Feb 2010: What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying

My February gaming was a letdown.

I have embedded the new What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying spreadsheet for January below.  The overall spreadsheet (includes previous months) can be found here.

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Game of the Month


Mass Effect
Cost: $4.99 (Steam Holiday Sale)
Played: 5 hrs
3-words: Sucked, gets better.





My game of the month was Mass Effect; in honor of the release of Mass Effect 2 this month.

Mass Effect is growing on me.  At first I despised the combat and drawn out conversations.  Mass Effect has one of the worst introductions to an RPG that I've ever played.  There was nothing in the first four hours of the game that made me jump for joy.

However, I now have a feel for the game and have let the cards fall where they may.  I'm picking up steam, rock hopping across the galaxy and sticking to the main storyline.  I find the side quests easily and best avoided.  I didn't log as many hours I had hoped this month, but I do still plan to finish Mass Effect.

March's GotM: Battlefield: Bad Company 2

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/Played

In the /Played section, I cover other games I played during the month.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Beta

I love the Battlefield games.  Bad Company 2 is the next great title in the series and I spent most of my gaming time with it this month.  From my initial impressions post:

The first thing that struck me about Bad Company 2 (BC2) was it's destructive nature. As can be seen in the video, almost every wall and obstacle can be destroyed. This was something promised back in the days of Battlefield 2 and only partially realized in BC1. BC2 takes it to another level. No wall, box, barrel, or cement slab seems safe. Annoying sniper on the third floor three buildings down? Level the first two buildings and smoke that fucker out.

The full version goes live March 2nd and I am dedicating most of March to this great game!

Allods Online Open Beta

Its been an up and down month for Allods Online and its open beta.  I put a few hours in and have Healer and Scout leveling slowly, but surely.  Regardless of how the cash shop debacle turns out, I have to admit that Allods is a fun game to play in its free version.  That's why its so disheartening that the upcoming game changes could kill the fun.

Also, my Allods Online guide is coming along nicely.

Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead 2, like most of Valve's games never gets old.  I hooked up and rocked out for some great VS. matches on The Parish campaign.  The finale, bridge map for The Parish is one of my favorites.

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/Paid

Total spent this Month: $49.99
My Value Rating: Average

Bad Company 2 was expensive at $49.99.  I would have felt more comfortable at a $35 price point.  However, I was fortunate enough to receive a $75 "points" card as a bonus from work.  One of the few things it can be used on is a prepaid card usable on Steam games.  That is the only reason I shelled out $49.99 for this game.

I have now used up $105.16 of my $180 gaming budget for 2010.  Stay tuned each month to see if I can stay on track!

Jan 2010: What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying

Welcome to the first What I'm Playing and What I'm Paying post for 2010.  In the future I will attempt to have these posts ready for the first of each month, but Heartless_ Jr is teething and when I finally had free time this past week all I wanted to do was own face in Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

I have embedded the new What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying spreadsheet for January below.  The overall spreadsheet can be found here.

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Game of the Month 

Mirror's Edge
Cost: $4.99 (Steam Holiday Sale)
Played: 7 hours
3-words: Fun action puzzler.






My game of the month was Mirror's Edge.  Unfortunately, the fun for Mirror's Edge ended after 7 hours when I completed the game.  I tried to move onto the time trials, but became bored trying to shave another second off my runs.

Early in January, I compared the game to Portal in a post and it really sums up my thoughts: 

Mirror's Edge is a racing puzzle game, not an action FPS.  The sooner that is understood, the sooner the game can be enjoyed.  Forget that there is gun-play, this game is all about getting from point A to B in the fastest time and most efficient manner.

The only game I can compare Mirror's Edge to is Portal.

At 7 hours played, I feel the price tag of $4.99 was worth it.  I enjoyed the game.

February's Game of the Month: Mass Effect

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/Played

In the /Played section, I will cover the other games I've played during the month.

