technology The Glorious PC master race thread

[long gone 8,929]

My favorite PC game series is Rollercoaster Tycoon. I remember pouring so many hours into them. I was really fun building and managing my own theme parks. Anyone love Rollercoaster Tycoon?

 

Oh is this just gaming related or can it also be about video editing because I use my PC for making mostly YouTube Poops as well.

The beauty of the PC is it's not strictly a gaming platform, so yes. It can be about that.

 

 

Though doesn't everything run better than OS X?

Yeah, pretty much. Problem is it has pretty terrible RAM management now.

[VulpineTaco 525]

Yeah, pretty much. Problem is it has pretty terrible RAM management now.

Okay, so after a bit of research, apparently the new Macbook has 2 ports, one of which is a headphone jack. That is LAUGHABLY bad.

[long gone 8,929]

Okay, so after a bit of research, apparently the new Macbook has 2 ports, one of which is a headphone jack. That is LAUGHABLY bad.

The best part is the Asus Zenbook UX305, which is not only cheaper but thinner too, has more ports than the Macbook.

[VulpineTaco 525]

The best part is the Asus Zenbook UX305, which is not only cheaper but thinner too, has more ports than the Macbook.

Oh, and of COURSE you have to buy a $20 proprietary USB-C to USB 2/3.0 port adapter from the Apple store if you actually want to use any accessories. Because Apple.

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 2,978]

Linus is trolling on Twitter.

 

https://twitter.com/LinusTech/status/598972550002053121

https://twitter.com/LinusTech/status/598989857986215936

Bahahaha!

 

My favorite PC game series is Rollercoaster Tycoon. I remember pouring so many hours into them. I was really fun building and managing my own theme parks. Anyone love Rollercoaster Tycoon?

 

Oh is this just gaming related or can it also be about video editing because I use my PC for making mostly YouTube Poops as well.

I used to play RCT and RCT2 quite a bit several years ago but not nearly as much today. In the case of RCT2 at least, it seemed quite easy sometimes because for some reason very short junior coaster with only one downward slope becomes extremely popular ride which can be charged for ridiculously high price. Despite not having as much interest in the series as I used to, I do wish there was a true sequel to RCT3; as far as I know though, the only recent RCT game was unfortunately freemium mobile game.

[long gone 8,929]

Done replacing the damaged mech drive in my PC. I promised this on LinusTechTips but I'll post it here too just because, pics of the damage to the old drive.

 

https://imgur.com/a/M3n5O

[MountainDrew 1,877]

A few things that I just can't stand in the games industry nowadays (most of it is just restating what has already been said).  Warning: the cynicism is strong with this one.

Put in a spoiler since it's kind of long.

 

 

 

1. All of the hype that some AAA titles get then they finally arrive and what do we get?  Either horribly optimized games that can't utilize our hardware to its fullest potential or games that are so buggy that the features that they promised just plain don't run or don't run properly (Mortal Combat X, CoD: Ghosts, AC: Unity, Far Cry 4, Day One: Garry's Incident (good god), among others).

 

2. The influx of awful Indie games that have been surfacing on the PC Gaming scene.  One personal example would be Titan Souls which, for those of you who don't know, was hyped up to be a mixture of both Dark Souls and SotC game mechanics.  The game, which I played on my friend Mark's PC, was nothing like it was described to be.  I beat the game in less than 2 hours and paid $15 for it.  What little enjoyment I got out of it (the puzzle solving aspect) was overshadowed by the sheer lack of story and repetitive game mechanics.

 

3. Mobile gaming.  Oh boy, do I love myself some mobile games (heavy sarcasm).  My problems with mobile gaming involve a few things with pay-2-play and microtransactions being at the forefront.  And what baffles me is that their profits continue to increase.  Why?  Probably because people keep buying their microtransactions, which in turn makes companies want to develop more mobile games.  If a gaming company sees profit in something then they're going to keep developing for it.

 

4. Day one DLC or DLC ripped from the original game to be sold at a later date.  This garbage, is just that, garbage.  And why do the companies do it?  Well they're profiting from it, obviously; so what reason do they have to stop doing it?  A loss of integrity and respect perhaps?  Pfffft, the companies don't care about that, all they care about is who pays the highest dollar.  A personal example that infuriated me would be Mass Effect 3s day one DLC From Ashes, which involved a character that was core to the ME story being locked behind a pay wall.

 

5. Gamers that complain about the aforementioned problems yet they do absolutely nothing to stop them.  Are some gamers just afraid to speak up?  Or would they rather just ignore every problem that's sitting right in front of them and staring them in the face?  These people need to wake up and do something about their problems.  Because, as we all know, we vote with our wallets, and we pay for what we want to pay for.  I'm done buying into corrupt business models and I urge anyone reading this to do the same.

 

 

 

If you read all that then those are my biggest gripes with the games industry today.  If anyone else has anything more to add or wants to correct me, go right ahead.  I won't bite.

