New to Steam

[Drinnik]

I got my PC from CCL. I got my mate to sit with me and show me what I needed and we got the parts for a top spec machine at under £900. They built it for me too.

[empath]

Another thing to note is that there are OODLES and oodles of older, 'classic' games that are absolutely awesome, and not taxing at all for your 'onboard' Intel-made graphics processor, even considering the system requirements of DOSBox for the really old games.

There's a LOT of 'catching up' you could be doing while you wait to save up for your 'homebrew killer gaming desktop'.

[Danzama]

Thanks all, I'll see what I can do.

As I said I have a friend who is good with computers, and he'll help me out loads.

As for a budget, I might have enough come next march (Christmas and birthday), oh the life of a teenager.

The classic games are a good idea, as i said, I have been playig peggle and sims.

once again, thanks
D

[I X]

Game (in Ireland at any rate) do very good deals on older PC games, but I'm sure most of those could be obtained on Steam for less. It depends on your bandwidth/internet monies though. Sometimes it's handier to buy a disc. Although I don't think I'll be doing it any more, unless it's for something non-Steam (gasp) or a collector's edition game. Although I don't ever buy CEs normally.

<shrug>

[empath]

Hey, if you get hold of older games, they usually don't have evil, despotic DRM. Uninstall and reinstall all you like.

Some of the old old ones just have relevant codewheels (gotta love how Starflight implemented copy-protection checks ) or other similar efforts that made sense to the game, and weren't that intrusive at all...

[Danzama]

@empath I'm gonna pretend that I understood you.

[Dave-O_Boy]

Great thing about steam, Emp-y, is that it usually has DRM-free version of games. Since you know, Steam basically is DRM in itself. (but the good kind)

[Master Gunner]

When it works. My main problem with it is that you have to have internet access to swith it to offline mode. As I do not have internet access, that means I can't play any of the steam games on my main computer, which is most of them. So I have to use my laptop (which I don't have the right monitor cable for), as I was able to switch Steam off on it at work.

So yeah, when steam works, it's great. When it doesn't work, nothing works.

[Dave-O_Boy]

Well that's unfortunate, but cases like your's is not the norm. Though I don't understand how your laptop has internet but not your desktop.

[Master Gunner]

I brought my laptop into work and used the internet there to switch Steam to offline mode. For obvious reasons, I can't really do that with my desktop.

[davefp]

I brought my laptop into work and used the internet there to switch Steam to offline mode. For obvious reasons, I can't really do that with my desktop.

I'm somewhat curious: How did you get your Steam games on your desktop in the first place without an internet connection?

[Master Gunner]

They're from when I lived in places that weren't the ass-end of nowhere, namely home and university. I had to move to the self-proclaimed "Canada's Smallest Town" and home of one of the world's second-biggest vagina (the world's longest covered bridge, second to the Skydome as proclaimed by Alex) for the summer because that's where I could get a job.

As you can guess, I do not like my present living arrangements much. Just two more weeks until I can get back to civilization and sweet, sweet, internet.

[Gollom]

They're from when I lived in places that weren't the ass-end of nowhere, namely home and university. I had to move to the self-proclaimed "Canada's Smallest Town" and home of one of the world's second-biggest vagina (the world's longest covered bridge, second to the Skydome as proclaimed by Alex) for the summer because that's where I could get a job.

I feel for you. I was in the same position last year, just in rural Ontario. I discovered two things that summer. First, I am a bandwidth vampire. Without 24/7 highspeed access, I wither and die. On the inside. Second, that cafes with highspeed internet and free wifi are godsends. Also, Oliver's in Bracebridge has really good apple fritters and hot chocolate.

Ahem, anyway. Steam is pretty good, and as far as digital content distribution goes, I think it's probably the best model out there. Most games are DRM free, as was mentioned. Just watch out for Ubisoft's newer titles. For recommendations, Gratitious Space Battles. Will run on virtually any computer, and it's pretty fun. A bit shallow, perhaps, but fun. Oh, and because I love it so much: Deus Ex. Should run on your laptop, as it's ten years old. But very good. I think it's only $10, and definitely worth it. The first mission can be overwhelming and confusing, but stick with it, as it just keeps getting better.

[ZehGeek]

Well, atleast a gig or two of RAM's nice. 256+mb of graphics is what you need. I got a 1 gig Graphics Card, 4 gigs of RAM, and a decent CPU. I can run a good number of things decently. Also like said, expect to put a nice amount of money into your computer.

[Sieg Reyu]

The only really good recent game you can easily play that comes to mind is Plants vs. Zombies, which I highly suggest.

[Zaktan]

Other games I'd recommend would be prince of persia sands of time, or any legacy games. I only installed steam a few weeks ago as well (finally bought orange box), and I have to say the legacy games on steam look more enticing than modern games. If only because my laptop is almost as bad as yours (I upgraded the ram).

You can choose to drop 1000$ for a gaming laptop, but 360s are really low in price (get a used one from eb). Same games, a lot cheaper.

A good gaming laptop I'd recommend (for hardcore gaming), would be the alienware 11x series (decently priced for gaming at around 900$). Or just check out a laptop with an AMD processor. Since AMD owns ATI, all the laptops have good graphics cards, so you can probably buy one for ~600 bucks.

[8bitmaster]

in my opinion, you should shell out the 500-1000 dollars (american) and build a decent gaming computer. I would help you with a list if I have the time (and its good to know someone who can put the processor in for you if you don't have the guts) but its a lot cheaper than gaming on a laptop.

[goat]

*looks at empath's avatar, looks at 8bitmaster's avatar*

Nope, not going out like this; somebody's gotta change.

[8bitmaster]

ill change it later today. happy?