Favorite game moments -- name your own!

[Kschang77]

Was just playing C&C Renegade... I was in the Construction Yard, and was just buckwacked by a rocket guy... He almost killed me, and in the panic I had shot off most of my ammo of my good guns. I backed into the elevator and got back to the main entrance, but I can tell by the mini-radar this guy is coming up to chase me.

Then I notice this little "service elevator" on the side of the elevator. I took it, and it took me to the top of the elevator, where I proceed to hide, as I go through my inventory. In the meanwhile, the searcher came up, and searched all around the elevator, with no luck...

So I looked over the side, and poped him in the head with my silenced pistol.

[BacardiJim]

Soooooo..... killing a moron with a bullet to the head is your "favorite" video game moment ever.

I can't imagine why people are worried.

[BacardiJim]

My bad. You didn't kill him. You apparently killed the entire College of Cardinals (in a bloody exchange you didn't bother to share with us) and unilaterally "Poped" the guy.

Is he gonna ease up on birth control?

[Benhur]

Wow, BacardiJim. Nice. Pray tell us, what's YOUR favorite gaming moment?

[Odin]

I was a Medal of Honor multiplayer addict for a while last year. I always played a sniper and I really enjoyed finding good hidey-holes and letting loose on any enemy who came into view. I usually did OK, but there were a few sessions where I was just on fire - where it seemed like every shot was a kill. I'd single-handedly hold a bridge against a charge or take out multiple enemy snipers who never knew what hit them. Didn't happen often (I was never THAT good), but the couple times it did would probably qualify as my favorite gaming moments.

Sith

[YellowKing]

So many:

Warcraft 2 multiplayer. We were playing teams against the computer. I decided to turn traitor on my friend, and kept sneaking in dwarf demolition experts to blow up large chunks of his army. He would go, "Something just blew up one of my armies!" and I'd reply, "Me too dude! Oh my God the computer is sneaking invisible units in!" This went on for half an hour, while I sat on the other end laughing my ass off at his increasing frustration. He finally caught me in the act and proceeded to launch everything he had at me. It was a bloody fight but I came out on top. He wouldn't play WC2 with me for weeks afterwards.

EverQuest. I had bought the game the week of launch, but was very disappointed in it. All I had managed to do was kill rats outside Freeport and save up a few copper (when the servers were up). My equipment sucked, I didn't really know what the point of the game was, and I was feeling like I had just wasted a lot of money.

So I decided that I'd give the game one last shot. I had read you could take a boat to the other continent, so I decided that's what I'd do. I waited at the docks, hopped on the boat along with some others, and it sets sail. I'm sitting on the deck watching the wind blow the sails and watching the water go by. Across from me some people strike up a conversation, and we spend a few minutes talking about what lay in wait on the far shore. All of a sudden the world just became alive to me. It wasn't just a city with some rats. It was an entire world waiting for me to explore it. That one incident turned me into a total convert, and I ended up eventually dragging everyone I knew into the game and playing for nearly 3 years.

[Eel Snave]

Half-Life. Blast Pit. Best sequence ever.

[Kschang77]

Soooooo..... killing a moron with a bullet to the head is your "favorite" video game moment ever. I can't imagine why people are worried.

You have to realize, dude, that I do NOT enjoy reloading a game over and over just for a few more measly pts of life so I can survive the next battle. Thus, I was desperately trying NOT to cheat. It's a combination of luck, interesting places to hide in a structure, and an AI that doesn't cheat... much.

I mean, who would have thought to hide on top of an elevator to ambush someone? (Except the level designers?)

[Discalced]

Conquests of Camelot on the C64 (I think it was C64). I was a kid, my first real game, and I figured out the answer to one of the riddles at the Force-Field Riddle Stones. It was "snail." I was ecstatic.

[Thin_J]

Half-Life. Blast Pit. Best sequence ever.

