Fess up...who's a gamer?

[dios4vida]

I know there have to be a few of us out there. My husband got me into video games when we were dating by bringing over his GameCube and playing The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Ever since I've been hooked.

We're fantasy RPGers - Zelda, Final Fantasy, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Prince of Persia, Kingdom Hearts, etc.

C'mon now, who else? What do you like to play?

[Mira]

Me! Definitely!

Kingdom Hearts - that's one of my favorites. Final Fantasy, I got hooked a very long time ago with their early games. I love RPG and Strategy.

But while I'm in Grad school, I have a strict policy - no Wii, Playstation, etc. So, I was only allowed to play casual games on the PC, which are fun, but not as addicting.

Of course, then I got the Sims 3 for the PC and all my good intentions went completely went out the window. It's a wonder I passed my classes. :)

[Claudie]

Aaah, I confess. I'm a gamer, and it's probably the only reason my WIP's first draft isn't done yet. I was offered games for my birthday and, really, how can you not pick up a gift?

I love fantasy RPGs, or well, RPGs of all kind. To be honest, though, I rarely get time to play when school is on. I'll eat a game or two every vacation, but all my free time goes to writing when there's classes to keep me busy.

[Margo]

Fallout, baby! Any and all of them. Torment. The Baldur's Gate series. I'm also partial to resource management games like Masters of Orion. I'm not really one for first person shooter games, and I prefer solitary games to the multi-player online ones, though friends did get me into City of Heroes/Villains for a few months (while I was trying to finish my masters -- the bastards!).

I also liked listening to someone else play Alice. It's all about the cat's voice while he coaches her through her homicidal rampage.

[Quill]

Haven't yet had the pleasure. I hear they're fun.

[Holly]

I became absolutely, totally, utterly addicted to Chess Titans and took all the games off my laptop... heck, gosh, darn, this makes me want to go out and play some chess.

[Nick]

I've been playing video games since I was a little kid. My cousin gave us their NES + SNES when I was 3. Got a Sega Genesis when I was 5. Got an N64 when I was 7. Gamecube when I was 11. PS2 when I was 14. 360 when I was 15. PS3 + Wii when I was 16.

Current generation (PS3/Wii/360) sucks. Still maintain that N64 was best overall, though GC is a very close second. Really everything after the GC just doesn't compare, and I continue to hate myself for owning a PS2, 360, and PS3, as I was a diehard Nintendo fanboy for a long time (the Genesis was my sister's). Unfortunately, Nintendo started letting too much third party in and not developing enough of their own properties, and both sets are mostly focused on group gaming, which is not what I look for in games. I mean sure, I like some party games. But for the most part, I want solo gaming, and that's where PS3 wins anymore. 360, alas, is very shooter heavy and I hate FPS, mostly because I suck.

Ocarina of Time is still the best video game ever made, btw.

[WilliamMJones]

Nick, I have to disagree with you about the new systems. There are some very good games for them, and some not so good ones. The same can be said about every system. For Wii, Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess and Super Smash Bros Brawl were great games. For Xbox 360, Lost Odyssey and Dragon age Origins are also great. And for both X box 360 and PS3, Final Fantasy XIII was beyond amazing. If you haven't tried these games, I would suggest them.

I agree that Ocarina of Time was great, and everything from the NES to the Gamecube was worth owning.

[Sommer Leigh]

I'm a gamer. More so than my husband. And I'm proud my gamer score is higher than his :-)

Yesterday we downloaded a new XBox arcade game called LIMBO. It has the most amazing, creepy, beautiful atmospheres in any game I have ever played. There is no music, just the sound of the character's foot steps and various background noises of water against the boat or the thumping of the giant spider's legs on the ground. The game gave me chills. I've been telling everyone to go download it or check out the free demo. I write horror, so I enjoy finding inspiration in other media. Horror is often not done well, but this is one of the best.

[Nick]

Oh, there are definitely great games, but in my experience there are far fewer great games than in past generations. Only Twilight Princess and Red Dead Redemption spring to mind as games I would call "great". Some fun stuff, like Little Big Planet or Assassin's Creed II, but I wouldn't call those great. There's also a lot less that seems appealing in the current generation, to me at least. Like I said, 360 is very shooter heavy, or at least that's my experience between commercials and looking in the stores. Most of the non-shooter games are available on PS3, which I prefer for a variety of reasons, but the one that often makes me pick up a game for PS3 over 360 is that the 360's controller is clunky. PS3 allows for more fluid movement of the fingers.

