Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

[JF_Gophers]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

I've only played about 3 hours of FM 12, but so far I do like the interface improvements I have come across.

Especially the ability to set opposition tactics on more than 1 player at a time, and the much broader range of pep-talks both in tone and message.

 

[JF_Gophers]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

The game outlook for the next few months is looking bleak. Not a whole lot coming out that's worth talking about.

Mario Kart 7 (3DS) - 12/4/11
Star Wars: Old Republic (PC) - 12/20/11
Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3) - 1/31/12
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (360) - 2/7/12

Playstation Vita - 2/22/12

Pretty thin. I will probably try Star Wars, despite it being an MMO. Kingdoms of Amalur also looks good so far.

 

[unofan]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

The game outlook for the next few months is looking bleak. Not a whole lot coming out that's worth talking about.

Mario Kart 7 (3DS) - 12/4/11
Star Wars: Old Republic (PC) - 12/20/11
Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3) - 1/31/12
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (360) - 2/7/12

Playstation Vita - 2/22/12

Pretty thin. I will probably try Star Wars, despite it being an MMO. Kingdoms of Amalur also looks good so far.

Still gotta think Diablo 3 and Torchlight 2 will be early 2012 releases. D3 is in beta already and Torchlight 2 should have a quick turnaround once it goes to beta.

And then ME3 in early March.

Then again, I'm just excited cause the first shipment of my desktop upgrades is supposed to arrive today. Course I can't do anything with em til the last one arrives, since that's got the new motherboard to replace the one that fried.

 

[Rolevio]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

The game outlook for the next few months is looking bleak. Not a whole lot coming out that's worth talking about.

Mario Kart 7 (3DS) - 12/4/11
Star Wars: Old Republic (PC) - 12/20/11
Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3) - 1/31/12
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (360) - 2/7/12

Playstation Vita - 2/22/12

Pretty thin. I will probably try Star Wars, despite it being an MMO. Kingdoms of Amalur also looks good so far.

Yeah, there is nothing there for me, but I am down to only buying 1-3 a year and playing the hell out of them. A game doesn't interest me unless I can easily get a couple hundred hours of enjoyment out of it. And right now that basically means the Civilization series, Elder Scrolls series, Football Manager, and EA's NHL series.

 

[JF_Gophers]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

If you like the Ultima series, GOG.com continues to deliver. They released Ultima 7 Complete today for $5.99.

Comes with:
Ultima 7: The Black Gate
Ultima 7: Forge of Virtue
Ultima 7 Part Two: Serpent Isle
Ultima 7 Part Two: The Silver Seed

 

[JF_Gophers]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

Today is PC game deals at Amazon.com. Full List.

The Witcher 2, $15.99 (-60%)
Civilization V GOTY, $29.99 (-40%)
L.A. Noire Complete Ed., $29.99 (-40%)
Magicka Collection, $7.49 (-63%)
Alice: Madness Returns, $14.99 (-50%)
Dungeon Siege 3, $19.99 (-33%)

 

[Rolevio]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

Finished up the Dark Brotherhood questline in Skyrim last night. Interesting quest line, though much easier than expected for what was involved. Though that may be because I was level 32/33 for the last half.

Has anyone taken a side in the civil war yet? I am curious if taking a side affects access to the other's sides cities. I am leaning toward Imperial, but haven't done the Thieves Guild line yet, though I found the start of it. But if I switch and go Stormcloak, I am interested in seeing if the Bardic College has a similiar questline to the Companions/College of Winterhold/Thieves Guild/Dark Brotherhood.

Also found out how to get married but haven't done it yet.

 

[JF_Gophers]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

I was leaning towards picking Stormcloak's in the Civil War, but haven't yet made the choice.

 

[Twitch Boy]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3) - 1/31/12

And I thought Capcom had sequel naming problems...

 

[JF_Gophers]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

Today's Steam deals. Brink is probably worth it at this price point.

Terraria, $2.50 (-75%)
Brink, $4.99 (-75%)
Sniper, 10.19 (-66%)

 

[unofan]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

So far so good on the newly upgraded desktop. No glitches so far, got everything but the old hard drive in place, currently doing the usual updates to a new windows install. Getting kinda anxious to open up something to see how it works with gaming. May take a peak at Mass Effect 2 or Starcraft 2 on high settings.

 

[JF_Gophers]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

Amazon Gold Box is Video Game deals today. Looks like its mostly Fitness games. Although the 11 AM deal could be good.

