Gaming outside your comfort zone

The other day, I went to Digital Ops with my boyfriend and his little brother to kill time before a birthday dinner. I went once before, a really long time ago and don't remember having that great of a time (I recall it was very smelly), but this time was pretty okay. The people there were nice, but the computers were glitching up a storm. When the three of us finally managed to pick a game and get it to work, we'd already used up a half-hour. This didn't really matter too much to my boyfriend, since he got 8 or 9 hours free for the day (but just for that day) as a birthday perk from Digital Ops, but his brother's free half hour as a newcomer was burnt and half the hour I paid for was gone.

We started playing Left 4 Dead, but only one of us had an actual headset. This killed my boyfriend's ambitions to do a (finger-quotes) "real" co-op game. What made things more interesting was the fact that a random was thrown in as our fourth, and was apparently playing in a room with a baby. So we kept hearing crying and someone singing to the baby through this mystery person's headset. I got sort of weirded out by it, since we were playing a zombie-killin' game and all I could hear was crying and shooting, so I turned off the voice settings. 

I've played in groups online (in that one game that I spoke way too much about in the last class), but I never played using TeamSpeak/Vent/Skype/whatever with people I didn't already know. I like not being nerd-raged at, and also, my own music is better than most of the stuff I hear in-game anyway (my bias is showing, I know). But I've always played in the comfort of my own home as well, except for games that I can only play at Pinball Pete's or something. So I'm wondering what you guys think about going other places to play your games - do you like gaming in settings like Digi Ops, or are you more into being on your computer in your own environment? Are there certain games or situations where you'll change your mind?

Flicky-Where Single Screen meets Scrolling

After today's discussion about space in games, one of my favorites popped into my head.

This game is Flicky, in which you are a bird that tries to line up all the little Chirps before the time runs out or the Tigers or Iggies destroy your chain. The idea is to get all the Chirps to the door before time runs out, but if you get them all in one chain, you get a huge point bonus.

What I love about this game though is the way it combines single-screen environments with side scrolling action. So when you continue right, you actually appear on the left side of the screen repeated.

I know that's hard to picture, so check out the video above to see what I mean. It's a different way of thinking, and one that I highly enjoy.

Thoughts?

I'M GOING TO NEED $5,300 TO $6,500

Okay, I don't (though my student loans are pretty up there...) but anybody who sees the Arcane Arcade Game Table and has to pick their jaw up from the floor might.

Behold! A table with video games inside of it! (And: An entire computer, running Windows 7 home, with joysticks, trackballs, buttons, USB & HDMI inputs and preloaded with MAME and a whole slew of other games...)

Who needs a TV or a monitor now, suckas?

Wait -- Isn't this what Nolan Bushnell's failed restaurant enterprise attempt was all about? Having a place with tables that had screens and games in them? I think we talked about it on Tuesday.

Anyway, if money were no big deal and you could get all the stuff you wanted, would anything like this be in your future? OR: If you were to sell one of your vital organs for this table, which one would you sell for it?* (And would you also buy coasters?)

From: The Awesomer & surface-tension.net



*I don't condone the selling of your vital organs for video game-infused coffee tables. You kind of need them where they're at.