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The fallout manuals ruled, the first one was a vault-tec manual and the second was a journal written by the vault dweller near the end of their life The intro to the second one was a letter to the player from the vault dweller, mentioning at one point how much they missed their deceased spouse Pat to keep the gender ambiguous
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Apr 3, 2019 02:08
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It's just Pat.
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Apr 3, 2019 02:10
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I miss old boxed games, always had cool poo poo like maps, posters or other goodies that IMHO justified the cost
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Apr 3, 2019 02:51
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Regular Nintendo posted:God how many skus was doom sold as It must have been tough for the talentless hacks who made "deluxe" or "collectors" editions of games by just bundling a CD-ROM full of shovelware they found on the Internet once everyone had direct access to the Internet and could download a thousand .WAD files for free. Now you have to actually design a tin and/or a small trinket!
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Apr 3, 2019 03:15
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BOOTY-ADE posted:I miss old boxed games, always had cool poo poo like maps, posters or other goodies that IMHO justified the cost
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Apr 3, 2019 03:21
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In 1983 or so I got Starcross by Infocom and it had great packaging. Plastic flying saucer box You had to refer to the map to figure out what codes to enter to travel (kind of anti piracy)
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Apr 3, 2019 03:22
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The Star Trek 25th Anniversary games were similar. If you didn't have the map to look at which star system to warp to, you'd jump into a sometimes hopeless fight because you dove into the neutral zone.
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Apr 3, 2019 05:12
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Keith Atherton posted:In 1983 or so I got Starcross by Infocom and it had great packaging. Plastic flying saucer box holy poo poo that rules
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Apr 3, 2019 08:06
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FilthyImp posted:The Star Trek 25th Anniversary games were similar. If you didn't have the map to look at which star system to warp to, you'd jump into a sometimes hopeless fight because you dove into the neutral zone. You sure you weren't just playing out the Kobayashi Maru scenario by accident?
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Apr 3, 2019 16:21
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I still have my old game boxes. I doesn't help that I remember exactly where, when and how I got them, so they all mean something to me.
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Apr 3, 2019 21:48
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PC game packaging hit its zenith in the mid- to late-90's with all its inserts and thick-rear end reference guides. I had a map of Norrath on my computer room wall for years even after I stopped playing Everquest.
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Apr 3, 2019 22:06
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DizzyBum posted:PC game packaging hit its zenith in the mid- to late-90's with all its inserts and thick-rear end reference guides. I had a map of Norrath on my computer room wall for years even after I stopped playing Everquest. But the time that followed was bizarre and disappointing, when the boxes were still large and elaborate but they contained nothing but a CD jewel case and maybe a single-page quick start guide.
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Apr 3, 2019 22:58
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And now if your new game comes in a box it probably has a dozen trinkets in it too but also probably cost $200. Hey, not all bad
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Apr 4, 2019 04:12
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Powered Descent posted:But the time that followed was bizarre and disappointing, when the boxes were still large and elaborate but they contained nothing but a CD jewel case and maybe a single-page quick start guide. And then the disc-based copy protection had a 50/50 shot of making the game refuse to run on your PC, so a lot of times the disc was worthless too and you just paid $60 for a box.
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Apr 4, 2019 05:26
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Dr. Quarex posted:And now if your new game comes in a box it probably has a dozen trinkets in it too but also probably cost $200. Also the box won't come with a game because apparently figuring out how to line up a video game release with the production of a trinket is an art we lost going into the new millennium.
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Apr 4, 2019 05:32
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I'm jealous I'm a bit too young to have experienced the time of feelies. Infocom had some frankly amazing stuff back in the 1980s. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy came with all this: Yes, that's a small plastic bag with the label MICROSCOPIC SPACE FLEET on it 
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Apr 4, 2019 06:19
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I have the family 1983 IBM PC XT in my basement The thing still boots up and I can play my old Wizardry 1 saves - all my 5 1/4 floppies still work. Amazing - 35 year old hardware and floppies Meanwhile my Mac II Si’s battery barfed acid all over the motherboard and ruined it and my Mac Quadra 800 wont boot
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Apr 4, 2019 06:45
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barbecue at the folks posted:I'm jealous I'm a bit too young to have experienced the time of feelies. Infocom had some frankly amazing stuff back in the 1980s. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy came with all this: holy poo poo that is so cool
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Apr 4, 2019 07:11
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Dr. Quarex posted:And now if your new game comes in a box it probably has a dozen trinkets in it too but also probably cost $200. Or less than the regular release once suppliers desperately try to free up storage space taken up by huge-rear end boxes no-one wants.
