Mike2112

My Top 5 would be:

 

1. Doom

2. Civilization 2 (Civilization 4 was really good, too.)

3. Half Life (Aside from being a great game, the main character has the same last name as me, so it was like the guards and scientists were talking to me.)

4. Unreal Tournament

5. Diablo 2

 

I played UT for years (the GOTY edition, not the 2003 version which I thought sucked)... Still love that game though, either simple deathmatches or "bunny tracks" (a weird and great form of CTF).

 

If you liked Doom (I assume you got Doom3 as well), you should try the Wolfenstein series. The New World Order just came out and it is great so far.

I'm not a game connoisseur; I've played only a tiny percentage of what's been listed on these pages. So rather than indicating the "Top Five Best Games of All Time," here are some that completely took over my life at various points:

 

1. The text-based interactive fiction games Adventure (Colossal Cave) and the Zork series. Early '80s, on an Apple green and black screen, with no Internet to go looking for hints or outright answers. Good times!

 

2. Adventure (Atari 2600). I was playing this a lot in 1981 with the radio on, when they started to play Tom Sawyer and Limelight every other minute. That's how I discovered Rush, so this game and those two songs are forever linked in my memory.

 

3. Myst. The first game I bought for my newfangled Pentium 60 in 1994 or thereabout. Talk about obsessed.

 

4. Doom / Doom II / Quake. Especially the first Doom.

 

5. Civilization II. I got a full ten years of play out of this before I became bored with it.

 

6. Diablo II. Wanting to relive some memories, I tried loading up these discs a few days ago onto my laptop. After some tweaks, it only runs in a little dinky screen and it kinda goofed up my Windows. (I think it's running in fewer colors, and the menu style looks dated; I don't see how to fix it)

 

Lately I've been getting the itch to play something again, so, thanks to Steel Rat, I've been hooked on NEStalgia for the past week.

 

I remember the text based adventure games in the early and mid 80s as well... Got me hooked way back. My first was The Adventures of Karak on the TRS-80 (public domain name that came out of Rainbow magazine) and the shortly after was Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (retail)... Ahh, those were the days...

When I saw this thread title, I was wondering if it was about the doc. I have not seen it yet, but I hear it's amazing. Those guys played on so many popular recordings -- you don't realize just how many until you start seeing them listed. And for a bunch of geeky white guys they could sure bring the funk! I need to grab a copy of this.

 

Yes the swampmen - it is UNREAL how many major hits they played on. Just unreal and such a cool story. I saw it last night (it is on Netflix) and I highly recommend it...

Anyone see this documentary?

FYI I found this article today in the news related to ecigarettes and quitting smoking:

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/20/us-health-ecigarettes-idUSKBN0E00UW20140520

 

(Reuters) - Smokers trying to quit are 60 percent more likely to report success if they switch to e-cigarettes than if they use nicotine products like patches or gum, or just willpower, scientists said on Tuesday.

 

Presenting findings from a study of almost 6,000 smokers over five years, the researchers said the results suggest e-cigarettes could play an important role in reducing smoking rates and hence cutting tobacco-related deaths and illnesses.

 

As well as causing lung cancer and other chronic respiratory diseases, tobacco smoking is also a major contributor to cardiovascular diseases, the world's number one killer.

 

"E-cigarettes could substantially improve public health because of their widespread appeal and the huge health gains associated with stopping smoking," said Robert West of University College London's epidemiology and public health department, who led the study.

Mainly funded by the charity Cancer Research UK and published in the journal Addiction, West's study surveyed 5,863 smokers between 2009 and 2014 who had tried to quit without using prescription medicines or professional help.

 

The results were adjusted for a range of factors that might influence success at quitting, West said - including age, nicotine dependence, previous attempts to give up smoking, and whether quitting was gradual or abrupt.

 

They showed that 20 percent of people trying to quit with the aid of e-cigarettes reported having stopped smoking conventional cigarettes.

That compared with just 10.1 percent of those using over-the-counter aids such as nicotine replacement patches or gum. Of those using willpower alone, 15.4 percent had managed to stop.

 

E-cigarettes contain nicotine - a stimulant not thought to be particularly harmful, although it is addictive - delivering it in a water vapour rather than in smoke from burning tobacco.

 

A relatively new product, they have become highly controversial, with public health opinion split over whether they might be a powerful tool in helping those hooked on cigarettes to finally give up, or whether they simply replace one bad habit with another.