Deal of the Day: Just Dance 3 for Wii and Xbox 360, $25.99 (-35%)

9 AM ET: Jillian Michaels Fitness Adventure, $29.99 (-25%)

11 AM ET: This game gives global soccer fans a truly realistic, immersible and a delightfully playable take on the beautiful game.

1 PM ET: Get in shape and have fun and with the entire family by cycling on the Wii!

3 PM ET: For over 40 years, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer has delighted and captured the hearts of children everywhere. Now for the first time ever, this timeless holiday classic has come to the Nintendo Wii!

4 PM ET: For over 40 years, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer has delighted and captured the hearts of children everywhere. Now for the first time ever, this timeless holiday classic has come to the Nintendo DS!

5 PM ET: Sequel to the #1 Fitness Franchise for Kinect

7 PM ET: Tap into the Zumba dance-exercise craze that has swept the nation with this hit game!

9 PM ET: Following the worldwide best-selling original, this game for the Wii builds on that phenomenal success while elevating the exer-game category to a new high of fun, effective fitness.

11 PM ET: Limited edition top of the line headsets

 

[Rolevio]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

With more time spent at home lately as opposed to long business trips and not putting off looking into buying some real estate for another 6 months at least, I am considering a consolation prize and either upgrading my current desktop or purchasing a new one completely.

My current desktop is a slightly older than 3 year old Dell XPS 420 with the following:

XPS 420 Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9300(2.5GHz 1333FSB) with 6MB cache 425W Power Supply
4GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
ATI Radeon HD3650 256MB
750GB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive 7200RPM
Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 Home Premium Edition, English

My preferences would be to upgrade the graphics card to at least 1gb, memory to 8gb DDR3, and OS to Win7 but not sure it's worth if I'd rather not upgrade the motherboard. However I haven't done many upgrades before and not exactly sure how to guarantee new parts will. 1.) fit and 2.) be compatible.

If I go with the buy new option, I am leaning currently to an Alienware Aurora system at around $17-1800 assuming my finances at the end of the holiday season are where I expect them to be. And the goal is to be able to play games such as skyrim smoothly on the highest graphics options. (Currently runs Skyrim fine at lowest graphics settings, and the game doesn't suggest going higher.)

 

[JF_Gophers]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

I would definitely recommend getting rid of Windows Vista. Windows 7 runs great for me so far and the price of it new is under $100 I believe.

 

[unofan]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

With more time spent at home lately as opposed to long business trips and not putting off looking into buying some real estate for another 6 months at least, I am considering a consolation prize and either upgrading my current desktop or purchasing a new one completely.

My current desktop is a slightly older than 3 year old Dell XPS 420 with the following:

XPS 420 Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9300(2.5GHz 1333FSB) with 6MB cache 425W Power Supply
4GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
ATI Radeon HD3650 256MB
750GB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive 7200RPM
Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 Home Premium Edition, English

My preferences would be to upgrade the graphics card to at least 1gb, memory to 8gb DDR3, and OS to Win7 but not sure it's worth if I'd rather not upgrade the motherboard. However I haven't done many upgrades before and not exactly sure how to guarantee new parts will. 1.) fit and 2.) be compatible.

If I go with the buy new option, I am leaning currently to an Alienware Aurora system at around $17-1800 assuming my finances at the end of the holiday season are where I expect them to be. And the goal is to be able to play games such as skyrim smoothly on the highest graphics options. (Currently runs Skyrim fine at lowest graphics settings, and the game doesn't suggest going higher.)

I'm with JF as far as Windows 7 goes. It's a lot smoother and quicker than Vista. Now, granted, I just did a clean install on a new drive and not an upgrade of Vista, but I don't know anyone who prefers Vista to Win7.

As to the rest, you can't upgrade the RAM to DDR3 without a new motherboard. RAM is specific to the m/b, so you can't plug DDR3 into a DDR2 motherboard (or vice versa, but with as cheap as memory is these days, not sure why you'd ever want to put DDR2 into a DDR3 motherboard). Additionally, beware that once you get over 4 GB of RAM, you need the 64-bit version of your operating system. It doesn't cost anything extra, but make sure you have it (or get it when upgrading to Win7)..

The video card shouldn't be a problem, though just make sure you have a PCI-E slot to throw it in (in other words, make sure your current card is a PCI-e card and not an AGP one).

You're at about the point I would've been at if my motherboard hadn't fried. Personally, I would've upgraded, but then I had picked the parts specifically so I could do self-upgrades down the line (forgetting that that plan depended on one part remaining in working order, and of course that's the one that stopped working). But it sounds like you aren't as comfortable with making hardware changes as I am.

