At 5… Plantronics .audio 350
A basic yet attractive-sounding gaming set, with pillow-soft ear cushions and a noisecancelling microphone for in-game chat.
At 4… Creative HN-700
These headphones feature noise-cancelling, blocking the sounds of the real world in favour of their fantastic aural experience.
At 3… Logitech Precision
These budget cans feature a unique open air design, so your ears stay cool in even the most tense of virtual firefights.
At 2… Razer Barracuda HP-1
Packing three separate speakers into each earphone, these enormous glowing behemoths require their own USB amplifier.
And at 1… Sennheiser RS110 Wireless
Great for those scary video game moments that make you recoil from your monitor in fear – admit it, that does happen sometimes. Anyway, these spectacular-sounding wireless headphones ensure that when you do, your cans won’t suddenly whip off your ears and fling back to your desk.
The bottom line: Excellent, detailed sound – and without wires to get in your way.
Have we missed something? Have more to say? Comment below on what headphones you use.
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Emergent. Immersive. Free-form. For developers, they’re increasingly popular buzzwords. They’re all to do with games that aren’t happy with just being games, but rather offer their best impression of an actual world; a place you visit. ‘Emergent’ describes games that have so many pieces modelled that they can interact to create the unexpected every time you play. ‘Immersive’ describes how easy it is to get lost in the game, almost to the point you forget you’re playing a game. And ‘free-form’ is a game that shuns traditional levels, preferring to let you just wander off and do your own thing.
Oblivion was last year’s king of the type, putting you in the hobnailed boots of a fantasy adventurer. You can play any fantasy-hero type – wizards, warriors, whatever – and are given an enormous world of dungeons and quaint medieval towns to explore.
KEY DETAILSPrice: £34.99
Release date: 23 March 2007
Minimum specs: P4 2GHz, 1GB RAM, GeForce 5700 or Radeon 9600 graphics card
Recommended specs: Intel Core2 Duo E6400 or AMD Athlon 64 X2 42000, 2GB RAM, GeForce 7900 or Radeon X1950 graphics card
Multiplayer:
2 to 8 players
And, naturally enough, this enormous world is in peril, with rifts to the demon-realm of Oblivion opening up for you to seal. This year’s contender in the world of first-person immersion is STALKER, and a completely different animal. In the near future, the land near Chernobyl – that is, the ruins of Chernobyl power station in the real world – has started to act increasingly unusually. Along with the destructive anomalies, a symptom of this strangeness are valuable artefacts which litter the landscape. Enter the Stalkers, trying to survive as best as they can in a world gone mad.
In terms of being free-form, Oblivion’s the clear winner. After you exit the initial training dungeon, you’re literally free to go wherever you like. Sure, there’s the small matter of saving the world, but that can wait. Turn, face a direction and walk – you’ll find a city or a dungeon or some band or something. Conversely, STALKER’s world only opens up when you follow the main story. When you’ve unlocked the regions you can go back and forth doing whatever you like, but you have to follow some of the story.
Equally, in terms of what you do, there’s a lot less leeway in STALKER. In Oblivion you can make any fantasy hero (or villain) you wish by developing your character in such a way that they become a master wizard, fiendish thief or anything else. In STALKER you’re a Stalker. Your character is personalised by the weapons you choose to carry and by equipping a few of the artefacts you find, which give minimal boosts. You shoot. You sneak. While aspects such as choosing which political factions in the world you want to team up with are welcome, Oblivion has the same, but more so.
KEY DETAILS
Price: £34.99
Release date: 24 March 2006
Minimum specs: P4 2GHz, 512MB RAM, 128Mb Direct3D graphics card
Recommended specs: P4 3GHz, 1GB RAM, ATI X800 or GeForce 6800 graphics card
Multiplayer: No
Things are more equal on the terms of emergence. While the vast array of things happening in Oblivion can lead to the unexpected, especially if you’ve chosen an unusual power setup, the world’s relatively static. Not so in STALKER, whose various bandits, mutant dogs and Stalkers are at each other throats. If you’re passing a base which happens to be under attack at that moment, a mission generates that rewards you if you help. You can even be hired to wipe out something, then get the reward when another inhabitant of the Zone does it for you.
