PC Game Fun Time

After months of inactivity, the official Team Fortress 2 site has finally been updated with some of the new ideas that are in the pipeline.  Veteran players will be happy to learn that Valve has put some of their people back on the task of upgrading the TF2 experience.

Very soon we should be seeing a few interesting changes to the Engineering class, namely the ability to upgrade both dispensers and teleporters.  Higher level teleporters will cool down more quickly, and higher level dispensers will give out more ammo and health.  The teleporter change in particular could substantially change the balance on some maps where getting troops to the front line is important for the attacking team.  The dispenser change sounds like it will be less notable, but then again it may prove critical for Heavies trying to defend a key point without the assistance of a Medic.

Probably most interesting, however, is that Valve has indicated that the next class pack will be for the Scout.  I for one am very excited to see what unlockables the Scout will gain, and whether we will see some new uses for the class.

I have been a little lax and haven’t really put in much time with TF2 lately.  If Valve can get their act together and starting pushing out some more regular updates, maybe that situation will change.

Another week, another heinous DRM debacle. This time the travesty is with the recent release of Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC, a game that I was really looking forward to because I enjoyed all three of its predecessors on the PlayStation 2, but do not own a “current gen” console system on which to play it. Unfortunately, it looks like the PC release has been completely botched by poor quality control and Digital Restrictions Management issues, to the point that I’m not even considering wasting my money on it.

Let’s do a quick comparison between the console experience and the PC experience for Grand Theft Auto IV, shall we?

• Console
  • Put the game disk into your console and it works.
• Computer
  • Put the game disk into your computer.
  • Go through multiple stages of authorization, including DVD validation, entering a serial key, and entering a code from the manual.
  • SecuROM gets installed (naturally).
  • Mandatory sign-up for both Rockstar Social Club and Windows Live, both of which require email validation.
  • Download the decently sized Windows Live update.
  • The game menu takes forever and a half to display, because the menu is downloaded dynamically from a heavily overloaded server on the Internet each time you launch the game.
  • The game is buggy as hell, with lots of crashes to the desktop, and performs poorly even on high-end hardware.

The game cannot be played without Internet access, even if you are just trying to play the single-player mode. So much for gaming on the go. And if you’re running Windows Vista 64-bit, which you should be because the limit of 4 GB RAM with the 32-bit version is turning into a huge liability, you’re hosed, because the game flat-out does not support 64-bit operating systems.

I have a simple message to the craven idiots responsible for the release of Grand Theft Auto IV on the PC: This is why gamers migrate to consoles, you fools! Instead of wasting your development time on DRM and activation features, you should have spent it on 64-bit compatibility, stability fixes, and performance boosts. In an age when most higher-end PC graphics cards have two GPUs on a single card, Grand Theft Auto IV’s developers had the utter shortsightedness to not even bother including dual-graphics card support, thus guaranteeing that no one can get high quality performance in the game.

Grand Theft Auto IV suffers from a lethal combination of obnoxious DRM and terrible quality. How much longer can this situation go on for before PC gamers collectively exclaim “Enough!” and refuse to buy the rubbish that publishers seem so intent on feeding us?

We have previously discussed the release of Intel’s new Core i7 processor and all the changes that it brings.  Well, it has been a month, and the new processors and compatible motherboards are now readily available online at sites like www.newegg.com.

I have been itching to get my hands on one of these new processors, which by all accounts are a significant leap up from the Core 2 line.  Unfortunately (depending on how you look at it!), my current gaming rig has proven more than adequate for everything I have thrown at it.  While I can’t justify the expense, some of you might be interested in putting together a new high end gaming machine.  So, with that in mind, here is my current Core i7 build:

