Metalmickey

Well I have loads of female friends but... but... :\ Anyway, I think that's the first time I've read that particular angle (the whole post, not the above sentence, that is.) Well described, I can see the sense in it. By the time all the ex-nerds have become adult programming geeks though, I don't know if the closed-circle manner in which a lot of technology is developed for is necessarily deliberate though. I think that after x years of that being the only way, it just becomes a habit that would require a lot of thought and a fair bit of effort to change. It's similar (though much less extreme of course) to the way Jack Nicholson's character in 'As good as it gets' has spent so long living by himself with no-one else in his life that he's actually forgetten how to make friends and be socially accepted. Ah, I really like that film.

Yes, there's a huge list of servers in a different time zones, but the list is different depending on which version of the game you've bought... The upcoming Euro version will have it's own dedicated bank ...which is good insofar as the US ones are already busy enough by all accounts.

And here was me thinking you'd posted the specs to have the same effect as a cold shower...

A bunch of us played the open beta just before the US release. I loved it, but think I'd probably love most MMORPG's, also adore Blizzard games, and haven't played anything sililar except for a MUD aeons ago, so can't really draw comparisons. There's a reasonably good WoW vs. EQ2 article on warcry. The art direction, though a lot of people have called it cartoony, does at least allow each different zone to look very distinct from the next. I wish the highest settings were a little more demanding on the hardware though. One of the main reasons I liked the beta was because although some missions were definately easier when grouping, most of them are fine to do solo, in terms of experience/progress per hour played. I like playing with my friends if it's practical, but really can't be bothered to organise things in advance and wait around, etc. when I could be off actually doing stuff by myself. Playing half of it solo also made it more of a treat when I did group up to tackle something hard. If you don't like it, at least wait until the PvP battlegrounds thing starts, as that looks to be fairly special...

If possible, try and find a more 'recent' used one. I.e. one of the later models. The first ones, as usual, had more problems, such as useless DVD playback and probably not lasting so long. When the silver ones came out with slightly improved insides, the standard black ones also got improved to match them.

Yeah, you can definately do that. A gay female friend of mine has played the Sims 1 lots, and started her first character as a woman. She never tried anything on with the male friends, but kept being friendly with the women, eventually flirting where possible, and actually found a female sim who responded. She moved in and slept in the same bed, and after a while they adpoted a son

If you haven't played either, I'd say get Dark Alliance 2. They're both very similar in terms of quality of fun powers, levels, game length, etc. The second one however, has 5 character types instead of 3, and a few additional interface improvements upon the first. Fuzzy McBitty, fun 2-player games that you could sucker your gf into, eh? There's some good fighting games like Tekken Tag or Marvel vs Capcom 2, ICO has a co-op mode available after completing it the first time, and racing games of course like split screen Gran Turismo or NFS:Underground, though they're probably not so easy to pick up n' play if you don't like racing already. Adventure games, though not strictly 2 player, are often fun to take turns playing while the other watches, as they're more about working out what to do and watching the story unfold than actually being the controller. So... Beyond Good & Evil, Broken Sword 3, what esle? If you want some zombie action, there's a game out called Obscure that's in a Resident Evil style, set in an American High school. It has 2 characters present for at least 80-90% of the game, and the 2nd character can be controlled either by AI or a second player. I've had a brief go on that and think it could be quite fun.

Ooh, a topic about games and girls, what an irresistable combination Hmmm, female casual gamers... I think a big reason that there is probably a higher proportion of female 'casual' gamers is just because there are fewer good games out there that target female audiences. As said above, it comes down to what you want from a game. Although I'm happy to play anything that presents me with a challenge that I can keep trying at, I'm most happy playing games that let me blow lots of things up, become super-powerful by the end of the game, or defeat (often simulated) opponents by superior use of strategy, (that last one is not just about strategy games, it's also why I love Counter-Strike). I care a lot less for rescueing anything, saving the world, seeing a compelling story through to the end, or nurturing people/animals/cute aliens to keep them happy. Although the latter goals also feature in some great games that I've enjoyed, they tend to be be a lot more common in my female gamer friends' favourite games. I think that there's probably a lot more games designers out there with my preferances, albeit not necessarily talented ones. I also remember an article (no, this was in a magazine, not the thumbs one...) saying that women want to be more emotionally involved with games, be it via the story, character interaction, emotive facial expressions, etc, but that only recently has technology become advanced enough to get that depth of experience across without requiring a lot of talent. Another reason for fewer female gamers in certain genres is because some games, exemplified by FPS's on the PC, require a huge investement in time and frustration just trying to learn the controls and pick up the required gaming 'lore' and language to a level where you can finish the single-player mode, let alone 'pwn' online opponents. I've sat quite a few of my female friends down to play various types of games on my PC and consoles, and even the ones who love fighting and shooting things as much as I do found Doom3 a hell of a lot more frustrating to try and play than House of the Dead 2 (with lightgun), or Gran Turismo 3 (with steering wheel). It's hard to remember how awkward it over 10 years ago when I first mastered using a keyboard and mouse for Doom1. In short, some games require a lot of motivation and patience in order to break through the frustration barrier necessary to master the skills and knowledge required to even play the game, let alone finish it. My cousin Tom has always loved games, and has the motivation, but not the patience. He never progressed to using the mouse and keyboard for FPS's, and now never tries playing them anymore, even though he used to love them back in the day when keyboard alone was good enough. I think men are more likely to adequately obsess about games or indeed anything technology based, be it overclocking your PC, tuning up a car, or researching quantum theory or weapons. Women usually... don't see the point, and would rather play an equally great game that is more accesible I feel compelled to add the required disclaimer here: These are all sweeping generalisations, based mainly upon personal intuition and vaguely remembered, un-referencable sources Of course, if there are any girls out there who obsess over my favourite kind of games and love technology, (and dare I hope, martial arts and comics), for God's sake, come visit me in Brighton

