If you bought Left 4 Dead 2 on the PC, you might be pleased to hear that some modders have figured out a way to import all of the maps from Left 4 Dead into Left 4 Dead 2, playable with the new infected, new survivors, and the baseball bat. It’s a complex process compared to most mods, and it suffers from a few major problems at the time of writing, unfortunately.

The only new weapon that works is the bat, most of the campaigns crash on certain events, and some of the switches don’t work. If you can get past this, however, you’ve got 5 new expertly designed maps to play around with. I’m expecting that at some point someone (possibly even Valve) will create working versions of all of these maps for Left 4 Dead 2, so for now my advice is to keep your game files safe, and admire the work from a distance. I just hope that they patch in Francis as a playable character. I miss him terribly.

One day, far into the future, gaming blogs will stop reporting on the PC version of Modern Warfare 2. This is not that day. The PC version has been split open by ‘hackers’ (a term I hate using, as I am not in an ’80s movie) to reveal some hidden game modes, outlined below.

The first gametype – “gtnw” – is Global Thermonuclear War. To play, simply capture the objective: a nuclear bomb. When captured, the bomb detonates…
The second gametype – “oneflag” – is One Flag CTF. To play, capture the flag in the middle and bring it back to your base.
The third gametype – “vip” – is VIP. To play, defend the VIP. Or, if you’re on the other team, kill the VIP.

This was found in a now-deleted post on the Infinity Ward forums, and in the word of the person who posted it, “It seems we have finally identified the DLC that Activision/IW wanted to pimp to us. It has been right in the game all along.” This seems likely from a company like Activision, so don’t ignore this guy completely.

If this is all true, this Modern Warfare 2 PC situation is going to get more out of hand by the day. In a week’s time they’ll have found that we’ll be seeing downloadable costume packs for our soldiers, so we can buy DJ Hero T-Shirts for our avatars and our MW2 characters.

As you can see in the above video, The video has been removed by Activision due to copyright laws, however the video would have given you visual evidence that someone has already managed to create an Aimbot and wall-hack for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It’s pretty obvious that dedicated servers are not the cause of hackers, but simply online multiplayer. The fact that these idiots can operate on IWNet is even worse than them being on dedicated servers; there’s no way to kick or ban them from the game. This of course means that if a cheater gets into your game, it’s not going to be very fun.

My advice: get Modern Warfare 2 on the consoles, if you even get it at all. The PC version just isn’t looking very rosy at the moment.

In celebration of a new batch of DLC for the game, Killing Floor is free to play for all Steam users for this weekend. If you decide to buy the game, it’s also 25% off. In case you don’t know what the game is about, I suggest you mentally combine Left 4 Dead, Horde mode from Gears of War, and the SAS voice acting from Call of Duty 4.

I’ve just been playing the game for the first time, and I must say it’s rather enjoyable. The guns feel powerful and the melee weapons are a blast to use. It’s quite challenging, too; plenty of monsters swarm in on you from all sides, which can get pretty chaotic. It looks awful, though, and the movement is a little clunky. Also, all the maps are incredibly dark, but with harsh light sources- I got annoyed at looking into a light and blinding myself constantly.

Still, despite the apparent lack of polish, I had a good time. I’ll most likely be going back and playing some more. I suggest that anyone who can run the game does so; the worst that can happen is that you don’t like it. It’s free, after all.

We here at Ripten enjoy games quite a bit. (Well, some of us. The jury’s still out on that shifty Naylor character.) In fact, one of our highest-rated games of 2007 was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. All things considered, you can see why we’re really excited for Infinity Ward & Activision’s latest foray into the Call of Duty series, Modern Warfare 2, and this trailer does nothing to satiate our hunger.

The trailer, titled Infamy, is the newest trailer for Modern Warfare 2, and it’s amazing. No spoilers, but there’s a rather large reveal at the end of the trailer, and I have no doubt that it’s making a lot of people excited. Maybe this is just me, but does this trailer make anyone else wish that there was a Call of Duty movie? Yes?

Good.

