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30 Greatest Games of 2005
Next Generation continues its end-of-year celebration with a treatise on the 30 finest games of the year. From the article: "Some may remember 2005 as a year of financial shortfalls, rising game production costs, depleted Xbox 360 stock, political soap-boxing, or over-exertion in Korean Internet cafes. Forget all that stuff for now. 2005 wasn't a year to be remembered for one great gaming breakthrough or innovation, but it did produce some remarkable products. It was a year marked with some of the best games of the fading generation. "
I imagine this would have been a difficult task to list, as I can't even imagine 10 games in the last year that even impressed me. Plenty of clones, but very little real innovation. Overall it seems like the game industry is closely mimicking the movie industry; make sequels and avoid risk.
Microsoft Sucks, F/OSS Rocks. I get mod points now right?
Why not? RAM is cheap these days. Last I checked, it was like $80 for 1GB of quality, Corsair, lifetime warantee DDR2 RAM. It's not an expensive component. Also Civ 4 is hardly unique in needing lots of RAM. Most MMORPGs really need a gig to work well. World of Warcraft will technicly function with 256MB, but is near unplayable, with 512MB it works ok but lags, with 1GB it's nice and smooth. Starwars Galaxies is about the same.
I've played all the way through a few games on my system and it works great. It gets slow in the end but still easily playable and no slower than the other Civs. Hell, I remember waiting 5-10 minutes for my computer to finish calculating all the AI turns on Civ 2 per turn late in the game.
Blame it on the PHB's. Since they don't really care or understand the process fully, it's the money that matters. Since people are inherently more likely to purchase ANYTHING at Christmas as they feel pressured, guilted, and duped into doing so, it is also the best time to release sub-par games. Unfortunately this is very unlikely to change until Christmas loses its recently obtained consumerist nature. Stores don't really care what you buy, so long as you buy, buy, buy, and it's been the mentality for a while now.
Microsoft Sucks, F/OSS Rocks. I get mod points now right?
I played Civ4 for a bit and found it quite enjoyable, BUT merely because it got another step closer to the perfection of SMAC (Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri) .
:(.
With each new Civilization game they add "new" features that were in 1999 in SMAC: Borders, technology quotes, complex diplomacy, UN.
Everything was done before and better and it is really a sad year when Civ4 gets picked by IGn as game of the year.
I just wish Brian Reynolds would do another SMAC2
I have 2GB in mine since I do work with modern samplers and, damn, talk about RAM hogs. But when you have single instruments that are 3GB in total (yes, really) what do you expect? At any rate I've found that many performance complaints I hear just don't apply on my system, and I have a sneaking suspicion having lots of RAM is a big part of it.
In fact I've ALWAYS liked to go overkill on the RAM on my computers. I generally seem to have about double what you'd find in a "high end" box, despite the rest of my components being older. Perhaps because of that, I find that I don't need to upgrade my CPU all that often.
I think the problem is that computer makers tend to skimp on RAM since it's not a stat most people think about. They are worried about CPU speed and maybe HD space, but to hell with RAM. Well, since modern OSes can deal with low RAM fine (though slowly) peoiple don't realise it could be better.
For comptuers these days I'd say 512MB minimum for office type work, 1GB minimum for games, and 2GB if you want to be nice n' safe. Given that 2GB is only like $180, less than most new graphics cards, I think it's hard to justify having a blazing dual core CPU, a new video card, and then starving your system RAM-wise.
Next Generation continues its end-of-year celebration with a treatise on the 30 finest games of the year.
Come on now. Treatise?
That is not a treatise, that is an article. These are treatises.
treatise a systematic exposition or argument in writing including a methodical discussion of the facts and principles involved and conclusions reached
I wouldn't call a list of video games a systematic exposition.
If the game's not compatible with older computers, laptops, and some ATI cards, it needs to have that specified on the box.
Since it's not, it's a legitimate gripe if the game doesn't work on a system that meets the system requirements.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Apparently, kids who post on Slashdot these days know *nothing* about looking around and purchasing a $50 FX5200 card with 128MB, which runs it just fine.
I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
I honestly did not notice. And I observe what gets published. If there were 30 great games in 2005 I am sure I would have noticed more than 4 or 5 of them....
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Nintendo DS's are flying off the shelves. It's damn hard to find any right now. but everyone has a Pile of PSP's and are not moving.
Why? Granted The screen and overall look of the PSP is damn sexy. But when I can buy 2 DS's for the price of 1 PSP and the games seem to be going at the same rate.... (I can buy 2 DS games for the price of 1 PSP game) Guess which one the parents are grabbing for the kiddies. And yes, the chat function is highly desireable to kids... something that the PSP should have had in some fashon.
MarioKart DS is flat out super fun. (yes I am playing my kids toy before christmas... so shoot me!) and the fact that someone else can play me on the same game cart without them having it is absolutely killer and makes the PSP look like crap right there. (Sony would have NEVER allowed such abilities in the PSP.)
I do believe that nintendogs will make people dumber, but it's cute for kids and that is what sells usually. I personally cant wait for Super Monkeyball DS.
To heck with the top games, let's talk top gaming platforms.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.