Intresting....as far as i've found, one of the q2 mission packs does npt like XP. I have the original mission pack, and have never got it to install.

Well I picked Q4 up and tried it out for a little bit.  I have no idea of what kind of stuff is thrown at you during the rest of the game, but so far I'm averaging at about 6 fps.  Before you totally flip out, I run DOOM 3 at about 8.  So I'd say Q4's actual requirements are about 25 - 30% more than DOOM 3.

That's funny, my crappy computer can run DooM3 at an average FPS between 10-15! Hopefully, it will run Quake 4 the same way.

Washu - Damn lucky guy.

Save money, that's a good way to start.
I'm still waiting for my damn PSU, 2GB of RAM and my second video card. Without those things, Doom 3 can run on high quality with an average framrrate of 60 to 70 fps. That's not the reason why I'm getting this though. I'm waiting for UT 2007 baby. That game is going to kick ass.
But anyway look around. Newegg is a good place to start, because I would seriously consider investing in an upgrade if you want to play these new games that are coming out.

I just picked up serious sam 2 myself. Ill be getting the dvd edition of quake 4 just because it will have less disks. Im sick of this 5 disk per game shit.

Woah, and I like serious sam from artist's point of view. The style is different and uneique., I like it personally.

Oh okay, then, but I share the same view with Quake 4 as well. But I only played it for like 10 minutes so I can't really judge it.

My computer would run Quake IV at decent framerates without problems...were it not for the fact that it was shipped to me with a defective motherboard...or something...which causes it to crash when running modern games after about 15 minutes. Hopefully it will be fixed fairly soon.

TBH, I'm not terribly excited about Quake 4 though. It doesn't seem to add anything to the series, there's no new features that I absolutely have to try, there's no evolution going on. The single player will probably be a mildly entertaining run-n-gun-fest, but at best, will probably be Doom 3 without the horror element. The multiplayer seems to have been an afterthought, and doesn't really make any efforts to improve upon Quake 3, outside of the graphics. So basically, we get Quake 3 with higher system requirements, less maps, and slower gameplay. There are no new features to gameplay, no new gametypes, no particularly new weapons, and while a few of the new maps will probably good, some will also probably be mediocre, and only a few maps from prior Quake games will be carried over. There's no way it will match the huge choice of maps, nor all the gameplay options provided by the mod community in Q3. Mods will come for Q4 eventually, but it will take a while, and if Doom 3 is any indication, there will not be a big enough community to churn out the quantity or quality of mods we're used to in golden days of Q3.

Honestly, I think Id is begining to slip through the cracks and fade out of the industry. Doom 3's technology was revolutionary, but it's game design was mediocre. While it became a good technical benchmark, it didn't really put Id back on the map in the minds of most gamers, in terms of gameplay. There aren't a lot of people playing it, there's almost no successfull mods going on for it, and within a year, it's pretty much been forgotten. Not even that many 3rd party games have been built for it's engine. Now Q4 comes along, and it has no revolutionary features either, really no major selling points except it's engine, which has allready been seen in D3. I'm sure some people will play it, and it may be some fun, but it's not going to make big ripples in the industry. I think any further Doom or Quake sequals are pretty much out of the question within the next few years, and by the time a sequal would be developed, who would care about these franchises anymore? They didn't renew the name they made for themselves with D3 and Q4, so it's going to be very hard to market a sequel 3-4+ years down the road. I think we can pretty much consider Doom and Quake dead beyond this point, so enjoy this last bit of the Id universe while it lasts..

I haven't played through the entire game, but I know I've played through more than half of the game (I'm thinking 70%-ish.)  I haven't seen any water thus far, and I am somewhat doubtful if I will encounter any due to where the story-line is taking me now.  

I believe there's a mod team creating a mission pack for DOOM 3 that address the swimming issue.  Perhaps they'll share their code and animations once they're done.

And now for a more detailed, spoiler-free summary of what I think of Quake 4 so far.

The gameplay is not at all like DOOM 3's.  Several different types of enemies are often thrown at you at once (much to my graphic card's dismay,) making for a more hectic pace that I feel is very close to Quake 2's.  It's not strictly running and gunning either, things are mixed up with on-a-rail shooting portions, piloting vehicles, and cutscenes and interludes that advance the plot.  You'll rarely backtrack and when you do it is generally for an escort mission.  Which leads me into the NPC interaction, your fellow marines are numerous (for the first half of the game,) and rather good shots (the escort missions in Q4 are much easier than other games I have played with them.)  You will also run across stationary marines that will add a bit of back-story to the game as well as extraneous information.

I will agree that Quake 4 is not anything new, but it is one of the better single-player-oriented, first person shooters out there in my opinion.

So here's a list of things that piss me off about the game...

-You are not a nameless marine, but you might as well be.

-The overall game is still far too dark.  (I have a sneaking suspicion Prey will be the same.)

--You'll find yourself using the machine-gun for most of the game because it has a built-in light (and it's also the most versatile.)

-The frame-rate is horribly inconsistent.  (I am going to retract what I said earlier.)

--The game is 25% - 50% harder to run than DOOM 3 due to the number of characters on the screen, the increased usage of rag-doll physics, and the insane amount of particle effects being rendered at once.

-The weapon sounds are loud, high-pitched (the sound of the nail-gun causes me to wince if it is too loud,) and overshadow just about any other noise.

-Multi-player runs noticeably better than the single-player.

Just to clarify that for me, this is certainly not the case:

I'm of the opinion D3 runs more consistently and looks tons better than Q4 does. Regardless of the engine used, it is possible to create materials that look fresh, new and substantial (as in, not like sheets of paper). The unrealistic reflective properties that are somewhat present in D3 (but certainly overcomeable there) are much more pronouncedly present in Q4.

As much as I liked Q2's style of industrial environment and its gritty textures, I'm not biased in such a way that I can appreciate only that. For instance, as much as many people seem to hate Q3's map- and texture design, I think it's absolutely top-notch professional work. There's gone a lot of effort in getting colour balance right and (not regarding gameplay) quite a few new things have been tried out, there.
The bit of Q4 that I was able to endure didn't show me anything comparable. Dull, unrealistic and unconvincing, uninspired and nearly painful to look at.

Perhaps it looks better if you turn down the brightness until you see as much black as D3 shows, but that's hardly a solution - the ugliest being may seem great in the dark.

In the game's defense, I'm an old school modeler and texture artist. I'm not too fond of the early attempts to make use of new 3d-technology, when it seems to be used for the sake of using it. I do not care as much about gameplay as I do about eye-candy, and a game must have some seriously impressive feats for the player to distract me from visual insult.