Weekend Gamer - What are You Playing?

[Jetherik]

I hope everyone has a good weekend of gaming ahead. After saving for four years, I bought all the parts, and I will be building my new computer this weekend (in between work). If I get it all right, I hope to play some Stronghold 2 and maybe some CoH. What will you be playing this weekend?

[Kelegacy]

I have a men's league softball tournament all weekend, but if for some reason my team loses in double elimination, I'll be beating Resident Evil Zero, playing MVP2005 for Xbox, and maybe trying some Killer 7 or Darkwatch.

I love weekends where I dont know what game I'll be playing. The feeling after beating a game and once again having the choice to start a different game is excellent.

[bean19]

I was playing Dungeon Siege II, but it locked up and when I loaded it back up I had lost 3 hours of gameplay.

So. . . I think I'll be trading that in and doing some retro gaming.

[Blue]

This weekend I'll be out of town as it's my wife and I's anniversary (she's put up with me for five years....who'd have thought) so I doubt I'll be allowed to play anything. Trying to get in as much WoW tonight as possible so that my guild-mates don't go and hit Level Crazy while I'm gone. Though I'm sure they will anyhow.

[fitbabits]

SWAT 4, that's all. I'll be watching the first two seasons of Wire in the Blood back-to-back, though, so that will consume several hours. Then it's off to see The 40-Year-Old Virgin on Sunday afternoon.

[Madhatter45]

Currently I'm playing Death Jr, Metal Gear Ac!d, and surprisingly Grandia 2 on my Dreamcast.

[Heretic Machine]

Well... might play some Black & White tonight, I started it last night to waste some time. Maybe some Halo PC. Tomarrow I get to re-experience the bliss of moving everything into a tiny dorm room. Yehaw.

[Blue]

Currently I'm playing Death Jr, Metal Gear Ac!d, and surprisingly Grandia 2 on my Dreamcast.

How is Death Jr.? Hadn't heard much good about it but I'm in desperate need of a platformer.

[King Drewsky]

I working towards level 20 on my Halo2 Team Slayer rating. I pwn n00bs for breakfast.

[DevDict]

Playing Dungeon Siege II. I like it, despite the fact that it's a hack and slash RPG. The voices are rather bad: you can hear the actor's pant sometimes...

[Madhatter45]

How is Death Jr.? Hadn't heard much good about it but I'm in desperate need of a platformer.

Don't belive the reviews on Death Jr at all. It's actually a very fun game and the camera is nowhere near as bad as reviews say. Just switch it from Free mode to DJ mode and your golden.I would probably give it about an 8.75 out of 10.

[Everlost_MI]

Now that I am finished with Darkwatch it's back to Sacred Gold and if I get the time I'll finally load up Anachronox.

[rein]

I will be rockin the pink (http://www.knightsofarcadia.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=9) this weekend playing the comic vs comic version of WoW on the Dark Iron server.

[Monroeski]

Currently I'm playing Death Jr, Metal Gear Ac!d, and surprisingly Grandia 2 on my Dreamcast.

I've just about started a new game of Grandia II several times in the recent past. Have you ever seen anyone play the PS2 version? The choppiness still gives me nightmares.

Anyway, I'm playing Jak and Daxter. Heard it's kind of short, and I'm a good ways in already, so I'm not sure what I'll play after that, probably either Jak 2, Killer 7, or Front Mission 4.

Oh, I'm also hopelessly addicted to Cardmaster Conflict -

http://cmc.redleaf.de

[bean19]

Death Jr. = only 7 hours long. No story elements. My friend let me play his; he was not happy.

[Kelegacy]

SWAT 4, that's all. I'll be watching the first two seasons of Wire in the Blood back-to-back, though, so that will consume several hours. Then it's off to see The 40-Year-Old Virgin on Sunday afternoon.

Are you taking Kefkataran? I'm sure he could relate to that flick.

[evilpenguin9000]

Well I just spent a coupla hours doing my NFL Fantasy Draft. So I'm now rooting for Priest Holmes, Marvin Harrison and Kerry Collins to be break all kinds of scoring records.

I well also be returning to Azeroth I'm sure. I may also get to play the new Madden game if my friend isn't too beat after his six day work week.

[Kelegacy]

Well I just spent a coupla hours doing my NFL Fantasy Draft. So I'm now rooting for Priest Holmes, Marvin Harrison and Kerry Collins to be break all kinds of scoring records.

