How do you stay sane while waiting?

[aids on wheels]

Bioshock is coming!...in two freaking long months from now:(
the only thing i have left to distract me are my friends, my exams (wich end next week thank god) and a music festival in august (pukkelpop for those of you who are belgian or have heard of it)

what do you do to keep yourself from camping in front of the nearest videogame store

[pimptastic_21]

i froze myself cryogenically to make the wait for the wii. . err BIOSHOCK seem instantaneously. (joke from south park).

actually i just play other games if i start to want it badly. games are the best medicine for wanting games lol. ive been playing a lot of dreamcast, ps2, and original xbox and it seems to keep me busy

[Bioshock_FTW!]

I smoke a lot of pot rofl. And play as many games as I can get my hands on. And prep my PC for BioShock. I just got the ButtKicker Gamer (http://www.thebuttkicker.com/ButtKicker%20Gamer_home.html) from a woot-off a couple weeks back for $40 and holy crap its awesome. BioShock is gonna be so much more enjoyable with it. I just reformatted my entire PC and installed Vista and now it's all running slick, ready for Bx to grace my 10k RPM SATA drive with it's 1's and 0's. I peruse this forum non-stop, at work and at home. I drink beer. I practice my photoshop techniques. I work on an album cover i've been commissioned for. I watch TV. I read books. I eat.
Lots of things. I can't entirely say they help me stay "sane", per say.

[aids on wheels]

And prep my PC for BioShock. I just got the ButtKicker Gamer (http://www.thebuttkicker.com/ButtKicker%20Gamer_home.html)

that thins kicks ass! (pun intended)

[Hatesink]

Mostly play other games, read a little. Also, read game reviews, search for good games I've not played yet. Upgrade and maintain my computer.

[pimptastic_21]

question for the computer people, are there really any PC games worth constantly upgrading your pc that arent on consoles? i really havent ever been that into PC games and i guess ive just never seen very many good ones on the PC

[Hatesink]

question for the computer people, are there really any PC games worth constantly upgrading your pc that arent on consoles? i really havent ever been that into PC games and i guess ive just never seen very many good ones on the PCI'm what you might call a retrogamer, so I don't really upgrade until I can pick up inexpensive hardware on ebay, and then I play games that are at least two years old. I've only just got through playing F.E.A.R.

[Bioshock_FTW!]

question for the computer people, are there really any PC games worth constantly upgrading your pc that arent on consoles? i really havent ever been that into PC games and i guess ive just never seen very many good ones on the PC

Half-life 2, for one. With it's expansions. Actually basically all the Valve games are worth it alone. Besides that, the MMO's (WoW, Vanguard, EQ2, etc.), I'm sure HS will say SS2, I'll say the Thief games (all 3), Anachronox, Company of Heroes, Age of Empires series, Call of Cthulhu: DCotE, Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2, Baldur's Gate series, Planescape: Torment...
agh i don't mean to bring back all those oldschool AD&D games but they're classics that deserve mentioning because they make owning a PC worth it.

[reaper114]

How do I prepare for bioshock? Well that's easy, just last week I ordered some stem cells from the Laboratory for Better Medicinal Research which is located in Paris. They arrived last night, this morning I injected the gene responsible for spontanious regeneration in starfish into the cells. ( I got the gene out by cutting the DNA with Restriction Enzymes). Then I cut out the same peices of DNA from the stem cells. After merging the DNA fragment from the starfish with the now viable DNA from the stem cell, I then extracted the entire newley formed dna from the stem cell and injected directly into my bone marrow. I thought I would gain super powers but boy, oh boy was I mistaken, my body has rejected everything I put into myself and now I am in soo much pain. Just like the people in rapture, yayyyyy! :)

[Bartekk]

In all honesty, I've learnt a lot from my anticipation of stalker. Patience is no longer a problem for me. Besides, I don't see a reason to go 'insane' right now. Wait until it's Gold.

[SPDeath]

I'm what you might call a retrogamer, so I don't really upgrade until I can pick up inexpensive hardware on ebay, and then I play games that are at least two years old. I've only just got through playing F.E.A.R.

Smae here, the only difference is that I do it because im skint. :D

[SPDeath]

Smae here, the only difference is that I do it because im skint. :D

This is why we need the edit button back.:(

[pimptastic_21]

to bioshock ftw, see what i mean, most of the newer titles (such as half life 2, cthulu etc. etc.) that you mentioned are available on console and the other games are old enough that you can play on just a decent PC, without it having to be high end machines. i think thats mostly what i meant is, i never saw the point in upgrading so much just to play a newer title when most are on console, and when most of the older (and better IMO, as i love retro games too) are already playable on just standard pc's.

[v.dog]

question for the computer people, are there really any PC games worth constantly upgrading your pc that arent on consoles? i really havent ever been that into PC games and i guess ive just never seen very many good ones on the PCThat's a loaded question. I'm not constantly upgrading my machine, as I've said before, I simply play each years games on lower settings. So far this rig has lasted me five years.