Immersion cuts both ways. Due to simply being so much bigger and varied than its Ukrainian rival, Oblivion is a place where you can lose yourself for dozens – or even hundreds – of hours. It’s easy to make a second life there, including acts such as buying property. But STALKER manages its own immersion not by scale, but detail. The radioactive, mutant-strewn hell-hole of the Zone is a lovingly created place, and full of unique, memorable, horrific incidents. The strength of Oblivion is that it creates the fantasy world which people have dreamt of visiting, and lets you holiday there for as long as you want. The strength of STALKER is that it creates a fantasy world you’d have never, ever thought of visiting, so everything’s a (often monstrous) surprise.
Our verdict
STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl
- Buy it if… you like shooting, horror and something a little different from the usual videogame.
- Don’t buy it if… you’re looking for an enormous world packed with plentiful options. Also avoid if you can’t stand a few rough edges.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
- Buy it if… you simply want to be a heroic fantasy adventurer in a world of treasure, maidens, and monsters.
- Don’t buy it if… clichés turn your stomach and you want something that’s a little more action packed.
THE BOTTOM LINE
STALKER and Oblivion are very different games. The latter’s far more polished and bigger, while STALKER is a neat first-person shooter with lots of atmosphere; tired of usual shooters, it’s a good choice. If you want a real fantasy holiday, choose Oblivion.
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If you wanted to transport a horde of kids, you’d use a people carrier or a minibus, but if you wanted a quick runaround for town shopping, you’d probably prefer something more like a Micra or a Smart Car. The same logic applies to PCs – you should buy a system that’s right for the jobs you want it to do.
Gaming is one of the most demanding tasks a PC can undertake, and a good gaming system has to have a high-end graphics card that is capable of running the latest 3D games. Just as the processor determines how fast a PC runs overall, its graphics card determines how fast it can draw complex 3D scenes.
Play your cards right
Most people agree that Nvidia and ATI make the best cards right now, so these are brands you might look out for. Games are written to run well on the current mid-market range of cards, which for Nvidia means the GeForce 7600 and for ATI the Radeon X1600 range. Both ranges have models costing around £100.
You’ll find there are GS cards, GT, Pro and all manner of variations in these ranges. Some will be worse (GS). Some will be better (GT). There are also ranges below and above these two, and they are priced accordingly.
Just to complicate things, both Nvidia and ATI are working on the next generation of cards. Nvidia already has the GeForce 8800 while ATI is expected to launch a new R600 range any time now. They’re top-end parts, so prices are high, but they do offer support for DirectX10.
Both Nvidia and ATI also now offer the option of having two graphics cards in one PC. Nvidia’s SLI system and ATI’s CrossFire only work with specific types of motherboard and graphics cards, but a system branded as one of these will either come with dual cards or be capable of having a second card added at a later date for a performance increase.
Our recommendations
Even armed with this knowledge, looking for a computer that is going to ensure games look great and play even better is no small task. To help with this, here’s three machines that we’d recommend for a good gaming experience.
Gamer Infinity SLI KO
Look no further if money is no object. Oozing cutting-edge technology from every pore, the Cyber power system has the very latest Nvidia GeForce 8800GTX, a Quad Core Intel X6700 processor and 2GB of memory.
The package also comes loaded with peripherals: a 19-inch display, Logitech Optical Gaming Mouse and a full 7.1 surround system. For hardcore gamers, the KO incorporates illuminated blue fans – no, not just one, but four side-mounted beauties, keeping things cool during the most frantic of fire-fights.
Mesh Elite E6600 Express HX
Scoring a Windows Experience Index of 5.0 proves that this affordable system has the power to run the latest games. With a tasty selection of peripherals including a Creative Labs Inspire 7.1 surround system, 19-inch Sony LCD display and internal memory card reader, this system is ready to go out of the box.
The system itself contains 2GB of memory, a Core2 Duo E6600 processor, an Nvidia 7950GT graphics card and a Sound Blaster XFi Xtreme sound card – everything needed in a desirable gaming system that won’t break the bank.
Evesham Technology Solar VX
The Solar VX is packed with 2GB of memory, a speedy Core Duo E6600 processor and a sizzling NVidia 8800GTS graphics card, so it will play the latest DirectX 10 games in eye-popping detail. Best of all, the package comes with a 22-inch widescreen monitor.
An extra £300 will get you the Solar VX Plus with Core Duo E6700 processor and an upgrade to the NVidia 8800GTX – trust me, that letter on the end makes all the difference.
