Gaming room (It's a geeks paradise)

[Floating Onion]

Scary!

[SeanMacGabhann]

and just why haven't you bothered yet, Mr Onion??

I installed Orange box on the HD last night - not game in any way optimised for HD use but still noticeably different - esp when dying and restarting. And I finished the main HL2 last night - fired up ep 1 afterwards and already y can see advances in the source engine

the new updateto the dash seems to have made everything brighter as well - or is that just me?

[Floating Onion]

Err, I was in the pub? I'll certainly be grabbing it once I'm at home.

Are you trying to convince me to buy a new hard drive or what?

[SeanMacGabhann]

nope, Microsoft are

but I'm giving an unbiased opinion ;-)

[mockney piers]

more avatars...come on, Onion, Bony3ard...err...any other xbox geeks out there?

[bon3yard]

Blimey Mockney, you bear an uncanny resemblence to a young Larry David. As for that SB Fella, the hairs on its way to Douglas Hurd territory. :))

[Floating Onion]

I will as soon as I have a chance to fire up the xbox!

[SeanMacGabhann]

The hair I originally chose (which resembles my actual hair) was described by Lady Mac as ... cocky

So I've gone for this and will aim to grow into it in real life

[Moos]

Piers' needs a 5 o'clock shadow - but they are both inspired.

[mockney piers]

I did look for a five o'clock shadow, but alas not as yet available.

The picture above will change if I find it though (it's lunk rather than snapshotted)

[mockney piers]

Floating Onion and I had a good old bash at the Nazi Zombies game in CoD 5 last night, and frankly it's worth the entrance price alone.

I thoroughly recommend this to anyone who's been tempted by CoD5, it's so absurd it's hard to describe. 4 of you in a fogged in concrete bunker with boarded up windows.

Nazi clad zombies approach in waves, take them out with guns bought from chalk marks on the wall earned by killing zombies (more for headshots) and repairing the barricades the zombies tear down. more points you earn means opening up more parts of the bunker with better weapons available but also more entry points to watch over.

By the 9th wave they are no longer night of the living dead and more 28 days later.

Scary but fun!!

[SeanMacGabhann]

And with one final push, Piers convinces me to go for CoD5

I still need my internet connection back tho

15 working days???? What do they DO????

[Keef]

Got Wii Fit for Mrs Keef's birthday/xmas (at her request), and we opened it last night... So, first impressions.

I have NO sense of balance, and will never master the tree!!!

Skiing quite fun though!

Mrs Keef has got me the snow boarding game for xmas (won't be opened til then), looking forward to playing that with the balance board!

Oh, and BMI is NOT fair to people like me who are quite broad and stocky, but not very tall. It called me obese, and whilst I could do with losing a few pounds, I refuse to accept obese. Fortunately my doctor had already told me this was a total load of bol!ocks, else I may have thrown myself from the balcony after seeing that!

[mockney piers]

the key to all those balance game is crouch looooowwwwww.

Missus loves the step workout thingy, and the boxercise game brilliantly reveals just how badly coordinated and what a total lack of rhythm most people possess!!

Have to get back on to that wii fit, getting a pot-belly!!

[*Bob*]

Dear Geeks, Gamers, Recluses and sallow-skinned curtain-shut Oddball-types.

Can you help?

I'm thinking of dipping my toes into the waters of this new-fangled gaming - in the hollow guise of a surprise Christmas treat for all the family.

My experience (to date) comprises a VIC-20, a ZX Spectrum, 'Swoop' and 'Deus Ex' on the Macintosh.

I know nothing about consoles and want to buy the right one for our gaming requirements, which includes trying not to buy something which will be out of date the instant I walk out the shop.

I've played the Wii multiplayer stuff (once) and this is the stuff which will appeal to the ovver arf - and which could prove entertaining when the Iceland vol-au-vents have all gone and conversation is flagging. Is the Wii the only one worth having which does this sort of malarky?

Do they all connect to the 'net so I can occasionally play online with friends who are unfortunate enough not to have girlfriends, or perhaps trapped in a loveless marriage?

Your help is appreciated.

[Ant]

Hm it's a bit horses for courses. Wii seems the most family friendly one, but there are fewer decent games for it than there are for others. Can't comment on the Xbox as have never had one. PS2 was good, but I haven't yet tried a PS3. Depends how old your kids are, I suppose. I suppose what I'm saying is look at the games first and see which ones you'd like to play, and let that guide your choice of console.

