[GLLUG] Building a new system
C. Ulrich
dincht at securenym.net
Thu Jul 24 17:03:07 EDT 2003
Jeremy Bowers wrote:
> Seriously... consider a console. I always thought of myself as a
> computer gamer but lately gaming rigs have gotten *much* more expensive,
> relatively speaking.
I disagree. I think gaming rigs have always been expensive. :P For as long as
I can remember, $3000 has always been the target price for a nearly high-end
gaming machine. (Or maybe just mine. :P)
[snip]
> Thus, to keep up with computer gaming now costs thousands for the latest
> CPU and graphics and a lot of other stuff, which is now *not* necessary
> to have a decently usable system. So to a person like me, the true price
> of computer gaming has skyrocketed in the last few years.
I think that for the most part, all you still need these days is a newer video
card around $200. The rest of the system has dropped in price dramatically.
For most newer games, you don't need a lot of memory or the fastest CPU, just
something that can push out eyecandy. (And, for the record, $200 is about what
you'd pay for a gaming console, depending on how new it is.)
> The only issue is what kind of RPG your wife is into. The big consoles
> like the PS2 tend to have what I think of as "nose stinging" RPGs...
> after being led around by the nose for 40 hours, your nose starts
> stinging. (I enjoyed Skies of Arcadia, for instance, but after being
> raised on Fallout and other computer RPGs, it never once challenged me
> with anything like a non-linear dungeon; I guess that would be too scary
> for their target audience.)
The whole computer games vs. console games debate is one of those ageless
religious wars. They are completely different platforms with different
abilities and serve different gaming genres as well as different audiences,
though there is a significant amount of overlap. I would never want to even
try to play any FPS (Quake), RTS (Warcraft), or flight simulator (X-Plane) on
a console. But I also have difficult sitting in a computer chair any time I
pick up a controller to play a 2D platformer, racing game, or turn-based RPG.
> At the risk of being tarred and feathered, I'm seriously thinking of
> picking up an XBox sometime in the next few months, for Star Wars:
> Knights of the Old Republic, and Morrowind, for the upcoming "Game of
> the Year Edition" (market-speak for "gold" version containing the
> expansion packs built-in, apparently), both very computery-type RPGs in
> terms of freedom. (The console crowd are going ga-ga over the freedom in
> those games; hopefully "they" figure out what "we" computer RPG-ers have
> known for a while and console reviewers start to bitch about linearity
> in their RPGs... but I digress.)
"Start to"? My friends and I have been complaining about lack of linearity in
console RPGs for the better part of a decade. :P But you have to keep in mind
that computer RPGs and console RPGs (the genre that Final Fantasy
popularized) are completely different worlds. Many of those who are fans of
the one genre don't even care to try the other. Don't be too harsh on console
RPGs, they can have their charm. I contend that much originality was lost in
the move to 3D, but otherwise they can have very engaging stories with
likeable characters. They're kind of like soap operas for gamers. Gameplay is
almost never the central part of the game.
> Something worth thinking about. Also, some games do run OK in Wine, and
> it can be worth trying them out to see which they are. For instance,
> Fallout runs flawlessly under wine (except sometimes the videos lock up,
> so skip them), so that's one less reason to reboot for me. You may not
> be able to run them all in Linux, but every one you can move over is
> that much cooler.
TransGaming Technolgies has their own version of WINE called WineX and it's
geared toward running Windows games on Linux. Their lineup of supported games
is very impressive. I think you have to subscribe (ie, pay money) to get the
full package, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't cost too much. Most people that
I've talked to say it works really well, but check the compatibility list
first to make sure your favorite games are supported.
--Charles Ulrich
--
http://bityard.net
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