Neil is a long-time PC user, having had the pleasure of installing, troubleshooting and using PCs for over a decade. He regularly contributes to Windows Vista: The Official Magazine
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Need a new graphics card? If you want to play the latest games but aren’t sure what type of card is required, you’ll need one that features Shader Model 3.0 and has at least 256MB of video memory – though 512MB of memory is the amount required to really show them off to their best.
These days, PCI-Express is the norm for connecting the card to your motherboard, but if your PC is still equipped with the older AGP connection type, then luckily the manufacturers are still making some pretty decent cards, meaning you won’t need to go out and buy a brand-new machine just yet.
Prices range from £80 for a good card, up to about £500 for the flagship types. We’ve decided to switch our old card for one with lots more memory and a super-fast processor. It will play the latest games at the highest resolutions with all the eye-popping visuals turned on, and our computer will be future-proof for at least another year, too.
One thing to bear in mind when choosing a card is the physical space in your PC – some cards are much larger than you might expect and may not fit. Usually, computers with two or more free PCI-Express slots will be fine.
If you really want to show off, and you have an SLI- or Crossfi re-enabled motherboard (with two free PCI-E slots), you can buy a second card and connect the two together for even more gaming performance. For most games, though, it’s probably overkill.
Fill a slot while you warm the pot
How to fit a graphics card and make tea. OK, it’s in a mug, if you want to be picky
1. Open Up
Fill the kettle, and start it heating. While it’s taking an age to boil, you can make a start on fitting the card. For safety’s sake, and to avoid damage, turn off the computer and unplug it from the mains before you remove the case door.
2. Take It Out
Unclip the old graphics card from its slot. It’s usually held in place by a screw, but in newer PC cases, like ours, it’s held by quick release clips. We’re halfway through fitting and the tea bag is only just going in the mug! BTW: we don’t do decaf.
3. Slot it in
Fit the new graphics card by pushing it firmly into the now vacant slot and securing it in position. If the card needs an additional power supply, plug it in. Be careful not to scald yourself while trying to keep the tea-making up to schedule.
4. Closed Case
By the time that tea bag has had the opportunity to brew to full strength, you should easily have been able to fasten your computer’s case door back in place, reattach the mains lead and power it up again – the PC is miles ahead of the tea.
5. Install It
Once Windows Vista loads, the new graphics card is detected and the appropriate drivers are automatically installed, so you’re now ready to play. The tea-making is lagging so far behind that the milk is probably past its sell-by date by now.
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There’s a lot more to making a good game than the graphics – after, all, two of the best-known and most played games in the world, Tetris and Pong, are simple 2D. No one, though, can deny that, as the power of the desktop grows, games are becoming more lifelike and much closer to cinematic experiences than simple puzzlesolving tasks or tests of players’ reaction speeds.
The next step
Games designers crave the creative freedom that modern PC hardware gives them, and players love the more intense experience of authentic-looking game worlds. Windows Vista introduces the next step towards creating games that are as vivid and detailed as real life, with DirectX 10. It’s a brand new version of the interface that developers can use to control graphics hardware, and it’s only in Windows Vista.
Amazing worlds
A Windows Vista PC with a DirectX 10-capable graphics card is an extremely powerful gaming platform. Not only can existing programming effects be carried out much faster, but it uses graphics cards to their full capability, all of the time.
Older cards had dedicated areas of circuitry for certain effects, and when those weren’t needed, parts of the on-board processor remained idle. DirectX 10 3D hardware means the whole graphics card is in use all the time.
The results? Imagine water that behaves like the rivers and seas of the world around you. And where virtual oceans used to be a series of unconvincing, often-repeated patterns, they are now whirling masses of waves and white horses. Where all the chairs in a room might, in the past, have looked identical, now they can all be different, each with its own stains and defects, just as in real life.
While this isn’t mandatory for creating a great game (Tetris and Pong are downloadable as Sidebar gadgets, if you don’t believe us) it brings us close to the day when virtual worlds will be as varied and stunning as the one we live in. Take a look at these screenshots to see the difference. Simply hover your mouse pointer over each one for a few seconds to see the effect.
Deep in the Jungle
In a camp?
Adam Oxford is a freelance journalist, and regularly contributes to Windows Vista: The Official Magazine.
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In 2003, an economist named Edward Castranova calculated the approximate value of Norrath, the land players explore in the game Everquest. Money was, and still is, hard to come by in Norrath, so some enterprising players had taken to selling their in-game cash on eBay.
Castranova tracked the auctions of these traders over a year and found that the gross domestic product of Norrath was somewhere between those of Russia and Bulgaria. So a fictional land, infested with dragons, was worth more, economically speaking, than some real-world countries.
