So it shows the time from Frankfurt to Paris drive was 18hrs. I'm assuming that isn't real time. About how long did that trip take in real time? And can you save the game during your trip?

This game looks both appealing and boring to me at the same time. I'm curious about it.

The trip time included eight hours for a rest stop. Actually game driving time was about ten, which I completed in about an hour, including real world breaks. The actual time compression in the game seems to be about twenty game minutes to one real world minute. As shown in the screenies, night is fully simulated and it really is dark out there.

You can indeed save your game at any time. I just did a little test. If you save while driving you reload to the same spot on the map, with the same mission and cargo. The only difference seems to be that when you reload you are stopped and the engine is off, which is probably a good thing. The game autosaves when you quit and reloads that autosave, although you can always choose to then go and load a different save. And you can save and continue in the game at any time.

I'm feeling the same way regarding the "appealing and boring". Yup, at times it can be monotonous, but there are challenges in handling a rig that big. Right now I'm moving an oversized and overweight piece of earth moving equipment and it's really tricky going around corner and up hills. Having the in-game internet radio is a great help. The EKR Rock Radio from the UK really appeals to me. You can add additional internet streaming radios if you wish.

lex, thanks for the link to the mods! The game seems very mod friendly. I'm going to try a coach, err bus, for fun.

So the rain finally stopped on the way to Paris. It's sunny and not too much traffic and then....


Tired? I don't fell... oh wait, my character is yawning in the cab. And I heard that driving after I past my allowed driving time gets me a fine. So I get some rest, but now it's dark:


And to make it more irritating, there are toll booths!:


Still, I struggle on, although at one point I get caught by a speed camera and get fined more than 500 Euros . I guess that's what this sign was telling me:


Finally I'm approaching Paris. I guess it would be a lot prettier if it wasn't the middle of the night:


Sheesh, finally I arrive at my destination. And no, I don't feel like trying to park my own trailer, thank you, I'll just hit "Enter" and skip the bonus.


And my rewards screen. Twelve thousand Euros isn't too bad, but don't forget my speeding ticket.


And now for some well earned sleep.

OK, I bought the game  .

The hire jobs in the demo are fine, but the real meat of the game is to own your own company. I have one cheap truck and I'm the only driver, but it's a start:



So I'm off to Paris from Frankfurt, pulling a trailer full of wood shavings. Must be good work shavings. And damn it, wouldn't you know, it's raining:



Still, it could be worse. I'm listening to Bon Jovi on EKR Rock Radio - UK through internet streaming. Not bad at all.

Oh yeah, baby, I'm trucking....



I like how in your truck radio you can stream internet radio. I like RadioRoks - UA myself

I do think the price right now (30 euros/40 USD) is a little steep, but there's a demo and it's worth a try.

http://www.eurotrucksimulator2.com/

Thanks for the link. I'm downloading the demo via Torrent and boy it's fast today.

Steam has it 10% off through this weekend if that's your thing.

I like this quote from the PC Gamer review:

Spending 90 minutes ferrying a tank of propane from Sheffield to Prague could (should?) be tedious. The fact that it isn’t is largely down to good-if-not-quite-OMSI-standard physics, and varied road layouts and scenery. Periods of smooth, almost soporific motorway motoring nestle between passages of edgier wheelwork. One minute you’re cruising along contemplating the sunset over the central reservation, the next you’re on a rain-lashed country road at night, waiting for the right moment to pass a painfully slow pantechnicon. Tiredness can’t kill in ETS2, but it can leave you jack-knifed in a ditch, feeling awful with a substantial repair bill to pay.

Home link

I've been keeping my eye out for this game since last fall when I first saw it being discussed as "a simulation game with tactical turn-based combat".  Today (Jan 14th) Steam News announced it was available for pre-order at 15% off with a release date of January 31st. The X360 version is apparently coming out in the US on February 12th. These folks IIRC did Tropico 3 and 4 and I thought they did a good job on the latter. Anyone else thinking about getting it?

I bought if off Steam just a year or 2 ago for about $3. I also applied the Grey Wolves patch, but it made load times terrible. If  I return to playing it I'm not sure I'll keep that patch. It's a excellent game for what I played of it, but I admittedly didn't play many missions.

There are a number of cautions about load times in the GWX documentation. However, since my rig has an Intel i7-2600s processor the load times are quite reasonable. And the frame rate even when I'm at the bridge station is better than 350, so that's not a problem either .

