what-are-you-playing posts

WRUP: QuakeCon edition

by Krystalle Voecks Aug 2nd 2008 @ 5:00PM

With David Craddock and John Callaham out this weekend at QuakeCon, the rest of us are left to our own devices game-wise. Here's what we'll be playing this weekend. Be sure to let us know what games will be occupying your time!

Rafe Brox: WoW, Supreme Commander / Forced Alliance, Dyson
David Craddock: I'm covering QuakeCon, so.... nothing. Because when I get home on Sunday, I'll be writing QC-related features. Catch me next weekend!
Kyle Horner: I'll be zapping everything in sight with tesla coil weapons in the Red Alert 3 beta!
Steven Wong: I too will be playing the Red Alert 3 beta. Maybe some Team Fortress 2 if I can find the time.
James Murff: I'm going to be played the Eegra Shindig games this weekend. Also gonna be relaxing with some Civilization IV. Someone I know just recently got hooked into one-turn fever through Civ Revolutions, so I have to show her the power of Civ 4.
Krystalle Voecks: I'll be noodling around in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and EVE Online when I get the chance.

Filed under: Features, Opinion

WRUP: Post-E3 exhaustion edition

by Samuel Axon Jul 18th 2008 @ 9:00PM

With E3 going on, it's possible that the Big Download staff has spent more time watching videos of upcoming games than playing current ones. But the weekend is finally here, and we're looking forward to getting some time that's hands-on instead of just eyes-on with our favorite hobby.

Lead blogger David Craddock will be taking a break from almost single-handedly holding the site together while John Callaham has been at E3 to play Final DOOM (a classic!) on his PC and Civilization Revolution on his Xbox 360. James Murff will be taking a break from his usual indie fare to play Team Fortress 2 and Company of Heroes with his buddies. When they're not around, he'll be laying the SMACdown with Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. Eli Shayotovich is going to be lopping off limbs in Age of Conan.

Lastly, I'm in the middle of moving halfway across the continent, and I had to ship my desktop via UPS ground, so only my notebook is gonna be accessible over the next few days. Therefore low spec games are the flavor of the weekend -- Sam & Max Episode 4 and Fallout. I'm also going to be playing a bit of Rule of Rose on the PS2 (well, technically PS3). But that's us. How about you? What aRe yoU Playing?

Filed under: Features, Opinion

WRUP: Speed freak edition

by Krystalle Voecks Jun 6th 2008 @ 9:30PM

While last week saw the team spending time in Mass Effect, this week finds the team split between the standby favorite of Team Fortress 2 and the new hotness that is GRID. With awesome action like GRID has, nobody can really blame them, though. Coming up hot on their heels was Armageddon Empires.

Our resident indie fiend, James Murff said he'll be spending this weekend playing Armageddon Empires, Team Fortress 2, and checking out Zombie Panic! Source. Kyle Horner is taking a chunk of his weekend off from PC gaming to dive into Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition -- but he assures us that he'll be planning everything on his laptop. When not rolling the bones, Kyle said he'll be relaxing in TF2 as well. Both David Craddock and Stephen Wong plan to spend most of their time tearing it up in GRID. Stephen noted that he'll probably also spend some time in Armageddon Empires, EverQuest II and will probably give Devil May Cry 4 another whirl if time allows. I'm on the road this weekend, so I'm limited to gaming on my laptop. Thus, I'll be spending time in EVE Online when I do actually manage some gaming. For this weekend, given all the great games out recently, What aRe yoU Playing?

Filed under: Features, Opinion

WRUP: Nowhere nearly enough Mass Effect edition

by Krystalle Voecks May 31st 2008 @ 9:00AM

This has been an exciting week in PC gaming! The release of Mass Effect, more information on the highly anticipated StarCraft II, and Valve has decided to let us back things up via the upcoming Steam Cloud service. (This is, of course, after most of us spent last week playing On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One.) Going into this weekend we figured it would be a no-brainer as to what most of the Big Download staff would be playing....

Steven Wong, our fearless all around bad-mutha and Managing Editor is playing Mass Effect as we expected, but will be adding a side of Age of Conan and possibly some City of Heroes or City of Villains in the mix. Samuel Axon, blogger and caffeine fiend will be kickin' it old-school in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Deus Ex. John Callaham and David Craddock, aside from being our esteemed (and crazy workaholic) leads, will both be spending time playing on Steam. John's planning on spending time in Team Fortress 2, and David's got his sights set on jumping into the Get a Life mod for Half-Life 2. (Well, and he'll be checking out some mods for WarCraft III for an upcoming column, but that's work.) As for me, I have a copy of Mass Effect for my PC, and of course will be continuing my own all-over-the-place MMOG adventures for Massively.

How about you all? Will you be jumping into Mass Effect as well, or are you still playing through OtRSPoD? Perhaps you're more interested in fragging the crap out of people in TF2 after a (not very) long week? Tell us, What aRe yoU Playing this weekend?

Filed under: Features, Opinion