Left 4 Dead and UT3 are great, although UT3 doesn't seem to have many people playing. I'd still recommend Team Fortress 2 over either of them in a heartbeat though.
My two favorites are Escalation/Mansion. My two least favorites are GRIDLOCK and FUEL DEPOT, maybe Rooftops instead of Fuel Depot, but I hate those two in particular because they are played so damn much and I just don't like their layouts.
The story is essentially about Geralt trying to find more about the culprits who stole the Witchers' secrets from Kaer Morhen in the Prologue, but it gets way deeper and more interesting than that with several plot twists (and changes based on choices you make). I really enjoyed it, although it was a bit slow in the first act or two. The environments aren't too varied, but acts 2 onward mainly take place in the different parts of the main city (Vizima) and some swamp areas. Act 4 has a really cool setting IMO, as it's a nice change of pace. The skill trees aren't that difficult. Just pick categories that you think would be most useful for your style of gameplay and work within them. I would agree that its a bit more complex than it needed to be though. I think the game clocked in around 55 hours for me on my first playthrough. Definitely one of the longer games that I've played in quite a few years, but an awesome experience throughout. Item customization - none really to speak of in this game. There's basically 3 armors, and then you can upgrade your swords with rune things (even though you can find/receive better swords). Alchemy is a really cool part of the gameplay though.
Can you upgrade graphics card for laptops? Short answer: No. Long answer: in special, rare circumstances (not yours). This thread explains it: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=86864
Nice laptop, but yeah the Integrated graphics isn't going to take you far gaming-wise. I've heard that the X3100 isn't too bad though, so I'm sure you could run a lot of games that aren't much more intensive than the Source engine (that's just a guess for me) - best way to go is start downloading some demos once you get it hooked up and see for yourself. As for Diablo 2 and Halo, I run both of them fine in Vista. You'll find that most games (ones that aren't ancient) will work without too much trouble, and if it has problems there's usually easy fixes to be found on google.
Team Fortress 2 is far and beyond the best option I would say. It's one of those games that is just plain fun, and will last you a LONG time. It's $20 and I say it'd be well worth a full $50 price tag.
Yeah, Alienware make excellent laptops but they are very expensive. You could definitely get more power for your money, such as through this laptop: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8892825&type=product&id=1211587727985 It has an 9800M GTS, 4GB RAM, and 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo processor for less than $1500. By all means, the Alienware would run Crysis or Bioshock fine with any of those configurations (except if you only get the 1GB RAM), but I would look at other options unless you are dead set on Alienware. www.notebookreview.com is a great website that has forums where people will help you find the perfect laptop for whatever your needs are. I'm just trying to say buying a laptop is a big purchase, so make sure to look at all your options before you make a decision - and don't just get the one that looks the best. :)
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