The GWX3 PDF is an amazing 644 page, chock full not only of game and mod details, but also a lot of the history of the U-boats in WW2. You can download it from the site by itself with the whole 1.3GB patch if desired.

I've now run the game for about three hours with no CTDs or any hiccups at all under Windows 7.

A long, long time ago I bought SH3 when it was first released. I had fun with it but this was before it was patched, so it was a bit buggy. After a while, I didn't think about it again, especially after I changed computers.

Today however, for some wild, "it's after the holidays and I'm bored" feeling, I bought SH3 over Steam and downloaded the 1.3 GB Grey Wolves Expansion. With some trepidation I let Steam do the normal install, then I installed GWX3 on top of it, fired it up and.... it worked just fine . Oh, and it's just as much fun as before. I didn't load any of the JSGME mods on my first campaign patrol. This was in August 1939 and rather disappointing it was also my last. After cruising around a bit and shooting up some targets I was heading home to Königsberg when I ran into something or hit bottom or whatever; hey, I was down in the radio room listening to Lili Marlene!  Sadly, the entire crew was lost 

Now I'm ready to fire up some mods and give it another go.

I recently installed WinPatrol free version and it seems to be a pretty decent program. Is it worth upgrading to WinPatrol PLUS? There seem to be some decent features there. I'm using this for a home computer, not a network or anything. Thanks in advance for any help.

FYI for folks... I haven't finished my first campaign, so when I tried to start another campaign, here are the only Second Wave options offered:



And for those wondering, here is a list of all the options plus descriptions from GameInformer:

    Damage Roulette: Weapons have a wider range of damage.
    New Economy: Randomized council member funding.
    Not Created Equally: Rookies will have random starting stats.
    Hidden Potential: As a soldier is promoted, stats increase randomly.
    Red Fog: Combat wounds will degrade the soldier’s mission stats.
    Absolutely Critical: A flanking shot guarantees a critical hit.
    The Greater Good: Psionics can only be learned from interrogating a psionic alien.
    Marathon: The game takes considerably longer to complete.
    Results Driven: A country offers less funding as its panic level increases.
    High Stakes: Random rewards for stopping alien abductions.
    Diminishing Returns: Increased cost of satellite construction.
    More Than Human: The psionic gift is extremely rare.

the free Second Wave DLC is due out today.

I never did finish the game's final mission . Will this hamstring me from using the new options?

I'm looking forward to Omerta myself.

And finally, last entry for the night, a Scion tC:

Our next entry in the GTF garage is the 1994 Honda Civic 1.5 VTi, the "VTi" is Japanese for "I can't even get out of my own way". With Forza 4, problem solved! Upgraded with a fancy new engine and tires and this and that, it's now 354hp of RWD goodness. Sadly, it still can't keep you from being in someone else's way.

And it's pretty, too, battling with some puny ragtop:


Oops!!! I got it!! I got it!!!


No, I didn't:

Presenting the 1971 BMW 3.0 CSL, upgraded only a wee bit to E275, plus the funky rear wing. Looks like someone's racing line through the Corkscrew is a little off course:

Added to the Club GTF garage today, the 2008 Toyota Yaris S:

Question - I had a gift of points to spend and decided to get Horizon's season pass. Figured out I had to download the rally expansion from the in-game menu and that went well but what about all of the car packs? Are they automatic or do I need to 'get' them somehow? Just starting so perhaps it becomes obvious later on but thought I would ask. Thanks!

You download the car packs from the Marketplace in game.

Wait, let me blow some dust off this thread.... that's better.

I hadn't signed onto Forza 4 for a while now, but when I do, I find two gift cars, one of which looks very familiar... It's the RUF given away in Forza Horizon. Nice that I get it in FM4 as well, it makes my tenth unicorn, so I get a new title and badge to boot.



I'm rather burned out on Horizon and without anything in there to look forward to except some new cars each month, I've gone back to FM4 for some winter driving fun.

I picked up SimCity 4 Deluxe this afternoon for $5. Deal is good for the next 21 hours. With just a couple of tweaks I've got it running fine on my Windows 7 rig in full 1920x1200 widescreen.

I hope those shots are visible to you folks. They show up for me.

Yup, they look great. I'm kinda wondering how you happened to be in the situation for that last shot.

I think this truck is a new vehicle in Horizon. Shame we won't be able to drive it!

