So last week i posted a Blog stating the horrors of PC gaming, comparability issues, decade old machines and yada yada yada. However the PC itch is back and with a VENGEANCE! i cant deny it. im a gamer and game is what i do best. I love all gaming Platforms and i have been out of the PC loop for far too long. But i need you Giant Bomb community i NEED YOU! A lot has changed since the last time i built a PC. oh sure the physical act of assembling the parts into a case is still pretty much the same, but the parts them selfs have gone god damn fucking nuts. long story short i dont know what im looking for anymore, and thats where you come in. I want to over the next few months begin to assemble the parts (and funds) i need to build a new rig. The end game im shooting for? i want Crysis and battlefield 3 to run at MAX CRAZY EXTREME settings. I know we're not quite sure what the specs will be yet for BF3, but im pretty sure if we aim for Crysis 1 & 2 we'll come pretty close to what we need. I should note that this PC will only be used for gaming, nothing else and nothing more. im not quite sure what i good budget would be for this kind of thing so we'll just use around 1,500. if you think you can help me make a kick ass rig for less, GREAT! but im counting on you GB to help out a fellow user, to get him back on the path of 21.1 gigawatt jive.  
 
Also if you feel just buying a pre-built machine is the better way to go i am always open to suggestions.  
 
Thank you 
 
Jackel2072 
 

  Oh PC i wana love you but you always gota hate. So my long sad trip down PC lane started last night. after digging my old computer out of moth balls and wiping it clean, re-updating windows it was time to download the old Steam client and get to playing some quality PC games! Now the PC i have is by no means a power house. its quite old running a P4 with 2.50 ghz and a Radion 9800 pro 128mb just to give you an idea. like i said, old, but it can still run HL2, Portal TF2 Tochlight and so on and so on. so i knew i was not going to be downloading Crysis or anything like that.  
 
first up on my list was  Amnesia the dark descent. seemed like i had the min system requiments and i had heard nothing but good, good things about the game. so i download the demo and gave it a shot. Game loads fine i take 2 steps and BAM system locks up. hard restart later i turn all the settings down to low and run the game in a window. sure as shit my PC was trying to give me a Error message about my graphics card and thats why the game locked up. as soon as i clicked ok the game was off and running again... but a problem still remained. the lighting (which is a big part of Amnesia) was all messed up. everywhere i looked the lighting would kind of scatter and be inconsistent. parts of the room lit up others remained black. a quick glace at the forums and i found lots of people were having this problem. No quick fix in site other then usual "yo update yor video drivers fool" no such luck. turns out its an Open GL problem and any fixes i did come acossed read in big bold letters DOES NOT WORK FOR STEAM VERSION. So 2 hours gone i give up. onward to Magicka! 
 
 now this one might be just my shitty computer but again reading the forums lots of people had the same problem. this was a Microsoft.net framework issue. reading fixes, removing frame work installing framework 4 and blah blah blah the only thing i managed to accomplish was getting the game to stop crashing at start up and having it sit at "preparing to launch magika" messgage on steam for about an hour (really i went off and played black ops) then finally i tried my luck at TF2. good old TF2. how i fucking love TF2. it is by far one of (if not) the best team based shooter out there. and it doesnt work... game loads fine but right up to connecting to a game. at first the server lists pop up. tried connecting and boom "server not responding" ok well lets refesh. nothing. no more servers. ok well lets pull up the console "falid to connect after 4 retrys" .... CHRIST. 
 back to the forums we go. again lots of people with my problem no real fix. other then one little gem i ran into. so it turned out this guy noticed when ever he launched TF2 his internet would just die flat out and this was one of the reason (dah) he couldn't connect. well i re launched that fucker in a window clicked on the server list. alt tab back over to my browser and sure and shit the internet is gone! (gasp) F5...F5....F5....F5, GOOGL! back over to TF2 stil no server list, i bring up the console type in the IP and BAM we're connecting...and then crash. i will tinker with TF more tomorrow. To anyone who as ever bitched that the PC gets the shaft in this day and age look no further to the reason why. im not the smartest cookie, but i try. i understand things get messed up from time to time an they need tweaks i know my PC is pretty god damn old (buddy of mine has a bran new windows 7 PC and Magicka woudn' t work for him either) thats just the price of having such a robust system. lots of moving parts with a good chance to break. But your average idiot would not have jumped through the hoops i did for the last 2 days. he just wants to plop a disc into the tray and go. Thats why until the PC becomes like an xbox or PS3 in that way (and gets a little cheaper) it will never be back on top...NEVER! sorry for that last part... hehe i do love my PC gaming but GOD FUCKING DAMN IT JUST WORK! but Torchlight works! runs fucking great! and i got mods! really people even if you have a shit lap top Torchlight will run just fine and its a WAY better game on the PC. 
 
