Quote Originally Posted by cairnswm
This means that the hardware used on the oldest of the three PCs was cutting edge 5 or 6 or even more years ago (Celeron 2.4, 256MB, Geforce 440 MX).

Secondly I only buy games that will suit the family so basically they must be:
If thats your idea of 5 or 6 year old hardware I'd love to have your idea of modern hardware . And I'm being searious here. The Celeron 2.4ghz didn't come out and go main until about 3 years ago. Yes they are inexpensive, but they are also a good processor. The 440 is better then most "Home Users" (don't read gammers) graphics cards, though the 256 mb ram is only slightly low by todays standards.

Personally, the last game I bought was "Mornings Wrath", I liked the idea that it was built by a bunch of Indie developers and I like that style of game overall. Isometric and Tiled engines force developers to live on content (IMHO). 3D games with high end graphics are a real turn off, if I want to see the blood as I wack a guy in the face I'll turn on HBO. Games (to me) are ment to be fun and entertaining, and that is a broad topic in and of itself.

To answer your questions, typically I buy games like Bejewled, Sodoku (actually I don't like it, but its my wifes favorite), and other such things. I'm not a big RPG or MMORPG person (thought I used to be). So requirements wise, I like it to make me think and solve a problem, I also like it to give me an idea for my own stuff that isn't like everyone elses stuff (though my entry this year is quite like everyone elses). Pricing is a bit of a stickler for me, I won't pay $40 and up for a game. It isn't happening, don't care how cool or good it looks. I'm only going to get about 2 hrs a week to play, and I can take $40 and put it into something my boys and I can do together. I will drop $20 on a used copy of a $40 game if it looks good enough though .

Games currently installed on my box: Bejewled, Dejewled (my version of the previous), Mornings Wrath, StarCraft and StarCraft expansion pack, WarCraft (not WoW), Sodoku Now, Puzzle generator, Maze Generator, Super Worms (my 3 yr old loves it), and quite a few things that I wrote myself.