Either this, or the entirety of the Half-Life:Uplink Demo. That was and still is far and away my favorite game demo of all time. No demo since has made me want a game as much as I wanted the first Half-Life after playing it. There was one particular spot where you rotated a radar dish, but after you finished guards busted into the tower you're in. You start raining down machine gun fire on them, only to discover that they lob grenades up, over, and onto the small circular catwalk you're stuck standing on.

The first time they tossed one I was crouched down next to a control panel, thinking I was hidden. Then the grenade popped up over the edge of the catwalk and landed right at my feet.

It was one of the first moments in a game where I ever actually felt that the bad guys were the least bit intelligent, even if it was in a scripted or fake kind of way. I remember being totally blown away. Loved it.

[snoleopard]

Half-Life also. Blowing that helicoptor out of the sky. I loved that part. Next favorite, Half-Life: blowing up the tank that was in my way and kept killing me.

[Eduardo X]

The "alone in the woods" mission on the original Operation Flashpoint.
Sprinting from forest to forest was such a thrill! Then dodging the tank rounds, diving into craters and what not, making sure the tank shot while I was under cover, the thrill of losing the tank when I ran into the forest, dodging a patrol, etc., etc.
What a great game! The demo for that is one of my alltime favorites as well! I played that mission about 100 times before I pre-ordered and pirated the game at the same time, because the US version was about 4 months behind the US version.

[Vegetable Man]

I can't point to any specific sequences at the moment, but I can say that probably 90% of my most satisfying gaming probably came from my days playing Counter-Strike. Haven't played that game in so long, need to hurry and upgrade my system so I can play CS:S.

[SuperHiro]

No, you guys are all wrong

The best gaming moments are when you and all your friends got together and played Dungeon and Dragons: Tower of Doom on the Arcade. And that butthole who played the dward always threw oil on you to set you on fire.

Here's a recent one on Zaxxon's UT2k4 server, me and TML were on a team in Onslaught. And we basically were about to win. Which speaks more to TML's skill than mine. I spent most of the time in the Hellbender/Scorpion trying to do tricks. I just don't understand it. I go off the hill, barely turn my wheels, and get a ton of daredevil points. I also find the time to stop driving, type "woohoo![,and then keep on driving. But then I go in the scorpion, go off the same hill, manage to get TWO WHOLE REVOLUTIONS IN, and get jack for points.

Anyhoo, TML was driving the hellbender, and I was in the 3rd man turret thing. Zaxxon is in a tank. We're thinking we're totally screwed. Then TML, god bless him, decides to bum rush Zax, drive over him like Bigfoot at a Monster Truck Rally, I quickly unleashed a fully charged blast and do him in. It was awesome.

And it sucks that running into the core with your hellbender doesn't do any damage. What a crock.

[Smoove_B]

If you haven't played Operation Flashpoint yet, you're a loser and deserve to have the game spoiled for you. With that:

Towards the end of the game, you're captured and being held in a camp by 3 or 4 soldiers. After an opening sequence, you're left sitting in a tent, apparently waiting to be taken to the enemy leader.

When the guards show up to take you, you have a small window of opportunity to try and escape. If you don't, they load you into a truck, drive you a few miles into the wilderness and shoot you in the back of the head.

BUT if you do manage to escape by causing a diversion and running off into the woods....

The next level loads with you all alone in the dark. All you know is that if you walk in a certain direction you'll be safe. Unfortunately, you have no compass or even a weapon. The area is crawling with enemies and if you start wandering too much in the wrong direction, you'll be captured again for sure.

So how do you do it? You actually have to use the night sky to navigate to safety.

It was one of the coolest gaming moments I've ever had, in one of the best computer games ever made.

[Eel Snave]

How do you figure this out that you need to use the night sky, though? I mean, that's a little esoteric unless they spell it out for you.

[Smoove_B]

How do you figure this out that you need to use the night sky, though? I mean, that's a little esoteric unless they spell it out for you.

There's a little journal that you use in each mission that gives you the mission goals, as well as a map. I guess it's like hitting the TAB key in most other games.

