Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Tim Tebow going so early in the draft, the Yankees’ first triple play in more than 40 years, or whether the world is passing Nokia/RIM by, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
For the most part, we all know what kind of games we’ll like and won’t like. Every now and then, a surprise comes our way. One of the best ways to receive a gaming surprise is through friends. A great friend of mine recently dropped by for lunch on his way back up to San Francisco. We’ve gone through a lot together, but there’s one game that always reminds me of him: Culdcept
Do you have any gaming surprises like that? Are there any games you like or love thanks to recommendations by friends? Surely there must be a game you would have dismissed but didn’t, thanks to a pal telling you about it. I want to hear your friends-turn-you-onto-game stories today!
My friend turned me on to Dead Space. I had no interest in the game but he bought it and raved about it and persuaded me to get it so I did and loved every minute of it and eagerly awaiting Dead Space 2.
Seventh Grade: A friend of mine got me to come by and see this new computer game. I was hooked within minutes. I went home and couldn't get the game out of my mind. The awesome music, gfx, and voices. I bought Warcraft 2 that weekend.
A few years back: same friend above told me to swing by and see his new game and drink a few beers (we're older now lol) and after about a few hours of being sucked in, I went to Walmart since it was midnight and picked up my copy. WoW.
A buddy of mine was a really big fan of Saints Row. When the second one came out he told me to buy a copy to so we could system link. By far one of the best things gaming wise I have ever done. Saints Row 2 is forever set in my top 10 video games ever.
Honestly because of RPAD.TV I have played Scrabble with my girlfriend everyday.
@Big Blak That reminds me. XBLA Scrabble next week! Cool?
@BB
my gf and I play coffeetime crosswords together. Time attack (for unlimited time) and single player. Fun stuff
@Ray
I'm game.
@Topic
After Halo 3 came out I wasn't looking for a new game to play online. A few friends of mine kept raving about another shooter and how it was going to be the best game ever when it came out. I didn't believe them though. The dev had never made a game I liked online and the single player aspects of their games didn't really scream creative. When the game came out, no one wanted to play Halo 3 anymore so I decided I rent the game and see how it was. Hock line and sinker. One aspect of Halo that I liked was the ability to use guerilla warfare in the campaign. Didn't work online, but it is still the only series that lets you do it in the campaign. This new game didn't let me do it offline, but online was a different story. I could camp, get agro, fall back, and reengage from a different position. Hell yeah I was in love. If you haven't guessed yet, that game was MW1.
@ RPAD
Sounds good to me!
@ SG
I'll check it out she loves word/puzzle games. I've been trying to get her to play L4D2 lol. She says to me the other day "Babe I want to get scared, I want to watch a good zombie movie." Obviously most of the movies suck so I suggested she play a zombie movie. I want to slay hordes with her so bad but she doesn't understand the controller yet lol.
One of my friends introduced me to Age of Empires a long time ago and after that first time of watching him play I was hooked. From that point out I was always lying to my parents about how long I had actually been on the computer playing that game. Then on Sundays pretty much no one else used the computer so I got in about 8-10 hours those days.
Time Splitters 2 was an awesome game that one of my friends with a PS2 got me in to. We used to spend a lot of time on the multiplayer for that game.
I also have gotten Bioshock, Gears of War and The Orange Box on the recommendation of friends.
@ BSU
Yes! Time Splitters 2 was a great game! I love the TS franchise.
@Ray
Love the Friends pic by the way.
@Sandrock323 Thanks! I always found the show amusing as a New Yorker. Six people hanging out in Greenwich Village and they're all white?!? Plus, Phoebe and Rachel were hot.
@Ray
Friends was on every night at my house when it aired. It's one of the few non anime shows I like.
@Big Blak
Yeah that was a good series. I played some of the others in the series but I liked 2 the best. I remember using the monkey in multi-player on the chain gun. He was so short that you couldn't hit him unless you came around to flank him.
So, no one told me Fallout 3 would be that way. It seemed a joke and broke, it was almost D.O.A. Just when I thought it was stuck in second gear, I started playing it a day , a month, now almost a year.
I am that annoying friend that tells everyone: "Dude! You HAVE to play this game… It's freak'n awesome!"
Aside from that, I've had friends try to get me to play the games that I plan on playing in the near future, but nothing that wouldn't have normally popped up on my radar.
-M
Oh! It looks like Iceman is playing MW2. What system?
@ Tokz;
Yeah, I was actually going to start yesterday or today, but I promised my wife that we would play through the main campaign for the first time together, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow (or really, really late tonight) to start playing.
