right now i'm playing Mass Effect 3
after that, maybe Diablo 3, or Starcraft 2 HOTS...

King´s Bounty: Armored Princess, Spellforce, FTL.

Sacred Gold, after that Command & Conquer Tiberium Sun.

AoM

GTA San Andreas: As I am now playing the RC biplane missions, I just can't play them with a keyboard. The controls are quite off and I keep bumping into walls and flying into wrong direction.

So I tried to set up my Logitech F310 gamepad with the game. Hmm, the game doesn't seem to recognize it at all in either XInput or DirectInput mode, even though Windows Control Panel sees the gamepad fine. I also tried my older cheapo DirectInput gamepad, same thing, GTA San Andreas doesn't see it at all. This is on Windows 7.

So I installed the game also on my ThinkPad T400 laptop (also Windows 7). There the F310 works perfectly with the game out of the box in DirectInput mode, without any tinkering. I guess I'll play at least the flying missions on this PC then, with a gamepad, especially since even the T400 seems to have plenty of performance for the game (I've kept hearing the PC version of GTA SA was very poorly optimized so I was wondering if T400 has enough power for it, but it certainly does, runs smooth as glass with everything else at full details and max drawing distance, except edge antialising with which it can get a bit stuttery).

I didn't try those flying missions yet, so I can't tell for sure yet whether the gamepad makes the flying controls any more sane, but I certainly hope so.

I don't know why the gamepad doesn't work at all on the other PC, but then I remembered I had applied the manual "dinput.dll" fix on it earlier, because for some reason the mouse controls of GTA SA disappeared on it at some point. Maybe that is the reason. I hope the mouse controls stay on this other PC fine, without having to use that fix if it really messes up the gamepad support.

One question though: in the PC version you accelerate car with button 1, which is a digital on/off button. So it is either that you are accelerating at full speed, or not at all. I guess it is fine as it is, but I was actually expecting the gas pedal to be assigned to some analog axis, e.g. the y-axis of the left analog stick, or then the right analog stick. How was this in the PS2 original, was there an analog gas pedal control? Even though it is not a biggie and at least the car steering (and moving around by foot) is now analog, maybe I'll try if the PC version allows assigning gas to some analog axis. Other than that, the PC gamepad controls are fine, but I'll probably continue using kb+mouse for the parts where there is aiming/shooting involved.

Fallout 1 / Darkest Hour / Face Noir

I just got my EE 2 guide in the mail so of course I'm playing, Age of Mythology.

HUH?

Anachronox. Currently, its sense of humor is triumphing over its mediocre JRPG gameplay, but I'm not quite ready to go declaring it the best game ever yet--I'm not very far into it (just leaving the station), so maybe it will improve.

Speaking of actual JRPGs, I'm also playing Final Fantasy V (on the Gameboy Advance), which I played as a kid but don't have many solid memories of. I enjoy it, but the class system brings out my OCD.

Played a bit of Waking Mars the other night. Nothing mind-blowing and very little in the way of gameplay variety (at least in the first hour), but it's pretty good. It looks nice. The music isn't that great (it's mostly just odd), so I'm having trouble settling into the game (less-than-stellar music usually doesn't bother me, but in a game like this, it seems like a must). But overall, it's pretty relaxing, and I'm interested to see where things are going.

STALKER: Call of Pripyat. I didn't quite finish Shadow of Chernobyl, but I forgot to do something before I got to Pripyat and didn't feel like going all the way back to Agroprom to do it (I started to, but a bunch enemies apparently moved in behind me, so it was a slog). Plus, the Pripyat NPP is annoying as heck. So I decided I play CoP... and it wasn't a good idea. I liked it the first time I played it, but I had the advantage of not having recently played SoC. That prevented me from comparing the games too closely, which is ideal, because for games in a series, I try not to be too harsh in comparing it to previous entries. Sadly, that was not the case this time.

The game just doesn't have the impact (for lack of a better word) that SoC has. The guns all feel like pea shooters; they lack the oomph the guns in SoC have. The most striking example is the double barrel shotgun. In SoC it fires with a resounding boom that is accentuated with a heavy recoil. It really makes you feel like your dishing out the hurt. But in CoP it kind of poofs, with next to no recoil and damage to match. That may sound like a strange reason to be dissatisfied with a game, but when most of the enjoyment I got of SoC was the gun battles (sounds and all), it's hard for me to like CoP.