As I recall, this mission had no map, only something like "use the night sky and XXX constellation to navigate to safety", with a little picture of said constellation in your journal (hand drawn).

[Eduardo X]

How do you figure this out that you need to use the night sky, though? I mean, that's a little esoteric unless they spell it out for you.

You have to use the Big Dipper to find the Northern Star.
What a kick ass level!

[dbt1949]

My last game of Civ 3 Conquests it was late in the game and I nuked my main opponent. He retaliated with 10 nukes to my 18. My Starwars(or whatever it's called)defense shoots down 8 of his nukes.Then I unleashed the Stealth bombers,about 50 of them,followed my about 100 modern tanks and about two dozen radar arty and another three dozen mech inf.
My nuclear subs take out his carriers and transports out of his task forces.
The whole world declares war on me but don't give much of an attack.After 4 turns I sue for peace from them and get it. I conquere the Sumerians(my top rivals).

[RunningMn9]

Best gaming moments...there are tons.

In no particular order:

1) At a LAN event, we were playing various HL mods, and we got to Front Line Force. We were playing a capture the control points mission on a naval ship, and my team was defending the control points. We lost all of them, save one. We still controlled a point in a small room in the belly of the ship. Since we only had to protect one, we piled into the room and went on defense. The carnage that ensued was insane. The other team was relentless, but just couldn't get in. We won.

2) At similar LAN event, we were playing a Team Fortress map. I don't even remember which one, I just remember that it was 30 minutes of the most intense gaming competition I've ever experienced. 30 minutes, and the game ended in a 0 - 0 tie.

3) Back when I used to play BF1942 online we were playing one of the city maps. My team got down to something like 15 points, and our opponent had 200 or so. Somehow we won the map. With 2 points to spare.

4) Rainbow Six, the final mission. I had planned out my assault on Brightling's compound meticulously. I had fire teams covering each other, using line of sight, the works. We clear the outer part of the compound, and proceed down one of the long tunnels to the choke point to get into the inner compound. One team of 2 breaks left to cover the right, high and low. One team of 2 breaks right to cover the left, high and low. On team creeps up to the door to open it and hit straight, high and low. The door opens, I hear the light return of the MP5SD and sweet music to my ears. Tango down, Tango down, Tango down, Tango down, Tango down. Before the doors were open, everyone in the room was dead. Unfortunately, that's were my guys got out of sync with the go-codes I assigned them, and they quickly split off on their own, and my entire team died. I never made it past the choke point again. But still a great moment from my favorite game of all time.

[Massena]

I almost wouldn't know where to begin.... A few gems then:

The room is dark. There isn't any noise, except a ragged electronic soundtrack and the hushed, tension filled breathing of four 12 year old boys who had finally gotten ahold of the Doom demo. And then the near silence is split by the cry of an imp, a wall comes crashing down, releasing hordes of the little brown demons, all of them crying for my blood! Three of the boys cry out! My shotgun did my talking for me. We loved that game.

Next one, totally alone, late at night, age 11 or so. I had finally managed to get to Raseir. The tormented city was under the oppression of the evil sorceror Ad Avis, who was trying to summon a powerful genie, bound to his will. Through my quick wits and fast dagger I had risen to prominence in Shapier. And then, I snuck into the old emir's harem, past the water fountain and out onto the balcony where my nemesis was completing his ritual. Another flick of my wrist and victory was mine! But not for long. I was awake all night trying to get through that damned city, breaking and entering, trowing daggers, one step ahead of the law (usually). Quest For Glory 2. I miss that series.

