configuration posts

Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Crysis Warhead, Red Alert 3, Diablo 3, StarCraft 2 -- oh my! Folks declaring the death of PC gaming are clearly smoking something, as all those games and more have been making waves at E3 this week. You're going to need a computer to run those, right? Thing is, these days notebooks are outselling desktops by quite a large margin. And for good reason -- who wants a giant, bulky brick uglying up their space?

Hence the rise of gaming laptops. To help you make the call on which one to get and how to configure it, GameDaily has a guide to buying a gaming notebook. It's mostly beginner stuff -- and some of it we kinda wonder about; it asserts that a 1280x800 screen resolution is too low for serious gaming, for example, which we're not sure everyone cares about quite so much. In fact, wouldn't you want a lower screen resolution to ensure that your notebook will be able to handle newer games at the native resolution for a longer time? But all around it's a good intro to what you need to look out for. Give it a read if you're in the market.

Mass Effect deploys for the PC with a bit less hoopla than last week's medieval juggernaut. Fortunately for the folks who have been awaiting the non-console version, it looks to be a lot less onerous in terms of the hardware you'll need to climb aboard the SS Normandy.

Jay Watamaniuk, their Community Manager, laid out the salient info last month:

Minimum System Requirements

• Processor: 2.4+GHz Intel or 2.0+GHz AMD
• Memory: 1 GB (XP) / 2 GB (Vista)
• Video: nVidia 6800GT or better / ATI 1300XT or better (X1550, X1600 Pro and HD2400 are below minimum system requirements)
• Hard Drive Space: 12 GB

Recommended System Requirements

• Processor: 2.6+GHz Intel or 2.4+GHz AMD
• Memory: 2 GB
• Video: nVidia GeForce 7900 GTX or better / ATI X1800 XL series or better

It's nice to see such modest (relatively speaking) specifications -- a wider user base can jump right into playing without having to visit their parts store of choice to get on the upgrade bandwagon.