My purchase was a SimBin bundle and the ten simultaneous downloads were starting and stopping and hiccuping. Finally, after a couple of restarts, I restricted it to a single download. However, now that one is starting and stopping and hiccuping. You'd think every one in the world was suddenly buying stuff on Steam

You mean we couldn't have just started a new Holiday Sale 2012 thread or something?  50 old pages isn't enough?

I was wondering about that myself, but I figured others knew better

yeah, my rule for this year is nothing that isn't on my wishlist and even then it has to be at least 66% off.

I'm using that rule, and even cutting back a bit on it, but I'm a sucker for racing games and the SimBin series are on sale. Well, maybe I can play them in the next couple of days before I leave

UPDATE: Well, I've found out that Steam can only handle downloading nine items at once . If anyone else has been stymied in their Steam downloads, I apologize for hogging the bandwidth

12-20

  HOLIDAY SALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man, you are not kidding. I have had 23 items on my wish list, 20 of them are now on sale through January 5th. Sadly, I leave soon to go visit (arghh!) relatives for the next week or so.

Not sure about the others, but I'm definitely getting #2 and #1

you pay for them.  they're kinda pricey and I haven't seen anything listed that beats my current customized loadout.

While pricey, I found myself knee deep in money, often maxing out my $10,000 wallet until I was able to unlock the second island and spend the money on maps.

Does it have a navigator that calls out turns? Or does it just use the GPS style navigation?

Navigator calls, plus symbols on the HUD indicating turns.

Rally, baby!


OK, first impressions. The game drops you into a qualifying stage which when you finish unlocks the first of the seven rallies. As you win rallies you can unlock the next one up the pike. I opted to just buy the Rally Pass and unlock all seven, so I could scope them out for you

There are seven rallies, divided into two B, two A, two S and one R3 class rally. If you enter a car that isn't in the class or equipped with rally gear (tires, shocks and transmission) you will be prompted to auto upgrade and have no option but to do so, since the rally equipment is mandatory. However, if your chosen car already has the rally equipment, then you can opt to not upgrade the car's performance index, although you will get trounced.

I did the first rally, which is the Beaumont. There are four stages, although you don't know that until you have done the last one and find out it's the last one. The bad news is that the stages aren't very long in this first one. I completed the stages in 2:29, 2:15, 3:09 and 5:08. It seems that the stages are composed of the same roads with some cutouts and deviations from stage to stage.

The good news is that the physics feel pretty good. After seeing the trailers I thought we might be experiencing a lot of floaty cars and insanely constructed courses, but it all feels pretty real. I drove my Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII MR (what a name ) which is your default start off car. I felt like I could drive quickly and be in control, but also could push it a bit and take risks without it feeling like I was just along for the ride. Just like regular Horizon, there is no actual car damage, so bouncing off guard rails only loses you a little time, and you can't hammer the car to pieces if you take too many jumps too hard.

I did try the multiplayer rally option by myself. I was able to select any stage of any rally, time of day (including midnight), and car class. If you go below Class B or above class S it will give you a warning but it will allow you to proceed. I tried an old Mini which was fun but slow, and the Ferrari FXX, which was insane

So, is it worth 1600 MSP ($20 USD)? There are seven rallies, with each with four stages. My total time on the Beaumont Rally was about thirteen minutes. Assuming the same time for the others (which is assuming that the faster class rallies are a bit longer, not necessarily true), that comes out to about ninety minutes of race time on all the courses, running each just a single time. Since you can run any car on any course (once you add rally equipment), sometimes with a bit of fiddling of course, I think that makes it a worthwhile addition.

One final bit of info. Any car other than the five (six with Season Pass) dedicated rally cars do not visibly change when you add the rally equipment. This is a tiny bit of disappointment, but I guess we can't have everything.

The Rally Expansion Pack is now available for download. If you are playing the game, go back to the XBL dashboard, then re-start the game and download the patch if you have not done so. After hitting "Start" you get the Rally Expansion as another option besides Single Player and Multiplayer. Selecting Rally will take you to where you will be able to do the 1GB download.

More info on the new Rally Expansion Pack, due out tomorrow. Includes details on each of the new cars, but is still vague on the actual stages.

2013 Civic Si Challenge and Honda Car Pack Coming to Horizon It's free!

"If Honda does not race, there is no Honda." Soichiro Honda founded an empire that lived by that philosophy and, over the years, the company he built has not only dominated racetracks worldwide, it has also made some of the most innovative and enjoyable driver’s cars around. In this spirit, Forza Horizon is proud to present the “2013 Civic Si Challenge” and the downloadable “Honda Challenge Car Pack” available on January 15, 2013, absolutely free.

