Consoles are getting so much better these days I go into a shop and have to search around to find the pc section. At one point it used to take a whole row in a shop now I might find a shelf with games on.

I dont tend to bother much with my consoles and tend to stick with my pc for gaming.

Setup,

Dualcore AMD 7850 BE 2.8ghz - board will take x6 core CPU 3.2ghz
Nvidia 260GTX has just replaced my old 9600GT and the fan nearly took my finger off lol
4 gig of ram (3gig usable) due to win 7 32bit
22" monitor Samsung SyncMaster P2250

But I like PC much better than a console, there are more options to make the games look better and play faster (at a cost of course)

I dont tend to buy games much and pay a legit service called metaboli £13 a month to access over 500 games I only wish I had much more time to game lol

Not as hardcore as I once was. In general gaming has taken less importance in my life. Though I do favor some games. Usually not bleeding edge PC Games. I'm fine being 5+ years behind.

I do like kicking back and playing the Lego games by Traveler tales. Been heavy into Lego Harry Potter.

I tend to prefer games I can use with my PS2 SmartJoy+ adapter.
I'm trying to get into the habbit of buying games, but only from the likes of Steam, and heavily discounted.

Current Rig:
22" Samsung 225MS / Composite,Svideo,Component,VGA,DVI,HDMI inputs
Zotac 9300-ITX WIFI (Rev1 I think, POS!)
Intel Pentium Dual Core E5500 2.8Ghz LGA775 (plan to switch to Quad-Core someday).
2 or 4GB DDR2 (Currently 2GB cause the mobo is being a dink again)
80GB WD SATA drive (running out space fast)
EVGA GT 430 1GB Low-Profile (of course it didn't come with the LP bracket! dinks)
Win7 Pro Ultimate 64bit (overkill)

Logitic Harmony 300 remote
SmartJoy+ PS2 USB adapter
No name optical mouse (i seem to accumulate them)
Random Keyboard

Don't ask about the cases.....

My couch

PS. I bought the GT430 recently, namely so I can play Harry Potter with all settings maxed out at 1680x1050. HA!

My mediacenter is gonna prolly get up, or is downgraded to Boxee Box. The server upgraded to a SuperMicro D550 ITX board. And start getting rackmount cases, cause I loath consumer cases.

Shud up m2h.. I have 3 TV tuners, Haupauge 250, 150, 980q collecting dust. WTF is wrong with me? Everything is broken.

My gaming life = mostly playing a couple matches of UT3 a few times a week, console or tinkering with emulators maybe on a Saturday afternoon once a month or so. I'm not the avid gamer I used to be. Still like it, just a time thing.

PC gaming -namely titles I'm interested in- is very depressing to me these days. I like UT3, Doom 3, more stuff like that. Mass Effect 2 was decent imo. I'm not into WoW or all the military simulations, I get why people like them but I just don't get into the whole character building or going on campaigns thing. I'm more into that twitch kill gaming that UT offers, WASD and mouse for controls, and to just be done with it in 20 minutes.

Console gaming - I have a 360 and a Wii along with older consoles, I like stuff like Gears of War, Metroid Other M and a good racing game, but I don't use them much I admit (having a PS3 wouldn't change that)


And of course I get into the retrogaming/emulation deal. I have got an X-Arcade for MAME, an adapter for a SNES controller and I play God of War on my laptop. Someday I'll build my HTPC project incorporating all the games, along with all the other home theater schtuff.

But like I said, I don't play like I used to. I kinda liken my UT matches as like just playing Solitaire a few times a week. *lol*

Yea pc gaming is rough because the constant need to get new equipment. Im only really playing wow and starcraft occasionally.
I play my 360 sporadically. like crazy for a few weeks, then leave it for a bit. mainly big on rock band and with the new shit, you can actually learn how to play.
I have a wii, I jus thack it and put kiddie games on nit for the kids..

