RedRavN

I don't think that horror games necessarily have to incorporate bad gameplay to make them scary. For example, FEAR1 for me at least was somewhat horrifying especially on the first playthrough. There was a bit of a dichotomy between the great fps gameplay which was tense in its own right and the creepy paranormal parts. The STALKER series on PC has had some great horror moments such as lab x16 etc while having good gameplay. I would say that atmosphere is the most crucial aspect of a horror game. You can make a game that has good action combat and smart puzzle solving but it must be paced correctly. The player needs to feel vulnerable at all times as well. I don't think horror games are going anywhere soon and welcome them if they have good gameplay. However, they must retain the pacing and atmosphere of the old classic horror games.

No. Check out models from MSI or asus if you want a good deal. You might be looking at more like 1200 to get an actual gaming laptop. You also need to decide if battery life is a big deal to you or how much weight is appropriate. Larger laptops can have a 17 inch screen but they can be bulky. I personally do not mind the 9 ish pounds of my laptop because I find that a trivial amount of weight. I have the MSI gt780dxr model and am very pleased. It runs all games maxed out or close to it. I would recommend sticking with nvidia's 5 series mobile cards because the drivers are more stable and that is important.

Usually sound effects at 100%, voices at 90% and music at 50-60%.

But really it depends on the genre and original sound mix. For example, a first person shooter like battlefield 3 you want the sound effects at 100% because its more realistic and you can hear gunshots and impacts better so it sounds like a real war. However, for an rpg I might want the voices higher than the sound effects.

Honestly, I prefer MSI to asus. Alienware (aka Dell) is overpriced shit. Check out the MSI gt780dxr. It has a core I7 2670qm, gtx570m 1.5mb gddr5, 17 inch screen, 12-16 gb of ram, and choice of hard drive.

I got the one with a tb of space in a raid array and 12gb of ram and the 2.2 gtz cpu(default is 2.0) for about $1650 and I couldn't be happier. It also has dynaudio speakers with a subwoofer. I maxes out pretty much every game I have and comes with MSI's own overclocking software.

deus ex human revolution. The game is just so dense. I might try again as a shooting character instead of stealth. I just always felt that I was missing stuff by not having certain augments.

I hate the kind of run through the rings as fast as you can traversal side missions in most games. However, in prototype I really enjoyed doing them. I think that I can attribute this to that it took some measure of skill and it was hard to find the right angles to jump and glide efficiently. That made it a little more interesting than just running from point to point.

In contrast I hated the "AR training" in arkam city which had you fly through a series of rings. I just felt like I was fighting with the controls and that it was more a matter of luck than actual skill.

I am baffled that some people actually prefer 30fps to 60. As far as I'm concerned they difference is not a qualitative one but a quantitative one. The higher the number the better, smoother image you get. As a primarily PC player, going back to console games just looks terrible and jerky to me. I having a smooth frame rate can help immerse you in a game. Call of duty for example looks like arse at least on consoles but the smooth gameplay makes it look visually attractive. I would be happy to lose a few shader effects, particles and shadows to play a smooth looking game. In my opinion the industry standard should be 60fps as a default just because its better for everyone and reduces eyestrain. For me at least 50+ fps looks smooth to me but some people feel ok with 40+. However, I have never heard of anyone saying that 30fps was not at least somewhat jerky provided they knew the difference.

Next we should have a topic about what resolution you prefer, 640x 480 vs. 1920x1280. I would love to hear someone that a low resolution is somehow preferable to a high one :P

enslaved comes to mind as a great game that deserves a sequel. Also Mirror's edge should have not been abandoned by the publishers. The jedi knight series on PC has not seen a release since jedi academy although that series is one of the better star wars series next to KOTOR. Thief, a long running pc series, has not seen a release since the fairly decent multiplatform third game. Also, supreme commander is one of my favorites and things are looking grim after the somewhat disapointing sequel. They should just really make supcom a PC exclusive.

I think it would be interesting if add revenue could support a free MMO similar to how youtube is sponsored by adds. Think about it, free to play has been known to quadrouple subscriptions to MMOs and a massive next gen blizzard MMO could have 10s of millions of subscriptions if it was free. If Advertising was in game and done unobtrusively then they could make a killing off that revenue and provide a better game and have it be free of charge. Of course they could supplement that add money with a real money auction house and a cash shop selling mounts and what have you. That would make for an interesting and sustainable business model that makes money by just having people play the game.

However, this would need to be tastefully and delicately done because we all know how badly product placement can break a game's immersion. I have no doubt this is a great business idea although I have my reservations about how a real money auction house and presumably adds can negatively impact a game experience.

You guys should try out dragon nest. It has vindictus like action combat but is a bit better of a game in my opinion. It gets insane where you are just cleaving through like 40 enemies with massive attacks and picking up tons of loot. As a free player you are also able to play the game fairly normally. It is published by nexon (who also have maple story and vindictus) and is basically bug free even though it is very recent. The only problem is the graphics are a bit dated but the art is nice.