[mockney piers]

The big 3 are all net enabled, though XBox with it's XBox live service is far and away the best at this, with nearly all games offering a seamless ability to just get straight online and start playing.

Also Live Arcade gives you access to loads of cheap games frmo developer communities and ported retro games such as you yourself may have played, defender, asteroids etc.

It is however 40 quid a year for this service.

Can't really comment on PS3 as have no experience (though owned both previous incarnations so have nothing against sony). It's the most powerful machine, but has had no must have games yet and no central online service which hampered PS2's ability to grow in this market too. People that have it like it, but it's pricey and I've seen no reason to buy it, especially as the games seem to tread the same sort of territory as those on the Xbox.

Wii sounds like your best bet as loads of party games, family games and weirdly addictive stuff like Animal Crossing and even Wiiware stuff (a bit like xbox arcade) with strange but quality games like World of Goo.

So xbox for online gaming, shooting, sports and driving, wii for family fun daftness and kids, and PS3 for ..errr...better graphics?

[SeanMacGabhann]

what's been said already basically - although the Xbox is really really pushing it's family friendly games this Christmas - You're in the Movies , Lips (sort of like Singstar on PS2/3) etc

Having seen 5 grown ups spend about 5 hours playing Lips last weekend and then sneaking back when I wasn't looking don't underestimate it. I have been really really disappointed with the Wii - what I saw at other people's houses was as good as it got and I could have saved some money. Although I now have room to get the Wii fit out...

I have owned every Playstation bar the PS3 but as already said there are almost zero reasons to buy one - and it's way expensive. Bluray capability MIGHT swing it for some but as the Xbox360 allows you to download hi-def films, OR stream them from your pc anyway I would argue that's moot (I'm not paying ?20 for a bleedin bluray movie)

So in order of my preferences

1) Xbxox 360 (variety, price, graphics, hi def)

2) Wii (those family friendly "games"

3) PS3 (if it was cheaper and had more games.... )

[Keef]

Go for a Wii.

I don't really play games very much on my own, but whenever friends are round we end up playing bowling, olympic games, or guitar hero! All good fun, especially when combined with drink and/or a joint!

[mockney piers]

Ooh, and is noone out there tempted by CoD5. Got myself a 14 kill streak last night (better than my average kill to death ration of 0.72) with an artillery strike and I got the dogs out (woof, woof woof), I'll protect you I will!!

[Keef]

As you can probably tell from MP & Sean, if you really want to spend hours and hours playing games with amazing graphics, and shooting things, Xbox is probably the way to go...

For multi player fun, it has to be Wii.

Wii fit worth it just for the ski jump! And I can't wait to open my snow boarding game from Mrs Keef this christmas! :)-D

[*Bob*]

One of my friends mentioned something about CoD a few months ago and I haven't heard from him since.

I like shooting things. No interest in driving or sport.

I suppose I can always tell Mrs *Bob* I'm working and shoot things upstairs on my Mac on the sly.

Maybe a Wii is the way to go.

[mockney piers]

"One of my friends mentioned something about CoD a few months ago and I haven't heard from him since."

That's the problem with games with reward systems in place, they're horribly addictive. I'd probably be bored of yet another deathmatch or capture the flag by now (about a month), but I have to get to level 32 to release the MG42 with it's rapid rate of fire and improved accuracy over the BAR, and I've finally got hold of the bouncing betties, oh yes, oh yes, and there's still the headshot sniper challenge to finish with it's promise of a bayonet for my Springfield bolt-action rifle...and prestige for knifing 150 people in the back...and...and...

hmm, all a bit disturbing really.

[SeanMacGabhann]

you know all those people who never come to the Gaming Room, but who think Piers is just loooooovely - I wish they would check it out once in a while

;-)

[AndyB]

so, who'd all the gamers make out for Christmas?

Santa was overly generous and I got

Far Cry 2

Mirror?s Edge

Little Big Planet

James Bond: Quantum of Solace

Resistance 2

Bioshock

Tom Clancy?s Endwar

Resistance 2

Dead Space

Mercenaries 2 World in Flames

Gear of War 2

Sony Dualshock3

Official Xbox 360 Elite Wireless Controller ? Black

Play TV