Introduce Yourself to the Gaming Club!

[CarlH]

Greetings! Hope to see many other like-minded gamers, so here’s a little bit about me.

I’ve been playing games since I was 5, starting with a Pong only console then moving to a ZX Spectrum and various other consoles after that. I received my first PC in 1997 courtesy of ‘Santa’ which had a blistering 166Mhz CPU, 16Mb RAM and a whopping 2GB HDD (which was actually quite big or the time!). Dedicated graphics cards were just being released round about this time which weren’t as consumer friendly as they are today. Want to play Tomb Raider with bilinear filtering? Good luck doing that on your Voodoo 3! My top 5 games of all time on PC:

Blade Runner (1997)

This was one of my most anticipated games to play being a big fan of the film and it still holds up pretty well today (I recommend downloading the version from GoG if using modern hardware). The story has you play as a Blade Runner running parallel with Deckard, Harrison Ford’s character from the film and starts with you investigating an animal murder to find out this was done by replicants. The gameplay is done through a traditional point and click system and has you use the wonderful Esper and Voight-Kampff machines in order to find your next suspect and clues. Depending on the choices you make through the game can result in different suspects being replicants with multiple endings for lots of replay value.

Myst (1993)

The Myst series is probably my favourite of all time. I used to keep my own journal to write down the puzzles as I went along as the game was so immersive and had its claws in me. Over the years, it has been improved with real time graphics being used over the original postcard style (the latest version even supports VR). The sequel, Riven, had even more fiendish puzzles and is arguably superior, but it’s the original that I always remember the most.

Half Life 2 (2004)

I could have said the original game (or its excellent fan made remake, Black Mesa) but Half Life 2 was revolutionary in ways that no other game has managed to catch up with. The natural feeling environmental puzzles built on the most realistic physics at the time was mesmerising to begin with and then you get the Gravity Gun (you can call it the ‘Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator’ if you really want to) which dials up the gameplay to 11 and everything that can be moved becomes a weapon.

Outer Wilds (2019)

The less I say about this game, the better. Just know that it’s my game of the decade and if you like exploring and space, get it.

Resident Evil 4 (2005)

I’m sort of cheating here as I own this on GameCube, Wii, Xbox360, PS4, PC, Switch and have finished it 25 times, it still needed mentioning as the pacing and set pieces are still yet to be matched by any other Resident Evil game and this paved the way for all other third person action games thereafter. Think I might boot it up again now actually….

The games I am currently playing are….

I have quite a few on the go. Notable ones are Hunt: Showdown, Rocket League and Final Fantasy XIV. I will be getting back on Half Life: Alyx now that I have some contact lenses to use with the VR headset though!

If I could be any game character it would be…

Solid Snake. I’d get to sneak around, eat lots of food and hide under cardboard boxes all day. Maybe save the world a few times too.

[GytisRepecka]

Hi, nice meeting you all! 👋

I've started gaming on locally available 8-bit Nintendo NES clones - first ones were named Zhiliton and Dandy 😄 Mario, Duck Hunt and few others were really cool back then.

Then came 16-bit Sega Mega Drive (Genesis in US) - these ones were available for purchase in Lithuania, actually original ones from Japan required video converter from NTSC to PAL to be soldered in. It was really nice console, first one to synthesize something similar to human speech - Mortal Kombat 3 would realistically say "Fight!" 😊

I do feel nostalgic about retro consoles and still play them - see retro gaming thread I've created.

At around 2000s started PC gaming era: Red Alert 2, Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed and many others followed. Still have many CDs from that era. Most notable ones from those two decades are:

• mentioned above Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed - amazing journey through Porsche history from the early 50s till 2000s;
• Mafia - first part developed by Czech studio, had amazing music and super cool 30s atmosphere. Played through several times, enojyed Mafia II as well, also Mafia Definitive Edition released couple years back, but the 1st one is the best;
• Need for Speed Underground 2 - arcade driving, but brought drifting, tuning and all kinds of car customizations. Legendary!
• Max Payne - only played 1st part (2nd one did not run on my PC), amazing story, 1st shooter game to implement slow motion scenes, if not mistaken;
• Hitman - as far as I can remember, played through 1st and 2nd parts.

Then for a while didn't play much... until I've bought XBOX One X in late 2017 😊 Following screenshot from 20th XBOX anniversary campaign pretty much sums it up:

XBOX 20th anniversary badge

[CarlH]

Hi @GytisRepecka! I still have my Mega Drive knocking about somewhere (plus some other models from Japan). Max Payne was awesome! I too haven't played the sequels (even though I have them). Might put them on the list for 2022!

[SFriday]

Hi, nice to meet you all! 

I'm really into SIM games like Sims, Planet Zoo, Surviving Mars...! Fun Sims facts for you all: 

• I've racked up over 3500 hours on Sims 3
• Sims 4 is currently at 3000 hours
• When Planet Zoo launched, I calculated that, taking into consideration time to sleep and work, almost 35% of my free time was spent playing that game
• The longest Sims stint I've ever done was about 20 hours and I regret nothing

Don't worry I play 'real' games as well! I'm a huge fan of the Assassin's Creed series (yes, even Rogue and AC3. Unity doesn't exist  😇) and love a good multiplayer session of Valheim, AOE, or L4D.

Back in lockdown I built a new gaming PC since the laptop I'd had before was getting really tired. I'd like to introduce The Hulk, my pride and joy (and also the cats' favourite place to sleep in winter which is GREAT for the PC fans). Specs: 

• AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
• Asus ROG STRIX B550-I
• Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR4-3600
• EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Super 8GB
• Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB SSD
• NZXT Kraken X53
• NZXT H210i Mini ITX
• Acer Predator 27" 4k 60Hz monitor

[LiquidSnake]

There could be only one Snake and that is me, brother!! 😎

[SjorsK]

Heya!

As some of you might know is that one of my guilty pleasures is gaming. Mostly RTS (AoE4) and RPG's. I love myself some good story and strategy and perhaps from time to time a little emulator 😁

The gaming devices I have are:
- A PC (Ryzen 1700X, 1080ti, 32GB Ram with two Samsung SSD's. It runs smooth!)
- Nintendo Switch
- PS4 Pro

But effectively I mostly use the first two. 😃

Some of my favorite games that are edged into my mind:
- Breath of the wild
- GTA Vice City (as  a little child, shush!)
- Pokemon series (Especially silver!)
- Age of Empires series (Including mythology! Gosh that was awesome! ). 
- Red Alert 2

And many more  

[ChelseaH]

Hi!

I've played on consoles my whole life, never really ventured into PC gaming until recently (with the help of Carl)!

I have two brothers, 10/12 years older than me, so Vice City is one of the first games I ever remember playing! That and a Matrix game but I would never be able to say which one! 

Games that will always have a place in my heart are Harvest Moon: Back To Nature, Stardew Valley and Sims 4, though my hours played are not as impressive as @SFriday That's some hefty Sims time!

I'm loving playing Destiny 2 at the minute. I can't get off of it! 😂 

Really excited to dive into some more games this year, though!❤️

[zkaij-yamizkjauzcute]

Lol yeah it's I am sad 😔 😟