October 11, 2007 at 10:30 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Fun with Computers
October 12, 2007 at 1:58 am
My wife told me that spending quality time with your kids is doing with them what they want to do, not what you wanted to do. So I started playing games with my son from the age of 9. We started with games like StarCraft, because I could help when he was in trouble. Between 10 and 12 he became just as good as me, and after that he called his dad a noob. He is now 17 and in the top 5 players in our province. He is a UT2004 player, but lately we have been playing Battlefield 2142. It allows you to chat to your squad members while playing and that adds a lot of fun to the game. And although we spend an hour minimum a day playing(if possible, work and homework allowing it), my wife never complains, because I am doing what she requested. 🙂
5ilverFox
Consulting DBA / Developer
South Africa
October 12, 2007 at 2:30 am
From the standard card games, I prefer FreeCell over Solitaire, but I don't play this type of games much. When there are just a few minutes to while away, I sometimes play Minesweeper ... but to be honest, it's pretty boring. I have more fun reading SQLS Central forums :D. Lots of funny things here, like discussions about bankers rounding 😛
But this article was about gaming, so here we go. I relax best at strategic games - good old DOS Civilization was the first great game I played; but best games ever (for me) are city-building strategies Caesar III and Pharaoh... and Guild Wars as best online game.
October 12, 2007 at 2:35 am
Steve
Here are my two favourite games of the moment, both of them are free and simple, so they suit me down to the ground. On top of this, both of these games give you the abillity to either invite a friend or set up a mini league, so great for a little office competition.
http://www.armorgames.com/games/antbuster.html
http://flightsimx.archive.amnesia.com.au/
I warn you tho, they can be addicitive
October 12, 2007 at 4:59 am
I made it kind of policy not to play games in the office. I find it offending to "play around" while others are doing actual work. Instead, I'll use the idle time to snoop around the internet and learn about things. howsuffworks.com is a nice place to learn a thing or two and there's always wikipedia.
At home, Freecell usually kills the time when downloading something or burning a CD/DVD and most of the time I'll have WinAMP playing a bunch of music that I'm normally not listening to anymore.
Since we have kids, there's no more time to endlessly play games like Falcon or Medal of Honor, but occasionally the friends will setup a LAN-party and we get to beat eachother up and shout profanities digitally without any real blood being drawn. While the others roam the maps toting about their MG's and blazing away, I prefer to find a neat place to hide and pick them off with my sniper-rifle.
By the way: Medal of Honor Airborn really kicks some new graphical ***. If anybody at EA hangs around here: great work!
October 12, 2007 at 5:31 am
The editorial mentions World Of Warcraft and describes it as a life-altering game but in my opinion it only consumes your life if you allow it to. Gamers get addicted because it's just so damn good. I used to be a fan of the Halo series but since experiencing PVP (Player-versus-Player) on WoW I just can't get into it anymore. So for me WoW is by far the best game I've ever played. Guild Wars is a great, cheaper online alternative to WoW. Last but not least Guitar Hero II on the Xbox 360 - challenging, highly amusing and of course great fun.
October 12, 2007 at 5:38 am
Okay, I guess I can be called a hard-core gamer because if I am not programming I can be probably found playing on my XBox 360 - and yes, I do belong to 2old2play.com! As far as PC games, I was really into Diablo II - Lord of Destruction. I tired of that after a couple of YEARS and started to play some Titan's Quest. As far as quick online games, I love and also am a member of pogo.com (owned by EA). There I can meet many interesting people and pogo has a lot of little java-applet games to play.
As far as the XBox - it is Gears of War all the way!
And by the way, if anyone is interested and has a gamertag on XBox live, look me up - my gamertag is "guyinkalamazoo".
October 12, 2007 at 6:25 am
I'm fairly embarrassed to admit just how good I am at Minesweeper. Great for blowing a few minutes here or there. I never really got all that fascinated by consoles and such as I'm firmly in the "I spend all day starting at a monitor, why would I spend all night doing the same" camp. Sure I've no kids and that may play into it, but I also much prefer outdoor activities like playing a round of golf when I can, and there's always something that needs to be done around the house. That and my major hobby currently is brewing (and drinking of course) beer which also takes up a decent amount of my time.
