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Buying a new video card = buying a new video game system
December 20th, 2007 by Aegies

I’m a slacker, I know. I’m also sick, which is awesome. And I’ve been reabsorbed into Company of Heroes since buying a shiny new 8800GT and helping Chuf assemble a new gaming monster (seriously, he’ll be putting up pictures soon, the thing is a beast). After the most hectic console holiday I think I’ve ever had in terms of things to play, it’s kind of a relief to fall into a very well made RTS that’s totally different than everything I’ve been playing over the last 3 months. And it’s good to get to know my PC again.

The thing is, the recent experiences with PC gaming (and facilitating PC gaming for myself and my roommate) has managed to both point out that things that I find great about it and the things that make me thank the gaming overlords that I have consoles to play. And reflecting on a purchase that cost me about as much as a new gaming system (although I was lucky enough to find a card at Frys that was actually going for suggested retail instead of the fucking outrageously marked up prices for 8800GTs on Newegg and everywhere else), I’m having the same kind of, well, not remorse per se. More like buyer’s melancholy maybe?

What I like: I am currently near the edge of PC gaming with my setup. I’m running a Core 2 Duo at 2.6Ghz, have more than a terabyte of HD space, have 2 gigs of PC-6400 RAM, and the aforementioned BFG 8800GT OC 512MB card, which means I crush most games well. And I can finally run Company of Heroes without it crashing.

What I dislike: I’ve been trying to think of amazing games to use to make myself feel better about the money I dropped, and I can’t really think of anything but what I’ve already used. I have no desire to play Crysis. Gears of War is actually inferior gameplay wise compared the the 360, and 60FPS makes the game look more like meat puppets than ever. In fact, I’m feeling the same kind of buyer’s trepidation that I imagine a PS3 owner felt after the newness of the console came out. I’m just wondering what I’m supposed to play.

The good news is, there are games on the horizon this year that I can now comfortably play that I am excited for. Starcraft 2 should be out soon (I hope), and I think a lot of people are going to be surprised by how system intensive Spore will be. Now I just need them to come out.

-Aegies

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 10:19 pm and is filed under bullshit, PC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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3 Responses to “Buying a new video card = buying a new video game system”

  1. youngteam Says:
    December 21st, 2007 at 8:59 am

    Even though you already own the Orange Box for 360, TF2 would be a good choice for PC. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars might also be a good choice. I’ve also heard good things about World In Conflict and the Witcher.

  2. Aegies Says:
    December 21st, 2007 at 9:36 am

    TF2 is actually one that both Chuf and I are considering, but I am actually not a huge multiplayer gamer. I already have COD4 and CoH and I plan on getting back to Halo 3, as I’ve been distracted by all the singleplayer content on my plate. As for ET, I don’t know that I’m hardcore enough for that game. How daunting is it for n00bs? Oh and we both want The Witcher. It’s on our Christmas lists.

  3. youngteam Says:
    December 21st, 2007 at 8:52 pm

    ET wasn’t too daunting when I played the demo. There was a lot going on, but it was fun to drop in and play plus the objectives were clear. But then again that was the demo.

    TF2 is not daunting at all. Jumping in and playing as a Medic, Soldier, or Heavy is very rewarding, easy, and fun. The Medic especially is very easy to make an immediate impact with. Thanks to dedicated servers lag is not an issue so there is no controller throwing moments of console MP BS. Plus its very very well balanced. I really can’t recommend it enough. It made remember why I liked PC gaming so much and why Microsoft needs to get its act together and start providing dedicated servers. Plus Steam has become an awesome service and really makes me consider ditching Gold the next time renewal comes around, unless they actually implement better features.

    I do advise staying away from UT3 for PC. The community is not there and the game still needs some major tweaking. I’m still a huge UT fan ( the series holds sentimental value for me) and I can get by with just DM, but there aren’t many CTF maps and Warfare is really too complicated at this point to even worry about.

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