I well also be returning to Azeroth I'm sure. I may also get to play the new Madden game if my friend isn't too beat after his six day work week.

Did you play Madden 2005? Then I'll save you some trouble: you've already played 2006.

That's what the exclusivity deal means to the consumer. Roster updates for 50 bucks.

[The Iron Weasel]

i'm gonna hit up some Diablo 2 + X-Pac, Hitman: Contracts, Max Payne 2, Soldier Of Fortune 2, Tron 2.0, WarCraft 3 + X-Pack, Dawn Of War, Ground Control 2, and Rome: Total War (mind you i wont play all of them for like 4 hours each, i'll just brouse around until i find one that suits me!)

[nesmercal]

I've really gotten into Dungeon Siege II in the past few days. Fun game. Everybody comments on how bad the voice over work is, but I find it adds a bit of humor to the game...lol. On a side note, does anybody remember back a couple of E3s ago when the press praise how great DSII graphics were shaping up? And now those same people in their reviews comment on how dated they look. My question is simply, were the graphics demo'ed back then actually better than what has been turned out or has time just taken it toll? Just an observation...

Nesmercal

[Spigot]

Currently I'm playing Death Jr, Metal Gear Ac!d, and surprisingly Grandia 2 on my Dreamcast.

I just hooked my DC back up this week and was thinking of trying out Grandia 2. I loved the first one and as I'm set to finish Atelier Iris at some point this week, it would be great to have another RPG to work on.

Final Fantasy Tactics scares me, but I might go back to work on it again... Or FF7...

Otherwise, just playing some WoW, hanging out with the fambly and maybe seeing a movie... unfortunately my choices are split between 40-Year-Old Virgin and RedEye. Not sure if I should be pleased with those movie possibilities or saddened.

[Spigot]

Anyway, I'm playing Jak and Daxter. Heard it's kind of short, and I'm a good ways in already, so I'm not sure what I'll play after that, probably either Jak 2, Killer 7, or Front Mission 4.


I found the first J&D fun, but nothing special. Jak 2 was one of the hardest games I've played in a while but the story was amusing and interesting enough to keep me going and Jak 3 was awesome. Maybe I was just on a Jak rush, but I didn't find Jak 3 terribly difficult compared to the Ironman Competition that was Jak 2...

Starting Jak 3 right after finishing Jak 2 helped immensely as well...

[HALO 32]

i dont know if ill be able to play anything this weekend, i got to work this weekend. but thats ok Monday is payday :) and now that i got my cube that means i can finally get Resident Evil 4 :)...and Nintendogs for my DS

[evilpenguin9000]

Did you play Madden 2005? Then I'll save you some trouble: you've already played 2006.

That's what the exclusivity deal means to the consumer. Roster updates for 50 bucks.


Yeah I agree wholeheartedly. I haven't played it yet, but I didn't expect a lot. That's why I'm waiting to play a friend's copy.

[Kefkataran]

I'll be hitting up some X-Men Legends and some City of Heroes, as well as watching some Kung-Fu Hustle and reading some Transmetropolitan and Political Liberalism (what a friggin' mix).

[sTubbs]

I am playing Darkwatch. So far it has definitely been worth my time and money. As long as you go into it expecting a light story and lots of running and gunning you will most certainly be pleased - I feel comfortable saying that its closest cousin is Painkiller. The weapons, although few in numbers, are all very well balanced and each one is useful - any extras would be unnecessary. But, most importantly, they are extremely fun to use and feel extremely brutal [something that many FPSes fail to pull off]. Taking off heads with a well executed shotgun butt to the face or blowing off the legs of enemy running full tilt towards me sending its torso summersaulting along the ground never gets old as the enemy physics are absolutely top notch. The vampire powers are also badass and I am finding myself using them constantly thanks to a quickly refilling power bar. In other words the game is fantastic.

Admittedly some people may be a tad disappointed paying full price, but once it hits the 30 dollar mark it is definitely worth picking up. Right now I have to squeeze all of the gaming in I can as next week will be a hectic mix of training for my new job and getting ready for the fall semester. If I survive, Indigo Prophecy will be my personal reward.

[Heretic Machine]

I'll be hitting up some X-Men Legends and some City of Heroes, as well as watching some Kung-Fu Hustle and reading some Transmetropolitan and Political Liberalism (what a friggin' mix).

Warren Ellis is teh pwnage.

