You know what I miss?

[Kendrik]

Gah. Y'all are making me feel young.... which is kinda nice actually. haha

I remember learning to work with DOS on a hand-me-down 8088 at the same time I learned to read and starting in on adventure game development in BASIC shortly thereafter.

All that to say, there's definitely a part of me that misses retail distribution of games. It's mostly the collector side of me that likes having a physical library around. I do rather love the convenience and cost benefits that Steam and other services have brought, though.

 

[Patriot]

While I don't miss it - I do remember learning Fortran and punched card stacks - that when you dropped them it was worse than accidentally hitting format on your 10meg hard drive.

Fortran was the first language I learned (unless you want to count the basic that my graphing calculator used). The Fortran class I took my first semester in college (late 90's) was the class that prompted me to switch my major and get my degree in Computer Science (programming).

Punch cards, on the other hand, are a bit before my time.

 

[Abba San]

lol - 1969 - first year at Georgia Tech - required classes for all Aerospace Engineering freshmen - Fortran and slide rule...yes, slide rule...we didn't even have a calculator then.

 

[Icthus]

I miss this...

 

[Flamethrøwer]

I miss this...

WHERE DO I BUY THIS

 

[Wolfeman]

I miss this...

I had one of these.... I miss it and this

 

[Wolfeman]

I started playing with computers when I could check them out of school. Apple II, II+ and IIc. I learned basic and pascal. Dabbled a bit in assembly language but it was more work then it was worth.

 

[tagtarsis]

I loved the speak and spell

 

[Gator]

I miss the DVDs, I hate having to download games on my slow Alaskan innerwebz.. and with Steam you could lose ALL of your games if someone cracks your password. =\
I also miss the game manuals; most had a decent smell to them, but some also had a sour smell to them, and it's useful to have them out while you're playing too, that way you don't have to alt-tab out of your game..

 

[Tek7]

Your average game now involves a lot more coding and graphics (and story - lousy gamers always want story. . .).

Could have fooled me. -_- With very few exceptions, most video game stories are a slapdash pile of tired tropes.

 

[Tek7]

I also miss the game manuals; most had a decent smell to them, but some also had a sour smell to them, and it's useful to have them out while you're playing too, that way you don't have to alt-tab out of your game..

That's what a tablet is good for.

 

[Gator]

That's what a tablet is good for.

You know me Tek, I can't afford it!

 

[The Mighty Gerbil]

Could have fooled me. -_- With very few exceptions, most video game stories are a slapdash pile of tired tropes.

Points to Final Fantasy getting progressively worse after 2 and 3 XD (I'm using American numbering. I did like 8 though that's only because I am a sucker for romance, so sue me).

Which reminds me I miss...

Super Nes games didn't patch and they are still some of the best games ever made...

 

[Patriot]

Could have fooled me. -_- With very few exceptions, most video game stories are a slapdash pile of tired tropes.

Even if it is the same old story re-hashed, it requires writing dialogue, voice acting, syncing mouth animations to dialogue, etc. This all takes time. That was my point, not that most of the stories are the same and some are incredibly bad.

 

[Abba San]

I remember getting my boys each one of these to play on the drive from Atlanta to San Francisco - with headphones - December 1991

 

[Elader Arkon]

It's also worth noting that games are much, much more complex now than they were previously. It's not just a matter of being lazy (I would contend that laziness has nothing to do with it at all but rather a byproduct of developers generally treating their QA teams worse than trash) or sloppy development.

And I don't miss discs at all. I'm still looking at my empty The First Decade box because the DVDs got lost/stolen in college... I went through at least four copies of Red Alert as well.

 

[Abba San]

I remember the first computer game I played was on a Commodore 64 - you used a cassette tape deck to load the game and played it on the TV. That was back in 1982 or 83. I do not miss that at all.

 

[Dimederwin]

It's not just a matter of being lazy (I would contend that laziness has nothing to do with it at all but rather a byproduct of developers generally treating their QA teams worse than trash) or sloppy development.

I agree, lot of times it is sloppy programming. Computers are so powerful now in comparison to what they were before that programmers will just get it to work and not worry about optimizing the program. Most of the time you will never know the difference, because your internet and your computer run through the sloppy code so quickly.

As for QA teams, I have seen them treated badly sometimes; however, that is not always true. Many of the QA that I have worked with are "programmers to be" so they are just part-timers getting their degree, and getting a little programming exp.

I am not commenting on D3 specifically though. I actually think they did a pretty good job. Yes, they had problems with the servers being overloaded, but how many patches have you had to download since the launch? I have not seen a single patch. The server probably has been patched a few times, but not one to the client. That is not bad with how it has been running.

 

[Odale]

Might want to remember that developers are not releasing Oregon Trail nowadays. Your average game now involves a lot more coding and graphics (and story - lousy gamers always want story. . .). Not to mention the sheer number of hardware versions that it must be made to support.

It's also worth noting that games are much, much more complex now than they were previously. It's not just a matter of being lazy (I would contend that laziness has nothing to do with it at all but rather a byproduct of developers generally treating their QA teams worse than trash) or sloppy development.

It's true. Gaming developers are producing vastly more complicated games than they were years ago, but the big developers like Bioware and Blizzard aren't exactly programming these games in their spare time with a team of four or five people. No, they use hundreds of programmers and artists and audio engineers, etc. to make their games. With all of these people focusing on one product, my personal expectations are pretty darn high, and I think rightfully so.

Maybe my rose-tinted glasses are affecting my memory more than I previously thought or maybe my memory is much worse than I previously thought, but I honestly don't remember Perfect Dark, GoldenEye, Ocarina of Time, or Majora's Mask having any bugs. I remember NWN having just a few bugs and DAoC was particularly good for an MMO.

Also, I did say bug-free, but in comparison to the games that are being put out now as a "finished product" (i.e. Warhammer with its four missing capitol cities and SW:TOR with its innumerable bugs) they sure did seem perfect.

 

[tagtarsis]

intellivision : dont really miss it but fondly remember it non the less.