old gamer, Years later gets gaming laptop needs help..

I'm an old computer guy from Way back where mahjong was on floppy being passed around by friends.. anyway, i have me an asus g73sw xn-2.. not sure about the xn2 but pretty sure.. i'm wanting to use this machine like it was meant to be used, and was wondering if there's any cool free games out there that i could start out with.. i think i have a controller somewhere from around 10yrs ago too.. if anyone could help me i sure would be thankful.. WH

 

Welcome to the Forums, this may be of help. http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/600127-novice-gamer-questions.html
Also if you need to search the forum best to use bing or google
for example: site: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/ recommend games

A fix for the builtin seach is in progress

WH do you have fast internet connection ? - if not forget most online multi-players. I have 1 Mbs DSL -we are talking real slow here

 

A very good FREE game out there is Team Fortress 2 (requires STEAM though).

Team Fortress 2 on Steam

You'll have to download/install STEAM and create an account. STEAM is also a retail platform that allows you to buy games. They also have seasonal sales at substantial discounts.

 

wow!, thanks for the quick replies all.. i will try them all and get back to ya.. i'm Really hoping i can get back into this gaming thing..WH

 

Another would be either League of Legends or Heroes of Newerth. Both are strategy type games in which you control one hero character in a team of 3 or 5 trying to dominate a map. LoL is more relaxed and easier to play. HoN has a higher learning curve, but overall more polished than LoL is.

There are plenty of free MMOs.

Lots of free FPS games.

And plenty of free RTS games.

 

Get a steam account. Like alexmuw mentioned, TF2 is free now. Very addicting...

Plus there are plenty of demos, free for the weekend, etc in the Steam store.

 

Yeah, steam is great to have, not only for the free games, also for the very sweet deals you can get on games. I got civ 4 for $10 and the first mass effect for $5 for example. If you want to game while not spending too much, it is a great option. Be careful though, if you're the kind of person who jumps on a deal you could end up spending a lot.

 

There are some good free games, but most of the great games that will take advantage of your modern hardware cost something. There are some new classics that date back a few years that have come down some in price, but will still blow your mind if you have not seen how far graphics have gone in ten years. A good starting point might be the first-person shooter Crysis ($24 on Amazon). It set a new standard for graphics four years ago that has not been improved on much since then, and it's a lot of fun. If you prefer action RPG games, there is a $13 bundle on Amazon of Bioshock and Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. These are two highly acclaimed games that aren't quite up to the looks of Crysis but will appeal a lot more to some kinds of gamers.

You don't need a controller for any of these, but you should get a mouse.

 

i went looking at the site joesea pointed me to and one of the post said you had to cut your antivirus programs off.. is this true, and why would you have to do that?? i believe it had something to do with the 'steam' i hear people talking about.. i have time to dabble now so i'm off to see what this baby can do.. thanks in advance all, and thanks for all the great replies.. and what types of games are easier to do with the mouse.. i'm not too good with the All keyboard thing.. also i noticed that the recommended system requirements on team fortress 2 is 3ghz or more processor.. mine is a 2ghz processor.. don't understand it at all.. i'm going to download it and hope it works.. will let you know.. wh

 

Steam doesn't interfere with Antiviruses unless those have built in firewall that blocks outgoing connections.
That can be a problem not only for steam but basically for anything that is networking related.
Since we're in the game, get a free av that works. Those non invasive are pretty good and I highly advice Microsoft Security Essentials or Avira AntiVir.

As for your original question, I agree, get steam. Make an account and download some demos to try the beast out.

You may need to update the video drivers for better performance but I guess you need to make small steps.

 

Sorry about that, I would only run a game with Antivirus off it I had it locally installed and am not connected to the internet while playing it. Steam runs online and offline modes, ALWAYS have your AntiVirus software on while connected to the internet.
If you like car racing try NFS shift Demo, all you need is the four arrow keys to run it Demo Versions: Need for Speed SHIFT Demo - Demo Movie Patch Download Section - GamersHell.com
It is not a STEAM game, you just install like any other program.
Be real careful where you dowload from there are many site that offer illegal free copies (so I have heard) of games that S/B paid for. Some contain malware or virsus.

