Scott Hanselman

PC Gaming Illogic

July 07, 2004 Comment on this post [9] Posted in Musings
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Sorry for this non-technical post, but:

I just got the full version of FarCry - it's 5 CDs.  Yes, FIVE.  For crying out loud, why not ship floppies?  I mean, you'll assume I have a US$400 Video Card, but figure I don't have a US$40 DVD Reader?  Sigh.  I'm on Disc 3 of 5...

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Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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July 07, 2004 11:32
You do know that there's a DVD version of FarCry, right?

And it's strange, I thought UbiSoft only did a DVD-release, no CD-Rom release of FarCry.
July 07, 2004 11:37
http://www.homelanfed.com/index.php?id=23801 should enlighten you, as should the article it links to: http://www.homelanfed.com/index.php?id=12866 it notes the US version of FarCry is CD only and DVD only outside the US.
July 07, 2004 11:48
I see. I guess US is a little behind. ;)
But still, can't you order games from Europe? I'm in Sweden and I can order stuff from the US.
July 07, 2004 20:10
[sarcasm]
Damn, every time I open my wallet, all these hundreds keep falling out!
[/sarcasm]

Guess you never played Wing Commander, I seem to remember a six or seven CD set.
Interested to hear how the game plays, I need to get a new video card for my box at home... it's sitting 'dead' right now. Not sure what's wrong, but my guess is it's the video card. I have not played games for so long. I was really into America's Army.... sigh.. .should play again.



July 07, 2004 21:40
I remember installing Wing Commander. I sat there for hours (remember, the hardware at the time was not all that great) switching out disks and just waiting to play. 'Twould have been a luxury to have a DVD instead. :)
July 07, 2004 23:02
I don't think dvd players are that popular. I don't have one.

Maybe some people paid $400 for a gfx card and are too broke now to buy a dvd player :)

But they should offer the game in both formats, cd and dvd.

Abdu
July 07, 2004 23:06
David -

"I remember installing Wing Commander. I sat there for hours (remember, the hardware at the time was not all that great) switching out disks and just waiting to play."

The thing about Wing Commander is that the disk swapping was the *least* of your worries :)

That was back in the day when people joked that each new Origin game meant that it was time to buy a new machine. I remember staying up late, messing with autoexec.bat and config.sys files, doing everything I possibly could to tweak the settings on emm386 to make it possible for me to get the sound, the cinematics, *and* the animation of the hand on the joystick in the cockpit. I only had a meg of RAM, so it was a real pain.

I hear Far Cray is sort of a modern day equivalent of this, though. I don't have a single machine in the apartment that would let me get to the splash screen, let alone actually play it...
July 08, 2004 5:32
FarCry is an AWESOME game.

Yeah, the install is annoying and I would have preferred a DVD too-- but it's easily one of the best first person shooter PC games in the last few years. It is also one of the first games to actually use new DX9 video card features in a non-trivial way, extremely impressive graphics on a DX9 compliant card. It's AMAZING.

If you enjoy gaming at all, you'll like FarCry. Just make sure, unlike Scott, you have the right video card to play it ;) The 9800 pro is definitely the way to go. I wouldn't bother with 256mb versions, though-- there is no performance gain over 128mb for today's games, and by the time it does matter, you certainly won't want to be using the 9800 at that point.

Hey Rory I just finished Coding Slave, btw, on your recommendation. Mixed feelings on that, but three thumbs up for all the humping!
July 25, 2004 4:08
Wow, how about that. I've mostly stopped reading blogs and I buy a game every year or two at best, which makes today so special: I bought Far Cry and while waiting for it to install I popped open RSS Bandit and wadda ya know, Mr. Hanselman has shared my pain.

I hope the real deal is as good as the demo. I certainly don't have a game-playing machine (I have a PCI video card!), but the graphics in Medium mode were enough to make me buy the thing. I'm a big graphics nut[1] and this one certainly doesn't disappoint.

[1] BUT I refuse to spend a few hundred bucks for the latest and greatest graphics card on the rare occasion that I buy a game.

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.