What computer games do you play?

[Sara]

I don't know what this has to do with Arts and Faith, but the two games that I love with a passion are "Age of Empires - Rise of Rome" and Sid Meier's Civilization 1 and 3.

I think it is because in addition to playing the campaigns alone, you can also play the game with others on the internet.

I also love Chess, Marble Drop, and online Backgammon.

I tried Dungeon Seige and Pirates and a bunch of other games, but the two games I love best are listed above.

This has nothing to do with Christmas or faith or anything except wondering what you all love to play on your computers.

Sara

[Peter T Chattaway]

Minesweeper all the way, baby.

[opus]

I was all about Marathon back in the day. Beating Marathon: Infinity left me feeling rather epic. Unfortunately, I don't have much time for too many video games these, much less computer games, but I enjoy the occasional foray into Escape Velocity.

There are a few other games that I'd like to give a whirl, but I need to get a new system before I do too much of that (the iMac DV SE just ain't up to snuff).

[Sara]

Minesweeper all the way, baby.

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Yes, Peter. I believe you. (That is a hard game with mines blowing up when you don't expect them to. It has been a long time since I had the courage to play it againl. I think it takes a very mathematical brain to win.)

Sara

[SZPT]

Command & Conquer (Yuri's Revenge, Generals) when I've got 1 to 2 hours to kill (or 1 to 2 hours of sleep I don't think I need).

For short downtime playing I go for Internet Reversi/Othello. And I'll lay down a challenge right now to anyone who thinks that they're good enough!

I've also play a little bit of Collapse lately at Yahoo! Games on my PC, and a version of Tetris on my Mac.

I miss Wing Commander. Whatever happened to that game?

[Overstreet]

I have never found a video game that can hold my attention for more than a few minutes. And even then, I feel as if I have been robbed of those minutes.

Of course, many movies make me feel that way too.

[Michael Todd]

I am a three year veteran of OOTP simulation baseball. I belong to two online leagues. I've been the Cincinnati Reds owner in the ahistorical Summer of 49 since March 2002. In that time, we've simulated 17 seasons, from 1949 to 1965, and we are getting ready to start the 1966 season.

The other league that I am in is a fictional league formed in the mid-80's -- American Baseball Association. When the league began, I was the original owner of the Evansville Diamond Dogs. Recently, I rejoined the league as the owner of the Hartford Hornets.

If you are a baseball fan, this the game to have. I highly recommend it.

[opus]

Not really computer games per se, but I've always found the online games at Orisinal to be quite fun and addicting, especially this one (which looks and feels like something Hayao Miyazaki might have designed) and this one.

I have never found a video game that can hold my attention for more than a few minutes. And even then, I feel as if I have been robbed of those minutes.

Agreed. Which is why I find this constant fascination that gamers have with the latest and greatest graphics engine, physics simulator, or other techno mumbo-jumbo to be a little disconcerting. Sure, that stuff's really cool and all, and it can add so much to a game that already has a solid story, compelling characters, etc. But it can rarely save a crappy game.

[Sara]

.

Agreed. Which is why I find this constant fascination that gamers have with the latest and greatest graphics engine, physics simulator, or other techno mumbo-jumbo to be a little disconcerting. Sure, that stuff's really cool and all, and it can add so much to a game that already has a solid story, compelling characters, etc. But it can rarely save a crappy game.

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[Greg P]

Also why I still love Sid Meier's Civilization 1. Just a great concept. (I do play Civ3 sometimes) But those two original games had a magic about them that I don't find in their "improved" sequels.

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Played both Age and Civ1. As i recall Civ 1 came out around 1994 and Age1 maybe 95-96? A neat era for computer strategy games IMO. My favorites from that period were Caesar II and Close Combat I & II. I think what made those games so endearing was that the designers left enough "space" in the gameplay for our imagination to fill in the blanks.

I also used to love Silent Hunter (a WWII submarine strategy game), the early LucasArts games (The Dig, Full Throttle, Outlaws) and MDK.

