I've gone back to retrogaming

[Nightwatch]

I was tempted to go back to Civilization II (favourite game before CoH came along) or even Pokemon (which I played on Gameboys with my kids when they were younger) when CoH died.

Unfortunately the disks for CIV II were corrupted by now and my Gameboy just didnt work.

Having tried ST, CO and TSW a few times since the death of CoH, and not getting anywhere near the same buzz, I'm marooned.  No gaming at all for me.  It's crap television, books and (gasp) talking to my wife!

[Phaetan]

Yes, that was what I was referring to, as she uses a Henshin Wand when transforming into Princess Heart.  And it's hilarious steamrolling Silent Hill monsters as a Magical Girl.

[Eoraptor]

I was tempted to go back to Civilization II (favourite game before CoH came along) or even Pokemon (which I played on Gameboys with my kids when they were younger) when CoH died.

Unfortunately the disks for CIV II were corrupted by now and my Gameboy just didnt work.

Having tried ST, CO and TSW a few times since the death of CoH, and not getting anywhere near the same buzz, I'm marooned.  No gaming at all for me.  It's crap television, books and (gasp) talking to my wife!

That's me all over. I can torrent the games I used to have and play them... but nothing holds me. I can loose hours in Civ IV... but then, it's still "just until I subjugate the next nation over"  and not any story, not any interaction. Nothing keeps me engaged like patrolling the streets of Paragon did. and I don't even have a wife to talk to!

[CoyoteSeven]

I've expanded out of retro-gaming to include playing with Windows Media Center.

Now I know that MS killed the WMC project already and disbanded that team, but I already use my computer to watch cable through FiOS with a Ceton InfiniTV 4, and using WMC to also watch Netflix and my DVD library with a remote just seemed like an awesome thing to do.

So recently I've been slowly backing up my DVD library into my hard drive to make it always available. I'll likely get another terabyte drive just for that. I've been having fun learning how to incorporate meta data and have cover shots so it all looks nice and pretty on the select menu.

I've also discovered a bulletin board for Windows Media Center, that try their best to keep it alive despite Microsoft having deemed it legacy code.

[Angel Phoenix77]

I feel your pain op. I've tried star trek online, champions online, tera, secret world, and a few other mmos. and not one of them closed the gap that city of had. I even started playing my ps3 again after 7 years of mmo gaming. I even started playing final fantasy 7 again as well as 4 and 6.
I am going to try out final fantasy 14 I just hope it can help fell the void left by city of. till the day city of does come back to all of us

[Kaiser Tarantula]

I recently started playing Tron 2.0 again.

I really don't understand why this game got panned so hard.  I mean, sure the Light Cycles minigame is absolute BS, but beyond that the game plays really smooth, is really solid, and for its time it was exceedingly pretty (still is, IMO.)

[NeoGeoBriaN]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who's gone back to Retro gaming. Before CoH I was big into handheld systems, with my Nomad, NeoGeo Pocket, and GameBoy occupying alot of my free time. I spent many hours spent on Pokemon...

[NoName]

Couple people have mentioned GOG.com. It's a great place to get some of the old school games. Sometimes you can get like 50-60 high quality classics for like 10 dollars.

I'm waiting for Grimoire to come out.  It's a game in the same vain as Wizardry 6 and 7 that has been in development for about 18 years now. It might finally come out this year.

Other than that really hooked on Blaster Master for NES. The 5 continue thing was always a pain.

There's always this too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsr366dk14I

[Pinnacle Blue]

GOG is getting from me quite a portion of the $ NCSuck would have been getting.  Once I'm all SMAC'd out (I downloaded it last night!), next stop is Pharoah + Cleopatra.

[Triplash]

There's always this too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsr366dk14I

Oh great, now I need a new keyboard. Mine got drooled on!

[healix]

I checked out GOG, and wow. I saw so many games that brought back great memories! 7th Guest, 11th Hour, Myst, Riven, Uru, Syberia and so many more!. I went back to play Oblivion after The City closed. I have hope that we all will be back in our City someday.

[Kaiser Tarantula]

GoG is a great thing for the most part, but I have had an occasional lemon from them.  My CD drive's dying on me, so I really don't want to risk my Planescape: Torment CDs in it.  I tried to get it from GoG.com, but that version is buggy as sin.  I wound up just taking the risk with my CD drive, then copied my installation and archived it.  If I want to play it in the future, I can just unpack the archive.  Fortunately, my drive spat my CDs back out unharmed after a little convincing, so I still have the physical copies.