Because switching to e-cigarettes from tobacco ones does not entail kicking the addiction to nicotine, some specialists say they could spell the end of smoking - which the World Health Organisation (WHO) calls "one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced".

But critics point to a lack of long-term scientific evidence to support the safety and effectiveness of e-cigarettes, and warn they may also re-normalise smoking, enticing children or other non-smokers to take it up.

 

West agreed that evidence about long-term use is e-cigarettes is scant, but stressed the balance of risks had to be weighed against the very strong evidence of tobacco's harms.

 

"It's not clear whether long-term use of e-cigarettes carries health risks, but from what is known about the contents of the vapour these will be much less than from smoking," he said.

 

Smoking tobacco kills half of all those who do it, according to the WHO, and has a death toll of 6 million people a year.

West said evidence shows that smokers who seek professional help from doctors or health clinics that provide stop-smoking services have the highest success rates in quitting.

 

"These almost triple a smoker's odds of successfully quitting compared with going it alone or relying on over-the-counter products," he said.

 

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Lol. Back when I was able to smoke weed, I'd smoke a clove cigarette to mask the smell. I had no idea those things were illegal, now.

 

Tobacco companies lobbied to make them illegal because US companies don't make them. After they succeeded, the clove makers just put a different wrapping on them and called them cigars. NYC then made all flavored tobacco illegal (except mint because US tobacco companies make those). So clove cigars are now illegal in NYC, but ok almost everywhere else.

 

I started smoking them for the same reason (hiding weed smell and extending the "high" feeling). Now I have the clove flavored ecigs.

 

Aren't cloves like really really bad for you though? (like a lot worse than cigarettes was my understanding)

I used the brand "blu"... I supplement with them and find that I am smoking less than half of what I used to. I tried NJoys several times and they seem to die quickly - sometimes only giving me about 10 tokes before flashing and no longer working... The Blu brand seems to last a long time...

And PLEASE do whatever you have to do to not forget your new password!

 

Um... If you forget your password you can just click "I forgot my password".

I gave Sky rim another chance, it's getting better. Like I said, it must have been my mood at the time.

 

Jack, you need to try DayZ... I think you would love that one. Basically it is survival while 1st person shooter. You start off on the coast of a 15km x 15km map in a fictional block of Russia (all the signs are in Russian, etc) and all you have is a flashlight and a battery in your jeans. You loot houses and military bases and such finding better clothing, food, water, gun and ammo (if you are lucky or know where to go to find). As time progresses you need to eat to avoid starvation and drink to avoid dehydration, etc... And zombies everywhere to avoid or kill with a blunt object or gun(s)... It is still in alpha mode (not even beta yet) but well worth the $39.99 via Steam but you will get the Beta and retail version when they progress to that point as well once you pay the $39.99...

Check this:

 

http://windows.micro...esktop-tutorial

 

Thanks. It looks like 8.1 was made for the purpose of allowing the user to customize and make it like a traditional windows theme. Good move by them IMO.

I hate Windows 8. f***ing hate it.

 

I quickly learned to hate it. 7 is so much more user-friendly. I need that start menu tab in the bottom left corner.

 

Update to 8.1 and you get your Start button back.

 

Tony, is there a way in 8.1 for everything to look and function like the old desktop as in XP, 7, etc? Or is it still the tiles-bullshit just with a start button?

I hate Windows 8. f***ing hate it.

We got the XBox for my son for Christmas and we are really disappointed. The signing in/logging in process every damn time is annoying and when he went to play with a friend online we discovered that you have to pay extra monthly for the "Gold" package and are now having to pay a monthly fee to use it (as well as use Netflix and such on it). He is actually ready to take it down to the local GameStop and trade it and all his games for either a PS3 or a PS4...

 

I think the best comment I found online related to the "Gold" membership was an analogy: It's like paying for a hotel room and getting into the room only to discover you need to pay extra to sleep in the bed.

Just finished playing through MYST. Was cleaning out my family's storage unit and found the old disc in a box. Really clever game, also pretty difficult at times (there were a few times I had to take a quick peek at a walkthrough)...I've got a soft spot for the old point and click puzzle type games.

 

I always liked the Myst series too. Played the original back in the early 90s. Did you ever play the other ones (up to Myst 5)?

Has the community change in the standalone? I recall the mod having an incredibly toxic community.

