Slashdot Mirror
System Optimization Guide for Gamers
Mr.Tweak writes "We have written a comprehensive System Optimization Guide targeted toward Gamers looking to get the most out of their systems for all of today's latest highly demanding PC games. Take a few minutes of your life and read this System Optimization Guide for Gamers where TweakTown promises you will find something of use which will have you gaming at full speed in no time."
Where's the line between a system tweaked for gaming and a gaming console?
Isn't a gaming console, in essence, a system tweaked for gaming?
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
I used to tweak the hell out of my hardware. It got boring after awhile - between that and just getting things working, I'm much happier just to insert a disc into my Gamecube and just play games.
:)
Console gaming is rapidly catching up to pc gaming:
Internet multiplayer support? Check (although Nintendo is dragging their feet here)
Awesome graphics, surround sound? Check
Play in your comfortable living room? Check
System = same price as a mid range pc video card? Check
99.9% problem free? Check
Largest selection of games? Check
I still play games on my PC, but I find I do it less and less over the years, and only in areas that my console lacks (ie/ Gamecube has next to no role playing games).
I think between this and the four noisy fans I have in my PC right now, my next one will not be bought with gaming in mind. Maybe a tablet PC
About all the PC has is a lot more choice/freedom in hardware (though not really - usually two or three companies producing the top gaming hardware). Those of us with money can get a slightly better gaming experience (well, audiovisual experience, anyway) - but even that has the price of incompatibility.
Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
Used to be I would never own a console. Not gonna happen, not gonna do it - my PC is faster, better, has a hard drive -
Then I played Final Fantasy VII, and got hooked into consoles. Now, I prefer them. Why? True plug in play.
Buy/Rent game.
Insert into PS2/GameCube/Xbox/Gameboy Advance.
Turn on.
Play.
That's it. Granted, there are some games that don't "console" real well - I'm still not sold on FPS games on the console (though the developers who make their games keyboard/mouse compatible get kudos in my book), and games like Starcraft are just not happening (though there are some wonderful turn based strategy games), but overall, my console gets a bigger workout than my PC does for games these days.
What would make it better? Well, I wouldn't mind if Sony would make the PS3 with a built in hard drive (goodbye, memory cards!) and keep the USB (for keyboard/mouse FPS, online games, and when they start making Command and Conquer style PS2 games that I like), and include a VGA output by default (or a real adapter rather than a third party hack). Then I could just plug it into a monitor, and the only computers I'd really need would be my PowerMac and my Linux Server in the corner.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
..What? Someone is going to log into their PC and uninstall quake 3? ..
Last week my brother was setting up a machine for his mother in law, left the admin password blank to make it easy for her to log in, left it running for 4 hours while it downloaded service packs over his cable modem.
He came back and it had 2 different DDoS bots loaded on it.
I laughed at him.
Are you sure you are not a (L)user I support?
Heh, quite sure. This is actually culled from real-life experience from someone I did have to support. The woman is question did a lot of her own "fixes". Like deleting the pagefile (to increase disk space), running virus scan non-stop (can't be too careful, can we?) and starting up every service she could (what if I need it?)
I forgot to mention that, according to this person, you should compress all files on your C drive (smaller files run faster)
It took me a while to get her system working normally again, and it took even longer to explain why all of her "tweaking" was a bad thing.
An idiot with a little bit of knowledge and admin rights to the local machine is a dangerous thing.
psmylie's dictionary: Godzillion (noun) Any number large enough to destroy Tokyo
Is there something wrong with me?...
No, not at all. The solution is found in a counter-intuitive place, however: console games.
I was a big PC gamer in the nineties, tweaking and upgrading and tinkering with drivers, DOS boot-discs etc etc. During that time, the requirements of the "real-world" apps I was running on my PCs were keeping pace with the expanding game requirements. Sure, I might be upgrading six months earlier because of Quake, but I knew that the performance for the next release of Lotus 123 would appreciate it as well. Meanwhile, I read about all the consoles, saw the "super mario" and other four-color franchises grow, and figured these were toys for the high school kids.
Me, I was an adult, and I had an Adult Game Machine -- a PC! (*ahem*)
Then one day around the release of the G4 card (at circa $500) I realized that, unless I switched careers over to astronomy, there was never any reason I could justify that my business apps would ever benefit from all that graphical goodness. Since my time spent gaming with anything more sophisticated than blocks was becoming less and less (twin toddlers), I figured my gaming days had reached their natural, evolutionary end.
Okay, okay, I actually ended up buying two G4 cards, but that's not my point, hear me out...
I bought a console. X-Box, specifically, but the brand does not matter for purposes of this discussion. And it's great! The games look great, it sits in my LIVING ROOM, plugs into the home theatre 5.1, and there are titles available that appeal to just about every member of the family. Most have multi-player mode which allow for spouse co-op or dad v. kid(s) play.
I now play games as much as I did five years ago, but see my wife and kids more while doing it. There are, of course, some games that suffer from "dumbing down" due to the absence of a keyboard, but just as many or more which benefit greatly from being controller-specific (esp the Diablo-esque "Baldur's Gate" and its ilk). Best of all, I'm done: No monitor upgrades, no new cards, no registries to comb over, no OS's to flush every five months, it's all brilliant. You take a game out of the box, pop it into the console, and you're playing immediately.
And someday, when XBox 2 comes out, and I've played all the XBox 1 games worth playing, what's it going to cost me to "upgrade" to a new console.... $200? $300? Seems like that might be livable...
Yeah, I know, for those of you who have been playing on consoles for 20 years, this is old hat. But to a PC-diehard like me who has only recently stepped into the light, these are womderful times.