 

/rant

Edited May 17, 2015 by MountainDrew

[TheJLeeTeam 914]

A few things that I just can't stand in the games industry nowadays.  Warning: the cynicism is strong with this one.

Put in a spoiler since it's kind of long.

 

 

 

1. All of the hype that some AAA titles get then they finally arrive and what do we get?  Either horribly optimized games that can't utilize our hardware to its fullest potential or games that are so buggy that the features that they promised just plain don't run or don't run properly (Mortal Combat X, CoD: Ghosts, AC: Unity, Far Cry 4, Day One: Garry's Incident (good god), among others).

 

2. The influx of awful Indie games that have been surfacing on the PC Gaming scene.  One personal example would be Titan Souls which, for those of you who don't know, was hyped up to be a mixture of both Dark Souls and SotC game mechanics.  The game, which I played on my friend Mark's PC, was nothing like it was described to be.  I beat the game in less than 2 hours and paid $15 for it.  What little enjoyment I got out of it (the puzzle solving aspect) was overshadowed by the sheer lack of story and repetitive game mechanics.

 

3. Mobile gaming.  Oh boy, do I love myself some mobile games (heavy sarcasm).  My problems with mobile gaming involve a few things with pay-2-play and microtransactions being at the forefront.  And what baffles me is that their profits continue to increase.  Why?  Probably because people keep buying their microtransactions, which in turn makes companies want to develop more mobile games.  If a gaming company sees profit in something then they're going to keep developing for it.

 

4. Day one DLC or DLC ripped from the original game to be sold at a later date.  This garbage, is just that, garbage.  And why do the companies do it?  Well they're profiting from it, obviously; so what reason do they have to stop doing it?  A loss of integrity and respect perhaps?  Pfffft, the companies don't care about that, all they care about is who pays the highest dollar.  A personal example that infuriated me would be Mass Effect 3s day one DLC From Ashes, which involved a character that was core to the ME story being locked behind a pay wall.

 

5. Gamers that complain about the aforementioned problems yet they do absolutely nothing to stop them.  Are some gamers just afraid to speak up?  Or would they rather just ignore every problem that's sitting right in front of them and staring them in the face?  These people need to wake up and do something about their problems.  Because, as we all know, we vote with our wallets, and we pay for what we want to pay for.  I'm done buying into corrupt business models and I urge anyone reading this to do the same.

 

 

 

If you read that then those are my biggest gripes with the games industry today.  If anyone else has anything more to add or wants to correct me, go right ahead.  I won't bite.

 

/rant

So you mean you like retro games better than modern games. I think this gaming era isn't very good for reasons you gave but I'm still loyal to game franchises I love mostly Nintendo and Kingdom Hearts. I play Pokémon TCG Online pretty frequently and Rollercoaster Tycoon, and Humongous Entertainment from time to time but I mostly use my PC for video editing.

Edited May 16, 2015 by TheJLeeTeam

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

Shitty games have always been around on the PC (look at some of the old freeware and shareware that time as forgot), we've just forgotten about them. 

[long gone 8,929]

Shitty games have always been around on the PC (look at some of the old freeware and shareware that time as forgot), we've just forgotten about them. 

Same with the consoles. If it has a large amount of third-party support, it's basically guaranteed to have some shitty games here and there.

[TheJLeeTeam 914]

Like Big Rigs over the Road Racing right?

[long gone 8,929]

Like Big Rigs over the Road Racing right?

Yes, and then games like Goat Simulator.

[MountainDrew 1,877]

@TheJLeeTeam I prefer retro and modern games as long as I don't have to pay for something arbitrary like DLC in order to enhance my gaming experience.  Gun packs, costume packs, and all that stuff is fine by me as I don't have to purchase it to change my games story.

 

Content that is developed later since the developers didn't have enough time is understandable as well.  But what is inexcusable imo is when story content is clearly cut from the "finished" product and then put behind a pay wall.

 

What I'm trying to get at is that I despise when a company goes back on its duties towards the consumer and proposes inherently anti-consumerist policies (*cough*EA*cough*).

 

Sorry for not quoting you directly.  I think IE is being dumb and not letting me quote users for some reason -_-

 

Speaking of IE, I just switched to Chrome so hopefully I won't have that problem anymore.

Edited May 17, 2015 by MountainDrew

[Mouse 302]

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1799326

 

hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng

 

Also don't hate on big rigs.

Edited May 16, 2015 by Mouse

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

Same with the consoles. If it has a large amount of third-party support, it's basically guaranteed to have some shitty games here and there.

 

Like the NES, which might actually have substantially more mediocre-to-bad games than good ones because of all the cheap cash-in crap dumped on it from companies like LJN.

[MountainDrew 1,877]

Like the NES, which might actually have substantially more mediocre-to-bad games than good ones because of all the cheap cash-in crap dumped on it from companies like LJN.

