OT: Video Games/Computers/Gadgets/Gizmos

[MikeIsGood]

Didn't play as much videogames in junior high and high school, was always playing sports, but I definitely remember being awed by Symphony of the Night. I also bought Final Fantasy Tactics because I also had FF VII, but I only ever got into Tactics. It was my first RPG and I remember bringing the playstation on a vacation up north in the winter. I did nothing but play Tactics while everyone else ice fished.

Oh this reminds me so much of taking my Dreamcast on vacation in...early HS? We're on this wonderful family vacation and I can't pull myself away from Virtua Tennis.

[ReasonablySober]

Didn't play as much videogames in junior high and high school, was always playing sports, but I definitely remember being awed by Symphony of the Night. I also bought Final Fantasy Tactics because I also had FF VII, but I only ever got into Tactics. It was my first RPG and I remember bringing the playstation on a vacation up north in the winter. I did nothing but play Tactics while everyone else ice fished.

Oh this reminds me so much of taking my Dreamcast on vacation in...early HS? We're on this wonderful family vacation and I can't pull myself away from Virtua Tennis.

The OTHER Dreamcast game our floor played played the **** out of, non-stop.

[KidA24]

Gonna try something new in the holiday spirit. My buddies at Logitech sent me an absolute **** load of keyboards and mice for no real reason other than they always do this. I want to give away a G502 X Plus mouse to one of you (MD remove if you want if you're the grinch). Just tell me your favorite gaming memory by end of day Friday and I'll pick a random winner and send it to ya.

I've sat on this thinking since you posted and it's really tough to come up with one moment, but I'd say there are two major ones I remember from my childhood.

First off, the world shattering in FF3 (well, FF6, technically) on the SNES. I did not see it coming and thought I was coming to save the day.

The second being my first encounter with a Hill Giant in EverQuest. Let me tell you, I hit the bottom that guy's boot really hard with my face, although he didn't seem to notice. The massive size of that giant really set a new stage of gaming for me.

[jschligs]

These are great. I love hearing other people's videogame memories and I'll share a couple of my core memories.

1. When KOTOR came out my best friend would come over every day in the summer. We would take 30 minute turns playing our own characters while the other drank warm Pepsi from the can and played on the mini-hoop. And the plot twist when you find out you're Revan was mind blowing.

2. When Halo 2 online became popular honestly 30-50 kids at my school played it I remember having a 100' ethernet cord running from my parents upstairs office all the way to the basement just to be able to play. I'm not going to lie, I was insanely good. So good, that when they'd get custom games going they wouldn't let me join or would make me only use the assault rifle or pistol. But those days of gaming with so many people you saw the next day was legendary. Zombies, Power of Tower, etc. were all memories I'll never forget.

There are a million others. Walking out of the sewers in TES 4: Oblivion and seeing Tamriel (also entering the first gate), beating Super Mario 64 (first game I ever beat), my buddy bringing his 360 over and a TV and playing side by side Forza all night, Halo 1 LAN parties, CoD Zombies, the weeks of my life I spent in WoW with friends, and then even when I was older in college playing Smash Bro's with the roommates, Black Ops 1, Tiger Wood Golf, almost flunking out of my freshman year because I was top 100 in FIFA online, I love going on these memory trips...it's pretty insane how integral videogames have been in my life. I don't have the passion I once did, nor the time, but I still enjoy hopping on just to talk to friends and relax a bit.

[humanrefutation]

Gonna try something new in the holiday spirit. My buddies at Logitech sent me an absolute **** load of keyboards and mice for no real reason other than they always do this. I want to give away a G502 X Plus mouse to one of you (MD remove if you want if you're the grinch). Just tell me your favorite gaming memory by end of day Friday and I'll pick a random winner and send it to ya.

Really nice of you. Don't send it to me because I don't have the need, but I'll share my experience.

I was never a really avid gamer growing up. My folks worked hard to make ends meet, and wanted me to focus on my studies, so when I did get any sort of console, it was a hand-me-down from an older relative who upgraded to a next gen, or it was a late life-cycle gen console that I got at a discount because the next gen about to - or had been recently - released.

I got a PS2 sometime in late 2005 (I think Black Friday?), after the PS3 had been announced but before it was released. The first game I bought was MVP Baseball 2005. I played the **** out of that for the next several years. My favorite memory was when I was living in the dorms. I made a friend who was into sports gaming and we started a bit of an MVP Baseball competition. We didn't pick franchises or anything, instead picking teams at random (you got two spins of the randomizer, but if you turned down the first team, you were stuck with whoever you got on the second spin). We would make a point of playing at least couple games a week against a each other. We'd try to imitate Ueck during the game. Then after each game, the winner would update a Microsoft Publisher doc we maintained that had our standings and a written recap of the latest game (with full box score and quotes from the winner and loser). We'd then print out two copies and place one on each of our doors.

