I've been meaning to try and get a weekly, Sunday night gaming thread going. But I post once and then life gets in the way and I don't post again for an extended period of time. Lets try this again.
Background: I owned pretty much every gaming system from Pong to the first Sega. Then grad school and worked happened in the early 90s, and I did'nt play any more until about six years ago when I got a package deal on eBay with a N64 (got to play Golden Eye), Sega Genesis, and a PS2. Fell right back in love (oh and had the technology got better).
Didn't get a PS3 until this summer when I got a HDTV and wanted a Blu-ray player. Wow. Wow. Wow. No idea why I waited so long. It seems the kind of games I like. Sports, puzzles, fantasy really are nice on these next-gen consoles.
Now with that intro below the fold I'll tell you what I am currently playing. What I plan to play/buy next, and maybe you can do the same in the comments.
First I am playing Civilization 5. Well I am always playing Civ. Even when I didn't have a gaming machine for 15 plus years I was play Civ on my Mac/PC. I literally have played it for thousands of hours and since the PS3 is the first time it has been on a console it was the first game I bought.
But at this very moment my "new" game of choice is Little Big Planet 2. I am not even sure how to explain the game. It was made for children, but alas some pretty hardcore gamers/reviewers awarded it game of the year.
Basically you are this character named "Sackboy" running around these levels that are like something out of a Tim Burton movie doing "stuff." Well see for yourself:
The game also lets users create levels and currently there are more than 7 million online, so it is a game you might be able to play for the rest of your life. If you have children, BUY IT FOR THEM NOW. It is a game you could play with them, even if you look at the controllers and think you could never figure them out. It is more complex than this, but basically you are just running around and jumping over and on stuff.
Note: Maybe even kind of a liberal game, or one that would at least make Jerry Falwell's head explode. In many games when you complete levels you get better weapons or money or something. In this game one thing you can do is dress "Sackboy" up in outlandish outfits. Kind of "gay" outfits actually.
The game I am "planning to play" is Assassin's Creed 2 (yeah I know I am behind the times). Before I got my PS3 I followed a few podcasts that cover video games, comic books, stuff like that. All of them just raved about Assassin's Creed. So that was the second game I got. I generally don't like FPS games or games where the main objectives is to kill shit.
Although you are an assassin, there is a lot more to the game, and my gosh it is visually stunning. When I first put it in I must have watched the open video scene like 5 times before I said to myself, "hey Tommy, you might want to hit the Start button and play the darn game." Here is the trailer for Assassin's Creed 2 (sorry about the anti-Obama ad before it plays):
I have to admit I am not near mastering the first game, not had enough time to spend with it. I am also looking at a few of the zombie games. Cause although I am not a FPS guy, at times I don't mind just "killing shit." Black was one of my favorite games on the PS2. No strategy. No multi-player. No team to mange. Well this IGN review says it best:
BLACK is a 100% visceral experience, 100% of the time. It's engaging, enthralling, and moreover, it's simply the definition of fun imbibed into two analog sticks and a handful of buttons. You'll have an extremely hard time finding a game that does a better job at placing a gun in your hand and letting you blow the utter $@%* out of everything in front of you.
So that is what I am playing and planning to play. How about you?