New Games/General Gaming

[Clitherover]

Yeah, I'm getting it as soon as I've updated my graphics card. I believe they've dropped the multiplayer element that was in the second game so I reckon that ties in to changing developers like you say. I'm glad there's no multiplayer as it was crap in the second one and I remember it winding me up as half of the ps3 trophies were from multiplayer achievements so I just sacked it off in the end.

[Biddy]

I've got a pre-order code for Infinite just waiting for it to be released. Like you I need to get myself a new graphics card as Sim City told me "Even though you have a new card, it's @#/?" or words to that effect

[M-K]

I can vouch for the GTX 670 as a good graphics card. I've got one of those and it runs Sim City really nicely on maximum settings, plus almost anything else I've thrown at it. Battlefield 3 gets 60 fps with everything except antialiasing maxed out.

There's the odd exception. Arma 2 - that's 25 fps and it looks terrible. Also the preorder bonus for Bioshock Infinite was a copy of Bioshock 1, and it barely runs. When it doesn't crash on launch, it's maybe 5 fps. Probably a Windows 8 problem rather than anything to do with the hardware.

[Biddy]

I bet it can handle everything, it costs more than an XBox and a PS3 together!!! Bit out of my price bracket.

[M-K]

It's about the same as an Xbox cost when they were new, and a lot less than a PS3 was, so not exactly outrageous when you consider it outperforms a PS4. That's how I justify it to myself anyway.

Bioshock finally unlocked but now it's too late to play. I ran the benchmark utility though and it averaged 65 fps on 'Ultra DX11 with diffusion depth of field' at 1920x1200 resolution.

edit: Just tried it on 'very low' settings at the same resolution and it still looks great (218 fps) so it's not a game that's going to require a graphics card upgrade.

I'm totally enjoying this PC gaming thing - never owned one before, the last games computer I had was an Amiga.

Edited March 25, 2013 by M-K

[Biddy]

Hmm, definitely need a new GPU, I get about 10fps in the benchmarks unless I turn everything off

[M-K]

What kind of card have you got?

Even if you switch everything off I don't think you're missing out on much. As far as my two runs of the benchmark go, I wasn't exactly amazed by how it looked on Ultra or shocked by how it was on very low. It has that familiar Unreal Engine look - it's definitely not something like Crysis, where you get a huge increase in quality (and hardware requirements) when you turn up the settings. It just gets a bit sharper and less jaggy.

[Biddy]

Yeah, I've just gone through all the benchmarks and the best I get is an overall average of 16.15 on "Very Low" As you say though, visually there wasn't that much you would notice in game between the Ultra and Very Low settings.

I only have a lowly GTX 520 as I stopped gaming on my PC a few years ago as everything just worked on PS3 and XBOX. I'm now getting a bit more back into it as the Kids have the TV 24/7 so was thinking of spending a little more on a semi decent card. Currently looking at the GTX660. Can't stretch to a TI unfortunately and the 670 is WAY out of my price bracket. Some places have mentioned the AMD 7870 (I think it was) as a rival to the 660 but there seems to be pro's and con's to both (plus I've always been a bit of an nvidia person)

[M-K]

Well, I suppose 16 fps is basically unplayable. The 660 should be pretty good. A massive difference from the 520 anyway!

I only got the 670 because I was looking at upgrading my 2004 vintage iMac, and had budgeted for a new one of those. But then Apple decided to glue the case together so you can't ever upgrade the RAM or hard drive, and remove the disc drive so I can't copy all the CDs I buy to iTunes.

So for the price of a new iMac I got a much higher spec PC, installed Mac OSX on it, and there's the added bonus of being able to run Windows games now.

[Biddy]

Nice. Got my new graphics card today (haven't plugged it in yet) and it came with a code for Assassins Creed 3 for free. now I have far too much to play that I never have time for.

[davulsukur]

I know its not a new game but a friend lent me the orange box for the 360. Half life 2 is an absolute classic game. Had it on the pc when it was first released but haven't played it in years.

[Biddy]

LMAO, played for about 30 minutes and my computer died. just suddenly dead which is odd as our house electric normally trips the second someone farts oddly near a plug socket but that didn't blow. I had to leave it for a while and unplug it but it's back on now. I hate PC gaming! PSU should have been ok as its 550W Gigabyte Odin and I've only got 2 small hard drives and 1 dvd writer so I wouldn't have thought I'd have hit the max.

[CapeTownRover]

All i have is a AMD Radeon HD 6770 gfx card i think. Lol. Not sure if that can handle anything lol

[Biddy]

Great deal (I think anyway) on Steam until 1st April for the Grand Theft Auto Complete
Includes 7 items: Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto 2, Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City

Only £8.74

Think I'll be having a bit of that, even though I've played most of them.

[redroses]

Bought Tomb raider for ps3 yesterday from Grainger games online. They will price match any real online price and beat it by a quid plus you can pay online and pick it up in store. I price matched them to amazon and got it for 25.99

[Tom]

But on the downside you had to go into a grainger games

[cmb211087]

It was £20 on PSN this weekend

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a469459/tomb-raider-available-for-gbp20-on-psn-until-easter-sunday.html

[adopted scouser]

Finished Bioshock 1 and 2. Just bought Infinite from Asda

[donnermeat]

Finished Bioshock 1 and 2. Just bought Infinite from Asda

It's a masterpiece.

[redroses]

It was £20 on PSN this weekend

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a469459/tomb-raider-available-for-gbp20-on-psn-until-easter-sunday.html

now that was a good deal but you can't sell it on as you've nothing to sell. Worth twenty quid though if that's all you have to spend

[Tom]

Digital distribution has never appealed to me but things like the Max Payne deal last month are exactly how it should be used

No way would I pay the same for a download as I would for a physical copy but make it much cheaper and you have yourself a deal

[Biddy]

Agreed. That's why I got Bioshock Infinite on steam instead of console. The pre-order deal was £23.99 which included Bioshock 1, Civilization 5, and X-Com. Fantastic price for a fantastic game plus 3 others!

[davulsukur]

Is Bioshock infinite as good as people say it is?

[adopted scouser]

Is Bioshock infinite as good as people say it is?

Yes, beautiful to look at but sinister undertones

[donnermeat]

Has anyone heard this rumour?

http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/27/xbox-720-ea-microsoft-to-announce-exclusivity-deal-at-april-reveal-rumour/

Apparently EA and Microsoft might be signing an exclusivity agreement.....