged in to see if SHockman was still around, we use to play pool together online and I found another great pool game. It has an awesome lobby system, I usually play challenges, which mean you go into a room and you are queued up to play the winner of that game.

Virtual Pool 4, I have it through Steam, but I think you can download a demo of it online. Here's their site.
http://vponline.celeris.com/vp4offprod

I have it on Steam....
http://store.steampowered.com/app/336150/

a... a SIGHTING! wow bob, we were wondering what became of you a few months ago. after the tiltjlp thing i was a bit weary of looking people up. in any case, hope you're well. :D

i have spelunky though GOG, but monaco requires steam to play online, so i might have to install it i guess.

pool... i'll have to leave to you professionals. it's a frustrating game for me personally.

and hey... go cavs, huh?! (i'm still in the CLE area for now)

Hi Bob!! Holy crap!! Bob's back!!

and are you as well, itchigo!?

 

[bob]

Hi Bob!! Holy crap!! Bob's back!!

Hi Itchy, here's a great game for you, forget pinball, now you can build your own golf courses. I have over 1000 hours in this game on Steam.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/269730/

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

bob i didn't expect you to have an emotional breakdown like that... geez.

btw i forgot to ask-- do you still hang out at that VP chatroom place?

that golf looks pretty sweet. i bought a nintendo DSI one by EA and it's far better than anything for android last i checked.

 

[bob]

bob i didn't expect you to have an emotional breakdown like that... geez.

btw i forgot to ask-- do you still hang out at that VP chatroom place?

that golf looks pretty sweet. i bought a nintendo DSI one by EA and it's far better than anything for android last i checked.

No breakdowns. :) I was just experiencing too much negative karma with the VP world, so I quit it cold turkey. I mean how many times can you say VP sucks before you realize you need to back up and take a look at yourself. :) I didn't have any problems with anyone, I just wanted a change....

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

hum... i'm in turmoil myself around these issues.

but hey, i met a nice girl the other day... finally some motivation for a good proper sprinkle-leaning!

 

[Shockman]

I'm still around. I was worried about you Bob.

 

[LeeVanCleef]

Look who rose from the emmeffing dead! Which, frankly, is what we were worried about, Bob! Good to see you alive and kicking!

EDIT: Jeezum Crow, bob, I just may have to get that golf game! What kind of swing mechanic is it? The old three-click kinda thing?

 

[bob]

Look who rose from the emmeffing dead! Which, frankly, is what we were worried about, Bob! Good to see you alive and kicking!

EDIT: Jeezum Crow, bob, I just may have to get that golf game! What kind of swing mechanic is it? The old three-click kinda thing?

There is no 3 click swing option, you use the stick on a gamepad, pull back and then push forward. I use a Microsoft 360 controller, but you really need a beast of a pc to run it as they render the whole 3D golf course at once, so no loading times between holes. I have a decent gamer pc and I have to run it on lower settings.... I think it is terribly optimized and it has been out for a year, so I don't see it getting better.

I have a Windows7 Home Premium, service pack 1, AMD FX 8120 Eight core processor, 3.10 Ghz, 8Gb Ram, 64bit OS, Nvidia Geforce GTX 560 2 GB card.

I recommended it to Itch as he was always talking about golf and he would like creating his own courses.

I feel great, quit smoking and eating sugar a few yrs ago, I am 62 and will receive my first SS check June 9th.

 

[LeeVanCleef]

I'm glad to see they stuck with the Tiger Woods-style swing... so many computer golf games don't evolve past that horrible "three-click" thing. But, man, I might be another computer away from being able to run it! I have discovered Pinball Arcade on Steam which is light-years better than Pinball Arcade on PS3! And the tables are released much quicker.
Congrats on the smoking cessation, Bob! I'm kickin' that half-century mark in the ass next month and it seems like that would be a good time to try it myself... fingers crossed! Did you cold-turkey it?
Anyways, hope you feel like sticking around! We spend a lot of time talking about everything but VP and, frankly, you were always a lot of fun on non-VP related topics. Like the time you convinced us (or those of us brave enough) to sign up for that Sims Karaoke site! You think our songs are just floating around out there? Because I have no idea where that site is!

