Pc Games?

[irregularjoe]

Ok all you gamers.

I need some advice.

Although I'm pretty adept at the tech side of 'puters, I know squat about games.

To me, an exciting night is playing Solitaire.

Or if I REALLY want to get wild and crazy, I crank up Super Mario Brothers or Pacman.

Other than that, I'm lost.

So what I need to know from all you gamers, is what should I be looking for?

But this is important.

I am NOT interested in car chases, shoot 'em ups, gore, cops, military, war, blood, or Britney Spears.

I like games that make you think, not those that make you sick.

Strategy, slow moving, even board type games would be good.

Something that keeps my interest and makes me come back for more.

Let me know what you recommend.

Thanks,

Joe

Oh, and I'm talking strictly PC games.

Edited September 27, 2005 by irregularjoe

[IEatHardDrives]

Rome: Total War is a real fun slow moving strategy game it plays like a board game on the game map but when you get into a battle its real time very fun.

[jcl]

There's always SimCity. And whatever the current incarnation of Capitalism is called. And the theme-park games that inexplicably became popular a few years ago. The entire simulation genre -- excluding wargames, racing and flying sims, and the Sims -- would be good, except that I think it's a bit thin these days.

Spore could potentially be spectacular, but I don't know when it's shipping. It's evolution in game form, from unicellular life to interplanetary travel. It might have less strategy and more violence than you want, though. (It is, AFAIK, realistic violence. What you'd expect given the subject matter. Realistic lack of strategy too, I suppose.)

Civilization and its descendants would fit the bill, except that, despite the apparent attempts of the designers, they always end up being war games if you're playing against the computer. In a multiplayer they could be run as pure politics and economics, but probably not very well. (This is unhelpful, but I like to complain about it.)

The adventure genre would be a good match if it wasn't all but dead. If you aren't interested in flashy graphics -- or any graphics -- you can look at the zillions of text adventures spawned by ADVENT, and the interactive fiction genre that followed.

The Rogue-likes that preceded modern role-playing games are borderline. Often hack-and-slash but turn-based and frequently text-based.

There are a fair number of deep multiplayer strategy games online. Lots of political games. No details because I don't play them.

While not strictly a computer game, Nomic and its relatives seem to be fairly popular online. The rules of the game are the game: the players create, debate, and change the rules. The goal is whatever the current rules say is the goal.

IIRC there are a few people trying to implement the Glass Bead Game, but I'm pretty sure that's impossible.

I just realized that I'm still living in the mid-'90s. The last games I played (and I mean this year) were Fallout and Final Fantasy VII.

Edited September 27, 2005 by jcl

[irregularjoe]

Rome: Total War is a real fun slow moving strategy game it plays like a board  game on the game map but when you get into a battle its real time very fun.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks, but did I mention NO WAR? Thought I did.

[irregularjoe]

There's always SimCity.  And whatever the current incarnation of Capitalism is called.  And the theme-park games that inexplicably became popular a few years ago.  The entire simulation genre -- excluding wargames, racing and flying sims, and the Sims -- would be good, except that I think it's a bit thin these days.

Spore could potentially be spectacular, but I don't know when it's shipping.  It's evolution in game form, from unicellular life to interplanetary travel.  It might have less strategy and more violence than you want, though.  (It is, AFAIK, realistic violence.  What you'd expect given the subject matter.  Realistic lack of strategy too, I suppose.)

Civilization and its descendants would fit the bill, except that, despite the apparent attempts of the designers, they always end up being war games if you're playing against the computer.  In a multiplayer they could be run as pure politics and economics, but probably not very well.  (This is unhelpful, but I like to complain about it.)

The adventure genre would be a good match if it wasn't all but dead.  If you aren't interested in flashy graphics -- or any graphics -- you can look at the zillions of text adventures spawned by ADVENT, and the interactive fiction genre that followed.

The Rogue-likes that preceded modern role-playing games are borderline.  Often hack-and-slash but turn-based and frequently text-based.

There are a fair number of deep multiplayer strategy games online.  Lots of political games.  No details because I don't play them.

While note strictly a computer game, Nomic and its relatives seem to be fairly popular online.  The rules of the game are the game: the players create, debate, and change the rules.  The goal is whatever the current rules say is the goal.

IIRC there are a few people trying to implement the Glass Bead Game, but I'm pretty sure that's impossible.

I just realized that I'm still living in the mid-'90s.  The last games I played (and I mean this year) were Fallout and Final Fantasy VII.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks jcl.

I do have an older Sims game, but never found out what you are supposed to do with it.

It was a P2P download, so maybe it's missing half the files.

I'll check out the other ones that you mentioned. I just noticed capitaism today online. Looked interesting.

Thanks for your help.

Joe

[jcl]

I do have an older Sims game, but never found out what you are supposed to do with it.

No, it sounds like you figured it out. The Sims is the opposite of Spore. Spore is a simulation of life. The Sims is a simulation of not having a life.

Edited September 27, 2005 by jcl

[Vile_DR]

in a word, WOW. It would be a long-lasting, slow-moving, player interactive, war type of interaction, but because you mentioned that you don't want anything of the sort...WOW isn't the word of the day...

**WOW meaning World of Warcraft**

[medab1]

arimaa

[Aluvus]

Civilization and its descendants would fit the bill, except that, despite the apparent attempts of the designers, they always end up being war games if you're playing against the computer.  In a multiplayer they could be run as pure politics and economics, but probably not very well.  (This is unhelpful, but I like to complain about it.)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Civilization 3 (with the expansions, anyway) allows you to reduce AI aggressiveness independent of difficulty level. Though it's still hard to play an entire game at peace. Unless you chicken out and reload the last auosave every time someone declares war on you

When war does break out, it's at least a "thinking man's" approach to war.

[KeithLDick]

MAME will play all the old Arcade Style Games..

I have a lot of links to *Online Games* on my site and some other Gamer Sites..

I usually go here and look for Demos to try out..

3D Gamers

http://www.3dgamers.com/

or these

GameSpy

http://www.gamespy.com/

Adrenalin Vault

http://avault.com/

The-Next Level

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/index.php

Gaming-Age

http://www.gaming-age.com/cgi-bin/front/index.pl

GameZone

http://www.gamezone.com/

Next Level Gaming

http://www.nlgaming.com/

Happy Puppy

http://happypuppy.com

MegaGames

http://www.megagames.com/

Blues News

http://www.bluesnews.com/

Shack News

http://www.shacknews.com/

Games @ SlashDot

http://games.slashdot.org/

I have around 150 Gaming Site Links if ya need more...

[blim]

Joe, sounds like you and I don't exactly qualify as "extreme gamers", do we? although I graduated to Spider Solitare (not the hard level, though)

I don't know if its being made for XP (Son got it long time ago), but one game that looked fascinating to me was Caesar III (I assume there's a Caesar I and II, maybe more??))

It's like Sim City, but you are building a Roman Empire with Temples and Stadiums, etc. I kept bugging Son, saying "build this here, put that there". Needless to say, he plays it when I'm not home now The music gets stuck in your head, though.

Liz