Video game thread. Huzzah!

[Atrox]

Starting Saints Row III tonight, don't know the series at all, what can I expect? Some kind of GTA?

[t-rey]

I've never played any of the Saint's Row games, but have watched friends play 3. From what I've seen it's an even more absurd GTA style game that has a character editor that is deep enough my brother has a character that looks pretty much exactly like Nicholas Cage.

Rampaging seems to be the primary focus. I've never seen anyone actually play a mission.

[Ryan]

The Last Of Us was sure a powerful gaming experience hey! I couldn't stop watching it when it came out, stayed on twitch for a couple days and watched it get completed, what a story.

I think it's nice that other games are being made in the meantime, giving guys something to do until March 2014... when the ultimate game is released... Dark Souls 2.

[AngryGoldfish]

I finished The Last of Us last week. Holy. Shit. Easily in my top 10 favorite games.

Been decompressing and playing Forza 4 since then. Which I'm having a blast with.

Need to start Dishonored again - accidentally deleted my save data when freeing up space for my Forza install

I will probably pick up Saints Row at some point down the line. Looks like too much fun to rampage in that game!

I'd put it in my top ten as well.

Starting Saints Row III tonight, don't know the series at all, what can I expect? Some kind of GTA?

It's more like Just Cause than GTA. GTA IV was pretty serious in places. There is no seriousness in Saints Row.

[Ryan]

Saints Row is so silly and outlandish and full of laughs.. it's a fun series!

[AngryGoldfish]

I've read some reviews of the brand new one. So far most people say it's very good. I don't know if it'll be as successful as The Third, but it looks like a lot of fun. Apparently the graphics are worse than its predecessor. They toned them down in order to maintain a playable frame out while flying around as a superhero president.

[Ryan]

haha flying around the super hero president, what a premise hey! I've watched about an hour of it so far and it's good I think.. I've read comments saying it should have just been a DLC for #3 though.

[AngryGoldfish]

I've heard that, too. It does seem like an expansion pack. It's hard to design a successor to a game like Saints Row The Third without it coming across as an expansion pack. They took that game so far that there was little else to do with it but make it sillier. I think they chose the lesser of two evils. It wouldn't fit as an expansion but neither does it fit as genuine sequel.

[space6oy]

i'm still fighting off a PS3 just to play the last of us.

[AngryGoldfish]

I bought a PS3 just for Uncharted. I ended up using it more than my 360. However, I always Google which platform to use these days. For instance, I just bought Sleeping Dogs for the 360, but originally was going to buy it for the PS3. Just as I was about to order, I Googled the comparison and found that the 360 looked better and supposedly had better frame rates, so I bought it on the 360 instead. I prefer the controller on the Xbox anyway. I just think the PS3 is better built machine and prefer the software layout.

[Ryan]

I really enjoyed the Uncharted series, really fun as a viewer! Another great PS3 exclusive is Demon's Souls, still loving that game too. The Last Of Us, wow, what a gaming experience. Is it just me or are video games now a much more powerful, engrossing, and expressive medium than movies? Or have they always been? Except for that awful ET game in the 80s...

I spent the most of Friday and Saturday watching a guy on twitch.tv play the remake of Resident Evil 1, awesome game, tons of fun, super cool, killer background entertainment. Twitch.tv is a ton of fun if you guys need some entertainment!

[AngryGoldfish]

There are definitely more immersive games than there used to be. The original Deus Ex, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Grim Fandango, etc. were all excellent examples of great storytelling and immersiveness. But nowadays, pretty much every year we have multiple games with incredible characters and storylines. Bioshock, The Walking Dead, Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto, Mass Effect, Space Ops: The Line, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Batman, The Witcher, Uncharted, Heavy Rain, LA Noire, Alan Wake, Max Payne, Fallout, etc., etc.

I think the improved graphics and more realistic portrayal of characters by famous actors and professionals adds to this. Society in general are demanding more dark and brooding visions on screen. Realism is in, and that makes for great story and character development.

[t-rey]

I think that games are becoming more credible as a method of story telling partly because the people who grew up playing games (us) are getting older and still enjoy playing games...but we want them to be worth our ever decreasing amount of free time.

Also I've been playing Lego Batman 2 to take a break from heavy/serious games. Holy. Shit. Its sooooo much fun!

[AngryGoldfish]

That's a good point. It made me think that, as we the original gamers age, we demand more realistic and lifelike stories and characters, as well as demanding more bang for our buck. We still want to play Lego Batman and shit, but the market definitely has shifted.

[Ryan]

Games are super immersive now, it's incredible really... I was about 10 when the first Nintendo came out in ~85 and I was also into table top gaming that far back too and I look at the kind of D&D experiences you can have with video games now and it just blows that little kid inside of me away, all the time, they're so cool and immersive and awesome... special stuff for sure, I flippin love video games!