So, what you playing at the mo? Retro Edition

TechnoFreek

Minish cap does have a few head scratching, doesn't make a lick of fooking sense puzzles/stumbling blocks

Myrddin

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I got so far and got stuck a couple of years ago, never went back, but then that's the story with LttP, LA, OoT, OoS and so on

:eek:

Augmerson

TechnoFreek wrote: »

Minish cap does have a few head scratching, doesn't make a lick of fooking sense puzzles/stumbling blocks

Couple of times I have been screaming at the tv "How was I supposed to know that!?"

eddhorse

Been playing Sensible Soccer all day on this :

http://m.firebox.com/product/1108/Sensible-Soccer-2-Player-Plug-n-Play

Also has Cannon Fodder and Mega-Lo-Mania.

TechnoFreek

Augmerson wrote: »

Couple of times I have been screaming at the tv "How was I supposed to know that!?" I

I've been informed by a more experienced Zelda player than me (my brother) that that is a trait common to the Capcom developed Zelda games.

CiDeRmAn

With regard to my poor Zelda completion quotient, my only defence is that my game collection continually expands and I don't have the option to linger on a game that delivers a puzzle that stumps, instead I move on to the next gaming confection, promising to someday return and finish but rarely ever do.
In fact, it's worse than that, more often I wind up buying it again on another format, start again and lose interest as I trawl through the same opening hours with no promise of anything new before moving on to the next shiny thing, rarely even making it as far as the puzzle that stumped me the first time!
The worst is OoT as I own that as the N64 cart, GC promo disk, free bonus disk with Wind Waker, VC and now it's being neglected on the 3ds as well!

CiDeRmAn

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

With regard to my poor Zelda completion quotient, my only defence is that my game collection continually expands and I don't have the option to linger on a game that delivers a puzzle that stumps, instead I move on to the next gaming confection...

I've thought about this before, and noticed how years ago, when i saved and scrimped all the cash i could get together for ages, and forked out 45 quid (in the old money ) for a game, regardless of how many bumps in the road i hit during the gameplay, i bloody well stuck with it. I tried to squeeze every last drop out of it because it had cost me dear, and if it stumped me (like Zelda did on a few occasions the first go around) i just scratched my head and explored and grinded and tried stuff out till eventually i got the answer, because I'd spent all my money on it, and i only had 5 other games for that system that I'd already played to bits.

Now that i have more cash, and now that games (especially retro games) are more cheap/free and more accessible, i don't ever do that anymore. I just lose patience and move on to the next game. Even a run of one or two uninspiring levels or areas in a game or a lack of continual development of the game mechanics or narrative can be enough to make me think "sod it, this is boring me, I'll start one of those other 5 games I've been waiting to play".

It's probably a combination of that and the fact that i have less free time now, what with having a life and a kid and an adult to look after, so i'm impatient with my time. I need to be making sure that any playing time i do get is spent on 100% quality gaming.

Back in the 90's, games like Zelda ALTTP consumed you. You'd spend every spare minute you had playing them, and when you weren't playing them you were thinking about playing them, and getting your head around the latest puzzle or item you needed that had you stuck. By contrast, nowadays i have loads more games (and many more half finished ones I'll probably never go back to) but I haven't played a game in a generation or two that grabbed hold of me and wouldn't let go like ALTTP did originally. That's one of the best experiences in gaming when it happens, but ironically with all the technology and choice we have now, it seems less common, rather than more common.

As a gamer, am i better or worse off for having more stuff/money/choice nowadays than i used to?

Andrew76

Deleted User wrote: »

...
As a gamer, am i better or worse off for having more stuff/money/choice nowadays than i used to?

Worse, but not for the above reasons. Worse because you've less time to play games. Having more money/choice is great, but ultimately useless if you don't have enough time to play them. Sure you'll have more time in x years when your kid or kids have grown up and left the nest - but will you still be interested in spending your free time playing games then? Will your consoles even still be working to be able to play them then? (Those answers probably depend on your age and your kid's age etc.)

James Howlett

Andrew76 wrote: »

Worse, but not for the above reasons. Worse because you've less time to play games. Having more money/choice is great, but ultimately useless if you don't have enough time to play them. Sure you'll have more time in x years when your kid or kids have grown up and left the nest - but will you still be interested in spending your free time playing games then? Will your consoles even still be working to be able to play them then? (Those answers probably depend on your age and your kid's age etc.)

Out with the old fear of a Mayan apocalypse and in with the new fear about oneself and a future of no longer enjoying/ being able to enjoy videogames.

