No, but you can play against others that have the exact same, or roughly the same, skill set as you. That’s the beauty of matchmaking.
Hell, I’d happily pay double for Live.
Also, nobody ever said that Counterstrike was life, or all there was in life either.
I too suck at videogames, its nice to be able to say that in a calm and stable environment too 
Someone else put it really well in another video game thread but I’ll paraphrase here as I can’t remember which one it was. When you play games, don’t think about the environment that they’re mimicing, think about the rules of the game. However immersive they are, they don’t work like real life. There are means to play games that don’t always come about straight away.
For example, playing against a mate on two player “Army Men” on the PS I was consistently trounced. I tried using the big mounted guns, aiming mortars at him etc, while he just ran up to me and did a little dance around me and killed me. So, taking a lesson from Data I took a sneak peek at his control methods and what he did (circling round me so I had to spin to watch him, while he faced me directly and shot me to pieces) and copied it. We both span round each other shooting but missing each other and he stopped playing out of frustration.
Much as I like Civilisation, I barely scrape through the easier difficulty settings. I’ve no idea how people can play and end up with so much gold and armies, when I try other people’s saved games online 
Yeah, but that’s because I don’t enjoy ALL of Civilizaton; I don’t like the war and armies and stuff part, I like building cities and roads and farms. 
I don’t try it on anything but the lowest couple settings because it isn’t fun to stumble on the other civilizations and they have guns and you have spears.
That’s always a rude awakening. You’re on an island, free to develop at your own pace. You’ve got your hoplites and you’re feeling pretty good…then an ironclad approaches your shores and you feel very very bad about your chances for survival.
Either that or you’re playing a game and you Own The World. You’ve exterminated all but one little civilization that you keep penned up for your amusement. You’ve explored the seas, mostly, and you’re at the point now where you can find out what’s in that last bit of unexplored… shit.
Yes, that’s almost as fun. Usually you can take one of their cities and you can steal one of their technologies, and then it becomes a race to see if you can pump out units faster than they can sweep through your cities.
I’m so getting this game when it comes out for the 360.
I bought Civilization IV not too long ago. I’m with all of you who struggle with this game on medium to high difficulty settings. I’ve read through the manual as well as guides online, but I can’t conquer a damn thing. I always feel that I’m doing pretty well, but once I declare war, I am completely wiped out in the next few turns. Ouch! I’ve never gotten a better rank than Dan Quail. Isn’t that sad?
Drink some beer and drive drunk. It sounds like you’re concentrating too hard. Just play around until you get it. You’ll get past the learning curve where you don’t have to think about what buttons you’re pressing, and that’s when you’ll get better.
I’ve actually gotten a lot better at the driving thing… but I thought my parking space was supposed to save my good car? I parked it there, and then drove it somewhere else, and I guess I left it there. I miss it. It was fast and it had a GPS that talked to me. I don’t think I really understand whatever mechanic that is.
And I’m still having a hard time chasing people in their cars, but if I do the missions a couple times I catch up eventually. I keep spinning out on the turns.
I always find myself doing well until a neighbour I’ve been polite to suddenly decides to turn on me and comes at me with a tonne of crack troops. I seemed to do better in Civ III, which to me had better maps.
And this is where YouTube becomes a valuable asset for us older gamers.
Searching on YouTube for video game footage showed me how the young folks are figuring out how to do things the easy way. Fr’instance, YouTube taught me how to kill Big Daddies with one telekinesis shot, or with a handful of trap bolts (although I find you save a lot of ammo if you just paint 'em with Security Bullseye and let the drones take 'em down). I’ve learned a lot about how to solve Portal puzzles using YouTube as well, although there are some folks out there who do stuff that I just don’t have the reflexes for.
My problem is, I’m a completist. My little version of OCD, I guess. I feel like I have to get all the achievements for every game I play. For Bioshock, that wasn’t too bad, because that game was way fun. But for some games, like Bullet Witch (which was diverting, but by no means a must-buy), the achievements are irritating. They purposely made defeating the game on the hardest difficulty worth 1 achievement point. One lousy point. But, being me, I had to get that point.
Getting all the achievements on the Orange Box is gonna suck, I can already tell.
I rock at video games. I even played competitive Counterstrike for about ten seconds… THEN IT WASN’T FUN! So I quit. I want a story, a character! Something with a little life. Not the same screaming idiots over and over… Being good at games does NOT make them fun, sometimes it only makes them work.
A good thing to keep in mind when driving in GTA is that the controller buttons are pressure sensitive just like a gas pedal. Slow down in the corner, tap your break, its a real car! Also, all cars handle differently. Try getting into a rear wheel drive sports car and see how horrible that is.
If you guys haven’t seen it Zero Puncuation has the best video game reviews. He likes stories and characters!
Also, Bio Shock almost made me lose bowel control a few times. More games like this please! I am ALMOST excited to see what Fall Out 3 is like…
(Anyone gonna play Age on Conan?)
Hell - I recommend Yahtzee to non-gamers and they enjoy him.
On GTA IV, you have to practice driving a lot. Just drive around and explore the city, listen to the tunes. Try different types of cars. The 4-door sedans handle a lot better than the old muscle cars. Every car in the game is a bit too bouncy and slide-happy. Maybe the physics are realistic, it’s just you’re mapping the gas and brake to a trigger with 1/2" of travel.
Gun battles take some getting used too as well, but the cover system is pretty fun as long as you can make Niko take cover when and where you want.