These days I only play the games my kids are playing on PS2. At the moment it's Legend of Kay. Oh, BTW... bought a used copy of Shadow of Colossus online last week. Should be in my mailbox anyday now.

[Ann D.]

I miss our old Commodore 64. Man, we had some great games.

Now, I like online poker (play money, not real). Very, very fun.

I also play a game called Crashdown. It's not very challenging, but relaxes me while I browse the internet.

[Jason Bortz]

I just finished First Encounter Assault Recon (F.E.A.R.).

Before that it was Half Life II.

I still play Battlefield 1942: Desert Combat occasionally.

Online poker, yes.

Bejeweled II, sometimes.

[opus]

I just finished First Encounter Assault Recon (F.E.A.R.).

←

The trailer for that gave me the heebie-jeebies.

[mrmando]

If anyone wants to play chess with me, go to GameKnot.com and send a challenge to mrmando.

I have rediscovered John Olsen's text-based adventure games ... stuff I played in junior high on a Radio Shack TRS-80. No graphics, just imagination, spatial reasoning, behavior modification, and creative thinking.

[gigi]

Tetris. I find other computer games boring and require far too much of my time to master.

When at school we used to celebrate All Saints Day (the school's name) by having a uniform-free day and having a competition between forms by participating in sports. I used to be the class representative in the Tetris competition and won on several occasions.

It was a version of Tetris that I haven't encountered before or since, in which you are assigned bombs for each line you build and awarded points for blowing the lines up. It was substantially more addictive for this. Anyone any ideas? I'd be keen to get a copy.

[opus]

Unfortunately, I don't have a PC, but this intrigues me... the game that makes people cry.

[David Smedberg]

I love Civilization also (although I've only played 3, so I don't have the perspective), and Simcity, as strategy sims. My favorites games are puzzle/exploration games like the Myst series, or games which involve significant exploration even while including action elements, like Deus Ex. I've never played any console game all the way through, although I've been playing Final Fantasy VI on an emulator on my PC, and eventually my roommate is going to break me down and get me to play Metal Gear Solid.

[Phidippus]

Civ is (was) fun, as long as you remember that Microprose games tend to improve AI at higher levels mainly through cheating (i. e., the AI players get more bang for the buck than you do). Ditto Master of Orion, 1 and 2; I have heard less than wonderful things about MoO 3.

Warlords series, from the beginning; the original version, BTW, plays perfectly well on XP.

Transport Tycoon Deluxe, when I don't feel like destroying anything. It's simple enough, but the new "open source" version is greatly improved over the original, and it, unlike the original, plays well in XP.

[Denny Wayman]

I play Arts and Faith.

[opus]

You knew it was coming... Left Behind: The Videogame.

And from MSNBC, Gamers' Good News:

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition: Christians are finally getting a high-caliber shoot-'em-up videogame of their own. Due out on PCs in the second half of 2006, Left Behind: Eternal Forces is the first game adapted from the blockbuster books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Gamers familiar with the largely uninspiring and unprofitable history of Christian videogames will quickly notice two differences in Forces: the top-shelf design, which offers an eerily authentic reproduction of the game's Manhattan setting, and a level of violence reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto. The game revolves around New Yorkers who are "left behind" after the rapture. Players scour the streets for converts, training them into a work force to feed, shelter and join a paramilitary resistance against the growing forces of the Antichrist.

Left Behind Games CEO Troy Lyndon, whose company went public in February, says the game's Christian themes will grab the audience that didn't mind gore in "The Passion of the Christ." "We've thought through how the Christian right and the liberal left will slam us," says Lyndon. "But megachurches are very likely to embrace this game." Though it will be marketed directly to congregations, Forces will also have a secular ad campaign in gaming magazines.

Ah, it's always nice to see people equating Christians with ammunition. And it's also nice to see that they've done their market research. Those megachurches...