What are you playing: Shacknews vs. GDC 2011

GDC is around the corner, but that doesn't mean the Shacknews staff is going to give up on gaming in order to pack for the trip. Here's what the staff is up to this weekend...

24

In "old Shack" we would use the Weekend Discussion post as a platform for the editors at Shacknews to discuss what games they would be enjoying over the weekend. As outlined in this Chatty post, that doesn't really work with the new format.

What we've decided to do is to bring the conversation here, to a frontpage post. This allows us to highlight Chatty on the frontpage as it was in the past and--with the link between comments on the frontpage and in Chatty--give our users a place to share their current gaming experiences.

Many of us are preparing to fly off to San Francisco for GDC 2011, which kicks off early next week. We've got a packed scheduled with plenty of previews and hands-on features on the horizon. Check Chatty regularly for the opportunity to ask developers your questions for the slate of upcoming games.

In the meantime: What are you playing? (Click any editor's name to visit their Twitter page. Follow Shacknews on Twitter for regular updates and contests.)

  • Garnett Lee: Getting ready to head to GDC with fun games such as ‘Call of Laundry’ but with what time I have I’ll be continuing my journey in The Witcher, supplemented with some PixelJunk Shooter 2 and Fight Night Champion.

  • Alice O'Connor: I have absolutely no idea, and I quite like that.

  • Xav de Matos: Wrapping up Bulletstorm for our review (we got it late), finalizing the GDC schedule for the crew, and doing my taxes. Fun will be had by all.

  • Jeff Mattas: I may try to track down a copy of Bulletstorm this weekend. Probably play some more of The Witcher and my second Mass Effect playthrough too. Then, I’m off to GDC!

  • Steve Watts: Looks like a busy weekend, what with birthday parties and concerts and Oscars. As a result, most of my gaming will be of the portable variety: Tactics Ogre, Dragon Quest IX, Valkyria Chronicles 2, maybe even some Pokemon. Here's hoping I can get a bit of Bulletstorm time in too.

  • Ozzie Mejia: Machines are taking over our world. First, it's Watson, now it's Sentinel. I'm popping in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 this weekend. For the good of humanity!

Xav de Matos was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

Filed Under
From The Chatty
  • reply
    February 26, 2011 9:00 AM

    Comment on What are you playing: Shacknews vs. GDC 2011, by Xav de Matos.

    • reply
      February 26, 2011 9:01 AM

      WRUP POST: As outlined in a previous Chatty thread, it's WRUP on the frontpage. We've also added some details about our upcoming GDC 2011 coverage.

    • reply
      February 26, 2011 9:02 AM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      February 26, 2011 9:13 AM

      About 2/3rds of the way through Duke Nukem: Time to Kill.

      Shooting to clear it out this weekend. Not sure if I'll hop right into Land of the Babes or not. Kind of want to start Split/Second after this.

      • reply
        February 26, 2011 9:14 AM

        I played Split/Second for a little bit. I enjoyed it. I should pick it up and finish it off.

        • reply
          February 26, 2011 9:15 AM

          I only grabbed it because it was dirt cheap during black friday and I recalled hearing some good stuff about both it and blur. Then a few weeks ago I watched a trailer and was all like "FUCK YES IN MY MOUTH PLZ". Now it's just a matter of sneaking it in at some point.

        • reply
          February 26, 2011 9:25 AM

          My issue with Split/Second on PC is locked 30 FPS and shoddy controller support in menus. Which is odd, as Black Rock did such an amazing job with PURE.

        • reply
          February 26, 2011 9:41 AM

          You might say that you *puts on sunglasses* played it for a split second!

    • reply
      February 26, 2011 9:22 AM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      February 26, 2011 9:24 AM

      DoW II Chaos Rising in anticipation of Retribution. So far it is leagues better than vanilla.

    • reply
      February 26, 2011 9:24 AM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        February 26, 2011 9:31 AM

        I can't speak for Garnett but I think the story drags on a little too much down there and missions often have you go from one end of the world to the other. Personally it was a small hump to get over in an otherwise fantastic game.

      • reply
        February 26, 2011 9:34 AM

        The land is more of a chore to navigate because of the buttes and valleys. You wind up having to take lengthy, round-about routes to get to otherwise nearby locations. America is all kind of wide open and easy to traverse.

        • reply
          February 26, 2011 9:41 AM

          Yeah and, while you have to travel a lot in the US, doing that same amount of traveling in Mexico can be daunting based on the region's geometry.

