Grand Thumb Auto XXVIII: The Sequel to Grand Thumb Auto XXVII

[toblix]

So, who's up this Tuesday? There'll be experimenting, like with drugs.

[Nevsky]

I'll be there if I can!

As I said last week, I'm not sure if I'm free in the evening - supposed to be covering an Activision promo event for the new Transformers game, but I don't know what time it is supposed to be happening.

[James]

MAYbe.

[miffy495]

Should be in. Maybe a tad late though.

[Nachimir]

Likewise, I might be a bit late as I have a few people to see before I go home.

[toblix]

I'LL BE THERE OR MAYBE NOT WHO KNOWS

[Grippage]

6 minutes now, so I'll definitely be there

PS: I might not make it

[ysbreker]

Last call! Join us or be a rectangle!

[Nevsky]

Be there soon, just washing the dishes and changing the bedsheets.

Yes, that's an excuse. And yes, it was a hectic kind of food orgy.

[Nachimir]

For some reason, my 360 can no longer work with UPnP. I'm faffing around with ports, but unlikely to make it tonight.

[Nachimir]

Oh, port forwarding and static IP worked first time

[toblix]

Well, that was one of the awesomest one yet. The cops & robbers rounds were pure brilliantness. Favourite moments:

• As the mafia baws, I crossed the entire city by running on the elevated train tracks. When I reached the end I jumped off and joined Wrestlevania in his waiting car. Just as we were about to escape a hail of bullets came from above -- Detective Sergeant TheJamesM had been hot on my heels and fired on us from the tracks. I don't know if that was what did us in, but it was an awesome moment nonetheless.
  
• The first (I think) cops & robbers game, where me and Wrestlevania ended up in a high-speed (although rather dull) boat-chase across the map, ending in a final showdown aboard the rusty wreckage of a sinking ship. Unfortunately I ran out of bullets just as Grippage came along and saved him.
  
• Going for first place with TheJamesM right on my heels in a huge fucking bus.
  

I wonder what fabulous multiplayer options await us in BOGT.

[James]

Oh, port forwarding and static IP worked first time

I find that the only way to get my 360 to work with my two-router (well, I guess one is technically acting as a switch or something) setup is to give it a static IP at the router end but set it to dynamic IP at the 360 end. This generally stops working after a while (as in after one or two connected sessions), which can be remedied by restarting my secondary router. Presumably the 360 is trying to pick an IP other than the one which has been assigned to it. I don't know why it doesn't work when I just tell it what IP it should be using. I think I managed to get it to a point where I didn't need to do that, but somehow I lost all my settings (I forget what exactly happened) and now I can't be bothered to fiddle about working out what exactly it was that I did.

• As the mafia baws, I crossed the entire city by running on the elevated train tracks. When I reached the end I jumped off and joined Wrestlevania in his waiting car. Just as we were about to escape a hail of bullets came from above -- Detective Sergeant TheJamesM had been hot on my heels and fired on us from the tracks. I don't know if that was what did us in, but it was an awesome moment nonetheless.

I'm pretty sure it was. You'd lost a fair chunk of health when the cop car caught up with you guys, and I was lucky enough to lock on to you rather than Wrestle when I realized you had a getaway vehicle (otherwise I would have jumped off after you).

I was so glad I got you, though. It had been the most epic on-foot chase ever.

• Going for first place with TheJamesM right on my heels in a huge fucking bus.

Are you sure that was me? I don't remember being in any huge fucking buses.

I would like to add to toblix's list the Cops & Crooks round in which I was the boss. The cops had crashed just as they reached us, and managed to completely fail in catching up with our surprisingly fast car. We reached the getaway vehicle, which was a helicopter. I was tempted to stand around and taunt the opposition, but the rest of my team (ysbreaker and Grippage, if I remember correctly) seemed eager to go. So we took off, and started making our way across the water. Suddenly, I see ysbreaker plummet. "He must have decided that his services are no longer required, and decided to sacrifice his life to comedy," I thought. "Good show." Then I saw Grippage follow him. Since I was not piloting, this was a rather less expected occurrence. The helicopter started to spin out of control, so I leapt safely into the water. At this stage, I was informed that I had to return to the getaway vehicle in order to win the round. Shortly thereafter, the getaway vehicle sunk, and we lost. He had heroically snatched defeat from the jaws of resounding victory. It was hilarious, even if I was a tiny bit miffed that I'd been so betrayed by my incompetent lackeys.

PRO TIP: Getaway helicopters need pilots

[Wrestlevania]

I was driving the bus; I pulled over in first place, having dragged out a rather large lead, so wanted to spice things up again. Mercilessly torturing 'blix in his weedy little ice-cream van felt gooood (even if I didn't win because of it).