We kept that up for the whole year. It was a blast. The game was **** great and our recaps were funny. I still have fond memories of shutting him out with Chris Capuano. I'm pretty sure he walked me off on more than one occasion.

We drifted apart over the next few years because of where our respective lives took us. However, after a few years of no-contact, I ran into him a couple years ago when he was interning at my workplace (he had gone back to school for a change of career). We had lunch and started reminiscing about our time in college and our MVP Baseball competition. It was really great to see him and it made me miss those days back in college, when we had the time to do fun **** like that on a regular basis.

[KidA24]

Gonna try something new in the holiday spirit. My buddies at Logitech sent me an absolute **** load of keyboards and mice for no real reason other than they always do this. I want to give away a G502 X Plus mouse to one of you (MD remove if you want if you're the grinch). Just tell me your favorite gaming memory by end of day Friday and I'll pick a random winner and send it to ya.

Really nice of you. Don't send it to me because I don't have the need, but I'll share my experience.

I was never a really avid gamer growing up. My folks worked hard to make ends meet, and wanted me to focus on my studies, so when I did get any sort of console, it was a hand-me-down from an older relative who upgraded to a next gen, or it was a late life-cycle gen console that I got at a discount because the next gen about to - or had been recently - released.

I got a PS2 sometime in late 2005 (I think Black Friday?), after the PS3 had been announced but before it was released. The first game I bought was MVP Baseball 2005. I played the **** out of that for the next several years. My favorite memory was when I was living in the dorms. I made a friend who was into sports gaming and we started a bit of an MVP Baseball competition. We didn't pick franchises or anything, instead picking teams at random (you got two spins of the randomizer, but if you turned down the first team, you were stuck with whoever you got on the second spin). We would make a point of playing at least couple games a week against a each other. We'd try to imitate Ueck during the game. Then after each game, the winner would update a Microsoft Publisher doc we maintained that had our standings and a written recap of the latest game (with full box score and quotes from the winner and loser). We'd then print out two copies and place one on each of our doors.

We kept that up for the whole year. It was a blast. The game was **** great and our recaps were funny. I still have fond memories of shutting him out with Chris Capuano. I'm pretty sure he walked me off on more than one occasion.

We drifted apart over the next few years because of where our respective lives took us. However, after a few years of no-contact, I ran into him a couple years ago when he was interning at my workplace (he had gone back to school for a change of career). We had lunch and started reminiscing about our time in college and our MVP Baseball competition. It was really great to see him and it made me miss those days back in college, when we had the time to do fun **** like that on a regular basis.

We played the absolute **** out of HR derby in that game. That, Tiger Woods and SSX Tricky on the PS2. Such good times.

[jmuelly]

Is this a decent laptop/price for a everyday laptop for the family?

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-yoga-7i-2-in-1-16-2k-touchscreen-laptop-intel-core-ultra-7-155u-with-16gb-memory-1tb-ssd-storm-grey/6571369.p?skuId=6571369

[MikeIsGood]

Is this a decent laptop/price for a everyday laptop for the family?

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-yoga-7i-2-in-1-16-2k-touchscreen-laptop-intel-core-ultra-7-155u-with-16gb-memory-1tb-ssd-storm-grey/6571369.p?skuId=6571369

I've not used this model specifically, but Lenovo is a very dependable laptop brand and the Yoga line generally has high marks for exactly this - everyday, family use. 16gb RAM and 1TB SSD should be plenty if the use looks like web browsing, email, Google or MS Office suite, light photo editing, etc. $650 is a solid price for that kind of machine.

[jmuelly]

Is this a decent laptop/price for a everyday laptop for the family?

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-yoga-7i-2-in-1-16-2k-touchscreen-laptop-intel-core-ultra-7-155u-with-16gb-memory-1tb-ssd-storm-grey/6571369.p?skuId=6571369

I've not used this model specifically, but Lenovo is a very dependable laptop brand and the Yoga line generally has high marks for exactly this - everyday, family use. 16gb RAM and 1TB SSD should be plenty if the use looks like web browsing, email, Google or MS Office suite, light photo editing, etc. $650 is a solid price for that kind of machine.

Thanks! Appreciate the feedback. I think I may order this one up. I'm operating on an old I5/8gb ram unit now. It does the job but has slowed significantly the last couple years. Current laptop also does not have a thunderbolt port. Being able to use my remote workstation would be a nice upgrade to easily use the dual monitors and the peripherals plugged into the station.

[jmuelly]

Is this a decent laptop/price for a everyday laptop for the family?

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-yoga-7i-2-in-1-16-2k-touchscreen-laptop-intel-core-ultra-7-155u-with-16gb-memory-1tb-ssd-storm-grey/6571369.p?skuId=6571369

I've not used this model specifically, but Lenovo is a very dependable laptop brand and the Yoga line generally has high marks for exactly this - everyday, family use. 16gb RAM and 1TB SSD should be plenty if the use looks like web browsing, email, Google or MS Office suite, light photo editing, etc. $650 is a solid price for that kind of machine.