CiDeRmAn

No, it's a problem alright.
My problem was the same.
Because I came to modern gaming, post 8bit, as a man earning a wage I didn't have to limit myself to single digit game purchases per annum, instead, my collections just expanded and so, if I bought LttP and got in a jam, I could just put it aside and buy something else....
Another one of those pesky first world problems!

Andrew76

James Howlett wrote: »

Out with the old fear of a Mayan apocalypse and in with the new fear about oneself and a future of no longer enjoying/ being able to enjoy videogames.

Putting aside made-up doomsday prophecies, it's more about a person's interests changing over time and possible hardware failures. Questions asked rather than predictions made.

James Howlett

Andrew76 wrote: »

Putting aside made-up doomsday prophecies, it's more about a person's interests changing over time and possible hardware failures. Questions asked rather than predictions made.

I should have included a smiley above, I was only joking and I do see where you're coming from.:)

I like to buy retro games in the hope that I will have time to play them one day but I do wonder if the hardware and games I have will all eventually fail. In that case titles will still be accessible via emulation so if I don't have the time to immediately spend on a retro title, should I not buy it? Even though I like to have a collection to look at, what's the point if when I eventually choose to play a certain game it won't work?

Andrew76

Andrew76 wrote: »

Sure you'll have more time in x years when your kid or kids have grown up and left the nest - but will you still be interested in spending your free time playing games then?

Interesting point. I'm finding myself not enjoying gaming as much lately because i don't have the time to get immersed in games anymore like i used to. Myself and the missus both work full time and when we're not in work we've a house to run and a 1 year old doing her best to wrap us around her little finger.

I know I'll have more time in a few years when there's not quite so much work involved in looking after a 4 or 5 year old, but like you say, will my interest in the hobby survive that long??

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

...as a man earning a wage I didn't have to limit myself to single digit game purchases per annum, instead, my collections just expanded and so, if I bought LttP and got in a jam, I could just put it aside and buy something else....
Another one of those pesky first world problems!

Yeah, true. Look at us moaning about all this money and choice we have, like poor unfortunate affluent westerners. "This silver spoon up my a*se is making it terribly hard for me to sit on my throne", etc etc...

Seriously though, you really should finish a link to the past. It's superb. Go pay a visit to one of the fortune tellers if you want a hint about what you're supposed to do next. There literally isn't a single feature in that entire game world that isn't there for a reason to do with the storyline, so if you've an inkling about what you're supposed to be doing, investigating any shred of evidence to do with it and talking to anyone you come across will usually turn up something.

Care to post where exactly you're stuck on? I'm sure nobody here would spoil anything for you in terms of game secrets or plot points, but they might let you know what area of the map it would be useful for you to be wandering aimlessly around in....

James Howlett wrote: »

I like to buy retro games in the hope that I will have time to play them one day....

I work a little differently. I have such a busy life that i buy lots and lots of modern titles that i'm not going to get time to play till years later when they've become retro.

By the time I'll actually get round to most of the games i've bought lately, they'll be worth a fortune. I can see the adverts.ie ad now: Call of duty BLOPS 2, CIB factory sealed, **SUPER RARE**one of only 20 million made. Cash only, no swops

James Howlett

Deleted User wrote: »

I work a little differently. I have such a busy life that i buy lots and lots of modern titles that i'm not going to get time to play till years later when they've become retro.

By the time I'll actually get round to most of the games i've bought lately, they'll be worth a fortune. I can see the adverts.ie ad now: Call of duty BLOPS 2, CIB factory sealed, **SUPER RARE**one of only 20 million made. Cash only, no swops

Yeah it's very easy to pick up decent games for cheap these days. I've gotten a lot of great games for €10 or less in different sales but after 10 of such purchases you're in for some serious...

CiDeRmAn

James Howlett wrote: »

I like to buy retro games in the hope that I will have time to play them one day but I do wonder if the hardware and games I have will all eventually fail. In that case titles will still be accessible via emulation so if I don't have the time to immediately spend on a retro title, should I not buy it? Even though I like to have a collection to look at, what's the point if when I eventually choose to play a certain game it won't work?

Well, that's the thing, and [smug mode] I got a letter printed in Edge on that very topic a few years ago [/smug mode].
The truth is that the recent batch of consoles are doomed to fail and are no where near as easy to repair as the previous generation.
PS2's, Dreamcasts, PS's, Saturns, these are all easy to repair overall and there is a ready supply, mostly, of parts from the far east.
The current gen machines don't just have drives go, or a fuse, it's big stuff, serious stuff, stuff that typically warrants dumping it and buying another.
Of course, there will come a time when there is none around to replace it with, so our collective collections are screwed!!!
The cart based systems, on the other had, appear pretty bullet proof, none of my machines, aside from the badly designed NES, is prone to any kind of failure, and, as long as they aren't bounced or ill treated will probably outlast me!