I really only play Starcraft II. Once in a while i'll fire up L4D. I was thinking about (buying) playing through the assassin's creed series from steam.

phenom II x4 965
4gigs ram
radeon 5830

Not anymore. I gamed during the mid-late 80's and then most of the 90's. I lost interest when games got boring and repetitive. Plus, a lot of games are multi-player and played online now. Not my cup of tea. I did really enjoy playing UT online though (CTF was great).

Time to grow up kiddies.

I think thats my problem, I can't seem to get into games like I did when I was a teen. Other than age I've played all these types of games already,

Zx spectrum, atari 2600, commodore amiga (A500+ and CD32) snes, megadrive, master system, panasonic 3D0, Gameboy, Game Gear etc.

Same games better graphics, work for one I do 40 hours a week, I have a partner, real life stuff and I just get bored with strategy games these days I just can't get my mind into them and because I can't sit here for like 3-4 hours building something I lose interest in whats happening when I go back to it.

However I do game on my PC and try and keep it upto date as much as I can because you could go stupid and spend 10K and up to be the best of the best.

As already said I pay to play works out much cheaper to access over 500+ games.

So far being playing, Mount and Blade, Grid, the new settlers, ghostbusters (needed to upgrade my 9600GT to a 260 GTX) to run this in max settings as it killed the 9600GT. Heroes over Europe etc

Thats whats installed that the moment and play them when I can, But I ususally stick to the online games I play at the moment which is....

Navyfield - 5 years now

world of tanks - just started playing last week

Startrek online - I played through the closed and opening beta testing and payed for a years sub then got bored of that game so fast I stopped playing it in May 2 months or so after it went live. (crap is all I can say) what a waste of money

I'm hopefull now that Elite 4 will eventually get released as the only game to come close was Freelancer and that wont work with my cards they are too new.

nowhere near as much as i used too like 3+ years ago....

In the past few months all I've played is l4d2, cs, team fortress, and dirt2. The only game i look forward to playing is l4d2 when I can play with friends. I get bored of most games super quickly, they're good but I just dont feel like playing most of the time. There have a been a couple times in the past few years (Resident Evil 5, Uncharted 2) where i stayed up all night with friends to finish the games... but the game was just something to do while hanging out not worrying about assignments/exams...

I'm totally jealous of your X-Arcade bitstorm. One day I hope to have a cabinet built running mame but I have no place in the house for it at the moment.

The Tankstick is pretty nice though it took me seven years to finally get one- I'd have enjoyed it more back when I had more time to use it. The thing is built well and you can easily swap out parts for whatever "feel" you like (e.g. I may swap out the fighter style sticks for the classic ball joystick).

MAME cabs are really cool if they're done right. I might have liked to have built one at one time, but for all the effort they require, with a little patience you can build a decent game room for the same time and money or less. I ended up buying a used arcade game and restoring it for probably 1/4 the price and a tenth of the time as a decent MAME cab. These days I'm actually more interested in having a discreet HTPC set-top box with enough power to run just about everything it supports (hello, Sandybridge).

Space is an issue with any upright, and they're a pain to move. I would actually recommend something like an X-Arcade before tackling something like a MAME cabinet... you can always use base your cabinet around its controls if you decide to go further.

My gaming rig is finally rock stable. (bad/incompatible ram?)

Now I'm gaming again. GTA4 is a dream, using the XLiveLess to disable the Game for Windows bs. Using a PS2 Dualshock controller on a vintage SmartJoy USB adapter.

Dropped in a Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 2.66Ghz CPU.
And upgraded the puny 80GB drive to a new WD Blue 500GB (this drive is incredibly quiet), cloned my install with Clonezilla. Brilliant.

Also been playing Resident Evil 4 for the PS2 in PCSX2.

Now I'm all up in arms, what next game should I buy.

right now i'm only playing Left 4 Dead 2 and Starcraft 2, both great games

Last game I played was Machinarium, many months ago. My machine isn't game-friendly (or even video friendly) -- video performance is much worse than it should be -- or else I'd still probably load UT from time to time. I've got a "new" box waiting for a fresh install, though, so that may change things a bit.

