From: Jeremy_Reimer@mindlink.bc.ca (Jeremy Reimer)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Classic computer games and modern versions
Date: 24 Jul 92 07:01:39 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Distribution: world


In article <13573@mindlink.bc.ca> Jeremy_Reimer@mindlink.bc.ca (Jeremy Reimer)
writes:
>Well there you go. Either one will run MS-DOS software (although the Amiga
does
>it rather badly) with suitable emulation.  SoftPC emulates EGA (I believe)
>which Commander Keen and others use... no reason why you couldn't try out this
>gem at work.  (or would your boss mind?)

Well, my boss would have to pay bucks for SoftPC (and for the Amiga, I'd have
to buy an emulator). Either would cost more than just keeping my Atari 800
around.

   Perhaps.  Too bad, as the latest PC games are redefining the state of the
art. Ultima 7, while slow, was beyond what any other RPG game had ever
attempted to do on any system...  Curious story about that game... cost $1
million to produce, and on the first day they made 5 times that much money
in the first wave of shipments.  Enough to fund Ultimas 8 through 10...

(yow, the only use I have for MS-DOS is to emulate a 10 year old 8-bit
 video computer... guess so)

>Is there a reason for your sarcastic dislike of all modern games?  Burnt out?
>Getting old?  Stuck in a rut?

Don't have time to learn 4700 special moves and patterns for a gee-whiz high
reflex game. About the only modern games that have really got my attention
have been "Tetris" and derivitives, and "Lemmings". They're time-limited puzzle
games, rather than reflex games.

   Methinks you are missing a few things.  The "Gee-whiz" game Wing Commander
is one of the easiest to play... you point the joystick towards the dot on
the radar, and fire...  hardly 4700 moves... it becomes second nature.
Now, deflection shooting takes practice, but not THAT much practice...

   And TETRIS not a reflex game??  It sure is on higher levels!  No reflex...
no next level!

Very few new games are of that sort.

   Oh no?  What about Simcity or Civilization-- no pyrotechnics, but great
games to play no matter how much time you have... and believe me, they will
take up more time than you intend to give them!  How about "Castles" or SimAnt
or those types... no reflexes there.  Ultima 7 contained some very Lemming-like
puzzles, as well as a whole slew of other mind-puzzles that you had to complete
to win the game.  Ultima Underworld is chock full of puzzles.  A game like Out
Of This World may take some fast reflexes, but many of the levels require
Lemmings-like thinking to get past (And having cinematic animation and
4-channel digitized sound hardly hurts)< On an IBM no less!

As much fun as it is to reminisce about old Apple games (Hey, I reminisce about
old CP/M games, after all this is alt.folklore.computers) you can't just ignore
modern games because they have too much flash or moves to learn.  The sheer
number of games being released today means that you can probably find exactly
what you want SOMEWHERE.  I think the main problem is your home machine... the
Amiga, while a superior game machine in terms of hardware (I mean it was
originally intended to be nothing but a game machine), is so lacking these days
in new game software that it's no wonder you can't find anything to replace the
old classics.  I never thought it would happen, but in terms of software alone,
the IBM has become a better gaming machine than the Amiga.  Sad but true (Flame
away netters, but it's a fact)

Comments?



>Oh, and about the 16-bit comment... ok, I'll admit these are 16-bit
>implementations, but they run great under the 32-bit OS/2 2.0... or haven't
you
>noticed that the PC finally has real multitasking and proper 32-bit power?

They run under an MS-DOS emulator under OS/2. Might as well put them on a PC
emulator on an R4000 or an Alpha and claim they're 64-bit software.
--

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