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PC Gaming Suggestions for Console-like Fun?

Posted by timothy on from the twister-seems-more-fun dept.

jayminer writes "We are a relatively newly married young couple who enjoy spending our spare time at home. We don't own a console but have a gaming laptop with DVI output to play games on our TV. My wife is also a CS major so she's computer literate enough. She does not like strategy games, MMORG or any other role-playing game. Apart from "Find the Sausage" jokes, we need quality gaming advice, preferably games which we can play with a single laptop connected to a single large screen, with two gamepads, a console-like experience. What are your suggestions?"

19 of 513 comments (clear)

  1. Obvious answer... by richy+freeway · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just buy a console.

    1. Re:Obvious answer... by Aranykai · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Simple and sweet. Its really the truth though.

      Ive sat here and tossed around all the game I can remember playing over the years, and the ones worth the time all equate one pc with one player.

      Consoles are the king of multi user gaming hands down. Like suggested above, nab an old console. PS 1 or Nintendo 64 or such should be had for under 75 USD with several games.

      --
      If sharing a song makes you a pirate, what do I have to share to be a ninja?
    2. Re:Obvious answer... by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The load it with Emulators. Most of my friends aren't the huge gaming type. When we get together to hang out we don't want to sit through a tutorial on how to play SuperHappyBallComando4. We want the games we grew up with (and some from before then).

      Super Mario Bros 3, Pong, Frogger, PacMan. Plus they make excellent drinking games (One shot for every fruit you didn't get on a PacMan level.) The best thing is an xBox can store ALL of these games and more.

      Or you could even get some classic looking controllers and play these on the laptop.

    3. Re:Obvious answer... by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 4, Informative

      I would suggest emulators.

      For arcade games, you can use MAME

      http://mamedev.org/

      Once you've got MAME, you need a set of current ROM files for it. You can find ROMs on BitTorrent or on any P2P application.

      As MAME evolves, the ROM sets get replaced with new and better extractions, so you'll want a piece of software to manage them.

      ClrMAMEPro is a tool that will use the data files from the latest version of MAME, and scan a big huge mess of old ROM files, extracting whatever is useful from them into a nice, neat set that works with the current version

      http://www.clrmame.com/

      To get yourself set up, download any new or old MAME ROMs you can find, then use ClrMAMEPro to make a proper and current set out of them and burn it to backup.

      There are also emulators floating around out there for Playstation, Nintendo 64, NES and Super NES. I've gotten good performance out of Project 64, an emulator for Nintendo 64. MarioCart plays quite well.

      When you're choosing GamePads, you should look for something wireless that has as many buttons as you can possibly find. You want to be able to map the controller you choose to every possible controller from history, so you're going to need something that is flexible.

      --
      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
    4. Re:Obvious answer... by trdrstv · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Its much cheaper to buy a game or two (maybe 30) than it is to buy a console and then buy games for it...

      Only if you're talking "Current gen". A Used Gamecube is $30 at Gamestop, and a Used X-box is $60. There are a Ton of good Co-op games for cheap (NHL HITZ is an all time favorite). Hell instead of buying the extra controller, buy 2 Gamecubes and an extra memory card in case you both want to game solo at some point.

    5. Re:Obvious answer... by orclevegam · · Score: 4, Funny

      Damn lawful alignment. This is why we have a house rule of no paladins.

      --
      Curiosity was framed, Ignorance killed the cat.
  2. Stepmania by gatzke · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Get a couple of USB dance pads and try out Stepmania, a free DDR clone.

    Or get a Wii. Tons of simple flash games through the browser. Fun and simple.

  3. Emulators by Oxy+the+moron · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Get some old-school console emulators and play some of the great classics.

    I'm sure that what constitutes a "classic" will vary here on /., but I prefer some of the older Super NES games... Tetris Attack is awesome.

    You didn't hear that from me, though...

    --

    Proudly supporting the Libertarian Party.

