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PC Game Releases In The Good Old Days: Where Have They Gone? Who Was There? What Happened and Why?
UnleadedRev
Member UncommonPosts: 568
Back in time before Digital Downloads, Early Access, and paid Alpha's and BETAs, we PC Gamers enjoyed a crazy fun ride of PC Releases during the golden age of PC Gaming 1998-2008.
For those that were not there and for those who were, lets take a look back at those beloved days of yore!
Back then PC Games were still released in Boxes with CDs and purchased from places like EB, GameStop, Best Buy, etc etc etc, both in store and online ordering.
We would all flood the forums with more intensity as each week brought us closer to closer to release.
The final month before release was the toughest, as we felt torture, fear, and joy of the release.
Some people would take it all in stride - "I will get the game when it arrives, no sooner, no later, don't care".
Others would panic - " I ordered my copy from GameStop, but when I went to the store to confirm my pre-order, the acne ridden face of the kid behind the counter scared me when he told me...'Uuuh, I cant find your order"...WTF!
Yet others would compare where they purchased or pre-ordered their copy, if they got it yet, what pre-order goodies they got if any etc etc -
"I still have not received my copy, and I WANT TO PLAY!", "Hey I just got mine (2 days before release), but I cant play...."What you got yours already!?!"
Then there was the actual release day, people would take off from school and work, play sick, etc....and get up early only to find that the game is not up and running yet. This would cause a riot to break out on forums that would peak for the next hour or two and then one person would post "I AM IN!" "Whew Hoooooo!"
Then the forum would go silent as everyone tried to login to the game...followed by a zillion posts of "I am in"! "Me too!".
It was all kind of hysterical and hilarious in retrospect, but at the time many of us ran the gauntlet of emotions to the degree of insanity, mayhem, and outright end of world scenarios.
The forums back then were a place where enthusiasm was contagious before release as people got sucked into the band wagon and tales of what will you be drinking and eating while waiting to get in or playing were great.
Guilds were huge back then and the guild online launch parties were epic.
Yes, back then we also had the usual A$$hats, but for some reason I think we all took it less serious back then.
So what has changed?
Well for one, paying to get early access to Alpha's and BETAs.
No matter how many times it is explained what these two testing phases are, the majority still feel to some degree that it should still resemble some form of semi-finished product. Otherwise, why play or test.
The fact that folks are buying to test an unfinished and semi-broken game is lost and release creep begins to happen where people start creating a standard that only comes close to a release.
However....speaking of releases..there has been a long rash of horrible releases these past years and the excuses and defense of them gets worse and worse.
It is almost as if people expect new releases to be broken and release day a big fiasco..and rightfully they should as the track record of release days is getting worse and worse.
Why is it getting worse? I will tell you...it is due to a few reasons but first and foremost there is a large group of very vocal players who will defend every poor release to the point where it goes beyond what can in a reasonable way be expected.
When you look at some of the new releases that had long BETAs, the release looks like they never tested at all!
The reasons for this are many, but I refuse to accept a reason of "poor testers", as most of the bad things on release day were known issues reported by the testers time and time again and still got released without a fix.
So why is that? It is because we as players have lowered the standard of quality we expect. It has become acceptable to pay for broken games, bad games, games that are not close to what was promised or advertised.
And kickstarters and crowdfunding as well as paying for all types of early access makes it worse.
IMHO, I would rather games go back to the old way of just praying for a BETA invite after you apply for it, and just pre-ordering a game or buying it upon release and get rid of paying to test programs like early access etc..
The reason I say this is that many times we have seem tons of people pay fpr a Alpha or BETA, and then the money coming in begins to wind down because word spreads that the game is not that good, and then when release does come, it reflects the dwindling money flow coming in thru the poor release quality.
Now I know what some people would say in response to my last paragraph - "There is no other way to get funding these days, leaving it to the zoot suits to come up with funding means that someone in upper management will strong arm the Devs into cutting features and changing things for the worse.
Or in extreme cases not win funding at all.
