Video Games.

[TWC]

I may turn to you people for recommendations as to which console to buy.  My boy just recently turned 8 and is beginning to bug me about it (of course, it's easy to brush him off by reminding him we don't have a TV to connect it to).  About a year ago we bought a pair of knock-off PlayStation USB controllers and the Lego Star Wars Clone Wars game through Apple's App Store.  It's taken us a long time of pretty casual play (half-hour here, 45 minutes there) through our iMac, but we've almost fully completed it and its predecessor.

 

(This is a far cry from the hours-long Zelda-defeating marathons my brother and I had when we were his age.)

[jh03]

I bought an Xbox One when it first came out and I honestly rarely ever play it. Just not any games.

 

However, I did just go out and buy a ps4 last Tuesday just for The Show. Totally worth it.

[Scarey]

What's the new Blizzard game like Scary?


I still play Diablo 3 now and again too.

 

It's a genre of game called a MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena). The game nakedman references, Smite, is also a MOBA. You basically control one character in a similar way you would control a unit in Starcraft or Warcraft, and you play with 4 other team mates. You play against a team of 5 players. You're objective is to destroy the heart of the enemy team's base. Heroes of the Storm actually has characters from each of Blizzards main titles. You can play as Raynor, Diablo, Kerigan, various Diablo 3 nephalem, various prominent heroes from Warcraft, and more.

 

It's in alpha, but I think it's pretty nicely polished so far. I think they'll be doing a lot of balancing and adding in more polish, but it's a pretty fun game so far. It will be free to play but you can pay to unlock characters quicker or to get new skins for your characters.

 

Here's a cinematic trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ecv0bT9DEo

 

Here's a gameplay video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=652N8sOQb4M

[jeffy]

Scarey, I have Titanfall on PC. It's fun, but I probably would hold off on buying it if I were you since it's already getting hard to find online matches. Just not enough people playing it on PC compared to consoles. Same thing happened with the last couple CoD's on PC. I bought Ghosts on launch day and it's reallly fun, but I barely even play it anymore because it's so hard to find good matches on PC. My friends and I usually just end up twiddling our thumbs in the lobby when we try to play so we gave up on it. Titanfall is almost there already as well. Pretty sad actually...


It wouldn't be so bad, but the fact that these companies took away dedicated servers on PC is to blame for a lot of it. If you look at older titles such as CoD 4, people are still playing those online because they have dedicated servers so the players have their regular places where they like to hangout and play. I'm still bitter about the decision to axe dedicated severs (MW2 started the trend) because it's changed PC gaming for the worse as far as FPS games go.

[nakedman1664]

 

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Dingo" data-cid="218009" data-time="1399901213">
<div>
What's the new Blizzard game like Scary?


I still play Diablo 3 now and again too.

 

It's a genre of game called a MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena). The game nakedman references, Smite, is also a MOBA. You basically control one character in a similar way you would control a unit in Starcraft or Warcraft, and you play with 4 other team mates. You play against a team of 5 players. You're objective is to destroy the heart of the enemy team's base. Heroes of the Storm actually has characters from each of Blizzards main titles. You can play as Raynor, Diablo, Kerigan, various Diablo 3 nephalem, various prominent heroes from Warcraft, and more.

 

It's in alpha, but I think it's pretty nicely polished so far. I think they'll be doing a lot of balancing and adding in more polish, but it's a pretty fun game so far. It will be free to play but you can pay to unlock characters quicker or to get new skins for your characters.

 

</div>
</blockquote>
Definitely going to try it once it comes out, or enters an open beta at least. I love my MOBA's. Was all in on LoL for about 2 years, then just got fed up with the community and switched over to Smite at the beginning of the year. It's fantastic, the third person view changes everything. 

[Luke]

I may turn to you people for recommendations as to which console to buy. 

 

Right now I have a hard time recommending the XBox One.  It's more expensive, slightly underpowered (comparatively), comes with a worse subscription service, and most of the XBox exclusives wind up on PC in some form or another anyway.

 

And that's assuming you trust the inventors of Internet Explorer and Windows ME to secure that always-on motion tracking camera you have to put in your house as part of the price of admission.  Some are fine with it; some aren't.  

