I find that a good way to see info on games I've not heard about before is to look up one of those "top 100 games of all time" lists that websites seem to post fairly regularly. There's normally some stuff in those I've never heard of, stuff I'd played but forgotten and of course Planescape Torment which is pretty much in the running to be the best game ever made

read rockpapershotgun.com or joystiq.com for an easy and fun way to get back into gaming culture. rps is pc games primarily and joystiq is all platforms.

and never read comments on kotaku because almost every poster is a dickhead
and avoid destructoid because its written by the kind of people who post comments on kotaku

ha

Yus, RPS is great. Incidentally, they've got an article about Time, Gentlemen, Please just up, something which I ranted about in another thread and none of you sods paid any attention.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/07/14/wot-i-think-time-gentlemen-please/
Read that, download the free game, play it, love it, buy the very cheap sequel, play it, love it. Make comments about how wonderful Nafe is because he kept prodding you to play these two games.

My wife stole Oblivion and Fallout 3 from me... that's why... :)
No.. seriously.. it's cool she likes games, I enjoy sitting on the couch watching her play two of my historically favorite series of all time... hah I jest again...
There are a lot of girl gamers out there.. GOG might not be the hotbed however..

read the article. currently installing bt,dt.
edit: HAHA
ben: there's no way i'm letting dan interact with himself. who knows what that would lead to...
dan: Wanking!

Yes GOG is a big sausage fest.

haha yes
as a female gamer I also recommend Joystiq.... it's not half as juvenile, asshole-y and sexist as Kotaku or Kotaku's annoying kid brother, Destructoid.

Obviously this is a matter of preference but it reminded me of a quote from this interview with Brian Mitsoda, one of the guys behind the story and dialogs of Vampire - The Masquerade: Bloodlines.
"Vince: What are your preferences and thoughts in regard to storylines?
BM: That they’re generally oversold, self-important, generally amateur and poorly executed, and mostly contribute very little to the success and enjoyment of a game. Like setting, story should take a backseat to good, solid design and fun gameplay. At best, a good story should make a good game better, like a fine glass of wine paired with an exquisite meal."
Try RPG Codex, they're a friendly bunch.

That depends on the game, I guess. I don't play Unreal Tournament for the compelling story but Baldur's Gate would never be regarded one of the best RPG's if it weren't for it's story. The same thing happens to most other RPG's... if the story fails, the game fails.
Gameplay can only contribute to the success and enjoyment of a game if there are other players playing it with you or if the AI is smart enough to keep the game challenging.

Maybe that's why it isn't, but it also has more flaws than just the story.
If the game fails because of the story, then it did not have much more to offer besides it. It also depends what you deem as a failure because some developpers, like Sir-Tech, purposefully decided to keep it low-key, though they managed to do a fun mix of sci-fi and fantasy in games like Wizardry 8. It's true though that CRPG are one of the best genre to tell a story because their nature should allow for some non-linearity, choices and a different experience for each character, but sadly the medium is rarely used to its full potential.
Multiplayer is hardly the key factor in enjoyment, unless the game gravitates around it and/or you only like that kind of stuff. AI is also only one element of what makes a challenging gameplay, though it is of course an important one, but it only enters into the question when we talk about combat (combat being large here: it can be physical or on a management scale, etc.) . Some games can offer more than combat, like exploration, ressource management, character building, interactions with the world or NPC, reflex-based challenges, puzzles, etc. Combine all these elements, and more, and you get the gameplay. A good story resting on top of this can definitely improve the whole lot, despite some people who claim that story is superlative in a video game, but they are just as wrong as those who believe that only the story is important and the gameplay only needs to be frictionless enough to let itself be forgotten.
That said, there are a couple of games with mediocre gameplay that I finished only because of the story. One of them was Legacy of Kain: Defiance, and in the end I still felt satisfied, though I probably would have had more fun by watching all the cutscenes together.

You're right. It's why I said it all depended on the game. Some genres work much better with a story than without it, though. Others don't really need it.
Take the Sims. What's the story there? It's all gameplay. The player sets his or her own goals and effectively writes the story for the characters, allowing several levels of creativity, and interaction without a tale being told by a third party.

*sigh*
To be honest, I hate threads like this. It gets annoying: "OMG, girls play video games!?!?!?" "Hah! I bet they only play Barbie and Hanna Montana!" "Since girls don't like mature shoot-em-ups, they're not REAL gamers!"
I'm a girl; I've played every genre out there, and liked a good deal of them (I stink at RTS's, and horror games are usually too much for me). When I was younger, during my NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis days, I only played platformers. After playing Legend of Legaia for the original Playstation, I went on a RPG kick for several years: story mattered, and nothing else. Now, with the PS2, PS3, and my PC, I like to have a happy balance between gameplay and story. I've sold games back to Gamestop because it had good gameplay but a crappy story, and vice versa as well (Tomb Raider Underworld: good story, BAAAADDD game engine - bugs, glitches, crap controls, etc).
Yes, I'm thinking of getting a Steam account just to play The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition, but I also recently finished my third playthrough of Bioshock for the PS3. I can't wait for the new Ratchet and Clank, but I also want Bioshock 2, Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition, and inFamous (money's tight; I can only have one).
So, gentlemen, here's the deal: girls play the same stuff you do. I'll try not to one-up you and get in your face, if you stop creating these topics. I just want to play games! Thank you.
*climbs off of soapbox*

Hmm, cindy lauper was right all along, girls DO just wanna have fun...
I can definitely recommend the special edition of monkey island, very good so far and it took a hell of an effort to force myself to stop playing at 4am so I could go to bed