Last game played...

[radiator]

Joe Danger Touch on iPad.

Oh god it's good - probably the single best iOS game I've ever played, and dare I say it actually better than the original Joe Danger game on PS3 (which suffered from being overly complex, especially in terms of controls).

[Richmond Clements]

Pocket Planes. Not as good as Tiny Towers, but pretty bloody good.

[Professor Bear]

Deep Black - think Waterworld, but with the main character from Dead Space and with a similar style of gameplay and lots of swimming thrown in.  Gave up before the end of the tutorial as following instructions given just made me die repeatedly and respawn right at the very start of the tutorial again after a lengthy loading time (a neat trick for a downloadable game that is located entirely in the PS3 hard drive), or when I did actually manage to kill the enemy who'd been killing me all those times before, I did so in a way that was not exactly as specified in the tutorial instructions, so I couldn't progress and was stuck in one area until I restarted by going all the way back to the very start of the tutorial after a lengthy loading time.  Apparently you can skip the tutorial entirely and I can see why this was made an option, but I don't roll like that and haven't been back near it.
It looks gorgeous, and the setup is a great pulpy mash-up of cyberpunk tropes, but what I saw was borderline unplayable and when I walked in on a mate playing it (he skipped the tutorial), it just seemed to be him falling over dead all the time and having to restart.

[I, Cosh]

Been trying to catch up with some of the things I've bought in various Steam sales.

Braid is a pretty frustrating platform puzzler. I actually had to watch a youtube walkthrough of the first level just to give me some basics as the game itself gives you absolutely no idea of how you're even supposed to approach the puzzles never mind solve them. Anyway, once you get past that hurdle, it's a pretty ingenious headscratcher.

Also played the first couple of levels of Dredd vs Death. It probably doesn't help that I don't like FPS games in the first place or that I'm playing it with a compact travel mouse but I don't think I'll be going any further. Even if I do, I'll probably need to turn the sound of as I hate Dredd's voice in it already.

[Mardroid]

I bought a Ps3 recently (yes I know, great timing considering the new model is just relatively round the corner but I suspect it'll be a year at least and with a back catalogue of games it's not a bad idea) so I popped along to Game and found 2 pre owned games going for the 2 for a tenner deal. (Not sure if that's good or not but it seemed ok to me.)

Anyway, I picked up Assassin's Creed (the first) and Rebellions own Aliens Vs Predator. I had a go at Assassin's... first. The introduction stuff went on a bit (and that's from someone who usually likes that stuff) but once it started, yep, I'm impressed. I didn't go far as I just planned to test the games out and watch a DVD at that point. Famous last words when I dug out AvP and ended up staying up to the early hours of the morning on the marine campaign!

Yes, two good choices I think. Graphics-wise Assassin's... is gorgeous. AVP does the job too but to my inexpert eyes I've seen PS2 games as impressive. In terms of enjoyability and mood it's great. Spooky sound affects and visuals which capture the films well. Actually pretty scary. I'm not sure how long it'll keep me as it's rather difficult for me. I find aiming the gun at the xenos difficult (a lock on feature would be nice but that might make it too easy and the Aliens should be formidable. Even so, my virtual arms are way too stiff. Any advise from you guys appreciated). Still, I'm not really into FPSs as they tend to disorient me but this has drawn me in. I'm curious how the creature campaigns fare as I get the impression the game play dynamics are quite different.

Anyhow, I'm still early in the game. Have 3 to 4 exenos under my belt (although I probably died even more accomplishing that. Thankfully checkpoints are placed shortly before these sections) and just got my hands on the pulse rifle. I impressed myself at one point by bagging two of the blighters in one go without dying. That was after being killed by an encounter with one...

I haven't encountered the Predator directly yet although I've seen his leavings and I heard his weird laugh. I thought I spotted him in his camouflage but it turned out to be a naked holographic pole dancer. Despite what I said about the game's  graphics earlier they rendered her blue botty rather well.

[ThryllSeekyr]

I bought a Ps3 recently (yes I know, great timing considering the new model is just relatively round the corner but I suspect it'll be a year at least and with a back catalogue of games it's not a bad idea) so I popped along to Game and found 2 pre owned games going for the 2 for a tenner deal. (Not sure if that's good or not but it seemed ok to me.)

