mkreku

I'm pretty sure the original poster can decide that for himself.

Ok, that Plus thingie sounds like how you should do subscribed online! Instead of removing features from the games I've already paid for because I didn't pay someone an arbitrary monthly fee, they actually give you MORE if you pay. I react much better to a carrot than a whip.

In short: Case: The more expensive cases often have more space inside, a better airflow through the case (important for high end parts) and little special details that are more convenient than anything. Like, rubber holds for the hard drives (to reduce sound from vibrations), detachable hard drive cages (for easy access), soft rubber feet (to not transfer vibration sounds to your floor), hinged insides, etc. The more you pay, the more extra features like that you get, unless you buy a design case.. then you may pay premium to have your case formed like a skull. Not recommended. Motherboard: Very difficult part to choose, even for us who are interested in this. You have to weigh your needs with your budget and try to plan ahead of whatever happens to be the next fad in the computer industry. Right now there's USB3, SATA3 and a few other things coming up. I overclock my equipment heavily so I'm probably not the best advisor on this, but make sure you don't buy the cheapest board available and buy a trusted brand. Just make sure it supports whatever CPU and RAM you choose and then pick out one with the features you think you'll need (built in sound? built in Wi-Fi? support for SLI/Crossfire? USB3? dual BIOS?) RAM: Three things to think about when it comes to memory: speed, amount and latency. Speed is measured in MHz and is how fast your processor can communicate with your memory. Amount is just how much RAM you're getting, usually measured in GB (gigabytes). Latency is a bit special, but the short version is: lower is better. It's basically how many clock cycles it takes for a certain memory address to be fetched by the CPU, so it's measured in CL7, CL8 and so on. Higher MHz, more GB and lower CL is more costly (and gives better performance) than low MHz, few GB and high CL. I'd recommend at least 4 GB of 1600 DDR3. Don't worry about CL, but if you can afford CL8 or lower, go for it. Processor: Again three things to think about when it comes to processors: speed, cores and cache. Speed is the frequency with which the internal clock in the CPU operates. Higher is better (and more expensive). A core is a processor. To improve performance without raising the clock speed (increasing clock speed generates more heat), manufacturers add more processors on the same chip. So a 2 core CPU is actually two CPU's bundled into one. 4 cores is four CPU's in one, and so on. Cache is an extremely fast memory that's directly connected to the CPU. The CPU uses it to "guess" which code it will re-use over and over. The more it can use cache instead of fetching stuff from RAM (or even worse, hard drive), the faster it goes, thus more cache most often equals better performance (to a certain limit). So, higher speed, more cores and bigger cache will be more expensive and faster than lower speed, fewer cores and little cache. I'd recommend a 4 core processor from either AMD or Intel. GPU: This is the hardest part to determine the performance in. You used to be able to get a certain hint from the name of the GPU, like the Radeon 9800 was generation 9, 8 meant it was the high end and the double zero.. stood for nothing. Problems arose when they went for X800 for the next iteration (generation 10) and then 1800 (which should logically have been 11800 since it was generation 11..). Right now they're at 5870 (and 5970) which is generation 15, the 8 for high end single GPU card, the 70 for the highest clocked single GPU.. it's not very logical or transparent. Nvidia is even worse, as they've rebranded old generations of cards to new generation names and mixed it up with actual new generation parts. It's a mess. There are a few things to think of though: price and amount of RAM. The price is actually your best hint as to what is faster and what is slower. If it's the latest generation of cards (4XX from Nvidia and 5XXX from ATI right now), you WILL get better performance the more money you spend. Just don't think that the amount of RAM is somehow connected to performance! You need massive resolutions to get any tangible increase when going above 1 GB RAM on your video card. I can't give you any unbiased advice in this regard as I am still in love with my ATI Radeon 5870, but get an expensive card with at least 1 GB RAM and you'll be set. Hard drive: Two types available, SSD and platter based. Platter based offers gigantic amounts of storage for almost no money. SSD (solid state disk) offers enormous performance but at ten times the cost of the platter based hard drive. My suggestion would be to get a small SSD and one huge platter based hard drive. Maybe an 80 GB SSD and a 2 TB (2000 GB) hard drive? Something like that. That way you'll get fantastic performance and massive storage all at once, as long as you don't want to have ALL your games installed at once (80 GB fills up in like 15 minutes..).

