All promising PC games for 2006? Somebody made a list.

[Ed Oscuro]

http://www.adrianwerner.neostrada.pl/1/final.htm

My eyes have been blinded by an unending parade of goodness. Note that every game is represented by a screenshot, so if you're on 56K it'll take a while to load.

From the game with graphics that look JUST like Zelda: The Wind Waker, to Voodoo Nights, and the adventure game Scratches (on a hunch I downloaded it), this looks like an extremely exciting year for PC gaming.

[THATinkjar]

I just ordered my new desktop this week, and I've really bought the best money can buy. This will be a great year for PC gaming, I feel, which is why I felt the need to kit myself out accordingly.

I'm probably most looking forward to playing Unreal Tournament 2007, toying with Windows Vista and replaying games such as Half-Life 2 and F.E.A.R in all their intended glory.

Yum :)

[Ed Oscuro]

Did you buy that 4-GPU Dell XPS?

(well, it's not out yet LOL )

Anyhow, finished up the Scratches demo. Very interesting, if not terribly dynamic. It was also very short. :(

[THATinkjar]

Did you buy that 4-GPU Dell XPS?

(well, it's not out yet LOL )

That and it would be damn expensive! My spec is:

AMD Athlon 64, X2 Dual-Core 4200+ with HyperThreading.
ASUS A8N-E – Nforce 4 PCI-Express Mainboard.
2,048 MB of DDR400 Memory (PC3200).
300 GB Serial ATA Hard Drive, with 16MB Buffer.
Sony 16x Dual Layer DVD-Re-Writeable.
CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Drive (52x32x52x16).
512 MB ATi Radeon X1800XT (PCI-Express).
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 4.

[Griking]

Very impressive lineup of games there.

So who was it that said that computer gaming was dead or even worse, doesn't count?

[FantasiaWHT]

Holy crap I picked a good time to upgrade! And I was just doing it for Oblivion and Phantasy Star Univers! Woohoo!

[downfall]

I don't play many PC games (one every couple of years maybe), but I'd be lying if I said that Star Wars: Empire at War doesn't look like it could be the best Star Wars game ever.

[Leo_A]

1C Company's PT Boats: Knights of the Sea. Also IC Maddox's Battle of Britain (Their next flight simulator, should be great judging from their work over the past few years involving the Pacific theater and the Eastern front during WWII). Those are what I'm looking forward to that have reasonable chances of being a 2006 release.

A lot of that list is stupid, there is no announced Silent Hunter 4 or MS Flight Simulator 10 yet, though each is likely to happen eventually.

[Leo_A]

Oops, I take that back. I see I missed the news of MS unveiling their next installment of their FS series. Good news :)

I still doubt Silent Hunter 4, with the time it took to create SH3, this one seems too quick. Hopefully they focus on the Pacific this time though.

[FantasiaWHT]

They didn't have Phantasy Star Universe in the multiplatform section, huh...

[Joker T]

Yeah lots of good games for PC coming out :)

I need to upgrade a bit myself :eek 2:

Currently:

3.2 ghz Pentium Dual Core
160 GB HDD
250 GB HDD
1 Gb of Ram
Ati Radeon X850 XT


My upgrade will include another GB of ram and a new sound card. The graphics card is quite good for now but 2gb of ram seems to be the new standard.

[THATinkjar]

I need to upgrade a bit myself :eek 2:

Currently:

3.2 ghz Pentium Dual Core
160 GB HDD
250 GB HDD
1 Gb of Ram
Ati Radeon X850 XT

You think that needs an upgrade? I've been trying to play Doom 3 on the highest possible settings at 1280x1024 using an AMD Athlon XP 1800+, 1.5 GB RAM (slow stuff, too) and an ATi Radeon 9800 PRO. And, urgh, this eighty gig hard drive has seen better days!

I can't wait to be playing Battlefield 2, Quake Wars, etc.

[Trebuken]

I want to upgrade but I don't think it's quite time yet. This SLI business is beginning to bother me. There was a time you could go out and by the best graphics card on the market and be equal, now you have to get four (quad sli) at $500 a piece...seems unfair.

Later,
Trebuken

[THATinkjar]

I want to upgrade but I don't think it's quite time yet. This SLI business is beginning to bother me. There was a time you could go out and by the best graphics card on the market and be equal, now you have to get four (quad sli) at $500 a piece...seems unfair.

From what I've read, the ATi X1800XT 512MB holds it own (and out performs on some games) dual Nvidia SLI setups. At the end of the day, the current crop of games aren't pushing this new hardware, so it won't be until later this year that things unfold.

[Nesmaster]

Chameleon
A game by IlussionSoftworks(makers of Mafia)

GUNZ
This free online action is in beta now and it's already fricking amazing,
imagine how the finished version will rock.

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet :D

edit:

Bad Day LA
A humorous GTA-like mayhem game by American McGee(best known for his incredible Alice)

Condemned and UT 2007 also have my interest ;)

[Ed Oscuro]

From what I've read, the ATi X1800XT 512MB holds it own (and out performs on some games) dual Nvidia SLI setups. At the end of the day, the current crop of games aren't pushing this new hardware, so it won't be until later this year that things unfold.
An X1800XT is outperformed by the 512MB Geforce 7800 variety, but it's cheaper, too (on Newegg, roughly $490 versus $750-$850, but that's partly because demand for the 512MB 7800s has been huge).

Good deal with the Asus A8N, it's the same board I've got. I got the premium SLI one, though, because the fan on the other tended to die and the one with heatsinks is quieter + had some other bugfixes:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131540
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX, 24 pin
$179

[Ed Oscuro]

GUNZ
This free online action is in beta now and it's already fricking amazing,
imagine how the finished version will rock.

