do you miss it ?

[HotNess 2]

SEX...no not really,..do you miss the old days where you walk into a games shop and you have huge selection of pc games,not 90% console stuff...and most of all..as you stand and look,you see multiple choices of Microprose sims,or Jane,s sims..then you get a big box,with a big manual..and them keyboard overlays,and as much as you look at janes or microprose now..like micros Harrier,it sucks now...but back then was awsom,Fleet defender...janes Usaf and the apache series....see im getting all emo as i been up in loft looking through my big box....(Ok men..when i say big box,those who sniggerd get to my room lol)..even DiD..as much as its all progressed theres just still somethinmg missing from todays current lot..i think it because with todays sims, where never truely satisfied,coz we can make mods,we can download aircraft..and as soon as we do,we want more we want bigger and better and never seem to just accept as we did back then....buit then..couldnt live without all this new stuff..my god im sounding old..xx

 

xx V xx

[eraser_tr 29]

Don't remind me! I've adjusted to a whole aisle in best buy. Well PC games are just as healthy as always, it's just playstayshun gets so much attention that it looks dead in comparison. I've noticed lately, PC games have started getting equal attention from publishers again. Now we're back to simultaneous releases for PC/console games instead of waiting a year for console first games.

[HotNess 2]

not here..our big supermarket chains dont do a big selection of pc games,normally just the top 10, even my local pc world has reduced its once long isle of pc games to just 8 rotary stands,as for game retailer its very much same,not the biggest selection around, its ebay where i have to find most of mine,and as for when i used to go in and GAME would order something for you if not in stock they now look on there computer and say oohhh no,have ya tried ebay

 

xx V xx

[MigBuster 2,884]

Well wouldnt say I was an avid gamer - Last game I bought from a shop (PC world) - well that was Strike Fighters Project 1 back in 2002 - has all been online since then.

 

I remember spending ages as a kid looking at games that I couldnt afford in shops - not that nostalgic really - its miles better getting them off the web IMO.

We dont get printed manuals nowadays - which is fine so long as the extra money is put into the game - but hey at least the graphics are better.

Edited January 31, 2010 by MigBuster

[Dave63 13]

In short...GOD YES

[serverandenforcer 33]

Ah, the good ol' days. Yes, I remember how much fun it was as a teenager to walk into Software Etc, Fry's Electronics, or CompUSA and see the large selection of flight sim games. I remember getting Fleet Defender and Jane's Longbow I and II when I was a kid. A good friend of mine, who at the time was more of an aviation enthusiast than I was, couldn't play those games because according to him, you needed a PhD. to play them.

[Caesar 305]

Oh hell yes, I miss it. I remember getting Fleet Defender, USNF, MechWarrior 2 (really played like a sim back then). Just walk into a store, and yep, big boxes, big manuals, very in-depth, and a huge selection of great games. Times have changed.

[Lexx_Luthor 57]

MiGBuster::

We dont get printed manuals nowadays - which is fine so long as the extra money is put into the game - but hey at least the graphics are better.

Ever notice computer games have not changed prices since 15 years back. About the same 50 "dollars" for a boxed game at the store. But prices for everything else has gone up several times over.

 

Credit (debt) inflation. huh wah? Price inflation we like to call it, happening over the years.

 

If priced like alot of other things that have gone up, computer games should be maybe 100 or 150 "dollars" now. If they were priced like that, we'd have the big thick game manuals.

[Lexx_Luthor 57]

I "forgot" as always ....Over the years, game devs and publishers chose to gut the product instead of raise prices.

 

Kinda like food boxes can either (1) remain in the same box but ramp in price, (2) remain the same price but shrink in size, or (3) both hehee.

 

Big thick game manuals were an easy choice to gut, the equivalent of cereal boxes getting smaller. Well that's my take anyways. They get away with it because of the slow bloated PDF file. I suggest trying the free FOXIT PDF reader linked below; much faster.

 

~> http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/

 

Since I prefer to focus on one or two games I really like, I'd rather pay 100+ "dollars" for a classical game box. I don't play alot of games.