Well there it is, I welcome your thoughts!
Post your release day memoirs from the days of yore! Good bad or in between, just post them and have fun!
For those that were not there and for those who were, lets take a look back at those beloved days of yore!
Back then PC Games were still released in Boxes with CDs and purchased from places like EB, GameStop, Best Buy, etc etc etc, both in store and online ordering.
We would all flood the forums with more intensity as each week brought us closer to closer to release.
The final month before release was the toughest, as we felt torture, fear, and joy of the release.
Some people would take it all in stride - "I will get the game when it arrives, no sooner, no later, don't care".
Others would panic - " I ordered my copy from GameStop, but when I went to the store to confirm my pre-order, the acne ridden face of the kid behind the counter scared me when he told me...'Uuuh, I cant find your order"...WTF!
Yet others would compare where they purchased or pre-ordered their copy, if they got it yet, what pre-order goodies they got if any etc etc -
"I still have not received my copy, and I WANT TO PLAY!", "Hey I just got mine (2 days before release), but I cant play...."What you got yours already!?!"
Then there was the actual release day, people would take off from school and work, play sick, etc....and get up early only to find that the game is not up and running yet. This would cause a riot to break out on forums that would peak for the next hour or two and then one person would post "I AM IN!" "Whew Hoooooo!"
Then the forum would go silent as everyone tried to login to the game...followed by a zillion posts of "I am in"! "Me too!".
It was all kind of hysterical and hilarious in retrospect, but at the time many of us ran the gauntlet of emotions to the degree of insanity, mayhem, and outright end of world scenarios.
The forums back then were a place where enthusiasm was contagious before release as people got sucked into the band wagon and tales of what will you be drinking and eating while waiting to get in or playing were great.
Guilds were huge back then and the guild online launch parties were epic.
Yes, back then we also had the usual A$$hats, but for some reason I think we all took it less serious back then.
So what has changed?
Well for one, paying to get early access to Alpha's and BETAs.
No matter how many times it is explained what these two testing phases are, the majority still feel to some degree that it should still resemble some form of semi-finished product. Otherwise, why play or test.
The fact that folks are buying to test an unfinished and semi-broken game is lost and release creep begins to happen where people start creating a standard that only comes close to a release.
However....speaking of releases..there has been a long rash of horrible releases these past years and the excuses and defense of them gets worse and worse.
It is almost as if people expect new releases to be broken and release day a big fiasco..and rightfully they should as the track record of release days is getting worse and worse.
Why is it getting worse? I will tell you...it is due to a few reasons but first and foremost there is a large group of very vocal players who will defend every poor release to the point where it goes beyond what can in a reasonable way be expected.
When you look at some of the new releases that had long BETAs, the release looks like they never tested at all!
The reasons for this are many, but I refuse to accept a reason of "poor testers", as most of the bad things on release day were known issues reported by the testers time and time again and still got released without a fix.
So why is that? It is because we as players have lowered the standard of quality we expect. It has become acceptable to pay for broken games, bad games, games that are not close to what was promised or advertised.
And kickstarters and crowdfunding as well as paying for all types of early access makes it worse.
IMHO, I would rather games go back to the old way of just praying for a BETA invite after you apply for it, and just pre-ordering a game or buying it upon release and get rid of paying to test programs like early access etc..
The reason I say this is that many times we have seem tons of people pay fpr a Alpha or BETA, and then the money coming in begins to wind down because word spreads that the game is not that good, and then when release does come, it reflects the dwindling money flow coming in thru the poor release quality.
Now I know what some people would say in response to my last paragraph - "There is no other way to get funding these days, leaving it to the zoot suits to come up with funding means that someone in upper management will strong arm the Devs into cutting features and changing things for the worse.
Or in extreme cases not win funding at all.
Well there it is, I welcome your thoughts!
Post your release day memoirs from the days of yore! Good bad or in between, just post them and have fun!
Comments
One of my favorite things about the genre back then was going to comp usa or some other electronic store and just looking at all the titles on the shelf...I was like a kid in the candy store.
