Be Excellent To Each Other

Hello. I got a Cyberpower Gamer Infiity GT yesterday, it is fucking lush. I've bought it to be an all purpouse machine as it'll run FLStudio and Pinacle Studio and such, but also I want to be able to play certain PC games. Not had a gaming PC for about 5 years, I've a 360 and a Wii and all the handhelds and really this machine has to stand on its own two feet games wise. So I've got Oolite, for starters, which I need to learn how to change keys on and suchlike. Seperate thread coming about that (I love Elite).

But there's games I've missed - Last PC bottomed out just after KOTOR games wise, but in the meantime I enjoyed Homeworld, C&C stuff, the odd PC only FPS and the X-Wing games.

I realise the names of a few things I'd like to catch up on - STALKER: Cernobyl is a decent looking title, and I'm aware of a current prequel. Crysis should run well on my machine, I'm looking for some rangy space titles like Sins of a Solar Empire or something. Not so hot on turn based but I'm willing to be converted. Anything Alpha Centauri-like about?

On to Steam - I'm aware of this, but apparently I'm unable to run a game when offline, which with my ropey broadband makes things pointless. Also in principal I don't mind paying for anything that is MINE to run with impunity, for ever. I'm not paying t rent a game without so much as a paper manual, though. What else is good/bad about steam?

Apparently things like Sin of a Solar Empire are released DRM-free, so I'd like to buy somehting like that.

Also, what is free and brilliant, other than Oolite. Don't say Nethack.

Finally, with the DRM issue in mind, I am happy to buy a boxed whatever I'm after and then run a version from TPB or usenet. What's the danger in doing so these days? I see in the Red Alert 3 thread there's a torrent of the thing already... I've no interest at all in playing anything other tha MMORPGs online using the PC, so lack of online would not deter me from buying RA3 and running the torrent version.

You can to a degree play Steam games offline but I'm certainly not going to try and convince you about downloaded games when we agree completely

RA3 as you suspect, may not be able to play online with a cracked version, the game itself should be fine.

I'm not much of a steam fan at all. It's a lovely thing when you've got an ultra-fast connection and have just moved country or something, but otherwise a bit bleh. And if you've got a really slow or intermittent connection, it can be actively hateful. Like the time I downloaded X3 on my college connection, then went home to my old dialup to find that my fully backed-up copy needed an additional couple of hundred megs of downloaded content before it even ran.

Personally I prefer the alternative services like GamersGate, GoG and Impulse. Less DRM generally (GoG doesn't have any at all), and they generally work by letting you download standard installers that you can then just back up anywhere you like. Which leaves you with nice, fuss-free copies that don't even have the annoying "disk must be in the drive" stuff that their boxed counterparts have. Also, none of these three need to be running in the background to play the games, once downloaded they work independently, without your needing to be using the service at all.

Naturally, most PC gamers dismiss these as copycat garbage, whine incessantly when they get exclusives Steam doesn't, and generally worship the ground Steam walks on.

EDIT: Oh, and if you're looking for epic space conquest stuff, I'd give Sword of the Stars a try. It's a hybrid of turn-based exploration and realtime 3D combat, from an indie group founded by key members of the Homeworld team. The fully 3D map exploration can be a bit of a head-wrecker at first, but there's a good game in there. Sins stole its thunder, but I thought it was pretty dull by comparison.

Steam would be good if not for the ridiculous prices they have. 70$ for Call of duty 4 and 60$ for Bioshock. Yeah right.

The only recent pc exclusive game that i can recommend without reservations is STALKER. Just get it, and it's very cheap nowadays.

Hmm, I could lend you Homeworld 2, and buy Company of Heroes, it is a world of fucking win.

Hmm, for space shooters I have Freespace 2 you can borrow as well. Immediately patch it with the hi-res texture and spangly new effects program to make it look swankier than X-Wing Alliance, then download any of the following mods:

(The following can also be downloaded as equally perfect stand-alone games, that don't need the original FS2. But it's best to have FS2. Mind you, you can download that for free now as well.)

Babylon Project -

Every ship from Babylon 5, including the space station, Shadows and the planet killer. Stupidly epic campaigns, battles from the show and very polished graphics, sound, interface and mission design.

Beyond the Red Line -

Battlestar Galactica mod. Again very polished - this is just a demo campaign. There's only ore freighters, Cylon raiders, Scar, both types of Viper and asteroid belts - but a very fun four mission thing it is. Frustratingly, despite having tons of stuff ready, the mod is near dead. This is because the lead developer alienated his big team and refused to release anything for several years post demo because he was obsessed with upgrading the engine and retexturing everything everytime a new graphical tweak was made to the engine. So it's just him and one other guy now.

Fortunately the entire rest of the team have started their own BSG mod, which promises regular releases and they've taken everything they've jointly done for the BTRL one over with them. Hurrah!

There's a whole bundle of Freespace universe campaigns as well. Derelict is a particularily excellent one.

Space Rangers 2 is a gloriously addicted low-fi game with shooty bits, turn based bits, text adventure bits and everything.

Get Civ4 Broken Sword. 'tis ace.

I'm intrigued by your spangly new PC Goatboy, and wish to play on it in return for beers.

Ooh really? Most I know/knew hated it or barely tolerated it.

Malc

Indeed. If I'm renting by download you need to give me a big, BIG discount. Steam doesn't, especially with the current exchange rate since the cuntsticks don't price in £s.

At the start, yeah, that was the general view. But just read any comments thread at somewhere like RPS to see how things have changed. There's barely a harsh word said about it anymore. And plenty of stuff like "I don’t need another digital distribution platform. Companies that don’t post to Steam aren’t getting my money."

loved it

Yes, SR2 is class. The RTS bits are awful, but it's put together with such a love of gaming in genral that it's impossible not to love it. The same team went on to make the also-excellent King's Bounty: The Legend.

i always skipped the RTS missions. I don't like rts in general though. King's bounty is good, i only wished there were less combat, it starts to drag on a bit

I was never a big RTS fan either, but it still felt like a case of throwing units at the enemy until they fell apart. Just like every RTS ever, right lads?*

And you're 100% on the money with King's Bounty, it can get really grindy with all the combat, that's the one failing I have with it. There's some great ideas and random madness in there though. There's a decent account of it here.



*Well, every one except Soldiers and Hostile Waters.

And Company of Heroes.

i also highly recommend Neverwinter Nights 2. If you take out the bugs (don't summon familiars!!) it's what every rpg should be.

I'm struggling to fault Steam at the moment.
Get Counter Strike and come play with us tonight

Sword of the Stars came out nearly two years before Sins..?