Gaming room (It's a geeks paradise)

[Otta]

I've gone retro, and am enjoying GTA3 on Android. Have Vice City on ios, but yet to play that. I gave up on GTA4 on xbox pretty quickly because I bought it at the same time as RDR, and the latter wiped the floor with it.

[El Pibe]

we should do some game swaps sometime, I'd quite like to do RDR.

Not that I've bought a non arcade xbox game for a while mind.....

[StraferJack]

" I gave up on GTA4 on xbox pretty quickly because I bought it at the same time as RDR, and the latter wiped the floor with it."

yup - so many things were better. better missions, annoying mid-mission save points corrected, atmosphere etc etc

However I do still love GTAIV for that NY vibe

[Otta]

RDR was the last game I actually invested a lot of time in, it was great. And Undead Nightmare was a fun spin off, and quite hard (very limited ammo and a lot of zombies).

EP, you're more than welcome to borrow any of my games, I never get round to playing these days anyway! I'll even lend you a guitar if you want to try Rock Smith.

By the way, I got a new telly recently, with HDMI and no SCARTS (well one adaptor, but that's being used). What do I need to buy to connect my xbox?

[El Pibe]

You'll need an xbox to hdmi. Problem is older xboxes, like mine, don't have hi-def output.

Does it have old skool RGB connections anywhere? (like wot I'm forced to use) or you know the red & white phono connectors and yellow video one?

[StraferJack]

Otta

You will probably have a red green blue set of connections on the tv somewhere? What model is it? I should have some spare cables for you

If its a newer Xbox then just a hdmi cable. Again I have spares

[Otta]

It's a new(ish) xbox after my old one died.

[StraferJack]

check for the HDMI port then - if you can see it then any hdmi cable will work

If you haven't got a HDMI port on the xbox, check the TV has the RGB sockets - that'll be the way to go without HDMI (el pibe should be horsewhipped for even suggesting the yellow video connector!)

[Otta]

Apparently any xbox after 2007 has the ports, so I should be fine.

[El Pibe]

Just read today that new x-box won't play 360 discs, which weirdly I was wondering as I was packing games away for the move to Ireland this weekend.

On a non gaming matter, but geeky, so sort of right placeish

If anyone has ever thought of themselves as a bit pycurious here are loads of free ebooks for total beginner to programming to intermediate

http://www.leettips.org/2013/02/top-10-free-python-pdf-ebooks-download.html

[StraferJack]

The next xbox has all manner of horrible rumours about it (and given the way MS have pushed adverts and a cluttered dashboard in recent updates I?m inclined to believe the rumours)

But not playing 360 discs doesn?t bother me somehow ? the PS3 never really didplay PS2 discs, apart from a brief bit at the beginning

The 360 tried to play xbox discs and sometimes did but it wasn?t very satisfactory

Backward compatibility just isn?t something I expect (I?d LOVE it ? who wants all the extra power and cables) ? but it doesn?t seem all that feasible

[El Pibe]

I did revisit some old xbox games on the 360, like thief, but yeah, it's not a crunch thing for me.

It's more that when I was packing skyrim up I was having to admit to myself that I'll probably be plugging a 720 (or whatever it'll be called) into the new house and I'll never get round to finishing the main quest (and I wasn't that far off, just don't have the time with two little ones around).

*sighs*

[Otta]

I barely started skyrim. I thought about the hours I put in to Oblivion, and just knew it wasn't worth wetting my appetite, so I put it aside.

[El Pibe]

SJ introduced me to the wonderful King of Kong, any interlopers clicking on this post please go and see it, it's basically Spinal Tap for real.

Anyway, here are some others apparently worth seeing

http://geekdad.com/2013/04/4-must-see-geekumentaries/

[El Pibe]

Year Walk on iOS.

It's a strange one, a thing of unsettling beauty however.

As point and clicks go its probably as far removed from Sam and max as its possible to be.

Sort of Miss Smillas feeling for snow meets the orphanage via the evil dead, all mangled through sixties surrealist Czech animation.

Or the episode of the Moomins directed by George A Romero

[El Pibe]

This is fun, video of people shoved in a darkened room playing Outlast, some quality girly screams from the men!!

http://uk.ign.com/videos/2013/04/23/how-scary-is-outlast

[StraferJack]

I think I've given up on Bioshock:Infinite

I just hate, nay loathe, the floaty combat. And as the game is sort of predicated on that? I?m done (and I?m very early on as well)

The world is stunning and I wish I was able to explore it in a non-combat way. So whatever the big themes/reveals ahead I fear I will miss out

[El Pibe]

Outlast looks like it's going to be good, see what an established studio can do with the concepts started by Amnesia and Slenderman.

I quite like that the FPS is moving in a specifically non combat direction, it's most unsettling playing without recourse to a left mouse click.

[bon3yard]

Its a shame your not going to finish Bioshock as its got one of gamings truly mindblowing ending. Not sure whats floaty about the combat though, horses for courses I guess. Its well worth having a go on Guacamelee if you like old school platformers with a difficulty level to match.

[Otta]

Hardest Games ever?

I'll start.

Ghosts & Goblins / Ghouls & Ghosts.

[StraferJack]

Bon3yard

I finished the first Bioshock and have spent the years since trying to convince others to do the same or at least get to That Bit

I am aware of much internet chatter about how awesome the ending to Infinite is and I WANT to experience it ? I just don?t want to wade through the umpteen arena fights between where I am and then. The combat is floaty because there is no sense of connection (compared to other FPS combat) ? I hated it in the first game too but the experience was new to me

I?m also not a fan of the same old features ? vending machines, silver coins, clicking everything just in case it contains some tonic on and on?

Otta ? both G&G games rock hard and genius. Rtype II I always found near impossible after level 2

But (to bang on AGAIN) about the best game of this generation ? try Dark Souls and see what hard really means

[StraferJack]

Spelunky (pc and xbox live) is a platformer that is both awesome and hard as fook too

[Otta]

SJ, knew you'd say that. but I was thinking old skool. R-Type is a good call (all of them really).

PS. Just watch the ending to that game on YouTube ;-)

[StraferJack]

I finished R-type 1 back in the day - just had a memory rush about what it was like being the first kid to complete a new game in the local arcade. Marvellous

[Otta]

Good work!

I just did a google search of hardest ever games, and feel quite proud of myself too. I loved "Link to the past" (Zelda 2), but having played it recentlyish on my phone (where yu can save at ANY point, so it's pretty easy), I am impressed that I finished it as a kid. Also, I LOVED the Dizzy games, and have been reminded how hard Treasure Island Dizzy was, as you had no extra lives, touch one thing and it was all over!