Topic: The PC Gaming Thread

[hesbighesred]

What with Battlefield 3 coming out I've been looking for a PC equivalent to the Xbox thread and haven't been able to find one.

Boast about your insane gaming rig here. Laugh condascendingly at someone else's meagre 250+ game collection. Have a tedious 14 page discussion about how you managed to squeeze and extra frame per second out of Counter Strike: Source by replacing your solid state drive with a block of mature cheddar.

Most of all, lets make this a forum to talk about the awesomeness that is PC gaming. What games are you playing? Do you play multiplayer? Fancy a game of Starcraft 2/Left 4 Dead/Battlefield etc etc? Where DID you get that awesome mod?

Clearly to be on this forum you have to have a PC, and I would think that many of you use it to game to some degree. It's bizarre that there isn't a forum for the PC gamer types, so here it is, let the geekery begin!

[hesbighesred]

I personally can't wait for Skyrim. It's a testament to how much I'm looking forward to that one that I'm seeing Battlefield 3, released this Friday I think, as merely something to play until Skyrim comes out.

Anyway, to start us off here's a couple of big recommendations.

If you remember Morrowind, or can't wait until Skyrim, get yourself a copy of it (the Game of the Year edition is incredibly cheap everywhere) and install this mod:

http://www.gamepron.com/news/2011/01/03/morrowind-2011-mod-complete-download-here/

The instructions are detailed and comprehensive, though make sure you follow EVERY step, step-by-step, and it really does make a Morrowind worthy of 2011. I was playing it for a good couple of months, Morrowind is an utterly awesome game, one of the very coolest worlds ever created for PC.

I also recommend you buy Altitude. It's a simple as hell 2d indie game based around 'plane battles. Fast, furious, fiendish and perfectly balanced I am hopelessly addicted to the 'planeball' mode. Despite having a pretty sweet rig, and despite spending stupid amounts on games, and having all sorts of AAA titles, Deus Ex: HR remains almost untouched while this little beauty just continues to rack up hour after hour after hour of playtime. Just awesome, and awesomely old-skool: http://altitudegame.com/

Does anyone play Minecraft? I still haven't tried it. What's the attraction?

Is anyone else nigh on purple with rage that, after so many years of desperate waiting, we ARE going to get a new Syndicate AND a new X:Com game only to find out they're both fucking FPS games? What the hell? Because we're so overstuffed in gaming with more strategic games based around control of a party of minions, and I just can't remember the last time an FPS came out.

Seriously, does my head in. Awesome ideas like those get left to rot but Modern Warfare has a new release every three weeks with map packs at £300 pounds a pop or whatever satanic price they are now. Oh well.

As a last note, I highly recommend Rock, Paper Shotgun for gaming news, reviews and a quite awesome column on board games. Definitely my favourite gaming read, though I quite like the odd PC Gamer too.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/
http://www.pcgamer.com/

Handily RPS has a preview of BF3 up.

My steam ID is shroedingers_cat if anyone wants to add me. That's also my name on the epic altitude. On BFBC2 I'm Bromide Sandwich, and will probably use that name again for BF3, though frankly it's far too cool a name for my level of abilty. Strange how often the best players have utterly shit names!

Anyway, tara for now and Happy gaming.

[DanFromMars]

Currently on my second playthrough of the Witcher 2 with everything set to the highest settings, apart from ubersampling.  Really enjoying this, Patch 2.0 has introduced a few neat things like arena, which I plan on using near the end game with all the best equipment you can get.  Only gripe about this game is there isn't enough side-quests in the places you visit.  I want 20+ missions in each area instead of the 2-5, paticularly toward the end of the game when you get an amazing set of swords and armour, max your talents out only to complete the last mission and game over...

I guess the fact that the game really has two halves with who you side with and you get another different playthough when you start over.  Fantastic game nontheless, any role playing fan with a decent pc should play this.

Getting Bf3, never really played an online shooter before, so going to try this out. My time will probably be mostly invested in spending 300+ hours on my first playthrough of Skyrim.

[hesbighesred]

Currently on my second playthrough of the Witcher 2 with everything set to the highest settings, apart from ubersampling.  Really enjoying this, Patch 2.0 has introduced a few neat things like arena, which I plan on using near the end game with all the best equipment you can get.  Only gripe about this game is there isn't enough side-quests in the places you visit.  I want 20+ missions in each area instead of the 2-5, paticularly toward the end of the game when you get an amazing set of swords and armour, max your talents out only to complete the last mission and game over...