Personally, I just tried to read George Romero's "Toe-Tags" comic... Wow, did that suck. I mean it really, really sucked... hard.

[RvltnEvolved]

I am breakin out the ol' Sega genesis for some risk & NBA jam

[Adam Blue]

Resident Evil 4. Well you see, I go clubbing thurs-sun(drunk right now). So that whole time sees no video games. But luckily I got promoted so I'll have more time.

I'm gonna go the whole series starting from 0, on the Gmaecube. Draft, any suggestions for going through the series? LIke what system has the best version?

[Dirty Harry]

Resident Evil 4. Well you see, I go clubbing thurs-sun(drunk right now). So that whole time sees no video games. But luckily I got promoted so I'll have more time.

I'm gonna go the whole series starting from 0, on the Gmaecube. Draft, any suggestions for going through the series? LIke what system has the best version?
hah, best versions?,
resident evil 1 = Gamecube
Resident evil 2 = scratch that, the duel shock version from the psx on a ps2.
resident evil 3 nemisis = psx\ps2
resident evil code veronica =ps2
resident evil 4 =gamecube (maybe ps2 depending if they really spruce up the game play)

Hope this answers your questions.

[Evil Avatar]

hah, best versions?,
resident evil 1 = Gamecube
Resident evil 2 = scratch that, the duel shock version from the psx on a ps2.
resident evil 3 nemisis = psx\ps2
resident evil code veronica =ps2
resident evil 4 =gamecube (maybe ps2 depending if they really spruce up the game play)

Hope this answers your questions.

Hmmm... wouldn't you say that the Dreamcast versions of RE1, RE2, RE3 and RE:CV are the best versions?

The Dreamcast versions offer 3D acceleration (the PS1 versions do not) and the Dreamcast video signal is an 800x600 resolution Direct3D signal that is sampled back down to 640x480 to provide some limited FSAA.

If you have a Dreamcast and a Dreamcast VGA box, that is probably the best version of those games you can get until you go up to the GameCube versions.

I haven't seen RE1 or RE2 or RE3 on the Cube (they go for like $90.00 each on Ebay), just RE0, RE:Remake and RE4. I thought I heard someone say that the Cube ports were from the PSX versions and not the Direct3D Dreamcast versions.

D2 and Carrier aren't bad survival horror titles on the Dreamcast, but there always seemed to be objects in D2 that I could see but couldn't click on to take.

[Dirty Harry]

Hmmm... wouldn't you say that the Dreamcast versions of RE1, RE2, RE3 and RE:CV are the best versions?

The Dreamcast versions offer 3D acceleration (the PS1 versions do not) and the Dreamcast video signal is an 800x600 resolution Direct3D signal that is sampled back down to 640x480 to provide some limited FSAA.

If you have a Dreamcast and a Dreamcast VGA box, that is probably the best version of those games you can get until you go up to the GameCube versions.

I haven't seen RE1 or RE2 or RE3 on the Cube (they go for like $90.00 each on Ebay), just RE0, RE:Remake and RE4. I thought I heard someone say that the Cube ports were from the PSX versions and not the Direct3D Dreamcast versions.

D2 and Carrier aren't bad survival horror titles on the Dreamcast, but there always seemed to be objects in D2 that I could see but couldn't click on to take.
Yeah i played carrier, twas alright i suppose.

Okay let me put this in a better list/order because i think if you want the best experience play this games in this order.

resident evil 1:remake gamecube (thegraphics alone are worth the game)
resident evil 2:Duel shock version because of the additonal content
resident evil 3 nemisis for psx played on ps2.
resident evil code veronica ps2 version because of the additional content\tweaks.
Resident evil 4 for Gamecube.

If you want to nitpick about frame rate meh, ive played them all and personally they were all neglible as i said. I found the backgrounds in the cube and dreamcast versions were more grainy for some reason. maybe prerender backgrounds are only good for sony :P. Secondly i gave him these games because these are all feasible to gain access too through cheap means. Like you said these dreamcast versions are more expensive and personally i dont enjoy the dreamcast controller for RE games.

we clear?

edited: I did not see your recv comments about the dreamcast, ive had the chance to play both quite alot and i think the ps2 version is better, One disc so no swapping additional content. Plus the game comes with a dvd of albert weskers diary lotsa information plus a playable demo of devil may cry. Evil im sorry man but the ps2 version wins hand down.

[Borys]

Still my master's thesis. 18 pages done and around 82 left.