Civilization 4 (Civ4)
Civ4 caught me off guard.  I didn't anticipate liking it as much as I have.  While it is a simple game to pick up and play, there is a wide variety of things to understand and master in the game.  Even after 22 hours of play, I feel like a fish out of water.  I agonize over every little decision, wondering if it was the right one.  As it is with most involved strategy games, its impossible to tell in most cases whether you made the right decision or not (outside of military conflict that is, its pretty easy when your army is eating dirt and the enemy's is not).  However, I am learning how my decisions will affect each game and therefore making better decisions because of it.

Trine

Trine is a great platform puzzle game.  Also, its a gorgeous quasi-3D game.  It took me about 6 hours to finish and was another $4.99 winner from the Steam Holiday Sale.

Mass Effect

Sure, Mass Effect 2 just launched, but I'm old school and am just catching up on Mass Effect 1.  I've warmed my hands up with a couple hours of play this month and will dive into it hardcore in February. 

Defense Grid: The Awakening
A great tower-defense game which I purchased solely to play on my underpowered laptop when I'm away from home.  Two hours of mindless fun enjoyed so far.

Braid
This is a puzzle game caught between crazyland and Super Mario World.  All I can say is that I'm lazy and routinely have to look at cheats... for level 1!  However, that is due to some basic things not being explained in-game (like moving the puzzles around to create platforms to jump on).  Even knowing how to do something does not make it any easier to pull off.  Also, watching the cheats gives a good overview of some of the "basics" that any Braid player will need to survive.  I feel a lot less frustrated after having watched some cheat videos and am confident I can tackle the rest of the game cheat-free (or not).

S.T.A.L.K.E.R Shadow of Chernobyl
A lot of people love this game, but after roughly an hour with the game I have mixed feelings.  I'm not sure if I have the time or motivation to keep playing.  There are a lot of nuances and "omg its like real life" things I need to figure out about the game.  And I keep forgetting to save my progress.

Allods Online
I enjoyed a few hours of Allods Online and look forward to the launch.  This will be my main MMOG for 2010.

Rome: Total War

Sorry, Civ4 won my strategy side over and not sure I will play Rome: Total War past the one hour I invested.

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/Paid

Total spent this Month: $55.17
My Value Rating: Excellent

It is rare for me to spend money on a game that I am not going to play immediately, but the Steam Holiday Sale was insane.  I had to stock up!  Plus, it will only take a few hours of play to get my money's worth out of each game.

NOTE: This report includes data from a short period of time from Dec 2009 as well as all of January 2010.

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Now Playing: Civilization 4 and Mass Effect

My journey through the pile of games I picked up from the Steam Holiday Sale continues.

Civilization 4
It has been years since I played a proper strategy game.  For $13.60, I grabbed the complete Civilization 4 (Civ4) collection.  I also picked up Rome: Total War, another strategy game for $2.49.  I set zero expectations for either game, knowing that one of the two would win over my strategy sessions.

I was able to complete the tutorial and start the official campaign in Rome: Total War.  After starting the campaign I became confused and defeated.  I didn't know what I should be doing and every decision I made felt like the wrong one on the next turn.

It took me about an hour to complete the tutorial in Civ4.   That was around midnight. I didn't go to sleep until 2 AM.  Civ4 is one of those games that makes players lose track of time.  While Civ4 is not an easy game by any means, its a game that allows room for mistakes and misjudgments.  Instead of making my decisions seem worthless, Civ4 presents me with another one.  Before long, I was so far into my decision making tree that the mistakes I was making weren't anything more than learning experiences.  Its a tough thing to describe, but it feels right.

I am loving Civ4.

Mass Effect
I've ignored single-player RPGs for the past few years and Mass Effect is one of the highly-rated games I missed.  At $4.99 through the Steam sale, it was a must buy.

After an hour of play, I am on the fence about the game.  It doesn't feel like the great game that the reviews and general praise make it out to be.  The main feature, the dialogue system, feels monotone and lengthy. The bland main character, Shepard, isn't helping.

