Topic: PC Gaming

I didn’t even know ME3 had a Wii U port. I will trust your expertise on the quality of that port. I also had no idea AC Black Flag was on Switch. I might have to look at picking that up.

Oh snapity, snap, snap! I realize this is old news, but I'm excited. I haven't used the PC part of my gamepass sub (Just needed ultimate for gold and xbox) since My gaming rig needs an update but I didn't know that all 3 age of empires and rise of nations games are on there! I may have to see if my surface pro can survive installing these. RTS games are my bread and butter.

Give it a whirl. There's a lot of good stuff on Game Pass that can run on an absolute potato.

Some of the more recent Surface Pro models, i.e. anything past around 2017, have quite decent integrated graphics too and can even play some of the AAA games at lower settings.

Welp, I'll take a chance on skyrim anniversary. will have to spend the weekend ether reinstalling or getting new versions of my mods.

I'm currently in need of a new laptop, and I consider using this chance to get a Gaming Laptop, to have access to the next AAA games like Elden Ring. Currently I'm looking at the HP Omen 15 (https://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c07905752).

However I'm worried how long the Laptop will last. My last two laptops (non-gaming ones) had their Monitors break after a few years. I don't want to pay a lot for a machine that will be broken in a few years, especially given that I don't play that often.

Is it true that Gaming Laptops last longer than regular ones, before their hardware deteriorates? How long did your gaming laptops last? Also, how long would a current Gaming Laptop like the HP Omen 15 be able to play modern games with reasonable graphics settings?

Just bought Skyrim anniversary, Forza Horizon 5 and all the DLC, Zombie Army 4 and the season passes, GTAIV and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron.

Gonna hold off on Deathloop until there’s a fairly deep sale, as well as Psychonauts 2, Guardians of the Galaxy and Far Cry 6. I will be getting the Halo campaign day one though, as well as God of War and Eldin Ring (even though I know I’m probably going to give up on it because it’s the same brutally difficult Souls formula as all the other Souls games I gave up on).

@Ryu_Niiyama
My brother loves Gamepass and uses Series X and PC for it.

My issue is, Gamepass on PC isn’t Steam, but on Windows. And I need my games on Steam for the built in controller config to assign gyro to any game in a matter of seconds. I know many games don’t involve aiming so it’s not really an issue, but because I rely on Steam for that I preferred to have my entire collection on Steam so I don’t have to have my games split across multiple platforms on PC. It’s why I don’t even bother downloading free games given away by Epic. Because I know I’m never going to play games on Epic. If it means waiting a year for the steam release, so be it. If it means never getting the game at all then I’ll just play something else.

But if you don’t have that same issue I do then it’s a no brainer.

@Pizzamorg
So, Assassins Creed III Collection released on Switch with 3 and Liberation (the Vita game). It had a few frame rate drops but they patched it up. Then the AC Rebel Collection released with both Black Flag and Rogue, and it’s immaculate. Rock solid Framerate, native resolution, amazing gyro aiming, the works. Even has bonus content art and videos and stuff. It’s a must have, the definitive portable AC experience.

Mass Effect 3 on Wii U was really solid. Gyro aiming, quality gamepad integration with touch support giving commands to team mates, etc. but it did horribly because they released it for $60 at the same time they released the trilogy on PS3/360 for $60. So not only was it fighting an uphill battle releasing on Wii U with its abysmal install base, the dominating narrative around its release was how much of a rip off it was compared to the trilogy. So it never stood a chance. But it was a rock solid port.

I really like playing games where I can enjoy them in hybrid fashion on the TV or in handheld mode, so I buy a lot of third-party multiplat games on the system. Some of the standouts are Alien Isolation, Assassins Creed Rebel Collection, Bioshock Remastered Collection (no gyro though), Borderlands Legendary Collection, Burnout Paradise (60fps), Crash Bandicoot 4, Crysis Remastered Trilogy, Darksiders (best to stick with the first- 60fps mode and the others aren’t standout ports), Diablo II Remastered and Diablo 3, Disco Elysium, Divinity Original Sin 2 (cross save with Steam), Doom Eternal, DB Fighter Z and DBZ Kakarot, DQXIS, Dragon’s Dogma (no gyro though), Dying Light, Fatal Frame, Final Fantasy X/X-2 and Final Fantasy XII, God Eater 3, Hades (cross save with Steam), Hellblade Senua’s Sacrifice, LA Noire, Metro 2033 and Last Light Redux, Mortal Kombat XI, Need For Speed Hot Pursuit, Ni No Kuni (first runs better than the second), Ori Blind Forest and Ori Will of the Wisps (the games look amazing on Switch and get the full 60), Overwatch, Persona 5 Strikers (some jaggies but still a quality version of a game I love), Pillars of Eternity (people complain about bugs but my brother played through and didn’t really have any issues), Resident Evil 4 (no gyro), 5, 6, Revelations 1/2, Rocket League, Saint’s Row 3 and 4, Civilization VI (cross save with Steam), Sniper Elite v2, 3 and 4, South Park Stick of Truth and Fractured But Whole, KOTOR, Monkey Ball Banana Mania, Tetris Connected, Skyrim, Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, Trails of Cold Steel 3 and 4, Tony Hawk, Trials Rising, Valkyria Chronicles 1 and 4, XCOM 2, Y’s VIII (stay away from IX, too many performance issues), and Zombie Army Trilogy.

