Posts in Category: pc gaming

Dear Game Publishers: PC Gamers Will Wait for a Good Port

James

We just want to glide over Gotham at 60 FPS.

Once again, PC gamers have been reminded to never trust a console port on launch day.

Yesterday, Batman: Arkham Knight launched simultaneously on consoles and PC. It should have been a joyous occasion for PC-gaming Batman fans, but it wasn’t.

The problem? Arkham Knight’s PC port is apparently “disastrous,” “garbage,” and “suffering from major issues.” AMD and NVIDIA players are both reporting major framerate and audio problems, the game comes with a default 30 FPS cap, and the textures on PC are allegedly worse than the console versions.

Read More

Review: XCOM Enemy Unknown

The Falcon

tl;dr If you want turn-based tactics, this is one of the best!

image

Intro
Now that the aliens have invaded the earth and started abducting and terrorizing its people, a task force has been set up to defend humanity, to study these aliens, and maybe even to fight back! XCOM: Enemy Unknown puts you in charge of an elite squad of soldiers, and expects you to lead them into battle against impossible odds. Good luck, Commander!

Read More

Does FPS Matter? Decide for Yourself.

James

image

Some of the silliest myths in gaming are related to framerate, or frames per second (FPS). Some people will tell you that the human eye can only detect a certain number of frames per second, or that an FPS of 24-30 will produce a more “cinematic” gaming experience, as the standard framerate for movies has been set at 24 FPS for nearly 100 years, and television often displays at 30 FPS.

On the other end of the spectrum, some gamers will claim that you need a certain FPS to truly enjoy your gaming experience. They’ll say that running below a certain FPS is like a “slideshow” because of how few images are being rendered each second.

In reality, the only framerate that really matters is the one that is acceptable to you. Generally speaking, however, a higher framerate is better for gaming. And as PC gamers, we have the power to adjust our game settings or build our computers to achieve a desired framerate.

Read More

Review: Ys Origin

The Falcon

tl;dr Good gameplay, bad graphics.

image

Intro:
If you have never heard of the Ys games, I do not blame you. The name is weird, the artistic style is “anime-like”, and the games are not (yet) mainstream. Wikipedia says that there are 7 or 8 Ys games, but only 3 of them are available on Steam. From those 3, we take a look at Ys Origin, the first game in the series (chronologically). In Ys Origin, you are part of a search party that is looking for a pair of goddesses who are missing/hiding in a tower.

Read More

Review: Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes

The Falcon
tl;dr Very short. Very sweet, but not worth $20.
image

Intro:
In Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, you control Big Boss (a.k.a. Snake) as he infiltrates a military base and rescues a couple of prisoners. Ground Zeroes is a prelude to The Phantom Pain, the full game that is set to come out in 2015.

Read More

Game Streaming: A Look at the Industry

Matthew Zehner

Thanks to game streaming services, we can see people do amazing things with gaming. We can watch professionals from around the world battle it out for a million dollar prize pool in Dota 2. We can learn how to build a Miracle Rogue deck in Hearthstone. Or we can just watch people mess around in Watch_Dogs. No matter how it is consumed, the streaming of video games has become a huge (and in my opinion, brilliant) development in the gaming industry.

Read More

League of Legends System Requirements and Recommended Builds

James

Averaging more than 60 million players each month, League of Legends is the most-played computer game in the world. Thankfully, it’s also a game that doesn’t need extreme amounts of computing power to run.

But how powerful of a PC do you need to be to play League at a fast framerate and high resolution? Beyond that, what kind of PC would you need to play League triple monitors or at 4K resolution? This guide will take an in-depth look at the computer hardware necessary to play League on everything from minimum settings up to crazier multi-monitor setups or extremely high resolutions.

Read More

The Problem of Community Fragmentation from Matchmaking

Guest post by Hydrostatic Shock

image

Matchmaking services have been replacing server browsers in multiplayer games on PC in recent years. The trend started in 2009 with the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, developed by Infinity Ward. This caused a great deal of controversy in the PC gaming community, which led to a boycott of Modern Warfare 2 over the lack of dedicated servers and a server browser, which had been included in the previous title, Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The boycott did not result in any changes, and matchmaking services have continued to replace server browsers in PC games. 

Read More