Deadline is in 2 weeks.

EEK.

Need to ban myself from the internet, QUICKLY.

[H.Bogard]

RE: CV rocked on the dreamcast...the controls work really well with the dc pad

Anyway...i`m playing me some half life : source , I know i`m touting myself with a title thats worse than "40 year old virgin" here...but here goes : I have never beaten the orignal half life, by the time I got my hands on it the graphics made my eyes bleed, so I downloaded HL:S from steam :D
Those assasain chicks are handing my ass to me right now btw.

[Evil Avatar]

those assasain chicks are handing my ass to me right now btw.

That is what those laser trip mines were invented for. :)

[Dirty Harry]

RE: CV rocked on the dreamcast...the controls work really well with the dc pad

Anyway...i`m playing me some half life : source , I know i`m touting myself with a title thats worse than "40 year old virgin" here...but here goes : I have never beaten the orignal half life, by the time I got my hands on it the graphics made my eyes bleed, so I downloaded HL:S from steam :D
Those assasain chicks are handing my ass to me right now btw.
Trip mines dont really work to well :/, best bet is to use pistol magnum, snipe them at long range and then chase them with the shotgun. You can also cook some nades off and try to toss em where they are hiding.

[hg321]

I've been playing Dungeon Siege 2, so far so good

[Evil Avatar]

Still my master's thesis. 18 pages done and around 82 left.

Deadline is in 2 weeks.

EEK.

Need to ban myself from the internet, QUICKLY.

A Master's Thesis only has to be 100 pages long? I could write a hundred pages in a week. :)

(Now that I think about it... I have. I think I did a hundred pages in 5 days last year.)

[Dirty Harry]

A Master's Thesis only has to be 100 pages long? I could write a hundred pages in a week. :)

(Now that I think about it... I have. I think I did a hundred pages in 5 days last year.)
You put my writing ability to shame. Just for fact checking how many pages is 9000 words?. roughly around 650 words a page standard font single spaced. Anyways rough math, im looking at 14 or so pages that i wrote on a weekend for a lit course :/. twas a good short story too, maybe one day i can retype it up, because i lost my only copy on disc and all i have left is my first draft of it on paper with all my formating undone and even correct grammar. I have a question how do you drum up that much writing like that?. Secondly how do you start an idea for a story be it a real novel or a short story. My method is that i usually think of one big main idea. then i break it down in reverse. For example if i wanted to make a book about two bank robbers, thats exactly where i would start. Two bank robbers, two bank robbers named john and wayne, two bank robbers who were brothers named john and wayne kerleduxe. I think you get the idea or amybe you dont anyways sleepy time i figure.

[Borys]

A Master's Thesis only has to be 100 pages long? I could write a hundred pages in a week. :)

(Now that I think about it... I have. I think I did a hundred pages in 5 days last year.)

Yeah but books are different. Books are mostly fiction and without tons of technical stuff, data, diagrams, math symbols, code snippets etc. The worst part is drawing all that shit in Word's Draw Area (or Math Editor) - takes a whole damn lot of time.

And about the size requirement - my division (Comp. Science - Networking) requires minimum 80 and maximum 140 pages long and my GF's division (Math - Financial Math) requires only... 40-50 pages and that's MAX, they ask you to cut down some material if you go beyond 50 pages.

That ain't fair, I tell you.

[score]

More Guild Wars for me. Almost upto Level 20.

I got myself a new logitech gamepad for the pc because my Gravis Eliminator stopped working after upgrading to SP2 (thank you Microsoft). So I shall be installing some older/arcadey games to give it a work out.

[bapenguin]

GWars. BF2. Various other PC games.

[fitbabits]

GWars. BF2. Various other PC games.

PC elitist snob!! :rolleyes:

[Kelegacy]

A Master's Thesis only has to be 100 pages long? I could write a hundred pages in a week. :)

(Now that I think about it... I have. I think I did a hundred pages in 5 days last year.)

To me, 100 pages is still alot of stuff. That's alot of words. Especially "learning" stuff. My Senior Capstone requirement for my focus in creative writing was near 100 pages, but it was just a collection of many short stories I put together. The worst part was printing that shit off.

How many words are on the standard paperback page? I'm curious to see how my ratio of computer typed stuff fits into a real book.

