The golden years of gaming

[SmartBomb]

I'm still a keen gamer (mostly PC RPG, strategy and adventure titles), and was recently playing Gears of War on the Xbox 360. It looks superb. The action is intense. The scale is commendable. Yet, it all feels so very empty to play.

I'm sure all gamers out ther have their own thoughts, so let's bring them together. What was it, for you, that made it better 'back then'? Here are a few points of my own:

-There was a real sense of fellowship about it. Most of my friends now want to do nothing more than get drunk and watch television, which means I have little in common with them. Back in the days of the Spectrum and Amiga, we would all gather together around the computer and make some superb memories.

- Older games made you use your imagination a lot more. As they had limitations in graphics and memory, they had to reply on the player's ability to transform the crude sprites into dynamic world. They also relied significantly more on narrative and plot to back up the other lacks.

[Oggy]

Smarty was gona buy and Xbox 360 just because of Gears of War, is it truly as good as it looks, which is the Dogs! I've still my old faithful PS2.

[SmartBomb]

It's enjoyable enough, in a priapism, gung-ho way. The 360 has some great games, though, such as Oblivion and Project Gotham 3, so pick one up. I play on Xbox live sometimes, so we can kill each other virtually, just like Quasar!

[Oggy]

I'm not sure wether to get one or wait till i can afford a PS3 to be honest.

[SmartBomb]

PS3 will be significantly more expensive due to the Blu-ray player, and many games will be coming out on PS3 and 360 anyway.

[Oggy]

Yeh i k now that, but the graphix look so good.

[daubers]

Re: The golden years of gaming

i have a 360 and would'nt swap for a PS3(have'nt heard any good feed back from people who have bought one)x-box live is such engine with 6/7million people,not that i'm trying to telling what to do but just be carefull where you put your money as i think sony have a hard fight on there hand's

[Mulletino]

Re: The golden years of gaming

i have a 360 and would'nt swap for a PS3(have'nt heard any good feed back from people who have bought one)

I have a PS3 (bought it on launch night) and it is superb. I have been gaming since 1978 and have owned most consoles in my time. Last gen I owned a PS2, Xbox and gamecube (they all had good games on) but this time round I held off buying the others and waiting for the PS3, i'm glad I did! One of my mates that has a 360 reckons he just _has_ to get a PS3 now he's played Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm on mine.

[daubers]

Re: The golden years of gaming

it's nice to know that some people out there can give good feed back with out get irrate about a product(i'm glad to here that you are enjoying the PS3)what's it like online?

[Mulletino]

Re: The golden years of gaming

Online it's great, better than the PS2 (I know, I know, that isn't difficult) but still not quite as polished as Xbox Live (but it _is_ free). I don't get to play as much as i'd like with my clan "Old Age Playstationers" ( http://www.oaps.org ) due to time differences (they're UK based and I live in Australia) so have to play in open rooms (which aren't quite as bad as those on live).

[Wil]

Re: The golden years of gaming

Well, I've got all 3 of the latest buggers - Wii, 360 and PS3 and I play the DS the most

I'd say that unless you're desperate for new kit wait and see how they all pan out. There's bugger all on the PS3 worth playing bar Motorstorm (Resistance is a very bog-standard FPS) but I'm sure it'll pick up eventually (nearer Xmas)

The 360 has a fair few good titles although they're all pretty much within the blokes games, racing n' shooting genres.

If you want games fun with the family get a Wii.

[daubers]

Re: The golden years of gaming

Online it's great, better than the PS2 (I know, I know, that isn't difficult) but still not quite as polished as Xbox Live (but it _is_ free). I don't get to play as much as i'd like with my clan "Old Age Playstationers" ( http://www.oaps.org ) due to time differences (they're UK based and I live in Australia) so have to play in open rooms (which aren't quite as bad as those on live).

i think sony are having trouble shifting them over here in england,should have released it at christmas then they'd have sold the lot maybe

[Morcar]

Re: The golden years of gaming

Love the WII. Great fun making yourself look like a complete idiot playing Warioware

[Palazzo]

Re: The golden years of gaming

I've had the week off work this week and I've found myself playing some of my old games with my spare time. Gaming today just doesn't hold any excitement for me, the PS3 and XBOX 360 just don't have me interested at all. I grew up with the Super Nintendo and Sega Megadrive my favourite time in gaming was the era of the original Playstation, Nintendo 64 and Sega Dreamcast.

I can actually be a little more specific and give my favourite year in gaming which for me is 1997, the end of the year in particular. So many of my favourite games came out in 1997: Final Fantasy VII, Street Fighter EX, Marvel Super Heroes, Goldeneye, Fighting Force, Broken Sword 2, Tomb Raider 2, Pandemonium 2, Time Crisis, Oddworld, Diddy Kong Racing and Starfox 64.

I still play games now and again but out of the current consoles the only one which I like is the Nintendo DS. I'm loving the fact they are porting loads of old games onto it with a few added extras, Crono Trigger comes to mind, a fantastic game.

[Richard1978]

Re: The golden years of gaming

I've been in & out of gaming a few times over the years.

During the 8-bit era I was often round at friends & had them round, I only had an Acorn Electron so I mainly went to friends who had the trendier machines.

This continued into the 16 bit era, when I moved up to a pre-Windows PC, when hardly anyone used them for games.

Due to exams & college work I got out of gaming for a few years, but with some friends moving on a generation I at least got the odd gaming session with them or on my Brother's PC when he was home from university.

This became the family computer & I got a few games, though by then it was beginning to get old, so couldn't get anything too high spec.

A bit late in the day I got a nearly new-PSOne & started collecting games for it. By this time I was working full time so could afford to spend a bit, & had most evenings free.

My next generation jump was when my ex-girlfriend got bored of her PS2 & gave it to me. She sold most of the games to a housemate so I mostly kept on playing PSOne games on it.

These days I hardly have any free time to use it, so it's still at my parents house, I'll have to remember to bring it to my flat soon.