Keep in mind that Alienware is kinda like Apple in that you're adding maybe 20% onto the price for the brandname alone, especially since they got bought by Dell. But, since it sounds like you aren't comfortable building your own, I'd still recommend Alienware over a discounted builder like cyberpower or ibuypower (which I think are really the same company). I went the cyberpower route before, and about every 6 months had to replace something - they use refurbished and generic parts and really, really skimp on their power supplies. There are some other boutique builders you could consider, though, which might give you a little more bang for your buck than Alienware and still be pretty high quality.

 

[Rolevio]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

I'm with JF as far as Windows 7 goes. It's a lot smoother and quicker than Vista. Now, granted, I just did a clean install on a new drive and not an upgrade of Vista, but I don't know anyone who prefers Vista to Win7.

As to the rest, you can't upgrade the RAM to DDR3 without a new motherboard. RAM is specific to the m/b, so you can't plug DDR3 into a DDR2 motherboard (or vice versa, but with as cheap as memory is these days, not sure why you'd ever want to put DDR2 into a DDR3 motherboard). Additionally, beware that once you get over 4 GB of RAM, you need the 64-bit version of your operating system. It doesn't cost anything extra, but make sure you have it (or get it when upgrading to Win7)..

The video card shouldn't be a problem, though just make sure you have a PCI-E slot to throw it in (in other words, make sure your current card is a PCI-e card and not an AGP one).

You're at about the point I would've been at if my motherboard hadn't fried. Personally, I would've upgraded, but then I had picked the parts specifically so I could do self-upgrades down the line (forgetting that that plan depended on one part remaining in working order, and of course that's the one that stopped working). But it sounds like you aren't as comfortable with making hardware changes as I am.

Keep in mind that Alienware is kinda like Apple in that you're adding maybe 20% onto the price for the brandname alone, especially since they got bought by Dell. But, since it sounds like you aren't comfortable building your own, I'd still recommend Alienware over a discounted builder like cyberpower or ibuypower (which I think are really the same company). I went the cyberpower route before, and about every 6 months had to replace something - they use refurbished and generic parts and really, really skimp on their power supplies. There are some other boutique builders you could consider, though, which might give you a little more bang for your buck than Alienware and still be pretty high quality.

Yeah, I have Win7 on the laptop which is one of the primary reasons why I know I want to upgrade. I do eventually want to build my own but not so sure I want to start off with a new machine I hope to be a new primary machine. If I do it, I'd likely start with a cheap starter kit from newegg and start from there. Just so I won't feel that bad if I screw up something royally.

The reason for the Alienware choice is mainly Dell Customer service, despite all the crap they have gotten over the years, they have been absolutely excellent for me over the life of about 4 machines now, so I don't mind paying a little extra for the name. I probably wouldn't be considering them if Dell hadn't bought them.

Thanks for the advice on the RAM, I was completely clueless about the incompatability with DDR3 ram on a motherboard designed for 2.. At one point I used to keep track of all of this, but over the years I've just fallen out of the loop.

 

[unofan]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

Yeah, I have Win7 on the laptop which is one of the primary reasons why I know I want to upgrade. I do eventually want to build my own but not so sure I want to start off with a new machine I hope to be a new primary machine. If I do it, I'd likely start with a cheap starter kit from newegg and start from there. Just so I won't feel that bad if I screw up something royally.

I hear ya. I'd say this last weekend was the first time I ever did a true build (I'd upgraded/replaced most things before, but never a motherboard or CPU). The hardest part is cable management, honestly. Between the power cables, the case connectors, and the fans, it's easy to forget to plug something in, or plug things like the power switch or HD LED lights into the wrong pins. Actually installing the physical hardware is pretty straightforward, no harder than changing a windshield wiper.

The only complaints I've ever heard about Alienware is the price. Quality wise I've heard nothing but good things. So if you've got the money for it, it's probably a good call.

 

[burgie12]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

I've put together two desktops myself (well, I put one together a couple years ago and the other is currently in progress). Neither has been much of a hassle because there are enough links out there about putting together a PC, the motherboard manuals have really, really good descriptions and instructions about what goes where, and you don't need any special tools. Really, the biggest thing is making sure that everything is compatible and realizing that there will be support if one of your parts shows up DOA, but if you put it together and it works and then it all falls apart a few months down the road, you're kinda on your own. Now, that wasn't a problem for me because there are enough people around me who are pretty handy with computers that I was able to make sure that my parts would all play nice with each other and I haven't had any / many issues since they've been built.

