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Deleted member 11018

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,419
Forgot to actually post it I usually don't have the icons visible lmao

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l

Haaaa GPolice :) When it released, the MMX + Direct 3D HW was some glorious action with incredible graphics... kinda like POD (with the mirror effects) or the silky smooth MotoRacer in their time.
 

Deleted member 1849

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,986
I'm definitely nostalgic about the times I could go into a store, look around at all the cheap PC games and pick something up to go play at home. Would read the manuals on the bus and everything. Still have a decently sized collection of boxed PC games.

But by pretty much any measurable metric, PC gaming is stronger now than it ever has been. More games are being released, discovery of niche titles exists through discoverability tools and stuff like steam250, the quality across the board is higher, etc. I don't actually miss the old days that much at all and am perfectly happy with how things are.
 

Bricktop

Attempted to circumvent ban with an alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,847
It's still about about the games, so that hasn't changed for me, but I have tons of nostalgia for walking into a CompUSA and seeing multiple isles of wall to wall PC games. Even the video card/hardware isle was larger than your average Gamestop. Stuff like that just isn't possible today, but I'm glad I got to experience it before it went away.
 
Oct 31, 2017
8,466
Honestly just sounds like you're an old man stuck in his ways. PC gaming is better than it's ever been. Theres variety and quality abound.
I'm an "old man" as well, just past my 40th and gaming primarily on PC since the late '80s, and I feel the exact same way as you: it's frankly never been this good. There's everything, for every taste, and it's never been so easy to get (and to maintain/keep updated) a library of titles.
 

Rathorial

Member
Oct 28, 2017
578
Sounds like the OP likes the retail experience of browsing and buying games, but unfortunately that market will leave consoles as digital inevitably takes over. Digital is just cheaper for both the dev and can be for the consumer, along with games increasingly patching themselves + installing data to faster HDD/SSDs anyway.

Honestly though, PC has never been stronger than today imo. It's so much more accessible to build or buy a PC, digital distribution is so much more convenient than the cd-swap manually enter keys hope it works install days, we get refunds if stuff doesn't happen to work, I can backup and install games to my other devices (barring Microsoft's crap store), patches + GPU drivers auto-update. You can easily hook desktops or laptops up to 4K TVs, Steam even provides a UI for living room viewing/navigation, so many PC games are compatible with controllers, Steam input lets you force compatibility by mimicking mouse and key commands + support all the major 3rd party gamepads, if you have wired internet you can stream your games downstairs with a tiny box, Steam chat or Discord work great for voice/text chat, best platform for sorting your library of games, and dual screen with Spotify in the background lets me adjust/set any soundtrack I want to make.

The genre variety on PC is better than anywhere else, I can regularly get multi-plat games cheaper than console, we've seen old genres come back through crowdfunding + indie development, all my old games still run + GoG exists, emulators just keep getting better, and even Japanese devs are increasingly porting over content. I find it hard to get excited for other platforms by comparison, but I do like the Switch's portability.
 
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Rathorial

Member
Oct 28, 2017
578
It's still about about the games, so that hasn't changed for me, but I have tons of nostalgia for walking into a CompUSA and seeing multiple isles of wall to wall PC games. Even the video card/hardware isle was larger than your average Gamestop. Stuff like that just isn't possible today, but I'm glad I got to experience it before it went away.

I also have nostalgia for that CompUSA experience, especially just to browse and try demos on computers. Not all of the window shopping experience has translated over from retail to digital, and a part of me hopes VR or AR will bring that back. There is something to just being surrounded by nerdy things to buy. Still, the benefits of today outweigh the loss.
 
Oct 25, 2017
15,110
Been a PC gamer since I was a kid and that part was never important to me. Even back then I often used no-CD cracks so I wouldn't need the discs for the games I bought. Generally threw away all packaging. There were moments of dicovery in a store, sure. But you forget how often that backfired, too.
You might as well buy a Steam game with a good rating you've never heard of if you want to discover something, but it doesn't even sound like that's what you want.

Forgot to actually post it I usually don't have the icons visible lmao

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l
Your notification area actually bothers me more than the desktop icons...
 
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halcali

Banned
Nov 7, 2017
6,317
Hong Kong SAR
the 90s were so unbelievably exciting to be a PC gamer.

Tech was advancing on a WEEKLY basis, and hardware aesthetics were fantastic in Japan.
 

