The Coop

Dyne, would you kindly check your PM box?

http://www.gog.com/en/frontpage/ For those not familiar, Good Old Games is a small group of people dedicated to legally getting the games of old (both DOS and earlier versions of Windows) to run on modern day computers and OSes. While their selection isn't massive, they are growing. And at the moment, you'll find a few hundred games up to 50% off. From Duke Nukem 3D and Battle Chess, to Fallout and Red Baron Pack, to Neverwinter Nights: Diamond Edition and Bloodrayne, they've got a pretty nice selection, with new games being added each month. All the games range from $5.99 to $9.99 usually, but until January 2nd of 2011, about 300 of their games are discounted. They even have some free games, like the just added Tyrian 2000. It may not be as big as the Steam sales, but I thought there might be a few folks here that could find a deal or two on a game they haven't been able to play for a while due to OS incompatibilities.

Grabbed RE5. It runs surprisingly well on my old-ish P4 3.00 GHz PC.

Epic Mickey

So far, I've gotten Rocket Knight and F.E.A.R. (with the two expansions) for $10 total. Not bad thus far. I'm tempted to get RE5, as I've never gotten to play it. As for Bioshock 2, I enjoyed it. Yeah, the Windows Live thing's a pain, but there are ways around things. Anyway, I liked the story. It was narrower in scope and not as in-depth to be sure, but I felt it was told just as well as the original tale and wasn't meh (loved the opening cinema). Various endings are there too (like B1), the big sisters were a nice touch on top of the big daddies, and the dual wielding was a welcome addition. Worth the $10 IMHO.

Yeah, but just think of how the things are going to be when there's another fresh group of 17 year old gamers about 17 years from now. Ancient gamers, old gamers, young gamers... and when we figure out how to let unborn fetuses play games, all hell's gonna break loose

Are there a healthy chunk of 17 year olds who grew up with an N64? Yep. I'll give you that point. Are there 8 year olds who are growing up with a Vectrex somewhere? Yep. But the largest percentage of 17 and under kids I've come across started with a PS2, XBox or Gamecube, and moved on to the next system. That bit you quoted was a mistake on my part, as I was thinking PS2 and Xbox, but typed up PS3 and 360 in a momentary brain fart which I didn't catch (but have now fixed). And yes, the Dreamcast was a part of that same generation, I just didn't list it... because... **sniffle** it didn't get as much love. That said, keep in mind that the PS3 and Wii are over four years old, and the 360 is over five. These weren't just launched last year. So in truth, there is going to be a percentage of those 17 and under who began their gaming life with a 360, PS3 or Wii. It's not nearly as large as the chunk that started with those systems' predecessors, but they're there. Anyway, rest assured, I'm quite in touch. I don't own the newest systems yet (can't afford them at the moment), but I have a PS2, Xbox and such. I've played and beaten the GTAs, the Halos, the Spyros and the Command & Conquers, along with the old Sonics, Marios, Dragon Warriors and Phantasy Stars, and had fun with them all. I've been through the vector graphics, digitized actor and the "Why is everything brown?" crazes. I'm not pulling these statements out of my ass as I go along, I'm stating them based on years of experiences and conversations. Yes, there are 2010 kids who will grow up being introduced to the NES, the Genesis, the PS1, and even the 2600, and they'll have a damn good time hopefully. But the sad truth is that there are a lot more kids who will blow off those older systems when given the chance to play them, simply because the systems are outdated. Maybe it's because of the dated visuals, the lower quality music, or whatever, but the games of old seem to get ignored for all the wrong reasons by the younger game players. And while I know there are older gamer's who do the same kind of thing to newer games, to be honest, everything I've seen points to there being more young gamers unwilling to try older games, than older gamers unwilling to try newer games. Again, this is based on everything I've experienced over the years. Maybe I'm wrong and my experiences are some odd little microcosm of gaming. But frankly, I've been given little reason to think so at this point.

Check your PM Box, Dyne

OCR doesn't. You get 200 messages total space-wise, and then you have to clean it out to get anymore.

Fixed. We've already gotten a part 2

http://coop.herograw.net/badges/index.html

No, as that floppy would likely not work anymore by now. My Mario Bros. cart however, still starts up on the first try

I think a big part of it is simply that people who are 17 and younger are growing up with the Xbox and PS2 as their starting base, where others like myself were starting with the Atari XEGS, 2600, NES, Master System and such. We've seen where the technology was years ago, and where it went as the years rolled on. We have the perspective and sense of history from being there that 17 year olds today don't thanks to actually having been there, and we played the games with graphics that had four colors... and were wowed by them. So we know how things were from a view point that simply can't be recreated when you're 17 and playing games that are older than you. See, when you're there to play Pitfall! on the 2600 the week it was released, it gives you a perspective that can't be reproduced, even by a child playing that game as their first one in 2010. When that game was new, it was still cutting edge stuff, not retro. So unless you've sheltered that 2010 child, even they will know it's old and that the newer games "look prettier." As a result of all this, when you're in your 30s, you can still appreciate the games from your youth in a different manner, more than a teenager playing those games some 25-plus years after their original debut. Of course, when you factor in all the short attention spans that have been more the norm these days, is it really all that shocking that 17 year olds don't stick with their games very long? I can still play my 1987 Atari XEGS version of and have fun with it. Meanwhile, the 17 year old who beat the single player side of Halo Reach, will likely never touch that aspect of the game again. Which brings me to another topic... multiplayer.How many remember when games were single player only (or if it had a two-player mode, you took turns playing)? Now, it's more like, "Single player? I wanna go online and play with my buddies, not play alone." The single player mode of a game is getting a lot less attention than it used to, as multiplayer is where everyone's focusing... to the point that if a game comes out that's single-player only with no online play, it gets bashed left and right for not including it (Torchlight anyone?). It's as if somewhere along the way, people forgot about just zoning out with a game, and how it could be just you against whatever the programmers felt like throwing at you. Anyway, enough "old man yells at cloud" rambling. The gist of all this is that if you're a 17 year old playing a game for the first time some 20-plus years after it was released, you're not going to have the same perspective as someone who was there when the tech and game was new and cutting edge. And 20 years from now, the same will be true for those who grew up with the 360 and PS3 as their starting point, when addressing those playing the XBox 1080 and PS6.

Now Regan, Father Karras doesn't like that kind of language.

We're still trying to figure that out. All we know right now is that it's neither madness, nor Sparta.

Splatterhouse

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Cover and back cover are done. All they need is the lettering for the song titles and such.