[vornskr]

Homeworld 2, ftw

[amusedtoe]

You need to get a good laser printer my friend, that will burn through a hundred pages in a couple of minutes. :)

You really forget how much working takes out of you so I'm glad to have a three day gaming weekend. Definately going to be playing lots of Dawn of War and probably X-Men Legends as well since I've finally bothered to get more then an hour into it.

[Bydo_Empire]

Mostly working, but I did play a few games of Madden 06 last night. All the criticism of the game comes from people who haven't played it (and probably haven't played Madden in years). I'm getting used to - and actually enjoying - QB vision. And they made a ton of subtle changes to franchise that make Madden's franchise mode fun for the first time ever. Personally I thought 05 didn't add much over 04, but 06 DEFINITELY added a lot to the game. QB Vision may not be perfect, but you can't accuse EA of not adding anything to the gameplay.

[Adam Blue]

I have CV on Dreamcast but I might as well get it on the PS2 for the extra content. My Gamestop has 2, 3 and CV on Gamecube, but If they are inferior to the DC versions then I might not bother. But I don't know if I want graphics or content. I want to get as much story tidbits as possible.

[i aint yer pa]

I'll be playing my daughter's favorite game, hide-and-seek. I'll playing through my fourth season of my NCAA 2006 Dynasty when I get some free time. So far, I'd say overall 2006 is an improvement over 2005.

[alienhead]

Fate....I love this game and the mods make it even better.

[mister_slim]

Geist. The game definitely has some warts, with some severe slowdown and kind of jerky initial movement, but the premise and puzzle execution have been good. Some really clever design and a real feel of exploring a functioning facility. The story appears to be going Doom-ish, which doesn't appeal to me too much, but hopefully it won't be too over the top. The music and art are both beautiful though. The training area, where the possession mechanic is introduced, is absolutely beautiful, with this amazing music.

I'm wondering how well the Rev backwards compatability will work. If it's extra power is available, maybe Geist will run smooth on it.

[VoodooKarma]

Spades on yahoo. I am in a rut right now, can't find anything I feel like playing.

[gojira]

I'm playing do the laundry, buy some clothes while they're on sale, fold my clothes since they've been in a pile in my room for *mumble* days now, and generally get stuff done that I don't have time to do on the week days.

Fun, huh?

Oh, games... I have an old Sid Meir's Alpha Centauri game going. Santiago needs to be put down. I might be able to squeeze some turns on that. :D

[Dirty Harry]

Man the dreamcast version of CV ISNT BETTER. I FUCKING OWNED BOTH VERSIONS MAN I KNOW WHAT IM SAYING.

Sorry but your kidding yourself if you feel the dreamcast version is better. Its completely great though that what i say holds like piss and water on these forums. I say x, then someone says y, then people just go with y. You think i would of spent that time writing up that shit if i didnt think it was the best?, ask yourself that.


/biohazzard fan since day one.


Secondly, there is a gamecube version but really it all comes down to controll and well i geuss im playing favoritism here but Sony wins for me. I geuss now that these games have been ported so much its really just a matter of controller preference.

[Kefkataran]

Warren Ellis is teh pwnage.


Oh, man, I know it. I'm also picking up a copy of Ellis's Wolverine:Not Dead Yet trade that I realized we had at the comic place I work at.

[Nintendo Revolution]

Guild Wars. Finally got to the HoH last night on my RP character and my guildmate is making a lot of money doing Drokner runs, so I've been spectating that.

On the handheld side, I'll be hoping for another homebrew build of Heretic DS to try out.

[H.Bogard]

Trip mines dont really work to well :/, best bet is to use pistol magnum, snipe them at long range and then chase them with the shotgun. You can also cook some nades off and try to toss em where they are hiding.

I`m seeing chicks sommer saulting backwards 12 feet in the air avoiding my shotgun blasts.......and when i get reloading.........WHAMMM ................raped!

[Jetherik]

Yeah but books are different. Books are mostly fiction and without tons of technical stuff, data, diagrams, math symbols, code snippets etc. The worst part is drawing all that shit in Word's Draw Area (or Math Editor) - takes a whole damn lot of time.

And about the size requirement - my division (Comp. Science - Networking) requires minimum 80 and maximum 140 pages long and my GF's division (Math - Financial Math) requires only... 40-50 pages and that's MAX, they ask you to cut down some material if you go beyond 50 pages.

That ain't fair, I tell you.

