PC Gaming = World of Suck

[Mercutio]

There's some trailers and gameplay footage for something called "Agony" on Youtube that I'm very deliberately not linking and should not be watched while you're at work.
I'm not convinced the game will be any fun but it looks like H.R. Giger and Clive Barker decided Doom's hellscapes were too restrained and pedestrian. I'm kind of interested in the look of it, if only because visceral horror isn't something I've seen a lot from video games.

 

[ddrueding]

Thank you for not linking and yet describing so well, because visceral horror isn't something I'm interested in looking at at all.

 

[Mercutio]

We've talked about this before, but there aren't many games that manage to do scary well to any great extent. Doom (the first one) did it and I think a case can be made for System Shock and the original Alone in the Dark. There's tons and tons of horror movies. Why is it so hard to make a video game scary?

 

[snowhiker]

When I played Half-Life single player mods 1000 years ago there were a few fairly scary mods that people had created. But yeah, not a whole lot of options out there.

 

[sedrosken]

I personally find horror in helplessness, and I think it's hard to do that in a game without turning it into a cutscene.

 

[Howell]

Horror is not something I seek out but I agree system shock had some frightful moments.

 

[sedrosken]

Civ VI looks like it's shaping up to be a good one as always, unfortunately as usual nothing I have will run it satisfactorily.

Minimum
OS: Windows 7 64bit / 8.1 64bit / 10 64bit
PROCESSOR: Intel Core i3 2.5 Ghz or AMD Phenom II 2.6 Ghz or greater
MEMORY: 4 GB RAM
HARD DRIVE: 12 GB or more
DVD-ROM: Required for disc-based installation
VIDEO CARD: 1 GB DirectX 11 Video Card (AMD 5570 or nVidia 450)

Recommended
OS: Windows 7 64bit / 8.1 64bit / 10 64bit
PROCESSOR: Fourth generation Intel Core i5 2.5 Ghz or AMD FX8350 4.0 Ghz or greater
MEMORY: 8 GB RAM
HARD DRIVE: 12 GB or more
DVD-ROM: Required for disc-based installation
VIDEO CARD: 2 GB DirectX 11 Video Card (AMD 7970 or nVidia 770 or greater)

Emphasis mine. I think it'd run, or at least I'd be able to coax it to run at minimum settings, but it wouldn't be any fun.

Looks like I'm sticking to Civ 5 for the forseeable future.

 

[ddrueding]

Man, CivV took up so much of my time...

Not saying good or bad, but remind me not to pick up any side work.

 

[Mercutio]

Anyone have a suggestion or opinion for a "gaming keyboard?" My first thought is to just buy one with ridiculous LED illumination. The person asking isn't concerned with mechanical springs and AFAIK the only other thing that influences whether or not a keyboard is for gaming is how many simultaneous keypresses it will report.

 

[sedrosken]

My concerns would be mechanical switches (whether they care or not, they'll likely learn to appreciate the tactile feel), LED backlighting (not necessarily user-definable color but it's good for more e-penis points), and a feature that I think is called n-key rollover (which means more simultaneous keypresses). More fancy keyboards might have macro keys, but IMO the basic 104-key layout with maybe media and volume keys would do just fine for most people.

 

[Stereodude]

Anyone have a suggestion or opinion for a "gaming keyboard?" My first thought is to just buy one with ridiculous LED illumination. The person asking isn't concerned with mechanical springs and AFAIK the only other thing that influences whether or not a keyboard is for gaming is how many simultaneous keypresses it will report.

Don't buy a Razer.

 

[Handruin]

What is the expected budget for this proposed gaming keyboard? All the major players make them now (Corsair, Razor, Logitech, etc) but the prices will be all over the place ranging anywhere from probably $60-$200 depending on how fancy you want to get.

 

[Mercutio]

I was thinking $50. The "don't buy a Razor" comment is helpful since that's the one brand name that specifically came up.
Gamer friend mostly plays LoL and clicky RTSes, but she's already got the fancy mouse of her dreams.

 

[Mercutio]

I'm coming to the realization that adding "Gamer" to hardware really just means "we put funny color LEDs on something so we can charge you five times as much."

 

[Handruin]

I've felt that is true for some of the hardware that's available. I've not specifically purchased a keyboard that was explicitly labeled for gamers so I can't specifically agree/disagree. The "gaming" keyboard I chose is a Duckyshine 3. It has adjustable LEDs and N-Key rollover but it skips on the funky LCD panels, macro keys, and other funky layout add-on pads that some come with.

I'll be interested to see where the Daskeyboard 5Q goes in terms of market it's targeting. I like that they've proposed an open source API for developing for the keyboard but who knows if that might change once it actually ships. It's not exactly in the target market you've asked about but I do find it fun from the perspective of being able to program functionality into those funny colored LEDs.

 

[Stereodude]

Aside from the really small wireless keyboards I was testing with my HTPC I've never seen a keyboard that didn't have sufficient n-key rollover for anything I've been doing, which requires 4. CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+ another key.

 

[Handruin]

Aside from the really small wireless keyboards I was testing with my HTPC I've never seen a keyboard that didn't have sufficient n-key rollover for anything I've been doing, which requires 4. CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+ another key.

Depending on the gamer, you may see more than 4 keys.

 

[sechs]

I'm coming to the realization that adding "Gamer" to hardware really just means "we put funny color LEDs on something so we can charge you five times as much."

I really hate that crap....

 

[sedrosken]

I really hate that crap....

So do I. Not just for the price, though. I prefer simplistic, functional looks. If I absolutely must have LEDs please for the love of god make them white, and dim so I'm not blinded when I look at them. I have nothing against cool-looking stuff, it's just not for me. It screams "Please steal me!" in a college setting, for one.

