DarkSideA8
Gawd
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2005
- Messages
- 988
Anyone else feel a bit of nostalgia for the visceral way getting a new game used to be?
Sure - having to have physical media that you picked up in a store is a lot less convenient than merely downloading from Steam... but there was a whole process to gaming back then that I kind of miss.
You'd pick up the new game, unwrap the celophane and cut the tape with a thumbnail, and slide out a bunch of stuff:
You 'handled' everything. There was concept art on the disks, a kind of 'new stuff' smell, you inserted the media, listened to the drive spin up and had to click through the loading options. While the media loaded, you'd peruse the ads, read the Game Manual / User Guide... and there'd often be backstory elements to get you excited about playing. There would almost, invariably, be some wholly new development being showcased: moving water, realistic reflections, higher pixel count and facial expressions, grass and trees that moved. It always enhanced the sense of anticipation.
I watch my kid interact with gaming these days - and its a wholly different experience. He just downloads stuff, tries it, keeps or discards it almost as uncaringly as I watched and consumed Saturday Morning Cartoons back in the day. In the 90s, getting a new game was an event. Nowadays, it's just 'Tuesday.'
Sure - having to have physical media that you picked up in a store is a lot less convenient than merely downloading from Steam... but there was a whole process to gaming back then that I kind of miss.
You'd pick up the new game, unwrap the celophane and cut the tape with a thumbnail, and slide out a bunch of stuff:
- Game manual
- Floppies or CD/DVD Disk jewel case
- Color coded keyboard map
- Some random ads
- Maybe a 'collectable' or two.
You 'handled' everything. There was concept art on the disks, a kind of 'new stuff' smell, you inserted the media, listened to the drive spin up and had to click through the loading options. While the media loaded, you'd peruse the ads, read the Game Manual / User Guide... and there'd often be backstory elements to get you excited about playing. There would almost, invariably, be some wholly new development being showcased: moving water, realistic reflections, higher pixel count and facial expressions, grass and trees that moved. It always enhanced the sense of anticipation.
I watch my kid interact with gaming these days - and its a wholly different experience. He just downloads stuff, tries it, keeps or discards it almost as uncaringly as I watched and consumed Saturday Morning Cartoons back in the day. In the 90s, getting a new game was an event. Nowadays, it's just 'Tuesday.'
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