Last one. Lord Takeda Shingen sat still on his horse, patiently waiting for the Mori army to come down off the hill. It had taken many years to bring him to the mountains of the west, many victories. His clan was powerful, his line was strong, he had the seal of the Emperor's will supporting his actions. Many years fighting in mountainous Shinano, years spent cleaving through the rich Hojo lands, pushing the Takeda dominion further and further. Now the Mori were rushing towards his archers. They had been the bait that would draw the stolid monks off their hill. As they cried their war-prayers and charged down the hill, a horse stamped its foot nervously in the woods nearby. The famed Takeda heavy cavalry, veterans of countless battles were about to charge the rear of the Mori warrior monks. It would be another glorious victory, crushing the largest Mori army. A few years of mop up actions, and only the Shimazu would contest the new Takeda Shogunate. Shogun:Total War was such an experience.

And that's just a few off the top of my mind.

[Kschang77]

The mission is quite simple... The hybrids are building a spaceship hoping to spread their seeds beyond human influence. As they are essentially biological weapons that are grown, and intelligent, they can't be stopped. The ONLY way to stop them is to drive your carrier and crash it into the spaceship being built. This, combined with an overload of the "creation engine" (the nano manufacturing facility) should destroy the hybrid ship.

Unfortunately, the ONLY way to the hybrid ship is by running this "gauntlet" up this section of twisting river. The canyon is LINED with defenses of all sorts, from walkers to flyers, from artillery to turrets, with factories constantly pumping out more units. Your only chance basically is to coordinate the few units that you have to keep the path clear (while the carrier is moving!) taking out enemies ahead, AND coordinate a landbound scout (don't let him get killed!) to direct fire on enemies factories and energy pumps. You are simultaneously tracking six or seven units, manually taking control of at least one, constantly deal with new threats, WHILE attempting to stem the flow of enemy units by turning them off at the source(s)...

[Turtle]

This is in Planetside

We were moving up a little behind the main assault lines towards an enemy controlled base, in a jungle/swamp area with thick tree cover. We were playing the Terrans, which get this scout fast truck similar to the warthog from Halo, but with an added mortar launcher.

We start darting in and out of the area as the fighting gets more intense, having to pull back more often to repair. On this run, almost as soon as we're back in the truck, we get notice of enemy air support arriving on scene in number.

Well it just so happens one enemy pilot finds us as we start to move. We hit full speed just as he lines up his first attack run and his rockets barely miss us as we dodge inbetween the trees. All the while, he's diving and weaving through the canopy and between trees trying to kill us, as I, in the machinegun seat, am trying to shott the guy down and the mortar launcher is firing into the trees all over the place.

After a few minutes of this, the flyboy disapears and we've both taken a lot of damage. We stop the truck and the driver gets out to make repairs. After starting the repairs we see the same flyboy coming in low, pointed straight at us! Both turrets swivel into firing position, as I unload with my chaingun, I know it's not going to save us in time. But then, just as it seems he's got us lined up in his crosshairs, the mortar gunner opens up and arcs a mortar right onto the guy's cockpit destroying him in the process.

We all cheered, got back in the truck, and drove back to the enemy base. A minite afterwards, we were blown up by an enemy tank... but we sure as heck gave it a run for its money.

[Kaigen]

My favorite moment came in the Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow multiplayer demo. I've mentioned this back on the old forum once or twice.

Part I:

My team mate and I were trying to hack a console on the lower level by going through a window. I was hanging by a ledge just off to the side of the window so I could watch what was going on in the room. My teammate fired a chaff grenade into the room to deactivate the lasers in the down, then hopped up and climbed in. Trouble was, the chaff was poorly placed and didn't take out the motion sensor, so as soon as he went in the guards were alerted to his presence. But he goes for it anyway and starts hacking the console while I watch his back. Barely started at all, I detect two guards and yell for him to get out of the room. He breaks off the hack and runs for the window just as the guards burst into the room and open fire. He makes a leap from the window and slips back into the shadows, the guards still wildly firing after out of the window--with me just hanging off to the side barely a foot away.

