Sombre

I hate to be "that guy", but have you done the usual rigermerole of checking drivers and such? How do you cope with other modern games?

I've been thinking a lot recently, with it being a focus point for my main university dissertation, about how far fandom has come online, or more specifically in video games. Modding culture comes to mind, and how fans literally just create things they want to see, with development tools/SDK's becoming seemingly ever more prevelant online. And with Steve talking about the Splicer meetup things, it's made me consider it more so. Can any of you think of extreme fandom that's become more obvious with the inclusion of the internet as more of a global commodity?

I am glad my name/city name amused you guys.

I am considering remaking Chris's stupid loud noise thing with a loop of "HOORAHHHH FOR YOUUUUUUUUUUU". Tempting.

Yeah sure, let's do it!

Thank God I found this. "E3 2004: IDLE THUMBS ANNOUNCES CRAZY FUCKING NAIL-YOUR-PENIS-TO-THE-WALL NEWS!!" http://chris.idlethumbs.net/ 2004 countdown to tears, brilliant.

Update! I sent off my proposed dissertation topic today, waiting for approval/ideas on where to head to from my tutor- I was considering doing Posthumanism in Sci-fi Anime and Dystopian futures in Video Games, focusing on: Anime: Neon Genesis Evangelion Serial Experiments Lain Ghost in the Shell (Franchise) Ergo Proxy video games: Bioshock Deus Ex Half Life 2

If you/anyone is up for it after GTA, drop me a line!

Is anyone game for some bog standard multiplayer tonight? I feel I've learnt enough to play it now! (Note to self, more triangles)

I'm up for some of that. I'm saving Farseer for my "Team game", but I'd love to play some Ork, it looks super fun. Wednesday/Thursday good for you sir?

Not only is the single player campaign super good, it'll also give you a good grounding in the general game mechanics, I can suggest that as a "tutorial" as it were.

Not at all, on any front. As long as you have even a basis in RTS, you'll do fine. It uses a very loose cover system that's easy to pick up. When we all started it, we'd done maybe 1/2 matches a piece, but we're all getting pretty good at it now, it's super fly. http://store.steampowered.com/app/15620/ -This is the "Original", the other's the expansion, due in 11 days or so.

Basically, the mode we're playing is called "Last Stand", and it drops you in an arena, where 3 people fight off dudes as long as you can. For every wave you clear, you get newer, harder enemies. Coupled with this, is a persistent points system. For example, you are constantly getting points throughout, with extra multipliers added for how many survive at the end of a wave, how many of the capture points you still have, and how fast you beat it. Now, combine the two (Waves/Points), and you get assigned an amount of XP depending on how well you did. With this, whatever character you pick, out of- Ork Mekboy Space Marine Dude Elder Farseer Will gain XP, and the more you level up, the more diverse gear you get. It's not necessarily better gear as you level up, it just changes the way you play. Like, last night, Pirate got a jetpack for his space marine, which lets him pull enemies and kite them around, while I resurrect Chris, or Chris lays down extra fire or something. It's very fun!

Oh shit . The VOIP works well for us, it's really useful.

Happy Birthday Nick (PS: Congrats Nick)

We're not focusing on points at the moment really, just seeing how far we can get so we can prepare accordingly. It's so goddamn fun.

Bah We'll get there, we have limited time due to work/timescales and such. We will emerge victorious!

From what I gather, the "Last Stand" kind of moment, each character has a rating under the hood, for how well they'll do. Say for example, Grunt, and Zaeed, theyre used to fighting, so they will have 10 points in it. Characters like Mordin, might only have a 5, so they're more used for specialist kind of affairs. I think you need some form of "Soldier" esque character on escort, I used Jacob

My next level up is GROUP teleportation, I'm buzzed !

As someone who's lost over a TB of data when my drive failed, I really do feel you Tobilx. Stay strong, it'll all get better!

Haha, oh man, that was an amazing couple of hours. We just managed to make it to wave 14/15, with a combination of Chris teleporting dudes, my invincibity/confuse and some absolutely outstanding jump pack kiting from Pirate! Can't wait till next weekend, that was incredible.

Funny you should reference Mass Effect 2, I'm having the same situation. I just don't care about ALL THE WORDS. I skip through as much as I can, there's just so much filler.

That was my only issue with the game type, the lack of maps. The time we had was outstanding though, it's such a great game. I run as the Farseer, Remo played the Ork flamer and Pirate as the melee Marine. How about your team?

No rush, we have plenty of time to play it. I'll check before I/We roll out if you're ready. Anybody else?