What are you playing right now?

[justhelpmepleas]

Downloading Steam and creating an account for it is free (I have one). Are you saying that the XBox 360 controller (if it does have a USB port) is able to connect to the computer so you can play the games with it? Let me know when you find out for sure, I might get a controller.

I'm asking if that's possible with a 360 controller. I'm heading to my brother in law's so I'll find out for sure once I get there.

[Libra]

Playing my second play-through on mass effect. Forgot how amazing this game was. I'm doing every possible mission and stuff this time around, and I'm picking up the lost pieces of the story I missed. 'Tis very nice.

[Josh]

Playing my second play-through on mass effect. Forgot how amazing this game was. I'm doing every possible mission and stuff this time around, and I'm picking up the lost pieces of the story I missed. 'Tis very nice.

I think I'll pick that game up when it comes out on PC. I've heard a lot of good about it.

[Ryan]

Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess. 22 hours so far. Just got done seeing Ganon chained to the stone slab.

[AwesomeTurtle]

Bejeweled 2 Deluxe.

My best score: http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...RRRRRRRRRR.png

[BellGoRiiing]

Metroid Prime, felt like I needed to give Corruption a break and play the other two Primes, lol.

[Rage]

Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess. 22 hours so far. Just got done seeing Ganon chained to the stone slab.

That cutscene was EPIC!!!

[kwg phoenix]

started playing BoF 3 again. I really want to play FFXI again though. i got to play the beta testing for the 360, and im a huge ff fan.

[gussdx]

I play "Phantasy star universe" on xbox360!
I like it, i play it for on year!
Also, i play dreamcast games... "SEGA c'est plus fort que toi"!

[Tanthias]

Started on Advance Wars and Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap earlier this morning. Also still playing Final Fantasy IX.

[Libra]

playing Final Fantasy IX.

Such an amazing game!

[AwesomeTurtle]

StepMania.

Here's my most recent video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KE04WcWP_4k

I'm known to the StepMania community as Flash Gordon.

[Elin]

Recently I've been watching my younger brother play Final Fantasy VII. He played it when he was very little, but doesn't really remember it so well, so it's more or less like his first time through. It's been an interesting experience for me for several reasons. Firstly, regardless of how much I like or loathe it, it's easily one of the top five most influential games I've ever played, simply due to the time at which I first played it, and what it ended up meaning to me. It's one of the few I could say had any serious impact on my life. I couldn't say for certain if that's a credit to the game itself, or simply a combination of external factors at work on me at the time, but for whatever reason, Final Fantasy VII is less like a game to me, and more like a period in my life.

Secondly, though, and perhaps more importantly, it's just that I haven't played the game to any point beyond Junon in a good eight or nine years. So it's been fun, seeing a game that once meant so much to me, and a game that I still know so well, through an entirely different set of eyes. I'm glad he's playing it, as I'd probably never be able to make myself go through it again, but... Yeah.

Anyway, some rather lengthy observations:

A) I am quite baffled as to certain criticisms I've heard of the story, and still fail to see how anyone can call it anything less than great taking into account the time at which the game was created. The character development is not always stellar, and the translation is horrible, but the narrative itself is extremely strong, and, to me, stands among the best examples of the RPG genre even today. Unfortunately a lot of its better plot points have been subsequently swiped by other entries into the genre, but it says a lot to me that even now, so many years on, FFVII does them better than most.

B) Unfortunately as wonderful as the narrative is, the character development is not what I remembered. I still think Cloud and Sephiroth are excellent characters, but mostly because the plot revolves almost completely around them and their backstory. The rest, while nicely designed and likeable, are mostly shallow and bland to me. To be fair, Squaresoft do try. The characters each have their own little scene, and every one of them is very nice. But you can't just give each character their animated moment in the limelight, and leave them more or less static for the rest of the game. Character development should be a constant progression in any narrative, and Cloud is the only character who really qualifies to me.

Also, while I always did like Tifa better, I find that nowadays Aeris just downright irritates me. To the point where I can't even recall why I might ever have become upset at her death. Admittedly, though, a lot of the characters' failings for me are probably due to...

C) ...the translation. Which, as I stated earlier, is really horrible, especially when you consider that it came after games like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI. Criticise Woolsey if you will, but I'd much rather have alcohol being changed to soda than some of the horrors that pop up in FFVII's script. To be fair, the game touches on a lot of subjects that are far beyond the scope of most 16-bit RPGs, and even ignoring that, there's simply a huge amount of text. I can imagine it was a rather epic project at the time, especially when Squaresoft were yet to become the behemoth that they are today, and were probably not working with the greatest translation staff on the planet.

Still, though, it's just...bad. ;__; Of course back in the day I caught the obvious things like 'this guy are sick' and 'off course!'. But little mistakes like that are excusable, and don't really do anything to harm the game itself. Now that I'm older, I find myself with much bigger concerns. Like moments where you actually have to try really hard to grasp any sort of sense in an exchange. And Barret and Cid's tendency to &*&*^&^%&%^&%^* their way through dialogue. And when, commas, start to drift, like this, and....................periods get horribly extended...........................

Even worse, though, is the translation's impact on the characters. The actual narrative itself comes through fairly clearly, but a lot of the dialogue is just so dry to me. ;__; The characters' individual personalities do come through...just. But I can't help but feel that, as good as the story is, it'd be so much better with a really polished translation.

D) The scene involving Seto, Red's father, is absolutely wonderful. I remembered it being quite moving back in the day, but even now, I practically wanted to cry. The music, the visuals, the dialogue, the concept...just everything. So beautiful.

E) Though I'm not so keen on her character, Aeris's death scene is still really quite something. Of course the decision to kill her off was quite a big one at the time, and had enough shock factor in itself, but... Besides that, as far as death scenes go, it really is a good one, from the sickening little smile on Sephiroth's face to the way that her theme starts to play just as her materia strikes the ground. Considering that the concept of FMV as a narrative device was still a relatively new one at the time, it's really well put together, and as much of a piece of hackneyed gaming lore as 'Aeris's death' has become, I still think it's a really nice scene.

F) Three things about the soundtrack. Firstly, I think it's wonderful. Still. Even after it's gotten to the point where I know every note in every piece. There are very few pieces that stand out to me as nothing more than filler, and at least ten tracks that I'd number among Uematsu's best ever. Even ignoring the 'big' tracks like One Winged Angel, Aeris's theme, and the wonderful main theme, it's still really something special as far as I'm concerned, and I'd consider it the best the series has to offer along with VI and IX.

Secondly, the synth is unfortunately kind of awful. The choice of instruments is nice, and the arrangements are good, but the music really does suffer from the low quality samples. Especially after having played later Square games like Xenogears, Final Fantasy IX, and Vagrant Story. If and when the seemingly inevitable 'FFVII REMAKE OMG' comes, I really hope they do the music justice with live instruments.

Finally, I forgot just how much I like 'Interrupted by Fireworks'. Such a lovely piece, and so often discarded in favour of the more well known ones~

Anyway, yeah. He's just into CD 2 now. I look forward to seeing the rest... It's aged badly, in many ways, and doesn't exactly stand up in many respects to today's games, but I still think there's so much there worthy of praise. Although maybe I'm just way too biased.

[Rommie]

Lost Odyssey, and a little final fantasy viii on the side

[Tanthias]

Started on Advance Wars: Black Hole Rising and Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap earlier. Also still playing Final Fantasy IX.

Fixed to reflect current game lineup