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Apr 4, 2019 09:14
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If you're curious, here's what happened to big boxes:John Romero posted:The big box PC game has been extinct for a number of years. They are now collector's items, and some Indies have decided to create their own collectible big box for their games – for nostalgia's sake (see Thimbleweed Park and Rad Rodgers). The story of how this came to be was told to me by an industry executive, Tom Gross, who was VP of Sales at GT Interactive (GoodTimes Entertainment) starting in 1986 through 2003 (after GTI sold to Infogrames).
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Apr 4, 2019 09:39
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It begins....
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Apr 4, 2019 09:55
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DizzyBum posted:PC game packaging hit its zenith in the mid- to late-90's with all its inserts and thick-rear end reference guides. I had a map of Norrath on my computer room wall for years even after I stopped playing Everquest. I had all the zones memorized. Memory man.
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Apr 4, 2019 11:08
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A FUCKIN CANARY!! posted:And then the disc-based copy protection had a 50/50 shot of making the game refuse to run on your PC, so a lot of times the disc was worthless too and you just paid $50 for a box. Fixed that for you. I still hate how PC games cost the same as console games these days, even the ones that still only allow for limited activations or have other, similarly outdated DRM schemes. Ironically enough The Sims 4 is the only recent exception I can think of, but even that's only because EA makes millions from selling expansion packs so they don't need the extra  from each copy
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Apr 4, 2019 12:15
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The good thing about PC games is that the potential back catalog stretches into the early 80s and sales happen all the drat time. I haven't paid full price for a game since Total Warhammer 2 (im a CA paypig ama).
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Apr 4, 2019 12:51
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The Kins posted:If you're curious, here's what happened to big boxes: GoodTimes Home Video ... omg, were those those guys who had a "in-house" animation team that would wait for Disney to announce what their next upcoming blockbuster would be, and then come out with an instant, hastily produced, cheap as balls knockoff that they could rush into the checkout aisles and trick grandmas into buying them for their grandkids? So you'd get stuff like a Hunchback of Notre Dame where Quasimodo magically turns into a handsome prince at the end and poo poo. I think "Sony Pictures Classics" was another one that did the same thing, and of course Video Brinquedo ... but I vividly remember being super mad about GoodTimes Home Video back in the 90s.
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Apr 4, 2019 13:18
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Ruflux posted:Ironically enough The Sims 4 is the only recent exception I can think of, but even that's only because EA makes millions from selling expansion packs so they don't need the extra The last big-box PC game I bought was Star Craft 2 HOTS since it was cheaper than buying it online at the time. Came in a nice, large, shiny box with literally nothing inside except a game code and a short blurb about downloading battle.net to use it. Someone out in the boonies would have been hosed if they bought that expecting DVDs.
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Apr 4, 2019 13:27
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The last big box game I bought was Doom 3.
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Apr 4, 2019 13:35
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Not sure if I wish more companies had just gone "meh, time for 100% pure digital distribution" when the order to go DVD-sized came down or what; I certainly do not have a single game box of that size that I care about at all, so I would be just as happy it I had never owned a physical version, but I am sure it would have meant going out of business immediately for some of them, so that probably would have been bad. I suppose having the physical version of Half-Life 2 at least brings back good memories of being unable to play for a day until someone figured out that the game did not work if you did not install Counterstrike off the disc too.
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Apr 4, 2019 13:47
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Dr. Quarex posted:Not sure if I wish more companies had just gone "meh, time for 100% pure digital distribution" when the order to go DVD-sized came down or what; No-one had the bandwidth back then.
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Apr 4, 2019 13:58
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barbecue at the folks posted:I'm jealous I'm a bit too young to have experienced the time of feelies. Infocom had some frankly amazing stuff back in the 1980s. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy came with all this: Welp just found this on Ebay as a complete set for 20 bucks! Ill never play it but its too cool to pass up.
