Ambassador

Here is a list of games I am big fan of:

• Half-Life Series: Nearly, everybody I know of, played or enjoyed Half Life or its mods. I have bought my first Half-Life in 2002-2003 I think. I didn't buy latest Orange Box. We had a talk with Carsten (colleague). I think he bought Orange Box with Eposide 2. I have already bought my Episode 1 and Half Life 2 on DVD before. But Orange Box included these as well. I preferred buying Episode 2 online. I think Orange Box was cheaper but I didn't want to buy something I already have bought. I don't remember exactly what I did, but IIRC, I didnt' buy whole Orange Box because I dind't want to buy something that I already bought before.
  
• Hitman: From IO Interactive, a Hitman that kills (bad) people. Since "Code name 47" (the first game), I have all series. It took a long time to complete last episode; Blood Money. Great AI, deep story line (although it all boils down to killing somebody). This is my second-best game.
  
• Penumbra series: Swedish company released a horror/thriller game. It's eerie. I haven't played Overture, but I am playing Black Pleague. It's definitely my taste!
  
• Medieval II: Total War: I am not a strategy game player, sorry. But I loved the idea of commanding medieval armies in battle field. So I bought this series (for a very cheap price, including its Kingdoms expansion). I have played this game quite a long time, and basically fantastic game play.
  
• Kane and Lynch: Again, from Danish IO Interactive. It has a good and consistent story. It has good game play and being responsible from team mates is something I love. So, I think it deserves every buck I paid (because I discovered it too late, it was difficult to find in Oslo so I ordered online). Only problem is... well, I am a sensual game player. I didn't like the idea of killing policeman. Sorry! Killing bad people was OK. Killing police isn't OK for me; quite disturbing. So, I tried not to kill everybody; just shoot a few times to save myself. Of course, you can't complete the game in this case...
  
• Left 4 Dead: Good game, but I think too short. Also, I don't enjoy zombie stuff, but a nice try. So I've got a copy of the game (got it recently, as it was somewhat expensive when it was first released). If it had more chapters, it'd be my second favorite game. (PS: I killed all witches)
  
• Battle Field 2: When I bought my BF2, I bought a set of surround (5 + 1) speakers from SpaceWorld in Ski Storsenter. It turned out that it's a good game. I've spent sometime registering myself (may be I've already blogged about it), but I did it at the end (I think messages were wrong/misinforming, etc). It wasn't a lovely game, but quite impressive graphics and very playable. Øystein told me that he's a big fan of BF2 online. I still didn't try but I want to sometime. However, I am not really into "just killing people" games... It needs to have a deeper meaning.
  

Other than those, I am a regular flight simulation user/pilot. If I am not experimenting some code or playing above games, I am flying as a (virtual) Lufthansa (virtual) pilot. I used to use my X-Plane, but because my virtual airline has ACARS only for Microsoft's flight simulators, I usually stick to Flight Simulator 2004 or Flight Simulator X. Also, I am preparing a surprise for simulator users; all users, including Flight Gear people. You will meet with the beauty and the beast soon (soon; as in 1 year?)

I've recently seen Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare. Although I am not interested in shooting people a lot (without using brains?), I loved quality of graphics. Just to examine graphics, I check out this game.

Assassin's Creed - I saw it, but I didn't like it (so, I didn't buy it), sorry. Nice game, bad story and difficult game play (Andre told me story before and saw game play in GameStop in Oslo). It reminded me "Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy".

Fahrenheit; one of my favorites (in 2005?). It was a fantastic game (5 out of 5) but its story then becomes... strange (when I decided "umm.. may be 4 out of 5). Also, its game play, when it comes to strange key combinations, sucks (dammit! 3 out of 5? no still 4 out of 5 - because everything else is cool). But a fantastic plot! If they released a sequel, I'd definitely buy it. I heard something like "Heavy Rain" but nothing released yet (I think 2009 is target).

I don't have a game console and I have no plans to buy one until I earn more I am using my Apple Macintosh (oh well, it can run Windows XP so it's practically a "PC" although Mac users would hate me when they hear) with NVIDIA 8800 GT. Some games may run on Mac as well. I want to play real stuff, so I use my Windows.

Nobody knows how is it like to write/create a game. If they tried it once, they wouldn't try to "crack" it. Games deserve every penny you pay. OK, Flight Simulator X might be exception... it was underperforming but I paid 700 NOK to that thing (roughly 5 days before it was supposed to be released officially in year 2006) - and all I've had was a slideshow. But hey, it works fine after SP1 (I think I've activated it enough; next time, I won't be able to activate it again) and nothing justifies illegal copies!

Games are good. Everyone (at least I do) needs them. So, please support game studios and stop using illegal copies. If those crackers are that good in software, then why don't they produce something for "free" that we all would enjoy? Sorry, but making a game requires "balls".