Thanks! Appreciate the feedback. I think I may order this one up. I'm operating on an old I5/8gb ram unit now. It does the job but has slowed significantly the last couple years. Current laptop also does not have a thunderbolt port. Being able to use my remote workstation would be a nice upgrade to easily use the dual monitors and the peripherals plugged into the station.

Recommendations for a virus protection, or does Windows Security take care of it nowadays?

[MikeIsGood]

I've not used this model specifically, but Lenovo is a very dependable laptop brand and the Yoga line generally has high marks for exactly this - everyday, family use. 16gb RAM and 1TB SSD should be plenty if the use looks like web browsing, email, Google or MS Office suite, light photo editing, etc. $650 is a solid price for that kind of machine.

Thanks! Appreciate the feedback. I think I may order this one up. I'm operating on an old I5/8gb ram unit now. It does the job but has slowed significantly the last couple years. Current laptop also does not have a thunderbolt port. Being able to use my remote workstation would be a nice upgrade to easily use the dual monitors and the peripherals plugged into the station.

Recommendations for a virus protection, or does Windows Security take care of it nowadays?

I went down this rabbit hole recently actually. Most believe that Windows Defender is not only sufficient, but among the best in class offerings. Be sure to pair it with some type of browser protection (a free plug-in, like uBlock and the like). If you want to go the extra mile, you could just download Malwarebytes free and run it every month or whatever, but you should be safe if you're not doing anything high-risk.

[emunney]

TimeSplitters 2 local multiplayer is still, I think, the most fun I've ever had with videogames.

[jschligs]

MikeIsGood and KidA24 hit my DMs with your address I’m sending ya both a mouse.

[StickeeFingaz]

Had to look up how to beat Jamanra. That sandstorm attack must have killed me 6 times and I had no idea what to do.

There’s so much **** on the screen, how am I supposed to know I need to stand behind some shield made by my companion NPC.

I probably would have died 20+ times if I didn’t google it.

[StickeeFingaz]

Holy ****, Warrior sucks at the beginning.

[jmuelly]

Thanks! Appreciate the feedback. I think I may order this one up. I'm operating on an old I5/8gb ram unit now. It does the job but has slowed significantly the last couple years. Current laptop also does not have a thunderbolt port. Being able to use my remote workstation would be a nice upgrade to easily use the dual monitors and the peripherals plugged into the station.

Recommendations for a virus protection, or does Windows Security take care of it nowadays?

I went down this rabbit hole recently actually. Most believe that Windows Defender is not only sufficient, but among the best in class offerings. Be sure to pair it with some type of browser protection (a free plug-in, like uBlock and the like). If you want to go the extra mile, you could just download Malwarebytes free and run it every month or whatever, but you should be safe if you're not doing anything high-risk.

I thought defender was a free app. Is that no longer true?

[Fotis St]

Didn't play as much videogames in junior high and high school, was always playing sports, but I definitely remember being awed by Symphony of the Night. I also bought Final Fantasy Tactics because I also had FF VII, but I only ever got into Tactics. It was my first RPG and I remember bringing the playstation on a vacation up north in the winter. I did nothing but play Tactics while everyone else ice fished.

Oh this reminds me so much of taking my Dreamcast on vacation in...early HS? We're on this wonderful family vacation and I can't pull myself away from Virtua Tennis.

The OTHER Dreamcast game our floor played played the **** out of, non-stop.

I had a Dreamcast too ... virtua tennis, Virtua Striker (soccer) NBA 2k , virtual athlete was great too.

[MikeIsGood]

Recommendations for a virus protection, or does Windows Security take care of it nowadays?

I went down this rabbit hole recently actually. Most believe that Windows Defender is not only sufficient, but among the best in class offerings. Be sure to pair it with some type of browser protection (a free plug-in, like uBlock and the like). If you want to go the extra mile, you could just download Malwarebytes free and run it every month or whatever, but you should be safe if you're not doing anything high-risk.

I thought defender was a free app. Is that no longer true?

Defender is free. It comes with windows.

[ReginaldDwight]

Anyone else on the Indiana Jones game, its pretty simple but I am enjoying it so far.

[jschligs]

Oh this reminds me so much of taking my Dreamcast on vacation in...early HS? We're on this wonderful family vacation and I can't pull myself away from Virtua Tennis.

The OTHER Dreamcast game our floor played played the **** out of, non-stop.

I had a Dreamcast too ... virtua tennis, Virtua Striker (soccer) NBA 2k , virtual athlete was great too.

Dreamcast was the first console I bought with my own money. $99 was perfect for a youngin. And the games are legendary, all the ones you mentioned but can't forget about one of my favorites of all time, Skies of Arcadia.