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STEAM- Announcements & Updates 2011 Edition

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Jesus I bought my computer in january and I'm already feeling like it's going to be behind in another few months if this keeps up (i7 3ghz, gtx 470). It seems like every decent sized game it goes up more and more, red faction's got some crazy ass specs too. I'm afraid of what BF3's specs will be.
 
Lasthope106 said:
Those are some high recommended requirements for Brink.
They play a dangerous games with the specs . . . if you make them really high, a lot of people will just say "Screw it . . . I'll buy later when both the game is cheaper and the recommend hardware is cheaper."

But I guess PC is more of an after thought an all the optimization is done on the console versions (which have much much weaker hardware than those recommended specs).
 

O.DOGG

Member
So how good is Magicka? I've been thinking about it but it hasn't piqued my interest. I may buy the complete version that's on sale now.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Ickman3400 said:
Jesus I bought my computer in january and I'm already feeling like it's going to be behind in another few months if this keeps up (i7 3ghz, gtx 470). It seems like every decent sized game it goes up more and more, red faction's got some crazy ass specs too. I'm afraid of what BF3's specs will be.
Yet they all run on a 360 or PS3.
 

shintoki

sparkle this bitch
Nabs said:
Magicka is 5 bucks. Vietnam is also 5.

Buy both for 8.

Or get the 4 pack for 15 (does not include DLC).
Hell fucking yeah. I'm unsure if I want the DLC or not, someone buy and give me impressions!
 

Archie

Second-rate Anihawk
O.DOGG said:
So how good is Magicka. I've been thinking about it but it hasn't piqued my interest. I may buy the complete version that's on sale now.

It is a great concept, but the lack of checkpoints and cheap deaths ruined the game for me. I haven't played it in awhile so I don't know of those problems were patched.
 

NeoandGeo

Banned
Zefah said:
Having just recently upgraded from a Core 2 Quad 6600 to an i5 2500k, the difference is really quite substantial. Over 100% performance increase in some games. All quad cores are not equal. Not even close.

Damn. What were the clocks on each, and what game netted that substantial of an increase? I'm still rocking a Q9650@3.6 and haven'e seen any reason to upgrade, but posts like yours are giving me the upgrade itch. :D
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
NeoandGeo said:
Damn. What were the clocks on each, and what game netted that substantial of an increase? I'm still rocking a Q9650@3.6 and haven'e seen any reason to upgrade, but posts like yours are giving me the upgrade itch. :D

I had my Q6600 OC'd to 3.4ghz.

The i5 2500k is still running at stock (3.3ghz).

So, yeah, in terms of raw clock speed I lost 100mhz.

The biggest increase I have noticed so far is in the MMORPG Rift. I went from getting around 20 - 30fps in crowded town areas to, using the same settings, 60 - 80fps.

I'm using the same Radeon 5870 1GB. I've noticed large increases in almost every other graphically demanding game, too. The only one that doesn't really seem affected is Dragon Age II, as it still runs rather poorly considering what it's displaying.
 
O.DOGG said:
So how good is Magicka. I've been thinking about it but it hasn't piqued my interest. I may buy the complete version that's on sale now.

As a coop game, it's hilarious fun. It's a little buggy but when everything is working it's just a plain good time. The spell-casting is extremely satisfying when you start pulling off the higher level spells consistently, which can also lead to some funny friendly fire accidents.
 
poppabk said:
Yet they all run on a 360 or PS3.

That's not really the point though. I didn't spend well over $1000 to get minimum or "close" to recommended. I obviously knew it would happen eventually, but I thought it would take longer than a few months to really push it.

Granted, I can max Crysis 2 out with Gaf's custom settings and get almost locked 30 fps out of it. Guess I'm just overreacting to base numbers.
 
The_Inquisitor said:
Holy fuck. The recommended card for Brink is mine. Is it already time to start GPU shopping?
I am honestly blown away my 5770 doesn't meet the recommended spec for Brink. I have no doubt it will run it much better than my 360 ever could, but still....
 

Rekubot

Member
The_Inquisitor said:
Holy fuck. The recommended card for Brink is mine. Is it already time to start GPU shopping?
Absolutely not. Don't toss hundreds away just because developers can't optimize their code properly.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Ickman3400 said:
That's not really the point though. I didn't spend well over $1000 to get minimum or "close" to recommended. I obviously knew it would happen eventually, but I thought it would take longer than a few months to really push it.
The point is that at the $1000 mark you shouldn't be struggling at all with a console port that runs on $200 hardware. Either they have gone the extra yard and made massive improvements to the PC version or they are just being lazy with their port.
 
Ickman3400 said:
That's not really the point though. I didn't spend well over $1000 to get minimum or "close" to recommended. I obviously knew it would happen eventually, but I thought it would take longer than a few months to really push it.

Granted, I can max Crysis 2 out with Gaf's custom settings and get almost locked 30 fps out of it. Guess I'm just overreacting to base numbers.



