which is your favorite game?

[JudgeDredd]

Even though I had a 486SX with 4mb of RAM, it was never enough to run Elite smoothly from what I recall.

[SlickWilhelm]

Judge, you just needed the 486 DX2-50, then you would've been smokin'. [:D]

To this day, I can't believe how much prices for computer hardware has dropped. I remember building my Pentium 100mhz system with a 1GB hard drive and 16mb of RAM for about 3k. Dang, that was expensive!

[mikkey]

ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd

Even though I had a 486SX with 4mb of RAM, it was never enough to run Elite smoothly from what I recall.

yeah, I remember the time when I play Elite on my ZX Spectrum...[8D]

[V22 Osprey]

4MB of RAM???[X(] 1 GB Hardrive???[X(] 100MHz CPU???[X(] How did you guys survive???[X(]

[X(][X(][X(]

[htuna]

lol and it used to be like 100 bucks a mb when you wanted to upgrade!!!

[sabre1]

My computer was so old, it had a T-Rex stomp on it before I finally bought a new one.

[sabre1]

What was the name of the RTS game that started on the moon against Russia, and then progressed to other planets? You could jump out of your unit and snipe at the enemy units to take them out.

[JudgeDredd]

ORIGINAL: V22 Osprey

4MB of RAM???[X(] 1 GB Hardrive???[X(] 100MHz CPU???[X(] How did you guys survive???[X(]

[X(][X(][X(]

Things were optimised to run back then. I would say developers are allowed to be "messy"...the tools kind of allow it whereas back then (early 90's) developers had to create code that ran on the systems. It was difficult though. Still people had to move things (system resources) into hi memory to utilise anything above the base memory 640k because programs needed to use the base memory. I'm not sure of the ins and outs because I was only in training as a programmer then.

Programming languages themselves have become very bloated over the years too. Of course part of that (a big part) is al the extra functionality and flexibility the programming tools gives the developer nowadays.

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: V22 Osprey

4MB of RAM???[X(] 1 GB Hardrive???[X(] 100MHz CPU???[X(] How did you guys survive???[X(]

[X(][X(][X(]

LOL... power computing, that was. A few years earlier I actually owned one of these;



It was the top of the range, with a massive 32k of RAM. The others had 8k and 16k. Hard-drive? WTF was a harddrive?

You could still do an awful lot on them though, far more than you would think possible. It was only a couple of years later 'Elite' was launched into the world on the 'BBC' Micro (both C64 and PC versions came later); that too had a whopping 32k. Same with the later generations, in Commodore's case the C64 and the Amiga; the specs considered in today's terms are no reflection of what they can actually do. The Amy is still the best personal computer ever IMHO in terms of pure fun to use and to just play about with; PC's of the same vintage got totally blown away by both Amiga and Atari ST in terms of everything except running Lotus 123.

[E]

ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd

ORIGINAL: V22 Osprey

4MB of RAM???[X(] 1 GB Hardrive???[X(] 100MHz CPU???[X(] How did you guys survive???[X(]

[X(][X(][X(]

Things were optimised to run back then. I would say developers are allowed to be "messy"...the tools kind of allow it whereas back then (early 90's) developers had to create code that ran on the systems. It was difficult though. Still people had to move things (system resources) into hi memory to utilise anything above the base memory 640k because programs needed to use the base memory. I'm not sure of the ins and outs because I was only in training as a programmer then.

Programming languages themselves have become very bloated over the years too. Of course part of that (a big part) is al the extra functionality and flexibility the programming tools gives the developer nowadays.

Go back a little more... things were really optimized! Look at Grigsby's Bombing The Reich in it's first iteration... "USAAF" ran in 48k (not m, but k!). The late 80's/early 90's is were the "bloat" really set in. Just imagine what a program could do with all this memory we have now, if it were programmed as tightly as the 48k programs were.

[Jeffrey H.]

LOL remember swapping 5 and 1/4" floppies on the Apple II+ while playing Ultima ? The power setup was 2 5 and 1/4" floppy drives ! 

[junk2drive]

I had an Apple IIe with two drives. Made Ultima a lot easier. Then we hooked up a 9" colour TV (with tubes in it) through an RF modulator. Wow, Ultima in colour, not green!

I still have a disk notcher.

