Hello Jonathan ! 
 NC>> I know Sega Rally is a lot more involving on the 21" in
 NC>> my bedroom than the 14" portable in the other room. :)
 JF> This is, of course, assuming you only have a 14" or 15" monitor; if
 JF> you're serious about PC gaming, you'll probably have at least a 17"
 JF> monitor (such as I do).  And when you're sitting that close, it looks
 JF> larger as it is.
I know the 21" ones I used to use at work were gigantic up close, I couldn't 
even see over the top of them! :) Pity Wolfenstein ran like a dog in a small 
box in the centre of the screen, with like 6 inch borders. :) Not enough 
memory/processor power to run at full screen Hugely-Big resolution. 
Unfortunately the norm for PC 'bundles is still just the little 14" or 15" as 
an option for most companies. 
 JF> When you look at things in terms of raw numbers, sure the TV (and
 JF> hence, a console) tends to seem better.  But you forget just where'
 JF> you're positioned for the whole affair.
You mean your drawn in fully to the game so it doesn't matter what your 
viewing it on, or have I mis-interpretted what you wrote there? :)
 NC>> [Just don't put the speakers too close to the moniter
 NC>> or TV or you'll warp the screen, unless the magnets are
 NC>> screened for AV use]
 JF> Oh, really?  Ever heard a Cambridge Soundworks (and/or Microworks) or
 JF> Altec-Lansing ACS-55s (which I have)?  You'd be surprised at how
Unfortuneatly not, I'm sure they are very reasonable, I'm just a picky sod 
who hates white-plastic-speaker systems. :) Black boxes, wooden cabs: sonic 
bliss! 
But then: JBL and Bose make some good sounding PC sound systems over here. 
Personally I'd just hook any new sound source up to my audio rig.
 JF> clear and powerful the sound is.  Play Formula 1 for the PC and you
 JF> can literally FEEL the sound waves coming from the speakers.
Any system can pump out loud noise, a good system delivers perfect, powerful, 
controlled hi-fi sound.
 JF> Actually, as a whole I consider the PC version of F1 more satisfying,
 JF> except that you usually have to sit in an office chair with the PC
 JF> (as opposed to a couch).
Yeah, probably better for you all round, as a proper office chair will stop 
you slouching and becoming a 'couch potato' :-?
 JF> Macs?  But what kind of gaming can you get with that?  The number of
 JF> current big-name titles could be counted on your fingers, if that.
 JF> Also, there are hardly any 3D accelerators for the Mac, and you can
 JF> only accelerate a few games.  As a gaming (and/or power-user)
 JF> platform, it's kind of inept.  I'd rather go for a console!  :-)
Not for games, I'd use a console for that, I meant as appossed to a PC, for 
work: cos I'm a graphics person and the whole graphics/printed matter 
business system over here is Mac based and transferring from PC to Mac does 
'nasty things' to your artwork, messing up stuff. Plus the fact that Macs 
last 'longer' than the equivilent PC, without upgrades to run the software, 
every few weeks. ;)

 NC>> enough to play the neat new games.
 JF> But of course, consistent upgrades will leave you with a better
 JF> machine each time; on a console, you're largely stuck with what you
 JF> have until, 3-4 years later or so, the company who made it decides to
 JF> release a new machine.  A diligent PC gamer will probably have a
 JF> machine that's exponentially better than consoles, and occasionally
 JF> even better than arcade machines; VF2 on my new machine (a P2/300)
 JF> looks BETTER than the Model 2 arcade rigs Sega has put out.
Ah. But these upgrades, they cost money, money I do not have. :)
 NC>> goes cheaper in the Platinum range...)
 JF> As if PC game designers aren't?  Quake II, relatively speaking, is a
 JF> technological marvel.  Most of the other games I own use engines that
On a constantly shifting platform that is the PC, no programmer can ever 
squeeze every last drop of power out a system simply due to shifting 
goalposts IYSWIM, the developers push the hardware needed further, to cope 
with sloppy, bloated coding.
I mean no operating system or game should *require* so much power and space 
and deliver so little in return.
 JF> squeeze every drop of power out of a PC.  There are a few exceptions,
 JF> such as Warhammer: Shadow of the Hornet Rat (not a bad game, but...)
 JF> and Carmageddon (albeit the demo), but on the whole those people are
 JF> doing their jobs.
 JF> I do sort of admire the "codemeisters" of the PSX world, however.
 JF> Psygnosis, in particular, is practically famous for their engines
 JF> which use every lighting trick in the book.   But then, they also do
 JF> PC versions of their games.  :-) 
And do the PC versions require as little space, processor and memory 
requirements as the PSX versions? No! They use /loads/ more on the PC.
Madness. :)
CheeryBye
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