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Apr 4, 2019 14:28
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Oh good, another "gently caress Walmart" story to draw on. Not that the big boxes would have been sustainable for long past, say, 2005.Dr. Quarex posted:Not sure if I wish more companies had just gone "meh, time for 100% pure digital distribution" when the order to go DVD-sized came down or what; quote:I suppose having the physical version of Half-Life 2 at least brings back good memories of being unable to play for a day until someone figured out that the game did not work if you did not install Counterstrike off the disc too.  STEAM I didn't know about the CS bug you mentioned. That's loving hilarious.
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Apr 4, 2019 17:09
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FilthyImp posted:Oh good, another "gently caress Walmart" story to draw on. Not that the big boxes would have been sustainable for long past, say, 2005. Small boxes was one of those things that happened and just made sense. Games were being distributed on CDs, and well you don't need a big box for them like you did when they were on discs in the 90's.
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Apr 4, 2019 17:24
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future ghost posted:Buying a base model Sims game is like buying a base Paradox strategy game. Sure, it's technically playable and fairly cheap, but without the pricey expansions you're only getting a very limited experience. I got lucky and found a Crusader Kings II sale with a bunch of expansions for $30 that would have cost about $150 normally, and I still don't have even close to all of the EU4 expansions. I remember only having just the base copy of The Sims 1  Luckily mods helped out but many required an expack.
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Apr 4, 2019 19:11
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Iron Crowned posted:Small boxes was one of those things that happened and just made sense. Games were being distributed on CDs, and well you don't need a big box for them like you did when they were on discs in the 90's. Counterpoint: 3.5" floppies are smaller than CDs. So the thickness needed to be there, but never the height.
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Apr 4, 2019 19:43
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FilthyImp posted:Or not being able to play period because Man, it's funny how Valve is sort of the PC gaming darling these days (well, was, there's definitely been a bit of a fall from grace in the past couple of years) almost entirely due to Steam yet when it launched in 2003 or so it was an absolute piece of garbage software that everyone hated, and then when Half-Life 2 required it and an internet connection to play a year later people basically wanted Valve to burn to the ground. Hell, Valve even hosed over their own publisher with Steam and before that Gearbox by way of mishandling their contributions to the ill-fated single player Counter-Strike campaign. Valve was practically a PC gaming villain for a couple of years with all of that scummy stuff and also failing to get HL2 out on time and misleading everyone with a complete sham of an E3 demo. It's quite an amazing recovery they had. And now they're making skins for CS:GO and card games nobody plays. Also apparently a VR headset, probably with no games.
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Apr 4, 2019 19:54
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Jerry Cotton posted:No-one had the bandwidth back then. It was still a struggle downloading anything more than a couple MB for a lot of people well into the 2000s. Lest we forget, https://www.somethingawful.com/game-reviews/daikatana-demo/1/ quote:The actual game demo is a mere 100+ megs, which can technically be considered as "the first mistake". Sure, it's getting more and more common for companies to release game demos which exceed 100 megs, but it doesn't help soften the review any for us gamers on 56k modems that have to wait half a day to get the file. It's one thing to go to McDonald's and order the Fillet O' Fish; it's another thing to drive seven hours out of your way to pick one up - and either way, it is still awful. And hard drive space was an issue too. Even if the bandwidth was there, people would have still needed physical media to store the games on when they weren't playing.
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Apr 4, 2019 20:08
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Edit: nm Tiny Timbs has a new favorite as of 20:14 on Apr 4, 2019 |
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Apr 4, 2019 20:12
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super sweet best pal posted:It was still a struggle downloading anything more than a couple MB for a lot of people well into the 2000s. my life significantly improved when i learned about wget's option to restart a partial download.
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Apr 4, 2019 20:35
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I remember guarding the family phone for hours just so my Megadrive rom download would finish. I still remember being floored when a mate of mine showed me Sonic running on his Pentium back in 199...7, I guess? It really felt like the computer had done something I sincerely thought impossible.
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Apr 4, 2019 20:47
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Ruflux posted:Also apparently a VR headset, probably with no games. unless they do something completely insane, it'll be OpenVR and compatible with Vive stuff, which means there's actually a bunch of games out there some of which are really loving cool, like GORN, Beat Saber, Superhot, etc
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Apr 4, 2019 21:09
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