Good lord I've been out of the loop when it comes to PC games. I think the last ones I really played through properly were Morrowind, Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3. So to put it simply I need a little help on what I should get now that I've got a beast of a machine to play said games on. I'm going to make this sweet and simple so I can give you guys as much information as possible.
Specs of Said Beast Machine:
Intel Core2 Quad Processor Q9400 @ 2.66GHz
6GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
SLI- Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTS 240, 2048MB
Now I figure that'd be the important bits but if some more information would be helpful I'll gladly give it. When it comes to the games themselves I've got a broad range of interest, from FPS to RTS, RPG etc. I will admit I'd like to get something that would both be fun obviously, but also let me test out the power of my new computer.
Games that might have a demo available online would be a plus as well, but not required of course.
Edit:
Damn near forgot, updating with a few games that were already in my sights.
Crysis/Warhead
Dawn of War 2
The Witcher
Possibly Fallout 3/Oblivion
Otherwise my knowledge of PC Gaming has sadly been non-existant.
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Really, just get Steam and watch out for some of the weekend deals. I've spent about 30 bucks on steam in total, and I've got quite a few games.
And obviously if you haven't played company of heroes, you need to do so NOW.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
Crimson Skies
Freedom Fighters
Galactic Civilizations II
Grim Fandango
Homeworld 2
Mafia
Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries
No One Lives Forever and No One Lives Forever 2
Planescape: Torment
S.W.A.T 4
Sim City 4
Sins of a Solar Empire
System Shock 2
Thief, Thief 2, Thief III
The Ur-Quan masters / Star Control 2
Warcraft III
Worms: Armageddon
On GoG.com:
Arx Fatalis
Beneath a Steel Sky
Beyond Good and Evil
Descent 3
Fallout and Fallout 2
Freespace and Freespace 2
Giants: Citizen Kabuto
IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946
Jagged Alliance 2
Painkiller
Sacrifice
Tex Murphy
On Steam:
Armed and Dangerous
Assassin's Creed
Audiosurf
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Beyond Good & Evil
Bioshock
Braid
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30, Earned in Blood, and Hell's Highway
Call of Duty, Call of Duty: United Offensive, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4
Civilization IV
Company of Heroes and Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
Crysis and Crysis: Warhead
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
Dawn of War II
Day of Defeat: Source
Dead Space
DEFCON, Darwinia, Uplink
Defense Grid: The Awakening
Deus Ex and Deus Ex 2
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
Empire: Total War
Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy)
Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout 3
Freedom Force and Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich
Grand Theft Auto IV
GRID
Hitman: Something or other
IL2 Sturmovik: 1946
Jade Empire
Jagged Alliance 2
Just Cause
Killing Floor
Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2
Left 4 Dead
Lego Star Wars and Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
The Longest Journey
Mass Effect
Max Payne and Max Payne 2
Men of War
Mirror's Edge
Monkey Island
Mount and Blade
Multiwinia
Nexus: The Jupiter Incident
Oblivion
Orange Box
Overlord
Painkiller
Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode 1 and 2
Psychonauts
Red Faction: Guerilla
Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45
S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl
Sam and Max: Season 1 and 2 (Season 1 Episode 4 is *[free as in beer])
Sid Meier's Pirates!
Splinter Cell and all its sequels
Sword of the Stars
Trackmania United Nations*
Tropico 1, 2, and 3
Tomb Raider: Whatever the good ones are, by Crystal Dynamics or whatever
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
The Witcher
World in Conflict
World of Goo
X-COM: UFO Defense and Terror from the Deep
X3: Terran Conflict
Zeno Clash
Check out gog.com and direct2drive.com for cheap deals on good PC games. Example, direct2drive has Bioshock, The New Riddick Game, Stalker, Max Payne 2 and Theif 3 all of 5$ each. And those are all great games.
Fallout 3 and Oblivion are both good, pick those up. Dawn of War 2 is also super awesome.
Other games to check out:
Trine
World of Warcraft (10 day trial)
Company of Heroes
Deus Ex
Eve (15 day trial)
Plants vs Zombies
Left 4 Dead
F.E.A.R.
Homeworld if you never got around to playing it.
Football Manager (if you like soccer/football)
edit.
Yeah what he said.
I think I'll leave the MMO category out for obvious reasons.
Fallout Trilogy. They are all good.
Left 4 Dead
Demigod (I liked it)
Civilization IV
F.E.A.R. 1 & 2
The Orange Box from Steam. (DOOOOOO IT)
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Prototype
I mainly play TF2 and MMO's on my PC as I begin to migrate back towards consoles, but I have a plethora of games for the PC packed away in storage. (Deployments suck kids!) While these games won't "push" your system, there are shittons of amazing games for the PC, before they stopped pushing PC games as hard...*sadface*
The Orange box is awesome value (Two great singleplayer games, one short and sweet, the other epic long, and arguably the most fun multiplayer fps, which you can play with PA folk every day).
