Since I've had a chance to actually play some games on platforms like the PC, Xbox 360, Wii, iPhone, and PS3 lately, I thought I would share some quick thoughts. After reading, why don't you share some of your own thoughts on those games or some of what you're playing?

PC:
I've been taking small steps in putting my Sager gaming laptop through its paces.

• I installed Dungeons & Dragons Online, but have not yet set aside sufficient time to actually begin playing. It looks like everyone around here is already moving onto Lord of the Rings Online, so I may have missed my window of opportunity, but I still plan on giving it a go, even if it's just with Christina (I'm not a big fan of the LOTR universe, honestly).
• I've played a small portion of Civilization V twice now (a few hours each time) and despite a lukewarm initial experience, upon my second play session, it's starting to feel more Civ-like (i.e., it has more of that classic Civ game feel to it). It's a downright beautiful and well designed game, though it does feel a bit "sterile". Also, as with many PC games, it guessed based on my laptop that it should have everything set at Medium values, but I have everything cranked to the highest setting and thus far it seems like my system is handling it well. Getting back into PC gaming, it seems this determining "best slider values" automatically is still an inexact science.
• I played some of the tutorials in Starcraft II. The charm I remember from the Warcraft games is definitely still present here. I had to again make some adjustments to sliders, but this one guessed a bit better than Civ V did (and no, I was not able to have everything cranked to ultra and have it scroll smoothly, but I was able to take good advantage of the 1.5GB on my video card). I look forward to playing this soon once I get through all the tutorials to see if I "get" what all the fuss is about, particularly since I missed out on the first game (seriously).
• I have yet to receive my activation code for Minecraft. I decided to bite the bullet on this one based on all the fuss I heard about. I hope I'm not disappointed and I hope there's not too much of an issue with getting that code (apparently there are some activation issues).
• I downloaded Dwarf Fortress, another game you hear way too much about. I'm bothered by the small window on my 1080p screen and it's probably the most confusing game I've ever attempted to play. I'll definitely need quite a bit of time to get this one going.
• I've been trying to get through the game installs from the famous Humble Indie Bundle, though I've uninstalled all of the ones I've tried to date.
  • Aquaria is a lovely game with an interesting play mechanic (essentially using sound/music to protect yourself/do things), but one I'm ultimately not going to bother with. My oldest daughter (who turned 6 today) got a kick out of swimming about for a time and doing a few things here and there, but she ultimately got frustrated.
  • Samorost2 had wonderful art direction and some clever (though occasionally simple) puzzles, but since it's a flash game it's another small window game and there doesn't seem to be much flexibility to the interface. It's kind of a mix of a traditional adventure game, Myst, and find the hidden object games.
  • Once I tuned the visuals correctly, Penumbra Overture was kind of a neat adventure game, even though I didn't leave my cabin in the ship. The way you interact with objects is intriguing (kind of like the infamous Trespasser game), but it seems clumsy to me with a mouse.
  • Lugaru HD is kind of an interesting third person action adventure, but the main character is rather ugly and I'm not much of a fan of FPS-style controls on computer (I know, I'm an oddball in preferring console controllers for FPS's).
  • Gish is a blob platformer. Again, interesting concept, but not enough to make me want to play, particularly since I have better options on console.
  • I still have World of Goo to install, which has an outside chance of being the only game from the bundle that I end up keeping on the hard drive.

360:
Beyond Kinect, I recently played NBA 2K11. Lot of fun with this one. I can really see what all the fuss is about and I generally agree that not only is this one of the great basketball games of all time, it's one of the great videogames of the year. It's flat out fun and well done. As with all modern sports games, though, I think I will have an issue or two with all of the control possibilities, but so far even just using basic controls I'm having quite a bit of fun.

Wii:
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11. I'm using Motion+ with this one. Once you get past the mediocre graphics, it seems like there's a very meaty game here, though I had trouble hitting drives consistently using the full free form control set. I actually kind of tweaked my right arm swinging the virtual golf club (Wii Motion+) because there's no weight to the controller, which is always an issue when you mime actions you'd be doing with something that in real life has some heft. This game does seem promising though and it's one I'll have to set some time aside to properly learn and play.

iPhone:
I finally broke down and had bought Angry Birds after hearing all the fuss. Ironically, I already had a game on the iPhone, Crush the Castle, that was a clone of it (like Pigs vs. Wolves is a clone of Plants vs. Zombies). Angry Birds is definitely great fun and worth every penny and then some, regardless of mobile platform (and it typically sells for just .99).

PS3:
I mostly tried Move demos again. The Kung Fu Rider demo revealed a delightfully quirky and fairly original "racing combat" game where your wacky character (in the Japanese anime sense; it reminds me a bit of Wreckless in style, actually) hops on an office chair as his mode of transportation. What ruined this game for me is move overload, meaning there are so many moves you can perform that even though it's a motion control game, there are too many things for me to remember how to do (buttons to press, controller moves to make, etc.). I'll consider getting this if I ever see it dirt cheap and can spend some time learning the controls. The Sports Champions demo featured Ping Pong, which was pretty good, though as with all of these such games still does not feel 100% 1:1 and Frisbee Golf, which was very, very good and almost reason enough to buy the whole package. You really felt in control of the throw. I would think Frisbee Golf and the archery thing might be enough to make we want to get this at some point (OK, those and maybe the sword fighting), though I'll need to check out some of what I have on the Wii again to see if it would be redundant and/or a superior replacement.