Online Gaming

By Alex Albl

What is online gaming?

Online gaming is basically playing games over the internet with other people and with the computer too.

LAN Parties

What is a LAN party?

A LAN party is a temporary gathering of gamers usually bringing their own computers and or consoles and playing over a local area network. Can be from 5 to 2500 people.

What type of internet connection does gaming require?

Dial-upCheapest cost of a landline. (Telephone line)Doesn't work for most games.

DSL $30 per month. (Much faster than dial up.) Bottom line DSL is fine for most all games.

CableMore expensive than DSL faster speeds.

Single VS Multiplayer GamingSingleplayer gaming is when you don't play with or against anyone else but the games AI.

The reason for multiplayer Gaming is just to have competitive social fun with either people across the room or world or over a LAN.

Hardware required

Computer that meets system requirements for game. The easiest way to find out is just by going to www.systemrequirementslab.com. The main advantage of

consoles is that they stay the same for all their 4-6yr life cycle MUCH SLOWER hardware advance then computers.

Monitors for gaming

For consoles any T.V. will do but an old e.g. from 10 yrs ago but it won't give you the image quality you want for gaming.

For $150 a 20 inch LCD monitor will provide great gaming performance. In the case that you still have a CRT it will be just fine in fact it will

most likely better than mid range LCD's made before 2006.

How much do the games cost?

New games generally cost $40-$50. Wether they be boxed or downloaded legally via Steam.

Some games such as World Of Warcraft require that you pay a $15 monthly subscription. Xbox-live costs $50 annualy.

Acessories For Gaming

Accessories like mice,keyboards,joy sticks, controllers, and racing wheels all are nice accessories to have when gaming but for the most part standard compounents are just fine.

Accessories for gaming contd

Here are some more pictures of nice accessories for gaming.

Modding

Gaming isn't as fun without having any modded hardware. Many people mod their PC's and X-boxes to show them off at LAN parties, just like people may do to cars.

Security and Gaming

Firewalls while essential can cause severe lag or make the game not work at all if configured poorly/ at high settings.

Malware and Antimalware alike take up CPU resources and internet bandwidth thus while running in the background.

In some instances getting your game to work may require you forward ports (poking holes) in your router firewall.

Useful software Steam

X-fire

Fraps

Hamachi

Peazip

Avira Antivir

Microsoft Sysinternals

Useful links

www.tweakguides.com

www.gamespot.com

www.pcgamer.co.uk

www.pcformat.co.uk

www.maximumpc.com

www.computerpoweruser.com

www.xfire.com

www.filefront.com

www.games.softpedia.com