Noob in computer gaming

[matthejl8]

ok guys i am about to begin gaming with computer. i am a hard core gamer, but on xbox and not on computer, but i want to start. guys help me out with this though. i dont like using the keyboard / mouse. do you guys use any game pads with computer gaming, or just keyboard / mouse, and if so what are some inexpensive pads i could take a look at. also is analog movement supported on games with pc, or do you just run at a constant speed no matter what. it seems to me you couldnt use analog if you were using buttons on your keyboard to move. thats what i was asking about game pads. i guess just fill me in on the basic things about computer gaming.
heres my specs

pentium 4 2.0 GHz
100 GB Hard Drive
1 GB DDR
NVIDIA video card 6200 with 256 MB DDR
i have a cable connection with 6.0 down and 512 up

specs up to par?
i really want to be able to use a nice gamepad if possible when gaming on pc.
if you veteran gamers could help me out, id appreciate it.
thanks

[Zero Tolerance]

You can use gamepads or joysticks or wheels or whatever interface that suits your fancy.

However I only play basically 1 pc game (Unreal Tournament)....and that game as well as most other FPS games out there, I can not imagine trying to play it with a gamepad. Someone with a keyboard and mouse will most likely rule you every single time.

At the same time I have a few car racing titles that I rarely play, but when I do I use a wheel. You cannot drive a car very well with a keyboard....and will ultimately make alot of people angry at you if you try to. For with a keyboard you cannot hold the turn....but rather have to "tap" your way(the key) thru a turn. Thus making your car "jerk" all over the track.

So to sum up. For FPS games...I recommend a key/mouse combo, driving games a wheel, flight sim pedals/stick, and anything else a gamepad.

have fun!

[blaircroft]

what games do you like to ply fps?? (first person shooter??) yea joysticks work best on flight simulators not fps. Personally i like rts (real time stragety) very challengeing my favorite game is empire earth.

[Zero Tolerance]

I have played most of the popular ones...however I havent liked any of them as well as I like the Unreal Tournament line.

The others just seem either too slow...or a generic washout of UT. Guess that could be because alot of todays FPS's use the unreal engine.

But anywho....I have the original Unreal all the way up to Unreal Tournament 2004. I only play Unreal Tournament 2003 for the time being. And I like the VSK Sniper Rifle modded server like (A.S.S)Clan runs.

I currently have parts on order to build a server just to run my own Unreal Tournament server. Not totally for sure if it will be 2003 or 2004 at the moment...but it most likely gonna be a VSK Sniper Rifle 2k3 server.

In the meantime...if you have 2k3 you can find me playing at either of the (A.S.S)Clan servers under the nick "Bitch_Slappa"

:D