I think he was more talking about how poorly optimized most modern CPU games are.
 

alphaNoid

Banned
So about Magika... if most of my PC friends never come online anymore (lol :( ) ... is there some kind of lobby system to find people to play with online or is it all about friend invites and such?

I'm interested in Magika, but would rely on randoms to play with :(
 

Deadstar

Member
alphaNoid said:
So about Magika... if most of my PC friends never come online anymore (lol :( ) ... is there some kind of lobby system to find people to play with online or is it all about friend invites and such?

I'm interested in Magika, but would rely on randoms to play with :(

There are lobbies you can join with others and I've played with randoms and didn't have a bad experience. You can join games that are hosted as either the challenge modes or the campaign. In challenge mode you have to see how many waves of enemies you can defeat before you die, it's a lot of fun.
 

Drkirby

Corporate Apologist
Stumpokapow said:
I think Brink might be the first game where I don't meet the recommended requirements.
Really? How old is your computer at this point. Or is it just your video card?
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Recommended specs rarely ever mean a thing. Just wait until the game is released and we see some benchmarks.

Just take a look at Arma 2 for the fun of it. Minimum of a 7800, and recommended of an 8800GT. Sorry, but an 8800GT really isn't adequate for running Arma 2 at a decent framerate.

Rift recommends a Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz, which will struggle a lot to maintain playable framerates in cities.
 
TheExodu5 said:
Recommended specs rarely ever mean a thing. Just wait until the game is released and we see some benchmarks.

Just take a look at Arma 2 for the fun of it. Minimum of a 7800, and recommended of an 8800GT. Sorry, but an 8800GT really isn't adequate for running Arma 2 at a decent framerate.

Rift recommends a Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz, which will struggle a lot to maintain playable framerates in cities.

Which if applies to Brink could mean that even recommended won't be good enough...I'm curious why this game recommends an i5 specifically moreso than the GPU rec.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Gully State said:
Which if applies to Brink could mean that even recommended won't be good enough...I'm curious why this game recommends an i5 specifically moreso than the GPU rec.

It could also mean that they're being realistic and recommending specs that will allow for 60fps.

The game just might not be very scalable. Minimum specs would give playable framerates, while recommended give 60fps.

Core i5 quad is the norm for CPUs right now. A decent quad core Athlon will be fine as well. The GTX 460 is a midrange card. Nothing outlandish here.
 

adg1034

Member
I realize I'm a little late to this party, but does anyone want to go in on a Portal 2 two-pack? I hear there are potatoes to be had...
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Drkirby said:
Really? How old is your computer at this point. Or is it just your video card?

4850, triple core phenom ii at 3.0GHz <-- both fail recommended specs.

No problem with Metro 2033 or Crysis on more than acceptable settings, and most games get >60FPS on max everything so I don't see the sense in upgrading just yet.
 

alphaNoid

Banned
Deadstar said:
There are lobbies you can join with others and I've played with randoms and didn't have a bad experience. You can join games that are hosted as either the challenge modes or the campaign. In challenge mode you have to see how many waves of enemies you can defeat before you die, it's a lot of fun.
Awesome thanks!
 
TheExodu5 said:
It could also mean that they're being realistic and recommending specs that will allow for 60fps.

The game just might not be very scalable. Minimum specs would give playable framerates, while recommended give 60fps.

I really hope that's the case. I remember DA:O called for a quad core but with a dual core and a decent GPU you'd get 30 FPS with everything cranked up.

I wish publishers/developers would be a bit more detailed or at least establish some type of unified guidelines for describing system req/performance and settings. "High" detail settings for game X is different from "High" detail settings for game y and yet we associate them as one in the same ( I mean Crysis 2 doesn't even have a low setting- it's essentially high/higher/highest). I understand that it would be hard to describe but a baseline would be good. For example, with console ports, instead of low/med/high, they describe their settings relative to HD console settings (worse than console/console/better than console/max- or something to that effect).
 

Sanic

Member
I wanted Borderlands :/

Another day I wait.

Still may get the first Bioshock though. Don't think I want to play through the second again just a year later.
 

Drkirby

Corporate Apologist
Stumpokapow said:
4850, triple core phenom ii at 3.0GHz <-- both fail recommended specs.

No problem with Metro 2033 or Crysis on more than acceptable settings, and most games get >60FPS on max everything so I don't see the sense in upgrading just yet.
I thought you were saying Minuiunm for some reason. Even my computer may be below Recommend, since it has a Quad core Phenom ii at 2.8. I do have a GTX 460 though.
 

Weenerz

Banned
Nelo Ice said:
any reason to pick up bioshock 2 if u already have the physical copy?

picked up the LE last year when gamestop had it for $20

You can add it to your growing collection of Steam games!


Also to add, I ended up getting Magicka Vietnam, it looks hilarious. Now I just need to start Magicka.
 
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