And those handheld video games by Tiger Electronic (I think?) that were absolute garbage but were mass produced like a swarm of mosquitoes.

 

I actually owned one of those when I was younger but I can't think of what game it was.

Edited May 17, 2015 by MountainDrew

[A Black Circle 1,586]

I think that PC gaming was best from 1992-2002, with a few good things before (Ultima 4) and a few good things after (Half-Life 2, Oblivion, Borderlands, BioShock, damn this list is getting long)

Let's see what happened each year:

1992: Ultima Underworld. I owe this game. I owe this game so much. Many things I love stem from this little masterpiece.

1993: Doom. More like BOOM, which is what happens to my enemies' heads! Addicting, great game.

1994: TES Arena. Not really a good game, but the start of a great series.

1995: Star Wars Dark Forces. Holy. Shit. This might be the best game ever.

1996: Daggerfall. This game will exceed every expectation you have of it.

1997: Fallout 1. No words.

1998: Fallout 2. I'm still silent. Also, Half-Life, RCT, and BG1.

1999: Another "Uhhhhh" year for me.

2000: Baldur's Gate 2.

2001: I want to say there was a really good game that came out this year, but I can't think of it (PC-wise)

2002: Morrowind. My favorite game ever.

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

And those handheld video games by Tiger Electronic (I think?) that were absolute garbage but were mass produced like a swarm of mosquitoes.

 

I actually owned one of those when I was younger but I can't think of what game it was.

 

I think might actually have a Street Fighter one somewhere.

[long gone 8,929]

Got the PC where it belongs.

 

 

Next step? Get some VESA-compatible stands and mount my monitors through VESA.

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 2,978]

Just completed Wolfenstein The New Order... or at least half of it because I only completed one of the timelines. Enjoyed it quite a bit. Felt like an interesting mix of classic FPS and modern FPS style in terms of gameplay.

 

Also working on completing campaigns of classic COD games; have beaten COD1, currently working on United Offense, then going to move on to COD2.

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

Going on a bit of binge finishing up installed games before I move on to anything else. I've played through both Alan Wake games, Amnesia, Penumbra: Overture, and I'm currently working on Far Cry 2.

 

More on topic:

 

Is any else tired of people benchmarking GPUs in setups that make no sense? When I look up a lower-end card like a 750ti, I probably need to know how it works paired with a lower-to-middle end CPU like an i3 or a FX-8xxx (a lower end i5 at the most) and not a K-series i7. 

[long gone 8,929]

Is any else tired of people benchmarking GPUs in setups that make no sense? When I look up a lower-end card like a 750ti, I probably need to know how it works paired with a lower-to-middle end CPU like an i3 or a FX-8xxx (a lower end i5 at the most) and not a K-series i7. 

That's usually done to remove any potential bottlenecks and leave the GPU to do its thing on its own power. Not an unusual practice.

[MountainDrew 1,877]

Going on a bit of binge finishing up installed games before I move on to anything else. I've played through both Alan Wake games, Amnesia, Penumbra: Overture, and I'm currently working on Far Cry 2.

 

More on topic:

 

Is any else tired of people benchmarking GPUs in setups that make no sense? When I look up a lower-end card like a 750ti, I probably need to know how it works paired with a lower-to-middle end CPU like an i3 or a FX-8xxx (a lower end i5 at the most) and not a K-series i7. 

When someone is using a test bench they want to utilize the card to its fullest potential, which is why they go overkill on the CPU in order to eliminate any bottlenecks.

 

In any case, I would always recommend a lower-level i5 for an entry-level gamer on a budget, since newer games are utilizing more cores/threads and the i3s/pentiums might not be enough.  I never recommend AMD processors anymore, unless if the system is being used primarily for editing/rendering and you don't have money for an i7.

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

That's usually done to remove any potential bottlenecks and leave the GPU to do its thing on its own power. Not an unusual practice.

 

 

When someone is using a test bench they want to utilize the card to its fullest potential, which is why they go overkill on the CPU in order to eliminate any bottlenecks.

 

In any case, I would always recommend a lower-level i5 for an entry-level gamer on a budget, since newer games are utilizing more cores/threads and the i3s/pentiums might not be enough.  I never recommend AMD processors anymore, unless if the system is being used primarily for editing/rendering and you don't have money for an i7.

 

Maybe so, but it still makes it hard to gauge exactly how a game going to function on a realistic build using that card. 

 

I'm happy with my FX-8320 for the price, but that's about equal to a low-end i5 or upper-end i3 anyway.

 

Seriously though, I've legit seen people complaining that their older-ass dual-core that would've been pushing it when the PS3 launched won't play games anymore. it baffles me some of these seem people have higher cards like 970s so they can obviously afford to re-build.

[A Black Circle 1,586]

I'd hate having to upgrade my PC.

 

I'm going to get an old Win98 machine. If it can run Morrowind, I don't need it any more advanced.

Edited May 19, 2015 by FlinchCat