RIP Playstation 2

[Michchamp]

Me too.

I can still probably quote half the Head Radio's show from the game I used to hear it so much.

"I'm DJ Michael Hunt...!!!"

the sense of humor in those games was just too much. sometimes I would literally laugh out loud at some of the shit.

i liked the dude who would yell "Carpetmuncher!" when you hit his car.

 

[Michchamp]

i had a friend in undergrad from Hong Kong. he brought back a japanese PS2 along with a stack of bootleg games that we would have to put another disc in first to meckle with the system to get them to boot up..

our favorite was the japanese version of Winning Eleven. Japanese sports commentary is lightyears better than American or English sports commentary, even if you don't understand what they're saying...

hearing a japanese man screaming in japanese after you score a goal to win it in extra time... and looking at your friend like "TAke that bitch" was priceless entertainment.

 

[spockmaster]

I've been playing some old NES and Genesis games on my laptop a lot lately.

amazing what they did with plot and gameplay when they didn't have so many shiny graphics and cut scene video to play with...

i know, right? not that good games arent still made, there are just far fewer of them now than i remember from when i was younger.

 

[Thumb]

i know, right? not that good games arent still made, there are just far fewer of them now than i remember from when i was younger.

I have been hooked on video games since Zelda and Metroid.

I still even play the first Half-Life occasionally, even though it has like Sega Genesis style graphics, sometimes the eye candy is overrated and becomes too much of a games production focus, rather than making it not suck.

I also still have a NES with about 60 games, SNES with about 25, and a N64 with about 15 games, all still hooked up (inline) to an old TV.

 

[spockmaster]

i usually play the whole half life series all the way through about once a year. love it so much. cant wait for the next one.

 

[Mitchrapp]

PC is great and all, I'm always a PC gamer. But a PS3, besides the bad ass blu-ray, has some of my favorite games you can't get on a PC. Uncharted, MLB the Show and a few others. And some games, like Madden 13 is not on the PC. And some games, Mass Effect series, I enjoy more on the PS3 over the PC.

My favorite genre, point and click - perfect for the PC. And I play several games through Steam, PC. They have some great deals. Also, I hate 1st person games so my list is shorter than most.

 

[Michchamp]

i've bought and re-sold Civilization IV probably a half dozen times. I love that game, but it's honestly as addictive as crack. I don't know anything that can get me to neglect my personal life as well as that thing can.

 

[Diggler Cometh]

i've bought and re-sold Civilization IV probably a half dozen times. I love that game, but it's honestly as addictive as crack. I don't know anything that can get me to neglect my personal life as well as that thing can.

Yep civilization is a lot of fun.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Civilization ftw.

 

[redandguilty]

Never played Civilization. I probably would like it. I loved Age of Empires. I can't envision that type of game on a console. But if a game can be played on a console, I'd rather play on the best screen in the house. Stuff like Portal, Bioshock, Batman Arkham Asylum, I know you can get PC versions, but I don't understand why you would.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Never played Civilization. I probably would like it. I loved Age of Empires. I can't envision that type of game on a console. But if a game can be played on a console, I'd rather play on the best screen in the house. Stuff like Portal, Bioshock, Batman Arkham Asylum, I know you can get PC versions, but I don't understand why you would.

I have a killer laptop and the screen is as good as my 50" HD TV albeit smaller.

 

[Michchamp]

Never played Civilization. I probably would like it. I loved Age of Empires. I can't envision that type of game on a console. But if a game can be played on a console, I'd rather play on the best screen in the house. Stuff like Portal, Bioshock, Batman Arkham Asylum, I know you can get PC versions, but I don't understand why you would.

they released a version of Civ for the PS2, but my understanding is that it's very stripped down. they dumbed the gameplay down maybe for the console crowd (?)

I played age of empires, and it was fun, but didn't have the same kind of stay-up-til-4-am addictive kind of fun that the civ games had.

creating a game that takes 12-20 hours to finish and has rewarding events or outcomes that occur every hour or so that you work for was downright evil.

 

[redandguilty]

they released a version of Civ for the PS2, but my understanding is that it's very stripped down. they dumbed the gameplay down maybe for the console crowd (?)

I played age of empires, and it was fun, but didn't have the same kind of stay-up-til-4-am addictive kind of fun that the civ games had.

creating a game that takes 12-20 hours to finish and has rewarding events or outcomes that occur every hour or so that you work for was downright evil.

