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Sam and I have been playing Grand Theft Auto 4
December 25, 2008 by Adam in Adam's Games
Sam and I have been playing Grand Theft Auto 4. One of the great things about it is the ability to create cutscenes within the game, and then edit them together into a short movie. I took a break from the typical mayhem to put together "Vegetarian Vigilante", a tale of a seemingly innocent dietary fad turning to extremism and violence. In the end, our young anti-hero must come to terms with who he has become, and face what he must do to atone for his actions. Remember parents, don't let your kids get hooked on veggies.
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I stumbled across blurst
December 15, 2008 by Adam in Adam's Games
 I stumbled across blurst.com the other day. Sam is especially fond of Off-Road Velociraptor Safari, though I'm partial to Splume. It's always a treat to find a free web game that's as fun as a full commercial game (if perhaps a little short).
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Sam and I both finished up Fallout 3
November 28, 2008 by Adam in Adam's Games
 Sam and I both finished up Fallout 3. Towards the end it was a little on the easy side. Wandering around in powered armor with a plasma rifle means never having to say please. There were some issues, but in general it was a great game and loads of fun to play.
Sam and Emma both really got into an online game called Club Penguin. Emma in particular was trading chores for computer time, getting upset when she couldn't play, and so on. As far as I can tell, Club Penguin is a gateway game to tougher things like World of Warcraft, though clearly Club Penguin is geared towards kids and reassuring parents. I'm sure soon enough the kids will be camping mobs like the best of them.
Although I wasn't intending to do so, I gave Sam Dead Space for his birthday. I had another present lined up, but it broke and the game arrived at the same time. It's pretty darn creepy, though both of us are enjoying it. For some reason, things aren't as scary if I'm heavily armed and can blow them to pieces.
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Sam and I continue to play Fallout 3
November 11, 2008 by Adam in Adam's Games
 Sam and I continue to play Fallout 3. It's loads of fun, bringing back memories of the original while also having vastly improved visuals. I just got trained in power armor and picked up some Enclave power armor. That plus my shiny new plasma rifle should make for easier fights ahead.
My favorite quest was a weird virtual reality area where everything was set in 50's suburbia. I was trapped in the body of a little girl and had to find my way to freedom. Good times.
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Fallout 3 came yesterday
November 05, 2008 by Adam in Adam's Games
 Fallout 3 came yesterday. I've fallen completely in love with it. Few games allow you to hunt mutant ants in your negligee, sporting a laser pistol and combat helmet. It's like a twisted version of the Sims.
I have fond memories of the previous versions of the game played in decades past. This latest version is much prettier, but still sports the same humor and themes of the originals.
So far I've left my vault, saved a town, and am exploring the ruined tunnels under Washington D.C.. Good times.
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I haven't really been doing much gaming, othe...
October 24, 2008 by Adam in Adam's Games
 I haven't really been doing much gaming, other than dabbling with World of Goo. Sam and Emma have been fighting over playing Sims 2 as their Spore addiction faded. For awhile, Sam would cheerfully declare that so-and-so had a baby, or the dad set himself on fire while trying to cook. I'd greet him in the morning and wish his Sims a happy birthday, as he'd keep me up to date on their various milestones. My favorite quote was, "Having a baby isn't that hard."
Last night I showed off World of Goo. It's based on an experimental game I played years ago, basically a physics puzzler where you make towers out of gooey balls. They've turned the idea into a full game, which is fairly brilliant. The kids played the demo last night and are itching to get the full game. We'll see how it goes.
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I finally finished Spore, as close to finishe...
September 27, 2008 by Adam in Adam's Games
 I finally finished Spore, as close to finished as it gets, anyway. I had a really hard time getting by the Grox. I ended up switching to a strategy where I bought up a ton of repair thingies for my spaceship and just ignored the damage. The end felt like going through a maze while slowly taking damage. The finale was cute and funny, but not particularly dramatic. I did enjoy building up my vast spice empire to the point where I could collect vast sums of money whenever I wanted.
The kids continue to enjoy playing spore, typically going back to the cell phase. Sam created a flying pig this morning, which he's quite happy about.
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The kids and I continue to play Spore
September 17, 2008 by Adam in Adam's Games
The kids and I continue to play Spore. Emma's nearly at the end of the tribal phase, soon to reach the civilization phase. Even with Sam and I reading instructions, it's pretty close to the edge of what she's capable of doing. Still, she seems to be having a great time with it and often has to negotiate with Sam for play time.
Sam plays every opportunity. He's at the space phase, slowly building his empire and exploring the galaxy. His latest plan is to reach the rumored black hole in the center of the galaxy and see what's on the other side. It's good to have goals.
I haven't had as much time to play, but I've had fun when I do. Basically I have a small but thriving empire that I'm cultivating, working on alliances with nearby races and trying to keep the annoying warmongers from attacking me.
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Emma's been having fun with Spore as well
September 13, 2008 by Adam in Adam's Games
Emma's been having fun with Spore as well. Here's a little video of what her creature looks like: he's in the space phase, exploring the galaxy and vaporizing alien species.
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I picked up Spore yesterday, after Sam practi...
September 08, 2008 by Adam in Adam's Games
 I picked up Spore yesterday, after Sam practically begged me to get it. It's a great game, with Sam rating it very high on his favorite game scale. Even Emma's gotten into it, explaining about the cell and creature levels. She occasionally had a hard time with the cell level, with the giant creatures being too weird and scary for her. Needless to say, she's an herbivore.