 

[Stereodude]

No way, ultra bright blue LEDs are cool! :cursin:

 

[LunarMist]

No way, ultra bright blue LEDs are cool! :cursin:

They would be cool to young people. Back in the 70s I had boxes with dozens of colored LED indicators. However, they were all indicating states of digital logic or analog levels of my circuits.
The first LED I bought was around 1972. It was red and rather dim. Unfortunately the leads were very stiff and I broke one off at the base when inserting it into a breadboard.

 

[Mercutio]

I do think it's kind of cool that you can get a $50 keyboard with enough programmable LEDs and the sequencing software to do a respectable light show. I do remember that cheap keyboards had real problems with Descent, so the idea of needing six-key rollover doesn't seem completely out of the question to me. To me, that's the only thing that would be a required "gaming" feature and I can't say for sure if a standard $20 Logitech-whatever has it or if I actually need the lightshow one.

 

[Chewy509]

To me, that's the only thing that would be a required "gaming" feature and I can't say for sure if a standard $20 Logitech-whatever has it or if I actually need the lightshow one.

Hard to say with Logitech, as they seem very shallow about their specifications/limitations...

And unfortunately, most reviews that go over the NKRO issue in detail are over 5 years old, during the time when most keyboards dumped PS/2 support.

I do know that all DasKeyboard's are advertised as NKRO, and I can confirm personally that both the DasKeyboard 3 and 4 (I have the 3-Pro in the office, and use the 4-Pro at home) are true NKRO keyboards. (well at least 8 key).

I did find the following that may be helpful in determining suitable keyboards:
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1185198-Keyboard-anti-ghosting-(NKRO)-list
and
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/wiki/nkro

If looking at Logitech, then most newer G-Series are, but the K are not...

 

[Chewy509]

Ol'e times: Doom3 BFG in VR (via HTC Vive).

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/new-mod-successfully-brings-doom-3-to-virtual-reality

 

[sedrosken]

Speaking of Doom 3, I spent a hell of a time (pun definitely intended) getting the Dhewm3 source port to build on my Cloudbook. Had issues packing the data up in a way that it liked. At first I thought all was for naught as it ran poorly even at 640x480 but then I found it had advanced rendering options turned on. Turning them off took me back to 2002 in a bad way, but the game runs great even at full 720p now.

Another game I've been playing lately is Stardew Valley. It's an indie game so it's no surprise that it runs well on the craptop. It's a nice time waster, the soundtrack is beautiful.

 

[sedrosken]

Asheron's Call closes down on Jan. 31st. It's a little amazing to see the activity that's cropped up in the community, both trying to save the game we have today, and those trying to resurrect a dead server emulator project for the 2004-era game. I don't know which camp I fall into yet, I like both versions, but I see the emulation effort as the most likely to succeed (not that that says much, they're both pretty likely to fail IMO).

 

[snowhiker]

Asheron's Call closes down on Jan. 31st.

There will always be a soft spot in my heart for AC. Started playing in 2001 with some friends and eventually quit in 2007 when everybody was leaving for other MMOs. MMOs are just dumbed down so much now they just aren't worth playing.

 

[ddrueding]

MMOs are just dumbed down so much now they just aren't worth playing.

<cough>EveOnline</cough>

 

[sedrosken]

There will always be a soft spot in my heart for AC. Started playing in 2001 with some friends and eventually quit in 2007 when everybody was leaving for other MMOs. MMOs are just dumbed down so much now they just aren't worth playing.

I actually started playing in 2007 and played on and off since then, my dad having played since late beta and my mom since not long after release. Both of them quit sometime in 2014. I just wasn't old enough to play before then and it could very well have been argued that I still wasn't old enough when I did. One of my only regrets is not having the mental capacity to play the game in it's heyday, I always get the feeling that the game was much better then than it was when I was able to play. One of my fondest memories of my early childhood is watching my dad hunt out in the Obsidian Plains, where he stayed for years stagnating in the high 130s before he got with the program. Not a single one of us got to max level, Dad got the closest out of all of us (being 262 as of 2014) and I was second closest at 240. Mom only ever got to about 170. Levels after about 180 are mostly cosmetic, though -- between Dad and I my character was probably the more powerful of the two, being slightly better geared out. We both played War mages (we both started as War/Life spec with no Melee Defense, that changed pretty quickly for me but he only respec'd in 2010 when I did.) and Mom played a bow hunter. We all played on Morningthaw, my dad as Arklin and I as Megithor, as this was before I took the 'sedrosken' name. Mom went either by Fatal Blossom or Linsa. I had a brief stint on Darktide but the acidic attitudes of the people that inhabit that server got to me and I was never very good at PvP anyway.

Who did you go by, on what server? I concur with you on your thoughts of other MMOs, nothing can captivate me like AC did.

 

[Handruin]

I've been playing a bunch of Factorio recently. I find it rather addicting and a lot of fun to optimize things as well as work together with friends during a coop game. There's a free demo for anyone who might be interested and it's available from GoG (DRM free) if Steam isn't your thing.

About the game

Factorio is a game in which you build and maintain factories.

You will be mining resources, researching technologies, building infrastructure, automating production and fighting enemies. Use your imagination to design your factory, combine simple elements into ingenious structures, apply management skills to keep it working, and protect it from the creatures who don't really like you.

The game is very stable and optimized for building massive factories. You can create your own maps, write mods in Lua, or play with friends via Multiplayer.

 

[sedrosken]

Lots of emulator activity on the Asheron's Call front, lots of drama and stuff. If you cared about it at all you probably already know. I'm running a local server myself, I always was the lone-wolf type who played exotic builds that weren't necessarily the best at anything but were good at surviving on their own.

Also, this. I was shocked to see GTA4 and Liberty City Stories show up in my Steam queue.