It looks like from that website that I can download Halflife and counterstrike for free!
Bout 500 megs, but I’ll DL that in an hour or so.
Thanks.
I mean unless I’ve smoked too much it appears to be free.
Sounds too good to be true though.
Wow, I totally called it!
That’s certainly a first for me.
The Death of The Adventure Game: A Play in One Act
(The GAMER, wearing a “Frobozz” t-shirt, sits in the center of the stage, lit from above)
(Enter Scrawny Pirate, Vaguely Medieval-Guy, Cajun horror author, and Lounge Lizard): We are the pinnacles of the adventure game. Harken to our glory.
(All dance)
(Enter Man With Book)
GAMER: Who are you?
MwB: I am Myst. Play my fully-rendered first-person surrealistic adventure!
GAMER: Ooooh. (approaches Myst. Myst places 3d glasses on GAMER’s head)
(Myst performs seduction dance around GAMER while others tremble)
GAMER: Y’know, this feels as if I’m right here. But I’d have more resources than this dope. In fact, instead of having this little crystal key, I could probably shoot that stupid lock open. Too bad I don’t have a gun. Why don’t I have a gun?
Scrawny Pirate: I’ve been asking that for years!
GAMER: All that just to get this little box? What is it? Why isn’t anybody guarding it? Where is everybody else, anyway?
Myst(worried): Uh. The feeling of abandonment is a powerful tool for the scene crafter…
GAMER: Man, if there were some guards, I’d have popped a cap in their asses. Why isn’t anybody trying to stop me? Aren’t I working to defeat somebody evil here? Where is he?
Myst(angry): It’s about the puzzle-solving!
Others(to Myst): At least we had plots! What did you do?!
(GAMER removes goggles)
GAMER(to Myst): Got anything else?
Cajun: What about us?
GAMER: I dunno… 2d graphics?
(curtain falls)
(just before curtain reaches bottom) Gamer: How about something with Nazis?
heh can we say jumping puzzles?
I’m with you in heart. I just know it’s as futile as hoping for good movies all the time.
Say I haven’t played a good adventure game since Longest Journey. What’s a good one that’s out now?
Two words, greatest games ever:
TOMB RAIDER!!![COLOR=skyblue]
Adventure games–bah. Give me something where I can blast people! 
And Homeworld 2 is an awesome (if difficult) game for anyone interested in controlling fleets of spaceships as they rain doom down on your mouthy opponents.
Wabbit,
I’ve already beat the shit out of Homeworld 2. I wish it had difficulty levels like the first one and it’s Xpack so I could turn it on Very Hard and see what stress is really like.
The reason you always think games of yore are so much better is because all the sucky games have sunk into obscurity. In 10 years time, everyone will be reminiscing bout Half-Life and Deus-Ex and conveniently forget the multitude of sucky games we have now. Clearly, there still ARE plenty of good games coming out, why do you care if there are also lots of sucky games? Just ignore em.
Darkhold, Syberia is an awesome game. I just loved it, and the sequel is due next year.
Shalmanese, because I just finished playing yet another mediocre title. The third in a row. The vast majority of games that I review are mediocre (which I suppose fits the definition of mediocrity), and I wish it wasn’t so.
Oh, if you haven’t played Half-Life ever, you can pick up the Platinum Pack which has all the expansions…Counterstrike, Opposing Force, Blue Shift, etc, for under 40 dollars. Well worth it.
Hello Again, that site made my day! It plays the Quest for Glory theme! And Gabriel Knight!
I wish:
a) there were more quality adventures in the vein of Gabriel Knight I, because I miss all the different icons for operate, open, read, look, etc. I don’t like newer adventures that only indicate something can be done with an item, as in GK II, which I liked for its rich detail on the Ludwig II front, and because I was very much crushing on the guy who played von Glower, but that’s another matter.
and
b) I could find my game disks for The 7th Guest. I got to thinking about that game the other day, and now I’ll go mad if I can’t play the chess puzzle one more time!
I think the best way to shake off the “swamped by mediocrity” feeling–besides common-sense things like not buying things on hype, waiting for reviews, etc.–is to take periodic breaks from it; simply don’t play any videogames for a month or two. Does wonders when you go from that into some new title.
Of course, when you actually have to review the damn things professionally, that’s not an option. I used to think a job in the gaming industry might be fun, but I no longer do–I want to continue to actually enjoy the hobby. 
The 2 Call of Duty demo’s are sweet. This game is going to be hte R0x0rz.
Rise of Nations is a very good game, if you are into that kind of thing.
My game of choice right now is Delta Force:Black Hawk Down.
Did you know Geneforge 2 is out for both Mac and PC from Spiderweb Software?
Yes. In fact, if my editor okays it, Spiderweb has already agreed to send me a copy directly for review. With bigger publishing houses, I can usually request free copies anyway, but Spiderweb is a small independent and I wouldn’t feel right asking for a free copy just to play.
I’m beginning to worry about this game Rockstar has coming out called Manhunt. Now, I love violent video games. I’m really glad tht federal courts have finally awarded them first-amendment protection. But still, I hate when companies use violence just for the sake of there being violence to cover up a crappy game (Postal 2, anyone?). Now, maybe once I actually play the game I’ll be proven wrong, but so far Manhunt (where you play a convicted murderer who is forced to hunt down others Running Man style for someone’s entertainment), sounds like it won’t appeal to anyone except the busybodies that think video games need to be banned. It might be Rockstar’s next State of Emergency, an emperor with no clothes that is somehow supposed to tide us over until the next GTA game.
Buy the Triumvirate: Hearts of Iron, IL2 Sturmovik:Forgotten Battles, and Halflife (for the Day of Defeat mod, of course.)
Those three will tide you over until Harpoon 4 comes out.
Hearts of Iron satisfied my need to have Rommel spearhead an invasion of the United States, predicated on the nuclear destruction of London and the British Isles used as a staging point to mass the fleet.
Once Upon A Knight, while nowhere near as humorous as the box claimed (a tagline of “Heroism. Sorcery. Cows.” with an alarmed cow being catapulted at a beseiged castle? That’s comedy gold!) satisfied my need to have a game with both RTS and RPG modes.
And in a month, Devil Whiskey will satisfy my need to play a Bard’s Tale knockoff with modern art and music.
ACK! Do not mention that accursed game before me! OK, it wasn’t that bad, but it’s one of the mediocre titles I just finished reviewing. I wrote this post after I turned in its review.
I’ll look into Devil Whiskey. That could be interesting.