Doom 3 and Half-Life 2.....Time to switch to PC Gaming?

[Anthony1]

With the arrival of Doom 3, and Half-Life 2, the thought of switching over to PC Gaming for a brief period of time has popped into my head.

I've always been a console gamer. But there was a 2 year period of time where I switched from being a console gamer to a PC Gamer. It happened in very late 1996. 3DFX video cards were on the scene, and with the Sidewinder gamepad, the PC was turned into a Super Duper console. Although I still played my N64 and PS1, I slowly but surely ended up becoming a PC Gamer. Games like Unreal and Half Life became an obsession for me. Then when the Dreamcast came out, I switched back to console games.

Anyways, I was just starting to think that maybe now is one of those times again. For whatever reason I just don't have this excitement to play XBOX and Cube games. (I don't have a PS2)

The prospect of DOOM 3 and Half-Life 2 really excite me. I would need to upgrade my PC, but that is kindof fun to do as well. The price of a 2.8 GHZ P4 has dropped quite a bit recently. There are some really kick ass Radeon video cards that can be had for about $150 to $200.

The downside is that I would basically be spending about $500 bucks to get my PC ready for games like DOOM 3 and Half-Life. That's alot of dough to spend, just to be able to play 2 particular games the way they were meant to be played.

But the plus side is, that I would basically be experiencing what the XBOX 2 and PS3 are going to be like more than 14 months before I will be able to play those actual machines.

Running a game like Doom 3 with all the effects turned on, in a super high resolution mode, will be pretty freaking incredible!

Of course, I must admit that this is just the ramblings of a early adopter type. I've always been the type that wants the absolutely latest and greatest video/audio experience.

I'm just thinking that in late 2004, the best audio/visual gaming experiences will be on the PC.

Yeah, that might only be the case for 12 months. Both the XBOX 2 and PS3 could arrive in December of 2005. But it will take those systems about 6 months to really get going.

One of the big downsides to PC gaming though, is the fact that the developers still try to allow people with underpowered PC's to still be able to play the games.

That is why the XBOX 2 and PS3 will be so much better. They don't have to worry about the lowest common denominator being able to run the game on their system.

But when a game does come out, that is fully focused on using every little ounce of power in a PC (ala Doom 3 and Half-Life 2), it can get really, really impressive.


Anyways, all this talk is much ado about nothing, because I'll likely just keep playing my Saturn and Super Nes and Sega CD and stuff like that.

So F it all anyways!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Drexel923]

Doom 3 is also coming to the Xbox and only God knows when HL2 is going to come out. I agree that both look sweet, but I wouldn't drop 200 on a video card when I could pay 50 and play it on Xbox.

[StrychNiNE]

Doom 3 WILL NOT look as good on an XBOX as it does on a PC, first of all. Second of all, its not like they're going to stop making good computer games with high system requirements any time soon, so I don't think you're really just spending 500 bucks on 2 games. A computer is much more than a game console anyway, and I'm sure that down the line there will be other games that you will want to play.

[Drexel923]

Doom 3 WILL NOT look as good on an XBOX as it does on a PC, first of all. Second of all, its not like they're going to stop making good computer games with high system requirements any time soon, so I don't think you're really just spending 500 bucks on 2 games. A computer is much more than a game console anyway, and I'm sure that down the line there will be other games that you will want to play.

Well thats obvious, he just made it sound like he was going to spend all that money for just two games. And I doubt Doom 3 will look so much better to warrent spending all that money (once again, if he's only interested in 2 games).

[SoulBlazer]

There's no reason, on God's green Earth, that you can't do BOTH, like I have for the last 20 years. ;)

Just check my sig!

[Anthony1]

If I did it, it wouldn't just be for those 2 games, but those 2 games definitely would be the primariy incentive to do it.

As for Doom 3 being on XBOX, yes, I know that it's coming to the XBOX, but I've heard that the PC version will be available for as much as 6 months earlier than the XBOX version. So that is a factor to consider. Not wanting to wait so long is a factor. Also, I imagine that Doom 3 will be somewhat watered down on the XBOX. They might also do a version of Doom 3 for XBOX 2, that would be ready on launch day for the XBOX 2. Now that version would probably be very close to the original PC version, if not even better. But I imagine that the XBOX version will be late and slightly watered down.

[Ed Oscuro]

DOOM 3, from what I've seen, does not look like a good reason to drop $200 on a video card, or upgrade your PC. They really need to do something about those childish/devilish designs. I'm a fan of adrenaline, highspeed gaming, not this slower paced stuff, anyway.

Half-Life 2 might be another story. If you ask me, though, the PC games to get will be Painkiller and possibly Unreal 2K4.

