Xbox 360 Bioshock demo now available on Xbox Live

[Solver]

It's linear alright, apparently. Linearity isn't a bad thing. A bad thing is when you can only approach every area in one way, or when it doesn't matter how you approach it.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


Ok, Im not really in the market for Bioshock yet (surprised?) so this is academic, but lets say I was considering upgrading MY PC for it.

Ive got a P4 (with HT) 3.0 Ghz. IIUC from the above discussion thats enough.

I only have 512MB of memory, but lets assume I'm upgrading that to 2 Gig anyway, for non-gaming purposes)

So all I would have to do would be buy a vid card (PCI, thats my slot) and a sound card? What would that cost - did I read TSO saying 180 Sterling? which in real money is about $360 now? Speaking of 360, an Xbox 360 would be less than that now? but there are so many SKUs of that, which Xbox would do? And an Xbox would give make it possible to get DDR and GH, right? But the vid card would make it possible play Civ4, which i cant now, right? OTOH I could get a cheapo discrete vid card AND an Xbox 360, but that might cost more than the high end vid card? Or I could get the high end vid card, and a PS2, so then I could play Bioshock, Civ4, and DDR/GH (though not necessarily the upcoming versions?)


Or I could buy a cheapo vid card, and a PS2, which would cost less than either the 360 or the high end vid card, and get the party games and Civ4, but then I couldnt play Bioshock.

That processor is better than I remember you having. I also can't remember what mothterboard you have - this probably limits you from upgrading to high end cards in any case. It also limits what RAM you can use.

I think it boils down to priorities though either way. Getting an Xbox is a good and relatively cheap way to play cutting edge games like Bioshock. From scratch a PC with equivalent performance would cost more.

But PCs have other uses and there are other games you want on both platforms. So it's a trade-off only you can answer.

If it were me I'd have a good PC and an Xbox. Oh wait, I already have.

[lord of the mark]

[QUOTE] Originally posted by DrSpike

That processor is better than I remember you having. I also can't remember what mothterboard you have - this probably limits you from upgrading to high end cards in any case. It also limits what RAM you can use.

I have a PCI slot - could there be specific things about my MOBO that would limit me from getting beyond a certain level of PCI card? Though I think thats academic. From what solver says, I doubt it would make sense to go to too high a level card, given my processor, and I doubt it would be worth it to upgrade that.

I think it boils down to priorities though either way. Getting an Xbox is a good and relatively cheap way to play cutting edge games like Bioshock. From scratch a PC with equivalent performance would cost more.

But PCs have other uses and there are other games you want on both platforms. So it's a trade-off only you can answer.

Well, yeah, thats my point. My perpetual point, that the PC vs console tradeoff is highly dependent on all kinds of specifics. I just found this case to be a very interesting case study.

If it were me I'd have a good PC and an Xbox. Oh wait, I already have.

Well sure, but youre not only half way through Half Life, with Monkey Island 4 sitting around unfinished, while your main game craving is to get either Crusader Kings, Xcom, or the Total War series.

[Kassiopeia]

LOTM, if you are looking for an up to date PCI graphics card for cheap, you are pretty much SOL. Unless you are referring to PCI-E, which is a brand new type of expansion slot.

SS2 was linear in a way too, as was Deus Ex. There were different decks and when you got in, you usually didn't get to any other one before you'd "cleared" it. As long as there are different ways to approach a problem, all is well.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
LOTM, if you are looking for an up to date PCI graphics card for cheap, you are pretty much SOL. Unless you are referring to PCI-E, which is a brand new type of expansion slot.

pardon, i meant PCI-E. This is a barely 10 month old (if bottom of the line) PC we're talking about. I think I just lost 50 geek points (not that I had many to begin with)

[DrSpike]

Oh ok if you have a PCI-E slot then that's different - in line with my perpetual advice to you on this you'd be advised to get a mid range card as the cost/benefit ratio will be worth it.

Naturally you'll want to get started on your usual list of actual games opened up to you for your money.

And if you have a board with a PCI-E slot then your RAM options are probably open too. 512MB is too little - games like Bioshock will laugh in your face.

Did you post when you got the new setup? I seem to recall you having a dino.

[lord of the mark]

Of course.

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=158228

and yeah, even Crusader Kings is going to laugh in my face with 512MB.

oh, and I also posted this

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=164522

this rig has been good for quite a few "look at me" threads, and I suspect at least a couple of more, as you suggest above

I think you gotten confused cause the only post-2000 game I've played on it since getting it have been Victoria and Rise of Nations, and you may legitimately not have realized that my dino was so ancient it wouldnt play those.

See, the reason I was playing old games before was BOTH cause my old rig wouldnt run new ones, AND because I had backlog esp outside my favorite subgenres. Ive still got the backlog, though I'm eager to skip some older games so I can take advantage of my "power rig". Thats why your HL recommendation was good, as its enabled to skip a HUGE number of earlier FPS's.

[DrSpike]

Ah yes I do remember that thread now. $250 is very cheap - what motherboard is it?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Ah yes I do remember that thread now. $250 is very cheap - what motherboard is it?

I couldnt tell from this:

http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=T5048

perhaps you could tell from this:

http://review.zdnet.com/desktops/emachines-t5048/4505-3118_16-32081796.html?tag=api&subj=re

[Apocalypse]

So apparently the beta drivers http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_do...etadriver.html
aren't actually for my Geforce Go 7600. I don't get it.

[Wiglaf]

Maybe it's not for laptop cards.

[Apocalypse]

Apparently not. The card plays it fine though. I don't know why they couldn't have updated the drivers for a Directx9c card when they did every other card.

[Wiglaf]

I thought nvidia had unified drivers..weird.

[thesilentone]

Drivers for laptop graphics cards have to be supplied by the laptop manufacturer unfortunately. There's a site out there somewhere (I don't have a laptop so don't know the link sorry) that provides modified .inf files you can just add to the standard drivers though.

Lotm, that £180 I quoted was a graphics card AND a dual core processor.

I finally got to try the bioshock demo earlier and it ran silky smooth for me (x2 3800, 1gb ram, 512mb 1950 pro) and reading other forum posts it seems that even the nvidia 6800 cards run it acceptably.

Seems like a great game, will pick it up friday hopefully

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


I couldnt tell from this:
http://www.emachines.com/products/pr...tml?prod=T5048

That's not too helpful, but it does explicitly say you can add memory and it has a PCI-E slot as you said. So probably best to pick one of the mid range cards that have been mentioned here, cost that along with additional RAM, and see whether you think it's worth it.