Participant Observations 10/12/17 - New PC

About a week ago, I (finally) took possession of my $1200 gaming PC. Here are some early thoughts on it:

• I fucking love it. I play games on it without fear of the system crashing. It's quiet, looks good, and has been a breeze to use.
• Unfortunately, using Foxtel through the windows browser is not as good as using Foxtel through the chromecast app. The image is more pixellated, and not as bright as through the chromecast. This surprised me because I always saw chromecast as an inferior product, in terms of latency and instability of the Foxtel app. I think this must have something to do with the graphics card or operating power of the PC, because the PC runs computer graphics as smooth as silk, but there may be a difference between computer graphics and streaming graphics.
• I'm super keen to play some online gaming or multiplayer gaming with it. My internet is fast enough, but I'm not yet confident enough to go into the online space.
• I'm having to guard against buying too many games too quickly. They are expensive, and sometimes not as good as anticipated.
• I'm also cognisant of not using up all my time on there, when I should be doing uni work or chores or whatever. 
• My favourite games so far: The Golf Club and NBA 2K16, both of which my old system would crash if it were trying to run it. I really want to build my own golf course, but I'm also aware that this will chew up heaps of time, which I need to be aware of.
• Games I want to get: AFL Evolution (which is expensive - $65), and perhaps some other first-person shooters/adventure games, like one of the GTA games.
• The games look FUCKING SPECTACULAR on my television.
• I have the free AFL Evolution Demo, but it only lets you play around with some list management features, which are nice, but really you want that gameplay action!! Actually, fuck it, I'm going to get it tonight...
• You become more aware of the whole 'microtransaction' process, and how fucked it is. I tweeted this article about it the other day: https://www.theringer.com/features/2017/12/2/16725196/reddit-fighting-microtransaction-exploitation-in-video-games For example, most of the golf courses on the Golf Club are locked and only open to 'platinum' or 'premium' members.

Here's what she looks like:

And some screenshots of my favourite games:

Which can also be found on my Instagram account:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BcMvWqrnc2X/?taken-by=ed_reddin

So maybe I need to come up with a name for it!!