No sympathy Borys. My second Master Thesis was 120 pages. My first one, which I was at 130 pages had been rejected because my original Master's committee left for other univeristies, and the new committee wanted me to go in a "different direction." Since you are at a college, see if you can use either corel draw or Visio for your diagrams (the computer/engineering department has to have Visio). Otherwise, deep sypathy for trying use Word to draw things. Good luck on it Borys. It is a lot of work, and hard work, no matter how big or small the thesis is. And writing fiction compared to school work is completely different.

I would love to report that my computer is done being built, but an unforseen obstacle appeared - the "Honey Do List" that includes a major project. Sigh... Maybe tonight.

[Nameback]

Oh, games... I have an old Sid Meir's Alpha Centauri game going. Santiago needs to be put down. I might be able to squeeze some turns on that. :D

I love that game, never could play on a decent difficulty setting though. Always played on the lowest 3, if ya set it any higher I cant make it to the endgame planet fusion buster maddnes! :)

[amusedtoe]

I'm playing do the laundry, buy some clothes while they're on sale, fold my clothes since they've been in a pile in my room for *mumble* days now, and generally get stuff done that I don't have time to do on the week days.

Seriously that buy some clothes game is pretty kickin' right now. Needed to pick some stuff up for work this week and landed 5 nice quality shirts for $40, and get this, saved over $90!

I keep trying to play that Card Master thing someone had mentioned too but every time I try to log in I get a 500 error. :mad:

[Dirty Harry]

I`m seeing chicks sommer saulting backwards 12 feet in the air avoiding my shotgun blasts.......and when i get reloading.........WHAMMM ................raped!
OKay, a more detailed response.


This is what worked for me, keep your back to a corner, picka place that has only one way to get too. When they fire their gun, you can see the flash so use your magnum to shoot them at a distance, its hard but its do able. If you play like this you dont go anywhere and it forces them to come to you, so basically wait for them to run up to you and give them a face full of buckshot. Basically take cover and wait for them to attack you. If you try and run after them they will just out run you in every way. Evil was right in some ways about the trip mines, place a tripmine around the corner to where you are staying and wait for them. You also can kill them by going berserk on their asses colectively but often you get whittled down too fast on the harder difficulty. Hope this helps.

[Karmakaze]

Rome: Total Realism

Check it out if you were ever turned off by some of the sillier aspects of RTW (peasant uprisings with ballistae, the whole 3 roman factions thing, the annoying Sentate, etc.)

Though I need to restart my campaign since the cpu is horrible at fighting in the default difficulty (basically he charges, stops right in front of my troops and turns around...).

[Commissar Rob]

I got into a beta for a game...not sure what exactly I'm allowed to say. Pretty fun though.

I suppose I could come up with a witty code for the game... (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php?date=2004-10-18)

[Kefkataran]

Well, it must not be City of Villains. :(

[bean19]

That leaves Auto Assault and DDO.

I just got Killer7. For those who haven't checked this gem out, it really is quite interesting. . . very avante garde artsy odd and the gameplay is solid.

Better yet, it just dropped in price to $30.

[Kefkataran]

Yes, I plan on checking out Killer 7 soonish.

I don't understand why I haven't wormed my way into the Auto Assault beta yet. I've done lots of beta testing with NCSoft and they seem to like using people who've tested with them before over again. alas!

[Evil Avatar]

I have a question how do you drum up that much writing like that? Secondly how do you start an idea for a story be it a real novel or a short story.

I never thought about it. I would say that the answer is that I was spending a good 15+ hours a day working on the project non-stop. It was one of those things where I had time and no one was around to bug me.

If you are asking where do I come up with that much material... I don't know. Usually when I'm really writing, it kind of just pours out of me. I listen to a lot of music and before I know it I've written a ton of stuff.

I hate to admit my own weaknesses, but when I'm coming up with an idea I tend to think in more broad "movie" like terms. I think about the premise (sp?) first and then some of the scenes that I want to have and often the ending and then I try to fill in the characters as I go along. I would imagine that means that my stories are a little shallow in the character development department, but strong on action and really heavy on the scenery and details.

I don't think I would ever be compared to Chuck Palahniuk, I would probably be compared more with Steve Niles or Steve Perry.

[Spigot]

I just got Killer7. For those who haven't checked this gem out, it really is quite interesting. . . very avante garde artsy odd and the gameplay is solid.

Better yet, it just dropped in price to $30.

I agree. It's one of those weird games where the less you pay for it, the more you end up enjoying it. I just rented my copy, so I enjoyed it immensely. I think you do have to be open for odd and strange games in general though. If your entire collection is the EA Yearly Sports Update Collection, Killer7 might not be for you...

