Dollar for Dollar

[George]

So after so much time spent on editing and fixing the website, I've finally gone back to gaming. With exception of Mass Effect 2, I haven't played many games since November, when I had traded in many of my favorite games.

That's right, I traded in Arkham Asylum, Left 4 Dead, Modern Warfare 2, Ghostbusters, the first Mass Effect, Orange Box, and COD: World at War. The only games I owned for a while were the Halo series, both Gears of War games, and a scratched up Dead Rising.

It was hard to give up so many games, and even harder to not play any games for a while. But finally I've gotten some time and a little bit of money to start playing again. Mass Effect 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and I'm looking into playing Bad Company 2.

The real question is, how on earth will I afford the time and money to play the many great games coming out this year? Halo Reach, Starcraft 2, Mass Effect 2 DLC, Natal, Portal 2, Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition, Arkham Asylum 2, Alan Wake, and let's not forget Gears of War 3 if/when they announce it at E3.

And please don't even get me started on the PS3. I haven't felt the need to buy one until now, after so many great games coming out. Then again, would I want to spend another 300$ on a system? Depends on the reviews I suppose. But the idea of playing SOCOM with "Move" sounds really cool.

On a final note, is anyone else outraged at the price for Modern Warfare 2 maps? You can read about it here. But apparently it's going to cost 15$ for five maps! So if I do buy Modern Warfare again, even if I get it used, I'll be spending more than I spent on the original game to play with these new maps! I'll tell you one thing, the Prehistoric Warfare map pack won't cost nearly as much, in fact you get it free if you Preorder Prehistoric Warfare 2: The Ice Age...

[winKoneR]

Things arounds MW2 are so much dissapointing these days. First they announced no support of dedicated servers, then we found out that MP was full of bugs which drove us mad and the IW.net is still one of the stupidest thing I had ever chance to use. Then Activision fired heads of Infinity Ward. Then BFBC2 comes out, ( cleverly ) without these things. And now Activision wants 15$ ( 15€ in Europe, as usual ) for five new maps ? Funny Compare this to Bioware's DLC support for ME2 ( they announced they will be releasing DLC's till the ME3 will come out.. that's two years of DLC's... propably at least one of them will be charged, but still... if it was a Activision game, we paid 3$ only for the Normandy DLC ). I don't know why are they doing this. Activision Blizzard has money to start they own country... but they propably wants us to play BFBC2.

[George]

Yeah man I hear ya. Modern Warfare was a lot of fun for me, but once the glitches started up, I just didn't see a point to playing it. A third of the time I play I get raped because I'm playing the way I play Halo or Gears, with teamwork in mind....The other two thirds of the time I'm in a game with some kind of glitch...or the gametype loads incorrectly...

Eventually the happiness the game is giving me, is outweighed by the grief. And from a hedonistic philosophical view...this just isn't worth playing.

But I still wish I didn't trade in the game, after all the campaign was amazing!

[winKoneR]

Yeah... I hear a lot of players bitching about singleplayer's lenght and stuff... but man, it was full of epic action. I loved it, I finished it 4 times and I'm still planning to play it again ( you know, to do the rest of achievements ). But multiplayer is as you say. I stopped playing L4D2 for same reason ( I truly hate this game now)... 1/3 of the time I was trying to avoid lobby errors, steam errors and stuff like this to join a game, 2/3 I was trying to find a game without people who rage-quitted after they blew up they first hunter pounce and 3/3 of time I was glitching with charger. Stupid piece of #!¤@%!!!

[JDarkley]

I'm big Max Payne fan so I've been waiting for Alan Wake forever. Halo Reach looks cool and going to get it, but the game I'm probably most exited for this year is the new Splinter Cell. It looks like the game that even people who hated the slow pace of the other games would want to play this one. All the small ways that they've made it more streamlined and yet kept the gameplay as a whole open just looks cool. And it comes out in a month, wahoo! Now I just need to play Double Agent first since I skipped it. Any body else excited for Splinter Cell or is it just me?

[George]

I'm actually excited for it...that's one of the ones I forgot to list, not to mention Max Payne 3!

I like how they are speeding up splinter cell, while it might upset fans of the original, people like me who couldn't stand the slow pace, or stealth games will enjoy it. Plus, from what I gather in the storyline, this is to be expected. If things go bad for a spy, you ditch the stealth and cut straight to the killing.

[NUXpatent]

Usually when a game get's delayed it ruins my hype for it, but I am so happy that Splinter Cell got delayed. The direction they were initially going with their first E3 reveal wasn't Splinter Cell at all, it was a modern day Assassin's Creed.

This game looks damn sweet. And while most gameplay you see has Sam shootin' a bunch of people, Ubisoft has released a video demonstrating that it is possible to play through a level without being seen.

I remember playing Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (Best Splinter Cell yet, Double Agent is a big meh) and trying to go through levels doing what I call "100% Expert Leave No Trace". Go through a level without leaving any stab wounds, and bullet wounds, any broken lights, or any spent less-than-lethal munitions. Being a true master ninja. It was so fun!

[George]

Damn man, that's a dedication. I can only do so much stealth before I freak out, cut loose and start killing people. (that sounds more disturbing than I intended it)

But I've been a perfectionist like that in games before. I remember going through Halo:CE, playing missions three times over just so I could go through it and kill people with only a pistol or a melee move. (Silent Cartographer was perfect for this).

[NUXpatent]

Why do we do these things without achievements?!

[JDarkley]

Why do we do these things without achievements?!

Because we are bad-asses, NUX. 'cause we are bad-asses.