What are you playing this weekend?

Didn't think it'd happen, but Drox Operative has completely sucked my life away. When my son goes down for a nap, this thing gets fired up instantly. Great Diablo-like set in space and with a really compelling 4X game being played in the background. The multiple paths to victory do great things for replayability too, as each sector can be a new focus.

Also played some Battle Cry (board game), and am looking forward to getting some Forge, Sims 3 (don't judge), and a few other Steam sale pickups in this week.

UMOarsman wrote:

Didn't think it'd happen, but Drox Operative has completely sucked my life away. When my son goes down for a nap, this thing gets fired up instantly. Great Diablo-like set in space and with a really compelling 4X game being played in the background. The multiple paths to victory do great things for replayability too, as each sector can be a new focus.

Yaaaaaaaaaaay! So happy you're enjoying it!

Veloxi wrote:

And wow Bismark, that brings back awesome memories. Looooved that game.

The good news is that if you want to relive those memories, this one won't cost you anything but your eyesight.

DosBox is free and then you can grab Covert Action from Abandonia.

Extract the Covert Action files to somewhere easy to remember, like C:\CovAct\, start dosbox, type "mount c c:\covact\" to mount the directory as a drive, type "C:" to switch to your newly mounted drive and then type "covert.exe" to start it.

Meanwhile.... One episode into the Bismarck run of "24" and we already reached the part where Jack Bauer is attaching electrodes to his own nipples while shouting "WHERE IS THE BOMB!?" I've gathered a bunch of information and suggestion, but still have no real solid leads. So it's time to go back to old fashioned spycraft and just follow someone.

I park up outside of the MI6 building and wait. And wait. And wait. Eventually someone who looks very much like "Fred Jones" comes out and jumps into a car. Once again I have a CIA associate and we tail Jones away from the office. He's clearly expecting a tail as he changes directions and doubles back several times, but we stay stuck to him and this time we don't end up back at our desks, as he parks up outside the house of an active Mossad cell and goes inside.

I break out the micro chips again and start placing wire taps on the place. I screw the pooch this time though and end up triggering an alarm during a conversation with someone in Riyadh. I pull my gear, jump in the car and drive away and with nothing else to go on I head back to the hotel, pack my stuff and grab an agency flight to Riyadh.

Once in Saudi Arabia the local office tells me they have identified a hideout for the Revolutionary Guard, so I head straight there and place more taps. As I listen in I hear mention of a CIA agent called Jenny Cahill who is a technician in Amman. This could be something or nothing, but raises my suspicions further when I check and find out she was recruited in Damascus - the same place as Fred Jones.

I then also learn that $7,000 has been withdrawn from the account of Carl Baader in Amman itself, which suggests our German friend may have shown up in what's clearly a hotbed of... something. This is made more clear when another money order for $7,000 is purchased in Amman. I think this probably means that the $3,000 moved about earlier by MI6 was not part of Bader's $7,000 I was told about at the beginning.

Then... we hit gold. The Guard safehouse in Riyadh makes mention of an address in Amman that I haven't heard of before - North Avenue 52. I give thanks I hadn't gone back to Washington and jump on a plane back to Amman.

By the time I land the local office is staked out around North Avenue 52 and then I show up for my usual wiretap fun, hoping not to screw it up this time.

Getting all the wiretaps in place successfully this time we learn :

Fred Jones is in conversation with Omar Afafat - a Revolutionary Guards sympathiser in Amman.

Photographs of the people coming and going at North Avenue 52 includes a man believed to be Omar Afafat.

Afafat is referred to as "Agent E."

Jones received a message from Baader on January 2 - (possibly the message about the prison layout, possibly a different message)

I leave North Avenue to head back to the crypto lab at the local CIA office, with two messages in hand.

The first is from Jones to Baader :

The political program requires total cooperation. Enemy activity in Amman has been moderate. Our sympathisers can be found everywhere. There is a large courtyard in the prison suitable for extraction. The target is allowed into the yard for exercise. We are confident that your work will continue on schedule. We believe someone is investigating our activities.

Then from Jones to Afafat :

Your special talents are required to free CTH. A helicopter and inside intelligence will be provided. None doubt your loyalty and all true comrades admire your work in Amman.

It could be a simple side event not related to the plan that's worrying Chief Chief, in which case I'm wasting my time solving an internal security issue for Her Majesty's Secret Service. Or, it could be that there are double agents inside Mossad, MI6 and CIA who are working with the Revolutionary Guards to free "CTH" so that he can execute phase two of the plan.

I now know exactly what is going on and have no idea what is going on. My nipples are going to get really sore.

I'm hanging out with the family still, so it'll likely be a lot of relatively short gaming that I can play on the couch while everyone else watches TV. I'm finding that Blood Bowl is working out well in this situation, so I'll probably continue to learn it.

If I play anything, it'll probably be Persona 4 Golden, with a smaller probability of some Skyrim. Visiting family means there will be little time for video games.