Whew i feel better. thanks for reading folks. feel free to tar and feather me in the comment section.  
 
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NOTE: This blog is ONLY referring to full retail games being sold on XBL and PSN. Not Arcade games and PS Mini's. 
 
its the 21st century and Digital Distribution is in. I like many gamers would love to buy my games digtaly vs going to the store all the god damn time. Not that there is anything wrong with box copies, its just nice from a  convenience prospective. i was excited when retail games started showing up on XBL, but then became  immediately disappointed to find all of them are still set at retail price... Game companys love to talk about how the used games  industry is hurting business and blah blah blah. but can you really blame a logical person for going out and buying, say Resident Evil 5 for 10 - 5 bucks used VS dropping 29.99 on a boxed/digtaly copy?  
Cue STEAM. Valves digital store is by far the best way to not only fight used game sales but also treat its customers right. free to play weekends, crazy sales and bundles. its the best damn thing ever. yet the console makers continue to charge outrageous prices for there Digital games. Gabe Newell spoke to a school of  business about... well the  business end of Steam, and here is a fun fact for you. when ever they have a Steam sale, like say Torchlight for 2.99. not only do they make a better profit then if they were to keep it at the MSRP, BUT when the game goes back to normal price 14.99 it continues to sell like gang busters. meanwhile a few years ago both Sony and Microsoft said they could sell there games cheaper online because they no longer had to pay for retail space, printing disc, shipping disc ect. It would seem they have scene back peddled on that idea and kind of hoped no one would remember them saying that... its a shitty  business model and it just pisses me off all to hell.  
i about laughed when i saw Halo Reach was going on sale on Games on Demand this week. only to find out what they considered "sale" was 49.99... Amazon price used 27 bucks. if they went nuts and said HALO REACH ONLY 19.99 THIS WEEK i bet you they would have made a killing in terms of sales... i mean i would have bought it.      
 
 
  

i am a achievement whore

 
As I sit here I find my self at a all to familiar cross roads. Do I want to play Final Fantasy XIII? As a person who has never even finished a single FF game, I have no clue why this question always pops up? Is it because it’s a big new release? No if that was the case I have the same desire to play something like Madden every year but dont. Maybe I think this is it! This will finally click. Maybe this time I’ll understand why everyone is so damn crazy over Final Fantasy. Maybe this one will turn me into a crazed fan? It’s not like I don’t enjoy RPG’s or even JRPG’s for that matter. I got wildly addicted to Persona 3 last year and enjoyed the hell out of that game. So what is it that drives me away and at the same time towards the FF franchise? I have started 7, 8 and 10, and all of them I have quit at about the 20 hour mark, and looking back I cant even begin to tell you why I quit. Did I loose interest? No clue. I guess I need to really ask the question am I doomed to repeat the same things? Will I ever finish a Final Fantasy game?! Will john and Kate ever get back together?!!!.... whoops wrong topic. Why internet? Why do I always engage in this pointless cycle? Why do I always have such a strong urge to play a new Final Fantasy and always end up quitting at the same mark? Unforchantly I don’t think any one will have the answer. Im gonna go drink coffee and smoke way too many cigarettes and contemplate this issue.

I, like so many other people have been playing COD for the better part of 4 years now (longer if you count 1&2) The last game to hold on to me that long was Counter Strike. alas though it was time for something new. Time for a change. I was unsure where i could find such a place to get my fix for an FPS. Well today my friends i found that home and its called MAG! 

HELLO! Wow been a long long time huh? Yeah I have to go out and spread the love around if even wana think about getting comments. Never the less I am back from the dead! I had a long crazy/fucked up year and I hope 2009 will go smoothly. So this is the quick rundown blog of sorts. Then what will the future bring? Well maybe a video blog? I’m sure that will be a fucking disaster! But fuck it! On word with my game of the year quick run down!

