Four console games you might like…

Unfortunately, I always liked strategy games, and consoles generally lack them, I believe.
PCs too, for now. That's why I play crawl and oldies mostly.

If you like Portal, let me advocate some indy games.

Everyday Shooter was game of the year for me.
http://www.everydayshooter.com/

PixelJunk Racers and PixelJunk Monsters is good too.

On XBox Live Arcade, both Eets: Chowdown and N+ are fantastic.

For PC, try anything by Jason Rohrer. Cultivation, Passage, Gravitation, Perfectionism.

The PS3 can run Linux out of the box as well. With a bit of work you can get NES and SNES up and running. I also look forward to the chance to program some crazy parallel matrix multiplier ...or something. If you have HD I would say the price is definitely worth it as a DIY media center.

I just skimmed through you post (so I may be wrong with what I read)...

I always heard that HD LCDs are the way to go to play video games?! I heard that plasma's aren't good (for gaming) and that the video games eventually burn into the screen or cause it to flicker?

Yeah, I am with you, in the sense, that console games are the way go! The only no game that I still would play is Diablo II.

You should check War Hawk (see: http://warhawk.com/) - a development manager played it for me on a dev box (instead of the PS 3) when I interviewed at Sony.

I also like the Grand Theft Auto Series and Halo. The only systems I have are the X-Box and XBox 360, but all the hard core programmers who I worked with really prefer the Nintendo Wii.

Yeah, Oblivion rocks, I quit playing it before I could beat it because I was playing it for 15 hours straight at a time! :)

Also, try Call of Duty 4 and Star Wars: Battlefront.

I have a Sony PSP but haven't really played it much. A lot of people like the Nintendo DS though.

If you do get a Nintendo DS, try The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (I heard it rocks).

See:

http://www.zelda.com/phantomhourglass/

Still can't believe you play everything on a plasma though (maybe I should re-read your post).

Happy gaming!

Huh. Any tips on how to connect my Bluetooth Apple wireless keyboard to it? Works with the PS/3...

Hay Steve,
you mentioned you liked Final Fantasy X. You might enjoy Lost Odyssey then, an RPG by mistwalker that came out in february. It's made by the guys that made Final Fantasy what it was: Hironobu Sakaguchi (Director), Nobua Uemantsu (Music) and I believe some of their fellows which all left Square Soft during the last few years. Lost Odyssey pretty much nails the FF formula to perfection. The battles are challenging but not too difficult, the graphics are gorgeous (Unreal Engine), the music is among the best Uematsu ever produced and the story is amazingly well written. Mistwalker aparently hired some really really famous and talented writer (Kiyoshi Shigematsu) and a great character designer (Takehiko Inoue) to give live to the events and people in the game and it really works. Although a japanese production, all voices were written and recorded in english from the beginning and it really shows. It's rare to see voice acting in games that's as good as this.

You play as a 1000 year old mercenary with no memories, trying to prevent a big political plot. As you go, you're remembering more and more about your past, presented in the form of short stories to be read from screen, accompanied only by some pictures and music. This might sound bland but these dreams really carry the majority of the games sad atmosphere and are reported to bring grown men to tears.

Well yeah, check it out, it's great:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=D4kCClro-SA

I second the suggestion for the Live Arcade title N+ on the 360; you've got to try its cooperative mode. It's just too much fun cooperating with random online people in a platforming puzzle game.

Lots of fun, especially if you like to watch people think. (A couple of the competitive levels get into some interesting tradeoffs and headgames.)

I bought the orange box on PC for portal, but after I got 80% through it I got bored.

Then I started playing team fortress 2, and have barely stopped (except for work, the kids, etc.)

Nothing beats playing against a bunch of other people for a challenge.

Steve,

I suspect you might really like a PS3\PSP game coming out this year called echochrome. There's a demo currently up on the Japanese Playstation Network that you can download. The game is predicated on helping a mannequin traverse an impossible object.

-Brit

@ilyak:
If you like the roguelikes, check out TOME http://t-o-m-e.net It is a descendant of the old Moria game, and has kept me occupied for the past 8 years or so...

I truly enjoyed Super Paper Mario for the Wii. It's not the best Wii game in terms of really utilizing the controller, but it has a lot of fun side quests, excellent characters (both allies and enemies), and wonderful writing. They do a great job of poking fun at the series and aren't afraid to break the fourth wall.

There is also one level that's a pixel world featuring a nerd iguana that I wanted to replay immediately, I had so much fun with it.

If you have a DS (and it sounds like you do), you should check out "Professor Layton and the Curious Village". It's pretty much a boatload (~130) of brainteasers dressed up in a minimal adventure game plot, and it's pretty fun and addictive.
I find that I use my DS a lot when waiting for the kids at activities (gymnastics, ballet, etc), and "Professor Layton..." is a perfect game for times like that.

Regarding boss difficulty (and difficulty in general) it's really hard for them to make a one-size-fits-all version. I personally found the recent zelda and mario games were too easy, especially zelda bosses.

You're probably going to hear this a lot, but you should at least give Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (longest. game. name. ever.) a rent. I simply loved the first 4 for the PS2 (couldn't get into the PSP game) and the PS3 version is probably the 2nd best of the series. I would call it a "great 3D Megaman" in the same sense that Mario 64 was a "great 3D Mario" (disclaimer - I really enjoyed Megaman). The platforming action is spot-on and there is a lot of little humorous elements in the game. Plus you get to blow stuff up which is always fun.

I second the Ratchet and Clank series (mentioned by lemadchef). It is completely spectacular. Still, you should really check out echochrome. I mean an Escher puzzle game? Come on!

Is it possible to upgrade your comcast box?

https://www.weaknees.com/

Wow, I appreciate the recommendations Stevey, but can we get a spoiler alert on that Zelda rundown. I know you hid the end of the sequence from us, but I think you may have tip-toed over the line there...

No seriously, go back and add a spoiler alert.

Get Smash Bros brawl. It's single player play includes some of the best mario style side scrolling. It's 4 player FFA is still the best in the business. Brawl on the Wii features online play.

Warning! Smash Bros Brawl virtually doesn't use the motion detection or pointer of the wand, even in menus.

Hey, you finally bought a bigger than me :)

Can I borrow your game for my ps/3?

How could you not _mention_ wyvern in games you liked to play.

--caius

Ya if you liked FF X I think Lost Odyssey is a little better. I recently bought a PSP just to play RPG's since there are not enough out on 360 or PS3 yet.

Playing Wild Arms XF atm and it's pretty good and long for a mobile game.

Grab a copy of Mass Effect, I personally hate RPG's but found this might be the game to change my opinion.

Hey man I love Super mario galaxy too. Its actually my favorite game on the blog I just created. I was hoping that maybe if i sited a link to your blog on my blog, Gamer Central, could you put a link to mine on yours. That might help me get more viewers, haha! :>

Regarding five essential things to ask on phone screen.
coding reverse a string
suggestion that is i think easier.
String rev = "";
char[] chars = s.toCharArray();
for(int i = 0; i < s.length(); i++)
{
rev = chars[i] + rev;
}
return rev;