    1. Re:Emulators by xtracto · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I have to second this idea.

      Just get SNES9X and download some games. I used to play that with my GF:
      - Mario Kart (SNES version is one of the best ones)
      - Lemmings (2 player snes version quite good)
      - TMNT (2 player cooperative)
      - Top Gear (one of the few two player coop. racing games where even if one is good enough, both of you will be able to go through the game [and you can cooperate by trying to block the first place cars to make one of you win :P])
      - Super Contra (a bit more "man" oriented, but fun coop too).
      - Rock and Roll racing (another nice racing game).
      - Battletoads in Battlemaniacs (two player kind of coop... a bit difficult [but quite fun if you enable infinite lives cheat])
      - Bomberman (My girlfriend loves these ones. It is OK multiplayer)
      - Joe and Mac (really funny caveman characters, multiplayer coop)
      - Super Mario All Stars (I can never be left out! including Super Mario Bros 3, i have played it with my girlfriend from the beginning to the end)

      - Ninja Gaiden Trilogy (not really multiplayer, maybe not really very good, but it is my favourite game of all time [Ninja Gaiden II for the NES] so I had to include it here =oP)

      Those are all I can think of now. The reason I choose SNES is because such games are not as complex as todays' games; therefore you can just sit start it and begin playing without two hours of tutorial (I am looking at you Wii Zelda ).

      Also, I think the SNES had the best kind of cooperative multiplayer games... these days it is very difficult to find such games in any console. The only cooperative games are FPS like "halo" but they are a turn off for most girls or other "casual" players.

      And, the reason I don't choose Wii (even though I have one, which is in its box since I moved home 2 months ago) is because I hate mini-games, and all the multiplayer games from Nintendo are mini games (wiiware, mario party, rayman raymin rabbits, monkeyball banana... etc).

      Oh! and the last one I would suggest is Worms. That is a really good game in which I have spent hours with my girlfriend and other friends (even a friend who never had used a computer had no problem playing the N64 emulated game =oO)

      --
      Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
  4. "Hey everybody, look at me!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Not only do I have a girlfriend, but we're MARRIED, and she wants to play video games with me! Oh, did I mention she loves Linux?"

  5. Speaking as a married husband with a kid... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Don't mean to be presumptuous, but I would recommend you spend your spare time outside of your house exploring the world. You will have plenty of time to stay in the house if/when you decide to have children.

    1. Re:Speaking as a married husband with a kid... by Oxy+the+moron · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Speaking as a geek married with four kids, I say any time spent enjoying each other's company is good. You also make the assumption that they have the desire and means to get out and explore the world... I know we didn't early in our marriage.

      Not saying that exploring the world is bad, but I think if they really enjoy gaming together, it's better than a lot of other alternatives. :)

      --

      Proudly supporting the Libertarian Party.

  6. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  7. you're doing it wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The best game to play is "HIDE the sausage"!

  8. Re:Buy a console by Hoplite3 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Or even cheaper, buy a console from the last generation: xbox, ps2, gamecube. You can get them used for peanuts or new for a bit more. Best of all, there are GOOD lists of what games for the console are actually fun.

    Reviews of modern games are often clouded by hype and irrelevant trends. Many nerds will retrospectively look at their video game library and wax poetic about the ones that are still fun (and they'll do it on their blog thanks to ego^w web 2.0). You can get these games used for $3-$10. A seven-year-old game can still be fun.

    And if you haven't played it, it's new to you.

    --
    Use the Firehose to mod down Second Life stories!
  9. Never mind games by Toreo+asesino · · Score: 4, Funny

    Jesus, if you've got to resort to games this early on in marriage, that's not a good sign.

    Sexual deviance, man! That's what you need to try; your "find the sausage" game sounds like a good start. You're married, it's ok to do that now!

    --
    throw new NoSignatureException();
  10. Re:a relatively newly married young couple? by onion2k · · Score: 4, Funny

    So what part of "No 'Find the Sausage' jokes" did you not understand?

    This is Slashdot, so I'm going to guess "all of it".

    What did I win?
    --
    http://twitter.com/onion2k
  11. Re:Legal ROMs? by tepples · · Score: 4, Informative

    Roms for SNES are abandonware anyhow. What makes you say that? Nintendo has not abandoned copyright in Super NES games. They are still being republished on Virtual Console.
  12. Re:Remember my.mp3.com? by tepples · · Score: 5, Informative

    You can copy CDs to MP3s, but you cannot actually dump ROMs Citation needed. And don't immediately bring in Atari v. JS&A; that case rejected 17 USC 117(b), not 117(a) which covers adaptations that are necessary for use of a program on a given computer system.

    Turns out, ROMs are treated as "mask works" which disallow shifting to an electronic format. A mask work is a set of images. Notice that exclusive rights in mask works don't include preparing derivative works. Moreover, they last only 10 years, meaning the NES and Super NES libraries' mask work rights have expired, and the exclusive right that applies to those games is ordinary copyright.