Alright, this question will probably be eye-rolling for a couple people, but I figure the people here have good taste, so it's worth asking.
To explain myself, first, briefly - for the past couple of years my primary computer has been an underpowered little laptop that did okay with Windows XP, and Ubuntu marginally better. Before that, I had a 300MHz (yes, Mega, not Giga) iMac from about 2001 or so.
So needless to say, my involvement in gaming culture has been... next to nonexistant. I've played Cave Story to death, and a couple flash games, and ROMS for stuff like the NES before my moral compass prevented me from continuing that, but, well...
In the next few days, I'm going to have deliverd to me, finally, a relative beast of a computer. A computer that's not just 'vaguely modern', but very close to bleeding edge - more or less described in this thread. Yeah, it's gonna be a beast - massive video card, 6GB of RAM, etc. First 'modern' computer I've owned in over a decade.
So my question to you fine folks is, since I've been just about entirely out of the scene for about nine years... what have I missed out on? What are the gems, the pinnacles of wonder, the extraordinary experiences that I've missed? What /videogames/ do I need to get, and fully experience, in order to be able to call myself, with all sincerity, a culturally complete modern internet computer age person?
Just from the last year or so, I know, for example, that Bioshock is a game to get, and Mass Effect, as well as Fallout III. And the aforementioned 2d sidescroller Cave Story, which does manage to run on my current laptop, though it pushes the limits of what I'm able to do.
But what else? I'm afraid I don't have either the cash nor time for MMO*'s, such as World of Warcraft and such - but single player games that have a multiplayer component I'll be able to do, as long as there's no recurring monthly monentary and time investment required.
What games of the past couple years do you not just remember, but remember fondly, and regard as worth playing for someone who hasnt' had the opportunity to be able to play decent PC games for ages?
I hunger for them.
To explain myself, first, briefly - for the past couple of years my primary computer has been an underpowered little laptop that did okay with Windows XP, and Ubuntu marginally better. Before that, I had a 300MHz (yes, Mega, not Giga) iMac from about 2001 or so.
So needless to say, my involvement in gaming culture has been... next to nonexistant. I've played Cave Story to death, and a couple flash games, and ROMS for stuff like the NES before my moral compass prevented me from continuing that, but, well...
In the next few days, I'm going to have deliverd to me, finally, a relative beast of a computer. A computer that's not just 'vaguely modern', but very close to bleeding edge - more or less described in this thread. Yeah, it's gonna be a beast - massive video card, 6GB of RAM, etc. First 'modern' computer I've owned in over a decade.
So my question to you fine folks is, since I've been just about entirely out of the scene for about nine years... what have I missed out on? What are the gems, the pinnacles of wonder, the extraordinary experiences that I've missed? What /videogames/ do I need to get, and fully experience, in order to be able to call myself, with all sincerity, a culturally complete modern internet computer age person?
Just from the last year or so, I know, for example, that Bioshock is a game to get, and Mass Effect, as well as Fallout III. And the aforementioned 2d sidescroller Cave Story, which does manage to run on my current laptop, though it pushes the limits of what I'm able to do.
But what else? I'm afraid I don't have either the cash nor time for MMO*'s, such as World of Warcraft and such - but single player games that have a multiplayer component I'll be able to do, as long as there's no recurring monthly monentary and time investment required.
What games of the past couple years do you not just remember, but remember fondly, and regard as worth playing for someone who hasnt' had the opportunity to be able to play decent PC games for ages?
I hunger for them.