and how i always want someone to start on this topic
Ahhhh…those were the days… those pixelated beeping DOS monsters… the sleepless nights…configuring the irqs the dmas…and praying that the game will somehow work… and hopefully with the sound…
this is the very reason of my existence in this computer industry:)
i still do play some DOS games like stargunner on emulators, not only because it makes me nostalgic but for the sheer gameplay that we’d lost…but thanks to penny arcade games on xbox they’re back. And one can get all those ‘Abandonware’, as theyre lovingly called, from websites like www.the-underdogs.info/
Although todays computer games have no doubt surpassed the my wildest of dreams of how this industry will turn out to be… but i still reminisce the good old days of those DOS beepers…i guess we had run into a bad era of gaming somewhere around 2000 where the focus shifted from gameplay to graphics(none the less, there were a few good games always)…but today we’re in best phase i could think off…awesome graphics and gameplay too…games like HL2, Bioshock, Oblivion…COD4…they just make your jaws drop in disbelief…i consider myself as some very lucky people in india to experience these titles and in full glory…
I sadly never owned any gfx card back then, cause it was unheard of in india…although today im a proud owner of an 8800GT which i had to import from USA(courtesy a good friend), due to its ridiculously prohibitive pricing in India, just like in Argentina. I wish the hardware along with the games be a little cheap out here.
BTW Jeff i think you should start writing a little more on games. We would love to read that also
i will have to second on alex post…graphic cards are also so expensive here in egypt , iam still using the old AGP fx5200 !!!..also the most modern graphics card i heard about was geForce 8800 which one of my friends got from emirates
I’ve had a few of those cards you mentioned and I too found it amazing going from 3D software to hardware. The first game I did that with was Quake 2 which went from a so-so graphical experience to a kick ass experience.
I never buy top of the line when I get video cards, I always buy a couple models down… it may not be the fastest card on the block, but it’s often $100 or more cheaper and with only minor performance differences. To a cheap bastard like me, that’s worth it.
Need to get a new video card now that I’m thinking about it… don’t have PCI Express though, so it somewhat limits what I can do these days w/o upgrading my mobo and processor and ram… which I’d like to avoid for another year or two.
I wish I had the money for something better than a shitty Geforce 7300 :(. In Argentina video cards are ridiculously expensive, they cost nearly twice as much as in the US, so you need at least 1000 dollars for a GTX 280 and 550 dollars for a GTX 260 :(. This is why there is no SLI or Crossfire over here, in fact, owning anything better than integrated crap is a luxury for the rich. Over here a Geforce 8800 is high-end, I AM NOT KIDDING (I don’t think it’s still high-end in the US, right? It’s two series behind.)
It’s the same in Brazil. I (actually my brother who still live at my parents house) own a GeForce 8600GT, and that is high-end for our standards. I can even play Fallout 3! Well not in the same Capital Wasteland as yours Jeff.
Anyway. Eletronics in general are really expensive here and now that the dollar skyrocket it’s value we are pretty much screwed. I’m on my second year of Computer Science and during the first year I didn’t even had a computer, my dad had to save money so he could buy it.
I was planning on buying myself a PSP on christmas after saving for 5 months, needless to say I gave up the idea. Thank you US, I hate you.
Interesting screenshot of the game. The ground textures don’t look as detailed as they do on my PS3. Do they have a comparison between the games graphics on those two platforms?
I’m Matt, and it’s been 3 years since my last video card upgrade.
Why must you tempt us with such sweet juicy graphic power!! Now I have to find a way to justify spending more on a video card than on an entire game console system…
Matt Dubs on November 11, 2008 05:59 AM
Matt’s comment points out exactly why I don’t do more pc gaming, I just can’t afford it. I’ve always been more of a console gamer. I’m weird like that almost everybody else I know who codes is a pc gamer. I just couldn’t justify $2000 dollar gaming rigs and $600 graphics cards. I’ve been able to get an enjoyable gaming experience on my xbox 360 and ps3 for much less with out spending that much dough. Console gaming is much simpler too. I can just pop a game in and go without worrying about having the latest driver updates for the graphic card or any of that other madness.
There is no faster or surer way to get me to tune out of a conversation than by talking about video cards. I’m still rocking whatever came in my 2003-era Dell, and I do not know or really care what it is.
I am a programmer, but a stranger in this land. I’ve just never been a hardware geek at all; I don’t care what’s in the box as long as it’s serving my purposes without dragging.
Of course, this is the list of PC games I have played: Dark Forces, One Must Fall 2097, Myst, Riven, MegaZeux…
How does the removal of half the back plate affect the physical stability of the card in respect to the case? Does it wobble a lot more than it did pre-mod? It seems like removing that much metal would significantly decrease stability.
Be very careful about selling your computer hardware on ebay to non US citizens. That could very well be an ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) violation, and could get one in significant amounts of trouble should the government take notice.
I remember the first time I played Space Quest with only a CGA card but a color monitor – Sierra cheated quite well to have 4 colors almost look like those magical 16 EGA colors.
Now that was some graphics experience!
Compare that to Monkey Island in black, white, cyan and magenta.
So anyway, what’s that 3D thing you talk about?
They look awesome, but you need the most advanced graphics card with a customized setup to get them to achieve high quality and good performance. I’ve also heard the claim that Gamebryo tends to be CPU intensive, any experiences with Fallout 3 or Oblivion that would counter or support that claim?
so does this mean you’re going to play World of Warcraft now??
As I said in my earlier post, Fallout 3 (and Oblivion) were written using the Gamebryo game engine, which is why they look so good.
World of Warcraft uses a proprietary engine, that was developed by Blizzard (and is used in Warcraft 3), and it’s intentionally lower quality to ensure it will run on lower end systems.
So, assuming Jeff wants to play games that look like Fallout 3 did, WoW is not one of them (plus Kaplan is a jerk).
You used to meet the best people on USENET. Once, I posted on alt.games.duke3d to ask about a bug in the Build level editor. I got a reply from none other than The Levelord, Duke Nukem 3D’s level designer, saying We never solved it either.
( or at least a geeky game that doesnt need an expensive vga )