      • reply
        February 26, 2011 9:40 AM

        the story kinda breaks down there because you're obviously on a wild goose chase, running unrelated errands for people who are plainly not helping you

    • reply
      February 26, 2011 9:31 AM

      Dragon Age 1, must finish before 2 comes out.

      • reply
        February 26, 2011 9:40 AM

        Yeah man, I'm doing an Archer playthrough right now :D

    • reply
      February 26, 2011 9:49 AM

      Doing my part to keep PC gaming alive. Fallout: New Vegas and Civilization 5 to hold me over until Witcher 2 and Brink come out in May.

      • reply
        February 26, 2011 10:04 AM

        Very excited for The Witcher 2. Garnett talked about it during the last episode of Weekend Confirmed. It sounds like a big step up.

      • reply
        February 26, 2011 10:08 AM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        February 27, 2011 1:10 PM

        keep it up man PC gaming needs us :)

    • reply
      February 26, 2011 10:14 AM

      Playing Bulletstorm, Dawn of War II, and Magicka. All three on the pc.

    • reply
      February 26, 2011 10:29 AM

      SC2 and Darksiders this weekend. I am really loving playing 3v3s while talking on Skype with people I know. Great way to spend an evening.

      • reply
        February 26, 2011 10:56 AM

        How is Darksiders? I've never played it.

        • reply
          February 26, 2011 10:58 AM

          Play it, it's so good. Basically all the inventive items and dungeoning of a Zelda game, mixed with the art style from comics and WoW and the combat from God of War. The voice work is brilliant as well. One of my favourite games from last year

          • reply
            February 26, 2011 11:25 AM

            Yeah, I'm only a couple hours in, but it's fantastic. I picked it up for $18 in November and am finally getting to it.

    • reply
      February 26, 2011 10:58 AM

      HItman Blood Money on expert and trying to get Silent Assasin on all missions.

      • reply
        February 26, 2011 11:01 AM

        On Xbox 360, that might have been one of my first 1000 achievement games.

        Love that title.

        • reply
          February 26, 2011 11:05 AM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            February 26, 2011 11:07 AM

            Blood Money is definitely the more forgiving one in my experience. I want a new one ASAP dammit. iO and stop making Kane & Lynch now.

            • reply
              February 26, 2011 12:51 PM

              If you play on Rookie or Normal its no big deal, also the game is more forgiving than Codename 47 / Hitman 2:SA.

          • reply
            February 26, 2011 11:37 AM

            You don't have to play them perfectly. The job can go totally wrong, but as long as your mark dies and you escape you will proceed to the next one.

          • reply
            February 26, 2011 5:08 PM

            I've gone through Hitman 1 and 2 recently, but then for Contracts I wanted SA rating on every mission, and I'm stuck on the mansion one where they blow my cover after the hit no matter what I do or how I prepare for it. One time they started shooting me through the walls from all over the map.

    • reply
      February 26, 2011 11:07 AM

      I'm 40 hours into Tactics Ogre and loving it. The remake is really just so much better than the original it's not even funny.

      • reply
        February 26, 2011 11:23 AM

        Is there another Ogre game out there that more closely resembles Ogre Battle from the old SNES? I loved that old game so much.

        • reply
          February 26, 2011 11:51 AM

          There's two Ogre Battle games, the first one from SNES (and later PSX) and the one on N64, appropriately titled Ogre Battle 64.

          Then there's two Tactics Ogre games, one originally on SNES (in Japan) and PSX, and now PSP (but remade), and a second title on the GBA.

    • reply
      February 26, 2011 11:18 AM

      Bulletstorm, with sides of Earthbound and Dragons Age: Origins.

    • rms legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury super mega
      reply
      February 26, 2011 11:20 AM

      Just started a first-time Mass Effect playthrough. Being a simple FPS player, I'm finding initial combat encounters very confusing, with all the loadout screens and squad commands. Does it get more intuitive later on? Also, does it matter how I respond on conversation trees, I've just been going through most of the trees just to hear what they say.

      • reply
        February 26, 2011 11:36 AM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        February 27, 2011 1:06 PM

        don't worry about squad commands too much until you get comfortable with your own abilities. Position them and let them do their thing. Conversation options determine your relationships with other characters and ultimately how your story plays out. Respond as if YOU are Commander Shepard!