Skyrim is almost the perfect Christmas game. The snowswept mountains are so pretty. Still levelling up my Khajiit battle mage in anticipation of the Dragonborn dlc coming out some time in the New Year.

Nier, Dark Souls DLC (Manus. Must. Fall. NG+), Fallout NV ultimate (merry xmas to me), Oblivion. Sooo busy.

I'm trying out some of the games I got in the latest Humble Bundle. So far Snapshot has completely grabbed my attention. The music is phenomenal. Closure is also really good. I've played basement collection before only really liked the one game where you float in space trying to solve problems on each planet. Indie Game The Movie was something quite unexpected. After watching it, it made me actually dislike FEZ and Braid. I was expecting the opposite to happen.

Other than that I'm probably going to play a lot of Blops2, awesomenauts and maybe a little Orcs must die 2

SRIII, Max Payne 3, & XCOM are the ones I'm looking forward to. Maybe Mechwarrior Online?

It's a weekend full of Steam Goodness

Deepworld and Final Fantasy 4 on iOS, as well as editing my submission for the December GWJ Writers Throwdown, trying to whip it into shape. Also: shave number 2 with a straight razor.

I imagine I'll poke into Planetside 2 some more. Still waiting for a good console patch for Farcry 3, so aside from that, it'll be furniture building in the workshop for me.

Off until Wednesday of next week, though, so that means a lot of sawdust!

I'm also off work until next Wednesday, so plenty of gaming to do. Right now, cleaning up Star Coins in New Super Mario Bros. U, trying out the demo for Mega Man 25th Anniversary, beating McPixel, and then going back to Paper Mario Sticker Star. Other than that, maybe board games and some TF2? Should probably check out the Double Fine prototypes as well...

Working on New Super Mario Bros. U with Shop, playing The World Ends With You Remix, and definitely board games. We're playing Tales of the Arabian Nights since Shop got me that for Christmas and he also said we could play Dominion

Monster Hunter Tri and Fluidity: Spin Cycle. Two very different games.

Skyrim: Dragonborn, Far Cry 3, and maybe some Walking Dead.

Borderlands 2, The Walking Dead, Uncharted 3, or I don't know. Anything resembling pile progress has been tossed out the window this month.

You assholes that actually have days off. I stab at thee!

looks like I'm playing none of the console games I got this season as we had to send our television back to the manufacturer because of a line of dead pixels down the right side of the screen.

Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, Walking Dead, FTL, Endless Space, F1 2012, Forza Horizon, NFS:MW. Oh and almost forgot Persona 4 on Vita.

I've got 4 days off, not heading back to work until 1/2/13

So I'll be hitting up:

FTL
Walking Dead
Mark of the Ninja
Borderlands 2
Assassin's Creed III

This weekend, thanks for a 4 day weekend and lovely sales/gifts, I'll be playing:

Skyrim (primarily)
Borderlands 2
Sleeping Dogs
Batman: Arkham City

I'm planning on starting Journey and putting some more time into Paper Mario: Sticker Star this weekend.

Will hopefully put a bow on Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood over the long weekend (and start AssRev). I played the Followers of Romulus level in the fire-stricken former papal residence last night and was gobsmacked by how beautiful and detailed a space it was for something many players might never even see.

Most likely
IMAGE(http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/article/122/1226482/mark-of-the-ninja-20121023050831444-000.jpg)

Man this game is sweet!

Garden Ninja wrote:

Most likely
IMAGE(http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/article/122/1226482/mark-of-the-ninja-20121023050831444-000.jpg)

Man this game is sweet!

Good choice. Good choice indeed.

Spoiler:

Too bad one of the weapons you get isn't a menorah

Persona 4 Golden
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom (Vita)
Mortal Kombat (Vita)

Edit: My kids have declared a meeting of their feet and my backside in Bakugan Battle Brawlers for the Nintendo DS. They both received the game from my brother. My wife found another copy for five bucks, so it's on. What the kids don't know, yet, is that their daddy is a obsessive level grinder.

It gets better. If I grind my Bakugan halfway to the next level then I earn more than enough money to simply buy the experience points that will take it the other half of the way.

I ask that they are not pitied. Some things are best learned at home from loving parents. This is one of those things.

This weekend I will be playing (in a band at a local bar). Also, some Lord of the Rings LCG. Kingdoms of Alumwake (scored for super cheap). And some FTL (finally went on sale again).

Ohh... its almost the weekend for me.

Persona 4 The Golden.
Barkley's Shut up and Jam. (The kickstarter went through so I might as well start the first)
Asura's Wrath
Digital Devil Saga
Borderlands 2

I'm planning on finishing up Far Cry 3. I also got Papo and Yo on the PSN sale, so I may take a crack at it.

I beat the Dawnguard questline in Skyrim, then played some FTL and Dark Souls. 138 hours invested in Skyrim ... Gosh.