We're sticklers for tradition at PC Gamer so as a new year dawns, it's time for us all to set ourselves ambitious goals, born from inspired dreams: Yes, we're making resolutions and we're determined to get them done! For some, it might be time to do that full PC upgrade we've been putting off for years; others might want to learn a new skill or hone an old one that's dulled with lack of use.
We're also a rather eclectic bunch of folks so expect to see a rather odd choice or two. But you never know, you might see something that gives you a great idea and sets you off on a path of discovery and enlightenment. We'll all reconvene in 12 months time and look at how we got on, but for now, here are the New Year resolutions of everyone in PC Gamer Hardware.
My New Year resolution: Yes, really. In this gig, it's all too easy to obsess over numbers. Frames per second, latency in milliseconds, refresh rates in hertz, bandwidth in gigabytes, you get the idea. All of that stuff is important, but it's all just means and sometimes that can get in the way of the end, which simply put is playing games. In 2023 there were arguably an above average number of big games that actually delivered. I'm thinking Baldur's Gate 3, Starfield, Diablo 4, Remnant 2, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and all the rest. OK, not all 90-plus percent titles, but more than enough to get stuck into and certainly I can hardly claim that there's been nothing new to enjoy. I did dabble with several of 2023's latest and greatest and, perhaps for reasons of nostalgia and because I enjoyed the TV series so much, it was actually The Last of Us: Part 1 where I logged the most hours. Whatever, in 2024 I fully intend to play the crap out of several titles. I'm a bit of a sucker for high-end visuals, so I'm going to kick off with Alan Wake 2. Next on my list is Starfield, which makes me slightly nervous both in terms of its sheer scale and the mixed reception it's received. Still, no pain no gain and I plan to be feelin' it plenty in 2024.
My New Year resolution: Ah sure, I've dabbled. Chanced my arm, messed around a bit. But in 2024, the thing I really want to get down pat is my simulation game. What kind of sims, you ask? Well, I had a bit of a crack at sim racing a little while ago and I enjoyed it, but there was so much to learn, so much practice required to master all the little details. My current level is "managed to not hit any barriers or plunge into the side of someone in T1". My best finishing position in a ranked online sim race was P7. This must improve. Beyond that, I'd really like to take a proper crack at flight sims. My previous experience was, as a much younger man/boy/spot-riddled teenager, booting up a flight simulator, cruising around for a bit, and then finding the nearest bridge and trying to fly underneath it. I get the feeling there might be more to it than that, and after watching a few streamers get their kicks starting up an A-10 Warthog in ACS or flying non-stop to California in MS Flight Simulator, I reckon it might be for me. I need a good flight stick, several months of screwing around, and a lot of patience from my partner. But with you all as my witness, by the end of this year I want to be a simulation-kinda-guy. Wish me luck.
My New Year resolution: I only have one resolution this year. Sure, I'd love to do a full system upgrade but as that's heavily dependent on funds, it's not something I could guarantee could be done. On the other hand, what I know for certain is possible, is to finish something that I started many months ago, and have been constantly chipping away at. Older readers who are really into GPUs may recall a small bit of software called D3D RightMark. It was a tool that examined very specific performance aspects of a graphics processor, such as pixel fill rate or geometry processing rate. It stopped being updated back in 2004 (incredibly, its website is still active) and a few years after that, I decided to make my own. Well, it's been 16 years since I started and although I've not put a serious amount of effort into it, I know that I should really knuckle down and just finish the project. Nobody else is ever going to use it and I know there are far better apps around that do a similar thing. This is just something for me. Mind you, my PC is so slow at compiling, I might need to do a bit of an upgrade anyway. Dang it, nothing's ever easy.
My New Year resolution: My main new year's resolution is to move my PC setup out of my front room and into the cabin in my garden. It's a project in a frustratingly static state at the moment, where I'd ripped the front off the old wooden structure and replaced it with glass, where we'd almost fully insulated the walls and ceiling… when the roof started leaking. That brought everything dribbling to a halt while the roof was repaired and now the cabin's sat there in the garden taunting me. It's now dry, but there's electric cabling dangling from the roof where the new LED spots are going, with thick insulation waiting to be cut and fitted around it, and the 9mm hardwood boards are still sitting in a virtual trolley waiting to be bought and nailed into place to give me walls. It feels a long way off, but eventually this year I will be moving my PC. But my other resolution is to evolve that setup, and potentially actually shift out of my desk-as-a-PC situation and move back into a tower case. I want to upgrade my processor—the old Comet Lake Core i9 is fine, but it's easily the weakest part of my machine and I'm craving a change. Will I stick with Intel or will I change over to AMD? I'm tempted by Zen 4, I have to admit, and I might just make that switch. My final new year's resolution is about upcoming games. On one hand I'm going to try very hard not to get too excited about Star Wars: Outlaws so I can avoid the very real possibility of complete disappointment. And on the other, I'm going to pretend that GTA V was the last entry in the series and will countenance no talk of any other instalment ever actually being released.
My New Year resolution: I have a confession to make. I spend the majority of my day, five days a week, typing and yet I don't actually know how to properly touch type. Look, I'm not a single-finger point-and-click person, I do the eight-fingers and thumbs dance, but I've never quite nailed down the index fingers on J and F dealio. This is mostly not a problem. I don't know my exact WPM but it's not dreadful, and I can still get through a story quick if needs be. Though I do feel some shame when I try to effectively use a split ergo keyboard. These are much, much, much easier to type on if you're already tip tapping the touch typing way. So I've set myself a resolute challenge, on pain of death (or more likely slightly slower typing) if I fail, to learn to touch type the proper way in the new year. I've already started learning through various online tools, including Typing Club and Keybr, so I'm well on my way.