Epic Mickey and that Kirby game looked AWESOME! Oh and that army of hot chicks is my version of paradise. Screw the 3DS's!

Feel free to post the obituary when it shows up. I'd appreciate it.

North Korea enters the battle tonight! Go NK!

BP spills coffee:

It doesn't.

More on this from Eurogamer: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/bodycount-hands-on --- I can see a slight homage or resemblance to Black.. but what distinguished Black from other shooters was the immense intensity of the combat scenes. When you fired your gun, on full auto of course, the screen immediately filled with fire, smoke, debris and twisted bodies flying everywhere! Also, the weapon sounds are still the best I've heard in any game. Black was a really simple shooter at heart, but the presentation made it a real joy just to pull the trigger of any weapon in the game and just watch the chaos that ensued. I think it looks good for a game that early in production (Eurogamer says pre-alpha?), but the one thing I would really work on if I was involved is the explosions. They need to be much, much meatier. I want to see debris flying around, black and yellow smoke, I want to feel the ground shake! I'm pretty sure you're still working on details like that though. By the way, Black was one of my favourite shooters of the last ten years or so. I might have too high hopes for this semi-sequel.

It's generally pretty easy to determine which parts are better: price. Computer parts is a relatively honest branch where you most often get what you pay for, although at the very top end you'll be paying a hefty premium for little performance increase. When building a new computer, I usually spend a lot of money on the things that are keepers or difficult to change. For example, the computer case and the power supply unit (PSU) are keepers. If you buy a good (expensive) case, you can keep it for several generations of computer builds. The ATX standard (the size of the motherboard) hasn't changed since it was introduced so in theory, you could still build computer using 20 year old chassis. Same with the PSU, but with a few slight changes. With the shift from IDE to SATA (hard drive interfaces), the power supply cables changed standard. But it's not really a problem as there are adapters to fix that problem. Another PSU problem is that computers have begun demanding an awful lot of power in recent years so old PSU's are usually too weak to work with newer equipment. The parts that are difficult to change is the motherboard. The motherboard houses all of the other parts of the computer and connects them with each other. Changing a motherboard means removing all the other parts, which is usually a hassle. Other than that, building a computer is like building LEGO: the parts are even colour coded nowadays to it's virtually impossible to make mistakes (again with a few exceptions). Anyhow, the order in which I choose parts for my system: 1. Computer case (buy the one you want, regardless of price, you'll be keeping it for a long time) 2. Power supply unit (buy a trusted brand, buy slightly more watts than you'll need for future proofing) 3. Motherboard (this is where I usually spend most of my money, on a high-end part, with the very latest technology) 4. CPU and RAM (go with what your budget allows, minimum 4 GB of memory) 5. GPU (video card, again go with what your budget allow; the more expensive, the more performance) 6. Hard drives (buy whatever, you'll probably change them within two-three years anyhow) For CPU's there are two major brands: Intel and AMD. Intel holds the performance crown but are expensive. AMD is more bang for your buck but can't compete with the high-end Intel processors. For GPU's there are also two major brands: Nvidia and ATI. Nvidia is usually considered the more stable of the brands (more driver support), while ATI usually brings more performance per dollar. Anyhow, feel free to specify if you have any more questions. Your original post was a little.. vague.

New Arcania interview: http://www.faceoffgames.com/section/1180665 Two things: "Based on our analysis, accessibility was one of the worst parts of the previous games. So we focused on that quite early during development." That's one of the things I adore about the Gothic games; they will not EVER hold your hand! I love that and I'm sad to see it go, but I can understand the change. Regarding character development system: "The system that was used in the forerunners of ArcaniA felt too clumsy and made it possible to create a character that was underperforming because of wrong choices the player has done." Another thing I liked about the Gothic games: if you build an idiotic build, you'll suffer for it. I liked that there were consequences if you were an idiot. I never felt it to be clumsy either. Let's just hope that it's not a system like the one in Fallout 3 where you're rewarded so often that you're a god by level 10..