As for my opinion on your situation, Win7 is pretty much a necessity and you're right to want at least 1GB for your video card. RAM could be upgraded, but then you'd be putting yourself in the situation that you should get a brand-new computer (because you'd want a new mobo to hold the memory and despite the fact that your CPU is capable, you're probably going to want something new to go along with the rest of your fancy new stuff).

I just put together my new PC for ~900 and that's including a $270 tuner card. Now, granted, my GPU and CPU aren't out of this world, but they're also going to handle Blu-ray playback and they're an upgrade over my current computer, which plays the Bioshocks, Mass Effects, League of Legends, and Starcraft 2 along with some Steam games on Medium-High settings pretty easily. Basically, I started with a case that I liked; found a motherboard that would fit said case, had all of the PCI slots accessible (ie the PCIe x16 slot wasn't directly above the PCIe x1 slot), and worked for an AMD processor; picked out a decent processor and video card from this site; and finally got some basic RAM that worked with the motherboard, and voila, new computer.

So, here are the specs for my two computers. I built my first one because I was sick of using my laptop like a desktop and then I threw a tuner card in there without really knowing what it did or how to handle it (and got sub-standard definition TV because of it) because I wanted to be able to DVR Sabres or Mets (or RPI) games. I'm putting together my second one because I ran out of hard drive space on my first PC, found a tuner card that would do what I actually wanted it to do, and I wanted an HDMI output (so, I built a "real" HTPC), but I also made sure that it had the capability / capacity to play games as I desired. I finished putting everything together last night, I set it to install Win7 overnight and I'll perform the updates / install the GPU and tuner card this evening and hopefully it'll work exactly like I want and I can return the set-top box to Time Warner.

             [B]First            |   Part   |               Second[/B]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Radeon HD4850 512MB           |   [B]GPU[/B]    | Radeon HD6450 1GB Fanless
AMD Athlon X2 7850 2.8GHz     |   [B]CPU[/B]    | AMD Athlon II X3 445 3.1GHz
ASRock A790GXH AM2            |   [B]Mobo[/B]   | ASUS M4A88T-M AM3
WD Caviar Black 32MB 1TB      |   [B]HDD[/B]    | 2x (Seagate 5900RPM 64MB 2TB)
2x (G.SKILL 2x1GB DDR2 1066)  |   [B]RAM[/B]    | G.SKILL 2x2GB DDR3 1600
SIGMA SHARK SP-635            |   [B]PSU[/B]    | Corsair CX500V2
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 ATX |   [B]Case[/B]   | nMEDIAPC HTPC Micro ATX
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250      | [B]TV Tuner[/B] | Ceton infiniTV 4 Quad-tuner
LITE-ON DVD Burner            | [B]Op Drive[/B] | LITE-ON Blu-ray Drive (leftover)
                              |   [B]Other[/B]  | XBox 360 PC Wireless Receiver

Links, if you're curious (keep in mind that I bought all of this on Cyber Monday, so free shipping for everything and most prices were a decent amount less than currently listed): GPU, CPU, Mobo, HDD, RAM, PSU, Case, Tuner, 360 Receiver (so that I can play games that I bought from Steam without making a fool of myself on a keyboard / mouse). I don't have a link to the Optical Drive because it was a Christmas present for my first PC and it's just a legacy at this point.

 

[Rolevio]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

Burgie, thanks for the advice! I'm going to be keeping tabs on prices for both options and hopefully be able to decide after my trip to Germany in January when I hope to know if I will be on the road most of the time this upcoming year or home more often than not.

In other news, up to level 40 in Skyrim and have completed the Mage's college, Dark Brotherhood, Thieve's Guild, and Companion questlines, as well as a couple daedra quest lines and am Thane of I believe White Run, Winterhold and Riften now, with Solitude and Markath almost done. Right now, just working on clearing my quest log before pursuing either the Bardic college or civil war lines.

And my love/hate relationship with steam continues. Thought I had fixed the "can't start in offline mode" because I have no internet connection on my laptop problem but it's back. Was going to fix it today but work computer's firewall is blocking all gaming forums with the fix, so guess it will have to wait until tonight.

 

[JF_Gophers]

Re: Official Video Games Thread VII: The 7th Generation Comes To A Close

I picked up Orcs Must Die and its 2 DLC for $5.35 total. Looked like good mindless orc killing fun, and at the right price point.

I'm in the mid 20's on Skyrim. Just plodding through the Dark Brotherhood quest line.