I just got a new computer with a nice big monitor (for once) and I’m interested in checking out some online gaming options besides poker, which is about the only thing graphics-wise my old laptop could handle. Any suggestions/recommendations/condemnations?
Gaming wise I like first-person shooter games the best, especially the WW II titles available for PS2. I also play a lot of college football and FIFA soccer. I got the Sims as a gift a couple years ago but didn’t really get into it.
FIFA 08 I belive has an online multi-player matching lobby.
Shooters, well there’s lot. PC’s is where shooters rule the roost. The call of duty and the medal of honor games are an option, as are the Battlefield games. There are also less ‘realistic’ ones like unreal tournament and Team fortress which are a lot of fun.
There’s of course the new high end ones like Crysis. Gears of war for Pc is great stuff too.
Steam makes a game call Red October with is a WWII game of German vs Russia battles. Those are pretty fun especially the 50 player servers.
You can also get Team Fortress 2 from them and lots of other games as well.
Counterstrike 1.6 is the only popular FPS you have a chance of running by the sounds of it.
Why’s that? My new machine (dual-core processor, 3 gb memory, 500 gb harddrive) should be able to handle most current online games, shouldn’t it?
CPU and GPU (graphics card) is what matters most in terms of games. What kind of GPU do you have?
For WWII FPS online gaming, the most viable choices are;
Of course, if you want good FPSes without the WW2 caveat;
I totally spaced out reading your OP and thought you simply got a new monitor for your laptop. Your new machine should be fine.
Call of Duty 4 is great.
Here’s one you won’t often hear about. World War II Online (wwiiol). It’s been out since 2001. It’s somewhat glitchy, but the game area is huge, and it combines ground, air, and naval units (all spawnable). The navy part’s very weak, but most of the map is over land.
They’re offering a 14 day free trial.
My graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Integrated Graphics GPU
Sadly I have no idea if that is good or bad or average.
Sounds like it’s a GPU attached to the motherboard. At a guess, I’d say it’s probably about average, given that current GeForce cards are 7 and 8 series. You should be able to run most current games, but probably not at very high graphical quality.
Integrated graphics solutions are no good for gaming. You can expect to run modern games at very low resolutions at very low graphics settings, and older games a bit better 
I know it sucks, but if you do want to try out some of the newer games a good video card is not going to cost an arm and a leg:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/04/best_cards_february_2008/
The 8600 GTS for $120 seems to be the sweetspot for a mid-range solution.
So if I get Call of Duty IV I should expect it to look like crap? Bummer. I’m going to check out some of the online options this evening.
I keep hearing about an online Stargate game. Anybody know anything about this?
It’s still in production but here’s their web site. I haven’t heard too much about it other than it is an MMORPG based on the Stargate series. It will probably be 2009 before it comes out though.
I’ll have to pay attention tonight. I thought they mentioned something available now.