I guess the fact that the game really has two halves with who you side with and you get another different playthough when you start over.  Fantastic game nontheless, any role playing fan with a decent pc should play this.

Getting Bf3, never really played an online shooter before, so going to try this out. My time will probably be mostly invested in spending 300+ hours on my first playthrough of Skyrim.

It does end too quickly doesn't it?

An absolutely phenomenal game made, really loved it. I need to play through again because I had a save just before the big divergeance in the forest. Arena could be fun, I love, love, love the fighting in the Witcher, and personally I love the slightly backwards difficulty curve. It's nice that, in a game where you are supposed to be a nigh-on unstoppable sword-fighting badass, you actually get to feel like an unstoppable sword-fighting badass.

CD Projekt are a real shining light in PC gaming at the moment, Witcher 2 is nearly everything I go into most Bioware games hoping for but never get.

Give me a shout when you get BF3, I am not utterly shite but it would be really nice to kind of start off with a fellow noob, you really need teamwork in it and learning with people makes it much more fun to play.

If this thread catches on it might even be fun to start a RAWK clan.

[clacke]

Invested in an Alienware M18x with Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD® Radeon™ HD 6990M CrossFireX a couple of months ago, and so far it's been running like a dream (touch wood!). So far I've played Dead Island, Deus Ex and Witcher 2 (also minus ubersampling) all on highest settings. Amazingly I didn't have a single issue with Dead Island - no crashes, no freezes, no bugs. It ran perfectly and loved every minute of it.
A quick break to play Uncharted 3 and then Skyrim which should keep me going til Christmas. Then Assassins Creed Revelations, Mass Effect 3 and possibly Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - keeping an eye on that one - it's looking good so far. Also excited about The Secret World MMO due next April from Funcom.

[hesbighesred]

Invested in an Alienware M18x with Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD® Radeon™ HD 6990M CrossFireX a couple of months ago, and so far it's been running like a dream (touch wood!). So far I've played Dead Island, Deus Ex and Witcher 2 (also minus ubersampling) all on highest settings. Amazingly I didn't have a single issue with Dead Island - no crashes, no freezes, no bugs. It ran perfectly and loved every minute of it.
A quick break to play Uncharted 3 and then Skyrim which should keep me going til Christmas. Then Assassins Creed Revelations, Mass Effect 3 and possibly Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - keeping an eye on that one - it's looking good so far. Also excited about The Secret World MMO due next April from Funcom.

Jesus that's a nice machine. You won't have to worry about running everything on full settings - mine usually does and I've only got a single 5970. I want to get a bit more RAM though, and I'll possibly treat myself to a 2nd 5970 for christmas, especially since crossfire seems pretty reliable these days.

Is Uncharted actually coming out on the PC? I thought it was PS3 only? I'll definitely get it if so. I'm gutted that Red Dead Redemption never came out, I really want to play that game, but I can't really justify buying a console just for one or two games. Games are so expensive on console too, it's ridiculous.

[clacke]

No unfortunately Uncharted is PS3 only - I meant take a quick break from pc gaming 
Yeah, the M18x cost me a good few quid but with the spec I got I shouldn't have to worry about upgrading for the next few years. I did the same with my last machine which was an XPS - maxed out the spec up front and got five years out of that with it comfortably coping graphically with all games until recently.

[Bob Loblaw]

Very new to the whole PC gaming thing. Pretty modest setup, HD6850. which has been able to play anything i've thrown at it so far. Really enjoyed Witch 2, a game that i think demands at least two play throughs, need to get baklc to that one.

Can't wait for Arkham City to come out either, have resisted the urge to play it on the 360. And Skyrim obviously, which will be my first dabble in the Elder Scrolls series.

Still finding the mouse and keyboard difficult to get used to, using a 360 pad wherever i can. Praying that ME3 will have proper joypad support.

[iSmiff]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=32133473&postcount=4460


Orcs Must die on steam for free

[hesbighesred]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=32133473&postcount=4460


Orcs Must die on steam for free

That's definitely worth a look. Thanks for the link iSmiff. What are you playing at the moment?

Very new to the whole PC gaming thing. Pretty modest setup, HD6850. which has been able to play anything i've thrown at it so far. Really enjoyed Witch 2, a game that i think demands at least two play throughs, need to get baklc to that one.

Can't wait for Arkham City to come out either, have resisted the urge to play it on the 360. And Skyrim obviously, which will be my first dabble in the Elder Scrolls series.