Since then, the business of gaming has exploded. Players seeking a fast buck inhabit every game, and pro-gaming, where players compete for cash prizes, has also taken off. Forward-thinking developers are creating their latest projects with player commerce in mind. Fun is a serious business. Want to earn a piece of that pie? Here’s where to start.
Power levelling
It’s the ultimate outsource. While you continue with your real life, a counterpart in the Far East lives the boring part of your virtual existence. He’ll ‘level up’ your character, zipping you past the dull opening stages of games such as World of Warcraft or Lineage, until your character is better able to take on the highest level demons in the game.
Power-levelling businesses charge by progress made: from zero to level 70 (the highest World of Warcraft currently offers). They’ll even throw in equipment and skill upgrades for just under £100 – the equivalent of 24 hours of play-time.
Fast Forward – World of Warcraft is one of the games where characters are levelled up for cash
How do you do it? Power-levelling guides for most of these games can be found on www.gamefaqs.com – you’ll need to set aside a couple of days per character. Advertise your services on unofficial fan-sites and forums, but stay clear of the official web sites – most massively multiplayer games explicitly state that power-levelling is against their terms of use and, if caught, your account can be suspended.
Going professional
Think you’re a mean shot with a sniper-rifle? Do you have the reactions of a ninja, and the tactical awareness of Patton? Maybe you should consider a career as a professional. Gamers can compete in leagues and tournaments across the world, and every type of game is represented, with each demanding its own highly specialised skills.
Early matches were for bragging rights and high-stakes betting. But these days big-money prizes (and even bigger sponsorship deals) are up for grabs every day.
The violent shootouts of Counter-Strike are where some of the best and most tense competition can be found – teams of four fighting for control of a bomb site, displaying almost super-human aim. When one shot can bag you thousands of pounds, you’d better not lose your nerve.
Smaller scenes exist for other shooters such as Painkiller (where arguably the best gamer in the world, Fatal1ty, plies his trade) and Halo. Decent teams can expect to earn a living wage from tournament prize money, and the best of the best have bought houses with their winnings.
For mega-payouts, you’ll need to fly to South Korea. There ‘PC Baangs’ (internet gaming cafes) are more popular than nightclubs, and the national obsession is Starcraft – a futuristic strategy game. League battles get prime time spots on TV, and the best gamers are treated like sports celebrities – with incomes to match.
Baangs for bucks – With games live on Korean TV, some Starcraft players are major celebrities
The South Korean equivalent of David Beckham is SlayerS_`BoxeR`, or Lim Yo-Hwan, a 25-year-old tactical genius who wears a blueand-white latex catsuit to his games.
Gold farming
A high-level suit of armour in World of Warcraft can cost upward of 1,000 gold pieces, and the average play session yields just under 3 gold. ‘Gold farmers’ exploit that fact mercilessly.
Most congregate in areas they know to be lucrative, and chase anyone away who might interfere with their work – including legitimate players. Even the nicest of gold farmers will have an unenviably pungent reputation.
Golden opportunity – If you’ve time to ‘grind’; World of Warcraft is a potential profit area
How do you do it? Gold farming requires a massive time investment, and you’ll need a couple of high-level characters already in place. It’s a case of using those characters to ‘grind’ high-yield areas. The final lump sum can be auctioned on eBay – but be aware the value of gold fluctuates rapidly.
Pyramid selling
How did a single player earn £10,000 worth of space-cash in less than six months? By pulling the biggest confidence trick in multiplayer history. In the space-faring game EVE-Online, players are free to form corporations and make investments in mining facilities across a galaxy. Out in the depths of space, anyone can dent anyone else’s earning potential with a well-aimed laser.
But Dentara Rast (his real name is a closely guarded secret) had a plan. He offered to take investors’ cash and use it fund start-up mining projects well out of the way of the front lines. He guaranteed to double their money. When early investors cashed out, they were more than satisfied with the returns.
But there was a problem: Rast was hoarding the cash, and paying ‘profits’ from capital invested in the scheme. It was a massively multiplayer pyramid scheme. Eventually, he came clean, but refused to give back the money. It was, he said, all in the spirit of the game…
Cosmic cons – In trade-based games such as EVE sc
amsters can create a black hole in economy
How do you do it? Key to Rast’s scheme was a masterpiece of planning and co-ordination. He spent a year in Eve building relationships with key players. Then, he started a second character, and as money entered his scheme, it was siphoned off into this new account. The cash was untraceable. You’ll need to do something similar to make money – but Eve players are now paranoid about in-game investments.
