For PC gamers on a budget there is whole other dimension to gaming: System Requirements. Before I started making my own money, System Requirements governed my life. The first time I realized that my parents computer couldn't actually do EVERYTHING, was when I found out I had to get DOS 6.2 or higher to run DOOM. I successfully overcame that obsticle, but found myself back in the System Requirement dulldrums just months later, when my parents bought me X-Wing (on 3.5 disks) for christmas.
This game was awesome, even without iMUSE I freaked out for this game. Also, that christmas I got the Star Wars Universe; I was in Star Wars heaven.
After like an hour install we booted up the game, and there was NO SOUND. I remember my dad reading the back of the box and being like, "It says there's sound, how can you make a Star Wars game without sound??" Then the little nerd in me looked at the box again and said, "It says you need a sound card." So, with my christmas money, we went to Media Play and bought a sound card.
I took a look through this book recently, and it's still awesome
The install went real smooth, suprisingly. And when we configured the game and booted it up, that gold lucas arts guy came up like normal except this time.... with the SW Theme in GLORIOUS midi!! Unfortunately, we didn't have the cd version so no talkie.... but I didn't care. The scream of the tie fighters, R2's bleeps and bloops, and the most beautiful music i ever heard: it was all there.
Then I went back and tried all my other games.... it was a different world. DOOM, for instance, was suddenly way more badass with that running bass line. I was amped UP!
Solar Winds, another favorite of mine, sounded awesome. To this day, that's a great game soundtrack.
I guess the point of all this is: it can be frusterating to be a PC gamer.. sure. Everything is a little different each time. You need to finangle. There are going to be sleepless nights. BUT, when it all comes together, and you open up that computer, and you slide that card into the motherboard, and you accomplish something that you didn't think you were capable of an hour ago: there is no reward quite like it in console gaming. There really isn't brahs, no sir.
Alright, tune in as I continue my ever more boring trek into... My Gaming Life.
Alright, this is my new "My Gaming Life" blog/forum. Basically, a good place to geek out over all things past gaming. I know whenever I've talked about this with friends it's been pretty interesting to find common experiences we had. So, I encourage everyone to participate, however, I do want to stress:
Lets not make this into an insult thread. I know it can be done, cause the "Can't Remember the Name of this Game" thread seems to do it fine. I'd like to keep this thread a hub for warm fuzzy nostalgia, and not for people who abuse their anonymity.
So, I'll start:
I went to visit my parents for thanksgiving, and went down into the basement for some wine. Amidst some old pc game boxes, I found my old PS/1. Not playstation, that came about 8 years later, I mean the IBM PS/1 specifically model 2155.
Not My Actual Computer
I remember a few specs about it: 80 megs of hard disk space, and (initially) 2 megs of RAM (Then my mom came home with a ram doubler one day, and we had "4").
The 2155 was preloaded with Windows 3.1 and Dos 5.XX (I think).
At first I wasn't supposed to use the computer on my own, but that rule quickly became obsolete. I remember the first time using it on my own: I messed around on windows for a bit and then, when I clicked shutdown it said "This will end your windows session." I freaked out. I thought I was deleting windows, so I ran outside and found my mom.
My dad brought home the Wolfenstein demo, and some golf game, on 2 3.5 floppies. After about an hour of walking into walls I was hooked. Computers were awesome.
I remember my older brothers friends talking about this game called "DOOM" which had way better graphics than Wolfenstein! They brought over a demo one day, but alas, it didn't work. Said something about needing a DOS 6.2. So, I convinced my mom that we needed DOS 6.2, telling her that it would make the computer faster like virtual reality. We spent a whole Saturday installing it off of like 10 or more floppy disks, and then when I tried to run DOOM again, it still didn't work. Ridiculous. I went to bed PISSED.
The next morning I woke up and started trying to get DOOM to work. Looking back, I know I got into the bios and changed some settings, which I have no idea how I figured out what to do.... but DOOM worked after that! I just had to do that bios operation every time I wanted to play it and then set it back, cause windows wouldn't work with those settings.
This kind of ambition to play a game taught me a lot about computers, and still does...
Alright that's all I got for now, I'll leave you with this:
It's the boot screen for the PS/1. I typed PS/1 in google and this came up....... to me, it's utterly beautiful. 3 Comments
Guess what, video games are not art. There I said it. Or maybe they are.... wait, I don't care.
Does anybody out there really care what Roger Ebert thinks about video games? I couldn't care less. Nor do I care what the gaming masses think. It matters to me not one bit.
I have had moments playing games where I had an emotional reaction, and you know, those moments were their own reward. Why do I need someone else to agree??
Also, I read reviews, but god help you if you base more stock on someone elses opinion than your own. I have been guilty of this, convincing myself I liked a game that sucked, or not giving a game a chance cause of a review score. I think you've done this too, and you need to stop... for your own good.
Listen, the hard fact is this: Hardcore movie buffs watch shitty movies all the time. They love it, just cause it's movies. Hardcore gamers need to love the cream and the crap of the crop, cause it's their crop.
So get out there kids, there's a bunch of terrible games for you to enjoy. (what does any of this have to do with art?)
Quick update: Even though I knew I had to get up at 7 this morning, I played civ until 3 last night.
I'm taking the Egyptians the economic and production routes to domination. I built roads to my three cities (which greatly improved my income), and expanded across the ocean to some untapped fertile ground. Then built a harbor at both ports. Got a couple of whalers out there.
In the event that I run across barbarians inland, I've got a couple ships (lvl 3 bombardment now) who take them out from the shore, and then send a small landing party to eliminate the outpost and get my 40 gold. Otherwise, I've been focusing on keeping a balance of peaceful relationships with the other kingdoms while I pursue expansion and economic growth.
I was playing through Dead Space before this (which is really good), but now I'm not sure when I'll get back to finishing that. Yes, I even thought about calling in to work today.
Last night I dreamt in hexagons. I am an addict.
1 Comments
I am so happy I saw GB's 5 star rating of Civ 5 and gave the Civ games a shot again. I am addicted.
Civ 5 is a programmers wet dream. I am by no means a full fledged "programmer", but aspire to be so, and the more I learn about convoluted logical trees, the more I realize that the Civilization series is a smorgasbord of programming awesomeness.
To get logical trees that are so complex they make you "feel" your way through a leadership role is really incredible.
My main complaint when I gave past Civ games a shot was the interface. I knew there was a LOT happening under the hood, but getting there felt laborous. Civ 5 seems to correct this issue. The music and ambient sounds are very pleasing, and the voicework is always appropriate; but it's the interface that is the star of Civ 5. I think the Civ 5 interface is a huge leap forward in complicated turn based strategy.
If this feeling of euphoria keeps up, Civilization 5 may edge out Mass Effect 2 as my pick for game of the year. Will probably write an actual review in the coming weeks.
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