Netbook Games List

Acer Aspire One Model# AOA 150-1049 8.9" in black
Check out the netbook game write-ups & videos.This is the master list of all the games I have managed to get installed & running under my netbook, an Acer Aspire One 8.9" in onyx black, purchased December 2008.

This is not a definitive list or guarantee that any particular game will run under any particular machine. Many of the newer (3rd gen+) netbooks are capable of playing much more modern games than these, this list is for the 2nd generation netbooks, with an Intel GMA950 GPU and an Atom N270 or N280 CPU.




My netbook specs; 
# Acer Aspire One (Model # AOA150-1049)
# 1.6GHz N270 Intel Atom Processor
# 1.5GB DDR2 533MHz[1]
# Windows 7 Home Premium[2]
# 8.9" 1024 x 600 WSVGA glossy LED backlit display
# 160GB 2.5" 5400RPM Western Digital Hard Drive

1. upgraded from stock 1GB
2. upgraded from Windows XP SP3


If you've got another game to add to the list, or a question about these games? Feel free to leave a comment below.


The working games

Some of these games are stated as "installed & working", this basically means I've installed the game and it's running fine so far, but either I haven't had enough time playing it, or I haven't had enough time to do a proper write-up on it yet. The notations indicate whether the game was tested on Windows XP, Windows 7, or both.

The non-working games

  • Torchlight - awesome game, however it's totally unplayable on a 1st or 2nd gen netbook (I imagine even the ION netbooks would struggle do to the crappy Atom CPU), despite the vaunted "netbook mode".
  • Port Royale 2 - installed fine, played one game fine, now freezes at main menu.
  • Far Cry - installed fine, cutscenes OK, games plays OK when not outdoors, outdoors/jungle drops to single digit frame rates, GMA booster running at 400Mhz shows little improvement.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines , game installs fine, but the Intel GMA video card is too weak and the game crashes on start.
  • Children of the Nile: Alexandria - installs fine, game always crashes after opening cutscene.

Looking for the old Netbook Gaming spreadsheet from Google Docs?

This is what I have. It looks like the wiki page mentioned in the docs never came to fruition.

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13 comments

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#1
nico nico said:
Apr 17th, 2010 at 5:27 pm

help, can u give me the aom installr for my netbook


#2
Matt Matt said:
Apr 21st, 2010 at 10:55 am

Nico,

There is no "installer" per se. I just copied the CD contents onto a USB drive and installed it off of that.

The big thing with Age of Mythology is once you install it, it will crash on start-up as it's set for 1024x768 by default. So you need to select start -> programs -> AoM safe mode, then you can set the resolution to 800x600 and play the game.

I think I had to use a no-cd fix on that one one too, but I can't remember now, it's been 6 or so months since I installed it.


#3
eee901xpuser eee901xpuser said:
May 5th, 2010 at 12:12 pm

torchlight doesn't work? strange.. i played it on my stock asus eee901xp and it ran pretty well..


#4
Matt Matt said:
May 5th, 2010 at 12:26 pm

Well, Torchlight *works*, it just runs like complete crap. I mean, there are areas were you may get 15 FPS, but in any instance with multiple enemies and in some locations, it's completely unplayable.

Interesting though, how deep did you play into it?

I'd love to see a video of someone playing Torchlight on a netbook with an Intel GMA950... and see it running smoothly, even with everything set to low and in "netbook mode", it plain sucks.

It's annoying to me b/c I've seen literally dozens of tech sites recommend the game for netbooks, and I can tell these reviewers never played the game on a netbook, they're just vomiting the Runic games company line.

There is a massive thread on Runic's Forums here, dedicated to the craptastic results everyone has playing the game on a netbook;
http://forums.runicgames.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1387

Keep in mind we're not talking about the new ION or Radeon powered netbooks, this game was released prior to the release of any of those.

That said, the game is fun, and I played it for a while on my desktop just fine.


#5
QbertTheKiller QbertTheKiller said:
May 29th, 2010 at 12:39 pm

I have multiple shooters on my aspire one, Tom clancys rainbow six 3 raven shield works incredibly well, as does CS condition zero, land of the dead, deus ex, and anything with the half life engine

XP sp2
1 gb RAM
intel gma 950
Intel atom n270
160 gb HDD


#6
alice alice said:
Jun 30th, 2010 at 9:08 pm

does acer netbook work on audition dance battle game? i tried n it kept sayin error!


#7
Matt Matt said:
Jun 30th, 2010 at 10:45 pm

Hi Alice, I'm not sure. Looking at the wiki entry for that game, it's probably a matter of the graphics card doesn't have the meat to run it, they're calling for an Nvidia 6600+, the GMA950 doesn't cut it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audition_Online


#8
mike mike said:
Jul 19th, 2010 at 5:54 am

i use a1ctl to change screen res. pretty good little free app.

i have only 1 gb

i play:
age of empires
rise of nations
civilization 4
spore

havent tried:
call of duty 2

doesnt work:
sid meiers railroads


#9
Dede Dede said:
Jul 22nd, 2010 at 5:50 am

Hello there.
Can you check something for me? I want to buy netbook that will run ePSXe emulator properly. Can you try to start it with Gran Turismo 2 games on psx) game on your netbook?
I do apologize for my poor english.
Regards ;]


#10
Matt Matt said:
Jul 23rd, 2010 at 2:49 pm

Dede, I don't have Gran Turismo 2, any of the 2nd+ generation netbooks should run the emulator, but the game ROMs themselves would have to be tested. heavier modern 3D games would have more trouble.

GT 2 is ancient,.I don't see why it wouldn't run.


#11
Dede Dede said:
Jul 28th, 2010 at 4:51 pm

I checked it today in a shop. GT2 had some troubles with six cars on a screen. Other lighter games run perfectly. Anyway, thanks ^^


#12
Retron Retron said:
Aug 17th, 2010 at 7:46 pm

I think your site is pretty cool. I wish there were more general interest in netbook (pc retro?) gaming than I've found. I view netbooks pretty much as Nintendo DS's for PC and Laptop gamers. :-P

For Retro PC Gaming the GMA 950 and GMA 3150 are pretty capable cards (I think they're somewhere between a TNT2 and a Geoforce 4 MX 300 in power...not too bad when I think of all the great games I played full-speed on my lowly TNT 1 with 16 mb of onboard ram!). And I've read that the Atoms are about as powerful as a Pentium 3 (Pentium D) at 1.2 Ghz.

Generally I think most games 2004 or earlier would work unless they're graphic/processor intensive (Doom 3, Morrowind, etc.). A good place to find others are older back copies of PC Gamer and Computer Gaming World at your local library.


#13
Redbeard Redbeard said:
Aug 31st, 2010 at 7:34 pm

I managed to get Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines working on my Eee 1005HAB. You have to use the respatcher (google it) and set your resolution to match your desktop (mine is 1024x600). First start up takes a long time but it indeed runs.


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