Included in the pack are some great additions to Forza Horizon that wear the stylized “H” badge.  The star of the pack is the 2013 Honda Civic Si Coupe, whose big league 201-horsepower engine is paired to a freshened design that puts its looks on par with its performance. The HPD Rally Fit is a special B-Spec road racer, built by Honda Performance Development and battle-tested at Pike’s Peak. And the 1986 Honda Civic Si Coupe was the Japanese hot hatch that set the stage for Honda’s greatest performance front-drivers.

They've released a trailer for the Horizon Rally expansion that's due out next week and it looks pretty awesome.  Though it does reinforce how much I hate their announcers and choice of music...

More details from IGN

And you get new cars...

Yep, no racing game add-on would be complete without new rides, and Horizon Rally includes five -- all of which have close ties to rally racing. There's the '92 Celica pictured above, the 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII MR, the 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX STi, 1992 Ford Escort RS Cosworth, and 1982 Lancia 037 Stradale. Season Pass owners also get the 2003 Ford Focus SVT.

And this is interesting...

And they're all upgradeable: "You can take the same rally upgrades that are featured in the cars that are packed in with the expansion pack and apply them to any car in your Forza Horizon garage," Fulton explains. "These upgrades include rally tires for improved grip on loose dirt and gravel, springs and dampers that raise and soften the suspension to maintain stability on the most sever off-road terrain, and rally transmissions that feature shorter gear ratios more suited to the quick accelerating nature of rally racing. I think these cross-game upgrades are a game-changer for Horizon – they allow you to upgrade any car you own into a dirt-eating machine for use in the Rally Expansion Pack stages."

That last bit, "I think these cross-game upgrades are a game-changer for Horizon – they allow you to upgrade any car you own into a dirt-eating machine for use in the Rally Expansion Pack stages", seems to mean that I can rally any car in the game. OK, now you have my interest

[ROAR ROAR]

So I'm at the recently captured Tequila Sunrise outpost. I step out of the safe house and am standing on the dock when suddenly ROAR ROAR and there are these red scratch marks across the screen and my health jumps down. I spin around but there is... nothing there.

And so I heal myself and then.... ROAR ROAR and more red marks and I'm jumping out of my chair. WTF!!! I have Jason hop up the ramp and he looks around and then down and damn, there is a tiger under the dock and his claws are coming up between the planks and he was clawing me from down there.

HOLY CRAP!! I put a few shotgun blasts into the dock and then go back inside the safe house to see if the self-service machine sells underwear

One of the things I agree with in Yahtzee's review is that it's cool that you can level all the way up half way through the game and be able to use all the cool skills and tools in the second half, rather than getting the last few abilities just before the end. I'm at 55% complete, all the outposts taken on the first island and I've crafted everything, so now I'm going around doing the side missions and the Hurk ones, besides hunting for relics and loot chests.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/6603-Far-Cry-3

Wow, Yahtzee actually liked it? He is getting soft in his old age. I do like the quote in the end credits of his piece:

"It's not a real holiday until you've napalmed a cassowary"

OK, now that I have had more time to play the game I'm loving it.  I was going to complain about the lack of weather but I finally saw a rainstorm in-game.

I've notice that too, very little weather. Also I notice there aren't the strong winds that sometimes blew all the vegetation around like in Far Cry 2. Maybe it's a limitation of the engine? Still, it's not a big deal.

my only complaint is that the enemy AI seems a bit dumb while also a bit too aware:  for example, I can go near an outpost and pick off the enemy one by one with a silenced rifle yet they will not sound the alarm when their buddy gets his head blown off in front of him but they also seem to realize where you are sniping from very quickly.

I rationalize their behavior by assuming that they don't sound the alarm unless they decide that someone is trying to break into the outpost.

Shooting Komodo Dragons with a shotgun? Exciting

Torching Komodo Dragons with a flamethrower? Priceless

Well, that was odd. I was jogging on a path in the middle of the island when suddenly I fell through the map. I couldn't rotate my view, all I could see were some stars as I fell, and fell, and fell... I finally had to go back to the main menu and reload

Remember children, save early and save often!

Good god, man, I'm still trying to decide if I'll pick this up or wait until after Christmas.

Either way you'll enjoy it .

I'm glad I got the game now, as I'll be visiting in-laws over the holidays