Out of touch gamer wants to get back in the saddle

[mcharley94]

I haven't played much in the last 7 years but I just built a new system and am looking to start gaming again. When I was last into it I mostly liked FPS and simulators.

Some of my favs were Combat Flight Simulator 1 & 2, Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem, any of the Tom Clancy games, Need For Speed.....you get the idea (dating myself here aren't I?). I wasn't really into the D&D style games, I like the in your face action, especially the war and race games.

You can see to the left my system specs. I am assuming it would be to my advantage to repartition my drive and install XP as well to accommodate the games that will not run under Vista, eh?

Looking for some suggestions as to what games to consider based on my taste and whats out there now.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[bruiser]

You'd probably like the Half Life series, Call Of Duty, and Medal Of Honor. Return to Castle Wolfenstein is still good.

[tmodel1937]

What bruiser said, also I like both iterations of FEAR, and Doom3. FEAR really is good. You may note that my nick is actually my birth year, 70 and still playing shooters, love em.

[mcharley94]

Originally Posted by tmodel1937

What bruiser said, also I like both iterations of FEAR, and Doom3. FEAR really is good. You may note that my nick is actually my birth year, 70 and still playing shooters, love em.

Keeps you on your toes, eh tmodel?...LOL I am only 44, but I don't like to count the years I wasted on my previous marriage so I'm still young at heart and love adventure/action. I can only hope I still do at 70

I am familiar with COD MOH, Bruiser as I have PS2 but not familiar with half life, though I have heard of it. I am also familiar with the original Wolfenstein, the father of first shooters if I am not mistaken, but not the version you mention.

Is Doom3 the version that takes place on Mars, if so I recall playing a demo once at a cyber cafe.

I just ordered MCFS3 as I love the warplane games and I hope it plays well on at least XP. MCFS and MCFS2-Pacific Theater didn't fair well when XP came out (at least not on my systems) so I stopped playing them. I recall playing another air combat game on PS2 this past winter that I really enjoyed, Secret Weapons Over Normandy. IThat was right up my alley.

Good tips guys, Thanks...keep em coming

[mcharley94]

In regards to the COD and MOH type games...are they any different than the PS2 versions, meaning better or worse or even different for that matter?

[Nik00117]

Your 7300GT is holding you back.

[mcharley94]

Originally Posted by Nik00117

Your 7300GT is holding you back.

Yeah, I am guessing you are right as it is the lowest number on my performance score, but for US $75 I felt it was a good sacrifice allowing me to spring the extra bucks for the E6600.

I downloaded and played F.E.A.R. Extraction Point demo last night and it worked without any visible issues, but maybe the full version is more demanding?

Guess I'll deal with that if and when it becomes a problem. I own the card now, I don't want it sitting on a shelf collecting dust. What if in the future I get another 7300GT card and use the SLI option, would that help or would it still be a bottleneck I wonder? What would happen if I got a different SLI card and paired them up, is that a bad idea or is that not even feasible?

[tmodel1937]

Originally Posted by mcharley94

Yeah, I am guessing you are right as it is the lowest number on my performance score, but for US $75 I felt it was a good sacrifice allowing me to spring the extra bucks for the E6600.

I downloaded and played F.E.A.R. Extraction Point demo last night and it worked without any visible issues, but maybe the full version is more demanding?

Guess I'll deal with that if and when it becomes a problem. I own the card now, I don't want it sitting on a shelf collecting dust. What if in the future I get another 7300GT card and use the SLI option, would that help or would it still be a bottleneck I wonder? What would happen if I got a different SLI card and paired them up, is that a bad idea or is that not even feasible?

Run FEAR at its hardest setting and it will be hard enough. I have played FEAR with a 6600GT with no issues at all. If you own a SLI capable mobo board and 2 SLI capable GPU's, it will be better as a pair, whatever They are.
Half Life and half Life2 rock. I still play them, after all this time, they are addictive and challenging.

[mcharley94]

Yeah, before I ever even played I went in and tweeked all the settings to high (accept music which I always shut off) and all seemed to work flawlessly. My board is SLI capable but I am only using one ATM.

So you are saying I can use two different video cards and this should not be an issue? Is this a case where it will only run as fast as the slowest card like RAM or will it work in combination of the two would be my next question, not that this is the right place to ask

[1 g0t 0wn3d]

Download fear combat its the free version that is only mutiplayer.

[1 g0t 0wn3d]

They have to be the same card to combine speed.

[mcharley94]

Originally Posted by 1 g0t 0wn3d

They have to be the same card to combine speed.

Thanks...downloading F.E.A.R. Combat now

[Nik00117]

Yeah, I am guessing you are right as it is the lowest number on my performance score, but for US $75 I felt it was a good sacrifice allowing me to spring the extra bucks for the E6600.

I downloaded and played F.E.A.R. Extraction Point demo last night and it worked without any visible issues, but maybe the full version is more demanding?

Guess I'll deal with that if and when it becomes a problem. I own the card now, I don't want it sitting on a shelf collecting dust. What if in the future I get another 7300GT card and use the SLI option, would that help or would it still be a bottleneck I wonder? What would happen if I got a different SLI card and paired them up, is that a bad idea or is that not even feasible?

When did you buy this? The 7600GT I have running for me costs about 90 bucks.

[mcharley94]

Originally Posted by Nik00117

When did you buy this? The 7600GT I have running for me costs about 90 bucks.

Just under 2 months ago from Newegg.com. I paid $76.99 back then and it is now $77.99 but are now offering a $10 MIR

I see yours is an EVGA...mine is a Gigabyte

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125036

[1 g0t 0wn3d]

What is your price range we would be glad to fid you the best card for that since your psu is good.

[br31d]

go for WoW, best game around...but you better make sure your life is not going any where, cause it will take you down with EASE..VERRY VERRY fun tho...get WoW and then get the burning crusade and have a blast

[mcharley94]

Originally Posted by 1 g0t 0wn3d

What is your price range we would be glad to fid you the best card for that since your psu is good.

I appreciate the offer and maybe in the near future I will take ya'll up on this but for now the card I have seems to be working fine...this may change though.

Originally Posted by br31d

go for WoW, best game around...but you better make sure your life is not going any where, cause it will take you down with EASE..VERRY VERRY fun tho...get WoW and then get the burning crusade and have a blast

Today at a friendly gathering a few friends convinced me to install WOW and give it a whirl. I had three guys, all middle aged professionals talking me in circles as they showed me the way around the game. It was all coming at me so fast I think most of it blew right by me

They and several others all meet up one night a week (which is all the wives will tolerate ) and play for a few hours. They've been doing this for a few years now and have tried in the past to get me on board but when they found out I built a new system they finally hogtied me and took me upstairs to show me the game.

I guess I will give it a go, but it sure seems like a lot to take in. I was overwhelmed with info...maybe it was just too much to process all at once and it is not all that difficult? Guess we'll see.

Any tips on where I might find some good reading on the game that would give me a boost would be appreciated.

[bruiser]

I forgot about this shooter: Far Cry. If you like to shoot and blow things up, this one is good.

[Belicose]

I have no idea if it will run on Vista, but the multiplayer version of Pariah is a blast, especially the CTF maps. The game is pretty cheap now and it requires a patch to access multiplayer, but well worth the effort. Frag on!