It’s not often you get a demo that’s packed with content, but EA have announced that the PC demo for their attempt at a serious racing game has been released and can be downloaded here. The demo includes a lot (for a demo) of cars, and even an unlockable Zonda:

• BMW M3 (E46)
• 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10
• 2006 Lotus Elise 111R
• 2008 Nissan GT-R
• 2006 Pagani Zonda F (unlockable)

A PS3 and Xbox 360 demo is also coming early October, or of course you could just go out and buy the game, if you’re made of money.

The remake of LucasArts’ classic adventure game The Secret of Monkey Island has been bumped down to just £3.49/$5 on Steam today, in honour of International Talk Like a Pirate Day, which is coming up on the Nineteenth. That’s what I like to call a good deal which you should probably take advantage of.

I bought the game on release (hindsight is 20/20), and I can confirm that this is a quality remake, and the art, while perhaps not perfect for everyone, is very high quality and the voice acting is absolutely fine. You can switch at any time to the classic style, too. I heartily recommend this, ye land lubbers and all that.

What you see above is the new special infected, The Spitter. You are forgiven for looking away, as it’s one of the strangest things I’ve seen come out of Valve’s art studio. the gallery below shows some new features of the game off, including some new weapons, the new types of zombie, and generally just the bleak looking swamp level. I can;t wait to get my hands on this game, if only just to shoot the monstrosity that is The Spitter right in the face with a shotgun.

Shacknews reports that Tripwire’s co-op survival horror game Killing Floor will be receiving a free update ’soon’, followed by some paid content after that. The free content includes a new level (foundry) and some new weapons, the Katana and the AK-47.

the paid content will include “four new playable characters including a Horzine foundry worker and a soldier in prototype Horzine body armor.” I don’t own Killing Floor, but as soon as it goes on sale, I’ll definitely give it a go. It looks like a more frantic and over the top version of Left 4 Dead’s Survival mode, which can only be good in my book.

In this preview of Left 4 Dead 2, some brand new details about the game have been revealed, including some new infected types and more details about the Swamp level. First of all, the level-specific infected, known as ‘common-uncommons’, for the swamp have been revealed. We already knew about the ones with fire-proof suits on, but the swamp level has ‘mud men’, who run quickly on all fours through the swamp, making them difficult to spot.

A new special infected is the ‘Spitter’, who provides a more long-range option for the infected. He spits out an attack (unspecified at this point, probably gob) that damages those who stand in it. The attck isn#t fantastically powerful but can hinder a team who stay in the area of effect too long. Finally, the preview mentions adrenaline and ammo packs (which replace pills and first aid kits). The adrenaline packs allow you to run past zombies without them slowing you down, as well as removing restrictions on your melee attack. Sounds good to me, although removing health packs seems a little odd. I trust Valve, though. They know what they’re doing.

It’s been almost 3 years since the last Star Fox game was released for the DS, and while it was good, Nintendo’s left the series’ fans clamoring for more. Since we haven’t heard anything about a new Star Fox game, we’re led to assume that Nintendo’s not focusing on it for now, but I don’t plan to lose any sleep over that since the team behind a new fan-created Star Fox game, Shadows of Lylat, seem to be doing a better job of continuing the series than Nintendo undoubtedly would’ve done.

Based on the FreeSpace Open game engine, Shadows of Lylat is a high-definition game with a story that takes place between Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Adventures, but it’s not going to be a straight arcade shooter like Star Fox. The creators describe it as more of a simulation shooter, but the trailers give a much better sense of what kind of game it’s going to be. There’s no guaranteed release date for the game yet, but when it’s out, you’ll be able to get it for Windows, OS X, and Linux.

Hit the jump for the second Shadows of Lylat trailer, yo. [Shadows of Lylat]

The PC version of Capcom’s successful zombie shooter Resident Evil 5 will be coming to American audiences on September 14, and to European ones a few days later on the 18th, Capcom announced today. The game is even more bursting at the seams than the console versions: it includes a new and improved Mercenaries mode with three times more enemies, new costumes, higher resolutions, and support for NVidia’s 3D cards.

This of course means that, provided you have some silly glasses and are rich enough to have a card, you can play Resident Evil 5 as if you were at a tiny IMAX screen! You can download a benchmark tool here to see what it’s like, and if it will run on your system.