October 12, 2007 at 6:41 am
Finally a topic that I can talk for hours on! My current obsession is Titan Quest - Immortal Throne. If anyone out there ever liked playing Diablo, then this game is for you. I won't go into details, but this game clones Diablo, and then owns it.
My favorite shooter to play is UT2004, hands down. Halo is nice if you like to feel like you are running through mud and have shots randomly miss. But that's another thread all on it's own.
I have about 10 pcs networked together in my basement and about every 2 months hold a LAN party. Much much fun. I also have made a UT2004 map of my basment and downtown St. Louis.
I would have to say that the two games that have consumed the most of my life are probably Warcraft III and then Titan Quest. I could beat Insane at 100% in about 15min on a small map. I have beaten Insane with me at 80% before also.
Oh, and as far as solitare card games go - spider solitaire is the best.
October 12, 2007 at 6:44 am
Steve,
I never knew you were a backgammon fan! I'll have to give you a game next time I'm over and you can buy me a beer when you lose;). The backgammon game on my mobile phone has got me through quite a few slow and very boring bus journeys around Cambridge.
I'm like you – pretty much "10 mins here and there" as far as games are concerned. My wife won't let me buy an XBox, but I do own a Nintendo DS and a PSP. Generally, I've found it hard to find many games that hold my attention. An exception was a game called "Diner Dash" on the PSP. You're a waitress rushing around serving food and drinks and trying to keep various types of customer happy (students, families, business types etc). It sounds ridiculous I know, but it's well done, and very addictive.
Cheers,
Tony.
October 12, 2007 at 7:12 am
My favourite game for PocketPC is Warring States, a freeware and not-too-complex Risk-like strategy game. I spent dozens of hours with it. This is why I wanted a PocketPC emulator onto my desktop 🙂
On PC, I'm a Starcraft believer. No comment on it, if someone shares my feeling, then they know, if someone doesn't, then... er... they're different. 🙂
-- Erik
-- Erik http://blog.rollback.hu
October 12, 2007 at 7:26 am
Another UT2004 fan here! 😀 Absolutely love that game. I like to play Civilization IV too, talk about a time waster, erm weekend waster. Thanks for the headsup on Titan Quest. I liked playing Diablo II so it sounds interesting.
I got a PS3 last month and so far just have Ninja Gaiden Sigma for it, but it's a darn nice game. Controls are excellent and having a wireless controller really helps keep the controller cable from knocking things over when you start jumping in excitement at some super awesome combo you've just pulled off. 😉
At work I play Chess on itsyourturn.com, it's a nice quick diversion. I swear man, with so many games to play who has time for a life. 😛
October 12, 2007 at 7:37 am
I'm loving Age of Empires, and have since I first discovered it at uni 8 yeras ago. Not a 5 minute game though!
Next time my hubby is out for the day, and I've done all the housework etc, I shall be sitting down for a while and getting absorbed in AOEIII..... not finished it yet! 😀
October 12, 2007 at 7:46 am
Steve Jones - Editor (10/11/2007)
Comments posted to this topic are about the item
Sadly, I don't get to play many computer games anymore. I play mostly chess. But I fondly recall the arcade games of "yesteryear" - Donkey Kong, Zoo Keeper, Galaxian, Pac Man, etc. And I don't know if there is a way to get them these days, but the Atari and ActiVision games were great - Tennis, Missile Command, Space Invaders, and so on.
I recently saw the ad for Halo 3 and was stunned. Games are now like living in a real alternate world.
-------------------
A SQL query walks into a bar and sees two tables. He walks up to them and asks, "Can I join you?"
Ref.: http://tkyte.blogspot.com/2009/02/sql-joke.html
October 12, 2007 at 8:48 am
I don't typically play any sort of computer games. I've never own a game console or anything. For an IT guy, I am an exception.
But in those rare moments when I do play a game it is normally Bejeweled. I don't play it often, but when I do it is always as a way of passing the time while waiting for something else to happen; like when I'm on the phone with technical support and I know it will be a while I'll start playing Bejeweled until whoever finally gets on the phone with me.
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
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