Art via Jeph Jacques at questionablecontent.net
I have a confession to make: The majority of my gaming life has been on console. Okay, that’s not so much a confession as it is common knowledge. Growing up there was only a few games on the PC I was even allowed to play. Myst, Doom (which was a sneak in until someone realized what I was playing), there was a Roadrunner game, and Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. Yes, I just busted out Mavis Beacon. It made me into the super skilled typist I am today! But I digress. As a kid, I was not allowed to play video games unless I was at my cousins house until I was 8, when we got an off brand known as the Socrates. Anyone else ever have one? Probably not. Because it was crap. It was a keyboard that barely worked and plugged into your TV. It was enough to shut me up though, until I was 12 and got my own Sega Genesis (which was outdated and barely worked) but hey, I had a console! I was 10 when the very first Playstation was introduced, but I never got to play one unless I was at a friend or cousins house until I was 15, when I saved up enough money and bought one for my own damn self. Which was of course, the same year that the Playstation 2 debuted. Luckily by that point my parents had gotten the picture that we were going to need a gaming console in the house, and I only had to wait until Christmas for one of those. This is where my brother and I bonded (we are 7 years apart) and later bringing in my sister. Since then I’ve had 2 Xbox 360’s, one of which was pawned while I was going through some financial crisis and the other which I still have (special edition Gears of War 3, like a boss!) Our household just basically skipped having the first edition XBox, as we were quite content with our PS2.
As I’ve gotten older I’ve had more and more people push me towards PC gaming. Not only is it cheaper and more accessible, but the community is far more accepting to you as a human. Less of the people saying awful things, more chances of them actually being useful. Well, if you stay out of League of Legends anyway.
Over the past few months I’ve slowly been making my way into PC gaming. I’m not good at it, in fact I feel like I need about 200 more fingers. I have Borderlands 2 on both console and PC, which I’ve been able to finish quickly via console, and barely begin on PC. I haven’t quite adapted, as when I come home and want to unwind I can’t say that I go to my computer to play games, I pick up my 360 controller and go to town blowing up the baddies in various shoot em up games.
So I hand this over to you. What I’ve been playing so far is a lot of Team Fortress 2, Awesomenauts, Bastion and Borderlands 2. What PC games would you recommend for a beginner to PC gaming? What communities are best to introduce people to?
This is a bit of a Pandora’s box because there are so many great PC games to choose from. I’d recommend the following on Steam – Dungeon Defenders, Left 4 Dead, Mass Effect, Half-Life 2 series and the Dawn of War II series. If you’re feeling retro and saucy, you can head over to GOG.com and try out the original Fallout games and any of the old Dungeons & Dragons games (Planescape: Torment, Baldur’s Gate, Planescape: Torment, Icewing Dale and PLANESCAPE: TORMENT).
And last but not least – let me know when you’re playing! We can TF2 together!
If you want to try a fun, no pressure adventure game with some mind breaking puzzles and some seriously weird goings on, try the Nancy Drew Series. There’s more than 25 now, and there’s some great deals on Steam! They’re made by HerInteractive.com
3 WORDS: SHEEP. SHEARING. MACHINE.
From Krolmeister…. as seen in Nancy Drew and the Haunting of Castle Malloy
The Console to PC jump is hard and I did it myself via World of Warcraft, and even though I have since quit WoW, I stick purely to PC gaming, Though the DeadPool game is going to make me buy a console :(. As HAs already been said the Dungeon Defender game is Amazing, and you can also go with the PC version of Minecraft, as it has more available to it than the Xbox Version. As to games I would suggest I could go on for days, but some of the Best are Legend of Grimrock, Path of Exile, Torchlight 2, Portal1&2, anything Half-life, note you can get Black-Mesa mod free if you have a source game. I would also suggest that you stay away from DoTA/MOBA Style games, like League of Legends and Dota 2, as there community is a huge pile of crap.