[HotNess 2]

i thnk id rather pay for big box and maual,and my loft shows,i got about 50 ish big box games and all there full bits n bobs in there,all nicely kept,yet the just disc ones are thrown anywhere in spare badroom lol,i like the big manuals,yeh you can print out pdf,s and use up all my ink,but i always remeber the janes ones of f-18 and Longbow..even the falcon 4 ..where as your learning the ropes you can open your book and see where your going wrong or what systems do what,and i rember 1 of them had read throughs of missions,so as you fly it,you read what to do..it involved you in learning and got it up n running,where now i either get stuck and have to load up the on line manual or go through my printed out stuff and guarentee the part i want i printed in german by accident lol,..we pay a fortune for track ir,joysticks,throttle,sound,graphics cards etc..and i would be happy to pay more for the sim to feel like its something substancial..somthing hard edged,that i can throw at people or things when i get angry..but again,i think part of it is with the older days..we were more satisfied as what we got in the box was everything we needed,where now with mods and tinternet what we get is never enough..we always want more....like sex and shoes and harvey nichols sale lol

 

xx V xx

[JediMaster 451]

Actually, prices are DOWN. I remember seeing MPS' F-19 at EB in 1988 for $69.99! I seem to recall Falcon 3.0 in 1991 was $62.99? Given the decrease in value of the dollar in the last 20 years, that means they cost a LOT more than any "normal" games do now (I'm excluding "special edition" games that charge extra or MMOs).

 

I remember in the late 90s my (then newlywed) wife saying I could only buy one sim a month because I was going crazy buying too many. One a month! Can we even imagine that many coming out anymore?

 

I'll always remember 1998/99 as the golden age of the sim as we had multiple giant releases in just a year, from Flanker 2 and Falcon 4 to Euro Air War and Jane's F-15 and WWII Fighters. It really was a sim a month, and they were all good!

[HotNess 2]

ohhh was all so good times,,even though it wasnt flying one..i loved m1 tank platoooooon 2,but with all the oldies theres always missions i remeber doing that in them days made me wet my kncikers with excitement...and back in them days coz i was a girl,i was conssiderd a huge freak aswell..lol,but they were right...now,heres one for you all...who knows of a sim about the Tornado...(no not the one we all loved with the add on DS pack..it was before that)..but i dont know who made it,however,BAC..(BAe now)..also had a hand in it and i remember on the box it said made in conjuction with BAC and real tornado simulator operators,and you could choose either F2 or IDS,it always sticks in my head..wasnt a great thing,but grrrrr if i can find anything on it anywhere.

 

xx V xx

[Fubar512 1,350]

I'll always remember 1998/99 as the golden age of the sim as we had multiple giant releases in just a year, from Flanker 2 and Falcon 4 to Euro Air War and Jane's F-15 and WWII Fighters. It really was a sim a month, and they were all good!

 

JM, I agree with you, except from my perspective, the "Golden age of sims" stretched from 1997-2000. It was pretty much over and done with by the beginning of '01.

 

Wow...I recall the "simulations" aisles (in the PC games section) at either CompUSA or Computer City positively dwarfing those at the average EB store in both size and quality. Hell, the console games section at either of those stores amounted to no more than 25% of the floor space taken up by PC games.

[JediMaster 451]

Yes, there were some really good ones released before 1998, but that's when the pace of releases picked up. By 2000 I think it had already started its steep decline. I think we had Jane's F/A-18, B-17 II, EECH, and Gunship! that year, but after 1999's deluge it was obvious there was a serious shift in the market.

 

2001 saw only a single notable release...Il-2!

[Lt. James Cater 62]

I was in Best Buy a few days ago and they had a very good amount of PC games though the flight sim stuff was mainly MFS related. Go to a place like Fry's Electronics and you'll really hit the motherlode! That's where i picked up WOE for $10.

[JediMaster 451]

No Fry's out east. Actually, I've never seen one anywhere and I've been east of the Mississippi a lot.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

I miss it...though there are advantages to buying online...first of course..it's quick..and you get trailers/screenies etc...then just buy and download....but yes..There was something nice about perusing shelves full of PC Games

[Dogzero1 16]

Do I miss those heady days when the PC ruled? Hell yes.