Still finding the mouse and keyboard difficult to get used to, using a 360 pad wherever i can. Praying that ME3 will have proper joypad support.

A decent gaming mouse is an essential investment, but keep persevering, it's staggeringly better for FPS games and anything with that POV view.

[iSmiff]

i've recently finished rage, playing some Orcs must die and just waiting for BF3 to come out

then it'll be skyrim and arkham

[hesbighesred]

i've recently finished rage, playing some Orcs must die and just waiting for BF3 to come out

then it'll be skyrim and arkham

How is Rage? The trailers look pretty good but I'm kind of put off by it being yet another fairly linear FPS. Much preferred STALKER's approach to the genre. Skyrim is a biggie though, especially with the inevitable mods, and the almost certainly inevitable rideable dragon mod.

What do you think of what they've done with it in terms of stripping out attributes and making the levelling purely skill based? I really like the idea of it personally. As much as I like Witcher 2, for example, I dislike that 'upgrade' type levelling system, ditto with Bioware games.

[iSmiff]

i loved  rage, i thought it was great, the enemy movement was the best thing, they don't just run at you, they come across desks at your, climb on pipes to attack you, there's a lot of variety in their attack compared to most games

it's of course 100% on rails but i love on rails games as it keeps the excitement up, took me about 17 hours to finish, with doing loads of side quests and exploring a fair bit, well worth the money

wasn't fussed on the racing based multiplayer though. a combination of not being sold on the game type and the shitty lag i got in every game, no doubt due to p2p rather than server based hosts

[hesbighesred]

I'll definitely pick it up in the sales then. Too many good games coming out to be worthwhile in the short term. What's your BF ID?

[iSmiff]

assuming it'll be the same as my origin the it's tehsmiff

[Purdy]

I'm on some i5@4.1ghz i think with a 6950. Runs everything pretty well.

Currently playing BF3/Dungeon Defenders.

And of course Starcraft 2, doesn't seem to be many SC players on here though
Oh and i swear to fucking god if rockstar don't release gta5 on PC and if they do and it is a shite port like the last one, ugh. And give us Red Dead.

[Hendrix]

I'm playing an absolute gem of game at the moment called Frozen Synapse, it's £19 on Steam but they all also have a demo on there if you want to try before you buy.

Most of my PC gaming time I spend on flight sims like Rise of Flight or DCS A10c but as soon as Skyrim is out everything else will be on the back burner, I've not looked forward to a game this much since Oblivion

[Prelude no.5]

I'm playing an absolute gem of game at the moment called Frozen Synapse, it's £19 on Steam but they all also have a demo on there if you want to try before you buy.

Most of my PC gaming time I spend on flight sims like Rise of Flight or DCS A10c but as soon as Skyrim is out everything else will be on the back burner, I've not looked forward to a game this much since Oblivion

£19 is pretty steep for FS! I played a bit of the demo but couldn't get into the game at all, the interface seems so bundled and messy.

And what Purdy said is what, to me, is the biggest con of the PC. Games that are platform exclusive. Red Dead, Uncharted, God of War series, Dark Rain. . . these are epic games that every gamer needs to play and PC gamers are denied of these masterpieces. That is why I think that a PS3 is also necessary regardless the rig.

[Ycuzz]

Luvverly thread HBHR.

At work at the moment, so just posting short stuff here and there. Will get more into it when I get home.

Short version;

At the moment not playing anything really. Waiting for SW:ToR. Went back to Warhammer online to pass the time. Yes, I'm an MMO freak, (tho never touched WoW, never will).

Have had numerous hours in BF2 and really, really, really enjoyed it. Joined a clan, (bunch of old gits - had to be 30+ to join. Some of the best gaming fun I've ever had), which made the game even better.

On the fence re: BF3. I want it. But, as said, waiting for SW:ToR.

If there's a fair few RAWKites who'll play it. I'll join in. A RAWK clan would be fun.

[Purdy]

Why won't you touch WoW?

[Ycuzz]

Why won't you touch WoW?

Heh, silly reason perhaps. Was a die hard Everquest player. And WoW came and stole a shitload of our base, heh. So it kinda turned into a 'I'm not jumping ship' kinda thing.

Oh, and I think it looks awfull.

[RedRedTom]

I have a PS3 and a new middle-level laptop, and I'm torn as to what platform I should be getting Battlefield 3 and Skyrim on.  The benefits of both on the PC are significant enough that I'd prefer to use it if I could, but I'm worried that my machine won't be able to handle these games as well as my PS3 could...

