Games of any sort

I can definitely see the resemblance! I wonder if it was deliberate. I've not played it but Skyrim seems like the kind of game whose makers are probably familiar with the fantasy genre.

Bard the Bowman over here The game looks fantastic, can't wait

I like to play Ludo.

Well I might live to far south in the real world for the northern lights, but my house in Skyrim is another matter!

I started to record this because the place is reminiscent of Edoras. But I left it running (forgot to switch it off in fact) and it amptly shows why Skyrim is such a great game- everything that happens is nonscripted gameplay.

No one impressed by Skyrims free flowing world then? Not even amused by a dragon batting a mammoth across the landscape? Sheesh hard to please round here.

I watched most of it, those graphics look kickass- pc I'm assuming? A lot of dragons roaming around to be sure, I normally put the game down into novice, dragonrend, and then circle and kill it. I've only encountered the basic ones, though I did see my brother getting owned by an ancient dragon, haven't seen any of those as i'm such a low level

Yeah its the pc version at full whack- sadly though converting the file to a managable size and the uploading and encoding dumps the quality down a fair bit.
The dragon in that vid is mine! (I have the Call Dragon shout) which is why its friendly- well to me at least, but its only a Blood Dragon- its the Elder Dragons you have to watchout for- or more likely run like hell from!

As I may have made folks aware I have been playing a lot of Skyrim of late and this led to a heated conversation with a friend over which is the best sandbox, open world game. And I can't decide- best I could do was cheat and split it into two categories- best fantasy open world and best modern open world.
Skyrim obviously wins the fantasy category hands down- and my winner for modern has got to be, still, GTA4.
It is, in my view, even more than Skyrim, the best constructed internal world in a game. Yes Skyrim is bigger and has more missions etc- but GTA is solid, honed and a complete world- you can watch tv, listen to the numerous radio stations as you drive, you will pass billboards for shows you can catch on tv, or products you've heardadvertised on the radio- you have a mobile phone to call people and arrange stuff to do and it even has its own internal internet with stacks of pages-all funny.
So here's a vid I made of one mission from GTA4 to give a demonstration of all it has to offer. Its 20minutes, has to be to even give a glimpse into whats on offer.
To set the scene the player is Niko Belic, an immigrant from an unnamed Balkan State who has come to Liberty City (GTA's New York doplenganger) to help his cousin live the American Dream. We join Niko as he relaxs watching some tv whilst awaiting a call for a job interview with a law firm- but its no ordeiinary interview as Nikko has been hired by a corrupt cop to take the laywero out and get incriminating evidence back before the lawyer ends the cops career.
So make yourself a cuppa and be amazed not only that a game now a few years old still looks so good compared to recent games, but at the sheer depth and scale of what this game does.

Warning contains very strong language, social satire and loads of fun violence!

Your two categories don't make room for the best one (can't say anything about Skyrim yet, though) - Red Dead Redemption And I think I like GTA Vice City better than IV, despite the fact that it is much smaller. I just love the setting

I agree GTA Vice City has the best setting- its perfect for the avarist filled 1980's- and that also means its got a nostalgia laden soundtrack for me- recalling school discos and first snogs. But the gameplay has aged a fair bit sadly, the control is sloppy-particularly the targeting system, you die if you get your feet wet in the sea and you cant even climb over a low wall. But it does have Love Fist in it and thats got to be worth a few extra creds!
GTA4 however is the most comlete game world I have ever been in, everything relates back to the game, its all encompassing. And when you add in the extras- The Lost and the Damned and the Ballad of Gay Tony and youve got one hell of a intertwining game.

But GTA 5 is going to blow all previous away I reckon -



Red Dead is the best Western in game form ever- but its pretty glitchy, and outside of the main story the side stuff all feels rather clumsily latched on- its also ridiculously easy and almost impossible to die in unless your playing with no thumbs!-but recommended anyway just for the first time you ride out onto the plain and it stretches off forever into a golden sunset and for the excellent script for the main story.

Blimey this is impressive! I wish I had this guys pc.

Final part of the excellent Mass Effect trilogy is on its way- cant wait- looks epic.

Is it even a game or just an experience? Hard to tell, no interaction just walking and looking and listening. Something rare this I think, something unique and brave. Im opening my sporran and getting it from Steam so intrugued am I by it. I'l let you know what I make of it.

Best appreciated if youve played the Mass Effect games.

From the people who made Heavy Rain. They really are the leading company I'd say in pushing games in a more narrative, character, emotive driven direction.

That reminds me of the old MERP role playing games- even the art work is remarkably similar.

Does anyone have any experience with any of the Living Card Games made by Fantasy Flight Games?

Any table-top board or card game suggestions in general? I had the Lord of the Rings board game a while ago, but it ended up with my brother somehow.

Hey guys, check out this cool Warcraft: Orcs & Humans fan film I found!

Spoiler:

This is the future of the Middle-earth franchise in WB's hands.

Look at the youtube comments; people eat this shit up.

Good grief, it's almost as good as an Asylum production.

Still beats DOS   And that attempted take-down at the beginning is epic

Apparently it was made by some indie YouTube filmmakers and WB Games just slapped their name on it, so I suppose I can't hate on the production values too much, but it doesn't look as good as, say The Hunt for Gollum, and that came out more than five years ago. Otherwise, I guess it's a nice short, but it doesn't feel at all like Middle-earth, except for the blue orc, who's actor is clearly trying to channel Andy Serkis.

It's miles behind The Hunt for Gollum - the whole thing is ridiculous