 

I'd pocket the extra hundred bucks and head for the PS4.  As an added bonus, all PS4 games can be streamed onto a PS Vita, and that feature is said to work pretty well.  That means you can play from bed at 3 AM on a Vita even if the PS4 is in a different room (assuming you've got a fairly decent home wifi network).  Because I'm sure the ability to play from bed at 3 AM is one of the leading factors in your decision making.

[nakedman1664]

I'm not swayed one way or the other yet as far as the Xbox One or PS4. The Wii U is the choice for me, for now. 

 

 

I MUST have my Nintendo games, I just can't live without them. The best gaming moment I have had in the last few years? Pounding down some beers playing Super Mario 3D World with 3 of my best buds a few weeks ago at my place. I love my online gaming, but I'd be hard pressed to remember a moment where I have had so much fun. And that is Nintendo to me - just pure fun. I'm not hating on PS4 or Xbox One, and I will probably own one of them within the year (if I had to chose now: Xbox One because Titanfall). Even now the Wii U will be a secondary system, and until (if ever) they get some third party support it always will be.

[TWC]

So, to show how out of it I am (the last console I owned was my upgrade to the original NEW system -- TurboGrafix16, bitches!), I don't know the answer to this question:

 

Are they all subscription-based?  I'm not cool w/ that.  At least, not yet.  I mean, my boy is 8.  We're looking to play many of the Lego games together; he'll want to play Minecraft (he's a huge fan of the iPad version, but he's only played the full version at friends' houses).  It'll be some time before he wants (or I'm willing to let him) play CoD-type games.  Puzzles and fun is what we're looking for.

 

Also: since we need to buy a TV first, if the console can double as a Blu-Ray player, that's a huuuuuge bonus.  AFAIK, that's only the PS4, right?

[Luke]

Nope.  The subscription stuff is optional.  Both lock multiplayer gaming behind the subscription (XBox Live Gold and PSN+), but single player stuff is fine.  Patches, etc., will all be delivered as well.  And on Sony products you don't need the PSN+ to use any other apps on the device.  Microsoft locks streaming video like Netflix and (I think) MLB.tv behind Gold (and yes, you still have to pay for Netflix, etc. separately).

 

PSN+ does provide quite a few free games each month, though, including some of the higher quality ones.  It's pretty easy to get your couple bucks a month out of it.  

 

CoD type stuff is overrated anyway.

 

PS4 can double as a bluray (as can the PS3).  Not sure about the Xbox One, but the 360 used a different format.

 

If you have a 1920x1080 monitor laying around that has an HDMI port, you may not need a TV.  I suspect you could plug it up and it'd work.  

[jeffy]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Luke" data-cid="217972" data-time="1399846009">
Does working on them count?

 

:ph34r:

Do tell.</blockquote>


Or don't...


I see the links, but what exactly do you do?

[jh03]

Xbox One has Bluray.. but to me it sounds like you would prefer a ps4. 

[jeffy]

If you like MLB games at all you have to get a PS4 because the Xbone has nothing for MLB games while the PS4 has the best MLB game of all time.

[MichiganGoat]

I actually despise video games and haven't played one without kids or being forced to because all the "guys" are playing video games while the "girls" gossip or whatever they do when they get together in a large room (my guess is the boil our souls in a cauldron)  for over 5 years.  I've never been very good at them and never wanted to spend the time to get good at them.  I did play through high school and college because you kind of have to and have a Wii for the kids and the only game I was ever good at was Tecmo Bowl once the games went beyond up, down, left, right, b, a to two 360 controls and like 10,000 buttons I quit. 

 

I'd rather goof off with all you knuckleheads

[jh03]

I actually despise video games 

Video games are fun. Fun things are fun. Don't be a fun hater. 

[liner]

Anyone played South Park: Stick of Truth?

I just bought this today. I play The Show in the summer and Madden in the winter and that's it. I sell each when I buy the other along with whatever games my kids have compiled and no longer play and haven't "paid" for either in about 4 years. I love South Park, though, so I got both that and The Show today for ten bucks.