I had that exact same experience, Stewie.  My first detasseling paycheck (a whopping $180 I think) went toward the purchase of my PlayStation.  I still have demo disc that came with it somewhere.

Shortly after I bought it, Pizza Hut ran a promotion where you could get one of four demo discs with a pizza delivery.  The discs were pretty much on par with what you'd get in a gaming magazine.  Those discs introduced me to two of my favorite PSX titles, the fighting game Bloody Roar and seriously underrated platformer MediEvil.


-b0b
(...good times.)

Civilization V

If you love Civ, get it now...best one of the series hands down!

I've played through twice now.  Did a Conquest Victory the first time and a Culture Victory the second play through.  Both ways of winning were extremely fun and had me playing for hours on end haha.  I must say I started on the lowest difficulty and recomend it for the first couple play throughs.  They have changed the playing mechanics around a lot and it takes some getting used to.  I did however, turn the difficulty up for the second game.

I just have fun on Steam clicking on a game and seeing if you own it.  So far I'm 0 for 345

X

That is one of the coolest things I've ever seen.  Ars Technica had a story yesterday that described how the guy pulled it off.  It definitely looks like it was an incredibly complex process.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/09/the-true-story-behind-the-amazing-min...


-b0b
(...kudos!)

Valve has reported in the past the significant temporary price cuts have resulted in sales boosts on the order of 30,000%.  This is a case of "volume versus margin" in action.


-b0b
(...is going to pick up a copy of L4D2 for Mere tonight.)

I replayed Half-Life and Half-Life 2 a few months back.  The first part of Half-Life was excellent, but the entire Xen trip was as dumb as ever.  I didn't enjoy Xen when I first played Half-Life in the late 90s, and I still don't enjoy it now.  It's just not my cup of tea.

If you want to be really crazy, go for the straight-up Half-Life marathon.  Opposing Force was an excellent expansion and added several new weapons that I seem to recall "felt" much more powerful.  Blue Shift wasn't bad, and it really gives you insight into Barney's background.  That's helpful in understanding some of Barney's dialogue in the sequel.  The high definition pack really cleaned up the character and weapon models, but the plot wasn't exactly overwhelming.

Of course, you also have to play Half-Life 2 and the Episode 1/2 expansions.  This is where Valve really hit their stride.  Half-Life 2 and both expansion are absolutely incredible works of art.  The graphics, the plot, the setting, and the set pieces are all really top notch.  I've played through those three titles more often than any other game in my collection, with the sole exception of Chrono Trigger.


-b0b
(...might go play right now, in fact.)

Ironman wrote on Oct 8^th, 2010 at 2:05pm:


"The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world."

I agree completely on the mystery aspect.  I think it is fairly clear the Marc Laidlaw (the writer) intentionally left Half-Life very open ended.  I believe the best stories from any medium are those that leave the audience with some unanswered questions.  Worlds that are left open to interpretation tend to have a lot more staying power compared to those that are served up on a plate with no enigma at all.

Besides, it makes for an easy sequel!

Quote:


*groooooan*



-b0b
(...definitely needs some Half-Life now.)