HTPC Gaming

[reven]

i was wondering if anyone knew of games that work really well on a htpc, that fulfill these requirements
- Custom resolution (either hack or natively, 720x576 is the res i use)
- HUD (Heads up display, health bar etc) is visible with overscan
- can control everything via gamepad (well most things...)
- is fun
- 5.1 would be nice.

the games i got that work really well are
- Top Spin (this game is actuall really good for htpc, and fun
- Fantastic Four (any resolution, widescreen support, can control everything via a gamepad, really really htpc friendly, and its pretty good
- Stepmania
- Prince of Persia Sands of Time (really really good, great gamepad support, and theres a hack to get it to work with any res, 10 out of 10 game)
- Prince of Persia Warrior Within(really really good, great gamepad support, and theres a hack to get it to work with any res, 10 out of 10 game, play the first game first thou)
- BloodRayne 1 (havent got bloodrayne 2 yet) same deal as Prince of Persia (gread game)
- Need for Speed Underground (the menu is fixed at 800x600 but in game you can use a hack to any res).
- Catwoman, it works well any res, gamepad fully supported, but the game itself is rubbish.
- Stolen, same deal as catwoman, htpc friendly but the game isnt all that good.
- Brian Lara's Cricket 2005 (demo), any res (well i got it to work with 720x576) its better than EAs Cricket 2005 (well the demo anyway).

I want to get some cool sports games, all the EA ones seem to require a mouse to navigate the menus (really annoying) and some more racing games, maybe 3rd person games like splinter cell (i had trouble getting my gamepad to work in pandora tomorrow.. gave up)

games that just didnt really work
- star wars lego, (couldnt get my controll set right, not sure about custom res)
- Batman Vengenace,

[stefan]

I'm surprised you have any time to play any games, with the plugin development an what have you. Actually, I'm surprised most of us have any time to *watch* the things we record with this beauty ;-)

[reboot]

I play Doom 3, Dungeon Siege, and Myst 3 & 4 on mine.

[A_Brass]

- can control everything via gamepad (well most things...)
- is fun
- 5.1 would be nice.

How about control via remote?

Just kidding. Do you use a wireless gamepad? If so what is it? IR or RF?

Thanks

[reven]

i was using a saitek 3000 (wireless one) but it kept stuffing up. so i got a xbox usb adapter, and now use my mad catz wireless xbox controller, which is perfect (wireless game pads just work way better when they are designed for game consoles, the range is better). and with the xbox controller i have more buttons, and can get most games to work with the same button config as the game has on the xbox.

I play Doom 3, Dungeon Siege, and Myst 3 & 4 on mine.

whats overscan like on these games? can you do custom resolutions? can everything can be controlled by a gamepad? i remember playing myst 1, and never liked it, i prefer quest for glory style RPGs, but they dont make them anymore.....

[reboot]

Overscan is liveable, but this would depend more on your TV, than the actual game. Some TV's just have far more overscan than others.
I try to run everything at 1024x768. Most stuff is fine with the old wired joystick, and my wireless keyboard.

[reven]

yeah i need resolutions of 720x576, im running my tvout at 576p (1080i for some reason didnt work on my tv and gfx card, even thou my tv supports 1080i). running at 576p means really good quality, but with geforce any resolution larger than 720x576 forces the screen to scroll (which is really annoying), so either i play games at 640x480, with a little bit of a black border, or try and get games that support 720x576.

the best htpc friendly game i have ever seen, is top spin, its absolutely brilliant, ever resolution your windows desktop support shows up in the config as an available resolution (geforce allow you to add custom resolutions to your desktop, so they all show up). the only annoying part about the game is, when you launch it a windows box comes up with a few buttons like "play" "configure" "about" "register" "exit", which means you need a keyboard/mouse, and theres no in game quit button, you have to hit alt-f4. but other than that, there is like no overscan, and everything else works from my controller.

ubisoft games are usually pretty good too.

just ea sports are rubbish (and thats like the only sports games available on pc, i wish nba inside drive etc were available on pc... stupid m$).

[reboot]

If you have those types of video problems at a higher res, then I would change video cards, and/or drivers/cables...something...

[reven]

its a driver issue, just how the geforce 4 drivers work, with 576p. apparently they didnt use to have this problem with the driver version 61.x but that driver is like a couple of years old, its up to 71.x now.
any way 720x576 is a good res for a htpc i think. im happy with the resolution, just have to work around it (picture is extremely clear, can read 10pt font without any problems etc).

[H20]

http://www.htpcnews.com

The link goes to a page where they list HDTV games.

/Jonas