Gaming on a Netbook - Recommendations?

[Aeriath]

So here's my story - I've recently moved city to go to uni and I've had to leave my Gaming PC behind and all I have here is a netbook and an internet connection capped at 5GB a month. To keep myself entertained I've been reading, but as I've finished 4 books in the last 9 days this is not going to be a sustainable habit.

This weekend I will be going home to cram the HDD of this netbook with everything and anything entertaining that I can get my hands on using my parents uncapped internet connection. Some games I'm planning to download are Gish, Super Meat Boy, Plants vs Zombies, Sonic 1,2 & 3 and anything else from my Steam library that might run.

The specs of the netbook are:

Dual Core 1.66 GHz Intel Atom processor
1GB Ram
Onboard graphics

I appreciate any recommendations for other games to get which are preferably cheap or free an don't require an internet connection.

 

[DazZ.]

Nethack.

Free, fits on a floppy, doesn't use internet and will run perfectly.
Short of that you can't run anything.

 

[ActionDan]

You might be able to run Limbo, that's £6.99 on Steam (around $10)
Terraria is another game.
That's really the only games I can think ofthat would run on that Netbook.

 

[Weaver]

Torchlight actually has a netbook mode, I highly recommend that.

 

[piratejames]

http://gog.com

I use a netbook a lot, GOG has a massive amount of netbook friendly games

 

[psicat]

GOG.com really is your best bet for netbook friendly games. I recommend: Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, Fallout 1 and 2, Arcanum, Outcast, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Tropico Reloaded, Shogo, and pretty much any Point & Click Adventure game there.

 

[Valagetti]

If your gonna play indie games or games that don't require much power, yeah why not.

 

[Aeriath]

Loads of excellent ideas here. I'm definitely going to make Baldur's Gate, Torchlight, Tropico, Terraria and Half-Life a priority as I've been meaning to either finish some of these games (Half Life, Terraria) or check out some classics (Baldur's Gate, Tropico).

I'll look into the other recommendations too, I'm not totally sold on Limbo at the moment and I fear that some of the older mentioned games might be a little too oldschool for me.

The recommendations have reminded me of a couple of games I'd forgotten about, Diablo and Sam and Max Hit the Road. I can't see either of them on GoG or Steam, does anyone know where I could get them?

Finally, if you're not entirely against console games you could pick up a nice, shiny PS2, a small TV, and some amazing single-player and split screen games for less than the price of a new PS3 or 360 if you've got extra cash.

I actually already own a PS2, I'm just too cheap to buy a TV license for my student flat (£140 is a bit beyond my budget at the moment).

 

[lacktheknack]

Time to go old school. Try raiding gog.com for some pretty sweet deals.

 

[Stall]

You aren't going to be doing any serious gaming. You might be able to play games you get from gog.com (as mentioned), and you might be able to play some smaller, less intensive indie titles. But you are honestly lucky to do even that: the onboard GPU seriously will keep you from doing very much.

And why don't you just bring a TV and not hook it up to anything besides your PS2 and a plug? Is that not allowed? If that isn't allowed for some earthy reason, then maybe you could get a little TV that you can pass off as a monitor?

 

[YawningAngel]

Could you really not bring the desktop along?

 

[redisforever]

Time to reccommend one of my favorite games. The Last Express. Also, for online MP with good graphics, that can run on anything, look at Sauerbraten: Cube 2. Open source fun with map editor.

 

[CorvusFerreum]

rome: total war may run on severly reduced settings. (don't know 'bout graphics)

 

[viranimus]

/facepalm.

Man I hate when people say something about a specific computer, and everyone jumps in like gaming takes some 2000 dollar juggernaut.

Ill give you an example. I used to own ...

http://www.amazon.com/Seashell-1201PN-PU17-BK-12-1-Inch-Netbook-Black/dp/B003QR039M

Which is a step better of a netbook with higher ram and dedicated VGC. However I was told it would struggle to run anything made in the last decade, yet I ran Left 4 Dead, Oblivion, Amnesia: TDD, Vampyre the masquerade: Bloodlines, and about a dozen other "modern" games on it.