[[new username under construction]]

Does anyone play Minecraft? I still haven't tried it. What's the attraction?

Strange one for me minecraft, on the surface it seems like an awesome game...a whole world to explore, things to build and craft. Then you start playing and build your first little house etc and it's all great finding your first diamond and things like that.

Then you go explore a lot more...further afield from your "home" and you eventually realise that it's all the same....there is nothing there......you'll walk for hours and see some interesting formations of land but erm....there is fuck all to do except build another house, castle, barn, mine whatever.

you dig a mine and after 2 hours of tunnelling you sit there and think...the fuck am i doing? i'm not going to find anything exciting

So i am really glad i never bought it!!!

It's the computer equivalent of OCD really :/

[clacke]

I have a PS3 and a new middle-level laptop, and I'm torn as to what platform I should be getting Battlefield 3 and Skyrim on.  The benefits of both on the PC are significant enough that I'd prefer to use it if I could, but I'm worried that my machine won't be able to handle these games as well as my PS3 could...

The system specs for Skyrim are not overly taxing:

Minimum Specs

    Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
    Processor: Dual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent processor
    2GB System RAM
    6GB free HDD Space
    Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512 MB of RAM
    DirectX compatible sound card
    Internet access for Steam activation

 
Recommended Specs

    Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
    Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU
    4GB System RAM
    6GB free HDD space
    DirectX 9.0c compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with 1GB of RAM (Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 or           higher; ATI Radeon 4890 or higher).
    DirectX compatible sound card
    Internet access for Steam activation

If your machine could run it it's definitely the way to go, especially when the modding community get their hands on the game.....

[[new username under construction]]

for me Skyrim NEEDS to be bought on PC......simply for the mods that will come for it

[PhilV]

My friend who is quite well off just bought this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-180-OE&groupid=43&catid=2040&subcat=

MENTAL system is one word to describe it!!

Mine runs dual 480 GTX's and smashes everything out of the water at present, that system should be running everything on MAX/ULTRA for years! Still can't justify £5K for a PC

This is what I run - slightly more down to earth... as I said, dual GTX480's as I got it last year and the RAM is 8GB in mine instead of 12GB - everything else is the same.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-209-OE&groupid=43&catid=2040&subcat=

[RedRedTom]

The system specs for Skyrim are not overly taxing:

Minimum Specs

    Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
    Processor: Dual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent processor
    2GB System RAM
    6GB free HDD Space
    Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512 MB of RAM
    DirectX compatible sound card
    Internet access for Steam activation

 
Recommended Specs

    Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
    Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU
    4GB System RAM
    6GB free HDD space
    DirectX 9.0c compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with 1GB of RAM (Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 or           higher; ATI Radeon 4890 or higher).
    DirectX compatible sound card
    Internet access for Steam activation

If your machine could run it it's definitely the way to go, especially when the modding community get their hands on the game.....

The modding side of it is something I missed out on with Oblivion but was huge with Morrowind.  It's essentially why I want to get it on the PC.  I meet all the recommended specs I think, apart from the graphics card which I'm not sure of - it's a Radeon HD 6490m card, I *think* it is 1GB but I can't be sure, and I can't seem to work out how to check it.  The other issue is while this all looks good my laptop sometimes runs even games from a couple of years ago slower than you'd expect when they are towards the top end of their graphics settings.  To be honest I'll probably end up buying Battlefield 3 for the PC, if it runs ok then sound, I'll go and get Skyrim as well, if not I'll get them both on my PS3.

I know that the laptop isn't as good as a desktop would have been for games for the same money, but I live in a tiny Studio flat, wouldn't have had anywhere to put it!  Plus I've got a 15.4" screen here, and 37" if I play it on my PS3.  Hard to know what to do.

[PhilV]

The modding side of it is something I missed out on with Oblivion but was huge with Morrowind.  It's essentially why I want to get it on the PC.  I meet all the recommended specs I think, apart from the graphics card which I'm not sure of - it's a Radeon HD 6490m card, I *think* it is 1GB but I can't be sure, and I can't seem to work out how to check it.  The other issue is while this all looks good my laptop sometimes runs even games from a couple of years ago slower than you'd expect when they are towards the top end of their graphics settings.  To be honest I'll probably end up buying Battlefield 3 for the PC, if it runs ok then sound, I'll go and get Skyrim as well, if not I'll get them both on my PS3.

