Featured Game: Left 4 Dead

Not for cheapo netbooks

Year: 2008

Genre: First-Person Shooter + Survival Horror

Recommend: Depends

If you're wanting to play Left 4 Dead on a netbook, be prepared to spend a little money, 'cause anything with GMA in the name ain't gonna cut it. Those with ION or Radeon graphics, though, can gear up for some epic zombie-destroying fun.

What you'll need

Review and Awards

For the most part, Left 4 Dead raked in positive reviews from all around the board, with an average of 89% from aggregator sites. IGN praised the game, saying "It's almost pitch perfect in how it captures the tension and the action of a Hollywood zombie movie." Gamespot disapproved of Left 4 Dead's "limited map selection," and felt the game got repetitive at times. Left 4 Dead acquired no less than 5 "Best Multiplayer Game of 2008" awards, among others.

Tips

Avoid the witch.

No, really, don't do it!

 

Can DDR4 Save the Netbook?

A developmental stick of DDR4 SDRAM from Samsung

Sick of integrated graphics? You're not alone. The next big thing in RAM, though, may finally bring integrated graphics up to a level gamers will actually consider. It's DDR4 SDRAM, or "double data rate type 4 synchronized dynamic random access memory". According to Micron Technology, a major player in the industry, DDR4 will hit sometime next year. More exciting than that are the improvements it's promising to bring over the current standard, DDR3. Plan on DDR4 running on 1.2V of power, compared to 1.5V that DDR3 currently uses. This lower voltage results in reduced power consumption, and that's always a plus for netbooks. Even better is DDR4's bandwidth, which is set to reach double the speed of DDR3. DDR4 is expected to launch at 2133 MT/s (megatransfers per second), resulting in a bandwidth of just over 17 GB/s, all in a single stick. That's a huge leap for netbook performance, as integrated graphics use the system's memory for its own use. Take a current-gen Atom netbook, for instance. You can get a maximum of 8.5 GB/s out of one today. Using DDR4, a bandwidth of over 17 GB/s can be achieved, which is required to play games like Call of Duty: World at War and Mass Effect. Or consider a larger netbook, like one with an AMD E1-1200 processor. In a single-channel configuration, over 10.6 GB/s of bandwidth is supplied. Double that with DDR4 and a dual-channel config and you have enough bandwidth for Civilization V. But for the million dollar question: can it save the netbook? Well, maybe, but not single-handedly. Newer and better CPU's and GPU's are necessary for the netbook to gain popularity. Regardless, however you look at it, DDR4 is an exciting technology that could finally grant netbooks the performance and lower power consumption they need.

Featured Game: Portal

No Intel graphics for newbies

Year: 2007

Genre: Puzzle + Platform

Recommend: Depends

If you're a daring soul who loves to tweak and mod your netbook to get any game to work, you can probably get Portal up and running. If you're not, Intel's graphics won't cut it. Fortunately, Nvidia and AMD have made netbooks excellent Portal machines.

What you'll need

Reviews and Awards

Portal received excellent ratings all around the board, plus a big ol' list of awards, some of which are for GLaDOS's epic villianness (is that a word?). GameSpy stated "What Portal lacks in length, it more than makes up for in exhilaration." Metacritic ratings average 90/100, with GameRankings' rates very slightly different at 89.15%.

Tips

Go here for advice on Portal for Intel's graphics processors. Do it. It's in the description.

Featured Game: Rift

Rejoice, for AMD's quad-core APU's are here!

Year: 2011

Genre: Fantasy MMORPG
Recommend: Depends



















It wasn't too long ago when netbooks couldn't handle Rift. Now, thanks to AMD's new quad-core Temash and Kabini APU's (Accelerated Processing Units), Rift is now playable. Quad-core netbooks are rare at the moment, and one I have seen has only 2 GB of RAM soldered to the mainboard, with no option to add more. If you do happen to come across a better netbook, then, well, you can play Rift on it!

What you'll need

Screenshot from the MMO2Go blog

Featured Game: Motocross Madness 2

Oh, come on! I should've landed that!

Year: 2000

Genre: Vehicle Simulation + Racing

Recommend: YES

I'm sure you'll be saying that over and over again as you play Motocross Madness 2. I've been playing this game for years, and it never gets old. Meet the Wall of Death and you'll see what I mean. MCM2 is sure to provide you with hours of wipeouts and action.

What you'll need

Any netbook should do nicely for MCM2. (EDIT: Except for Cedar Trail netbooks...see video below, or better yet, it's description on YouTube. Technically, it's playable, but it looks very ugly.) The game provides some nice settings sliders for your customization pleasure. 

Reviews and Awards

For the time, this was the coolest motorcycle game in existence. IGN, in its 8.6/10 review, said "The eye-candy is constantly impressive, the physics are crazy enough to be fun but real enough to look right, and the multiplayer game is a blast, especially if you've got devious friends." GameSpot gave an even better rating of 8.8/10, saying "it's definitely one of the most enjoyable...motorcycle simulations you can buy." PC Gamer awarded MCM2 the 2000 Editor's Award for being "the PC's pre-eminent bike sim."

Tips

If you want to become a pro at this game quickly, load up a Stunts session with 10 opponents on Hard. You'll be able to land those stunts in no time in an effort to beat the bots.

Featured Game: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

Low-end netbooks won't cut it

Year: 2007

Genre: First-person Shooter + Survival Horror

Recommend: Depends





















 You know those old classics everyone loves that can run on anything? Well, this isn't one of those games. Fortunately, you can still play S.T.A.L.K.E.R. on a netbook, but it can't be one of those sub-$300 ones.

What you'll need

Reviews and Awards

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. won GameSpot's Best Atmosphere award from Best and Worst of 2007. Reviews were generally positive; Eurogamer called it "one of the scariest games on the PC". However, it was criticized for its various bugs and mediocre story.

Tips

Since all netbook GPU's support D3D 9, you might as well enable some kind of dynamic lighting. Both Nvidia's and AMD's GPU's can handle it.

Screenshot from Wikipedia