Utter pandemonium?

I never played most "old school" games, I enjoy the challenge they bring and seeing where modern games are directly influenced by them.

One of the things that made old school games so hard was the fact that the idea of lives migrated over from arcade games. Lives and continues were put into arcade games to make you put another quarter in the machine. On a console or computer, there's really no reason for them to exist, all they do is frustrate the player, and force him to play the first few levels over and over as he tries to get further in the game.

That is so very true, after trying the same level over and over some of the fun is taken out of the experience.

Or adds to the experience. Contra is infamous for its extreme difficulty, but has made it a virtual legend in gaming and giving it a huge amount of popularity due to this same difficulty.

Contra would have been just as mind bogglingly difficult if you were able to go back the the start of the level when you died, rather than having to start the game over.

Contra has always proven to be a challenge, something I brag about to my friends or insist that they buy for their DS. Sometime in life a gamer needs to experience crushing difficulty.

I like having to start the whole game over in Contra when you die. It helps build character.

Well, it helps me put down the game.

I've been playing a lot of transport tycoon lately, I've been travelling a lot for work and its about all that i can run on my netbook. Check out http://www.openttd.org/en/ if its your thing

Ahehe, that was what I thought, but didn't know how to say.

Early on, I understood the fascination with it. But after playing Mass Effect 1 & 2, the storyline for Halo feels like it was written by 10 year olds. That only leaves the multiplayer/online component to appeal to me. And that seems dated and well worn.

Ah this is a very good point, Halo:CE was fun/unique for consoles and now... now it's just a cash cow. I do enjoy the storyline but it does lack depth, and the multiplayer needs a revamp and about 56% less 14 and under year olds.

Brink's going to be like a breath of fresh air.

And I don't think Splash will churn out mediocre sequels like Bungie has either, so, hopefully, there'll be a Brink 2.

Yup, I hope the same. Though I must say I like Bungie better than Microsoft or rather, I have more respect for them. Brink DLC would be much appreciated, though not right after the game released. I love when DLC is put out in a timely manner, helps keep a game alive and kicking.

I lost respect for Bungie after Halo 3's release. I could understand that, okay, they made a mistake with Halo 2, they'll do better next time.

Then multiplayer was released, and it seems the only games I could ever get matchmaked into was Griffball and Shotty Snipers. It was a personal hell.

Lucky for us Griffball remains a Halo phenomenon and doesn't carry over to other FPS, I liked Halo 3's storyline. Should I feel embarrassed? I also had no problem with Halo 2, I have beat it on Legendary 9 or 11 times and have really fond memories of it.

Halo 3's storyline was meh, it was mainly that I felt cheated out of the campaign mode. I got like 9 missions, and there were 0 elites to shoot over the whole campaign (I understand that wouldn't work with the plotline or whatever, but Halo is shooting elites who can recover shields, not brutes you can chip away at).

The story of Reach is just a giant poopsmear. The only way to understand it was to read the Halo books, which I hadn't and don't plan to. All I got out of it was; you're in a Spartan squad, there's some elites, kill them. There's some over here too, kill them all. Oh, we have to go kill elites in space now, jump in this space jet and shoot them down. Alright, shoot these elites in the spaceship now.

And then I quit. Call me what you will.

It's cool, I've read most of the books since the story always appealed far more to me than multiplayer RIP Halo 2 online

Brink excites me for both it's story, which they haven't really said too terribly much about, and the objective game play.

Will you hate me if i say that the RvB Grifball episode still makes me laugh?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqWtbQdA6o4

I would like to point out though that Microsoft had a lot of control on what happened in Halo 2 and anything after. Bungee also wanted to stop after Halo 3, as the story was done. Halo: CE was the only game that they were able to make into their own vision, and it was the only good game. Halo 2 multiplayer was ok, but it was just a poor copy of Halo:CE multiplayer.

No I won't hate you, I enjoy that episode as well (though entire seasons are hard to watch from start to finish).

I really want Bungie to return to Marathon, or do something with Oni. Even if I've only read things about Oni I still would like a chance to play a revamped version. Or a new IP, that's always appreciated.

I have hope for whatever Bungee puts out next, as they are on their own once again. If they were still a part of Microsoft, and for some reason I wasn't expecting Halo part 6, I still wouldn't expect much.

I kinda hope they return to the PC or go PS3 just so it doesn't have as much to do with Microsoft, I would like to see them stand on their own feet again.

I'm curious what genre their next game will be, as I imagine they will attempt to be innovative once again. I hope they return to the PC as well, I don't own any consoles from this gen.

I don't have an exceptional PC but I would consider getting one if their next game required it, I have a very high opinion of Bungie in general. And Marathon was just a blast to play.

I'm playing Wolf ET again