However, there were a few areas that caught my attention.  The character progression and combat is solid.  The backstory and expanded universe is intriguing.  There is enough to keep me going forward and hopefully the story will pull me in at some point.

If not, I have Bioware's other RPG: Jade Empire.

Mass Effect DRM Problems

Here we are, discussing Mass Effect's DRM, but this time, the predictions about the DRM fucking over legitimate customers have actually come true.

Fuck anyone that believed the announced DRM for Mass Effect and Spore would not cause problems.

Whats truly sad is that once again the CRACKED version of the game has NO PROBLEMS, but the LEGITIMATE copies, bought and paid for, have a plethora of issues locking gamers out of their games.

I am seriously backed into a corner now regarding Spore. I absolutely want to play the game, but I do not want to "vote" for the DRM that will be attached by buying the game.

I'm tech savvy, deal with software licensing issues for a living as an IT guy, and probably could solve or avoid most of the problems. That isn't my concern. My concern is the majority of gamers that are not educated on this sort of DRM and who may get pushed out of the market by stupid, unfounded anti-piracy efforts.

Mass Effect DRM Problems

Here we are, discussing Mass Effect's DRM, but this time, the predictions about the DRM fucking over legitimate customers have actually come true.

Fuck anyone that believed the announced DRM for Mass Effect and Spore would not cause problems.

Whats truly sad is that once again the CRACKED version of the game has NO PROBLEMS, but the LEGITIMATE copies, bought and paid for, have a plethora of issues locking gamers out of their games.

I am seriously backed into a corner now regarding Spore. I absolutely want to play the game, but I do not want to "vote" for the DRM that will be attached by buying the game.

I'm tech savvy, deal with software licensing issues for a living as an IT guy, and probably could solve or avoid most of the problems. That isn't my concern. My concern is the majority of gamers that are not educated on this sort of DRM and who may get pushed out of the market by stupid, unfounded anti-piracy efforts.

Fuck, Fuck, Fuck

I've talked up Spore around the Internet as possibly one of the most defining games of all time for the PC. My bravado for the game has taken a -50 DKP hit today with the following announcement:

All it’s taken is one little post and a landslide of others follow. At least that’s what’s happened when Bioware’s Derek French reveals that Mass Effect and Spore will be coming with a fairly hefty piece of DRM attached. It won’t just activate online when you first install the game - it’ll also have to check in to the server regularly to continue working. If ten days go by without a check-in working, the game stops working. In other words, major lengthy internet outage, no playage. Since RPS-comrade Rossignol is going to be having that kinda length of time offline shortly, this has to be frowned at.

DRM kills games for me. I have avoided weighty DRM, and promoted avoiding it, for a long time. I simply refuse to buy games tied down by DRM. What the fuck is EA thinking? DRM that checks in repeatedly, not just upon installation?

My stance on Spore, as a game, is taking a sudden back seat to this DRM issue. I will most likely NOT BUY the game if this DRM makes it through to the final release and there are no alternative ways, such as Steam, to purchase the game.

So, as my title states, fuck.

Fuck, Fuck, Fuck

I've talked up Spore around the Internet as possibly one of the most defining games of all time for the PC. My bravado for the game has taken a -50 DKP hit today with the following announcement:

All it’s taken is one little post and a landslide of others follow. At least that’s what’s happened when Bioware’s Derek French reveals that Mass Effect and Spore will be coming with a fairly hefty piece of DRM attached. It won’t just activate online when you first install the game - it’ll also have to check in to the server regularly to continue working. If ten days go by without a check-in working, the game stops working. In other words, major lengthy internet outage, no playage. Since RPS-comrade Rossignol is going to be having that kinda length of time offline shortly, this has to be frowned at.

DRM kills games for me. I have avoided weighty DRM, and promoted avoiding it, for a long time. I simply refuse to buy games tied down by DRM. What the fuck is EA thinking? DRM that checks in repeatedly, not just upon installation?

My stance on Spore, as a game, is taking a sudden back seat to this DRM issue. I will most likely NOT BUY the game if this DRM makes it through to the final release and there are no alternative ways, such as Steam, to purchase the game.