 

[bob]

I'm glad to see they stuck with the Tiger Woods-style swing... so many computer golf games don't evolve past that horrible "three-click" thing. But, man, I might be another computer away from being able to run it! I have discovered Pinball Arcade on Steam which is light-years better than Pinball Arcade on PS3! And the tables are released much quicker.
Congrats on the smoking cessation, Bob! I'm kickin' that half-century mark in the ass next month and it seems like that would be a good time to try it myself... fingers crossed! Did you cold-turkey it?
Anyways, hope you feel like sticking around! We spend a lot of time talking about everything but VP and, frankly, you were always a lot of fun on non-VP related topics. Like the time you convinced us (or those of us brave enough) to sign up for that Sims Karaoke site! You think our songs are just floating around out there? Because I have no idea where that site is!

I use a vape now, still get all the nicotine I want, just not those nasty chemicals with it. :) My vape flavor is Citrus Cooler with double flavor and double menthol. It tastes like minty Mountain Dew. I have 2 Provari vapes, but many new ones out now, you should visit a vape store sometime and try one. I never thought nicotine was that bad for you, so I have no problems vaping.... video is a sample of 3 good vapes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8KJfRHtdK8

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

re: karaoke,
i have the equipment / software now to mix songs on PC directly, but not a huge amount of motivation for doing that extra step at the moment. usually i just have people over and we drink white russians and sing for live amusement.

if any of you felt like getting in to that stuff again that would definitely help me get off my arse. i remember bob, myself and... someone else... were sharing karaoke efforts on that old singshot site a long time ago in a galaxy far away. was it you also, bill...?

i think maybe it was that same singshot site which transitioned to the karaoke sims thing for whatever reason. it was fun doing it online that way but it often recorded a lag between your voice track and the karaoke being played. geez, that might have been almost ten years ago...

 

[LeeVanCleef]

Well, I do have a vape! It's just that... well, you know... We have actually been discussing getting one of those fancy-pants tobacco vapers, though. There's quite a few vape shops up here in Madison and we've been meaning to check them out.
I know I was there for the Sims Karaoke site! I think I did a Sinatra song for Shadow, who was still haunting the place then.

 

[sleepy]

Hey bob, with the 8 core processor, is there a Windows setting to optimize the golf game using those extra cores? I haven't gotten out of single core old man systems yet, but I think it's something like under Right-Click > Preferences, else under Task Manager. Start the game. Then hit the CTRL-ALT-Del keys at the same time. Then figure out what the Hell name of the game.exe actually is and find it under the Task Manager/Processes tab. Right-Click it and find the, something like, Core Process, or????

I don't know what I'm talking about, but there is apparently some setting to force multicore enhancement, in case the game did not configure it on install.

Of course, this will make no difference if the game is written for single core-only. Like VP was/is.

 

[sleepy]

Okay. I did the homework./ Windows calls it the program's "Affinity" setting, and you can force a program to use one or more cores. This may backfire, so take note of the setting in case you need to reverse any errors before selling your computer.

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/wi...ting-in-windows-7-to-gain-a-performance-edge/

 

[sleepy]

bob, are you a vape salesman? It's alright.
The folks took that one after I came up with it as a solution for smokers on long plane flights and No Fumar.

At that time, they were pushing for SNUS. I wish I had the money...

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

it'll be fun, they said!
you'll look cool, they said!

 

[bob]

Sleepy, I'm not a vape salesman or a computer geek :) Whenever I try to adjust settings I screw up the whole computer, I'm lucky if I remember what day of the week it is. My clocks always flash 12:00, so they are right 2 times a day. :)