    • reply
      February 26, 2011 11:28 AM

      I'm playing some old games I've never played to get them off my list before some of the better games this year come out:

      Currently Playing
      Mass Effect 2 (just beat)
      Dragon Age Origins: Awakening (already beat the game but playing the expansion)
      S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
      Titan Quest

      Playing those above in preparation so I can concentrate on this year of:

      Deux Ex: Human Revolution
      Shogun 2
      L.A. Noire
      Mass Effect 3
      The Old Republic
      Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
      Duke Nukem Forever
      Dragon Age 2
      Witcher 2

      I have a lot of work to do this year to beat all these games haha.

    • reply
      February 26, 2011 11:36 AM

      trying to finish DLC for Dragon Age before DA2 comes out :o

    • reply
      February 26, 2011 4:05 PM

      Killzone 3 for me right now, later this week Dead Space 2 DLC (even if I'm a little Dead Spaced out, played through DS2 3 times). I would like to check out Bulletstorm but might wait until it's a cheap.

    • reply
      February 26, 2011 5:01 PM

      Bulletstorm is crazy as hell.

    • reply
      February 27, 2011 6:02 AM

      Just finished up Killzone 3. Gotta say it gets quite epic towards the end. Now I just gotta finish Mass Effect 2.

    • reply
      February 27, 2011 6:57 AM

      Preparing to play Freespace 2 for the first time ever.
      Anybody got tips on mapping controls to a Saitek X-52 ?
      I'm also going to start over with Morrowind since I never got around to actually finishing the Main Quest (Oblivion will come later)

      • reply
        February 27, 2011 8:18 AM

        My FS2 X52 setup got wiped out in a reformat, but off the top of my head:
        -toggle switches are perfect for increasing/decreasing your weapon/shield/engine energy
        -pinky switch for afterburner
        -you'll probably want a couple of buttons reserved for targeting bomb(er)s and targeting ships on your escort list
        -thumb button on throttle to equalize shields
        -hat switch on throttle to redirect shield energy
        -I think I used the slider to switch between single and double fire on secondaries

        The only problem is issuing orders using the comms menu. I tried a system using hat switch directions to correspond to numbers, but found it to be incredibly cumbersome, so I just used the keyboard instead.

    • reply
      February 27, 2011 7:13 AM

      Playing CoD Blops single-player. The gameplay is as shallow as ever, but the storytelling and set-pieces are so top notch in these games that they're a really good time anyway. I think I'm about a third of the way through and so far it is a huge step up for Treyarch from the (I thought) really poor World at War.

      Also playing Shadow Complex a bit more, great game.

    • reply
      February 27, 2011 7:45 AM

      Playing Mass Effect 2, finally... I even bought some DLC's! The game is fucking great so far.

    • reply
      February 27, 2011 7:47 AM

      finished Bulletstorm and now back to BC2

    • reply
      February 27, 2011 8:17 AM

      Crysis and Crysis Warhead in prep for No.2. Absolute blast!

    • reply
      February 27, 2011 1:08 PM

      Finishing up Torchlight and then on to some Mass Effect 2 DLC (Lair of the Shadow Broker)!

    • reply
      February 27, 2011 4:36 PM

      Playing Borderlands and Bulletstorm with some Marvel vs Capcom mixed in for good measure. It still amazes me just how good Borderlands is.

    • reply
      February 28, 2011 4:30 AM

      Played Killzone 3 allll weekend

      ..... uhhh no i didnt, screw your rubbish service Play.com!

    • reply
      February 28, 2011 7:00 AM

      Good news: http://www.vipstores.net ----
      hello!love shopping friend-Welcome to my website please patiently watchwill have your favorite items: ---- ----
      approaching like shopping friend can come to my website to buy the

      things you like cheap will make you satisfied thanks !!!
      ( http://www.vipstores.net ) Here are the most

      popular, most stylish and avant-garde

      shoes,handbags,Tshirts, jacket,Tracksuit w


      ,R4,NZ,OZ,T1-TL3) $35HANDBGAS(COACH,L V, DG, ED

      HARDY) $35TSHIRTS (POLO ,ED HARDY, LACOSTE) $16


      --- NHL Jersey Woman $ 30 ---**** NFL Jersey $20
      --- NBA Jersey $ 18 ---**** MLB Jersey $ 30
      --- Jordan Six Ring_m $30 ---**** Air Yeezy_m $ 45
      --- T-Shirt_m $ 15 ---**** Jacket_m $ 30
      --- Hoody_m $ 30 ---**** Manicure Set $ 20
      as long as the new and old customers to buy the corresponding product on this site, both a gift, so stay tuned! !

      ( http://www.vipstores.net )

Hello, Meet Lola