Part II:

We wait for a while for the guards to resume their post and then after a while decide it's been long enough to give the room another try. I'm still up near the window so we decide that it's my turn to try. My team mate fires a chaff grenade into the room and takes out the lasers and I crawl onto the window ledge. However, I remember the motion sensor this time and take it out with a well placed shot before I enter the room. I get hacking. They must have still been keeping an eye on the room because the second I finish the hack I hear the familiar clink of a grenade entering the room and I dash for the window. As I'm leaping out, the grenade explodes right by the window sending a little flak my way, but I make it to the ground safely and my partner and I head back to the shadows.

It was a damn shame I could find hardly any friends to play with once I got the real game. I still consider Pandora Tomorrow as my favorite multi game ever.

[Giles Habibula]

Playing the original "Thief".

I was home alone on a hot summer afternoon with my A/C not working well at all. My gaming rig was then located in the living room, which was bright at that time of day. I was hot and miserable, but determined to play, but the sunlight coming in made seeing the game on the screen impossible.

So I got a heavy blanket and draped it over my head and the monitor. Still not dark enough. So I got a second blanket, a dark red heavy wool one out of the closet, and now had two blankets draped over me and the monitor. That worked great, and I played for two hours that way, but the monitor was giving off heat and the room was hot and I was sweating profusely.

My girlfriend came home then and saw me sitting there and burst out laughing at me. The sudden noise scared the crap out of me and I jumped visibly. She took the blankets off and just laughed and laughed at my appearance: Hair matted down, shirt drenched and sweat pouring off my face.

[Faldarian]

Playing SS2 for the first time, with my friend watching. I can hear the zombie through that first door shuffling around and moaning, and I'm all tensed up... so I peek my head through and look to the right.

"AAAARRRRrrr.....THWACK!"

He was standing to the left of the door I had stuck my head through, and he slams me in the head when I looked the wrong way. Scared the crap out of me, we laughed for hours about that one. I still get picked on for jumping out of my seat when that happened

[knob]

I have a lot. But I can't think of any.


But this happened today:


I absolutely suck at Counter Strike: Source. My kill/death ratio is rarely positive. But today, I had a golden moment where I popped around a corner, 3 guys aiming at me, and 5 seconds later, all 3 were dead and I hadn't even been touched. I was so proud of myself. Of course, I still got my ass kicked for the rest of my play time, but it was still fun.



And one similar to YK's:

I bought EQ and I liked it, but it wasn't anything special enough to really get me hooked. I killed a few things here and there has a Halfling in Misty Thicket. But it was more frustration than anything else.

But, I gave it one last try. I found a class I enjoyed (Monk), started to gain some levels, and then the best part: I traveled across the continent, on foot, with the absolutely worthless map that came with the game. It was great. (This was just after launch, so ports didn't exist).

Entering each new zone, not knowing what to expect was just amazing. All the new things to see and try to avoid....

I don't have much love for EQ any more, since it ended with me being in one of the "Uber" guilds and the game having one of those horrible, completely unfun job like feelings to it, but no game has ever compared to my first few weeks/months of EQ.

Unfortunately, I'll never get that feeling again. I'm used to the MMO thing. They aren't as amazing as they once were.

Kind of like the first time you have sex.

[bluefugue]

Ok, where to start, where to start...

1) Ultima III -- 1985, Commodore 64. I'm watching over my brothers' shoulders as one of them is playing the game. It's late at night. They go into a moongate that transports them to a spot inside "Serpent's Isle," inside the impassable mountains that can normally only be accessed by getting through the Silver Serpent. The moongate takes the party to a small land outcropping separated by water from the castle of Exodus, which is the final goal of the game (your quest is to destroy Exodus). It's impossible to reach from that position because of the intervening water. I remember looking at the Exodus castle with a sense of awe -- so close, and yet so far. Then my mother comes in and angrily tells me to go to bed.

That particular moongate location is useless; you can't do anything there except wait for the gate to reappear and take you somewhere else. It serves no gameplay purpose except foreshadowing. That's the kind of thing Richard Garriott -- and very few other game designers circa 1983 -- was thinking of.