In a short four weeks after its release, Battlefield Heroes has managed to get one million players, which isn’t surprising, considering the positive impressions of the game during the beta. EA & DICE’s stylistic Battlefield sequel is also free, which I can only assume helped to entice said one million players.

If you still haven’t signed up for the game, you should probably go do so now- maybe you can be a part of the second million. We got a chance to play the game during the beta, and even with its numerous delays, it was a lot of fun. The game’s multi-player only, so don’t count on a gripping story line or emotionally connected characters- but if you’re all about blowing stuff up and shooting foreigners, this is so the game for you.

In an interview with Kombo, PopCap Games’ PR director Garth Chouteau has noted that the highly acclaimed Plants vs. Zombies will follow its cousin Peggle onto other platforms: XBLA, PSN- even the DS and iPhone. Chouteau is quoted by Kombo on the matter:

…Peggle for XBLA is a good example of a game that we took that was popular on the PC and we spent probably twice as long as anyone else would have figuring how to make that game really good for Xbox and Xbox Live Arcade, and I think you will see that with Plants Vs. Zombies–I don’t know the exact order in which that game will make its way onto other platforms, but it’s certainly been successful enough, quickly enough, that we’re looking at other platforms and deciding where we’ll take that game next…

Since PvZ was such a success, both commercially and critically, it can only be good news that it can come to a bigger audience. I only hope that they make a DS version as good as Peggle DS.

Bethesda have today released the second of the Elder Scrolls series as a free download to all. The game, as with all of the Elder Scrolls series, is set in a huge fantasy land, with the two provinces in Daggerfall being Hammerfell and High Rock, the homes of the Redguards and Bretons. Old games becoming free is always good news; it reminds me of Project Gutenberg- a free collection of books no longer covered by copyright laws.

There is, of course, bad news too. The game only runs under DOS, so there’s a complicated method of getting the game running on more modern operating systems. Luckily, Shacknews have put together a nice guide which can be found here to help you along. Good luck!

RPS reports that the PC demo of the huge open-world racer Fuel is out now for anyone to try- you can download it from here if you’re interested. I’m downloading it as I write this, as I’m eager to see what the game is like. I’ve been playing Burnout Paradise on my PC a lot recently, and I’m hungry for a version on rough terrain; Fuel seems pretty perfect.

Still, there’s no chance that it’ll be better than Burnout, and the generally average review scores it has been getting don’t bode well. Of course, the fact that there’s a free demo means everyone can just see for themselves whether they’re going to get the game or not.

No, silly. That’s not happening in this lifetime.

I joke all the time about Crysis running on a cell phone, but the guys at TechCrunch have managed to do so- or at least make it look like its so. Rather than running Crysis right through the phone, TechCrunch ran the game on a PC then streamed it to OTOY, a mobile streaming server, which then redirected it to the Omnia. Pretty cool, I think.

While the guy demoing the software in the video is controlling the game with an Xbox 360 controller, the controller’s actually connceted to the PC. Don’t get any ideas about Crysis coming to consoles, now.

But it’s gonna happen eventually.

Sure, I posted about Empire: Total War yesterday. This is important enough to warrant another post, though: the game is now 50% off (as is the Special Forces Edition) on Steam. If you like strategy games and don’t own this game, your “it’s too expensive” excuse is now void- this weekend.

Remember, those of us who already own the game are still being treated this weekend: the huge patch includes a load of free units and, perhaps best of all, frame rate optimisations. If there was one thing wrong with Empire, it was the nasty frame rate on grassy maps. Nothing game-breaking, but noticeable- at least on my machine.

True to their word, Valve are going to release a Left 4 Dead update next week, focused mainly on the community maps that have been created, and pushing for more to be made in the coming months. The update includes a much better matchmaking system, support for community maps, the full, non-beta SDK release, and obviously support for new maps, models, and textures (via an “add-ons” section).

This is an important update for PC fans of Left 4 Dead, since we’ll be getting a whole load more maps made by the community. Going on the support for TF2, there’ll be a lot of great maps, both well designed and ridiculously silly. I urge everyone with the skills to make a L4D map to do it!