Also twatting about trying to get on a motorbike with James, whilst being maniacally circled by the police, was another highlight. It later transpired that I'd been watching the wrong character hop on and off the bike, whilst thinking the game had glitched and wouldn't allow us to ride together.

Oh and I think the reason we lagged so far behind, in the game where you lot bailed out of the chopper, was because I was crying with laughter at the stupid noises our police siren was making. Having cunningly detoured into a park overlooking where the crooks spawned, I crashed it into several small trees and - bizarrely - and elevated pipe. This crushed the lights on the roof, and so made the cop car siren sound like a Rolf Harris concert whilst under the influence of several illegal substances.

Again: I am sorry for my fucking abysmal driving in team-based games.

Grippage and I still kicked huge amounts of arse in our aquatic escape, though--that was amazing.

[Nevsky]

...I crashed it into several small trees and - bizarrely - and elevated pipe. This crushed the lights on the roof, and so made the cop car siren sound like a Rolf Harris concert whilst under the influence of several illegal substances.

That was my comedy highlight. That mode frequently conjures up those hilarious moments.

I'm just as bad at the driving - very conservative and slow. So I was really shocked when, in another round, Toblix immediately ramped off one of the overpasses onto the roof of a warehouse far below!

Is it pretty much a given that Cops + Crooks and GTA Race are the best modes? I know I'm coming in 27 installments into the franchise, but what are the feelings towards the other modes?

[James]

I quite like deathmatch. Most of the other modes I like are the ones where you're being given PvE style co-op missions and they don't vary enough to keep them fresh, sadly. For example, I really like the one where you have to rescue the mafia boss from the airport, but it's not too tough to beat and it never changes (unless you decide to take some other route or something). The team mission stuff in TLAD seemed like it might be good at first, and then it turned out to be not so much. I've still not tried Chopper vs Chopper.

[Wrestlevania]

I still find the dedicated RPG- and sniper-only deathmatches incredibly fun, myself. But I think we've a very tight rota of specific game modes (and settings) now that are consistently providing a lot of fun still.

[ysbreker]

I would like to add to toblix's list the Cops & Crooks round in which I was the boss. The cops had crashed just as they reached us, and managed to completely fail in catching up with our surprisingly fast car. We reached the getaway vehicle, which was a helicopter. I was tempted to stand around and taunt the opposition, but the rest of my team (ysbreaker and Grippage, if I remember correctly) seemed eager to go. So we took off, and started making our way across the water. Suddenly, I see ysbreaker plummet. "He must have decided that his services are no longer required, and decided to sacrifice his life to comedy," I thought. "Good show." Then I saw Grippage follow him. Since I was not piloting, this was a rather less expected occurrence. The helicopter started to spin out of control, so I leapt safely into the water. At this stage, I was informed that I had to return to the getaway vehicle in order to win the round. Shortly thereafter, the getaway vehicle sunk, and we lost. He had heroically snatched defeat from the jaws of resounding victory. It was hilarious, even if I was a tiny bit miffed that I'd been so betrayed by my incompetent lackeys.

PRO TIP: Getaway helicopters need pilots

I jumped out because I thought we already won and that the round was already over. I thought it would be fun to bail out in the middle of the air. I promise that I won't tool around next time we're in the getaway vehicle and I'm at the controls. Honest!

[n0wak]

Is it pretty much a given that Cops + Crooks and GTA Race are the best modes? I know I'm coming in 27 installments into the franchise, but what are the feelings towards the other modes?

The Capture The Flag-ish territory game is pretty fun too, as are team deathmatches, but the thing with those is that you need a lot more people for them to work.

[Wrestlevania]

Agreed, the capture point games are great fun.

The last time we played that mode and it was really fun I think we had 9 people split across 3 teams. So the flow of the game was nicely unpredictable and constantly shifting. I think we tried three groups of two a couple of weeks after that and it didn't really work.

[James]

I jumped out because I thought we already won and that the round was already over. I thought it would be fun to bail out in the middle of the air. I promise that I won't tool around next time we're in the getaway vehicle and I'm at the controls. Honest!

I don't know, it was funnier this way.

I think we tried three groups of two a couple of weeks after that and it didn't really work.

I remember playing Quake 3 Arena on ... I guess it must have been the Dreamcast (it was some console, anyway) at a friend's house. Split-screen capture the flag didn't work because two people isn't really a team. Unless you're doing something tailored for it, I guess, like that mode in Gears 2 that I haven't played because I haven't played any of the competitive multiplayer.