• CPU - $295 - Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66 GHz - Getting a 2.66 GHz quad core that would beat the crap out of an old 2.66 GHz Core 2 Quad for under $300 seems like a good deal to me.  Unfortunately, the next cheapest Core i7 is $570, so this is pretty much our only option.
• Motherboard - $245 - Gigabyte GA-EX58-DS4 - This is a bit of sticking point for me right now, actually.  The Core i7 uses a completely new CPU socket type, meaning there are only a small number of compatible motherboards currently available.  They are all pricey, with most in the $300 range.  The above motherboard has a PCI Express x16 and 2 PCI Express x8, so it could accommodate up to 3 high end graphics cards.  It takes up to 6 DDR3 RAM chips, has 8 channel onboard audio, and good onboard RAID.  So, at least you are getting some good features for your $245.
• Memory - $185 - G.SKILL 6 GB (3 x 2 GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 -  It is true that 6 GB of DDR2 800 would only cost you about $50.  However, $185 is not, in the grand scheme of things, that much to pay for memory.  G.SKILL has had a number of very popular RAM offerings on newegg and I don’t have any hesitation recommending them.
• Hard Drive - $110 - Western Digital Caviar Black 7200 RPM 1 TB - Depending on how much storage you want and whether or not you want to do RAID, you could get 1, 2, or even more of these hard drives.  From a gaming perspective, you might also want a faster, smaller hard drive to help minimize load times.  This would probably be a VelociRaptor or even a Solid State Drive.  However, I can’t honestly recommend doing this as the benefit is very low and the cost is comparatively high.
• Case - $70 - Enermax Chakra ECA3052B Black SECC ATX Mid Tower - Yes, I know this not a well known maker of high quality gaming cases.  However, this case is inexpensive, well constructed, and sports a 250 mm side fan for some serious, yet quiet, cooling.  I would probably throw in one or two 120 mm fans, in addition.  These can be ordered for a few dollars each.  One added bonus of this case: no unnecessary LED lights!
• Power Supply - $100 - Corsair CMPSU-650TX 650 W - This is a nice, affordable 650 watt power supply.  It has plenty of peripheral and SATA connectors, as well as a 4 or 8 pin CPU power connector, and two 6 + 2 pin PCI-X power connectors.  This will allow you to connect any single graphics card on the market today, as well as many 2 card configurations.
• DVD Drive - $25 - Samsung 22x DVD Burner Model SH-S223F - Not much to say about this one.  It is a DVD burner that will handle all of your CD / DVD drive needs.
• Video Card - $220 - $260 - We at last come to the most exciting part of building any gaming rig - the video card.  Here, I’ll give you a few options.  The EVGA 896-P3-1260-AR GeForce GTX 260 is a decent option at $220.  My card of choice, however, would be the HIS Hightech H487F512P Radeon HD 4870 at $230.  This card edges out the GTX 260 in most benchmarks.  For a little bit more power, you could also go with the EVGA 896-P3-1267-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked.  The card costs $260, but it is based on the slightly more powerful GTX260 Core 216 and has been tested by EVGA to run at a stable 626 Mhz (compared to 576 Mhz stock).

That wraps up my build.  I have managed to keep the cost around $1300 and put together a pretty serious gaming machine.  Of course, if you were really looking to splurge you might want to spend an extra $200 or so and go for one of the high end video cards - probably the Radeon HD 4870×2.

There were a few areas where I would have to spend a bit more than I would like, mainly the motherboard and RAM.  However, I’m sure in the coming months that these costs will come down, making a Core i7 machine a very real possibility for me in the relatively near future.

On Thanksgiving, I arrived at my parents’ home a bit earlier than the rest of the family, so I had quite a bit of free time. I used most of it — four hours worth — to read Cormac McCarthy’s excellent post-apocalyptic novel The Road straight through in one go. It narrates a couple of months in the life of a father and son who have survived an unspecified apocalypse, but every description in the book — from bright flashes on the horizon during the incident, to the dusty, sunless world, to the skyscrapers in city centers whose metal frames were melted and then solidified back into torturedshapes — left me believing that this Armageddon was of the decidedly nuclear variety.

Naturally, on the day after Thanksgiving, I started playing Fallout 3, which is (as if you didn’t know by now) set in a post-nuclear-apocalyptic future. I must say, reading The Road was a great thematic introduction to the environment in Fallout 3, even so much as dealing with the some of the same tropes of cannibalism, scarce resources, and morality in a survivalist world that no longer has a place for it. Walking along decrepit ancient highways in the barren Capital Wasteland, with its gloomy skies and shattered landscapes, and picking through the wreckage of a former civilization, I couldn’t help but feel as if I was walking the same road as the main characters in the novel.

I will give The Road more points for being realistic, because just one decade after the apocalypse pretty much everything scavengeable is gone and the only food remaining is the occasional canned good or fellow human. Fallout 3, despite taking place two centuries further out from the apocalypse, is still full of pre-apocalypse goods, such as the bizarrely ubiquitous Nuka-Cola vending machines that still contain product. Oh, and there’s the mutants. But I’ll let this slide — The Road’s intent is to be a good novel, while Fallout 3’s intent is to be a fun game. Some concessions to gameplay are necessary and acceptable.

I’ve only reached level 5 so far (after quite a bit of time put into the game), but my overall impression is very positive. I pretty much agree with Grokmoo’s take on the game, and could potentially see myself playing it as much as he has. The game is superbly put together, and thanks to auto-travel, there’s never a boring moment (I’m looking at you, Far Cry 2). It’s also not too easy — I’ve had to make use of quick load on quite a few occasions — which is something I appreciate because most of the games I’ve played recently I’ve been able to steamroll through without much of a challenge at all.

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