Anyway, I picked up Assassin's Creed (the first) and Rebellions own Aliens Vs Predator. I had a go at Assassin's... first. The introduction stuff went on a bit (and that's from someone who usually likes that stuff) but once it started, yep, I'm impressed. I didn't go far as I just planned to test the games out and watch a DVD at that point. Famous last words when I dug out AvP and ended up staying up to the early hours of the morning on the marine campaign!

Yes, two good choices I think. Graphics-wise Assassin's... is gorgeous. AVP does the job too but to my inexpert eyes I've seen PS2 games as impressive. In terms of enjoyability and mood it's great. Spooky sound affects and visuals which capture the films well. Actually pretty scary. I'm not sure how long it'll keep me as it's rather difficult for me. I find aiming the gun at the xenos difficult (a lock on feature would be nice but that might make it too easy and the Aliens should be formidable. Even so, my virtual arms are way too stiff. Any advise from you guys appreciated). Still, I'm not really into FPSs as they tend to disorient me but this has drawn me in. I'm curious how the creature campaigns fare as I get the impression the game play dynamics are quite different.

Anyhow, I'm still early in the game. Have 3 to 4 exenos under my belt (although I probably died even more accomplishing that. Thankfully checkpoints are placed shortly before these sections) and just got my hands on the pulse rifle. I impressed myself at one point by bagging two of the blighters in one go without dying. That was after being killed by an encounter with one...

I haven't encountered the Predator directly yet although I've seen his leavings and I heard his weird laugh. I thought I spotted him in his camouflage but it turned out to be a naked holographic pole dancer. Despite what I said about the game's  graphics earlier they rendered her blue botty rather well.

I brought a PSThree earlier this year and got a Xbox 360 for Christmas. So I know how you feel. Yet I have brought alot of games for it (35)and I brought two games, (Halo Annivercary, Dishonored) for the Xbox 360 including the free download for Skyrim and the two games. I was given with it. Forza Motorsport Number Four and Batman : Arkham Asylum, Game of the year Edition.

One of the games I got for the PSThree is Aliens vs the Predators. I brought it a while ago now. I played the Marine campiagn for a bit and got stuck on the level where the holo dancer is and started the Predator campaign. I haven't played it since.

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Football Manager 2005.

Just when I thought I was out, it sucked me back in.

Last time I played this my game time was 55 days. 1,320 hours. I only stopped because my PC died and I lost my save file. Now, eight months later, I've given in and started over.

I dabbled in the interim with 2013 and 2008. But now we're back together.

As a wise man once said: "I don't play Football Manager for the same reason I don't smoke crack."

[shaolin_monkey]

Oh god, Pocket Minions on iPhone has got me in it's bloody grip.  MUST BUILD MORE TOWERS!!!

[radiator]

They're making a new Flashback game!!!

It might be a remake of the first game, too early to tell (and tbh I'd rather they'd have gone with an evolution of the curious, unique flat-shaded visual style of the first game, but it still looks nice).



http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a452770/flashback-hd-remake-in-the-works-as-new-image-surfaces.html

[Professor Bear]

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - twenty minutes into the PSN download version of the game and I was hit by several technical problems such as the bike you have to mount - as your very first action in the game - disappearing on me, your character for some reason not climbing one particular fence as required by the game to progress, and sound disappearing during cut scenes.
I suspect this version may be a little bit broken, which is galling partly because it remains the best entry in the GTA series so far, but mainly because they're charging 12 quid for it.  Fantastic game, but not worth buying in this form.

[radiator]

I recently discovered the 1UP.com Retronauts podcast, and have been feeling really nostalgic, so I've been playing Final Fantasy 4 on the iPad - which is like putting on a comfy pair of slippers, and I've dusted off the Wii and dipped my toe into the Virtual Console with Super Mario World.

If I'm honest, I've got access to every 8/16 Bit game I could ever need via roms and emulators, but there's just something special about playing it on the telly, with a proper joypad (the Wii Classic Controller Pro is a thing of beauty for retro gaming). Spent an hour or two playing through SMW with my girlfriend last night, which was lovely (she has no patience for games post-N64 era).

