PC Gaming = World of Suck

Santilli

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Any suggestions for a new program based on the UT 2004 series?

Any of the sequels any good?
 

Sol

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The only game I can think of in the UT vein since 2004 was UT3. It doesn't really add anything to the experience (Other than slightly improved graphics) but you can probably get your hands on a copy in a Steam sale for a couple of bucks so it's not a great commitment.

Maybe Bulletstorm or Rage would feel a bit similar but they're mostly single player and neither are particularly good games.
 

Mercutio

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At the end of the day I think the original Unreal Tournament was the best of the bunch. It's far and away my most-played first person shooter, though UT 2004 is probably a close second.
 

Sol

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At the end of the day I think the original Unreal Tournament was the best of the bunch. It's far and away my most-played first person shooter, though UT 2004 is probably a close second.

I have to agree that UT2004 was almost, but no where near, as good as the original... Seriously though I would maybe rank 2004 slightly higher, 2003 was a graphics update that managed to keep the feel of the original pretty much in tact, 2004 still kept that feel but added a couple of fun game modes. (I didn't play the original that much though because Medal of Honor came out in the same year and dominated the lan parties I went to.)

I don't know what it is that rubs me the wrong way about UT3 but it just doesn't seem to be as much fun as the others were.
 

Mercutio

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I don't know what it is that rubs me the wrong way about UT3 but it just doesn't seem to be as much fun as the others were.

I think I just didn't like the weapons and maps quite as much. UT3 with original UT's maps updated would be great fun.
 

Handruin

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At the end of the day I think the original Unreal Tournament was the best of the bunch. It's far and away my most-played first person shooter, though UT 2004 is probably a close second.

I agree with this also. I have fond memories of playing the original UT at LAN parties for hours and then later on we adopted UT 2004. Somehow I was sold the first time I cranked up every setting in the game and right after hitting apply, the game would say in it's deepest of voices, "Holy Shit!".
 

Mercutio

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One of the demo maps for the original UT, something you could play without even buying the game, was a level called Morpheus, a low gravity map set between three tall buildings with a narrow platform far, far below the main source of action. To play it, you had to be able to deal with threats in all three dimensions, but even perfect play couldn't save you if somebody managed to tag you with a knockback weapon like the Shock Rifle and you went tumbling off the towers.

I love the way that vertigo and leaps of faith were integrated into that map. I probably spent more time playing that one map than I did any single game in the Quake series.
 

Sol

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One of the demo maps for the original UT, something you could play without even buying the game, was a level called Morpheus, a low gravity map set between three tall buildings with a narrow platform far, far below the main source of action. To play it, you had to be able to deal with threats in all three dimensions, but even perfect play couldn't save you if somebody managed to tag you with a knockback weapon like the Shock Rifle and you went tumbling off the towers.

I love the way that vertigo and leaps of faith were integrated into that map. I probably spent more time playing that one map than I did any single game in the Quake series.

Ah yes, finding the sniper rifle and getting to watch the decapitated corpse of your enemies float by while they mutter obscenities at you from across the room... Good times...
 

Santilli

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Just installed a gpu gadget to see how taxing on the 295 UT2004 is.

It uses 8906 MB VRAM, kicks the gpus up from 301 Mhz to 596 Mhz.
Shader clock at 1242 Mhz. No disk required, fun, quick, and addicting.

Only uses about 8% of the processor. Folding at Home was running, but not in SMP.
 

Sol

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Saw this on [H]: If Quake Was Made Today.

http://www.hardocp.com/news/2011/11/03/if_quake_was_made_today

Comments? Thoughts?

PS. Once my exams are over with (in 2 weeks), I'll have to get out my copy of Quake!

The pre-game unskippable advert point is a good one, well made. Being told nVidia is "The way it's meant to be played" every time I start the game doesn't really make me want to ditch my ATI card and go out and buy a top of the line nVidia card as much as it makes me want to find the marketing guy responsible for the advert and hit him in the face with the business end of a rabbid weasel.

The rest of the points in the video are apt enough for certain types of games, but I'm kind of of the opinion that if you will insist on playing Call Of Duty 12 then you're probably asking for it. I guess the whole thing was aimed mostly at Rage, and it's a fair cop, but I don't really understand the people who apparently saw all the same previews, screen shots and hype as I did somehow came to the conclusion that it would be something other than what it ultimately turned out to be.
 

Sol

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For the sake of clarity. Which end of a rabbid weasel is the business end? :bleh:

Thats a decision that needs to be made at the time, on a case by case basis. But I think generally it's going to be the end you want to be holding the least.
 

Chewy509

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The reason why I asked, the last FPS's I put considerable time into were Quake 3, Battlefield 2 and Ravenshield. (I lost track of the amount of time I put into Doom, Quake, Quake 2, and UT and UT2003 though).

Has FPS gaming become that poor in order to accommodate the console ports? (If so the clip was very ROFL).

