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I much prefer pc gaming over console gaming. The difference, usually, is that console gaming because of its controller tends to favor what I call "twitch gaming", requiring fast reflexes to manipulate a simplistic directional joystick. I'm bad at that. Pc gaming because of its keyboard tends to favor games that rely on strategic planning that require complex input to manage. So I enjoy games like the original 1990 SimEarth (updated soon to Spore which I am so looking forward to playing!) and dungeon romps where I get to control the character development of the whole party.
While I've been poor during my job hunt, I have installed old pc games (instead of paying for online subscriptions) to play games like this for free. I've noticed three things of interest.
1) Packaging
Thankfully, games distributors went from old full-size boxes (8.5" x 10" x 1") to disc-size boxes. Unfortunately, they also stopped printing any documentation worth its paper. I find myself trying to consolidate shelf space by ditching all of the boxes and other paperwork to store only the cd case on the shelf. I download the last available patch program from websites and then store them on my hard drive. Considering the size of hard drives these days, I should just make iso images of the cd discs too and keep it all in my pc.
2) Voice acting
Privateer 2 had John Hurt as one of the main characters, a bartender who helped move the plot along for the protagonist. The game Lionheart had a voice actor that I recognized from Avatar: The Last Airbender tv series. In the game, I reached a goblin named Grumdjum and heard him say, "Between battles, we make bad poetry." *laugh* You might recognize his voice as "Uncle" from seasons 1 and 2 of the Avatar series. (He died of cancer, so a different voice actor played that character in season 3.)
There were other cross-overs, with actors playing parts in pc games that matched their on-screen personas. I'm not as big a fan of those.
3) Greed
I also notice recent games that should have been made for pc gameplay but were instead made for online server gameplay. So even GuildWars (which has no monthly subscription fee) still cannot be installed and played on your own computer. Once they remove the servers, then the game is dead. My next realization was that even pc games have not had my favorite style of full-party gaming in recent years. NeverWinter Nights 2 was the latest approximation of this style to come out, but even then I had no control over the development of other party members, only the main character.
I searched my shelf. The last such game was Wizardry 8, released over 6 years ago. Since then.... nothing. These used to be enormously popular styles (notice the '8' in the franchise generation). Where did they all go? My theory is that companies ported them to MMO environments, hoping to cash in on monthly fees. That's why it's been so very long since the last production of this kind of pc game.
I want another one.
While I've been poor during my job hunt, I have installed old pc games (instead of paying for online subscriptions) to play games like this for free. I've noticed three things of interest.
1) Packaging
Thankfully, games distributors went from old full-size boxes (8.5" x 10" x 1") to disc-size boxes. Unfortunately, they also stopped printing any documentation worth its paper. I find myself trying to consolidate shelf space by ditching all of the boxes and other paperwork to store only the cd case on the shelf. I download the last available patch program from websites and then store them on my hard drive. Considering the size of hard drives these days, I should just make iso images of the cd discs too and keep it all in my pc.
2) Voice acting
Privateer 2 had John Hurt as one of the main characters, a bartender who helped move the plot along for the protagonist. The game Lionheart had a voice actor that I recognized from Avatar: The Last Airbender tv series. In the game, I reached a goblin named Grumdjum and heard him say, "Between battles, we make bad poetry." *laugh* You might recognize his voice as "Uncle" from seasons 1 and 2 of the Avatar series. (He died of cancer, so a different voice actor played that character in season 3.)
There were other cross-overs, with actors playing parts in pc games that matched their on-screen personas. I'm not as big a fan of those.
3) Greed
I also notice recent games that should have been made for pc gameplay but were instead made for online server gameplay. So even GuildWars (which has no monthly subscription fee) still cannot be installed and played on your own computer. Once they remove the servers, then the game is dead. My next realization was that even pc games have not had my favorite style of full-party gaming in recent years. NeverWinter Nights 2 was the latest approximation of this style to come out, but even then I had no control over the development of other party members, only the main character.
I searched my shelf. The last such game was Wizardry 8, released over 6 years ago. Since then.... nothing. These used to be enormously popular styles (notice the '8' in the franchise generation). Where did they all go? My theory is that companies ported them to MMO environments, hoping to cash in on monthly fees. That's why it's been so very long since the last production of this kind of pc game.
I want another one.