From: slug@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Wowbagger The Infinitely Prolonged)
Newsgroups: austin.general
Subject: Re: Nintendo Game vs. 386sx Computer
Keywords: Nintendo, Games, Computer
Date: 17 Nov 92 23:27:32 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

In article <1992Nov16.195727.19130@awdprime.austin.ibm.com> chuckt@austin.ibm.com (Charles N. Tomlinson) writes:
>
>Now here is the problem. I already have a 386sx computer in my home, and I have
>a hard time justifying going out buying a Super Netendo 16-bit($140.00) to play
>games on when I can do most of the same thing on my computer.  So I guess what
>I am looking for is some of your opinions on the pros and cons of the two. 
>Here are a few that I thought of:
>
Computers can be made to be almost as easy to use.  Throw a simple menu on 
it so that your kids merely have to choose what game to play and it is loaded!
(I did that for my parent's word processor, lotus etc when they first bought
their computer since they had no concept of DOS :-)  Now they use OS/2 with
all those "pretty little icons" that they mere click on)

I would like to throw my vote in for the computer:

1) A computer is more than just a game machine.  When I was 11, my parents 
bought my brother and I an Atari 800 computer and yes, I played lots of games.
However, I also started to program on it.  I am now a CS major :-)
There are lots of "Educational Software" packages out there that can make 
learning fun for smaller kids.  This would give your 3 year old a head start
with computers, and since he is growing up with it, computers will be nothing
new and in the future he may have an advantage due to life-long exposure.

2) Don't forget to add "shareware" and "freeware" games to the list of things
available to the home PC.  There are may awesome games that can be FTP'd from
Internet sites (Duke Nukem, Commander Keen, Wolfenstein- basically most of the
Apogee games) and tried.  If liked, they can be legally registered for $15 each
(sometimes $30 for 3 games).  

3) You have the computer already.  Joysticks are not necessary for many games
(but they can make may easier to control), but computers have keyboards for 
input which allows for more games (like Jeopardy).

4) A Nintendo will fairly permanently root your kids in front of the television
if they weren't already :-)

>  2. My computer would not be tied up all the time with the kids on it.

Sometime in the future, you may get another computer, and then the kids would 
really appreciate the "old" one.

>  3. Get to hear all the nice music that plays when you play the game. ;) 
You can get Soundblaster cards (or others like them) relatively cheap ($90 new)
My room-mate has one and it makes the games sound really awesome :-)
>

Well, I hope this input from a former kid (who grew up just as the computer era
started) helps :-)


-- 
slug@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu                             *****  Glen A. Graham  *****
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