I got a chance to play last night and this morning. It's pretty fun, and I've taken my Adamoids from cell to Tribal level. I started out as a carnivore, but tiptoed into eating plants too with a weird sucking attachment. After I left the sea, I started out eating my nearby nest mates, but decided it was usually easier to impress them.
Odd events happen along the way. I discovered a strange monolith, survived a meteor shower, and watched an alien ship abduct some nearby creatures. Good times.
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I'm occasionally willing to embarrass myself ...
June 30, 2008 by Adam in Adam's Games
I'm occasionally willing to embarrass myself in a variety of ways. I figured out how to hook up my wiimote to my PC, which eventually led to me using my Guitar Hero Wii guitar with the Lute Hero game I made for Neverwinter Nights. I was originally going to do a fairly plain "how to" video, but with Sam's prompting it quickly degenerated into a rock video starring my alter-ego Klaus.
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There's a mod for Half-Life 2 called D
June 07, 2008 by Adam in Adam's Games
 There's a mod for Half-Life 2 called D.I.P.R.I.P., a vehicle combat game. Amazingly enough, I can get it running on all three computers, though admittedly Emma is still only barely able to drive around. She's fine, as long as we don't actually try to hurt her in any way.
Sam and I decided not to actually attack each other this morning. Instead, Sam discovered a method to launch yourself up a sand bank, hitting the nitro burners and flying up into the air. It was loads of fun, with the ultimate move being to perform a complete loop and land on all four tires. In this particular shot, Sam and I are synchronizing our launches. If you look closely, you can see him in the background behind me.
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I don't normally get a chance to play video games
June 06, 2008 by Adam in Adam's Games
 I don't normally get a chance to play video games. These days I'm usually living vicariously through my kids, watching them defeat villains, save the world, or decorate a house (as is the case with Emma).
I've recently been playing Mass Effect by Bioware, and have been extremely happy with it. The quality is top-notch, and the story is quite good. There are some elements which aren't remarkable, such as the combat, and occasionally the difficulty of the game doesn't match my current capabilities. Still, I think it's my favorite role-playing game of the year.
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We've been playing a bunch of different games...
April 24, 2008 by Adam in Adam's Games
 We've been playing a bunch of different games lately. Yesterday we finished Zack and Wiki, with an ending that amazingly made Emma cry. Sam played a bit of the Road to Hill 30, a traditional WWII shooter, and Heroes of Might and Magic 5. The later was a huge hit with him for awhile, though he's faded as of late.
A few days ago, I downloaded a couple Half-Life 2 mods. One was a zombie survival game, which was fairly slow. The other was an extremely fun car game.
Today we switched over to an old mainstay, Garry's Mod. Sam and I made these rocket-propelled spinner things that we had to test out against a horde of attacking zombies. Sure enough, they went flying in all directions, much to Sam's delight.
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Both Sam and I have beat Guitar Hero 3 on Easy
February 08, 2008 by Adam in Adam's Games
 Both Sam and I have beat Guitar Hero 3 on Easy. The final song is a rock version of The Devil Went Down to Georgia, which is lots of fun to hear and play. Now both of us are working on Medium. So far I'm doing fairly well, though it's taken me awhile to get used to the extra fret. Hard and Expert frighten me, so I may stay away from that for awhile.
I'm occasionally tempted to get a second guitar to play co-op mode with Sam, though Jamie would probably roll her eyes even more than normal. Yet again, Judy, thanks for this frivolous and fun gift of yours.
Sam and I played a bit of Garry's mod last night. Essentially it turns into a game of "create the most interesting trap", where we beg the other player to walk into our carefully made contraption. My favorite, but impractical one, was a dozen bowling balls attached by rope, swinging around the room. Sam created this room full of enemies that he lured me into, then escaped via teleporter. Good times.
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Not much to report
January 27, 2008 by Adam in Adam's Games
Not much to report. I've been playing Guitar Hero 3 and pretending I'm a rock star. It's surprisingly fun, especially when you get to yell out "Rock and Roll!" at the end of a song. Jamie just looks at me funny.
I've also been playing Crysis, which is a standard shooter with a few twists. You have a special suit which you can set for speed, strength, armor, or stealth. I'm partial to stealth, it turns out. The other fun thing is that it's pretty beautiful to look at. It's set in a tropical island, with gorgeous trees all around. As a bonus, you can shoot at them and make them fall over, along with buildings that often get blown to pieces.
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Over the break, we played a lot of Bookworm A...
January 11, 2008 by Adam in Adam's Games
Over the break, we played a lot of Bookworm Adventures. My favorite moments were when I helped supply words, Sam would spell them, and Emma would click on the letters. It was a group effort and even Jamie would come by on occasion to pitch in some suggestions.
Since we've been back, Sam's working through Super Mario Galaxy. Last night Emma did a bit of online web games, mostly Barbie and Polly Pocket themed. Needless to say, multiple pages of cartoonish characters and animals were printed out.
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I've been playing odd games off and on over t...
January 02, 2008 by Adam in Adam's Games
I've been playing odd games off and on over the last few weeks. I finished up Call of Duty 4, re-evaluating it from a fairly standard shooter to an extremely high-production, varied shooter. It was short, but very well done, which is something I can appreciate.
I continue to have fun playing Super Mario Galaxy with Sam. It feels like I'm his little helper, contributing somewhat, though the real success is his. Since the gameplay is so varied, the real trick is figuring out what each area is asking you to do.
I also bought Bookworm Adventures, as they had a half-off sale. I played the free version and loved it. It's strange how simply spelling words can be so compellingly fun. Hopefully I can get Sam playing it and boost his spelling skills a bit more.
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