Well gang... I don't know if I should stop apologizing for this article being late or not...

One, I feel bad about missing my deadline... but two... my life is so freakin' busy I barely have time to play Deus Ex (new to me, found it on Amazon for less than 10 bucks). I remember when life was several Taco Bell Bean Burritos, a fridge full of Coke, a new game and three or four days to just spend some serious time gaming. These days, it's 20 minutes a week (if I'm lucky) and I feel bad about "wasting my time" as it is quite a commodity these days! As it is, the foundations of programming and logic make for pretty dry material, and require a bit of study, so that's what my weekend comprised of...

Anyway! On with the post!


NOSTALGIA:

Ahhh, those blissful days when I was a young, "Reebok"-shod lad with cheek of white (really, really pale white). Spending nights playing "Moon Patrol", "Missile Command" and "Pole Position" on my Atari 6800... Zork humming on my IBM 8088 and life was good.

As the years fly by, I begin to wonder what I can expect from the future.


In my lifetime (a short 30 years), I've seen graphics go from text adventures (Zork), to squares that made up a stick figure who was your character to cartoonish quality to almost lifelike looking people.

Video cards change every year it seems, more CPU/GPU power seem to equal new options every time you turn around, and when I get too terribly excited about the graphics, I remember the good ol' days when Link (Legend of Zelda) was a blobby-looking block with a pixelated sword that could cut out a person's eyeballs with the jaggies. I still play Zelda, and I don't hardly notice how horrible the graphics are. It's just a damn good game.

Still, as they grow more complicated, they get more fun in some ways. I wouldn't go back, that's for sure... but there remains that love of old school...

Kind of funny that people younger than me are going to remember games like "Doom 3" and "7th Guest" for their "old school graphics" stories!

Quote: Originally Posted by Darksamurai Kind of funny that people younger than me are going to remember games like "Doom 3" and "7th Guest" for their "old school graphics" stories!

Dont get me wrong, I had a Atari too. I played pitfall and space invaders most of the time. To this day, I still cant get passed the 1st level of space invaders. Most of the people here were born when computers Just started coming out (ie, the x86 Intel 3Mhz if Im not mistaken).

Ha! remember when a 300Mb HDD cost like $300+? Nowadays thats how much a 500Gb HDD would cost... Funny how in the future we will have terabyte HDD and look back at how much we paid for gigabyte HDD's.

Although, there was something intresting I was reading in wikipedia the other day, which stated (according to moore's law) that Silicon Processors will reach their maximum capablities by 2012.

Technology is always getting better, Lets just hope the [rest of the] human race can take advantage of this

Nostalgia with games will also force you to appreciate old hardware and operating systems.

Setting up old games that required specific DMA and IRQ settings can be a pain in the ass if the card doesn't have the expected hardware assigned to antiquated numbers. Plus new video cards and new drivers can crap out on games with dependence on old VESA standards.

It's funny how newer isn't better for old fart game addicts, I just hope there's enough resources out there to keep some of the good old games alive.

Quote: Originally Posted by Hibiki It's funny how newer isn't better for old fart game addicts, I just hope there's enough resources out there to keep some of the good old games alive.

They re-released all of the old Sierra classics (The "Quest" games, King's/Space/Police/etc) and Zork: The Underground Empire runs on Vista... life is still okay!

Still, as my IRQ range goes a lot higher than my options, I can't seem to get Shadow Warrior, Duke Nukem 3D and Blood (the first one) to load properly...

Quote: Originally Posted by Darksamurai Still, as my IRQ range goes a lot higher than my options, I can't seem to get Shadow Warrior, Duke Nukem 3D and Blood (the first one) to load properly...

This guide ("Build on XP" - How to Play Build Engine Games Like Duke 3D on Windows XP) I found might work.

I use a Sound Blaster PCI 512, which has a pretty good Sound Blaster 16 emulator in its drivers. Aside from the needed SB Live! patches from 3D Realms, Duke and Shadow Warrior works fine.

LOL, I still remember when Pong! came out! that was my first game console! I think I was around ten.

I got started in a Visual Basic Class in 5th grade with Unreal Tournament. Then I went to X-Wing Alliance and the Dark Force/Jedi Knight series. Then tried my hand with a gamecube realized it was crap and traded it in for Call of Duty, UT2K4 & Freelancer(which desperatly needs a sequal!)