Kinggroin

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
6,392
Uranus, get it?!? YOUR. ANUS.
I miss the rituals of 90s PC gaming, the experience as a whole, right down to the massive manuals.

A lot of games felt special that way, almost like you discovered them. It made you want to complete them.

Now games are a dime a dozen, many of which are even free. A video game? Ah, cool, yeah whatever I guess.
 

univbee

Member
Oct 25, 2017
213
PC gaming for me just became a pain. I sit in front of a computer all day for work and my back sucks, I much prefer to flop on the couch semi-conscious with a controller in hand and boot up a game that's almost for-sure going to work and run correctly. And due to Canadian E3 deals, most games are cheaper at launch on console than on PC here, even considering online key vendors.
 

Timu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,574
Sounds like the OP likes the retail experience of browsing and buying games, but unfortunately that market will leave consoles as digital inevitably takes over. Digital is just cheaper for both the dev and can be for the consumer, along with games increasingly patching themselves + installing data to faster HDD/SSDs anyway.

Honestly though, PC has never been stronger than today imo. It's so much more accessible to build or buy a PC, digital distribution is so much more convenient than the cd-swap installs manually enter keys hope it works install days, we get refunds if stuff doesn't happen to work, I can backup and install games to my other devices (barring Microsoft's crap store), patches + GPU drivers auto-update. You can easily hook desktops or laptops up to 4K TVs, Steam even provides a UI for living room viewing/navigation, so many PC games are compatible with controllers, Steam input lets you force compatibility by mimicking mouse and key commands + support all the major 3rd party gamepads, if you have wired internet you can stream your games downstairs with a tiny box, Steam chat or Discord work great for voice/text chat, best platform for sorting your library of games, and dual screen with Spotify in the background lets me adjust/set any soundtrack I want to make.

The genre variety on PC is better than anywhere else, I can regularly get multi-plat games cheaper than console, we've seen old genres come back through crowdfunding + indie development, all my old games still run + GoG exists, emulators just keep getting better, and even Japanese devs are increasingly porting over content. I find it hard to get excited for other platforms by comparison, but I do like the Switch's portability.
Everything you said is why PC gaming is better than ever now!
 

SmashN'Grab

Member
Oct 27, 2017
525
Yeah I don't really have nostalgia for going into shops and buying PC games, although I did a lot of that in the 90s.

I love the digital nature of it today.
 

Serpens007

Well, Tosca isn't for everyone
Moderator
Oct 31, 2017
8,129
Chile
Forgot to actually post it I usually don't have the icons visible lmao

44499711915_21a981382e_o_d.png

l


This is insane hahahah I have like 10 icons in my screen


I only recently switched to PC gaming, while still gaming on console. I don't care about digital, it's too cheap to really complain, plus I have more options from where to buy, etc

I only wish I have more money to buy parts at a faster rate instead of one at a time
 

shiftplusone

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,401
And to those that think I didn't like PC games. I've beaten this stuff

Quest for Glory 1-4
Leisure Suit Larry 1-2
King's Quest 2,5,6
Duke Nukem 3d
Doom
Duke Nukem 3d Plutonium Pak
Aspetra
Skyroads
Mortal Kombat 2

PC Gaming always felt different than console gaming. I've enjoyed it in a different way. That and I spent years playing Worms with friends.

Though shareware was always interesting. I remember Exile for PC. I wonder how that would play on console now with Avernum.

lmao not a single one of those was made in the last 20 years. 25 outside of the plutonium pack

you're basically 150 years old
 

Pargon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,020
This has little to do with PC gaming, and is mostly nostalgia - presumably for your childhood/teenage years.
If you were not a PC gamer, you'd likely be nostalgic for some other aspect of gaming that was specific to consoles.

To some extent, I would agree that PC gaming has "lost" the most with the transition to modern gaming and digital distribution.
Even if they were still getting physical releases I doubt you would have all the extras in the box, or those thick several-hundred page manuals. The "consolization" of gaming that has happened over the last decade or so means that few games are being made with that level of depth and complexity any more.
There are still indies being made like that, and a huge catalog of older games that you have likely never played though.
YouTube channels for retro PC gaming like Lazy Game Reviews may interest you.
 
OP
OP
Douche McBaggins The 4th
Oct 28, 2017
1,555
This has little to do with PC gaming, and is mostly nostalgia - presumably for your childhood/teenage years.
If you were not a PC gamer, you'd likely be nostalgic for some other aspect of gaming that was specific to consoles.

