PC Gaming

[Thoth]

I hope the lack of a thread for this is not indicative of apathy for PC gaming.

 

I've been playing WoW, Gears of War, and Orange Box on the PC. Of those, only WoW is PC exclusive. Crysis is amazing as well, though I just have the demo.

 

But is it really the case that the PC is only getting console ports? And when the game comes out at the same time as the 360 version, do you get the PC version or the 360 version?

 

I generally prefer the PC versions of games, because I built my machine about 6 months ago.

[Broward83]

My machine is like, over four years old. NO way I could really play up to date PC Games.

 

So 360 it is for me.

[AntiLeaf33]

Since I'm too cheap to buy a console I'm a PC gamer. I really wish there was more variety outside of shooters, cause I'm really getting sick of them. And no, I'm not touching WoW.

 

Still, I have been playing the Orange Box pretty constantly since I got it Friday. Team Fortress 2 is the most fun I've had with an online shooter in a while. And I almost forgot how cool Half Life 2 was.

 

Also, I wasn't a fan of the Gears of War PC port, primarily due to the stuttering. It's a fun game, and the extra levels were awesome, but I found I could only play it for about 30 minutes at a time before the stuttering drove me crazy and I had to turn it off.

[kkktookmybabyaway]

I generally don't like playing games on my PC, but I do pop in Diablo II when I feel like taking a break from doing real-world stuff in front of my computer screen. Haven't played Baldur's Gate II in a long while. That's about it for me.

 

I don't play WOW because I know if I started I wouldn't be able to stop.

[Thoth]

AntiLeaf, what's your SteamID? We should rock the TF2.

 

Also, Gears stutters for me on occassion, but turning the texture quality down from highest to high made a big difference.

[muzz]

Upgrading on the weekend, so I can finally play some games I've bought over the last month.

 

Could have played them sooner, but I'd like some decent frame rates.

[Thoth]

I didn't know they made PC games that were PAL comptaible.

 

...

 

*pause*

 

...HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH.

[MrRant]

I really only play some Steam games (DOD:S, CS:S) and WoW here and there. Also some other cheap games I've gotten from Steam like Space Empire IV and Earth 2160.

[Thoth]

Speak of the devil: A patch for Gears of War for Windows is out. Apparently fixes the stuttering. I'm looking into this.

 

Other performance ideas for GoW PC: You can set DX 10 to Off, On, or On w/Antialiasing. Apparently, there's a huge FPS difference between the first two settings, but there's no perceivable image difference. I currently run with On, but I'm gonna turn it off, which apparently improves things by about 20 FPS or so.

[AndrewTS]

I'm afraid I can't contribute much to this thread, but I'll repost this, which should help a lot of folks here who might have decent PCs, but maybe aren't sure if they're good enough:

 

BTW, for a lot of folks, like me, who are clueless about if their game is pc quality, or what upgrades they need, I found this site: http://www.yougamers.com/games/. Check the "game-o-meter" for a particular game to see if your PC can run it.

 

[muzz]

Don't worry if your PC can't play Crysis, because there aren't any that can play it at the highest level at the highest res yet anyway.

 

Did you play original DoD, Rant?

[MrRant]

Not really. I prefer the Source one personally.

[ZGangsta]

Don't worry if your PC can't play Crysis, because there aren't any that can play it at the highest level at the highest res yet anyway.

 

Did you play original DoD, Rant?

Well the highest resolution is insane and you'd need a pretty huge monitor for it to be useful, but I'm pretty sure I've seen benchmarks taking it to the max at acceptable framerates. Granted they were using 2 Geforce 8800GTXs SLI'd together but it can be done.

I can play Crysis maxed (DX10) out at 1280x1024 at pretty decent framerates.

 

I support this PC gaming thread and will post more here when I have time.

[muzz]

I can't play with just acceptable framerates though, guess it's down to preference.

 

I've read some people being annoyed they can't play it at 2500xwhatever on very high settings.

[Jaxxson Mayhem]

I just started playing games on my PC again cause I don't have a 360.

 

Beat COD4 a week or so ago and tried Guitar Hero III, but I couldn't run it cause I don't have a dual core processor.

 

GHIII's requirements are ridiculous.