I know that the laptop isn't as good as a desktop would have been for games for the same money, but I live in a tiny Studio flat, wouldn't have had anywhere to put it!  Plus I've got a 15.4" screen here, and 37" if I play it on my PS3.  Hard to know what to do.

If I were you and your Laptop can handle the games, why not invest in a VGA/DVI/HDMI cable depending on what your laptop has and your TV has and link them, you can then output display to the TV and voila, PC gaming on a 37" telly, if the telly is half decent it will look great and refresh rate should be sound!

[RedRedTom]

If I were you and your Laptop can handle the games, why not invest in a VGA/DVI/HDMI cable depending on what your laptop has and your TV has and link them, you can then output display to the TV and voila, PC gaming on a 37" telly, if the telly is half decent it will look great and refresh rate should be sound!

Good idea that, still worried that my laptop will have a fit if I try to run Skyrim on it though.

[Purdy]

Heh, silly reason perhaps. Was a die hard Everquest player. And WoW came and stole a shitload of our base, heh. So it kinda turned into a 'I'm not jumping ship' kinda thing.

Oh, and I think it looks awfull.

I always thought it looked awful even without bias, then I lost 4 years of my life :p. My best gaming experiences ever, soon to be overtaken by Starcraft I'd imagine though as it is play when I want and doesn't destroy all my time while still enjoying it.

[Ycuzz]

Sooo.... what MMO will be your next then...

[DanFromMars]

I might give Star Wars a shot if it plays like a single player Bioware game.  Probably a few months after release so it gets all patched up n stuff.

[PhilV]

I really enjoyed being part of the TERA BETA - have no idea when they plan to bloody release it though, been live in KOREA and that for months and the BETA in English was pretty much 6-7 months ago....

Just checked Wiki - apparently being release in the Spring 2012 in USA but just 2012 in general for EU, no confirmed date.... fucks sake....

[Purdy]

Sooo.... what MMO will be your next then...

Will give TOR a go, definately going to get into GW2 and then whatever Titan is.

[Ycuzz]

I might give Star Wars a shot if it plays like a single player Bioware game.  Probably a few months after release so it gets all patched up n stuff.

I think it will be - a single player game in a multiplayer setting. It is also one of the reasons I'm not completely head over heels for it. That, and I fear the PvP is lacking. I'm no hardcore PvP'er, but I only play on PvP servers. Gives a whole other atmosphere, (bigger chance) of a better community and, well, sometimes I like to utilize my l33t skillz

[Macphisto80]

i loved  rage, i thought it was great, the enemy movement was the best thing, they don't just run at you, they come across desks at your, climb on pipes to attack you, there's a lot of variety in their attack compared to most games

it's of course 100% on rails but i love on rails games as it keeps the excitement up, took me about 17 hours to finish, with doing loads of side quests and exploring a fair bit, well worth the money

wasn't fussed on the racing based multiplayer though. a combination of not being sold on the game type and the shitty lag i got in every game, no doubt due to p2p rather than server based hosts

What did you make of that ending? It sort of spoiled the entire experience for me. Really bad design.

[keithcun]

Just waiting patiently for Skyrim now. Have a blast on Dirt3 when I can be arsed but that's about it since finishing/got bored of Oblivion.

[Megasuperb]

Was gonna build a new PC here soon to get ready for the imminent release of awesome games coming up (BF3, TOR, Max Payne 3 etc etc) but then I saw this prebuilt:

AMD Phenom II X6 1065T(2.9GHz)
8GB DDR3
1TB HDD Capacity
AMD Radeon HD 6850 1GB

For approx. £430

Not so bad I reckon    Gonna order it when I get my next payment in a few days

[potatomato33]

I've been playing my fair share of League of Legends, but it is now completely displaced by Battlefield 3. I've got my mates playing as well, so we can set up 2 full squads on voice comm, and we just destroy the other team (if we're all lucky enough to be on one team).  Also play WoW, but only for the world events these days.

I'm waiting for Black Friday to pick up an upgrade on my GTX 460

[stoa]

Bought a new computer last week and I'll have two weeks off starting next week. I somehow feel like a kid in a candy-shop as I wasn't able to play any recent games for a year or so (PC was wank and my Xbox360 had a RROD). I'm currently playing FM12 and Two Worlds2. I'm looking forward to next week and I'll probably go out and have a look around for some games that came out in the last year that are available for a decent price...