Getting Over The Hump

David,

I suggest doing something you probably haven't done in a while, just pick up a new game of a style you don't play frequently, and go at it, and drag Brad with you.

IE, rent BlazBlue Continuum Shift, where neither of you know any moves, and just duke it out with Brad. You might have a lot of fun with some senseless gaming. :D

Like they say, the more the merrier!

When I'm in a rut, I try and play a type of game I haven't played in a long time. If I'm sick of playing online Halo, I plug in Ico and reflect. If I've played too much Mario Galaxy 2, I play an RPG with a good story, like Sakaguchi-era Final Fantasy. The point is to keep your experiences fresh.

I am in the same place right now i have a stack of ps3, xbox and wii games but i find myself scratching my head to decide what the hell to play. Roll on autumn when we get a fresh line up of games on our doorstep. For now though i have been going back to ffVII or the old 360 games like condemed, battlefield modern combat and pgr3. Until the fall i may have to try this thing called the outdoors

If I was in your position, I would try to soldier on and go back and play Dragon Age. Brad won't stop bringing it up untill you and/or Nick play it.

Maybe you're burnt out on games? If you got other hobbies, you should focus on those and your desire to play some games should come back. Personally, I'm getting tired of playing shooting games(too many around) and Starcraft 2 was a saving grace for me. My other hobby is boxing and that can take a good 2-3 hours out of my day.

I still have a sealed copy of Left 4 Dead 2 so I can join a game with you if you like :P.

FORGET CHEEVOS! They steal your soul...I used to be in that rut myself, but I got out of it by doing three things:
1.Forget Achievements
2.Played games I liked with friends. It's not fun if you play by yourself. It can be, but I enjoy multiplayer.
3.If the above three don't work, take a break from games. Do something else for a while until you feel like playing again.

I don't know if this will help you David, but get out soon....Beast.

I know that feeling all too well. My solution is always to save up for a week or two and spontaneously buy a new game. It doesn't have to be new release, just something you never really looked into or slipped under your radar. This is the time of year where games are marked down in price like crazy. I was able to pick up Bionic Commando for $10 at best buy and that was an amazingly fresh experience, but you already know that all too well.

You can also go back and play a game you love but haven't played in a while, and play it simply for yourself. This slump might be the result of having spent so much time playing games and learning to critically break them down for the sake of the show.

When I can't find anything to play, that's when I start watching other people play something on JTV. Which sometimes can give me ideas of what to play (like recently with minecraft).

David... 2 things.

1.) I have not played past the dark carnival... and I need to.

2.) My Left 4 Dead 2 is still somewhere in your house.

First of all, Fuck the Cheevos. I do like Cheevos to where I will go out of my way to get some and possibly go back after finishing a game for some easy ones, but I never pick up games just for cheevos. Why not look and see if you'll enjoy the game and like the list of cheevos? For most games I get 600/1000 if I enjoy them, the other 400 usually being BS or online achievements. But I have gotten 1000/1000 on Lego Batman just because I love the OCD of the game, and its not easy to 1000. I've also played through Uncharted 2 four times and got all the trophies for it besides DLC ones, but only played 1 game of multiplayer.
Dunno where I'm going with that but basically stop buying games and thinking about cheevos. Pop in a game you'll like and look at the cheevos to see if you can get them along the way. Don't have to become a zombie over them.

The gaming rut has to be one of the most annoying and difficult things to pull yourself out of. Whenever I get sucked into one I enlist the help of my friends to act as my winch. We usually play something co-operative and challenging that required you to work together closely just to make it through.
My Suggestion is find Nick's copy of Left 4 Dead 2 buried somewhere in your house, ramp up the difficulty a little higher than you normally would, and destroy some zombies.
Even if you have to pickup some unknowns just to fill the empty spots you still have Him there to act as your battle buddy.

What I do is I pull out a classic game. I mean something to really bring the nostalgia into the room. I sold my Xbox360 because the games on it didn't really interest me, and after getting a 10th prestige on MW2 I tricked my self into thinking I'd done something worth doing. After selling my console, games and accessories and buying some things for my Wii, I went searching for my copy or Super Mario Galaxy I had lost in my mess of a gaming cabinet, and discovered the gaming equivalent of the lost ark of the covenant (at least to me). My N64, along with Perfect Dark, Mario Kart, and Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. I blew the dust out of the system and games and played for 5 hours straight for the first time in weeks.

It may not work for you, but never be afraid to dig out an old PS2 game or something and play the hell out of it like you did when you were younger.

Me and my friends are calling it "The Great Gaming Drought of 2010". Seriously. Whenever we hang out now, I always walk up to the games available to play and just shrug.

