RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

The official PC requirements for the upcoming Mass Effect 2 have been posted. BioWare asked for a lot from players’ computers in the past with Mass Effect and the recent Dragon Age, and this is no exception. Take a gander, if you are so inclined:

OS = Windows XP SP3 / Windows Vista SP1 / Windows 7
Processor = 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or equivalent AMD CPU
Memory = 1 GB RAM for Windows XP / 2 GB RAM for Windows Vista and Windows 7
Hard Drive = 15 GB
DVD ROM = 1x Speed
Sound Card = DirectX 9.0c compatible
Direct X = DirectX 9.0c August 2008 (included)
Input = Keyboard / Mouse
Video Card = 256 MB (with Pixel Shader 3.0 support). Supported Chipsets: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or greater; ATI Radeon X1600 Pro or greater. Please note that NVIDIA GeForce 7300, 8100, 8200, 8300, 8400, and 9300; ATI Radeon HD3200, and HD4350 are below minimum system requirements. Updates to your video and sound card drivers may be required. Intel and S3 video cards are not officially supported in Mass Effect 2.

Basically, those who had machines mighty enough to run either Mass Effect or Dragon Age won’t sweat too much over this. It’s no small investment for the rest of the PC gaming crowd, though the first game did scale well towards the bottom end of its required specs. If that’s what it takes to make alien face-punching look better, then so be it.