To answer your question, I'm playing it on the 360. I won't get around to playing multiplayer until after I've finished the campaign, though. I'm pretty adamant about that, but from what I hear, the campaign won't take long to finish at all.
I played COD4 (The first Modern Warfare) a little over a year ago on the PC, but never played online with it at all, so everything will be new to me. I have a feeling that shifting from Gears of War to this will take some serious shooter re-orienting.
-M
@Smartguy
http://spawnkill.com/2010/04/23/will-voodoo-save-…
@iceman
I think sandrock is trying to start off his own gamecrush…but it will only benefit him.
@RROD
that was a good link. What's going to win the curse or the voodoo "Nawlins" is known for.
@ RROD
I just found out some numbers I thought you would like me to share with you:
Steelers record on opening weekend is 24-16
When opening in Pittsburgh, our record is 16 and 8
Against the Falcons, our record is 11-2-1
The odds say we're gonna beat you even without Big Ben. I hope the Falcons are thinking it will be easier without him, because that will just make it even easier for us.
I don't recall a friend ever turning me onto a game that I ended up really liking. Generally I buy all of the new games anyways and I am the guy that tell people about whats good or shows off my games. Got 1 friends hooked on Bioshock and 2 friends on Fallout 3.
@N8R
I know my Falcons will beat your Steelers if Byron Leftwich starts.
@ RROD
Is that because or not because Leftwich played for the Falcons in 2007?
The way I feel about Leftwich? I think the Steelers have had interest in him for so long because his style of play is so similar to that of Big Ben. I also don't think Big Ben would be as good on any other team. Therefore, I think if there is one team that Byron could stand up and prove his critics wrong on… it would be the Steelers.
Also… we very well might start Dixon. It all depends on how practice looks. It's not going to be the QB's themselves that make the decision, it's going to be how the team responds to them. We have ALOT of time for the team to get to know who the QB is.
I also think (no offense to you or the fine people in the ATL) that the Falcons are easy street for us. Your strongest weapons are easily matched by our defensive backfield. It's gonna come down to who puts more points on the board (as always)… and I trust our D to stop your O more than I trust your D to stop our O.
And honestly… I'm looking at it objectively. My fanboyism has always shone AFTER the Steelers win. Before the games… I'm thinking Vegas style odds. Right now, the only official odds are for the Super Bowl… and we dropped from 16/1 to 20/1 since Ben got suspended. Atlanta however… is still 25/1.
i dont know what the bills are doing in the second and third round
i hate the bills entire front office
they make a genius decision with spiller, then proceed to defacate all over themselves in the later rounds…how do these people get to be considered "experts"?
claussen falls to 41, you can take him at 41, and instead you take a nose tackle from central florida????
@Iceman
I got to level 50 on shadow complex (I ended up repeating the opening sequence up
until I destroy the first tarantula you come to on insane) and the achievement unlocked. Now I am trying for the minimalis achievement and thought what the hell I will try the insurgent run (4% instead of 13% of items) and I just got the missiles when I noticed it didn't I've me unlimited like it is supposed to.
Did you run in to any similar problems where you had to grind past the required point to actually get the benefit?? I haven't seen anyone else online talk about this issue so far and was really expecting my unlimited missiles!!!
@Ray
I was watching Nvidia's keynote on 3D and noticed something interesting. One of the slides has a picture of a DS with Mario jumping out of it. Obviously those are trademarks Nvidia couldn't put up there without Nintendo's approval. Do you think this is an indication that the 3DS will be running Tegra after all?
@Sandrock323 Well spotted! You might be onto something.
@ bsukenyan;
Congrats on getting to level 50. I did the minimalist achievement before getting to level 50, so the infinite missiles were pretty much obsolete for me, but I do know what you are talking about. See, when you get unlimited special weapons in the game (foam, grenades, missiles), you have to get the first one before you can get the unlimited use out of that weapon. For example, if you reach level 30 for infinite foam and you start a new game, you won't have infinite foam until you get the first foam pack upgrade. So in order to get the actual infinite ammo for the special weapon, you have to get the first expansion of that weapon. Got it?
-M
@Iceman
Thank you, it took a little bit of grinding to get the level 50, but it got here sooner than I thought it would. And that makes sense about the unlimited ammo for the upgrade weapons, I got to level 50 and started a new game on casual almost right away. I checked out the master's challenges and figured if I was going for the minimalist achievement I might as well attempt the insurgent master achievement. Well the insurgent run has you going through a couple shortcuts that I never would have found without a guide, and one of those shortcuts has me only pick up one missile upgrade pack only, so I still haven't gotten to the point where you pick up the missiles and then get an upgrade pack. If you went through the minimalist achievement without using the infinite missiles though, hopefully I can make it through the insurgent run without them.