Now granted in your situation that integrated graphics will limit some of what you can do, but its not as if the netbook is an invalid. Look for titles that are round about 2003 or older, though with some persistence you might be able to get some newer than that.

Now as for expense Try...

http://www.freewaregames.net/
as well as
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_freeware_games

Should be able to find one or two gems in there. Perhaps The elder scrolls 2 of the original GTA?

Anyway, good luck, and dont be afraid to try.

 

[Acier]

Iji works well on my netty. I feel your pain though.

And it may pain you, but pop cap games are fun

 

[thestickman91]

If you havent tried it yet, I highly recommend Bastion.

 

[Stall]

Now granted in your situation that integrated graphics will limit some of what you can do, but its not as if the netbook is an invalid. Look for titles that are round about 2003 or older, though with some persistence you might be able to get some newer than that.

The OP's onboard GPU is why people are posting the responses that are making you 'facepalm'. That integrated graphics card SEVERALLY limits what he can do, unfortunately. Now, don't get me wrong: I've always been happy to champion budget PC gaming, but even if I put together a VERY budget rig for like 400 dollars, it would still have a dedicated GPU. Not having that is just the absolute kiss of death.

So yes, he is pretty well stuck with gog and flash games.

 

[Plumerou]

Touhou, no, seriously, pretty good games to kill time since they are hard and you are not likely to beat them soon so they will last you a good time, if not all your life :0

 

[viranimus]

Now granted in your situation that integrated graphics will limit some of what you can do, but its not as if the netbook is an invalid. Look for titles that are round about 2003 or older, though with some persistence you might be able to get some newer than that.

The OP's onboard GPU is why people are posting the responses that are making you 'facepalm'. That integrated graphics card SEVERALLY limits what he can do, unfortunately. Now, don't get me wrong: I've always been happy to champion budget PC gaming, but even if I put together a VERY budget rig for like 400 dollars, it would still have a dedicated GPU. Not having that is just the absolute kiss of death.

Oh, I do get what your driving at. However integrated graphics can somewhat surprise you.

Like I gave up the aforementioned net book last year (hard drive issue) and replaced it this year with

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220964

and it is sporting an Shared memory integrated GPU, but yet on it I have ran Team fortress 2, Left 4 dead, and even a resource hog like minecraft. I mean no, integrated graphics GPUs are not great, but they arent completely useless for gaming either. So I stand behind the notion that you truly can surprise yourself when you keep an open mind to what a computer might be able to do. Hell I at one time ran WoW on a 667mhz p3, 125 sys ram & 125 mb on a PCI video card and got it to a playable level, So it goes to show anything is possible.

 

[Stall]

Oh, I do get what your driving at. However integrated graphics can somewhat surprise you.

Like I gave up the aforementioned net book last year (hard drive issue) and replaced it this year with

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220964

and it is sporting an Shared memory integrated GPU, but yet on it I have ran Team fortress 2, Left 4 dead, and even a resource hog like minecraft. I mean no, integrated graphics GPUs are not great, but they arent completely useless for gaming either. So I stand behind the notion that you truly can surprise yourself when you keep an open mind to what a computer might be able to do. Hell I at one time ran WoW on a 667mhz p3, 125 sys ram & 125 mb on a PCI video card and got it to a playable level, So it goes to show anything is possible.

They really can't surprise me, since tons of games outright require a dedicated GPU to run. There are TONS of games, even old ones, that won't run for the simple reason that there is not a dedicated GPU. That's the problem here: not because the onboard video card isn't good enough, but the simple fact that it is an onboard video card. You CAN run a lot on very low specs, like you said, but even then, you still need a dedicated GPU... even if it is a really shitty one.

There's no reason not to try, but he really shouldn't get his hopes up for very much. Besides, there are more than enough fun browser games to play in the mean time.