 

3GHz for a Pentium 4... which is old stuff. And single core. Yours is quad. You can easily max TF2.

 

i have dsl but don't know how fast it is.. it's fast with Most webpages but i don't know about the upload download speeds.. i believe it's the slowest package you can get though.. i'm Still downloading team fortress.. i've been kinda busy though but when it first started it said it had 11hrs to download it.. i've got Most of the rest of the day dedicated to my computer.. and Wow, it just told me it was ready to play.. here we go!! thanks so much Everyone for pointing me in the right direction.. i'm sure i'll have more questions later on, if not sooner.. WalkingHeart

 

You could got on Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test to check your net speed.

Major lol at you guys directing a senior citizen to the world of TF2. I would PAY to see that whole interaction in person.

 

i've been playing around with team fortress two a little bit.. in fact i haven't done much more than train because i don't really understand the irc chat thing, communication, etc... are there any games out there that are not so in depth for me to start out on.. fps or anything action or driving.. i Hope this isn't too stupid of a post.. i Really want to get back into gaming but i have to do it at baby steps..:smile: this is kinda an old thread so i hope someone looks at this.. thanks in advance..wh

alex, my dl speed is 1.58mbps my upload speed is 0.25.. don't really know what it's suppose to be but i'm going to find out, Thanks.. and i am NO senior citizen.. my body may tell you different but i've got some Years before i'm a senior citizen.. walkingheart

 

isp, like att?? that who i get my dsl from.. i get their 'light' package..

and can you point me in the direction of some action games, racing games, something that would be more my speed as a beginner of the 'new age' of gaming.. thanks for the help.. walkingheart

 

Hey WalkingHeart, are you still looking mostly for free games because i took the liberty of googling these for you

Best Free PC Games

Top 30 best free games you should play today | News | TechRadar UK

However if you're really serious about getting back into gaming then you're eventually going to have to spend some money. Steam, as mentioned above, is really great because of deals that they have on top titles that have been out for awhile. However it's best to look for sales to get the best deals. For instance they have 33-50 percent off the entire Call of Duty series but only for this weekend.

Until you're ready to spend some money you can try some free demos and some of the free games listed in those links.

Edit: Some of my personal favorites from recent years are Batman Arkham Asylum, Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare.
And Welcome to NotebookReview.

 

Not going to be rude about your age but as an older gentleman you might like to try out World of Tanks. It is free and very addictive, and also does not require an intensive setup to be able to run it the G73 performs wonderfully at max settings.

Set back during World War 2 with USSR, USA and German tanks.

 

thank you So much WarWym001.. i will be checking out the links directly.. and i don't mind spending money, i just don't know how far into gaming i want to go yet.. more than not i'll probably be spending money.. the 'batman arkham asylum' sounds like a good one to me.. thanks for helpin WarWyrm001, very helpful..

 

http://www.nexon.net/
http://www.gamesites200.com/ragnarok/

If your looking for a game thats really good and doesn't take much to get use to try Ragnorok online, its old but it was a simple MMORPG and i loved it, sadly the official one is gone but there are still TONES of custom hosts out there. If you want a good FPS a company called Nexon hosts some good games for free and also they add in money driven items as well as so with this, try Battlefield F2P its free too play and almost like BF2. If you wanna get into something new and something thats going mark history in gaming for PC http://www.battlefield.com/battlefield3 is the one to get new its 50 or 60 prices change all the time. As for driving. Try Need for speed World, easy and gets the heart going.