A huge Empire: Total War update is heading to players on Monday, Shacknews reports. Update 1.3 will include processor optimisations for a better frame rate, 14 brand new units, balance changes, and a host of bugfixes. In short, this is a huge update which has free stuff included, and you should be very happy if you’re a Total War fan. Hit the jump for the patch notes.

We’ve worked on implementing the multi-threading in the game for multi-core processors and made many optimisations that will also help increase performance on single core machines.

Players will see huge benefits through increased frame rates particularly in land and naval battles.

14 Free Units have been included in this patch, adding a large amount of diversity to the playable factions and the armies the player will face. These units replace ‘generic’ equivalents giving each faction a unique identity on the battlefield. Here is a description of each free unit available in the update:

Prussian Grenadiers

Wearing a distinctive brass fronted mitre cap, the Prussian Grenadiers are an explosive force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.

Spanish Guardias de infateria

These elite guard infantry are charged with protecting the monarch and are a potent force on the battlefield.

Swedish lifeguard horse

This cavalry regiment forms part of the monarchs’ household guard. Superbly drilled, they act as a shock force on the battlefield.

Holland Horse Guard

Armed with heavy cavalry sabres, these disciplined cavalrymen represent the elite of the army.

Prussian Garde Du Corp

The Prussian Garde Du Corp are a replacement for the Prussian standard Household cavalry. These heavy horse shock troops are best used to break enemy lines and overrun enemy positions. With a strong charge and fearsome attack, these riders make short work of those who would oppose a Prussian monarch.

Prussian Life guard

The Prussian life guards are equipped similarly to line infantrymen. However their uniforms are altogether more splendid, marking them out as a superior force, in arrogance if nothing else. They do a good job as garrison troops and are dedicated to the crown.

Russian Grenadiers

This new Russian unit is great for assaults and their grenades pack a mighty punch!

Spanish Guardias De Corp

The Spanish Guardias De Corp replace household cavalry for Spain. With almost unbreakable morale, on the charge they are almost unstoppable.

Spanish Grenadiers

These are a replacement for the standard Spanish Grenadiers with a distinctive bearskin hat to mark them out as exemplary on the battlefield.

Swedish ‘Lifeguards of foot’

These are a highly trained replacement for the standard Swedish guard. They are often used as a force in a system that defends a monarchy and can be relied upon for utter loyalty and deadly accuracy in the field. Their professionalism is reflected in their fearsome battle reputation.

Holland Guard

The Holland Guards from the United Provinces are superior line infantry units. Carrying smoothbore muskets, they were traditionally chosen to protect the royal family and have an incredibly high morale, often making them the last troops to break in a fight.

Scots

The Scots are a Highland ex-patriate infantry used by the United Provinces, renowned for their deadly charge.

Swiss Infantry

Very disciplined infantry of the United Provinces with quick reload and excellent marksmanship.

Mamelukes

Mamelukes are fearless light horsemen, deadly when deployed against a broken or unsupported enemy.

Additionally the Spanish nation has had a new uniform design to better reflect its historical look.

Audio:

Sound loading has been made asynchronous, so heavy disc access is reduced to a minimum. This makes loading times faster and reduces any instances of ’stuttering’. Unit group sounds have also been improved, for more realistic group movement. The primary sound library (Miles DLL) has been updated to stop occasional clicking. And we’ve added more sound variation for unit deaths and musket fire.

Campaign:

* Several crash bug fixes in saves, movement, agents and logic.
* Various optimisations have been made to AI and path systems to reduce the campaign map turn times.
* When the pirates are destroyed and re-emerge they now maintain a status of at war with all and are unable to enter into diplomatic negotiations.
* Added small ships on domestic trade routes from the trade nodes to home regions moving in the correct direction, i.e. with the flow of trade.
* The AI should now no longer repeatedly sign a diplomatic agreement and then break it the next turn. Treaties are more valuable and adhered to.
* We’ve fixed some border trade agreements allowing greater numbers of bordering factions to properly trade with one another.
* Movement arrows now reflect the range of the selected units, not the whole army/navy.
* AI will no longer counter-offer and ask for more money than the player has available.
* Fixed commerce raiding taking money from blockaded trade routes.
* Fixed navies getting stuck when forced to retreat from ports (tactical retreat).
* Fixed rare inability to attack certain ports.
* Fixed middle mouse button camera drag stopping working occasionally.
* Made emergent factions be at war with the faction they emerged against if that faction is human.
* Fixed various movement extent crashes.
* Changed background income for minor factions.
* Fixed diplomatic relations with emergent factions.
* Tactical withdrawal will now always leave armies on the landmass containing the settlement of a region.
* Changed war score system to make the AI more likely to accept peace.
* Fixed crash when embarking and disembarking armies at ports.
* Fixed trade ships not being correctly registered in trade nodes after splitting forces.
* Fixed government change diplomatic effect.
* Improved commerce raiding display on trade screen.
* Faction specific text is now used in diplomacy.
* Prevent players cancelling the movement of fleeing agents.

Balance changes

Units

* Charge bonus generally increased across the board for all units and melee defence reduced.
* Greater diversification of stats between different unit types designed to emphasise differences and improve balance.
* Redone costs for all units for multiplayer to improve game balance which better reflects the actual battlefield worth of each unit.
* Mob formation added in for Native American, irregular and some skirmisher units.
* Spot distance for light infantry, skirmishers, irregulars, light cavalry and missile cavalry increased allowing them to spot hidden units at longer distances.
* Russian line infantry stats have been boosted to allow them to compete more with other factions’ line infantry.
* Movement speed of all unit types reduced by 10%.
* Ammo for light infantry increased to 20, line to 15.

Land battle morale

* Charge morale bonus reduced from 10 to 4.
* Recent casualties, extended casualties and total casualties morale penalties increased slightly for higher percentages.
* Rear and flank exposed morale penalties increased.

Fatigue

* Fatigue penalty for melee reduced from 18 per tick to 10.
* Running fatigue penalty for heavy and light cavalry reduced from -3/-2 to -2/-1.

Artillery Changes

* Calibration area for cannons and howitzers reduced. Accuracy of non-round shot shot types reduced to compensate.
* Muzzle velocity of round shot for cannons increased to make them fire lower and bounce more, accuracy also increased.
* Lethality of shrapnel pieces reduced to match canister shot, range also reduced to 350.
* Load time for special shot types for howitzers increased slightly, and range reduced to 350.
* Calibration area for mortars increased, accuracy of round shot increased to compensate. Reload time increased slightly.
* Accuracy of 18 lbr horse guard artillery restored to 65.
* Hit points of gun trains increased to 50, all guns and caissons to 25.

Yes, it’s propaganda to get you to join the armed forces. However, a free game is a free game, and the perfect price tag makes it worth mentioning at least. America’s Army 3 is out now on Steam, free to all. The game features Steam achievements and Steam Cloud support, meaning your keyboard setup will remain across all of your computers. I’ve not had a chance to play it yet, but like I said, a free game is a free game, so I’ll likely at least try it out. If anyone has played it, let us know how you feel in the comments.

EA and Crytek announced today that Crysis 2 will be coming to Xbox 360, PS3, and of course the PC. No release date or additional info was announced, but since Crysis was actually a great game hidden under hype about graphical prowess, I’m looking forward to this. Console fans should rejoice too, since the game is damn sure to be fantastic looking. Get your HDMI TV and cable ready for this one, folks. You’ll thank me when Crysis 2 comes out.

Shacknews reports that Ace Team’s recently released game Zeno Clash will be getting a sequel. “ACE Team wants the next installment to be much larger in scope, so the new game will feature open ended gameplay with large explorable environments and RPG elements,” the source notes. “The unique melee combat system that made the first game a success will also be expanded to feature even more brutal and engaging gameplay.”

Zeno Clash is a pretty decent game, with some great fighting mechanics and a really, really strange plotline. I can only hope that the sequel will be even stranger- although it will probably never eclipse Stalin vs. Martians in the oddity department.

If you haven’t picked up the console version of Street Fighter IV in hopes that the PC version will roll around soon, or have been worried that the PC version of the game won’t run on your computer, then you’re in luck. Capcom just announced the specs for Street Fighter IV, and it doesn’t look like they’ll be breaking any of your computers anytime soon.