Still, this is all just my opinion.

Also, I wasn't aware FFXIII came out over here finally. Probably pick it up eventually. Never been exactly the biggest fan of FF, but I have played a few from time to time. When it comes to RPGs I prefer the Tales of series, with Symphonia definitely being my favorite of the lot.

[Mira]

I just found out that Civilization 5 comes out in September. My life is now complete.

And Final Fantasy sets the standard for fantasty RPG, imho.

[ryanznock]

My gaming tends more to the face-to-face, tabletop RPG variety. I wrote small press D&D products for 7 years, and I still dabble in that.

When it comes to video games, I cut my teeth on Dragon Warriors and Final Fantasies and Metroids, but of late I've had a hard time really loving any games. I give great respect to Yahtzee, the man behind Zero Punctuation - http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/ ... unctuation - and like him the only game I've really been impressed by recently was Portal. I also really dug Shadow of the Colossus, and my friends get together weekly to kill each other in Modern Warfare 2.

I tried World of Warcraft for a week, but I didn't like the gameplay. The idea of an MMO intrigues me, though.

I just don't spend much time playing video games these days. I don't own a console, and whenever I install something on my PC, I feel bad for spending time having fun at a computer instead of trying to get published. Speaking of which, the novel that I'm trying to publish is based on parallel stories involving a man and a woman who fall in love, and their MMO characters who fight time-traveling Nazis in the 17th century Caribbean.

[dios4vida]

Speaking of which, the novel that I'm trying to publish is based on parallel stories involving a man and a woman who fall in love, and their MMO characters who fight time-traveling Nazis in the 17th century Caribbean.

I'm not surprised to see you post here, having read your synopsis! I really thought you'd be a Command & Conquer or Starcraft guy, since those are kinda like what your Ages games are like.

[ryanznock]

Speaking of which, the novel that I'm trying to publish is based on parallel stories involving a man and a woman who fall in love, and their MMO characters who fight time-traveling Nazis in the 17th century Caribbean.

I'm not surprised to see you post here, having read your synopsis! I really thought you'd be a Command & Conquer or Starcraft guy, since those are kinda like what your Ages games are like.

Oh, I had a great C&C: Red Alert phase, but that's not how the Ages games work in my novel. It's more like an MMORPG crossed with a reptuation-based social network, and the Director programming for Left 4 Dead. The game is an open world, a la Grand Theft Auto, but with action more akin to Prince of Persia. You can level up your character and learn new tricks, like . . . well, everything, but I particularly like how Fable does it. But like in WoW, after a certain period of grinding away, you reach the top level; everyone's got about the same power level, just with different selections of powers.

But the best parts are the reputation and metaplot side of things, which is where I think I'm a tad innovative. You can follow the exploits of other players (like subscribing to their YouTube channel or Twitter feed), and even vote on particular scenes they play that you like. Maybe a given player is really witty, or came up with a clever way to beat a scenario. The highest reputation players get a small boost in their stats, as a sort of 'plot immunity,' because the game is designed to be cinematic, and prominent characters don't die easily.

As for the metaplot, the idea is that there are a whole bunch of common servers that work like any old MMO, and then one History server. What happens in the History server is basically 'canon' for the game, but in the History server, you only get one shot. You can import a character from a common server to the History server, but if he dies, you can't ever play him on the History server again. But to keep it from being a total slaughterfest full of griefing bastards, the game is designed to reward people who are working toward certain (secret) plot goals.

Like maybe the game really wants someone to become the main villain's second-in-command, and then betray him. If you go onto the History server and just do your own thing, you'll just be average power. But if you happen to be working toward the plotline the game designers desired, you'll be more successful, cooler, more popular.

[ryanznock]

I'm a gamer. More so than my husband. And I'm proud my gamer score is higher than his :-)

Yesterday we downloaded a new XBox arcade game called LIMBO. It has the most amazing, creepy, beautiful atmospheres in any game I have ever played. There is no music, just the sound of the character's foot steps and various background noises of water against the boat or the thumping of the giant spider's legs on the ground. The game gave me chills. I've been telling everyone to go download it or check out the free demo. I write horror, so I enjoy finding inspiration in other media. Horror is often not done well, but this is one of the best.

LIMBO, eh? I'll have to track that down. Sounds interesting.