But, I really have no idea if, in ten years, my 360 collection will still be playable on something, same with the PS3 and Wii collections, it's worrying indeed.

I go one further and ask how long will we be able to play out XBLA purchases, or PSN?
Can we expect them to be supported on the servers for ever?
When, inevitably, our hardware dies and in the offchance a further console can support the older games, will they bother including support for the on line purchases?
Will we just wind up losing them?
Do Journey, Lost Winds and Super Meat Boy therefore have a use by date somewhere?
Perhaps the future will mean the only place to play them will be in a hacked form on a PC.

James Howlett

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Well, that's the thing, and [smug mode] I got a letter printed in Edge on that very topic a few years ago [/smug mode].

Nice! What issue? I'll have a flick through my, handful, of issues later to see if I have it.

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I go one further and ask how long will we be able to play out XBLA purchases, or PSN?
Can we expect them to be supported on the servers for ever?
When, inevitably, our hardware dies and in the offchance a further console can support the older games, will they bother including support for the on line purchases?
Will we just wind up losing them?
Do Journey, Lost Winds and Super Meat Boy therefore have a use by date somewhere?
Perhaps the future will mean the only place to play them will be in a hacked form on a PC.

I think the answer is that yes they will be lost. Take a look at Turtles in Time Re-shelled. I bought it in 2009 via XBLA and it's still on my 360 elite however due to some licencing issue it cannot be downloaded any more so if my 360 packs it in then the game is lost to me.

Ultimately I think the hacked PC you mention could very well be our only point of access in the, distant, future.

Myrddin

James Howlett wrote: »

Take a look at Turtles in Time Re-shelled. I bought it in 2009 via XBLA and it's still on my 360 elite however due to some licencing issue it cannot be downloaded any more so if my 360 packs it in then the game is lost to me.

Transfer the game to your usb, then use one of the various pc proggies to save it to the pc, at least that way you have it backed up & can then transfer it back from the usb to the console.

CiDeRmAn

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I really have no idea if, in ten years, my 360 collection will still be playable on something, same with the PS3 and Wii collections, it's worrying indeed.

I posted on this a while ago recently somewhere (probably here). The whole DLC and futureproofing/back compatibility issue and the lack of forward thinking in relation to it has worried me for ages.

When you buy software over the counter, you get a piece of non perishable media (a CD with no moving parts, that doesn't break down) and a lifetime license to use the software. With DLC, and online services like XBL or PSN the licensing is different to retailed software. You're granted a license to a piece of platform specific content that you can re-download for as long as it's available on the online store, but there's no specification all when that is and no allowance for anything to do with the storage media. The media you keep it on is complex and unreliable, is your liability, could go pop at any time, is only covered for 12 months from date of purchase, and is unlikely to be commercially available to replace in 5 years time.

If the DLC pricing model specifically supported the fact that you're buying what is, in effect, a reduced lifespan or reduced use license, and the title was half the price as DLC versus what it was at retail, then fine, that's well and good. I could accept the downsides of owning DLC in return for a significantly reduced sale price. That's not what happens though. All i can see at the moment is a minor reduction in price (at best) for a piece of DLC content that represents a significant cut in logistics, retail, and production costs to the publisher versus selling over the counter. This allows them to pocket the difference and still make no particular effort or commitment to ongoing support or backwards compatibility to make sure that content is available beyond the current gen.

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I go one further and ask how long will we be able to play our XBLA purchases, or PSN?
Can we expect them to be supported on the servers for ever?...

Perhaps the future will mean the only place to play them will be in a hacked form on a PC.

That's why i don't buy content via DLC wherever possible. I will pay more for it on disc if i can find it. My expectation is that the hardware will eventually will be emulated on the PC's of the future, and i will still have access to all of my software, or backed up copies of it to play the games.

If the game publishers are going to punt full priced titles out as DLC and make no reduction in price, then their licensing models and hardware roadmaps should make a point to include full back compatibility options in future consoles. Not as an afterthought like the PS3 or 360, but as a standard on the same scale of playability and compatibility as the virtual console on the wii.

If you buy a DLC of a title on a current gen machine, it's linked to your online account, which persists through hardware generations. New generation consoles support the old DLC, and it's left available online for you to download again on your new machine. If you own an old disc, it works in the new machine, full stop.

Manufacturers could even make the back compatibility feature a downloadable, charged patch or a piece of content like a DLC unlock if they had to, so that the people who use it end up being the ones who pay for the cost of building it into the machine, and those who don't use it aren't affected at retail.