That’s not everything but those are definitely the highlights of multi platform games that I think are good buys on Switch and aren’t too heavily downgraded and don’t suffer from performance issues to the extent it really detracts.

I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned here. Halo Infinite's multiplayer launched today on Steam. Giving a heads up to those who wanted to play Halo's Infinite's multiplayer.

Not specifically PC, but it is where I play this game so figured this as good a place to share this as anywhere. Outriders is pretty much completely overhauling itself based on community feedback - and it isn’t charging you to do it. There are at least a couple of digs at the Destiny business model thrown in here. In addition, there is also a tease for some paid DLC coming at some point next year, as well, but the big overhaul patch (I think they said about 16 gig?) dropping today is free. If you check out their Reddit page, they have extensive patch notes for those interested.

Sadly, I am away, so I can’t play around with this but I’m definitely looking to giving this a try in the new year.

i don't think the link is working.

Looks like you need to watch it on YouTube and log into your account, as they have age restricted their account.

I’m waiting on Halo’s campaign. Not really interested in the multiplayer, or any other online only multiplayer based games.

Only exception I make for that is Monster Hunter for co-op, and Splatoon for competitive. Aside from that, basically single player only.

Ugh. It’s gonna be another year before my Deck arrives. I wanna play some Steam games but just don’t have it in me to commit to TV only right now. I need my hybrid freedom. By the time I actually get my Deck, they’ll be announcing a revision model with slimmer bezels, slightly smaller form and weight with OLED screen (Deck currently has bezels larger than the v1 Switch). But, if so, then so be it. I’ll buy another one. They know my kryptonite.

@JaxonH not interested in Halo for the multiplayer...? That seems kind of like saying I'm only interested in Pop-Tarts to see what the outside crust tastes like.

@OptometristLime
If I hate what the inside tastes like and love what the outside tastes like, then what's the problem

@OptometristLime Throwing my hat in the ring for the Halo PVP vs campaign debate, I'm generally not into the PVP aspect of shooters outside of a few exceptions (Splatoon, TF2), but I enjoy playing through the campaigns. I'm just not into the competitive side of things in any genre really, and going off of my few experiences with Halo's PVP when the MCC dropped on Steam, it's pretty inaccessible to newcomers given the amount of veterans dominating the scoreboards. I'd be lucky to even land a hit before getting killed in the matches I played. I'll try Infinite's PVP and see if it's easier to get into now, but when it comes to Halo, I've had much more fun just playing the first two campaigns in co-op with a friend. They're decently meaty campaigns and the mechanics are solid, I don't see the problem with focusing more on that aspect of the series.

Man, the previews for the Halo Infinite campaign are making me interested in Halo Infinite really for the first time. Despite being more a Xbox guy/PC guy for most of my gaming life, Halo is one franchise I just never really got into over the years somehow. I don’t really know how it passed me by in the way it did, but nonetheless it did. I have made attempts to go back and play the games now I’m older but to me they just feel so dated and not very fun to me. However, Infinite seems to be brining Halo into modern times, in the right way and I am liking what I’m hearing. I mean crazy FPS action + grappling hook + open world sandbox? That is pretty much my holy trinity.

@Pizzamorg get the master chief collection and play the previous games. they are still great.

The one thing that I'd advice straight away is to not purchase a laptop for your gaming needs. The major downside to getting laptop for such heavylifting tasks is that it'll get hot quickly. Which in turn leads to a quicker hardware deteriation and the need to change thermal paste pretty much every year.
Just get the regular tower PC with replacable components and discrete videocard and you're good to go. And it will cost you less than laptop with similar specs.

I went through 2 gaming laptops and they both quickly gained heat up to some crazy degrees. Fan cooler on one of those laptops (it was an MS gaming laptop as I recall) produced noticeable levels of noise while trying to snuff all that heat out. Both laptops were from 2017-2020 era so they were not ancient or something like that.

I have tried I think, 1, 2 and is it OST? All had the same dated, floaty, shooting mechanics and basic engagements. Just didn’t vibe with it. I think you had to be there.

@Pizzamorg ODST is the only "bad" halo game i have played. it has its moments, but it feels way different and not that halo-like

if you didn't like halo 1 and 2, then you won't like infinite either. it is still the basic formular. you can try the free multiplayer, but i dislike that. don't know why but i got smashed in infinite even though i rocked at halo LAN-parties back in the days...