[calthaer]

The glory days of PC gaming ended long ago. Most of the best reasons to play on a PC are all older. I was never a big fan of Quake / Doom, and Unreal 2 was mediocre at best. Maybe HL2 will live up to its hype, but who knows. The PC games I get are few and far between, although lately I've been scrambling to get a few titles that are becoming somewhat rare (and are going for a decent amount on eBay - like the Heroes of Might & Magic IV games / expansions and the Might & Magic collections...now that 3DO is gone).

[IntvGene]

Meh... :o More First Person Shooters with pretty hi-res graphics.

My friend upgraded his computer in the fall with anticipation of playing HL2... he's still waiting, and could have used that money for alot of other things right now. If you're really serious, wait until the games are physically in your hands.. you know their release dates aren't to be believed.

[buttasuperb]

Plenty of great reasons to play PC games for me

Age of Empires 2
Empire Earth
Unreal Tournament 2003/2004 (soon)
Delta Force Series
Battlefield 1942
Battlefield Vietnam (soon)

PC games have always had a spot in my gaming time.

[hezeuschrist]

Can't think of a better time to buy a new PC anyways, you can get a Radeon 9800 Pro (which still outperforms all but the 9800XT) for a mere $240, and you'll be able sit on that for quite some time... or if you went with either the 9800xt(beastly $500) or the 9600xt(mere$170, much less performance), you get a coupon for a free copy of HL2 for when it's released. And the Athlon 64 3000+ (absolute best quality for the price range, especially in gaming) should be coming down in price by the end of the month.

I don't know if you have an Xbox, but recent PC greats are the UT2k4 Demo, Star Wars: KotoR, and FFXI, just to name a few. Also, WC3 is still huge and you can ALWAYS find a great game of CS in my sig ;) I know the first things I'll be running on my system (if it ever shows up :angry: ) will be the Vana'Diel Bench 2 (FFXI), and the UT2k4 demo. Both should push the limits pretty well, then I can go out and snag a copy of KotoR and finally play that in all its 19" 2056 reso aa/af glory!

[Satan Claus]

Just wait until those games are released - maybe they suck (happend with Black'n'White). And the hardware will be cheaper,too :)

[Anthony1]

Yeah, I've decided to wait until both Doom 3 and Half Life 2 are actually on store shelves.

[WiseSalesman]

The glory days of PC gaming ended long ago. Most of the best reasons to play on a PC are all older. I was never a big fan of Quake / Doom, and Unreal 2 was mediocre at best. Maybe HL2 will live up to its hype, but who knows. The PC games I get are few and far between, although lately I've been scrambling to get a few titles that are becoming somewhat rare (and are going for a decent amount on eBay - like the Heroes of Might & Magic IV games / expansions and the Might & Magic collections...now that 3DO is gone).

You can't stop playing new PC Games yet, Calthaer! The new Freedom Force is coming! "FOR FREEDOM!"

[Fatghost28]

There's a lot of good stuff on the PC, but there's also some big gaps too: some genres (like fighting games) are non existant on PC.

I don't think anyone can have a complete gaming experience without being both a console and PC gamer.

[calthaer]

You can't stop playing new PC Games yet, Calthaer! The new Freedom Force is coming! "FOR FREEDOM!"

You are quite correct! How could I forget about this one? It's certainly one I'm going to check out...I'm still going to wait and see & read reviews, though. After Ion Storm butchered the Deus Ex series with its second installment, I've become much more cynical about the quality of recent PC games.

I still say PC games were better before the widespread use of the internet made it possible for all the devs to patch up their shoddy game after release (and sometimes not even then).

[Schenley]

Anthony1: Good post!

I've come the other direction. I started PC gaming in the early 90s with Doom, Duke Nukem and Shadow Warrior (http://www.3drealms.com/sw/). You can't go wrong with a main character like Lo Wang! Shadow Warrior was (and still is) one of my favorite experiences in gaming. I can remember setting up LAN parties to play this against friends, and we had a BLAST! What a pain in the ass that was to set up. We were using the IPX protocol and had to troubleshoot EVERY time we hooked up the computers. This was before the internet changed multiplayer gaming forever.

Along the way, such PC games as Grim Fandango (http://www.lucasarts.com/products/grim/default.htm), Redneck Rampage (http://www.mobygames.com/game/sheet/gameId,936/), Kingpin (http://www.planetkingpin.com), QuakeII (enjoyed it more than QuakeIII, the entire EA Sports NHL series (since 1995), Half Life, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and Max Payne have all held my attention for many weeks at a time... Half Life was probably the most satisfying game I've ever played - I played it single player tile I finished it (a good couple of weeks), then played multiplayer for months on end, and then went back and played the single player expansion pack, Opposing Force - this was awesome because you followed the same story / plotline, only this time you play as a soldier sent in to kill the guy you played the first time! How cool was it in multiplayer to spray paint your 'logo' on someone's dead body? I am eagerly anticipating HL2!