 

I have most combat flight sims since the beginning and I really do miss those big boxes and fat manuals. I still have them ofcourse. My main PC (this one) can run most of them because I have a hard drive switcher that enables me to boot to a win98 drive, a XP drive and my Vista Ultimate drive. I also built a retro PC with twin 3DFX cards in SLI and a Pentium 500 cpu with MS DOS 6.22 and win 95 for all my older PC sims. I also have an AMIGA a1200, a500 and Commodore 64 for the older retro combat sims.

 

Hell yes I miss those days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dogzero1 16]

see im getting all emo as i been up in loft looking through my big box....(Ok men..when i say big box,those who sniggerd get to my room lol)..even DiD..as much as its all progressed theres just still somethinmg missing from todays current lot..i think it because with todays sims, where never truely satisfied,coz we can make mods,we can download aircraft..and as soon as we do,we want more we want bigger and better and never seem to just accept as we did back then....buit then..couldnt live without all this new stuff..my god im sounding old..xx

 

xx V xx

 

 

I'm with you your Hotness. I feel for you. We are a lost generation.

 

xx Dogzero1 xx

[Revvin 1]

I remember being able to walk into the Virgin Megastore, Menzies and Electronics Boutique and seeing row after row of PC games. Now its all console stuff and the PC games have followed suit and are all in DVD boxes. I'd happily pay more to have a box with a chunky manual like the ones we used to get in the Microprose days. It felt like you were actually buying something special with that large box and manual that would keep you occupied even when you were away from your computer - especially the Falcon 3 and 4 manuals. I remember the glossy Microprose manuals for games like Knights of the Sky, Silent Service, Gunship etc and they all had a picture of the Microprose CEO 'Wild Bill' Stealey in the back. I was quite pleased to see Rise of Flight came in an over-sized DVD box - a little thicker than normal and contained a separate cardboard keyboard layout - its been a while since I saw one of those included with a game, at best they print one on the back of the DVD booklet.

 

I just had a clear out of old discs and manuals that I'm giving away to a friend and just flicked through a couple, Mig Alley, Flanker 1, Apache Havoc, Janes F15 and Janes F18...ahh those were the days.

 

OK you can wheel me back to the duck pond now to nap!

[JediMaster 451]

Apparently the price of printed manuals escalated greatly in the 2000's and hence they disappeared. I remember discussion about it when LOMAC first came out with its small manual (which now would seem a hefty tome!) and its expanded PDF.

[Revvin 1]

Apparently the price of printed manuals escalated greatly in the 2000's and hence they disappeared. I remember discussion about it when LOMAC first came out with its small manual (which now would seem a hefty tome!) and its expanded PDF.

 

I also remember discussions around that time about the industry wanting to downsize packaging to look 'greener' and so everything came in DVD boxes with no space for a nice chunky manual. I like the 1 1/2 width DVD box that Rise of Flight came in but its still not wide enough to fit a decent manual inside but the nice card key chart makes a welcome return.

[jayo 0]

Digital Intergration's Tornado+Desert Storm add-on,i loved the pull-out maps.My first combat flight-sim,and possibly my first love too!!

.......would be something real special to be able to mission/flight plan in WoX like you could with Tornado,wow!

[eraser_tr 29]

At the time of the switch, I didn't like it, but now I prefer the DVD cases. When they were using the jewel cases, inevitably my brother or a friend, dog or whatever knocked them over and they broke. Now the discs are well protected and clean, even if the case isn't

[Lexx_Luthor 57]

Dogzero, that pic is game box hyperinflation gone wild. Over the years, this is what I played. A few others I tried were quickly tossed without comment. When I do a game, I focus on one, so I would spend 200+$ on a BIG game box once every 6 years lol, provided the games were complex enough. SFP1 alone is not, but unlike the others is moddable, and TK and the modders together make it complex enough to keep me interested.

 

Master Of Orion I

Su-27 Flaker 1.0

IL-2/FB/PF

Strike Force Project 1

 

 

At times I still plug in my old DOS 6.22 hard disk (400 MB) and play MOO-1. I still get amazed an old game from 486 cpu days works peachy keen on an AMD Athlon X2 250 system I recently put together.

 

 

I just realized.....1 small size stick of RAM now is way larger than my old hard drive. Yikes