So I probably won't play it much longer, which is fine. I've got other games to play.

GTA San Andreas:

Yes indeedy, the RC flying missions are SOOOO much easier with a gamepad! Now I actually stay in the air and don't keep constantly hitting ground or buildings, and I even make soft landings with ease. I already finished all those RC flying missions yesterday with the help of a gamepad. I wonder how I was able to play through GTA Vice City flying missions with keyboard+mouse...

But the funny thing is that even during those RC missions, I keep juggling between the gamepad, and mouse+kb, controls. Namely, whenever the RC biplane touches ground, for some reason it feels much easier to control it there with the keyboard/mouse. I found the best tactic to take out the couriers was to fly and land near them (with a gamepad), and when you are "driving" the biplane on the ground (with keyboard+mouse), shoot the baddies.

It is quite odd how some parts of the game suck with the keyboard+mouse controls, while some suck with the gamepad. Fortunately both kb+m and gamepad can be used at the same time, no need to go to swap them in the options all the time. So for me it currently goes like this, depending what I am doing in the game:

1. On foot, especially if there is shooting involved: keyboard+mouse.

I find this part the worst with a gamepad. The default PS2-like gamepad configuration does not allow aiming and shooting at the same time, because both are controlled with the right thumb (aiming with the right analog stick, and shooting with face button 1). It is so much easier with a mouse, where you aim with the mouse, and shoot with the left mouse button. I guess I could map shooting to e.g. one of the shoulder buttons instead, but I couldn't be arsed to do that, mouse aim still wins. I have no idea why the default gamepad button configuration is that stupid.

2. Driving: either. I find driving with a gamepad somewhat better due to analog steering (no analog gas pedal though, at least with the default configuration where face button 1 is used for gas), but it works quite well with the keyboard as well, as steering with the keyboard is not super-sensitive, as e.g. flying the RC planes is.

3. Flying with RC biplanes and helicopters: gamepad, except those parts with the biplane where you touch the ground and want to steer and shoot from there.

Best of both worlds, I guess...

Blood Knights

An Arcade title also on PC.

You have a choice of two characters to play, girl (ranged) guy (melee), you can switch between them or play drop in drop out Co-Op.

Decent enough time waster, small maps, lots of save points, so very digestible little chunks of gameplay to dip in and out of.

You pick up armour and weapons as loot, aquire new skills as you level up, the gfx are decent, story is a bit sparce, you hunt vampires, then become one and get teamed up with a female vampire to find out whats really happening.

http://www.gamespot.com/videos/blood-knights-gameplay-trailer/2300-6401923/

Influx
Time Gentlemen, Please
Picross e3

I ditched STALKER: Call of Pripyat. It just wasn't doing anything for me. But because I'm on a post-apocalyptic kick, I fired up Metro 2033. I started on Ranger Easy, though I'm now wishing I had started Ranger Hardcore. Oh well, it's still fun. I also decided to go with Russian dubs. I almost always prefer English dubs and subtitles, but Russian dubs seemed fitting in this game. It's kind of distracting, but overall I think it works pretty well.

Space Base DF9
Medal Of Honour Allied Assault
Minecraft

I sure am loving Cognition right now. It was rather an impulse purchase during the Insomnia sale, but I'm not regretting it one bit. It's by no means perfect - some glitchy behavior and sometimes awkward animations that are kind of funny - but there's nothing that really detracts from the overall experience. Love the art style, and the cutscenes are superb, supported by for the most part solid voice acting.

I started episode 1 on Monday night, and I'm on my way to start part 4 now. I actually had to force myself to go to sleep late last night (2AM) after finishing part 2 even though I was itching to continue the story. It has indeed been a rather compelling experience. I must say the whole crime thriller thing works very well in the adventure game format as the whole puzzle/story/mystery mechanic more or less complement each other in this genre.

So, yeah, I've been having a blast with this one, and I can't wait to see how it ends.

...

Also been playing a good bit of Rogue Legacy (another insomnia sale purchase), which is as addictive as people say it is, even if I just barely am able to get through some of the Forest portion - I still have to be able to beat the very first boss. More money! More equipment! More levels! PAUL SMASH! ;)

Once again I'm glad I just got this Logitech pad of mine because the game plays beautifully with it.