Netbook gamer thread - recommend games for netbooks

[NoQuarter]

Hm Torchlight is playable on mine, I haven't played much of it but the netbook is an N280 1.66GHz w/GMA945. The difference between the N270 and N280 must be just enough for that game to become playable?

 

[Schadenfreude]

Have you thought of emulation OP? Put some classic NES, SNES, Genesis games on there...PLENTY to choose from...I know that my old netbook (HP 110 or some shit) could even play N64 and PS1 ROMs too...mostly at the original console settings...but it played them well and fast. Was in New Mexico for a couple months on business and beat Zelda Ocarina of Time for the N64 on my netbook.

Basically, I wouldnt worry too much about current PC games...anything pre-2003 and emulation will work.

9 out of 10 dentists agree. And I would recommend Planescape: Torment, Freespace 2, Jagged Alliance 2 Gold, Disciples II and if Tochlight doesn't work, Diablo II.

 

[WelshBloke]

If you go back and read my post really, REALLY close, I never said it couldnt run or it wouldnt run fine. And resolution does not equal size or image quality. I said it would look like ass. And unless you can take a picture of your screen to show me otherwise, I will continue to think so. I find that possibility unlikely seeing as how its obvious you were just looking for a fight and not using logic to continue an otherwise intelligent discussion.



For reference I just tried and while it does install from a USB thumbdrive it will not play from one. Keep getting messages saying I need a CD drive to play the game. Tried gamecopyworld with no luck. And playing with the Baldur.ini drive paths doesnt seem to have an effect.

Right, as you haven't played it on a netbook and are obviously too stupid to work out how to install it we can just ignore your posts here. :awe:

 

[jlee]

Torchlight has a netbook setting even.

I tried that on my ~1yo budget laptop and it's choppy..

 

[Ika]

Torchlight runs like crap on my first-gen MSI Wind. BG2, on the other hand, runs fairly well - you have to turn down the settings and it's a little bit laggy if you toss too many spells out (like 8 magic missiles under improved alacrity in time stop...), but otherwise it's fine.

Heroes of Might and magic 3 runs quite well. I've spent some time playing it on mine. I think Heroes 4 might work too, but I'm not sure if I want to go through some of the crap in that game (like taking sieged castles... damn range towers).

 

[uli2000]

I have both Diablo 2 and Starcraft on mine. Both play well. Do yourself a favor and have a mouse if you're gonna do Diablo/Diablo 2. It was impossible to play w/ the touchpad for me.

 

[skulkingghost]

Get onlive, I just tested it on my ASPIRE ONE with the free trial and it ran great!

 

[hiddensniper11]

Freelancer?
Minesweeper?

 

[dpodblood]

Serious Sam
Unreal Tournament
Morrowind (With FPS optimizer)
Total Annihilation
Red Alert 2
Freelancer
Need For Speed High Stakes
Need For Speed Porsche Unleashed
Half Life 1
Call of Duty 1
Return to Castle Wolfenstein/Enemy Territory
NES/SNES Emulators

Basically anything Pre-2002 will run. All the games I listed I have played personally on my MSI wind with 1 gig of RAM.

 

[coloumb]

Tried Torchlight on my netbook - playable..but very slow.

I would think the old arcade games [MAME emulator] should also run just fine [in addition to the old computer and console classics].

If you're into text adventure games - Scott Adam's Adventure games: http://www.msadams.com/

Zork series: http://www.infocom-if.org/downloads/downloads.html

Marathon game [old school Bungie fps title]: http://trilogyrelease.bungie.org/

 

[borisvodofsky]

netbooks are for Pr0n

Also, you can play Starcraft.

 

[Via]

Fallout and Fallout 2 actually benefit from small screens and low res (they look like shit on a big screen), but they require the sort of patience that has of become a lost art nowadays.

It took me a while to get used to them when I first played them back in 2002, and I imagine it would take even longer now to adjust. But, man, are those games awesome if you make the commitment.

 

[hiddensniper11]

Hey look what I've found,

Intel GMA 3150 Review and Benchmark

 

[Elcs]

Hey look what I've found,

Intel GMA 3150 Review and Benchmark

"Dues Ex".... FAIL!

Quite a good list but do they have an ION chipset test?

 

[hiddensniper11]

I agree, I like how the author tracks the minimum, average and maximum FPS of the games.

Not sure if the author has an Ion netbook but you can try asking. Or you can ask your friends with an Ion to review on the website and share it here.

I believe many will be interested to see detailed Ion benchmarks.

 

[Elcs]

I agree, I like how the author tracks the minimum, average and maximum FPS of the games.

Not sure if the author has an Ion netbook but you can try asking. Or you can ask your friends with an Ion to review on the website and share it here.

I believe many will be interested to see detailed Ion benchmarks.

I'd offer my HTPC to do the ION benchmarks but it has an Atom 330 (1.6ghz Dual Core with HT) which I believe is more powerful than most Netbooks.

If you go on YoubTube and check out the ASUS AT3N7A-I, you can find videos of people with overclocked Atom/Ion platforms (2.0-2.2 Ghz) playing games like Crysis and GTA 4 at low settings and marginally acceptable framerates.

 

[hiddensniper11]

I'd offer my HTPC to do the ION benchmarks but it has an Atom 330 (1.6ghz Dual Core with HT) which I believe is more powerful than most Netbooks.

If you go on YoubTube and check out the ASUS AT3N7A-I, you can find videos of people with overclocked Atom/Ion platforms (2.0-2.2 Ghz) playing games like Crysis and GTA 4 at low settings and marginally acceptable framerates.

I am not surprised. The Ion is indeed a far better IGP than Intel's. How much faster is the dual core Atom over the single core version? Any benchmarks or reviews?

 

[Elcs]

I am not surprised. The Ion is indeed a far better IGP than Intel's. How much faster is the dual core Atom over the single core version? Any benchmarks or reviews?

No idea really. I think all Ion chipsets have dual core Atoms and single core Atoms are tied up with other graphics chipsets.

720p gaming on a dual core Atom with Ion isn't ideal but it is possible to play some rather demanding games with some tweaks + overclocking.

 

[dpodblood]

Oh I forgot GTA III, and Vice City. They run fine and have hours of play to keep you occupied.

 

[PingSpike]

So lame that Intel can't even beat a 10 year old budget card. Maybe the hd4500 actually matches the power of the Geforce2 Mx in actual games, rather than just on in 3dmark 2001.

 

[Ika]

So lame that Intel can't even beat a 10 year old budget card. Maybe the hd4500 actually matches the power of the Geforce2 Mx in actual games, rather than just on in 3dmark 2001.

It's not that they "can't" - it's that they don't care to, or it's not cost effective for them to do so. Their IGP solutions are working out pretty damn well for them, all considered. Besides, put anything more powerful in a netbook and battery life will tank (as can be seen in some ION chipset netbooks).

 

[zebano]

I've got Civ3 running on my netbook.

 

[BusPass]

The whole HL1 Library.
Fun, 3D, does not demand lots of memory and cpu.

 

[dfuze]

My daughter likes to play Sims 2 pets on it.

 

[hiddensniper11]

So lame that Intel can't even beat a 10 year old budget card. Maybe the hd4500 actually matches the power of the Geforce2 Mx in actual games, rather than just on in 3dmark 2001.

It isn't really that bad. My dad has an HP office desktop with an ATI 3200 which is said to be one of the most powerful IGP (before the launch of nVidia's 9300 and Intel HD Graphics). It couldn't run Morrowind smoothly, probably only slightly better than the GMA 3150.