[Thoth]

Crysis sucked balls for me until ATI released a hotfix driver for it, which made the game VERY playable for me at 1680x1050 at all Medium. I could probably turn some of those to High with no major problems.

[AntiLeaf33]

Steam ID: AntiLeaf33

 

Fell free to add me

[AntiLeaf33]

I was considering getting either GH3 or the Oranage Box a while ago. I got the Orange Box because I was hearing of some delay issues with GH3 for the PC. My computer meets the requirements, so I wasn't worried about that, I just didn't want to pay $80 for a game that you can't even play correctly. Still, now that I have the Orange Box, I regret nothing. Awesome games in a great bundle for an unbeatable price. You can't go wrong if your a fan of First Person Shooters.

[Vanhalen]

Steam ID

Vanhalen2007

[Obi Chris Kenobi]

I left the realms of PC Gaming along time ago, the only game I really play now on the PC is Football Manager. Before that it was World of Warcraft, not sure there's any PC game out there at the moment that would drag me back in - at least one that wouldn't require me to buy/build a brand new PC to play it.

[Ripper]

PC gaming can kiss my balls.

 

They just blatantly say "fuck you, buy more shit to make my game work" instead of working with anytype of guidlines.

 

Yes I know you can play the games on "low" or "medium" settings, but fuck that. Institute some limitations and stop trying to have the prettiest screen shots while fucking over the consumer.

[bobobrazil1984]

Its a huge huge problem when most of the new games won't run on the computers (mid-level average priced) on sale at the best buys, circuit city, etc etc, ie where MOST people buy their computers. Imagine if 90% of the 360 games couldn't run with a smooth framerate on the XBox 360.

 

by the way, one really underrated aspect of WoW's success IMO is that it's very "light" on computer and graphics requirements in comparison to everything else. It runs fine on my crappy laptop integrated card.

[muzz]

Computers being a rip-off at most places hurts too. It's much cheaper to get the parts from wholesalers and get it built/build it yourself.

[bobobrazil1984]

Computers being a rip-off at most places hurts too. It's much cheaper to get the parts from wholesalers and get it built/build it yourself.

 

that's something only a hardcore computer nerd would do, thus is irrelevant, since the majority of people don't and won't do that.

 

or to look at it a different way - PC gaming caters only to hardcore computer nerds who build their own computers from wholesales. In other words, its basically the comics industry.

[MrRant]

Let's step back and define "run".

 

Most systems from the last say 2-3 can run a newer game at acceptable frame rates, etc basically at a medium setting depending on your system. Sometimes all you need to do is pop out a video card and pop in a new one every few years. RAM is inexpensive as well.

 

Now, to run some games as high as it can go can be out of reach of all but those who tweak and spend $500 on a video card.

 

Also, keep in mind there are MANY, MANY more games with decent graphics and a lot of playability available to a PC with average prices running from $9.99 to $20 rather than the almost default $40 range for a 360/PS3 game.

[muzz]

Computers being a rip-off at most places hurts too. It's much cheaper to get the parts from wholesalers and get it built/build it yourself.

 

that's something only a hardcore computer nerd would do, thus is irrelevant, since the majority of people don't and won't do that.

 

or to look at it a different way - PC gaming caters only to hardcore computer nerds who build their own computers from wholesales. In other words, its basically the comics industry.

 

I recently bought parts suggested by other people, and am having someone put it together tomorrow. It's not that hard, but it's probably not worth it for the average buyer.

 

I could have gone to a number of places where you pick out the parts/have them choose the parts, and then they put it together at their store. It saves a good couple of hundred.

 

Either way, it's a hassle, but for a lot of people having a good computer is worth it.

[Slayer]

I had essentially quit gaming back in early 06 (with WoW being my last game), but recently I d/led the demo for Puzzle Quest on a whim before buying it and becoming hooked

[Rendclaw]

Computers being a rip-off at most places hurts too. It's much cheaper to get the parts from wholesalers and get it built/build it yourself.

 

I tried to do that and it cost me three motherboards. I still have the first two, want them?

[muzz]

I'd build it if I could. Even my brother fried a motherboard and he has decent knowledge in the area.

[MrRant]

Most of the cases of a burned out motherboard is a fan that isn't rated for that processor. I've never fried a board. I've fried a processor once by getting the wrong fan in a package.