NOW, however, Starcraft has so heavenly revived me.

http://chrishecker.com/Achievements_Considered_Harmful%3F

i hope that link works. Read the David. Its very interesting.

I meant to say read the article David. Now I look like an illiterate prick.

I agree with sgtpierceface: I think you and Nick could really benefit from playing dragon age origins

August time always starts and ends in a gaming drought because nothing really comes out around this time...but I guess if you want to look forward to something, Kane and Lynch comes out soon :)

Well I'm kinda going through the same thing. Since i'm getting a little bored of playing dragon age for the 4th time in a row, i found myself just getting the rest of the trophys and it was really boring. I popped in Final Fantasy Tactics and wow i'm instanly hooked on it once again. Try tp challenge yourself. In FFT, i'm only using Ramza and the squad that you start off in the beginning through out the whole game. No Agrias, mustadio etc.

Pick up something that you haven't play in a while and do something different. Also, if you want to play left 4 dead 2, hit me up.

I'm in the same position too, just stop playing games and watch movies for a week. Thats what I always do.

David if you're still looking for people who haven't played very far into left 4 dead 2 I've only finished up to the first part of the third campaign because my friend got it with me to play through together, but then ended up ditching me everytime I asked him if he wanted to continue.

I'm in the same position.. nothing can get my intention. It's kinda frustrating

sometimes i play 2 different types of games at one time so i dont get bored, this past week ive been playing assassins creed 2, and when i get tired or frustrated ill play skate 2, i just juggle 2 different genres

I've been feeling like this for months. I'll try playing a different game and I usually end up feeling the exact same way within 30 minutes. It really does feel like there's something missing in my life but I can't seem to find the game that will fill the void. Hope you get out of the rut soon, David.

With Left 4 Dead 2, I ended up just playing through the campaigns in single player because I usually got fucked over by all the idiots playing(shooting me for fun, them closing the saferoom door so I get killed by the incoming horde, etc.). I probably didn't experience the game the way you should because of it, though.

Well, right now I'm also in a rut myself. I've played the heck out of Red Dead and am now in the mood for some custom game fun in Halo 3, but I couldn't find people. So now I decided to make a Halo 3 Custom Game meet-up for all the 4PP community to try out, if you wanna join then check out the details here: http://4playerpodcast.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5763

yeah i could understand what your saying, i have the same problem.

Unfortunately, I'm in the same boat as you David. I have a mountain of games to get through, and as much as I'm looking forward to them, I keep getting distracted and can't bring myself to play them very much. As much fun as I've had out of Mass Effect, Yakuza 3, and RDR multi, I haven't really played them in a while. They're real fun games, and I like the gameplay, but I just can't bring myself to play them.

If I'm looking for something quick to play, I might hop into a game of Left 4 Dead 1 or 2, depending on who's willing to play, but I can't find myself playing for long periods of time. I'm hoping that this will change because I have such a huge laundry list.

I was feeling the exact same way yesterday. The thing is, I have new games I haven't played yet, I just didn't feel like playing them.

Castlevania got me out of my rut today. You guys should totally do a 6 player run through of it.

There's a flash game called Achievement Unlocked 2 and the goal of the game is to pretty much get nothing but achievements (250 in total). Depending on the type of person this could turn them away from cheevo hunting completely or make them be a kid in a candy store. o__o

You're not the only one. For a while there Brad seemed to be having trouble finding games to play and I haven't been doing anything really different lately because of money.

But in a few months, it gets good.

I was in the slump to untill starcraft 2 came along but if you meant that your pc couldnt handle the graphics you should try a bunch of 7 day trials for old mmos like wow or starwars galaxies since the first few minutes are normally awesome and enjoyable. If you meant you just didnt have a pc try and rent or buy used a bunch of console games you never tried or didnt like the first time you played it. Hope this helps

If I get into a rut, I'll usually go back and play some older games. Have you tried playing some older titles with similar stories or themes that correspond with some of the games you're anticipating in the fall?

Hey David if your looking for acheivements I do say to try to get SC2 whenever you can. While playing the missions there are a set of achievements you get on different difficulties on each level. As for me I was a bit hooked on the acheivements due to the portraits you get when you complete certain objectives in game. That's just my 2 cents.

It's just like writer's block. What you do is have someone else pick the game, put it in the console and you don't know what it is until you start playing. And said person could sit with you and watch you start it off so you have no excuses to disappear.

When I get that problem, which is pretty often, I end up not playing anything, Unfortunately. =\ Or replaying one of those games I haven't touched in a while and never beat, but sometimes I've no idea what I was doing and where I left off. I'd pick a game that has a journal or something to remind you where you are.

I know how you feel David, I was in a game rut till I got Starcraft II. Now I have something to play :D

Thank God for my pimped out computer...