Left 4 Dead is a lot of coop fps fun, though you've missed the initial wave, and there will be a sequel soon, so you could wait for that.
Play Fallout 3 over Oblivion. I can't realy think of anything Oblivion does that FA 3 doesn't do better. The Witcher is fun storywise, but I didn't like the combat much.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. gets a lot of praise, it's a series of two survival FPS games. You need to patch up though, and many recommend a few mods as well, to clean it up. Haven't gotten around to it myself.
If you want massive armies butting heads, you can get Empire: Total War. As always, there A.I. issues though. If you get the older Medieval 2 (+ expansion) instead, you can get a load of mods to lengthen the playtime, including a full Middle-Earth conversion.
If you haven't played them on console, GTA IV and Prototype are pretty good. Saints Row 2 is $5 right now, and while the PC version has some issues, it's still a steal.
If you don't want to break your bank, watch GoG, D2D and Steam. Those three combined can probably give you a new good to great game for under $10 every week for a year.
It's a shame there aren't more PC-centric new games coming out this holiday season. I want to play Modern Warfare 2 with my 360-owning friends, but I suppose I'll pick up L4D2 and Crysis.
Suddenly SC2 and Diablo 3 can't come soon enough.
Dragon Age
Modern Warfare 2
Mass Effect 2
Alpha Protocol
Left 4 Dead 2
Bioshock 2
Edit: Speaking of demos I gave The Witcher demo a whirl. The combat felt decent, though I imagine things get a little different when you aren't in the very first area. Looked rather nice, only had a couple of graphical oddities which likely are patched out in the full version. My only complaint is a lack of a 'sprint' button! Good lord Warhammer has spoiled me...
Alternativly you could also see about getting a checking account which may have a check card associated with it. Im 26 and never had a credit card because Ive always used this option.
If you get The Orange Box, be sure to head into the TF2 thread and play on our servers.
And TychoCelchuuu really covered most of the bases when it comes to PC gaming (at least most of the highlights). :^:
I'd find the person that recommended this to you, take them out back and shoot them.
Otherwise, Witcher is a great RPG as long as you get past the first Chapter (or maybe it's the 2nd chapter) as it's a game that starts off very slowly, but then gets amazingly good.
Demigod is a great easy to play RTS if you have a few friends that you can team up with.
World of Goo is fantastic
Zeno Clash is a great/weird FP Brawler that's suitably short
DiRT 2 is getting a lot of praise, GRiD was fantastic so I don't see why you shouldn't check either out if you're a racing fan.
I just bought this, literally last night. It's fantastic. If you have even the slightest interest in puzzle games, go for it.
Grocery stores carry these too. Also you can link PayPal to a bank account.
So.... Dell? My machine is an XPS, not entirely sure what makes those cards a bad choice.
Ehhh get the demo IMO.
It's funny with a pretty cute style, but as a TD it didn't seem great to me - what with the straight path rows and no pathing to work with/against at all.
e~ Also, get the Mount & Blade demo and follow these instructions.
1) Ride by a peasant on your horse
2) with your sword out
3) Then decide: yes, this is for me - Buy the full version then go to the M&B thread and get Prophesy of Pendor mod and the other goodies.
But fortunately, you can buy games on steam without a credit card.
i'm stuck traveling for a few weeks in too-small towns, and I'd appreciate any ideas to help me pass the time
Handmade Jewelry by me on EtsyGames for sale
Me on Twitch!
Peggle Deluxe
Plants vs Zombies
Civilization III
Fallout
Fallout 2
Bookwork Adventures Deluxe 1/2
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
Roller Coaster Tycoon
Sim City 2000
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Tales of Monkey Island Eps 1 & 2
Sam & Max Save the World Seasons 1 & 2
Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventure Complete Season (4 eps)
Hey. I've played a lot of PC games, but very few of them were originally obtained from Steam (although a substantial portion of my collection is now available from them.)
If you don't want to spend a lot of money and don't have a credit card, bargain bins are fantastic places to find older games. Bundles are also frequently good buys. Holidays and events such as Black Friday (especially Black Friday) are also a goldmine for game deals at physical retailers.
If there's a Micro Center in your area, check it out. The one near where I live in Georgia never gets rid of the games they don't sell, so they've got a huge shelf at the back of the store stuffed with random great old games. For example I've seen Sands of Time, Worms Armageddon, and Giants: Citizen Kabuto all new in package for under $5.
Oh, Goozex is also a good place to pick up older (used) games, though if you don't have credit card or stuff to ship out, that might be a no go.
Yes, shoot Dell. Gigaaaantic waste of money to run two of those puppies unless you have a 16 monitor setup.