Given that it was cheap (I'd have spent the same amount or more going to a restaraunt for dinner) and worth the attempt, I'm not too miffed.  Most of the stuff I've bought from GoG has been top-notch.  Sadly, they don't have Tron 2.0, so I can't (legally, anyway) help people get copies of the game to play with me or enjoy it alongside me.  A shame.

If you're looking for stuff to buy off GoG, here's what I'd recommend.  All prices listed are USD:

• Anachronox (currently $5.99): A turn-based RPG with an interesting combat system.  Plays kinda JRPG-ish.  Has a cop-out of an ending, but the game itself very good.  You can obtain a superhero, a robot, a private eye, a shrunken planet, a mad scientist, and a femme fatale as party members.
• Evil Genius (currently $9.99): A real-time strategy game, in the vein of Dungeon Keeper.  You are an evil Genius, out to conquer the world, and do it your way.  You have the choice of one of three evil personae to represent yourself, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.  You'll need to build an impenetrable island fortress, keep operatives from the alphabet spy agencies of the world from learning of it, and research new technology, the better to impress fellow criminals and terrify would-be enemies with.
• Thief Gold, Thief II: The Metal Age, and Thief 3: Deadly Shadows (currently $9.99 each, bundle all 3 for $18.96): These three games are widely considered the definition of first-person stealth gaming.  Many later games, in particular the Splinter Cell series, took their cues from the Thief series.  Master the arts of hiding in the shadows, staying quiet, and covering your tracks to pull off numerous heists in a dark fantasy world.  Not for the gung-ho rambos among us - you try to rambo your way through the game, and you'll die in short order.
• Startopia (currently $5.99): You are an administrator running a space station filled with wacky alien stereotypes.  You must scour the populace of space-station visitors to find good employees, and bilk the rest out of every last energy-credit they have.  Energy and money are one and the same in this real-time strategy game; lose enough funds, and your buildings lose power!  Keep your guests and employees happy to keep them spending and working longer, and prevent rival administrators occupying other station segments from doing the same and out-competing you.

[Floride]

Right after CoH went off the air, I retreated way back. Built a Windows98 box from an old dell. W98 is blazing fast on a pentium! I installed my old Quake2 and mission pack CDs and went nuts grinding through Strogg again.
Had dig on a lot of forums though. Wasn't easy finding which DirectX and IE were the latest that W98 could handle.

[corvus1970]

I'm finally tiring of Civ 5, and the current state of the game industry just continues to depress me. So I've gone back to my roots. I've updated my MAME collection and upgraded to version 0.149. Right now I'm playing Galaga over and over to perfect my high score while I play ambient arcade sounds on repeat on WinAMP while I've queued up a whole lot of 80's music on iTunes. I play standing up to better recreate the experience. Too bad I still have to use a DualShock 2 controller, lol.

Can't...resist...QUOTE!

"That man is playing Galaga. He thought we wouldn't notice... but we did."

[Shenku]

While not technically retrogaming, I just finished listening to the audiobook version of Ready Player One a few weeks ago(twice... In back to back weekends...)... For anyone who grew up before or during the 80s, there's tons of nostolgic references everywhere to 80s pop culture, and not just about games, plus it's a very good story, and the audio version is read by Will Wheaten, which makes it a little nerdier, if that is at all possible... :P

[Arachnion]

Ready Player One is a fantastic listen and stands well as a book.

:D

[CoyoteSeven]

Can't...resist...QUOTE!

"That man is playing Galaga. He thought we wouldn't notice... but we did."

https://images.weserv.nl/?url=24.media.tumblr.com%2Fa2d15cb2734be44649c5ade5380a5de8%2Ftumblr_mjdgsj3XLm1qbcfjxo1_400.gif

[corvus1970]

Hah! Appropriate GIF is appropriate :D

[Eoraptor]

playing a lot of Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 this week.

ride the rides

[CoyoteSeven]

playing a lot of Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 this week.

ride the rides

https://images.weserv.nl/?url=ic.pics.livejournal.com%2Fcoyoteseven%2F537318%2F64807%2F64807_original.gif