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet :D
I haven't played it online, but it looks like that screenshot is slightly improved over the actual version I downloaded two months or so ago. Navigation and the maps kinda suck, and the graphics have a long way to go.

Kick that one out and put in Warrock, IMO.

[GrandAmChandler]

GrandAmChandler's Picks:

Caesar IV

Jagged Alliance 3-d

Sam & Max

[Nesmaster]

GUNZ
This free online action is in beta now and it's already fricking amazing,
imagine how the finished version will rock.

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet :D
I haven't played it online, but it looks like that screenshot is slightly improved over the actual version I downloaded two months or so ago. Navigation and the maps kinda suck, and the graphics have a long way to go.

Kick that one out and put in Warrock, IMO.

No way, Gunz consumed my life from July - November. The only reason I stopped is because I was hacked and deleted. Twice :/

Sure, the game isn't very appealing graphically, but it made up for it in the EXCELLENT gameplay (in my opinion, anyways. It's the only game to date where I've actually played it for almost 24 hours straight :P)

Once it's released, it should look better, and the addition of quest mode, although boring at low levels, is a nice touch ;)

[Ed Oscuro]

Oh, alright. Maybe I'm just spoiled by the excellent Half-Life 2 mod scene ;)

If you haven't checked out Warrock, though, you owe it to yourself to do that.

[Lothars]

man that's an amazing list of games, I am pumped for them all

I will be part time with guarenteed hours at my job hopefully soon and than new computers :D

I can't wait

should be a great year for gamers in general.

it is nice to see pc gaming alive and well.

[Iron Draggon]

My 2006 PC game wishlist so far:

GTR 2
GT Legends
TOCA Race Driver 3
Virtual Skipper 4
Trainz 2006
Rail Simulator

Leftovers still remaining from 2005:

Flatout
Juiced
Trackmania
Trackmania Sunrise
18 Wheels: Pedal to the Metal
18 Wheels: Convoy

I liked it better when there were almost never any new sims that interested me. Now there's too many to keep up with!

[Joker T]

I need to upgrade a bit myself :eek 2:

Currently:

3.2 ghz Pentium Dual Core
160 GB HDD
250 GB HDD
1 Gb of Ram
Ati Radeon X850 XT

You think that needs an upgrade? I've been trying to play Doom 3 on the highest possible settings at 1280x1024 using an AMD Athlon XP 1800+, 1.5 GB RAM (slow stuff, too) and an ATi Radeon 9800 PRO. And, urgh, this eighty gig hard drive has seen better days!

I can't wait to be playing Battlefield 2, Quake Wars, etc.

Not yet, but I really want another gig. Like I heard Battlefield 2: Special Forces is a pain without 2gb of Ram and this will likely be true with future games also. The gfx card is great, I love it. As far as the sound card I am picking one up to get the most out of my new speakers.

I'm thinking about this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102188

Seems to be in my price range.

[unwinddesign]

I want to upgrade but I don't think it's quite time yet. This SLI business is beginning to bother me. There was a time you could go out and by the best graphics card on the market and be equal, now you have to get four (quad sli) at $500 a piece...seems unfair.

From what I've read, the ATi X1800XT 512MB holds it own (and out performs on some games) dual Nvidia SLI setups. At the end of the day, the current crop of games aren't pushing this new hardware, so it won't be until later this year that things unfold.

512 MB nVidia 7800GTx > any ATI card.

Dual Sli of the above = pure smokage of anything on the market

Quad SLI of the aboe = pure smokage in extreme HD of anything else on the market

On the performance end of the market, ATI cannot hold a candle to nVidia. nVidia's SLI technology simply blows ATI away.

On the topic of RAM, I'd really recommend upgrading your graphics card prior to RAM, unless you run a lot of programs at all. I usually run Windows Media Player, Firefox, AIM and Age of Empires III at the same time, so it's justified for me. However, if it's only for the games, I'd definately spring for a better card -- the performance hike will be much more noticeable.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Looks like 2005 was a good year for me to step up in PC power too. :D I'll admit, Star Wars: Empire At War may be the only PC game I pick up in '06. And it may be the only one I need. :-P

[THATinkjar]

512 MB nVidia 7800GTx > any ATI card.

Dual Sli of the above = pure smokage of anything on the market

Quad SLI of the aboe = pure smokage in extreme HD of anything else on the market

On the performance end of the market, ATI cannot hold a candle to nVidia. nVidia's SLI technology simply blows ATI away.

I really have to disagree with you here, unwind. I'm an ATi man, these days. I've had the VooDoo and the GeForce series, but I've always been happiest with ATi. From what I have read, in the games that favour ATi (Half-Life 2, for instance), the X1800XT outperforms a 7800GTX. In Doom 3, though, it is visa versa.

But yes, dual/quad set-ups will smoke anything hitting the market for a while, but I totally expect ATi to respond in style before the year is up.

Besides the performance of ATi cards, I also prefer their driver sets. We all know ATi had the hardware but didn't have the software for quite a number of years, but that just isn't the case now. Plus the ATi driver mod scene is far better than Nvidia's.

Just my thoughts :)

[NeoZeedeater]

I'm looking forward to tons of those games on that list.

Even though it's labeled under "puzzle" there I'm curious how Defcon will play. I loved Introversion Software's previous games(Uplink and Darwinia) and I'm hoping this one will be as unique. I'm expecting a mixed genre game.