I am not trying to put down your machine, seriously, an old emachine with a celeron D processor... save your money, and use it to replace the computer. To upgrade to even semi-current, you will need to spend (approx):

power supply - $75

RAM - $80

Graphics Card - $120

conservative Total approx: $275.00

Then you still will have the problem that you are running a single core processor (a celeron no less) so anything newer is going to choke your CPU.

I have a friend who has this very same computer, it works for him, uses it for email and websurfing and limited gameplay (older games only)

But yes, still cheaper than whole new pc if all you want to play is WoW and some older FPS's

Ya I play it sometimes, though not too often, but yes I will most likely try the new version just because of the engine, I'm curious to see how well they make use of it.

It's not a bad game. Hey what do you expect for free?

not true, I have seen systems not complete boots because of this problem,

he said "but once the power button is pressed the fan begins to spin for about half a second, then everything turns off"

though less likely because it shut off so fast (I may have jumped the gun a little)

yes it could be other things as well, static, bent pin on cpu the list goes on, this was just one possibility.

my other guess is he cracked the motherboard trying to reinsert something, or shorted something out

Here this one will actually list most games that require forwarding, but keep in mind I don't believe Spore is listed yet so you will have to substitute a different game, the procedure is much the same for all, just different ports are opened.

Port Forwarding

oras long as you know which port you need to open

Linksys support

If everyone could play CoD4 and other heavily multiplayer oriented games on PC for free, I think consoles wouldn't be so popular.ElectricNZ

I agree but

. . . aren't there already many, many free multiplayer games available, and more coming everyday? granted the suckfactor on most is/are high, but there are many that are quite playable, links to many are even in these forums. too bad most of the console gamers barely know much more than pushing the on button and checking emails and trolling forums and surfing pr0n, instead of useful web searching for the multitude of online (and offline) freeware that is out there. I bet many of them would kill for Battlefield Heroes.

Maybe it isn't, but it certainly gets bashed alot, and mostly due to the "unfinished feel" & misuse of the Shadowrun name I mentioned earlier.

I think it just needs more of a chance than people have given it, hence the reason I claim it to be the most underrated IMO, I think GS gave it a 6.5...