Random Gaming Thoughts

[BoneSnapDeez]

DRAKKHEN IS ON STEAM BABY

[Ack]

DRAKKHEN IS ON STEAM BABY

Computer or SNES port?

[BogusMeatFactory]

DRAKKHEN IS ON STEAM BABY

Computer or SNES port?

Computer!!!!

[Ack]

Ooh, have fun. That's Drakkhen Hard Mode

[RCBH928]

Coming from things like 3DO or Jaguar though, which had already been out for a bit, they weren't quite as revolutionary (nevermind for those also gaming on PC). Some of the early games were just ports of games from those systems, if not better quality ports of games also on 16-bit (like Mortal Kombat or NBA Jam).

The common saying is that PC is always ahead of consoles, at launch 95-96, what games were graphically superior to the consoles? I remember Quake only.

No, the Vectrex and Atari 5200 both had analogue control sticks in 1982, and the Vectrex's control stick was not only analogue but self-centering unlike the 5200's analogue control stick.

Those felt more like an arcade joystick than a thumb-driven analogue. I can be wrong I never saw those 2 systems in person so not sure how the controller is used.

IIRC they were concerned about piracy and load times.

Chris Alaimo of classic gaming quarterly suggests it had something to do with making the N64 hardware cost less. The way he presents it in his "launch of the N64" video leads me to believe Nintendo was OK with cheap N64's and expensive cartridge games rather than the vice-versa:

I think this is due to the idea that Nintendo believes cheap consoles for people to get the platform, high price cartridges because the games they were making were "high value" and should last you the console's life time which is true given the replayability of Mario Kart and Smash Bros. not to mention stuff like 007 and the wrestling games. They still won't usualy discount their older games below certain prices.

[Anayo]

IIRC they were concerned about piracy and load times.

Chris Alaimo of classic gaming quarterly suggests it had something to do with making the N64 hardware cost less. The way he presents it in his "launch of the N64" video leads me to believe Nintendo was OK with cheap N64's and expensive cartridge games rather than the vice-versa:

I think this is due to the idea that Nintendo believes cheap consoles for people to get the platform, high price cartridges because the games they were making were "high value" and should last you the console's life time which is true given the replayability of Mario Kart and Smash Bros. not to mention stuff like 007 and the wrestling games. They still won't usualy discount their older games below certain prices.

Absolutely. During the Wii days I remember a lot of talk about Nintendo wanting to make a profit on each hardware unit sold. Whereas XBOX 360's and PS3's were sold at a loss with the hopes of re-earning it through software sales. For the N64 I guess they figured it would make more sense psychologically to get a $200 game console and $60-$80 games instead of a $350 game console and $40-$50 games. Even if everyone saves money in the long run, that higher up-front price would probably scare a lot of buyers away.

I remember when I was a kid looking at the game section on an electronics store flier and feeling really jealous of Playstation because the games were as low as $30 brand new. You could only get N64 games for that much if they were a few years old. I bought Mario 64 with $20 of my birthday money, but that was in 1998 after it had been out for 2 years and had already sold several million copies. If memory serves, newer, fresher games were priced as high as $60-$70, which was unattainable for 8 year old me. During "Nintendo vs. Sony" smacktalk with kids at school that would come up a lot as a point in the Playstation's favor.

[BogusMeatFactory]

@RCBH to answer your question of what pc games were graphically superior to consoles in 95/96 and the answer is... every single pc game made in those years.

For real. In 1995, full throttle came out and that game looked better than any console game. Same with descent, dark forces, the dig, Gabriel knight 2 and that is just stuff I remember off the top of my head. Compare that to.. what... donkey Kong Country 2? Earthbound? No contest!

[Forlorn Drifter]

Slowly working my way through Nuer Automata. I've been so bogged lately I haven't had nearly as much time to play. Fun game, though playing as 9S is starting to drag a bit, in so tired of hacking.

[RCBH928]

@RCBH to answer your question of what pc games were graphically superior to consoles in 95/96 and the answer is... every single pc game made in those years.

For real. In 1995, full throttle came out and that game looked better than any console game. Same with descent, dark forces, the dig, Gabriel knight 2 and that is just stuff I remember off the top of my head. Compare that to.. what... donkey Kong Country 2? Earthbound? No contest!

I chose 1995 to compare with PSX and Saturn because thats the year the hardware was released.Full Throttle and Gabriel Knight 2 are more like Point and Click/FMV and I beleive PSX and maybe the saturn could play them just fine with the pre-rendered scenes.

As for Decent and Dark Forces I will guess they got a PSX release but I will not be able to judge which versoin was better, but its unfair to say the PC version was better on a multi-thousand dollar hardware compared to the $299 PSX!

Honestly at that time I remember games being more like Jazz Jackrabbit, Hocus Pocus, and Duke Nukem3D

If memory serves, newer, fresher games were priced as high as $60-$70, which was unattainable for 8 year old me. During "Nintendo vs. Sony" smacktalk with kids at school that would come up a lot as a point in the Playstation's favor.

and thats $60 in 1998 money which was even more! I am surprised to learn that PSX games were $30-40 new. I thought consoles games were always $60 brand new (kind of like how movie ticketes work). I don't know because I live in a region where brand new games were easily sold for $80-105 brand new easy.

[Segata]

PS1 games were 40 bucks everywhere in my town new.