I think they did that on purpose. Each newer edition of the game seemed faster than the previous one. The first and second Ages (2nd was the best) usually resulted in 3-4 hr games, but there were a handful of games where several people were knocked out early and the final 2 went 8 hours. There were only a few of those though. After the 2nd Ages, games were 1-2 hours which was ok because we had graduated and couldn't carve out chunks of time like that any more.

But the addictiveness was entirely due to the fact that I was playing roommates. I bought the last boxed Ages game and tried playing it without roommates...not the same. If you can't hear your adversary cursing when you do something crafty, it takes most of the fun out of it.

Now it's a cheesy web game. Microsoft bought it, ruined it, all the original people left, finally they closed the studio. There was some artwork in a collector's edition that suggested they were planning on releasing a Halo version of Ages, but everything fell apart before that happened. Ages 2 was the peak for that series.

 

[Michchamp]

no, I mean a typical Civ game takes 12 - 20 (or more) hours. They stripped it down a bit in the newer versions of the game, reducing the number of turns without too much of a noticeable effect, but it's still an epic way to waste time.

the thing is, it's not like you're doing one thing repetitively that entire time... certain goals take hours to complete, like researching technologies and building things. before you know it, you've literally blown an entire afternoon and are mentally juggling personal responsibilities ("I guess I can go to the gym tomorrow... I didn't NEED to do my taxes this weekend... I don't have any early meetings tomorrow, I can sleep in a bit and get to work late..."). because it's turn based instead of real-time like the Ages games, you don't have the constant time pressure, so you plan more; think more, etc.

 

[redandguilty]

no, I mean a typical Civ game takes 12 - 20 (or more) hours. They stripped it down a bit in the newer versions of the game, reducing the number of turns without too much of a noticeable effect, but it's still an epic way to waste time.

the thing is, it's not like you're doing one thing repetitively that entire time... certain goals take hours to complete, like researching technologies and building things. before you know it, you've literally blown an entire afternoon and are mentally juggling personal responsibilities ("I guess I can go to the gym tomorrow... I didn't NEED to do my taxes this weekend... I don't have any early meetings tomorrow, I can sleep in a bit and get to work late..."). because it's turn based instead of real-time like the Ages games, you don't have the constant time pressure, so you plan more; think more, etc.

Multiplayer or single player? I'm assuming you could save because I can't imagine 12-20 hrs of computer gaming being normal. (There was no saving with ages.) The few games that went 8 hrs in ages were killers to having productive weeks because you'd have to go to class like a zombie and then you'd be too tired to do homework. It would take at least a day to catch up. It's the real-time element of ages that made it so draining. You'd be mentally toast after a marathon game. The entire first hour of the game would keep your heart rate up...a little twinge of constant panic. From what I've read, there's little economic complexity in Ages compared to Civ, but putting most or all your energy into developing your production and economy was the only way to win if there were several people playing at once.

Some of us actually had excel sheets where we'd worked out the math to best implement our economic strategy for a given resource discovery. No time in the game to figure it out, but it had a huge impact on who won the game.

 

[redandguilty]

Turn based multiplayer would drive me mad. There are some roommates that do not like to decide things quickly if they don't have to. One in particular would enjoy taking his time if he knew others were waiting and getting frustrated.

 

[Michchamp]

Multiplayer or single player? I'm assuming you could save because I can't imagine 12-20 hrs of computer gaming being normal. (There was no saving with ages.) ...

yes, you can save. it doesn't matter though, as it takes tremendous willpower to peel yourself away from it because the gameplay is so addictive. it's easy to waste hours upon hours of time, and the weekend is not long enough for it (especially if you have a wife). that's why I called it evil. I guess... if you haven't played it yet, don't.

I am currently without a copy. the first time I bought a Civ game and re-sold it on amazon out of sheer desperation to stop playing, I wanted to warn the guy who bought it from me, like in the movie gremlins or something

 

[Michchamp]

Turn based multiplayer would drive me mad. There are some roommates that do not like to decide things quickly if they don't have to. One in particular would enjoy taking his time if he knew others were waiting and getting frustrated.

I've never played multi-player. I don't have too many friends who are in to gaming like that, so I missed out. I think there are ways to run civ multiplayer that involve setting time limits on each turn, like in timed chess.

 

[sggatecl]

I have both a PS2 and an Xbox, and I never bought any 3rd gen consoles, and never plan to. IMO PC will always beat them.

I agree and would adopt this philosophy of only using PC for gaming. That is, if EA wouldn't have pulled the plug on football games for PC.

 

[redandguilty]

no, I mean a typical Civ game takes 12 - 20 (or more) hours.

It probably takes that long because your socialist economic policies are holding you back.