So, yeah, even with cutting-edge hardware I don't think I'd ever consider myself much of a gamer, pc or otherwise.

Oh...I do start up briquolo or enigma occasionally, for a few minutes at a time...forgot about those. Plus there's the slide puzzle thing I wrote for myself which gets a little play now and again.

Hows l4d2? I played lfd1 alot on 360.
I "accidentally" stole l4d2 so I have it on steam.
Lady tried exchanging at the store saying the disc didnt work. Figured she was hustling for a free key, so I copied the key to try at home. Sure enough it went in. Oops.

l4d2 is actually alot of fun. expands on the first game ALOT with plenty of new mechanics used to take advantage of those who won't stay close together in game. melee weapons are awesome fun to use, nothing like getting a chainsaw and going all evil dead on the zombies and there are alot more maps.

I know I must have pumped hours into l4d1 and I can easily say I did the 2nd scenario 2-3 times, 3rd one once and last one once.
I love No Mercy.

Sounds like I should try L4D2.

I just started playing Machinarium
very wierd and cool
also liking Gish and Osmos

trying something other than fps this week

If you like Machinarium, there is a new adventure title called The Dream Machine. Hopefully it will make a PC debut.

A clasic stop motion adventure is Neverland by Neversoft. Win95.

That's pretty good from what I've seen so far, but I have my complaints. The first time I tried it a few months back I didn't have the patience to get off the island...seemed the options and clickable items were just too limited. Last night I got through the first chapter, but I was thinking the same thing throughout...it would be a lot more fun if there were more interactive objects.

I've been playing need for speed hot persuit. just upgraded my pc's main HD to a SSD drive and installed 8 gig of ram. also upgraded the cpu from a dualcore to a quadcore

I was playing wow and starcraft off and ssd for about a month, and it broke.
Works fine for a few hours, then insanely long load times. then missing file errors, then eventually just cant access anything on the drive. fails the intel diagnostics.
reboot, passes all diagnostics and everything says its fine...

Maybe the SSD is b0rk3d?
I'd love to have an SSD, but still seems to sketchy at that price.
I've never done Raid, so I might try that for an extra speed bump.

Mine is a kingston make paid £90 for 128gig drive. so far so good but I'm well aware of the stupid failure rates so expecting this to go long before my cheapo maxtor drives

I dunno, Maxtor has set quite a few speed records.
And if the ssd wasnt acquired by scrupulous means, I would return it.
Its sitting on my tower under my desk. ill wait a week or 2 and plug it in and watch it magically work.
Meantime I took 2 120gb xbox 360 hdds and did my first raid.
Seems good, basically was running starcraft and warcraft on it, but low on space so now its my 4th video/divx dump folder.

Time to scrounge up some change get a couple 500GB drives. They are dirt cheap.

Has anyone signed up to play DC online and want to give a low down on how good it is?

I was amazed at how quickly I uninstalled starcraft 2.
It bored the crap out of me for some reason.

To me it felt a lot like the first one, reskinned, and somehow less satisfying. I couldn't even complete the single player campaigns, which I usually enjoy.

The single campaign was boring
I didn't like how the buildings deploy
resource gathering somehow is dumb not having the fields of resources
I don't like the cartoony look of the soldiers.

I don't think it had full 3d rotation like generals, it was one angle, I didn't like that.

the maps were too symetrical.

blah.
It really bored me.

amazing how the original and brood war were so much better with their sprite tech.

you might need to disk check or defrag the ssd

non fps games I'm digging
"Drawn" series
tiny bang theory
osmos

World of tanks at the moment

just waiting now for Diablo 3

In my house that's partially true. I don't know that I've ever sent any other hard drive brands so quickly to the dumpster...

I've had a few last near a decade.
Almost no HD is gonna last more than 3 years nowadays