So, as my title states, fuck.

PC Gamers Rejoice!

Spore has a release date!

Spore, the sim-everything simulator, finally got its amino acids together today and plopped out a release date of September 7, 2008. Looks like EA's boss was right that the long-in-production sim would reach retail "before the holidays" on the PC, Mac, Nintendo DS, and mobile phone platforms. Maxis' main man Will Wright said, "We're in our final stages of testing and polish with Spore, and the team at Maxis can't wait to see the cosmos of content created by the community later this year." That makes, well ... just about all of us.

Mass Effect is coming to the PC in May!

Given the absurdly long period of time between releases of the Halo games on Xbox and on PC, I wasn’t expecting Mass Effect till we had a new president, at the very least. But today we’ve gotten word that Mass Effect is coming to PC this May.

The game has been optimized for PC, with a new, fully customizable control scheme which will allow you to hot key biotic powers so you can avoid those pesky menus. Between the ability to hot key and higher res visuals, I’m almost sold. There’s also a new decryption mini-game and an “enhanced inventory screen” with a new GUI which hopefully means the absolutely horrendous equipment screens won’t be such a mess anymore.

Porn is still free!

PC Gamers Rejoice!

Spore has a release date!

Spore, the sim-everything simulator, finally got its amino acids together today and plopped out a release date of September 7, 2008. Looks like EA's boss was right that the long-in-production sim would reach retail "before the holidays" on the PC, Mac, Nintendo DS, and mobile phone platforms. Maxis' main man Will Wright said, "We're in our final stages of testing and polish with Spore, and the team at Maxis can't wait to see the cosmos of content created by the community later this year." That makes, well ... just about all of us.

Mass Effect is coming to the PC in May!

Given the absurdly long period of time between releases of the Halo games on Xbox and on PC, I wasn’t expecting Mass Effect till we had a new president, at the very least. But today we’ve gotten word that Mass Effect is coming to PC this May.

The game has been optimized for PC, with a new, fully customizable control scheme which will allow you to hot key biotic powers so you can avoid those pesky menus. Between the ability to hot key and higher res visuals, I’m almost sold. There’s also a new decryption mini-game and an “enhanced inventory screen” with a new GUI which hopefully means the absolutely horrendous equipment screens won’t be such a mess anymore.

Porn is still free!

My wife owned me, or was it Mass Effect?

Last night, while watching TV with my wife, a commercial for Mass Effect came on. Midway through the commercial, I remarked; "Oooh, another game I need to get."

A moment after my lips closed, a female in the commercial spoke: "Reqeust denied." With that, my wife looked over at me and smiled. We both busted out laughing.

My wife and I are fairly well off on the money train, but new game purchases are always a touchy subject. With my recent glut of purchases (Call of Duty 4, Dark Age of Camelot resub, The Orange Box), and the need to pay up for some more World of Warcraft time, this "request" was only a joke. Yet, the joke seemed to be on me.

Ah well, fate is a bitch sometimes.

NOTE: I don't own an Xbox 360 and really don't have plans to get Mass Effect. So, honey, if you are reading this, CALM DOWN :) I'll be home for dinner later.

My wife owned me, or was it Mass Effect?

Last night, while watching TV with my wife, a commercial for Mass Effect came on. Midway through the commercial, I remarked; "Oooh, another game I need to get."

A moment after my lips closed, a female in the commercial spoke: "Reqeust denied." With that, my wife looked over at me and smiled. We both busted out laughing.

My wife and I are fairly well off on the money train, but new game purchases are always a touchy subject. With my recent glut of purchases (Call of Duty 4, Dark Age of Camelot resub, The Orange Box), and the need to pay up for some more World of Warcraft time, this "request" was only a joke. Yet, the joke seemed to be on me.

Ah well, fate is a bitch sometimes.

NOTE: I don't own an Xbox 360 and really don't have plans to get Mass Effect. So, honey, if you are reading this, CALM DOWN :) I'll be home for dinner later.