It seems that lately I've been going back in time now, I'm playing Unreal Tournament mostly, and went back and beat the original Longest Journey(which is awesome). Now I've got Another World waiting to be tried and I may even go back to Zork since it's free on Gametap.

Quote: Originally Posted by eascarface I got started in a Visual Basic Class in 5th grade with Unreal Tournament. Then I went to X-Wing Alliance and the Dark Force/Jedi Knight series. Then tried my hand with a gamecube realized it was crap and traded it in for Call of Duty, UT2K4 & Freelancer(which desperatly needs a sequal!) It seems that lately I've been going back in time now, I'm playing Unreal Tournament mostly, and went back and beat the original Longest Journey(which is awesome). Now I've got Another World waiting to be tried and I may even go back to Zork since it's free on Gametap.

Yeah, I have Zork 1, 2 and 3.

Sadly, I only really remember how to beat #1. I should go back and play 2 and 3 to try to get the feeling back, but I guess I'd rather just enjoy #1 for now!

Besides...the Wizard of Frobozz pisses me off in #2! I liked #2 okay, but the only really cool part was summoning the demon and tormenting that little bastard wizard!

#3 was cool... I liked the shadowlands. It had a dark and gloomy feel to it that made it pretty sweet. I still liked the end of it... I should play that 'un again...

Quote: Originally Posted by Darksamurai Well gang... I don't know if I should stop apologizing for this article being late or not... One, I feel bad about missing my deadline... but two... my life is so freakin' busy I barely have time to play Deus Ex (new to me, found it on Amazon for less than 10 bucks).

Ahh, DS, Deus Ex is a fantastic game, isn't it? It's in my top 10 all-time. It's there because the game was so fun, immersive, and even to this day, very memorable. That's one of my criteria determining how good a game is...if you can vividly remember playing that game, even 5 or more years later, that was a pretty damn good game!

Here's a question for the Deus Ex fans:

Actions-wise, were you a Spy (talked/sneaked/hacked your way through) or a Tanker (Gunned/Bombed your way through).

I gunned through, though I didn't kill UNATCO, NSF, or Civillians.

I remember how my friends an I became masters of the Windows 3.0 through 3.11 autoexec.bat and config.sys. Each different game we would play would require slightly different settings to get the most out of your system. We would also thrash the various .ini files for performance and compatibility.

I don't really miss that a whole lot, but I'm kind of sorry that the younger computer geeks never had the opportunity to experience that. It really made you learn how your system works from the inside out.

Quote: Originally Posted by BigAkita I remember how my friends an I became masters of the Windows 3.0 through 3.11 autoexec.bat and config.sys. Each different game we would play would require slightly different settings to get the most out of your system. We would also thrash the various .ini files for performance and compatibility. I don't really miss that a whole lot, but I'm kind of sorry that the younger computer geeks never had the opportunity to experience that. It really made you learn how your system works from the inside out.

Mmm how about manually specifying the IRQs and DMA addresses for your Soundblaster SB16 soundcard, and loading CD-ROM and other drivers with the DEVICEHIGH and LOADHIGH commands? Ohh what fun! I'm glad that's a thing of the past too, but I agree there's a whole generation of computer "nubers" who really should have learned how important it was to isolate your devices on unshared BIOS IRQs, because the principles still come into play today when Plug 'n' Play doesn't work the way it should...even though virtual IRQs have made PCs a whole lot more foolproof.

Hibiki: I leaned more towards the stealth mode of play, sneaking up until I got close enough for that head-snipe that none of the baddies knew where it came from.

Quote: Originally Posted by Coelacanth Mmm how about manually specifying the IRQs and DMA addresses for your Soundblaster SB16 soundcard, and loading CD-ROM and other drivers with the DEVICEHIGH and LOADHIGH commands? Ohh what fun! I'm glad that's a thing of the past too, but I agree there's a whole generation of computer "nubers" who really should have learned how important it was to isolate your devices on unshared BIOS IRQs, because the principles still come into play today when Plug 'n' Play doesn't work the way it should...even though virtual IRQs have made PCs a whole lot more foolproof.

Yeah, I jumped on the AWE32 bandwagon as soon as it was released and played hell making it work with different games. I did end up running it through a Yamaha amp to a pair of 4 foot tall Optimus speakers to play Doom. Man, the frau would get pissed when the shotgun blasts knocked the pictures off the walls.