Tim Edwards contributes to Windows Vista: The Official Magazine, and is the Deputy Editor of PC Gamer.
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Once you’ve secured your system against malicious software and online attacks, it’s time to think of the children. There might be content on your computer that you don’t want them to see, such as details of the family finances; you might enjoy the odd game of Doom 3 but want to make sure your seven-year-old doesn’t play it; you might want to make sure your children don’t see unsuitable Internet sites; or you might just want to prevent the kids from spending all day every day in front of the computer. The parental controls in Windows Vista cover all of these issues, and they couldn’t be easier to use.
Share your system
To create a new account, so that someone else can access your PC, simply launch the Control Panel, click on User Accounts and Family Safety, and then click on User Accounts. You’ll see a list of all the accounts on your PC – yours, and a guest account (which is disabled by default).
It’s a good idea to have a separate user account for everyone who will be using your PC.
Set the limits
Click on Create a New Account and enter the name of the person who will be using it. As you can see from the screenshot you now have a choice: you can give that person a standard user account, or you can give them an administrator account. Unless you want to give the person the power to uninstall software and change your Windows Vista settings, stick with the Standard account.
Edit the account
Congratulations – you’ve created a new account. The next step is to set a password – so that nobody else can use the account. To do this, click on the new account name and then click Create a Password. Once you’ve done this, nobody will be able to log on to your computer using that account if they don’t know the password.
Complete control
Now you’ve created the account and given it a password, you can use Parental Controls to limit what the user can and can’t do with your computer. Click on Set up Parental Controls to continue.
Pick a password
The first time you attempt to run parental controls, you may see this warning. Click on the yellow box and enter your administrator password to continue. When you’ve done this, you’ll be returned to the Set Up Parental Controls screen and this time, the warning will have disappeared.
Set the standards
When we created our new user account, we chose a standard account – that’s because you can only set parental controls for standard accounts, not administrator ones. To see the available parental controls for your new account, click on the account name (in this example, Dylan).
No limits
As you can see, parental controls are switched off by default. Switching them on is simple: just click on the “On, enforce current settings button”.
Watching the action
Immediately below the Parental Controls button you’ll see that Activity Reporting is now on. This means that Windows Vista will keep an eye on this user – whenever they’re logged in it will record what programs they’ve used, what games they’ve played and whether they’ve attempted to do things you’ve blocked them from doing. If you’d rather not record such details, just click on the “Off” button.
Stop the clock
One of the best parental controls are time limits, which enable you to specify when the kids can use your PC and when they can’t. If you click on Time Limits you’ll see an empty grid, which you can colour in using the mouse: if the user attempts to log on to your PC during a blocked period of time, Windows will politely but firmly turn them away. Click on OK to return to the Parental Controls screen.
Safe surfing
Now we’ll make sure that the Internet is safe for our little ‘uns. Click on Windows Vista Web Filter and you can specify whether this user can access the entire Internet, or if Windows Vista should block potentially dodgy sites and downloads. For maximum security you can create an “allow list” of safe sites – if you do this, the user won’t be able to access any websites that aren’t on the list.
Safe software
You can also prevent users from launching specific programs, which is handy if you don’t want family members to see your finances in Microsoft Money (or if you’ve banned your grumpy teenager from using chat software for a week). Simply click on Allow and Block Specific Programs to see a list of the software on your PC.
Essentials only
You now have two options: let the user launch any program, or restrict them to specific software. If you choose the latter option, any programs you don’t tick in th
e list won’t be available to that user. If he or she tries to load a program you haven’t approved, Windows Vista will say no unless you come along and provide your administrator password.
Gore-free gaming
The parental controls mean you don’t need to worry about young children playing gory games such as Doom 3 or F.E.A.R. From the parental controls menu click on Games and you’ll see this screen. You can block games altogether – good for very young children – or take a more flexible approach by blocking or allowing specific games, or by limiting games by age rating.
Age appropriate
Restricting games according to age ratings is one of the easiest ways to ensure that children don’t play unsuitable games. Simply click on Set Game Ratings and then choose the appropriate classification, so for example you might allow games rated 3+, Universal, 7+ and Parental Guidance. Not all games are rated in this way, though, so make sure you also tick the “Block games with no rating” box.
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