2) Half-Life, PC, 1999. Playing this the first time through on my K62-333mhz machine, no 3D card, software mode, maybe 640x480 resolution (if even that) -- and having a total blast. I remember more than once just grinning to myself and shaking my head thinking "that was so cool." Probably the best scripted moment came when the Osprey flew overhead and marines rappelled down into a shaft that you had to enter. That just blew me away.

3) Age of Empires II, 1999. This is the only game I have ever made any real attempt to play seriously online. I never got much good at it but I did learn the basics. I played this one epic multiplayer game against some total stranger -- it went on for something like 4 hours. I wasn't even playing well and when I watch the recording I see all sorts of bad techhniques and mistakes -- basic build order screwups, that sort of thing. But it was an epic game all the same. It went on so long that half the map was denuded of trees by the end, and the gold had long since been mined away. I kept attempting to send a flanking force by transport ship to the northern part of his continent, repeatedly trying to build forward bases there, and repeatedly being rebuffed. In order to distract him each time I made one of these forays, I would send a sweeping suicide offensive of light cavalry into his main base. But for a long time he wasn't fooled and was able to keep me from consolidating my position on his flank.

Finally I managed to gather a few relics and gain a small gold income that way. This gave me a decisive edge as I began pumping out champions when all he had were flimsy skirmisher/pikemen units. By the time the game was over I had a pounding headache and just wanted it to end -- but I was victorious!

4) UT2k4 Clone Bandits mod, 2004: Played this at a LAN party a few months back. It was a pretty intense back and forth game on the first map, the road-warrior desert one. I just remember one particular point where an enemy team member grabbed a jar of clone babies and was making his way out of our base in a vehicle (one of the smaller jeep type thingies). I calmly selected my AVRIL, took my time, got a bead on him as the target beeper activated -- and fired. BLAM! Bye bye bandit.

5) Ultima V -- C64, 1988. There is a point in the game where you need to steal an item from the rooftop of a castle. The chamber in which this item is located, is guarded by a couple of very tough gargoyles. The "correct" way to get past this point is to possess a certain item that allows you to pass unmolested. I didn't have that item; didn't even know it existed. Instead I used my magic carpet to lure the gargoyles around the ramparts of the castle, leading them a merry chase until they were straned far away from the room I needed to get into. Since my carpet was faster than they were, I was able to get back to the room and retrieve the item long before they could find me. I always think of this as an example of a game whose world is constructed with enough detail, and enough internal logic, that you can solve problems in ways the designer didn't even intend. That's a real holy grail of gaming that even now we are only beginning to strive for.

6) Outrun, arcade, 1987: I've had a lot of jaw-dropping "wow" moments looking at a game's graphics. But I think this one takes the cake. It was at the Holyoke Mall in Massachusetts. My brothers and I went to the arcade and saw the new game Outrun there. I was just gobsmacked. I couldn't believe a videogame could look that good. To those who think the obsession with graphics is a relatively new thing, or something that dates to the 3D era, all I can say is, you weren't there in that arcade on that day...

7) F-29 Interceptor, PC, 1990. My brother and I went into a computer store ("Data-1" in Honolulu, long gone) and saw F-29 running on a display PC, probably a 286 or whatever was current at the time. We were die hard Commodore devotees, having graduated from the C64 to the Amiga. But we had never seen a flight sim look this good before. I'd played similar sims on the Amiga and they could never push polygons like that. There was just something so silky-smooth about the framerate. This was the future of computing, and my brother and I, discussing what we'd seen, realized that the writing was maybe on the wall for Commodore. The PC was the future.

[tals]

For me still has to be the opening sequence of Half Life - when it starts pure cinema - and then you realise you can actually move around the carriage. Awesome stuff.

Tals

[Eel Snave]

I love these kind of threads.

Here's another one of mine. Me and a buddy were playing Lords of the Realm 2, back in the old days where you had to actually CALL THE PHONE NUMBER of the computer you wanted to play with. Crazy stuff.