PS. I remember the first time I saw Quake 1 Ep 1 completed in 18 minutes, that was amazing! (The record according to wikipedia is a mere 12:23 for completing the entire game! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quake_done_Quick ).
 

Mercutio

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FPS gaming was basically perfected with UT2003 and Quake 3. Everything since then has just been a failure to live up to those ideals.

There is a shooter game I'd like to see, called Six Days in Fallujah. It's based on real events that occurred during the most recent war in Iraq and from what I've heard about it, the developers put a ton of effort into making sure that they detailed how horrific that fighting was. The game was scrapped by its publisher after it was completed because it was decided that it trivialized the work of the men who were actually involved in the fighting. I've been curious about it ever since.
 

Sol

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I just finished Bastion. Really great game, unfortunately best played with a console controller (because it's that kind of game rather than because the keyboard and mouse controls suck). The game play itself is pretty solid, but the narrator who talks, pretty much constantly, about what the main character is doing, or plot exposition, or the history of the characters, really makes it. The most annoying thing for me was realizing that I actually did kinda want the sound track when I'd already bought the pack without it.
 

CougTek

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I noticed today that Serious Sam 3 is 35.99$ on pre-orders. That's quite cheap for a game that's pretty much certain to be a hit for the fans of the series (like me).
 

MaxBurn

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My friend said sanctum got some interesting updates recently.
 

Chewy509

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Mercutio

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Quake's music isn't exactly my style, but there's no arguing that it was anything other than atmospheric and groundbreaking.

I think it could be argued that Wendy Carlos's work on Tron (I'm thinking of the arcade machine here, though it also showed up on Intellivision titles at the time) and the music from iconic versions of Tetris could be on any list of great video game music as well.

Command and Conquer also comes to mind for excellent use of original music, while Loom is one of the first titles I can remember that argued for having sound hardware in x86 PCs.
 

Handruin

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I am not claiming it is the greatest, but even if you don't know the game title, the music sounds well done. A lot of those are considered PC titles, not console. Tetris is on the list. Did you even bother to listen to the samples, or did you just know you would hate it because you hate console crap?
 

Mercutio

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I'm listening to better music this morning.
14 of the 24 titles listed are console only. Maybe two on the list are PC exclusive. I'm more than willing to stand by my assessment. My objection is specifically to the fact that the producers of the album have chosen an unwarranted superlative.

And yes, the fact that it's all console crap does in fact hasten my judgment.
 

Handruin

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Your prejudgement and negativity certainly cloud you from a positive experience. The Legend of Zelda: suite sounds great even if it is a console-only. At least I'm willing to go listen to your example and possibly even purchase it. I wasn't aware the titles had to be PC exclusive in order to make your list.
 

Mercutio

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I wasn't aware the titles had to be PC exclusive in order to make your list.

They don't, but there's a very obvious bias in the selection. According to the people who made that album, the greatest music used in games is found in 25 year old Nintendo games and very recent first person shooters.
 

Handruin

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Damn man, forget that they used the superlative of greatest. It's just an odd mix of video game music recreated. :frusty: You're like Sheldon from the big bang theory sometimes. One small inconsequential detail stops you dead in your tracks because you're so darn stubborn in your beliefs of how the world should be.
 

Santilli

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Odd, but I agree with Merc, so far anyway. Probably why I want old hardware around, to play Quake 3-4. I'd really like to be able to play Tex Murphy again. Even though a bit buggy, it was really fun.

The Call of Duty games are sitting in my desk. Haven't had the urge to get them out and play.
 

Handruin

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Odd, but I agree with Merc, so far anyway. Probably why I want old hardware around, to play Quake 3-4. I'd really like to be able to play Tex Murphy again. Even though a bit buggy, it was really fun.

The Call of Duty games are sitting in my desk. Haven't had the urge to get them out and play.

I don't think you need older hardware to play Quake 3/4. A couple years ago I picked up the ID Quake pack (1-3) and I recall it working fine on my Win 7 64-bit system. They often have deals through steam to get the entire suite for like 75% off. You just need to keep an eye out and also not hate Steam.
 

Mercutio

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Steam makes it easy to hate.

On the other hand, I'm absolutely positive that I could install Quake from original circa 1997 media and it would be completely playable since as I recall it ran fine on NT4 and Windows 2000. Quake isn't a problem child as far as ancient games go.

The bad things are the titles that were made for Win95 or 98 and refuse to run on anything based on Windows NT, or games that won't run unless your screen resolution is set to 640x480 or 1024x768, or have some other completely bogus hard-coded limitation along those lines.
 

Santilli

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It maybe dual monitors. IIRC, I had to jump through some hoops to get Quake 3 to play
with my old 3 monitor setup, and, it wasn't worth the effort. The stuff on the side monitors didn't help much, or add much to the gaming experience.

I have to remember to disable the second monitor...

Come to think of it, haven't tried it on the Beast, or the server.
 
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