I have just recently gotten into console gaming because I've become nostalgic in my old age (35 :P ) and want to relieve the 80s..

The problem I've discovered with PC gaming, is it's such a pain in the ass to try and play the older games on a current PC. I recently tried to install Grim Fandango, and I had to create a Win98 partition just to get it to work - wouldn't work at all in XP. I recently picked up DukeNukem on the N64, and there's definitely something to be said for just simply plugging in a cartridge as opposed to installing the game, updating your video card driver, installing patches. But, on the other hand, it's much more complicated to control FPSers with a N64 controller! I'd much rather have a keyboard and mouse!

If you have the chance, and have never seen them, I recommend checking out Grim Fandango and Shadow Warrior... if you can get them to run on a current computer! LOL

[Schenley]

I still say PC games were better before the widespread use of the internet made it possible for all the devs to patch up their shoddy game after release (and sometimes not even then).
This is VERY true. There is definitely a level of quality that is missing, because they know they can rely on putting a patch up on the 'net.

[Ed Oscuro]

You can't stop playing new PC Games yet, Calthaer! The new Freedom Force is coming! "FOR FREEDOM!"

Hey, that was one I missed the first time around. How fun!

[Raedon]

I've always been both.. Back around the SNES days the console had more power but after the N64 my computer has been the center of more then half my gaming moments thanks to Half-Life, Everquest and UT... and Everquest..

[Ed Oscuro]

I still say PC games were better before the widespread use of the internet made it possible for all the devs to patch up their shoddy game after release (and sometimes not even then).
This is VERY true. There is definitely a level of quality that is missing, because they know they can rely on putting a patch up on the 'net.

That works both ways. A game that's getting on in age (BattleZone, '98, really awesome arcade/shooter/RTS game) had a content patch back in...I want to say 2001/2002? A couple years after it was finished. Other games like Quake 2/3 had patches released years after they were finished, as well, and look at Half-Life...LOTS of bugfixes over the years, it's not quite a whole new game but it's getting there. Back in the day when a game was done it was finished. There was no chance to fix it, or update anything.

I find it sad to think how much content has been scrapped over the years as "We won't be able to polish it up by the release" mentality caused countless devs to err on the side of caution and thus scrap good ideas that could've made average games great or legendary games even better.

[calthaer]

Barring some extreme examples of content being chopped because of an impending release (Ultimas 8 & 9 come to mind), it doesn't always follow that a longer time in development means a better game. It's one thing to add on to or perfect a work after it's been released in a playable and enjoyable state - it's quite another just to release garbage and expect the gaming public to buy it.

One of the PC's big problems right now is the fact that there are a bunch of games that won't even run - let alone embody good gameplay. I, for one, never used to have that fear about PC games back in the days when games were running on MS DOS 6.22 with DOS4GW. Nowadays, I only trust Blizzard to release a quality game. Sure, Blizzard tweaks their games ad nauseum and makes them better, more balanced.

You're right, and I'm not disagreeing that it "works both ways." The thing is that this tension or fear that something is not even going to run is completely unacceptable, and has had a deleterious effect on the PC game industry as a whole. There are some great titles for the PC that just aren't recognized because the market isn't as big, because people aren't paying attention. Things like Moonbase Commander - if that thing had been released on PS2, people would be snatching up that game left and right. It's really fun and really simple. As it stands, it's just another PC game that is going to slip into obscurity because it wasn't the latest and greatest FPS or RTS to come on the scene.

[SoulBlazer]

While I disagree about the current state of PC gaming -- I still buy many PC games -- it is true that many gems and good games go unoticed unless they are hyped to death (like Morrowind, which at least deserved it).

[TheSmirk]

There's no reason, on God's green Earth, that you can't do BOTH, like I have for the last 20 years. ;)

Just check my sig!

I'm with ya, SoulBlazer :rocker:

It is tough to keep up sometimes when there is hardware leaps on PC, and consoles are a bit easier to get going on but PC gaming has always been side by side with the consoles in my life

[SoulBlazer]

Not to mention that since PC gaming does'nt get the coverage or sales that console games do it's a LOT easier to let the great games slip by unoticed. Every time I go into my local EB or any other store that sells PC games I'll look over all of them VERY carefully, pulling out boxes and reading information on them, making sure I have'nt missed anything. :) I also get e-mail updates from several mailing lists and major companies to help keep me advised on just released PC games.