A newcomer to PC gaming.

[Joey Corlett]

I'm hoping to be able to buy and Laptop able to run PC games smoothly and efficently, I have reasearched (air qoutes there) some PC titles. Like Team Fortress 2, Counter Strike, Minecraft, Promod (that wierd mod of Call of Duty 4) and well anymore PC gaming titles that I get recommended from friends and whoever, except WoW. But whilist looking into all these there is a rather simple question hanging over me. Is PC gaming easy to start of? or will it just leave me frustrated and angry. I'm very willing to learn the ways of PC gaming. I just want to know if the first month or so is going to be rather suicidal time, well that silly but i'm sure you get the picture.

P.S I have been playing games on xbox 360 for several years now so i'm not a complete n00b, also detracked Minecraft from that list as I know it looks rather easy to get into.

 

[Weaver]

PC gaming has never been simpler to get into than now.
In general you just install a game and then play it. If it seems to be running poorly you can change the graphics settings to make it run better.

My only advice to you is to make sure your laptop has a Direct X 10 capable card as many studios are starting to just drop Direct X 9 support.

 

[Richardplex]

Well, I buy new games on my ps3, and games my PC can handle (2009 and before full graphics, post 2009 lowest graphics) so I wouldn't call myself a PC gamer, lest I want to be stoned by the community. But I'd say, first get steam if you haven't already, and then just play a reasonable length game on the PC. by the end, you'll be fine to go, it's just memorising key bindings and getting used to mouse, both are reasonably fast to get to grips with.

 

[Limecake]

remember that multiplayer first person shooters are much faster on the PC than they are on the Xbox or PS3. The mouse has always been the easiest way to aim a gun in a game and it makes for some pretty awesome battles.

I'd also like to point out that the PC is the best platform for strategy games, if these interest you even slightly than it'll be worth your time to check at least one decent title out.

 

[Zantos]

I'd say it's pretty easy. Most PC games work perfectly straight out of the box (or off the download, which just doesn't sound as nice) and you can always find a workaround for the things that don't on Google.

 

[Wolfram23]

90% of the time you just need to install a game, set the graphics settings to whatever your PC can handle, and game away. There's the odd title that has issues, but generally 30 minutes or less of searching on google will solve it, or at least clue you in to what the problem is.

I wouldn't really suggest a laptop for gaming because they aren't as powerful as a desktop and they can overheat and you can't really upgrade or swap any parts out - but, they can be ok. Just make sure you first research the GPU it's going to have so that you don't get some bunk GT210 or some crap like that lol.

 

[Stall]

Laptops aren't for gaming. If you want to be a PC gamer, get a proper tower or just stick with your 360.

I don't really understand what you mean by "get into" though.

 

[chocolatekeith]

Like others have said, trying to game with a laptop will probably leave a bad taste in your mouth.

 

[jaketaz]

I would like to make an unorthodox suggestion.

One of the coolest (story and gameplay-wise) games ever for PC is Max Payne 2. Also, surprisingly, even though it's pretty old the graphics totally hold up in modern times. Great first PC game to get into because it's a totally legit game with a decent (but not too hard) difficulty curve, and is widely available on the internet for free. If you want to buy a real copy, it's very cheap.

Another game that is old but holds up great today is Diablo II, an awesome RPG that you can sink 100s of hours into. Frankly I've never been into RPGs, I think turn-based combat is ^%$# RETARDED and makes no logical sense as a gaming medium, but this game doesn't have turn-based combat and doesn't require a huge amount of reading or WoW-esque spell and item knowledge.

Good luck

 

[im-white]

just some really good games you might want to look into from the rts genre... roller coaster tycoon 3, company of heroes, sins of a solar empire, starcraft 2... fps genre: battlefield 2, & any of the valve titles rpg genre: fallout 3, dragon age origins, fallout new vegas... also if you are into indie games you can't go wrong with amensia the dark decent easily the best and scariest game available

 

[im-white]

almost forgot the total war series... ps watch for trolls in the pc community they exist so be careful

 

[lord.jeff]

I only started PC gaming within the last year myself. It's not hard to get into PC gaming, like people have said most games work right away, steam itself loads the latest patches when you get the game. Two things I would recommend is buying a decent mouse, it's a pain to try and use the laptop's touch mouse to play games, also play offline a bit first as your not use to the controls and it's best to avoid any competitive situations till you are.

 

[chaosfalling]

Unless you genuinely need the portability of a laptop, then I'd seriously consider getting a PC instead. In fact, if you're looking for a gaming laptop then portability clearly isn't a concern of yours to which I must hence insist - Get a PC instead!

It's cheaper, easier to upgrade and just feels more natural than any laptop.

 

[Worgen]

I would suggest dling steam as soon as you get one since steam is a great place to go for really good deals on games, in fact you just missed a huge summer sale, which is unfortunate since you could have bought entire catalogs of games for the cost of one new game

also if you want access to awesome old games then join gog.com, its the one stop shop for drm free old but awesome games

 

[BigTortoise]

Laptops aren't for gaming. If you want to be a PC gamer, get a proper tower or just stick with your 360.

I don't really understand what you mean by "get into" though.

This man speaks truth. Oh and you also want to build your own computer rather than buying a premade one. Costs half as much.

 

[mrhateful]

Start off with the laptop when you get tired of the heat and uncomfortable sitting position, then just go buy a PC that can run it all.

PC that can run almost all titles(at high graphic settings[still way better than xbox])

PC
-case with 500W power supply: 48
-very solid motherboard - 181
-Graphic card - 173
-CPU(that works with motherboard) - 100
-8GB DDR3 ram - 90
-2000 GB hard-drive - 65

Total for PC: 657 euro

All the other stuff
-24" monitor: 267
-Mouse: 33
-Keyboard: 53

Total for other: 353 euro

Also shop online, depending on which country you reside there is probably a website to check out prices.

 

[Thamian]

If you're new to PC gaming, do NOT build your computer yourself. Most of the problems you will ever have with games (other than certain studios that have a habit of putting out games with foolish numbers of bugs) are down to slight disagreements between hardware (exceptions of course being legacy games which either the graphics card or OS just finds itself laughing it's arse off at), and most PC manufacturers (atleast the proper ones) will either check hardware compatibility ruthlessly or write their own bios for the motherboard (or just build their own mobo flat out) to ensure everything is fine.

Also, if you want current gen (or near to current gen) don't get a laptop: it will overheat or not be as good value for the price.

 

[evilneko]

Wat. Most use bog-standard bios from the same companies that you'll find on mobos you can buy separately. Award, AMI, etc.

Hardware is pretty commoditized and has been for a long time.

 

[Thamian]

Well they obviously do something, certainly Dell does (yes I know, bad example, don't start), even if it's only purchasing a tweaked version of an existing bios. Also, I never said most did it, just that some do. Most will just buy stuff off the shelf and make sure that the manufacturers' say that the other bits will all be happy (and subsequently check that those manufacturers aren't talking out of their arses).

Also, hardware is commodified... at more than one level, first at the board/card level and second at the component level. And it really isn't hard to work out all sorts of awesomeness you can do with those components, the datasheets aren't exactly heavily controlled.

By the same token, I'm not stupid enough to write my own bios. I'm an engineer, not a compsci.

 

[Alyssa the gamer girl]

i used to be a console gamer, till my dad bought me a copy of Orange Box for PC. i never went back to console gaming after that. i recomend TF2 since its free now. World of Tanks is also free.