Anyway, we're playing a match, and it's going pretty good. We would always make a secret alliance (and of course be duplicitous ), but this time we took down all of the other opposing nobles one by one until only us remained. We reluctantly broke our alliance in order to finish the game. He was the superior strategist, but I had more resources as I started picking his kingdom apart one by one until the end. Finally, instead of sieging his big castle, he abandoned his county to me while declaring his undying alliegance. I refused to take it, and it was like two nobles with a great respect for each other who knew that one must ascend to the throne. It was very moving.

Of course, the next time we played, I kicked his ass unmercifully. But for that one game, it was magic.

[Kael]

I once got a *CENSORED* while playing Kingdom Hearts. Does that count?

[Eel Snave]

See, I would think that playing games is about the most un-sexiest thing on earth. Did you keep playing, or what?

[Kael]

See, I would think that playing games is about the most un-sexiest thing on earth. Did you keep playing, or what?

Of course, it was a little hard to concentrate but its Kingdom Hearts, so it didn't exactly require my full attention. And yes I just kept playing afterwards, but I did give a very appreciative thank you.

[Zarathud]

One of my favorite moments was Mission 36 "Into the Lion's Den" in FreeSpace 2." The mission starts up, and after 5 seconds the coms scream "DIVE! DIVE! HIT YOUR AFTERBURNERS PILOT!" Right before you see a massive capital ship Juggernaut about to enter hyperspace -- right over your initial position.

What a wonderful way to kick up the heartbeat and remind you that you're a gnat in space compared to your enemies.

[leo8877]

The one gaming moment that always pops into my head in these threads is from Half Life:

At some point you are in an air duct and there are marines all around. One of them hears you moving and yells to the others something about you being in the ducts. The marines start shooting at duct and you can see beams of light pass through where the bullets broke through.

This scene just blew me away.

Another one for me was just playing Jedi Knight for the first time. It was the first PC game that I'd ever played and I just could not believe how in-depth those games were. Not to mention just how expansive the levels were! It's still my favorite game of all time.

[TheMissingLink]

Anyhoo, TML was driving the hellbender, and I was in the 3rd man turret thing. Zaxxon is in a tank. We're thinking we're totally screwed. Then TML, god bless him, decides to bum rush Zax, drive over him like Bigfoot at a Monster Truck Rally, I quickly unleashed a fully charged blast and do him in. It was awesome.

Agreed - that was an AWESOME moment. I saw the sort of slant on the front of the Goliath so decided to jump it

Here are some random moments:

I've hosted 8 man lan parties at my house and went and played Warcraft 3...one of my friends told us he was really good at War3...I died early, and went to look at his screen noticing he had like, over 3000 wood. From that day onward, we've called him Paul Bunyan.

My friend and I hopped onto a Quake 3 server and my friend made his alias the phone number of another friend of ours. A person on the server proceeded to call the number and tell our friend's mother that he had just killed that person. Hilarity followed.

I can't think of anymore - it's 3:54am and I really gotta go to bed.

[Break]

I've got many but here is a couple:

Unreal Tournament - this was when the original came out, my friend and I would hop onto the CTF map that everyone played, I can't rememeber the name now, but it was the one with the two towers and the hill in the middle. We were both pretty new to the game so we were slowly learning all the stuff we could do in the game. We eventually found the taunts that allowed your character to make gestures, so we decided to head behind our tower and taunt at each other to see what kind of stuff was there. While we were pelvic thrusting at each other we heard a whining noise in the distance. Just as I realized what it was, we blew up. Redeemer of course. Both me and my friend were on the floor laughing at the whole thing, but what made us laugh even more was the possible thoughts of the guy who was controlling the missile as he steered it into to players gesturing at each other.