Something should be done about the DLC model though. It's barely one generation old, and only really started to take off in the middle of the current gen when storage became cheap and plentiful on new consoles.

The problems with the model haven't been fully realized by the public yet. I'll be interested to see whether Microshaft and Fony make any mention of it in the specs for the next gen machines when they reveal them.

TechnoFreek

Need to cobble together a kick harness but then some Mortal Kombat 2 arcade action.

CathalDublin

Playing bubble bobble taito arcade board, not quite sure what a good score is, just got 1,097,810 which is good for me

murphyebass

I rarely buy anything xbox live for the reasons above.
I like the idea of a physical copy of something if I fork over a few quid.
Other than the reasons set out above of will it be available in my opinion you have other things to take into consideration like I had my hotmail account hacked which long story short meant I couldn't get into xbox live and lost everything.
My own fault in a way as I set the hotmail account up a long time ago and my security questions were rubbish so I just couldn't get back in. I gave up and set up a new xbox live account in the end.
I had bought a few dlcs like game add ons maps, and a few old school turtles like street fighter 2 but anyway that's my story.

o1s1n

Sad to say, but once again, pirates will be the only ones who care about archiving all these games for us for future use.

Myrddin

o1s1n wrote: »

Sad to say, but once again, pirates will be the only ones who care about archiving all these games for us for future use.

Aye, anyone who owns a jtag 360 for example can source long delisted LIVE content & ftp it to the console. There's a huge archive{s} of the stuff out there

OwaynOTT

Age of Empires: Rise of Rome

Against my brother. Haven't played this in an age and got soundly beat agaisnt noobs on voobly.
It's still one of my favourite games and I will never tire of it. Had a trial versio of it on our pc when I was younger and I would spend hours, those of the wee morning kind, player it online.
6 steps to quick victory in age of empires rise of Rome expansion pack online trial multiplayer map:
Step one build a ****load of houses ghetto style
Step 2 deforest your area whilst
Step 3 build port and ships and depopulate the fishing stocks
Step 4 armada
Step 5 elephants
Step 6 victory

seanmacc

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Age of Empires: Rise of Rome

Against my brother. Haven't played this in an age and got soundly beat agaisnt noobs on voobly.
It's still one of my favourite games and I will never tire of it. Had a trial versio of it on our pc when I was younger and I would spend hours, those of the wee morning kind, player it online.
6 steps to quick victory in age of empires rise of Rome expansion pack online trial multiplayer map:
Step one build a ****load of houses ghetto style
Step 2 deforest your area whilst
Step 3 build port and ships and depopulate the fishing stocks
Step 4 armada
Step 5 elephants
Step 6 victory

The problem with the newer real time strategy games is that they've over complicated them and made some units too vunerable. The older Age of Empires and Command and Conquer games are much more fun to play.

CiDeRmAn

Don't ask me, I haven't enjoyed real time strategy since Dune 2 of the Megadrive!

seanmacc

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Don't ask me, I haven't enjoyed real time strategy since Dune 2 of the Megadrive!

Loved the PC version of it.

The last level used to be a cow to do because it would get to a point where it wouldn't let you build any more units and you end up going round using your tanks to kill off your quads, trikes and soldiers so you could build more tanks. Then you'd have to use your starport to get anything else in and that would eventually have everything out of stock. And that's if the entire map hasn't been stripped of spice. If you were the Artredies you'd have ample supply of Fremen from the palace to soften up your enemies when youn reach that stalemate.

I have to download that for DOSBOX now.

CiDeRmAn

The chance to get back into Lynch's vision of Dune was good enough for me!
Despite everything I am quite fond of the film, saw it in the Lighthouse a couple of years ago.

seanmacc

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

The chance to get back into Lynch's vision of Dune was good enough for me!
Despite everything I am quite fond of the film, saw it in the Lighthouse a couple of years ago.

They remade it a mini-series for TV a few years back. It wasn't the greatest to be fair. The problem with the original film is that they tried to squeeze too much into a short space of time. Dune 2 was probably the best spin off from the book. To think that the game is over 20 years old now makes me feel ancient.

o1s1n

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

The chance to get back into Lynch's vision of Dune was good enough for me!
Despite everything I am quite fond of the film, saw it in the Lighthouse a couple of years ago.

I absolutely loved Dune 2 on the Megadrive. My dad was a really big sci fi fan and when he saw it he had the biggest 'wtf?!' moment

Immediately afterwards I was sat down to watch the film and had the books thrown at me too.

David Lynch's film was great, I don't care what anyone says!. It also spawned the oddest pieces of film related merchandise, Dune activity books for kids.