Why does every game sound like a giant mosquito from beginning to end?

Phaneuf news good, Kaberle news SUPERBAD! Agh. I wonder if my fellow Leafs fans are starting to realize what Sundin meant to the club now..?

Ok, that may have sounded bad. I meant I would buy an English version in an ordinary store in a heartbeat. I am not Bukkake. If anyone else is interested: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Precursors-PC-DVD-Ne...=item45f32c8a5d I can vouch for the seller. Decent price, fast delivery. It is a hassle to install and stuff though since everything is in Russian until you can overwrite the game files with the ones from the translation patch.

What can I say. I'm playing it (The Precursors) right now with the excellent fan made translation patch. It's a sci-fi RPG with first person shooter combat on the ground and Freelancer combat in space. You actually get to fly your own spaceship between planets and space stations! When you're on the ground, you get to drive cars and fly helicopters, fight weird and wonderful enemies, solve hundreds of quests and engage in a pretty weak main story (which might be because of the translation not being 100% all the time..). This game is excellent. If I could, I would buy it in a heartbeat. Publishers suck.

Yes, because PR people aren't full of **** and you should always listen to what they say..

Yes. I have been following this and Deep Shadows other title, The Precursors, for a long while now. Unfortunately, the likelihood of either of these games ever getting a western release is very slim. Deep Shadows seem to have gone out of business and their official board has been me and approximately five other people going at it since mid 2009. I don't know when White Gold was released, but I know that The Precursors was released in December 2009 in Russia, and I have been trying to obtain a copy ever since. It's nigh on impossible unless you know someone trustworthy in Russia who can mail it directly to you. I don't. The Bukkake way is the only way you're ever going to get to play any of these titles, it seems.

I liked Pool of Radiance. Nothing D&D since.

I don't mind Steam as long as I don't have to purchase the game from there. The $1 = 1

There's a grafitti on my way to town that looks exactly like one of the grafitti's in GTA: San Andreas.. I keep thinking I should fill it in.

The trailer/teaser is awesome, don't think anyone has said anything bad about it? The problem is that it's in no way connected to the actual game, so even if the trailer is awesome, it tells us nada about the game. That's what most naysayers are complaining about, At least in this thread.

The age of Wikipedia, turning every geek into a wannabe besserwisser. Look at Kaftan above for the perfect example! Although I would bet my left nut that he's never heard of the book in question, thanks to the powers of Wikipedia, he can now pretend that he did, in fact, know about said book but he just didn't consider that particular book to depict the kind of theft HE was referring to. It couldn't possibly be that he's never heard of the incident before Walsinghams post, oh no, he just didn't deem it worthy of consideration.

I had the misfortune of having to review Dungeon Siege back in the day. It was basically a very pretty corridor with enemies in it that you only needed TWO BUTTONS to play. I used three: one to switch between ranged weapons/melee weapons, one to let all my characters simultaneously drink potions, and one to show them where to go. You didn't really have to do the melee/ranged switch, but I thought, what the hell, why not add some extra complexity for the sake of it? I was younger back then and living on the edge, you know? I don't remember one iota of the story, if it had one. I don't remember a single frame of the maps, although I am sure it had some. All I remember was that you had your little group of characters walk from map entry to map exit while fighting enemies. Sometimes you'd happen upon a "village" (it was a shop) where you sold your old equipment and bought new equipment. I guess that you sometimes levelled up, but I don't remember any of the character progression so I'm guessing it was as automatic and dull as the rest of the game. No matter what Obsidian does with this game, it can only get better. Oh and HAHAHA at whoever fears this game will be dumbed down for consoles. It is not possible to dumb this game down, it's flat out at the bottom of dumb.

Tom Cruise wins back some cred: http://www.oliviamunn.com/yes-tom-cruise-yes/ That Grossman character is awesome.

Aww! I thought for a minute that someone had figured out how to do those voxels on the GPU and that it would be possible to play the original game in higher resolutions.. but it turned out to be a Crysis Wars mod. BOO! I want my voxels!!