 

Not sure what you mean by toxic, but no different than any other gaming community. With Dayz people get really pissed at "Bambie Killers" - people who have just died and respawned on the beach starting all over again. But bambies are fun to f**k with. Sometimes I will put a can of soup in the middle of the road and sit in the bushes and wait for someone to come pick it up. Sometimes it is a bambie who ends up starting over yet again :) or it is a bandit who has lots of ammo and food that I can take off him (if I don't shoot his body and ruin everything he is carrying)...

 

Another favorite of mine is to get a paper and pen and write on the paper "f**k you" or "Bang Bang you're dead" and leave it again in the middle of a road and wait for someone to come read it :)

 

And edit to add - it depends on my mood, sometimes I will find bambies and give them food and a compass or something to get them started...

I think it's a little effed up that they are going to charge you to play an alpha version of the game. If they want people to test it and give feedback they should't be charging to play.

 

I read some reviews and it looks like DayZ plays like a very old school MMO where you have to fear both the environment and other players, nothing is easy to achieve and the penalties for failure are severe. I would love it if I was back in college/high school and had the time to play it. Sounds like my kind of game. I am betting this won't be a hit in today's market though. Everyone wants easy sauce gaming now days and this game will only target a very small, niche market.

 

1.5 million people have paid for it, so it looks like their $60 million revenue shows that people were and are very willing to pay for it. Keep in mind when you buy the $39 alpha version, you will get the beta and retail when they come out as well. I have already gotten my $39 out if it by far.

It is indeed addictive, but what is great is you can log off any time and start back at the same place with the same gear, so you can play just as you have time. It is soooo frustrating to die that you end up being VERY careful (falling, getting followed or killed by other people, etc). Last time I died and had to start over I went up into a house to eat/drink and clean up my gear (sew torn clothes, etc) and I see 5 bandits (other players) armed. I aim out the window with my m4 (had 1000 rounds of ammo, stocked to the hilt) and shot the one in the head - dead. The other 4 come running towards the house and two bolt up the stairs and I took them out too. Waited like 15 minutes just to see if the other two would come out. Stupid me, I ended up bored and went out and was ambushed by the remaining two... Live and learn.

 

The game is fun though and you have freedom to do what you want. A friend and I went online one Sunday night and took about 5 or 6 hostages/handcuffed them and marched their asses up the coast forcing them to eat rotten fruit. Once in a while one would try to run (hard to do when handcuffed) and we would need to take their pants off or something to punish them :)

Anyone else play DayZ?

Hello old friend!!

 

Try CCleaner from Piriform:

 

http://www.piriform....wnload/standard

 

 

It is free and a must-have. Once you install it, run the cleaner (top button), then run the very important registry cleaner (2nd button from top). The registry cleaner will do wonders on an old computer like that, getting rid of all the old crap in the registry that is slowing things down...

 

Edit to add: Justy realized you only have 512MB RAM, that sucks... Still do the above and see if it helps, but I imagine an additional $20 memory stick to make it a GB of RAM will do wonders as well...

Best I can do with the sizes being different and the angle of the face different:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/RushRevisited/136856094357498_zps57597635.gif

Why can't Sheldon get likes the old fashion way? Earn them. :P

 

Then he'd only have like 8

 

 

 

 

.... one for every second Mike would last with Sheldon's wife

 

I don't know - 8 seconds or 8 minutes or 8 hours... I haven't seen his wife...

 

 

 

(lights are always off)

If Sheldon Cooper is traveling on a train going west at 300 mph and Mike is traveling on a train going east at 400 mph, and they start 1000 miles part, how much time will Mike have to bang Sheldon's wife before he gets there?

Much more time than it will take, no doubt.

 

:laughing guy: BURN!!!

If Sheldon Cooper is traveling on a train going west at 300 mph and Mike is traveling on a train going east at 400 mph, and they start 1000 miles part, how much time will Mike have to bang Sheldon's wife before he gets there?

Well this escalated quickly.

 

 

:laughing guy: :cheers:

No, they are paid clicks.

Too bad there isn't a little penis to click on since Sheldon is such a dick.

 

I guess you'll just have to keep clicking on your own little penis.

 

BAZINGA!

 

Nah - your wife is already doing that every day for me

 

Those are pity clicks.

 

No, they are paid clicks. :)

 

Whatever puts beer in the fridge!

 

 

Oh yeah, I took a few beers out of your fridge last night too... Had to have a buzz for her.