The specs are pretty average, which could be an indication of lots of hard work, or bouts of laziness depending on how you look at it. No matter how strong your PC is, you’re still not beating Seth, but if you want to know exactly how many hi-def HADOOOOOUKENS your PC can handle, hit the jump for the full specs, courtesy of Capcom USA.

Minimum

• OS: Windows XP
• CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.0GHz or higher
• RAM: 1GB or higher
• HDD: 10GB of free space or more
• Video: DirectX 9.0c/Shader3.0 or higher, NVIDIA GeForce6600 series, ATI Radeon X1600 or higher, VRAM: 256MB or higher
• Sound: Direct Sound, DirectX 9.0c (or higher)
• Input Devices: Mouse, Keyboard

Maximum/Recommended

• OS:Windows Vista
• CPU: Intel Core2Duo 2.0GHz or higher
• RAM: 2GB or higher
• HDD: 10GB of free space or more
• Video: DirectX 9.0c/Shader3.0 or higher, NVIDIA GeForce8600 series, ATI Radeon X1900 or higher, VRAM: 512MB or higher
• Sound: Direct Sound, DirectX 9.0c (or higher)
• Input Device: Xbox 360 controller for Windows

A popular criticism of gaming on the PC is the cost of upgrading your machine to meet the specifications for all the latest games. What people who say this tend to forget, though, is there are plenty of games you can play on your PC without needing a hulking beast of a computer to run.

In an attempt at converting more people to PC gaming, I’ve compiled a few of my favourite games that virtually any computer from the last ten years will be able to run without too much trouble. You’re not going to be running Crysis on your old hunk o’ junk, so why bother? Try one of these fantastic games instead. Chances are, they’re better than Crysis anyway.

Fallout

I’m sure you’re not surprised to see this here. Fallout (and to a lesser extent, Fallout 2) was, ironically, a haven in a wasteland of linear games. Fallout is famous for being incredibly flexible to the player; most notable is the ability to play through without even using combat, just by interacting with the huge cast of characters. So open was Fallout that people are able to play through the game and see almost nothing that another player might have seen. Sure, there are modern games that use the “open world” dynamic, but Fallout still stands up as one of the biggest and most expansive worlds open to players today.

System Requirements:

DOS: Pentium-90, 32 megs of RAM, 2x CD-ROM drive, SVGA (VESA-compliant), SoundBlaster-compatible.

Win95: Pentium-90, 16 megs of RAM, DirectX 3.0a or 5.0, 2x CD-ROM drive, SVGA, DirectSound compatible sound card.

Mac: PowerMac with 16000k free memory, CD-ROM, System 7.1.2 or higher.

All versions require 10+ megs of hard drive space and a mouse.

Peggle

It’s not only old games that run on old PCs. Peggle is only two years old, but it has already reached the unofficial title of “most addictive puzzle game ever created”. The game consists of firing a ball at pegs in the hope of clearing all of the orange ones using just ten balls. Simple formula, but the result is an incredibly addicting and absorbing puzzle game. Well, I say puzzle game, but when you really break it down, there’s not much you can control directly other than the first few bounces of the ball. Even so, Peggle has eaten so many hours of my life that it just has to go on the list.

System Requirements:

Win 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista: Pentium III, 700 MHz or faster, 256 MB RAM, DirectX 7.0.

Mac OS 10.3.9 and later: G4,G5 or Intel Core Duo, 256 MB RAM.

15Mb disk space and an Internet connection is required to register both the download and CD-ROM versions of the game.

Grim Fandango

Tim Scafer’s masterpiece Grim Fandango was an obvious choice for this list. The game is undoubtedly one of the wittiest and best written games ever made, and features a cast who, ironically enough, are brought to life with excellent voice acting and a fantastic story. Okay, I might be laying on the praise a bit heavily, but this game really deserves your attention. The adventure genre, often considered a dead art nowadays, reached a peak in Grim Fandango. There’s only one excuse not to play this game: illiteracy. If you’re reading this, you need to play Grim Fandango.

System Requirements:

Windows: 133 MHz processor, 32 MB RAM, 30 MB hard disk space, 4 MB video card.

Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2

Perhaps not the most critically acclaimed game on this list, but certainly one of the best in terms of sheer fun. Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 is a full-on real time strategy game full of preposterous and brilliant units, topped with a helping of self-parody and real-time FMV silliness. In the universe of Red Alert 2, tanks that can become trees face off against soldiers that can mind-control other units, and it makes sense. The expansion pack even added flying saucers. A fine example of an RTS that is pure entertainment from start to finish.

System Requirements:

Windows: 266 MHz Processor, 64 MB RAM, 350 MB HDD space, 4x CD-ROM Drive, 2 MB video card, DirectSound-compatible soundcard.

Deus Ex

Widely considered to be one of the best PC games ever made, Deus Ex is an example of an FPSRPG- that is, a first-person shooter/role-playing game hybrid. Like Fallout, Deus Ex is one of the most non-linear games you can play- each problem can be worked around in a multitude of ways. This usually results in unique player experiences, as it could take many, many playthroughs to see every inch of the game. As the old saying goes: “Deus Ex was awesome. Man, I should play that again.” Well, I say ‘old saying’: I just made that up. I’ve heard people say it though, honest!

System Requirements:

Windows: 300 MHz CPU, 64 MB RAM, 4 MB video card RAM, 4X CD-ROM drive, DirectX 7.0a, 150 MB available hard disk space.

Mac: PowerPC G3 (266 MHz), 64 MB RAM, 150 MB disk space, mouse or compatible device, 4x CD-ROM, 3D accelerator card.

Quake

Forget the outdated controls and nasty graphics. It’s Quake. Sure, it takes some configuration to get the controls to work properly, but once that’s done, Quake is as frantic and eye-bleedingly brilliant as ever. Get a few friends over for a LAN game, or play over the internet, and you’ve got yourself an evening of instant entertainment. There are endless custom maps coming out of the community, and the face-melting pace of the game keep the thrills coming, even after a horrible clichéd phrase like “keep the thrills coming”. Once you pop [the disc in the drive], you just can’t stop!

System Requirements:

IRIX 5.3 / Linux 1.3.88 / MS-DOS 5.0 / Solaris 2.5.1 / Windows: 66 MHz Processor, FPU, 8 MB RAM, 80 MB Hard disk space, 1 MB Graphics card.

Starcraft

Starcraft is one of the most popular PC games of all time, especially among the competitive scene. The Korean Starcraft circuit is so popular, in fact, that players have become celebrities and the competitions are broadcast nationwide on TV. This is perhaps indicative of the quality of the game: it revolutionised the real-time strategy genre, and is one of the deepest strategy games available. UC Berkeley even offers a course on the various strategies and theories surrounding the game.

System Requirements:

Windows/Mac: 90 MHz processor, 16 MB RAM, 640×480 8-bit display.

The Secret of Monkey Island

Alongside Grim Fandango, The Secret of Monkey Island is often heralded as the Holy Grail of PC adventure games. The writing is the holy water in the Grail, though; Guybrush Threepwood’s caption for the above image is simply “That’s the second biggest monkey head I’ve ever seen!” Seriously, this game is full of great one-liners similar to this one, and is a stickler for the adventure formula- make the puzzles as outlandish and crazy as possible. One of the most relentlessly funny games ever produced.

System Requirements:

MS-DOS 5.0 or higher: 386/33 DX, 1 Mb EMS, 256 color VGA/MCGA, SoundBlaster, Adlib, Roland MT 32. Basically, your computer can run this game.

World Of Goo

World of Goo serves as an example of a new market of games that even low-spec PC users can enjoy: Indie games. Indie games aren’t known for their graphical prowess, but rather for their often unique gameplay and attention to detail. World of Goo is a physics based puzzle game where you must build a tower out of bits of goo. It’s got all the makings of a great puzzle game: colourful and bright visuals, a catchy soundtrack, a deceptively simple mechanic, and little bits of what appears to be sewage. Actually, scratch that last point. That bit’s unique to World of Goo.

System Requirements:

Windows: 1.0 GHz or faster CPU, 3D Graphics Card, DirectX 9, 512MB RAM, 100MB hard drive space. One of the more demanding games on this list, but it shouldn’t cause too much trouble if you’ve got a modern PC.