The games back then were mroe fuin....They weren't really looking to make massive dollars but to create something unique that us gamers would like......Titles like EQ, DAoC, Anarchy Online, FFXI, Asheron's Call ,etc were all totally different.....Once WoW came along in 2004, though it by itself was a good game, the industry changed greatly and not for the better.
There was a larger quantity of people who didn't care about things in those days.
Being a dumb surfer type who ate junk food was in (thinking Bill and Ted). If you were from the 90s you likely know what I mean. People wanted to act like idiots on purpose. As you said not many took things as seriously. If you watch some older movies things that would be accepted are now banned by political correctness. If you don't follow a certain code of politeness and respect you are frowned upon by most people.
Video games were a niche hobby. Not many people played them. It felt good to be part of a small group that many others didn't understand. Most gamers could relate in those days. Now there is a far larger gamer base which has been show by how people have so many different opinions on what is a good game.
Overall it was just a more laid back atmosphere in those days. There wasn't as much pressure to produce in general. People always speak of time and money now. No one would have been talking about time or money in a gaming forum in those days. Especially the 90s. They would be talking about the game.
Everything was kind of a fun competition in those days. Weather it was being first to log into a new MMO world or the first to get to max level, or the first to get to a certain area and find something.
I think the gist is just that the 90s was a lot more laid back and accepting of people insulting each other. That carried over a bit into the 2000s, but has recently become a frantic pace of work, work, work and learn, learn, learn.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I've been a hardcore computer gamer since the days of the Tandy TRS80 and I believe that the golden age of PC gaming has yet to come.
Before Best Buy and EB Games etc. etc. you could actually go to places like Software City, sit down and play the games before you actually bought them. Remember when cd's came out for computers and you would buy your favorite gaming magazine which included a cd with demos of the latest upcoming games.
There was so many things to like and there still is so many things to like.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
However i think 1998 is a pretty good starting line for good games albeit Quake was amazing in at around 96.
I feel the gaming trend really kick started around the time of Doom 93 and Duke Nukem 91.
For myself it actually went hell bent for leather around 1981 with Wolfenstein,Wizardry and games like Might nMagic and Ultima.
My first ever look at a game on a sort of computer was same as dude above,the TRS80 in which i saw a horse racing game and began to hack it and change all the stats and names lol.
Back in those days there really wasn't much anticipation,not enough knowledgeable search bases or enough information floating around.So it would be more a case of walking into the ONLY PC gaming store in the city and seeing a new game on the shelves.I am pretty sure there was no pre orders,the shops were simply visited by salesmen from the developers.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Civilization I or Ultima IV seemed like the best things ever when they came out. I personally sank many happy hours into those games but they are ludicrously simple and shallow compared to Victoria 2 or The Witcher 3. There is really no comparison between PC games in the 80s and those that are produced now.
Same with online games. Just getting online and typing some text that people in another country could read was the shit back in those days. Nobody would be happy with the kind of MUDs and BBS games we played back then.
Of course gaming now is far from perfect and could be better but if a lot of you people were limited to only playing games from the 80s/early 90s you'd realize just how far technology has actually come and not just in terms of graphics either.
@Wizardry
I don't know if any of these will ring a bell, but some of my favorite games for the TRS80 were Pyramid, Bedlam and Rakatui. We had had the original version of the TRS80 that came with a cassette recorder for a drive. I remember my dad buying a 5 1/2 floppy for it and him telling me the floppy drive costing 2 grand.
My dad bought a coding manual for me and I remember spending over 3 hours to make a stick man walk across the screen which lasted for about 3 seconds. I think I came to the conclusion then that coding just wasn't for me.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
It's like the shit state of the environment on this planet. People have been screaming about it for 30+ years and only now some people go, "Hey! Guys, guess what? Things look pretty bad. How'd it get this way?
/sigh
You stay sassy!
Video games are not the only form of entertainment to change with the times. I personally couldn't be happier with today's video games.