PC gaming

[araugh]

No issues here with Windows 10 and Steam

[Bradfo69]

Yes, Randy... you do. I was running on Windows 10 as well with no problem. I was just on the phone with buffo and told him you chimed in.... be prepared to get recruited! LOL

[colouredmirrorball]

Anybody playing Age of Empires 2? :P

[Stuka]

Yes, Randy... you do. I was running on Windows 10 as well with no problem. I was just on the phone with buffo and told him you chimed in.... be prepared to get recruited! LOL

Fine - I'll bite; I already have a callsign I can use

Never played Borderlands, but as long as I can bring in my BFG9000 from Doom 3, I should be good to go.
Y'all be gentle with me...


Downloading / installing / friends request sent, blah, blah, blah...

[buffo]

Man, I had a *BLAST* playing Borderlands this weekend. Adam Raugh and I logged over 10 hours on Sunday. Brad and Hank were there for at least 7 hours, if not a bit more. Too damned much fun!!!!

You haven't lived until you've heard the melee character ("Brick") go off on his berserker rage fit... The guy is spastically running around swinging (punching) at anything and everything while alternately screaming and laughing maniacally. It's actually quite disturbing! Now picture this going on at an otherwise quiet portion of the game. You just killed the bad guy, and everyone else is looking for health vials to heal themselves. When out of nowhere this beefcake dervish starts bouncing around like Arnold Schwarzenegger on crystal meth... You see, when the character does the berserker thing, he heals himself. But none of us are expecting it.

What really topped it all off was Adam's voice in the headset saying "This is how I get in touch with my sensitive side..." Or better yet: "Ever have one of those 'hard-as-a-diamond' shits that seems to come out sideways? With antlers?" At this point I'm laughing so hard I can't even catch my breath and am at serious risk of pissing myself... Yeah, Sunday was something like 10 hours of that! Awesome doesn't begin to describe the fun we had!

The funny thing is that I've logged nearly 300 hours on Borderlands and yet I never once played the "Brick" character. Oh, the fun I've denied myself all these years!

So yeah, if you've got a PC, go download the Steam client and buy the "Game of the Year" edition of Borderlands and Borderlands 2. (They are both on sale through Jan 4th. You can get the pair for under $20 total.) Then go buy yourself a gaming headset. (Basically headphones with an attached boom microphone. Wired or wireless - doesn't mater.) Then download and install Skype and set up a free account. (We use Skype for in-game chat because Skype is a much better voice chat client than the one that comes with the game, or the one built-in to the Steam client.)

Now you're ready to play! No worries about hardware - these are older games so they will run just fine on nearly any hardware. (Adam even managed to run it just fine on his Microsoft Surface Tablet!) Runs fine under Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8 and 8.1, and Windows 10. I find it easiest to play using the keyboard for movement (W,S,A,D keys) and the mouse for aiming and shooting, but you can also connect a generic gaming controller, or even an X-box controller if you want, and use that instead. You can also customize the keys to your liking if you want.

Fine - I'll bite; I already have a callsign I can use

Cool! You can use the same avatar too if you want.

Never played Borderlands, but as long as I can bring in my BFG9000 from Doom 3, I should be good to go.

Borderlands is different from Doom, Quake, Halo, or Call of Duty, in that Borderlands has more role-playing elements. Not enough to drag you down, but the pace is definitely slower than a twitch-based shooter like Call of Duty. Also, there are literally *millions* of different guns in the game, so comparing loot to get the best gear is a huge part of the game (and this also adds to the playability, because there is almost always a better gun to be had just a few missions down the road). Also, the story is more engaging (especially in Borderlands 2 and beyond), and the characters are well-developed and more meaningful than in something like Quake or Doom.

One thing that is unique to the Borderlands series is the "Cel Shading" graphic theme. The game is not photo-realistic. It looks more like a 2-D comic book. (If you've ever watched the TV show "Archer", you've seen what Cel Shading looks like.) That being said, the comic-book feel is actually MORE engaging to me. I found it much easier to get into the world, since I wasn't trying to look for flaws like I would otherwise be doing in a photo-realistic game. You just sort of go with it, and once you do, you can enjoy the truly breathtaking vistas the game offers without nit-picking everything to death.

Finally, the game is HUGE. Not quite Fallout 4 huge, but when you include all the DLC, it's damned close. You'll be playing for a long time before you beat it all the way through once. And if you're like most players, when you finally beat it you'll immediately start over from the beginning! (In fact, you have the option to play through a total of 3 times with the same character, and each time you re-start at the beginning you keep your existing level, gear, and skils and just keep going from there with things just scaling up to match.)

Y'all be gentle with me...

If you've really played as much Quake and Doom as you alluded to when we spoke earlier, I have a feeling you'll quickly fall into a leadership role in this game! Also, Borderlands multiplayer is fundamentally a co-operative experience, so everyone is working together right from the start. There are no "teams" to play against, and there are no "capture the flag" or "Deathmatch" options. You can challenge someone to a one-on-one fight just for the hell of it, but there are no consequences for losing, and while the two of you are jerking off the rest of your party can either watch or just continue the mission without you! Bottom line - you need everyone in the group. Some of the missions are really hard! (As evidenced by the fact that we got our asses handed to us several times over the weekend!)

Tons of fun though... I can't wait to play more!

Adam

[Stuka]

This game sucks!

First night playing, and made me stay up WAY past my bedtime ~
And that was in single player mode!!

Guess I'd better not tap into the multiplayer mode until I know I can sleep in the next morning!!

[Bradfo69]

Hahahaha! I saw you were on at like 12:30 and almost ping'ed you. Hank was on playing Leisure Suit Larry and I was crashing planes in MS Flight Simulator.
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(Fucking Burns..... .. lol)

[Stuka]

Yeah, I got stuck in a hunt for a pack of wide-mouth rat dogs and lost total track of time.

Online gaming is kind of like being in the mob ~
You can try to leave, but eventually Buffo the Enforcer will track you down and suck you back in...



LOLOLOLOLOL.....

[buffo]

Yeah, I got stuck in a hunt for a pack of wide-mouth rat dogs and lost total track of time.

Hehe - "wide-mouth rat dogs"... I don't think I've ever heard anyone describe a skag in those terms, but I immediately knew what you were talking about!

Online gaming is kind of like being in the mob ~
You can try to leave, but eventually Buffo the Enforcer will track you down and suck you back in...

Not unlike lasers!

Adam