No no, please allow me to re-assure you. I am always the last person to see anything on the internet. This year was the first that I remember not doing anything remotely sociable on New Year's Eve. At exactly midnight, the sound of fireworks crept through my bedroom window as I watched the end of HL2. I had been drunk the 2 nights before though...

I'm not going to knock Japanese RPG's as I love them too, but if you want some recommendations of Western ones as well, Summoner 1 & 2 are both fairly good. 1 is more strategic, with bigger parties and more choice of tactics (my dad loves it), whereas 2 is a bit more action orientated (fine for me!), and can be found new for £5-£10 in the UK at least. The following are all very similar, but you should probably also get at least 1 of the following - Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 1 or 2 (good monster bashing action, albeit a bit repeatetive), The Bard's Tale (very funny if you appreciate sarcastic British humour), or Champions of Norrath (great graphics, but with a few random bugs). I've enjoyed them all, but I'm a sucker for that kind of diablo2-esque genre. Personally, I only settled on my PS2 because of the vast number of games already out for it, and the equally mammoth selection of 2nd hand games on the shelves. If the next generation of consoles comes out with a reasonably short time between them and all are well supported, I'm unlikely to be interested in a PS3 unless it's a damn site cheaper than the others....

Ah, it's enthusiasms like this that make me so damn glad I live just 10 minutes walk away... Warm up the cars, I'm as good as there!

Hmmm, perhaps 'void' or 'vacuum' would have been more fitting words (you goddamned perverts ). I would be impressed if you could use them as sexual references...

No, no, no. Sex is used as an easy way to bring a man into their lives. They want a man because there's a hole in their life which would normally be filled by a father. The sex is merely a means to an end, a tool, nothing to do with what they actually want.

at least that one stood for something (iD killer f*cking ammo or somesuch). The no clipping one was damn hard to remember, something like idpispopd. Bleeeargh.

Yeah. I'm not 100%, but I get this huge green Westwood logo scrolling across my mind's eye when you mentioned Kyrandia. Well... that's good enough proof for me anyway. Dammit, here, I wuld have previously used 'The emoticon formerly known as innocent'...

Ah, love all those tracks. love 'em Yeah, the first game stood out for me due to the playslist thing and the cool samples. My dad even used to record a lot of his games' tracks onto tape and play them in the car (much to my mum's dismay and my delight!), though he liked the less 'heavy' ones. I think there was a more moody one called canyon chase?

Anyone remember a game called Herzog Zwie, released waaaay back in 1990 on the Genesis. Not only was it one of, if not THE, first RTS game, but it was also a split screen 2-player game! "Holy before-its-time classic, Batman!" I hear you cry. You controlled a single commander unit that transformed between plane and robot form, and started off owning only your home base, from which you could produce your initial units. As the game progressed, you'd take over neutral bases, manufacture land, air, or stationary defense units, give them priorities and orders, and try to eventually take the enemy's base whilst using your commander unit to transport units about, fight on the front lines, and quickly rush back to friendly bases for refueling and repairs. Brilliant stuff! Get an emulator and play it now...

Thanks for that link, t'was a great read, and made me realise how much I love RTS games I've played and finished all of the games mentioned in it expect for Dark Reign, and most of the expansions too. I guess I've been sucked into the FPS genre more in the last couple of years, (and various console games) so that article kind of reminded me of my gaming roots

Winding up Yufster is fun, huh? Just wind 'er up and let 'er go...

Isn't that what childbirth normally looks like

How can you use immediately following "rough'n'dirty sex" ?? And what's he doing there? He's playing with his... eww! Get your own thread, you two

I don't, but I'm slowly picking it up...

Heh, I was intrigued for a second there

Sometimes, the cynicism here is so thick, you couldn't cut it with a knife

I wish I had the will to not eat soup with agent orange in it. Hmm, excuse me for a sec... In India you can walk into a pharmacy, wave a wad of cash about and say you left your prescription at home, and buy out their entire stock of Valium One of my friends went on weekly quests to try and find every pharmacy within walking distance, as he discovered they don't like it if you try the same thing again in the same phamacy. I guess it helped that he was foreign, white, and 6'4"