[E]

I bought a small color TV for use with my Apple ($69 at a TV sale versus a composite monitor for over $250). I had it and the original green screen running at the same time... the green screen for being able to read the text and the color TV for being able to discern the terrain in wargames. I actually built a custom computer desk to hold both the monitor and the TV at the same time. I never got into the DnD type games, but I still have all my SSI, SSG, SimCan, MP & AH games for the Apple!

[V22 Osprey]

I'm sure by the time I get old, my kids will be "500 GB Hardrive?[X(] Only 4 Core CPUs?[X(] Only 8 GB of RAM?[X(][X(][X(]", for which by then Terabytes will be as common as a Gig, and 16 core CPUs, 5 Terabytes of RAM, and 500 Terabyte HDs are common place.

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: V22 Osprey
I'm sure by the time I get old, my kids will be "500 GB Hardrive?[X(] Only 4 Core CPUs?[X(] Only 8 GB of RAM?[X(][X(][X(]", for which by then Terabytes will be as common as a Gig, and 16 core CPUs, 5 Terabytes of RAM, and 500 Terabyte HDs are common place.

I'm not even sure those terms will have any relevance. We (assuming I'm still around) will all be using the same, one, totally integrated quantum computer doing pretty much whatever we want it to do. 'Design your own games' will take on a whole new meaning!

[E]

ORIGINAL: Hertston

ORIGINAL: V22 Osprey
I'm sure by the time I get old, my kids will be "500 GB Hardrive?[X(] Only 4 Core CPUs?[X(] Only 8 GB of RAM?[X(][X(][X(]", for which by then Terabytes will be as common as a Gig, and 16 core CPUs, 5 Terabytes of RAM, and 500 Terabyte HDs are common place.

I'm not even sure those terms will have any relevance. We (assuming I'm still around) will all be using the same, one, totally integrated quantum computer doing pretty much whatever we want it to do.

...and it will all be in virtual reality, directly connected to our hermetically sealed living tubes.

[SireChaos]

ORIGINAL: Jeffrey H.

LOL remember swapping 5 and 1/4" floppies on the Apple II+ while playing Ultima ? The power setup was 2 5 and 1/4" floppy drives ! 

Oh my, that brings back memories. Ultima V - four two-sided disks. Ultima VI - only three two-sided discs, but three of these six sides were dialogue; you had to swap discs, twice, every time you talked to someone.

I still think that the guy who invented the hard drive ought to be canonized or something.

[killroyishere]

quote:

ORIGINAL: V22 Osprey
I'm sure by the time I get old, my kids will be "500 GB Hardrive? Only 4 Core CPUs? Only 8 GB of RAM?", for which by then Terabytes will be as common as a Gig, and 16 core CPUs, 5 Terabytes of RAM, and 500 Terabyte HDs are common place.

Yep and all computers will come with a built in 5000btu air conditioner micro sized down to a penny. [:D]

[LordBeluga]

ORIGINAL: sabre1

What was the name of the RTS game that started on the moon against Russia, and then progressed to other planets? You could jump out of your unit and snipe at the enemy units to take them out.

I believe you're thinking of Battlezone -- the greatest classic series remake/upgrade in the history of video gaming. [:D]

Until now, I had almost forgotten about this game but now I remember all that time I had sank in it when it was first released... I was never a huge fan of RTS games but this game made it work some how.


Any ways, back on topic, these are the games that ate the most of my free time; Civilization II, Heroes of Might and Magic III, The Operational Art of War III, Dominions III, Close Combat: Barbarossa to Berlin, Dwarf Fortress and, finally, my all time favorite X-COM UFO Defense. For the past decade this game has never left any of my hard-drives and the only classic game that I still enjoy today as much as I did when it was first released. Seriously, I can't add much more to what's already been said over and over about this great game. [&o]

As for recently, I've been really digging the recent Close Combat re-releases here on Matrix. Although years and years of playing turn-based games make the real-time mechanics, mixed with the brutal AI, of these games a bit difficult to get used to.

[sabre1]

Thanks LordBeluga, that was the game.

Another favorite for me even though it was RTS was Total Annihilation. Weak story but great game play.

HOMM III, sank countless hours into.

The two strategy games I have played the most over the years are SPWAW, and JTCS. WIR comes in a close third.