I just got Windows 8!

This is a video game blog, so writing about Windows 8 seems kinda weird. However, I think there may be some hesitation for some people to make the jump the new hotness, and I'd just like to give my side of the story. Fear not, this post involves mostly game related crap.

I've used Windows for a very long time. I had Windows 3.1 back when I was a wee lad, when you could actually EXIT WINDOWS. Command prompt wasn't just a window that opened up, it was fuckin MS-DOS. Since those days I've used pretty much ever iteration of Windows, from 95 all the way up to 8. So far, I'm enjoying 8.

I installed it on Melissa's computer about three months ago, and I was fairly impressed with it from the get-go. From what I can tell it's fairly light on the resources and adds a few aesthetic features borrowed heavily from the tablet/smart phone world. The new 'dashboard,' as I call it, is a tile-based GUI which allows you to add some visual flair to an otherwise dull landscape of your desktop. You can, however, skip this feature entirely and operate completely from the classic desktop view.

Navigating takes a minute to get used to, but it's fairly intuitive. Since it's optimized for tablets and touchscreens (which will be common place in every home in the next few years) you use semi-touch controls to use the 'apps,' which are simply regular computer programs with a fancy short-hand name for applications.  Any 'classic' program (which is pretty much anything you don't get from the Microsoft Store) functions exactly like a windows-esque GUI functions. X still closes and the - minimizes. Pretty easy.

I had concerns that my hardware wouldn't work (it's about 3 years old), but it is working flawlessly. I will warn that if you use nVidia cards, reboot your machine after you start Windows up for the first time. Windows automatically installs graphics drivers (however, they are not the most current by a revision or two) and if you don't reboot before you install the newest, you get a driver conflict which is fairly annoying. On a positive note, Windows 8 installed all the proper drivers for my hardware. Sweet.

When it comes to running games, all seems to be well. I bought Portal 2 TWO YEARS ago, and have only been allowed to actually play it today. It had some ridiculous crashing error on the first load screen, rendering the game completely unplayable. I played it for the first time today, it's good. The new OS also remedied my connection problems I was having with Borderlands 2 and Hawken, both games now functioning perfectly. I still haven't checked if Monkey Islands works yet, but I will probably do that as soon as I post this.

So far I am really enjoying Windows 8, it does what I need it to. I was very hesitant to keep current with Windows, but the pricing on Windows 8 is just incredible. I think Microsoft has figured out that people don't want to shell out $300 for an OS and I applaud them for it. Hopefully I continue to keep a positive attitude for Windows, and it won't start doing some weird ass crap. So far, however, so good.