 

now That's what i'm talking about.. a good tank shoot em' up game that requires not a whole lot of 'in depth' stuff just to start the game.. not that i don't like those games, but this one sounds like something i can get my gaming fingers warmed up on.. thanks so much for helping this Old Man.. walkingheart

 

Your welcome the client is only 2GB for the whole game and you will be in your Tank factory within minutes

I currently am going the USSR route for heavy Tank upto the IS-7, USA route for tank destroyer upto T-95 and German route for Artillery upto something big nasty and german cant remember what its called

You dont have to pay a penny unless you want to get the best tank quickly in which I spend about £8 on gold once a month and it gives me a premium tank factory and an extra 200k coins to play with. But that is only because I am training around 6 tanks at the moment if you just focus on one or two you dont need to buy gold.

Great people in game as well no idiots I have seen yet. See you on the battlefield

 

downloaded the tank game, (3hrs) read all about it, went into a battle, pressed f1 to see my controls, and about dropped dead right there.. i've never seen so many keys to remember in my life.. i drove around trying to get used to the keys, and got my tail end shot dead before i ever learned a thing.. i Will learn but man have things changed.. keyboard back then too, and you had to do some maneuvering but man, have i been away from it That long?? is there a controller you can get or is everything based on the keyboard?? sorry for sounding so stupid but i'd really like to get back in to gaming.. looks like its going to have to be Slowly.. but i Will see you in the battlefield Dallers, just might take me a little bit.. WalkingHeart

 

Firstly dont get disheartened you are not suppose to own like modern First Person Shooters its not about how many kills you get its all about getting damage and critical hits etc.. My max is 6 kills but on average 1-2 kills and you die 75% of the time that is the way the game is, when you die just hit ESC and exit battle as your tank automatically returns to your factory. Good idea to have a couple of tanks so when one dies you go straight into a new battle You can get one of each country to begin with for free.

Also there are some players that use lower level tanks to produce experience from the Elite machines once you research all of the modules so it may be a little tricky until you learn where to hide and how to make sure the Artillery cant get you behind buildings etc.. Stick to it and you will enjoy it more and more The premium does help I just pay £8.95 and it gives you double experience double coins and a nice new factory for 30 days.

Good thing is its all about tactic so it keeps the idiots out and the adults playing! Once you start getting the bigger tanks it get pretty mean

My best current USSR Tank KV-3, Only been playing casually for 30 days. When you get upto the Tiers 7+ its get harder.

 

i'm having trouble figuring out who my enemy is.. oh, and by the way, thanks for the need for speed world.. That's more my speed.. Action all the time and i'm half way getting used to it.. if you can name anymore games i can try by all means do and i'll check them out.. i'm new to these New games and i'm like a kid in a candy store for the first time in 10yrs.. i want to look at them all.. thanks for being here for me people.. you've been great.. and dallers.. hopefully soon you 'll be seeing me on the battlefield.. im getting used to it, just can't figure out where my enemy is until it's too late..walkingheart

 

Demo Versions: Need for Speed: ProStreet Demo - Demo Movie Patch Download Section - GamersHell.com
NFS (Need for Speed) pro street demo is decent also, one of the few games I am able to end up in 1st place consistently

 

just a short question.. what type of controller is the best controller that can be used with most games, or is it pretty much your keyboard, mouse now?? i've looked on amazon and they have a Lot of different controllers there.. thanks in advance for the help.. thank everybody else who has helped me so far.. nice forum, even for us old dudes.. (-:

 

Keyboard and mouse are best for most PC games. If you want a controller, I recommend the Xbox 360 controller (wired USB version). It will work on the PC. You can even get it in black to match your laptop.

Many independent (indie) games on Steam work well with a controller, as do games ported from consoles.

 

Keyboard / mouse or xbox 360 controller ftw

 

i agree the xbox 360 controller, wired version, is best if you need to use something other than keyboard and mouse.
You just plug it into the usb port and windows will recognize it and many games made in the last few years that traditionally would use keyboard and mouse now have gamepad support.

 

However, many games will only work well with keyboard/mouse. For example, any game where you need to type.

Also, a mouse is objectively better for quick aiming, since it has more degrees of freedom.

 

100% agree with Lukesed here, I think mice are really necessary for gaming. I don't know how people can game on the touchpad. The mouse button bar is just to stiff.