I dug out a box of my old DOS games. I put this program called Boxer on my Macbook, which is a frontend for DOSbox that basically makes it simple to install and run old DOS games in OSX. None of the diskette-based ones will work, of course, but fortunately, I have a few on CD. To make a long story short, I literally just spent all night playing Ultima Underworld 1, and not because it takes six hours to do anything like in JRPGs. It’s just that much fun. Then I spent some of this morning playing Commander Keen IV. So yeah, I can see what you were saying about how gaming used to be “rock and roll.” They used to be about pushing boundaries, and not in the sense of more sex or more swearing, or in the sense of blurring the boundary between ‘game’ and ‘movie,’ but in the sense of just doing something you’d never seen before. And it used to be okay if the 3D engine was a little ragged or if the 2D platformer had only 16 colors, because you were doing or seeing something completely new. I guess I just forgot how awesome it used to be. Maybe I need to get on ebay and try to track down some CDs for old DOS games. My PS3 is going to gather dust for a while, and yeah, I mainly blame you.
P.S. The best thing about Boxer? It’s actually easier to get these games running on my Macbook than it was to get them running on my DOS machine back in the day. I never did get Ultima Underworld 2 running with sound, but it works like a champ now!
P.P.S. I wouldn’t complain if you occasionally showcased an old DOS game that time forgot. ;-)
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I’ve thought about recommending some older games in the past. One issue with doing so is that many times nostalgia can cloud visions and these old games, without any nostalgia, are not fun to play today due to being spoiled on better graphics and sound in modern games. However, I have come up with five games I believe that are fun today and stand the test of time. I’ll put them up soon.
When you play the old DOS games, you can really see just how shallow and soul-less most modern games are today. Why does it always feel that the standards of gaming quality keep lowering year after year? Of course, review score bias keeps getting more and more ridiculous to compensate. I suspect that is a big reason why gamers are turning away from gaming.
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Nintendo’s greatest competitor is not Sony/Microsoft, and it is not even movies, music, and other entertainment. Nintendo’s greatest competitor is their own past. The Wii must compete with the NES, the SNES, the N64, and the Gamecube, along with all the other consoles of the past and all the PC games and arcade games of the past. If I wish to play a game, I can easily hook up my NES and play it instead of buying a new game.
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I even know Atari 2600 gamers who do nothing but play their Atari 2600 complete with the wood furnishings. It is like discovering a pocket of natives that did not join civilization. These Atari 2600 gamers are still stuck in 1985 mentality and believe Nintendo destroyed gaming with the NES. I kid you not!
When Nintendo competes against their past, their sales explode. Wii Sports competed against the NES sports games. Wii Play competed against many of the games of the past from Atari’s “Tanks” to NES Duck Hunt. Super Mario Brothers 5 competed against the prior 2d Marios. Like at the end of Zelda 2, Nintendo’s ultimate nemesis is their own shadow.
With PC gaming, I wish they would compete against the past. I wish I had a Civilization game that competed against Civilization 2, for exampe, or a Command and Conquer game that competed against the first ones.
The number of gamers SHOULD be growing with time due to population growth and more disposable income. The reason why gamers are not growing I suspect is because of declining quality. When people became gamers in the 80s or early 90s, they saw quality of gaming at that time as the standard. They were considered the ‘norm’. Today, games feel so much inferior that it is no point to even buying them anymore. I’ve been too disappointed time and time again.
One of the things about Blizzard is that they are in constant competition with their past. Starcraft 2 will be compared with a fine tooth comb to Starcraft 1. Blizzard has to maintain the standards they already established or they will lose customers.
Ultima Underworld 2 is awesome. I don’t believe I finished it. Perhaps I should do so.
To the young reader, understand that the game was made before 3d cards. The year is 1993. Use your imagination more and your eyes a little less. There is much going on in the game.
The music still sounds phenomenal. The photo-realistic portraits seen in both Underworld 2 and Ultima VII Part 2 still amaze me. And these games just ooze personality.
For example, how on Earth can this C64 introduction just ooze epic-ness and personality in a way games cannot even come close today? Perhaps gaming is more than graphics, processor speed, and business models. Perhaps gaming is about the Human spirit.
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