I beat it last week and then hauled out the 58 page Plot FAQ from Gamefaqs to help me figure out exactly what the heck happened. It makes so much more sense now.

[Kefkataran]

I have a question how do you drum up that much writing like that? Secondly how do you start an idea for a story be it a real novel or a short story.

Speaking as a writer who is friends with a fair ammount of people who don't know how to write, so to speak, I think this is one of the things that's always left them mystified -- how anyone can just sit down and write all those words around some idea. But I think for the writer who's passionate about what he's writing about, it ends up being no big deal. In fact, I usually end up cutting stuff more often than I find myself needing to add in more.

I'd love to read some of Evil Avatar's writing at some point.

[amusedtoe]

A large part of it is how well you know the subject matter. If I were to sit down and try to write even a page on the 19th century economics of lace in Poland I'd have a hard time with it. You name the topic on something I'm intimate with like gaming or computers and I'll be able to give you a couple thousand words without stopping to think about it. By the time you're doing a thesis, or something similar in nature, that's pretty much been your life for the last four years and should come as naturally as basic math. Even with a novel most writers are living their characters and alot will avoid dicatating their actions instead experiencing the story with them.

[bean19]

I find my biggest obstacle in writing to be distraction. It is really hard for me to get into a peice when I have more "fun" things to do. I tend to conceive an idea and let it perculate for a while. Then I have a rough idea of where I want to go with something and I'll write a story outline. Then I usually procastinate to the point that I will only produce after I have a deadline.

However, once I start getting a peice on paper, I'll work on it non-stop until it is complete.

Luckily, I'm still a student and I'm not yet to the point where I'm seriously building a portfolio (have some bits of code, level designs, and stories tucked away in a "portfolio" folder, but they are unfinished works. Designs to be polished with skills I hope to refine through my stuides). The point being, I am not often faced with projects that take long enough that I would be necessarily distracted by real life obligations that distract me from the task and begin the procrastination cycle aknew. I can imagine that learning to discipline myself to finish projects in spite of things like hot game an movie releases, and mundane job tasks (meetings, etc.) will always be an inner balancing act for me.

I'm very good about meeting my obligations and exceeding deadlines, but I'm the guy who will wait until the weekend BEFORE a research paper is due and complete it all in one to two days dedicated to the task rather than slowly working up to it as every professor in the world has advised.

[Kelegacy]

Speaking as a writer who is friends with a fair ammount of people who don't know how to write, so to speak, I think this is one of the things that's always left them mystified -- how anyone can just sit down and write all those words around some idea. But I think for the writer who's passionate about what he's writing about, it ends up being no big deal. In fact, I usually end up cutting stuff more often than I find myself needing to add in more.

I'd love to read some of Evil Avatar's writing at some point.

My problem, which is a problem all writers have, is the edit. You don't want to change what you've put so much time and effort in, even a little. I sometimes compromise a scene if an edit is needed, but it always feels like I'm doing the piece an injustice by removing elements. However, with short stories every word should have a significance, so if you remove it the whole story should lose its flow--at least, GOOD short stories. That's why short fiction is so much harder to write than long. There might not be as many words to conjure, but you are forced to express so much in so short a time that it takes pure dedication to do it right. It's sort of like writing iambic pentameter poetry, or something with a specific rhyme scheme/meter; there usually arent many words, but goddamn it takes an awful lot of planning and sitting there staring at the screen or paper.

[Kelegacy]

I find my biggest obstacle in writing to be distraction. It is really hard for me to get into a peice when I have more "fun" things to do. I tend to conceive an idea and let it perculate for a while. Then I have a rough idea of where I want to go with something and I'll write a story outline. Then I usually procastinate to the point that I will only produce after I have a deadline.

However, once I start getting a peice on paper, I'll work on it non-stop until it is complete.

Luckily, I'm still a student and I'm not yet to the point where I'm seriously building a portfolio (have some bits of code, level designs, and stories tucked away in a "portfolio" folder, but they are unfinished works. Designs to be polished with skills I hope to refine through my stuides). The point being, I am not often faced with projects that take long enough that I would be necessarily distracted by real life obligations that distract me from the task and begin the procrastination cycle aknew. I can imagine that learning to discipline myself to finish projects in spite of things like hot game an movie releases, and mundane job tasks (meetings, etc.) will always be an inner balancing act for me.