It has made me wonder though - why doesn't someone make a new console that is entirely dedicated to retro gaming? It could be relatively cheap, stylish, portable, wi-fi enabled and play pretty much anything from the ZX Spectrum right up to the PS/Saturn/N64 - all games would be available for a reasonable cost - ie, a bit cheaper than the VC - from an online store. The more popular games could have added online multiplayer modes and achievements. You could accessorise the console itself with replica joypads/peripherals from the console of your choice. It'd be a bit like one of those Mega Drive TV plug-in jobbies, but not shit.

There has to be a market for that (I'm guessing there are quite a lot of 20/30-somethings like me who are a bit disllusioned with modern gaming) - I reckon such an idea would get funded on Kickstarter in no time. The one major hurdle would be access to Nintendo's library, as let's face it - they made the vast majority of the games from that era that still stand up today. And maybe Rare, whose library seems to be stuck in legal limbo.

[I, Cosh]

Reckon I'd definitely buy one but I think consistent licensing - let's face it, whatever disclaimers are on the emulator sites nobody really has access to the original game when they play - would be ludicrously difficult to get and probably cost more than developing the hardware.

Plus, is it something which would only really appeal to old people like us?

[Professor Bear]

The one major hurdle would be access to Nintendo's library, as let's face it - they made the vast majority of the games from that era that still stand up today. And maybe Rare, whose library seems to be stuck in legal limbo.

As long it's via rom emulation, you can play those old games safely enough as no-one seems to care very much about what's done with them apart from Code Masters and whoever owns US Gold these days - though even then it's games for early home computers like the C64 and ZX Speccy that have been removed from online emulation catalogues and everyone from Nintendo to Sega seem largely unconcerned with emulation of console games as late as the GBA, even licenced titles.

If you still have a last generation console laying around somewhere, you can get them "fixed" to run old emulators as the hardware requirements are pretty basic.  I held onto my first-wave PSP to run emulators because on bigger screens old timey games look pretty damn rough, but an Xbox can be fiddled with to run most things.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

As long it's via rom emulation, you can play those old games safely enough as no-one seems to care very much about what's done with them

As far as I understand it, the emulators themselves are perfectly legal. No government wants to ban the backwards engineering of software. But the ROMs are a clear cut case of IP infringement, although most companies (apart from the ones you mentioned) either don't give a damn because they reckon they've made all the money they can realistically expect to make from these decade+ old titles, or the companies themselves don't exist anymore

[radiator]

As long it's via rom emulation, you can play those old games safely enough as no-one seems to care very much about what's done with them apart from Code Masters and whoever owns US Gold these days - though even then it's games for early home computers like the C64 and ZX Speccy that have been removed from online emulation catalogues and everyone from Nintendo to Sega seem largely unconcerned with emulation of console games as late as the GBA, even licenced titles.

If you still have a last generation console laying around somewhere, you can get them "fixed" to run old emulators as the hardware requirements are pretty basic.  I held onto my first-wave PSP to run emulators because on bigger screens old timey games look pretty damn rough, but an Xbox can be fiddled with to run most things.

Yeah I know all that - what I'm suggesting is a cheap and easy way play old games on your telly/on the go - no modding/jailbreaking/hacking required as not all of us have the time/inclination to do all that/buy old hardware etc. As I said, I have used emulators, but it isn't really the same experience - the USP of the device would be it's user-friendliness and the inclusiveness of the experience. As I said, I can play Super Mario World on my Mac any time I want, for free, but I'll also happily pay a couple of quid to play it on the TV/on the go, with cloud saves/leaderboards/friends etc. Something similar to what Nintendo are doing with the Wii U - where you can seamlessly switch to playing on a handheld would be great.

Plus, is it something which would only really appeal to old people like us?

Well, yes, probably - but it depends on what you define as 'old'. Also, such a device would be niche, but would be relatively low-cost so wouldn't need to compete with Xbox etc.

Just a daydream really, but I'd snap one up if someone manufactured it.