To some extent, I would agree that PC gaming has "lost" the most with the transition to modern gaming and digital distribution.
Even if they were still getting physical releases I doubt you would have all the extras in the box, or those thick several-hundred page manuals. The "consolization" of gaming that has happened over the last decade or so means that few games are being made with that level of depth and complexity any more.
There are still indies being made like that, and a huge catalog of older games that you have likely never played though.
YouTube channels for retro PC gaming like Lazy Game Reviews may interest you.
I love lazy game reviews. I already watch all his stuff. Though I don't have quite the vast variety of parts he does.
 

ThreepQuest64

Avenger
Oct 29, 2017
5,735
Germany
Sounds like the OP likes the retail experience of browsing and buying games, but unfortunately that market will leave consoles as digital inevitably takes over. Digital is just cheaper for both the dev and can be for the consumer, along with games increasingly patching themselves + installing data to faster HDD/SSDs anyway.

Honestly though, PC has never been stronger than today imo. It's so much more accessible to build or buy a PC, digital distribution is so much more convenient than the cd-swap manually enter keys hope it works install days, we get refunds if stuff doesn't happen to work, I can backup and install games to my other devices (barring Microsoft's crap store), patches + GPU drivers auto-update. You can easily hook desktops or laptops up to 4K TVs, Steam even provides a UI for living room viewing/navigation, so many PC games are compatible with controllers, Steam input lets you force compatibility by mimicking mouse and key commands + support all the major 3rd party gamepads, if you have wired internet you can stream your games downstairs with a tiny box, Steam chat or Discord work great for voice/text chat, best platform for sorting your library of games, and dual screen with Spotify in the background lets me adjust/set any soundtrack I want to make.

The genre variety on PC is better than anywhere else, I can regularly get multi-plat games cheaper than console, we've seen old genres come back through crowdfunding + indie development, all my old games still run + GoG exists, emulators just keep getting better, and even Japanese devs are increasingly porting over content. I find it hard to get excited for other platforms by comparison, but I do like the Switch's portability.
<3

Playing on my living room's TV and it's like a console. I boot up my PC, Steam starts automatically, I click on the taskbar icon, it shows the last ten games I played or so, another click and the game starts. I also set-up custom resolution and enjoy Shadow of the Tomb Raider in 100% supported 21:9 which looks great.

Also, I still buy retail games from time to time for the box, I only skip the CD/DVD switching process by ignoring them and download the game. My internet is faster than it would install from 6 or 8 DVDs (I'm looking at you, Odyssey and GTAV...). I can still 'borrow' games via Steam library sharing or GOG, so even that works nowadays with the all digital trend.

And with so many games coming and being remastered also for PC, it really is a great time for PC gaming. And the backwards compatibility catalogue grows ever so bigger!
 

Rickenslacker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,415
I enjoyed the experience of getting a physical game in the 90s. I was young, it was an event, but the move to digital hasn't bothered me. It's made things a lot better for my tastes. Going physical on PC games was becoming more and more of a nuisance until digital distribution took hold, and most things you get physical these days, PC or otherwise, are about as dinky as they can get away with.
 

Menx64

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,774
OP I bought a raspberry Pi and started making an arcade cabinet to play Outrun. I like new games, but I miss the good old days of gaming.
 

Alexandros

Member
Oct 26, 2017
17,811
To some extent, I would agree that PC gaming has "lost" the most with the transition to modern gaming and digital distribution.

I've been gaming on PC since the late 80s and I would like to offer a different opinion. I believe that PC gaming is in the best state that it's ever been and it is the one platform that has gained the most from the transition into multiplatform development and digital distribution. It is more approachable, more user-friendly, more versatile and diverse that it has ever been, it has gained practically the whole library of console gaming (minus the few first-party exclusives) and it has lost basically none of the niche and specialized genres that it always had. Controller support is ubiquitous and there has even been a lot of progress in the effort to unshackle PC gaming from Windows.

The only thing that I feel is still missing from PC gaming is a console-like hardware device to serve as an introduction to PC gaming for the casual gaming audience. Other than that, I feel that modern PC gaming is truly great.
 

mogster7777

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,980
I'm definitely nostalgic about the times I could go into a store, look around at all the cheap PC games and pick something up to go play at home. Would read the manuals on the bus and everything. Still have a decently sized collection of boxed PC games.