Over all Game of the Year

METAL GEAR SOLID 4: GUN OF THE PATRIOTS!

Dude its MGS and its fucking awesome enough said…

GTA4 is my runners up, im sorry Niko but Solid Snake could kick you’re ass any day of the week. And he’s dead!

Cheers have a good one see you in the land of love! (AKA XBL/PSN)

Hey all just thought I write a quick recap of what I did/what im doing this long weekend.

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Too Human-

I’m at Level 50 right now and the game at this point is starting to wear a little thin. It seems the higher up the ladder you go the less cool stuff you get. For a game that is all about loot it seems most of the armor and weapons im picking up now are pretty useless too me. At which point I sell them for cash. But the money in the game also seems fairly worthless because there is really nothing to spend it on either. I still might try and get to Level 55 but im feeling less enthusiastic about it now then before.

Moving-

On Saturday I helped my buddy Cory move into his new apartment. It took us a good few hours to get everything into his place and then we just decided to get drunk rather then unpack everything. We met some of the neighbors and had a pretty good time drinking until 6 am.

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RNC-

Today I am going up to the cities for 2 reasons. First and for most so I can hang out with my good friend Katelyn. The 2 is because she wants to go to the damn RNC protest. I’m not one for really protesting I feel the message of peace gets lost in all the hatred people usually bring on when they go to protest. Really I think she is just more interested in seeing what its all about then really going there to protest. Most of the protests have been canceled do to the new hurricane heading towards . The republicans are trying to raise money for relief for any victims caught in the storm and most democrats feel it be a really dick move to protest the convention when at the moment all they are trying to do is raise relief money. I can agree with that. After that’s done me and her are just gona hang out maybe go to a bar and walk around the city. Most of her room mates are under 21 so she doesn’t get to go out much with people her own age. Over all I think it will be fun and im excited to just hang out with her!!!!

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Blowing Shit Up-

Finaly come Tuesday I will be getting Mercs 2. I’m looking forward to it. Most early reviews say the game at its core is fun but there are a few bugs and lack of polish that keep the game from being truly great. Never the less im excited to take a attack chopper to a building or a tactical nuke to a small city and watch it BURN BABY!

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Well I hope you all have a good weekend and a nice labor day!

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Too Human has been the subject of much criticism as of late. Really I don’t want to fall into the pit falls of this subject for they really have been done to death on both the positive and negative sides. All you really need to know is Silicon Knights fucked up in a few spots that keep the game from being truly great. My only real disappointment with the game is the lack luster story. They had a really good idea behind it. Norse mythology mixed with Sci-Fi elements and the underline plot element of being Too Human for a god. None of it was really explored as fully as it should have. I think this is really where the game failed. I think if it had the wonderful story that the team was advertising a lot of the small little game play problems would have been ignored. It’s still a fun game and I plan on getting to level 55 hoping that my stats and equipment make the jump to the next game in some way. I will play Too Human 2 when it comes out and I quite look forward to it..

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In the mean time, my be all end all RPG is almost here and that of course is Fable 2. I enjoyed the first Fable a lot! I never read into any of the hype for the first Fable I pretty much ignored the game until it was on store shelf’s at which point I rented it for a week end and was absolutely floored. One of the best games I have ever played. I have this time played into the Hype machine surrounding Fable 2. So I hope it meets my expectations.  The concept that excites me the most I think people over look is if you choose to be a woman you must bare you’re child while on quests. This excites me cuz I wonder how far they really will go with this concept. I know I read that Peter Molyneux was thinking about putting in a mini game for giving birth but decided to scrap the idea. I’m just curies that if you’re injured in battle or die, could you loose you’re child? Also can Males finally understand the fear and excitement of baring a child? Not likely but still fun!

Crazy concepts of love & loss seem to be ramped in Fable 2. I also love how Peter Molyneux is really pushing the idea of being good or evil and not with just small hollow choices. Like being horrifically scared to the point where people will look at you in disgust as you walk by and interact with the community. This in turn can effect who you marry or befriend. The path of the Hero is never strait it’s always cooked and never easy. I can really see my self getting lost in this game and I’m so glad its coming in October as opposed to the November December slots.  So that’s it game fans. Sorry I have not commented on you’re blogs more often but I have been quite busy the last week. So I will try my best to start reading them as soon as I post this!