I'm very good about meeting my obligations and exceeding deadlines, but I'm the guy who will wait until the weekend BEFORE a research paper is due and complete it all in one to two days dedicated to the task rather than slowly working up to it as every professor in the world has advised.

I'm the same way. I want so bad to write, but there is so much stuff going on in my life it is hard to find the time. However, sacrifice has to be made for the greater good. Last week I actually started to discipline myself, trying to get back into the habit of writing creative fiction again. I get home from work at 5pm on weekdays, eat and watch ESPN until 6, have a happy hour until 7 and then until I go to bed--which is usually 11pm--I write. I look at how many stories I wrote while in college compared to now and it's scary. Of course, I had deadlines back then so I HAD to write. But now I'm back into the grind and it's as rewarding as ever.

One of the scariest things for a writer is the blank page. But once that ball gets rolling, there is no looking back. I sit in front of a computer all day at work and I really dont look forward to it when I get home, but what else am I supposed to do? If I dont make time to write, I'll never get to write that Great American Novel. It's kinda like having 2 jobs, but at least I enjoy one of them.

[mister_slim]

Personally, I have no problem editing my work. I start in, and suddenly large chunks of words vanish or change. The writing is the difficult part.
Oh, man, I know it. I'm also picking up a copy of Ellis's Wolverine:Not Dead Yet trade that I realized we had at the comic place I work at.
That's quite a nice story, and rather atypical for Wolverine.

[Kefkataran]

My problem, which is a problem all writers have, is the edit. You don't want to change what you've put so much time and effort in, even a little. I sometimes compromise a scene if an edit is needed, but it always feels like I'm doing the piece an injustice by removing elements. However, with short stories every word should have a significance, so if you remove it the whole story should lose its flow--at least, GOOD short stories. That's why short fiction is so much harder to write than long. There might not be as many words to conjure, but you are forced to express so much in so short a time that it takes pure dedication to do it right. It's sort of like writing iambic pentameter poetry, or something with a specific rhyme scheme/meter; there usually arent many words, but goddamn it takes an awful lot of planning and sitting there staring at the screen or paper.

Editting does tend to be the toughest thing for writers, but it's also the most important. Learning to kill your children and all. I'd say Mister Slim is probably atypical among writers. :p

Oh, and I got up this morning and just tore through the last three Transmetropolitan trades, so I've finally read the whole thing. Wow. That's about all I can say.

[mister_slim]

Editting does tend to be the toughest thing for writers, but it's also the most important. Learning to kill your children and all. I'd say Mister Slim is probably atypical among writers. :p

Oh, and I got up this morning and just tore through the last three Transmetropolitan trades, so I've finally read the whole thing. Wow. That's about all I can say.
Which issue was your favorite?

I loved 40, but I can see why others wouldn't. I prefer the self-contained stories of the city, really.

[Kefkataran]

Hard to say since I was reading the whole deal in trades as opposed to issues, so I didn't have the numbers on each seperate story. Off the top of my head, though, one of them that really sticks out in my head was the one where Spider watched various television shows based on him as well as had some dreams/hallucinations and each section was done by a different artist. Very funny and very cool seeing how different artists drew Spider and his ridiculous world.

[Spigot]

I'm the same way. I want so bad to write, but there is so much stuff going on in my life it is hard to find the time. However, sacrifice has to be made for the greater good. Last week I actually started to discipline myself, trying to get back into the habit of writing creative fiction again.

Amen.

I have a whole little folder on my computer that I use as an idea dump. I actually started to sit down and work on my story, but like many a magpie I get distracted at the slightest shiny thing that comes my way. I am hoping to join with some friends to have a little writer's circle and that way we'll keep each other accountable.

I do write what my friends call amusing posts for my blog, but I'm not sure if that counts or not. I often find myself imagining how I'd write a certain event or scenario that is taking place during my day to best entertain my cadre of loyal blog readers. I guess it's practice, if nothing else.

Heck, I can sit here and blather on for far longer than I usually should. Every time I sit down and fire up Word to start my actual stories, nothing. And it's not like I don't know how to do creative writing. I used to write all the time while I was in school. Now that I'm not, I just don't have the pressure that I used to have which often resulted in my best work.

Sigh.

But I know that I'll get there. It's just a matter of slowly shutting down all my distractions. I commend those of you who actually have the self-discipline to keep writing on a daily basis. Kudos to you!