But by pretty much any measurable metric, PC gaming is stronger now than it ever has been. More games are being released, discovery of niche titles exists through discoverability tools and stuff like steam250, the quality across the board is higher, etc. I don't actually miss the old days that much at all and am perfectly happy with how things are.

Steam250 is really useful! Thanks.

Having bought a new pc and haven't gamed on it since WoW days, I was looking for something like this a place that curates all the best stuff easily. The steam store doesn't at all.
 

Dr. Mario

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,873
Netherlands
I can kind of get what OP means. It doesn't help that Steam is about as boring a launcher as one could possibly think up.

To make up for the lack of tactile qualities afforded by physical cases and instruction booklets, console builders experimented with different design aesthetics. TV channels on Switch, tabs on Xbox 360, postcards of miniature box arts on newer devices. Meanwhile Steam is just a line of text you click and then play. It doesn't even have the chunkiness of an old C64 command prompt where you typed in RUN. It's the most boring font ever. It feels like literally less thought was put into the aesthetics of Steam than the C64. Games on Steam feel like a tool. An unlovable piece of software you fire up, like you would from the Windows start bar, if Windows removed all the rich colors and animations. I guess there's Big Picture Mode, but I haven't booted it up in ages because it sucked.

Luckily every year an indie like Obra Dinn releases and suddenly for a short time period it's the best platform there is.
 

Gelf

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,310
I'd like to read your argument on that. It seems to me that traditionally PC genres like FPS and wRPG have completely dominated gaming.
I always take issue with the PC gaming was "consolized" narrative. It ignores the other side because if anything they met in the middle. To me the bread and butter of old consoles was pure arcade titles and there has been just as much a decline in those as there has been for more complex traditional PC titles.

In either cases though indies are helping make up the slack and that's why PC is my preferred platform as these days with vastly better control options you can get the best of all worlds.
 

Deleted member 1849

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,986
I can kind of get what OP means. It doesn't help that Steam is about as boring a launcher as one could possibly think up.

To make up for the lack of tactile qualities afforded by physical cases and instruction booklets, console builders experimented with different design aesthetics. TV channels on Switch, tabs on Xbox 360, postcards of miniature box arts on newer devices. Meanwhile Steam is just a line of text you click and then play. It doesn't even have the chunkiness of an old C64 command prompt where you typed in RUN. It's the most boring font ever. It feels like literally less thought was put into the aesthetics of Steam than the C64. Games on Steam feel like a tool. An unlovable piece of software you fire up, like you would from the Windows start bar, if Windows removed all the rich colors and animations. I guess there's Big Picture Mode, but I haven't booted it up in ages because it sucked.

Luckily every year an indie like Obra Dinn releases and suddenly for a short time period it's the best platform there is.
BPM works fine, but if you don't like that there's also grid view. Steam is far from just a line of text you click.
 

degauss

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
4,631
Same here, or maybe I would put the cut off around the mid 2000s. I grew up playing pc games and it was a thriving industry. It offered interesting alternatives to console games, games that just weren't possible on consoles due to storage space or ram or whatever.

I feel like that point has long been passed for most genres.

It's still the strategy king of course, but even that, RTS doesn't have the community any more, MOBA (which I personally find to be awful) has taken the community/excitement. Even stuff like CIV I actually prefer on iPad.

And as someone already said, gaming is different now, it's social/multiplayer, and I don't know anyone personally who games on PC. Sure, I used to, but we were kids then. Every time I play multiplayer on PC I get matchmade with people from russia or turkey too, which is fine, but I prefer to play with more local randomers on PS4.
 
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Ozgiliath

Alt-Account
Member
Aug 13, 2018
653
PC gaming has been a part of my life since the 90's and that has never stopped, i own both consoles but prefer playing on PC because of the cheap games, the PC builds etc.
 

Pargon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,020
I've been gaming on PC since the late 80s and I would like to offer a different opinion. I believe that PC gaming is in the best state that it's ever been and it is the one platform that has gained the most from the transition into multiplatform development and digital distribution. It is more approachable, more user-friendly, more versatile and diverse that it has ever been, it has gained practically the whole library of console gaming (minus the few first-party exclusives) and it has lost basically none of the niche and specialized genres that it always had. Controller support is ubiquitous and there has even been a lot of progress in the effort to unshackle PC gaming from Windows.

