Greg on Games

Today I went to E3 to check out some of the new titles coming out soon. As I was walking around, I saw the Alienware booth, and walked inside to take a look. They had the 42.8″ curved rear-projection DLP monitor, their flagship desktop, the ALX X58, some of their old laptops, and their brand new M17x.

I have been thinking about getting the M17x ever since the information was leaked on Friday, but I was already planning on getting the Asus W90Vp-X2. Plus, Alienwares have always been way too expensive. At first the W90vp seemed like a no-brainer, but it was getting mixed reviews, like having a terrible trackpad, bad keyboard, bad speakers, and not enough performance considering it’s two Ati Mobility 4870s (probably due to premature drivers).

The moment I saw it in person, I was speechless. All the lights pouring out of this thing was too much to handle. Plus, Alienware programmed the leds like a rainbow on the backlit keyboard, so it looked amazing. The touchpad felt nice, and looked cool, especially with the lit up border. The left and right click were a little too hard to press, but at least they didn’t feel cheap. Also, the keyboard felt extremely solid and like a desktop keyboard. But be careful because this thing might break your back since it weighs a backbreaking 11.68 pounds.

The model I tried out had a 1gb 280m gtx, 4gb 1066 mhz ram, 1920×1200 lcd screen, and the rest I have no idea on.

The played a beta to Left 4 Dead (no idea why a beta over the actual game or a demo), and a beta to ghostbusters. I cranked up the settings on it to the max. The lowest the fps were from what I could tell were about 70-80 fps, and the highest was about 160-180 fps. This was played on the first level of No Mercy. Keep in mind that this was the beta so it was not fully optimized, and that the latest drivers for the video card might not have been installed. The results should double if you get the game with the latest patches, the latest drivers, and add a second 280m gtx.

On Ghostbusters, it was kinda choppy probably due to the fact that it was a beta. I didn’t play the game long enough to see what the settings were on but they must have been high since as I said it was choppy.

The base model costs $1799 and comes with

17-inch WXGA+ display (1440×900); WUXGA (1920×1200) available
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.4GHz) processor (Core 2 Extreme QX9300 overclockable quad-core available)
Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M graphics card with 1GB of memory (dual GTX 280M 1GB available)
4GB DDR3-1066 RAM (8GB available)
160GB hard drive
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Slot-load DVD burner (Blu-ray available)
9-cell Li-ion battery

Crysis is an awesome game. It has the best graphics of any game, and it has probably the best AI of any game. Reviewers say that it takes a very expensive computer to run it, but that is not true. Almost any new computer can run it, but it does take a very good computer to run it well. Even if your computer can only support the game on the lowest settings, that is ok because the game is still tons of fun, and even though it is on the lowest settings it looks good. Click on HERE to see if your computer can run it, and how well. Just click Crysis.

From gamerocketstudio.spruz.net,

Gears of war is the perfect third person shooting game for online and campaign modes. Its graphics are amazing, it has an amazing gore effect. Its campaign will keep you on the edge of your seat. You play as the character Marcus Fenix, who just got out of imprisonment from the evil horde of locust. The locust are creatures that come out of the ground. You and your team of soldiers have a number of high-tech guns. The campaign but it is longer on the PC. The online is fantastic. You can select from four different types of online. Execution is team battle where you can be revived if you are downed(shot or hit until in last stand mode). Warzone is team online where if you are downed you cannot be saved. Annex is like territories, you have two hold a position to get points. Assassination is when you have a VIP and you have to keep him safe and assassinate the enemy VIP. Overall the game is good if you like shooting the crap out of ugly bastards!

-Rocketman499-

Stream My Game is an application for Windows XP, Windows Vista, most versions of linux, and Yellow Dog Linux for PS3 (Sorry Mac Users). Also you can use it on compatible UPnp (Universal Plug and Play) units. These units include cell phones, game consoles, satellite boxes, cable boxes, and DVD Players. This application allows you stream almost any game and application from a Linux computer, or a Windows computer, to a UPnP unit, a PS3 running Linux, a Linux computer, or a Windows computer. Instead of just making you play the game on the computer that is broadcasting it and watching it on the screen that the unit you are broadcasting to is connected to, Stream My Game utilizes the processor, sound card, and video card of the unit you are broadcasting to. This allows you to play games such as Crysis, Call of Duty 4 (PC Version), Orange Box (PC Version), and World of Conflict at the highest setting and frame rate available on that game for a minimum of $400 (instead of up to $5000). This is possible by using either Yellow Dog Linux or Ubuntu Linux on the PS3. Also you can broadcast such applications as Excel, Word, Photoshop, Windows Media Center, and Outlook. The website is www.streammygame.com

Crysis

I just got Halo 2 for Windows Vista. The game is very similar to the Xbox version of the alien-shooter because there are no added campaign levels, but there are all 21 multiplayer maps plus two exclusive maps that are not available for the Xbox version.

I love that I can get achievements for playing one of my favorite games. I get 30 gamerscore for each level I complete and 100 gamerscore when I beat the game on normal. The graphics are a little better even if you own an average video card, but if you own a close to top of the line one, you can notice the difference.

If you don’t have Halo 2 for Xbox, you should definitely buy it. But even if you do you should still buy it for PC. I give the Xbox version 9.4 out of 10 and the Vista version 9.8.