What are you playing until the next patch?

Nothing. I've been spending the past month (and into the next month) building a new gaming PC from scratch. I could only afford to get the components one at a time, starting with the case, then power supply, then mb, etc. Just got Windows 7 installed and configured and will be working on moving files and stuff this weekend. Only component I got left are the video card and Office 2010.

For what it's worth, here are my components:

Antec 1200 case (awesome case!)
Silencer Mk II 750W
Asus M4A88T-V EVO/USB3 motherboard
AMD Phenom II X4 945 CPU
8GB RAM
HP DVD/RW
(2) WD 320GB SATA 3Gb/s hard drives
Acer 23" HD LCD monitor
Windows 7 Professional

Will be getting a EVGA GTX 460 1GB video card

I do this every 4 years, hoping to meet minimum for games 3-4 years from now, just like I did with Civ5. Now if I can find some decent games that I would like to justify all of this money and effort....

I'm still playing civ 5 a little, though most of my time spent with video games has become dominated by minecraft

I was playing Fallout: New Vegas and LOVING IT, but then my save got corrupted and I'm basically fiddling around with side-quests while waiting for the console patch that's supposed to address their rampant "DLC no longer present; owait your save device is gone too; aborting load" error.

Hm... shelving a potentially good game to wait for patches so I can actually enjoy it; why does that sound so familiar?

I really wish there was some accountability in the gaming industry. It sucks that no reviews actually ding these extraordinarily buggy releases, that the sales numbers never suffer, and that we consumers are basically powerless once we've purchased a game and discovered it's broken / unfinished / too bug-ridden to play. The only incentive a company even has to patch the bugs is so they can sell us more DLC and expansions, too. Look at how many games basically get abandoned with game-breaking bugs - if there's no further profit potential, why bother patching it?

Demon's Souls on PS3. Also waiting for the forthcoming Fallout New Vegas patch so that I can finally start it.

Guardian_PL said:

Vindictus.

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Where the hell is European release Been waiting this for a while now.

Elemental: War of Magic

I am surprised this game was not on the poll, nor in fact in any prior reply! A 4X turn-based game that - apart from coming with a plethora of new and fun ideas for the genre - is also an excellent example of how companies should treat their customers.

The game was almost unplayable at the 1.0 release - buggy and full of design flaws. Stardock's CEO publicly admitted failure and took responsibility. The game listened to the players, made a major overhaul of core game mechanics, published bi-weekly patches full of new functionality and bug fixes while communication from the developers has been constant, honest, and quite inspiring imho. Ten patches later, it is now a very interesting and fun game. Also, this month they took Kael (Fall from Heaven maker) as the lead game designer, to guide the game towards perfection in its future iterations.

It is an interesting post-launch comparison between EWoM and CiV. On one hand (CiV), we have a mother company that has been deadly silent to all criticism, (slowly) offering patches that cover secondary flaws while the grand game-breaking design desicions are not discussed, despite community rage. On EWoM's side, the developers admit responsibility for their flaws, address the core design logic issues first, release patches regularly and engage the community in constructive dialogue.

It was reading the dev journals that made me want to buy EWoM. Stardock is a shiny example of how game studios should behave, a beacon of hope in this mess of sloppy releases and simplified gameplay. And to be honest, I find EWoM to have given me this "something new" I was expecting in turn-based 4X games that CiV did not provide.

Civ IV, Football Manager, Victoria 2 and a little Bad company 2...

kounoupi said:

It is an interesting post-launch comparison between EWoM and CiV. On one hand (CiV), we have a mother company that has been deadly silent to all criticism, (slowly) offering patches that cover secondary flaws while the grand game-breaking design desicions are not discussed, despite community rage. On EWoM's side, the developers admit responsibility for their flaws, address the core design logic issues first, release patches regularly and engage the community in constructive dialogue.

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This perhaps illustrates that Stardock's community and its customer base are much the same thing. The same is not true of Firaxis/Civ; the community here and at Apolyton is a fraction of the customer base. Take2 would like to keep us on side, all things being equal, but they aren't going to go the extra mile like Stardock would.

Starcraft 2.

Stardock are a very good Company. The recent drama was highly unusual for them, but their response and the instant hands up from the CEO as he rolled his sleeves up to sort it out was typical of him and his Company. Their attention to their fanbase, and whole structure of updates, support etc is superb.

So on the rare occasion when it goes really wrong - like recently - its a phenominal effect, everyone from CEO downwards through developers, graphics to the fanbase pitches in and sorts it, the atmosphere is great. Lots of Companys could do worse than looking at their business model.

Criticising a Games Company is as easy as predicting the Sun will rise in the morning - unfortunately a large number deserve the hammering. Stardock is one who stand out from the crowd, staying loyal to the fanbase and a quality mandate.

At least thats what their Marketing Director told me to say ..... naaah, they really are good, and well worth a visit if you dont know them.

Regards
Zy

Fail Poll no Kirby's Epic Yarn

kuukkeli said:

Demon's Souls on PS3. Also waiting for the forthcoming Fallout New Vegas patch so that I can finally start it.

Vindictus

Where the hell is European release Been waiting this for a while now.

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Naah, you can play the game just fine, only from US server

On the topic of elemental.

I am waiting on the 1.1 patch to try it again. The release of EWM and CiV were very different.

I would say that EWM was colossal buggy mess where basic game elements weren't even working. In contrast CiV was a good working game with very unbalanced mechanics and pretty bland. The moral of the story is Stardock tried to serve a 12 course meal and bit off more than they could chew and made goulash while Firaxis served quiche when they could have made steak tartare.

Rat

Playing FM 2011. The best in the series no doubt. Yeah, hope the new patch upgrades Civ, cos at this point, im never buying a civ game again. Civ 3 & Civ 4 were compulsive games, this one aint.

SimCity 4.

Why? Endless replayability.

starcraft 2 all the way>

Master of Orion 2. Epic game. But i still play civ5....

Ive been switching back and forth between Vicky 2 and Tropico 3

Since I already waited this long and my enthusiasm isn't what it used to be, change "patch" to "big sale."

An the answer:
I just finished up Arkham Asylum, not sure yet if I want to keep playing to make it closer to 100% complete or not.
A little Civ IV.
But mainly, L4D2. A lot. Ridiculously fun.
And I still have a handful of RPGs to slosh through when I feel like starting one.

I think I saw some where that The Witcher II will be out soon. The first one was a great RPG with a story line written by a famous Polish author. Highly recommended, although it is a bit sexist (you collect an eater egg style bonus every time you get one of the female characters in bed).

AfterShafter said:

I'll bet a year or two from now, once kinks are worked out, balanced is fiddled with, mechanics that should have been in at release are put in, we'll be looking at it a *lot* more fondly.

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In other words: once the game has got a complete overhaul and been drastically changed, we might be looking at it a *lot* more fondly.

As to the question in the thread title: I am no longer waiting for a patch, but for another company to pick up the idea of Civilization style games.