The Blue Board

I'll be picking up Forza Horizon later this week.

BF3 review didn't come out until the day of release.

I will wait a few days at least to see what the reviews say.

Will get Forza at some point.

Give me a budget and I'll be able to help you out with it. When you do, get Guild Wars 2. Fantastic game.

Mountie, Aussie, this is what you're missing out on. First picture is from World vs World vs World. Second is a group event that only spawns once every three hours.

Since I don't have a timeframe and can take time to save (and don't mind looking at parts out NOW to buy LATER), I'll push the budget a little and say $2,000. Because again, time is on my side.

I prefer a larger single monitor.

I mean, if I can get a top-of-the-line rig (but perhaps not the demi-God of rigs) for $1,500-$1,700, then by all means, let's do it. See, told you I was out of touch with this stuff.

I'll be paying no more than $700, and will max out everything currently. No reason to spend too much when you don't have to. Do it smart.

I don't need a new monitor, so that helps with the price. Hell, you can find good bundles on newegg that will save you loads of cash. Watch for some bundles on there, and snatch them up. The current setup that I'm looking at that will not run me over $700 will run BF3, Skyrim, Crysis 2, and any other game I'm interested in at the moment on at least high settings. Likely ultra settings.

Well, assuming that the pace of quality increases isn't too much faster than it used to be, I'm hoping to be able to run anything I throw at it maxed out for at least a couple years. The rig I built in 2006 maxed out everything until the banhammer that was Crysis came out.

You wont max out BF3 one $700 tower. I'm telling you right now. Other two yes. My GFX card on Ultra Settings on BF3 will dip down to 30fps. Skyrim and Crysis 2 will be doable if you don't mind playing at 30fps. I need it to be 60fps+ for me on the PC. I will still drop down into the 20-30fps range in GW2 when there is 80 people battling each other in World v World.

Though, I'm grooming this rig to max out Watch Dogs. That is what I'm really interested in.

Anyone getting War fighter? I think I'm heading back to COD.

I don't mind multiplayer, I just don't like talking on the headset and messing with the "team strategy" anymore. I constantly talk all day at work, so when I get home I want quiet. That's why I'm heading back to COD. You can be a lone wolf and not have to communicate through a headset. I also like how the kill streaks are now point based and not kills based.

YIKES

What I'm interested in is how much of an influence Black Ops 2 will have on the settings for big name FPS. Love them or hate them, the CoD titles have basically dictated the time frame in which most FPS take place. Obviously they joined the WWII fray already in progress, and while other titles did modern warfare, CoD4 really drove the movement from the WWII era to the modern era (Sadly, the Vietnam era never really took off. I don't know why, I personally really enjoyed Battlefield: Vietnam, the Vietcong series, Men of Valor, etc.). Now, we have BO2 that is pushing into the sci-fi frontier and I'm curious to see if that's where this group of FPS goes. IMO, it's interesting for two reasons:

1. It's not like this area is uncharted. Halo, Kill Zone, Resistance, et al are already there. But we all know CoD pulls the industry around by a leash, at least the swath of titles in their little "pod."

2. Does this mean Battlefield: 2143 is coming?