And as for the games themselves, it's matter of genre. If you like RTS, FPS, or MMO (or multiplayer (more than 4) in general), a PC is the way to go. If you like Platform, Driving, or Beat-em-ups, then by all means, get yourself a console.

Great PC games include:
STALKER
Deus Ex
The entire Half-Life saga (five games and counting)
The entire CnC and Red Alert sagas
Supreme Commander
The Battlefield series (four full games, a handful of expansions, and countless mods)
Unreal Tornament 2004 (and again, countless mods)
WoW
I could go on, but I've made my point.

For me the mod scene is is one of the biggest reasons to be a PC gamer. If there's things in a game people don't like, someone will mod it out (eg: the graphics in DX:IW, the hints in TRA, weapons breakage and spiders in SS2). Then there's the really creative people churning out extra levels (sometimes even entire stories like Minerva for HL2 (http://www.hylobatidae.org/minerva/)), new models ands skins, or using the game's engine and doing something radically different with it (Soccer in HL2 (http://www.hl2mods.co.uk/modsdetail.php?id=53), anyone?) Best of all, they're free. It's like buying one game, and getting four for free. :)

[splicer]

How do I stay sane?
Simple.
I don't.
I'm not!;)

[BioShockWins]

who said I was sane?

I did

Oh you? Ok, just checking

Yeah... about that, We've been having some distancing issues, and I've got a family phycologist apointment tommor--

What? Why didn't I hear about this?


(jk)

[BioShockWins]

dang it... you beat me to it...

[v.dog]

I'm not suffering from insanity. I'm enjoying every minute of it. :)

[borgdrone89]

i cry myself to sleep.

*JK!!!*

i play lots of games and be happy i have made myself a pc that will run Bx quite well.

[LordLeckie]

I suggest binge drinking lots and lots of binge drinking until it gets to the point where you are so slow and drunk that weeks seem to pass in hours.

(jk)

I would suggest indulging in the finer arts seeing as this is a game about snobby people underwater im going to start being a snob so that i fit in the game setting. Hell im flying down to the sydney opera house on tuesday to see PLAY! hurray for winning GameSpot competitions!

[Hatesink]

i never saw the point in upgrading so much just to play a newer title when most are on console, and when most of the older (and better IMO, as i love retro games too) are already playable on just standard pc's.I agree with you, which is why I mostly play older games and upgrade when it's cost-effective. I enjoy games and I enjoy upgrading and re-fitting my PC, but neither of those things do I enjoy enough to dump a whole chunk of change to cover the premiums on all the new hardware. :/ (I guess if I had more cash to play with it wouldn't be such an issue).

Right now I'm looking to upgrade my case to an Antec P180, but I'm worried I'm not going to be able to pick one up before they're discontinued.

My PSU, case and cooling system is probably worth more than the actual boards and processor.

[Newbeing]

Right now my goal is to get a job somewhere in animation/ illustration since I just graduated from school about a month ago (has it been a month already?! BAH!) and i want to get a position somewhere before the end of summer so I can afford to stay close to Boston and and pay for my school loans.

Other than that I think "The Darkness" and "Oblivion" should keep my xbox 360 nice and busy.

When you have other stuff to concentrate on you'll see just how fast the summer will role by. I'm sure that's how the folks at Irrational feel.

[LordLeckie]

Other than that I think "The Darkness" and "Oblivion" should keep my xbox 360 nice and busy.



Too true i just got a ton of assignments out of the way today so im celebrating by picking up a copy of oblivion at EB for only $25!!

[SPDeath]

Too true i just got a ton of assignments out of the way today so im celebrating by picking up a copy of oblivion at EB for only $25!!

This must be the international time for Big exams or Assignments. I myself have just finished a slew of exams, same time next year i guess :p

[Jeff]

A great way to pass time waiting for bioshock is to set goals for things that can only happen relatively close to the release of bioshock, for example I'm saving cash for a 30" flat panel LCD and a 360 elite, my first sizeable paycheck will be on the 22nd, and it should take me 3 or 4 paychecks to save the appropriate amount for both. Although I'll probably cave and end up buying the elite before the t.v., just for the sake of having the entertainment of it while saving for the t.v.

[darthkiwi]

What I do to wait for Bx:
Read books (The War of the Worlds, people! Wells is a genius! But the more I read, the more I hate Spielberg's film of it...)
Write stuff, play games, watch TV. (Doctor Who! Woo!) Peruse this website obsessively.

But as for staying sane, it's a little too laaate for thaat...! *Twitches disturbingly*

[^ilovebioshock!]

im playing F.E.A.R that may keep me busy until The Darkness comes out then its doors closed lights off and T.V. speakers high The Darkness will rock:D

[PrivateJoker]

Too true i just got a ton of assignments out of the way today so im celebrating by picking up a copy of oblivion at EB for only $25!!

I sold Oblivion about a month ago. Its a really fun, compelling, LARGE game, but its also so ridiculously time consuming. Just as a fair warning you may not want to play if you value having time for other things. I played that monster game for like 6 weeks, averaging 4-8 hours after day, and I just couldn't put it down. I eventually sold it, knowing that I would never play it again. ;)