As 2011 came and went, a number of games were released for the PC. A number of them were passed on by the masses, but a handful had the privilege of catching on and becoming extremely popular. Of course, with popular new games comes new system requirements. Developers are always pushing the envelope with their visuals, and the latest PC games show off these systems beautifully. The problem with gauging system requirements for some of the newer games is how varied they are, and how developers for each genre must develop according to what their games need. For example, during the development process, different aspects of a game receive different amounts of attention based on what genre the game is. For example, an RPG developer would put more emphasis on showing a whole world in great detail, while the developer of a shooter would emphasize being able to display a number of characters on the screen at once.

A few games that help to represent the scope of PC games right now include Star Wars: The Old Republic, Crysis 2, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The genres are varied, as one is an MMORPG, one is a shooter, and one is a simple open-world RPG. We'll be taking a look at each game and its system requirements to give PC gamers a better idea of what kind of machine they'll need in order to play different kinds of games.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is an MMORPG that just released in December of 2011. Despite being relatively new, the requirements for it shouldn't be too difficult for most users to meet. The game requires a dual-core processor clocked at 2.0 GHz or higher, and just 1.5 GB of RAM. For most users with machines bought in the last three years, these requirements should be easy to meet. Any edition of Windows in the last decade should suffice, as XP, Vista and Windows 7 are all supported. Despite having impressive visuals and needing to be able to interface with hundreds of other players, The Old Republic does a good job of keeping system requirements reasonable.

Crysis 2 is a first-person shooter released in early 2011. It's the follow-up to the original Crysis, a game that was known for its especially taxing system requirements. Fortunately, developer Crytek made it a goal for Crysis 2 to not be as demanding on users' systems. Crysis 2 recommends either an Intel Core 2 duo or AMD Athlon 64 dual-core processor and 2 GB of RAM to operate well. The hardest requirement for some users with machines more than two years old to meet might be the 9 GB of storage required. As for graphics, NVIDIA GeForce or ATI Radeon chips are recommended.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is the latest game in the Elder Scrolls series, following Oblivion's 2006 release. Skyrim is an open world role-playing game with gorgeous visuals in a massive landscape that features loads of detail. The minimum requirements for Skyrim include an Intel or AMD 2 GHz dual-core processor, but the developers recommend a quad-core processor to get the most out of the game. In terms of RAM, 2 GB is the stated minimum, but once again, developer Bethesda recommends 4 GB to get the most out of the game. The storage requirement for Skyrim is a flat 5 GB, and users are recommended to have an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 or ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics chip in order to run the game at its optimal visual level. Windows XP or any newer edition will suffice for the operating system.

Of course, for gamers looking to buy or build a computer to play one of these games, the system requirements shouldn't be the only focus. A new computer should be built for the future. For instance, while the only game on this list to recommend a quad-core processor is Skyrim, that will change in the next year or two. This is a concept that's easy to understand, no one should need a whole IT support staff to figure it out. As such, users buying machines now should get the most advanced specs they can in order to make their machine last.