Mac: OSX 10.4 or newer, 1.0 GHz or faster Intel or PPC processor, 512 MB or more RAM, 3D graphics accelerator, OpenGL 1.1 or newer.

Half-Life

Although this list is in no particular order, I decided to put Half-Life here, at the bottom. Why? Because, without all of the hyperbole I’ve poured into the descriptions of the other games, Half-Life is definitely one of the best games ever made. The total immersion that you have while you play, the feeling that you actually are Gordon Freeman, has only been matched by the sequel, Half-Life 2. All too often, when a game focuses on story, or level design, or the gunplay, the other areas suffer slightly. The massive amount of fine-tuning and polish put into Half-Life is evident from the fact that every one of these areas is top-notch. There’s a reason that people praise this game so much, you know; it really is something that everyone must play.

System Requirements:

Windows: Pentium 133 MHz, 24 MB RAM, SVGA video card, Windows-compatible sound card, 2x CD-ROM drive, 400 MB hard-disk space.

Well, there you have it. I went through a lot of options to get this down to just ten entries; there are a plenty of great games that can run on older machines. If your favourite isn’t on the list, feel free to leave a comment with a small explanation, and I’ll add them to the bottom of this post. Similarly, if you need help tracking down some of these old games, or can’t get them to run, head over to the forums and the community will be glad to help out.

Capcom have confirmed that resident Evil 5 will be appearing on the PC “later in the year”, as well as Street Fighter IV and Bionic Commando in July. Capcom says that “all three games will be optimized for the PC platform and will have new PC-specific features added to the already great games.” Bionic commando is set for console release on May 19, by the way. Hit the jump to see how the PC versions will be better than the console ones.

Street Fighter IV

The PC version of Street Fighter IV will feature online play, higher screen resolutions and three new shaders based on three of the “artistic” trailers released in 2008 that will change the visual appearance of the game: “watercolor,” “posterization” and “sumi-e ink” styles.

Bionic Commando

The PC version of Bionic Commando will support higher resolutions than the console version, remappable controls including mouse and keyboard support, support for both DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 and online connectivity for multiplayer sessions.

Resident Evil 5

The PC version of Resident Evil 5 will feature online play for co-operative play sessions over the internet and will also take advantage of NVIDIA’s new GeForce 3D Vision technology (wireless 3D Vision glasses sold separately).

As Ripten’s resident coward, I still haven’t played F.E.A.R. Now F.E.A.R. 2 is out, and there’s a 100% chance I’ll never play that either, but for those of you that own F.E.A.R., you’ll be glad to know that the newest DLC is out, and it’s insane.

Though I can’t say I’m a fan (or even a hater) of F.E.A.R., the trailer for the Toy Soldiers map DLC, is hilarious. I’m sure it’s entertaining too, but you’ll have to find out for yourself. The map is online for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC users right now. Get it!

Braid is now, and has been for a day or so, available for PC users. You can get it from Greenhouse, Steam, Gamersgate, and Impulse. The reason I post, rather than to simply let you know it’s out, is because Jon Blow, the game’s creator, has been posting troubleshooting tips on his blog.

If you have a problem running the game, take a look and see if your problem has been solved there. Blow suggests to new customers that they should try the demo first, to see if it will run on your computer. I’ve had no problems with the game so far, and I’m enjoying it a lot. Some of the puzzles are fantastically designed, so well done to Jon Blow on all fronts today! Braid most certainly gets my seal of approval, and I strongly suggest that you at least try the demo.

I’m not exactly a fan of the Company of Heroes series, so I can’t say that I’m excited for THQ’s latest RTS, but I can say that the trailer does make the game look fun. If you’re into RTSes, or at least the Company of Heroes series, you can pick up Tales of Valor from your nearest retailer right now.

Tales of Valor delivers three intense single-player campaigns, three new multi-player modes, a brand-new “direct-fire” feature, additional maps, and new units, unlike anything previous Company of Heroes games have ever seen. Unfortunately for the seldom-seen console-exclusive RTS fans, this game is for the PC only.