X-Com - through one of my numerous replays through the original x-com, it was in a city map and there were aliens hiding in the bushes. Not wanting to risk my team in trying to run out in the open and get behind the bushes to get a clear shot at them, I decided it would be best to throw an incendiary grenade into the bushes. It explodes and I hear dying alien sounds, so I figure I'm in the clear. I head back in the other direction and end the turn. During the alien turn my guys who have now turned their backs on the blazing inferno of a bush are taking shots in the back, one of my guys goes down, (to my eternal frustration). The alien turn ends and I have to go and locate this alien that I overlooked. I figured it was just another guy who was not in the bushes that saw my men. As I turn around, right behind my character is our pursuer. It was one of the aliens who were in the bush. How was I able to tell? He was on fire. I thought I had got all the aliens in the bushes, but one of them made it out alive. It surprised the heck out of me, but to be an X-com agent and turn around to see the image of a burning alien right behind you, that is scary.

[Bakhtosh]

Mine was in X-com too.

My best friend and I used to play co-op X-com...no, it wasn't a feature. He would come into my dorm room and play, and I would watch, give advice, celebrate and make fun of him while he played.

In this game, we were naming the soldiers according to their place on the team. Sarge was the first guy to attain that rank. CannonFodder was the door opener, and Nolan Ryan was the grenade thrower.

During one battle, one of our guys spotted an ailen, and everyone who had LOS took shots at the thing and missed. It was the end of the turn, and the alien had a bead on several guys. We selected Nolan, who was a LONG ways away from the action. He primed a grenade and threw it. The screen changed levels as the grenade arched and fell back to land at the feet of the alien. We both cheered and celebrated. That was awesome. =)

#2 would be taking on 4 computer oponents in Starcraft playing (real) co-op with this same friend.

[DTG]

Ultima Underworld... walking down the ramp into the dark right at the start and encountering a small crevice. Backed up, ran, and ...jumped..over it. That type of interaction was unheard of back then.

Baldur's Gate (original). Walking across the drawbridge into the old castle, near the beginning. The rain starts, footsteps on the wooden bridge, background music .... it all fit together perfectly. I knew that they had gotten it right..(and about 100 playing hours later w/ BG 1 and 2, they kept getting it right).

Ultima III - accidently getting sucked into a whirlpool while on a ship .. I had been avoiding them for hours and hours..and finding out it sent you to an entirely new landmass. It was in my graduate school engineering lab at 3:30 a.m. - - I literally shouted out loud.

System Shock (1st one). When I blew up the first energy pods (or whatever), Shodan makes her first appearance over the speakers with "Who ARE you?"

[SirReal]

Duke Nukem 3D:

My mate and I we're duking it out during work lunch hour, and he find the shrink gun, which neither of us have any idea how it works. He manages to hit me with it, making me shrink to a little dolls size. On my screen, the viewpoint changes to right above ground level, and I seem to be running real slow... I can't figure out what happened! Then I hear my mate start laughing uncontrollably, and then he steps on me. Squish. "You're an inspiration for birth control!"

Quake:

Starting Quake for the first time, and dipping the rocket launcher beneath the water surface, seeing it clip correctly. The first true-3D game, IMO. That game made me realize a new era of gaming was upon us, and got me to buy my 3dfx Orchid Righteous 3D card.

QuakeWorld TeamFortress (this might not make sense unless you've played QWTF on this particular map):

It's was in the international TeamFortress league semifinals, I think. We (clan Vallasherra) were playing some US clan on 'Rock', currently defending. I was a demoman as usual, and assigned defense of the lower entrance tunnel, where the attackers have to detpack the blockage in the tunnel before they can advance to the courtyard breaching area.

Right at round start, I move out of our base and into the that same tunnel from the attackers direction, and hide in the shadows. Their demoman shows up, plants the detpack and takes cover. I plant mine while he's in cover. Both packs go off in quick succession. Net result: Zero. My detpack closes the tunnel right after his opened it. I managed to repeat this twice before they caught on to me. Oh, the elation... =)

Half-Life:

The intro sequence.

Operation Flashpoint:

On a coop mission, we were in a jeep, driving quickly to advance to contact, when the map reader says to halt. He no longer known where we are. So we have to back up to the previous intersection and check the signpost. That was so cool, getting lost in a FPS... =)