The only thing that I feel is still missing from PC gaming is a console-like hardware device to serve as an introduction to PC gaming for the casual gaming audience. Other than that, I feel that modern PC gaming is truly great.
I am primarily a PC gamer and I think that modern PC gaming is great, but it's completely different than it used to be.
Most big-budget games are now console ports - games built to be played on a television with a gamepad. That doesn't make them bad games, but most are very different from what "PC gaming" used to be.
Those old "PC style" games from 15+ years ago have not disappeared, but most are only being made by small indie studios and though they are fun, are not the same thing as you'd get for a full price boxed title. At best they tend to feel like a B-tier clone, like a budget title from the '90s.
It doesn't surprise me at all now when my friends that are new to PC gaming refuse to play older games, or try them but hate them. It's not because the graphics are dated - they will happily play old PSX or N64 games - it's because they are a completely different type of experience.
 

Alexandros

Member
Oct 26, 2017
17,811
Most big-budget games are now console ports - games built to be played on a television with a gamepad. That doesn't make them bad games, but most are very different from what "PC gaming" used to be.

PC gaming used to be niche games like point and click adventures, flight sims and hardcore computer RPGs. I grew up on these games. The FPS revolution brought that genre to the forefront for some years but big-budget games were always one part of the whole of PC gaming, not the whole itself. Besides, as I argued in my previous post, the mainstream way of interacting with these big-budget games, on a television with a gamepad, doesn't change the fact that most of these big-budget games are PC games, regardless of the platform they are being played on. PC-style games are dominating the industry and traditional console genres have taken a back seat.
 

matimeo

UI/UX Game Industry Veteran
Verified
Oct 26, 2017
979
I definitely had the opposite feeling the past few years. Started out on PC as a kid and then ended up focused moreso on consoles for the rest of my childhood and teenage years.

After being focused on consoles for so long PC felt weird, overly complicated, harder to share with friends, etc.

But the past 5 years has been amazing in giving a chance to smaller indies, controller support becoming mainstream, no longer requiring a super rig to experience most games in a decent way, things like steam big picture mode and various streaming options allowing for the typical way PC was played to be disrupted.

PC games themselves have also come a long way in just being closer to console counterparts in the ability to just launch and play without fiddling with options while still making options available for those who choose to.

I still play on consoles as well but the diverse content and improvements in accessibility and approachability have been great.
 

Rathorial

Member
Oct 28, 2017
578
<3

Playing on my living room's TV and it's like a console. I boot up my PC, Steam starts automatically, I click on the taskbar icon, it shows the last ten games I played or so, another click and the game starts. I also set-up custom resolution and enjoy Shadow of the Tomb Raider in 100% supported 21:9 which looks great.

Also, I still buy retail games from time to time for the box, I only skip the CD/DVD switching process by ignoring them and download the game. My internet is faster than it would install from 6 or 8 DVDs (I'm looking at you, Odyssey and GTAV...). I can still 'borrow' games via Steam library sharing or GOG, so even that works nowadays with the all digital trend.

And with so many games coming and being remastered also for PC, it really is a great time for PC gaming. And the backwards compatibility catalogue grows ever so bigger!

Going back to my days playing PC games in the late 90s, I never could predict in less than 2 decades I could stream my PC downstairs in the living room using a small box I spent $20 on. That I could have a fast no moving parts SSD where I could store dozens of games, no longer needing to insert much less switch CDs. Just click buy on a webpage to start downloading a game, free cloud saves where I can continue my game when I play on my laptop on the go, and modding baked into the Steam client where I click one button doing all the file management for me.

So many things are just easier and cheaper now on PC than they used to be, with more kinds of good games to play, and all of it is wrapped up in intuitive software/services that still give me flexible options and control. The only downgrade so far has been RTSs aren't a major genre anymore, but I hope they can make a comeback like CRPGs have.
 

Man God

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,306
I'm the same way. Almost all my free money and Christmas/Birthday gifts in the mid 90's went to PC games while I rented SNES games from time to time. Lost interest right around the time piracy and shelf spaced nearly killed PC retail at the turn of the millennium. Spent the early 2000's buying all those SNES games I rented. After getting my first full time job I did eventually build a gaming pc and played Half Life 2. Didn't care for it. Played WoW. Cared for it a bit too much. Also caught up on some of the PC games I missed in those years I missed. Dropped it again when that PC failed. Tried a few more times since then but decided it just wasn't for me. Whenever I build a new PC I see what it can run for funsies but I know I'll never game seriously on one again.

I still get a WoW itch every few years but integrated graphics can handle that one.