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Thread 12159567

59 posts 18 images /vr/
Anonymous No.12159567 [Report] >>12159570 >>12159935 >>12159943 >>12160267 >>12160296 >>12160306 >>12161304 >>12161420 >>12161434 >>12161461 >>12161738
Fact: PC games went to shit when they stopped selling them in big boxes in the late 90s.
Anonymous No.12159570 [Report]
>>12159567 (OP)
Based Take
Anonymous No.12159581 [Report] >>12159594 >>12159929 >>12159932 >>12159936 >>12162174
I make big box versions of my favorite games.
Anonymous No.12159594 [Report]
>>12159581
Based Creator
Anonymous No.12159929 [Report]
>>12159581
Pics? Would love to see some.
Anonymous No.12159932 [Report]
>>12159581
I'd also love to see those, anon.
Anonymous No.12159935 [Report] >>12159942 >>12160216 >>12160235 >>12160285 >>12160365
>>12159567 (OP)
Back then just getting the game to run took hours of configuration so they needed A LOT of documentation along with the disks.
Anonymous No.12159936 [Report]
>>12159581
Photos?
Dave No.12159942 [Report]
>>12159935
>Back then just getting the game to run took hours of configuration
Not true. That was usually DOS games when you didn't have enough memory etc.
Anonymous No.12159943 [Report]
>>12159567 (OP)
true, the dvd boxes were the beginning of the end
Anonymous No.12160216 [Report] >>12160230 >>12161791
>>12159935
No it didn't zoomer. All games had idiot proof installers by the 90s. Even sound card detection in dos was usually automatic and you never had to change any of the default settings.
Anonymous No.12160230 [Report] >>12160242 >>12160243
>>12160216
>All games had idiot proof installers by the 90s
He's full of shit, but you did have to configure your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS to get many games to function properly, then also keep up with expanded memory requirements and rapidly changing hardware. Wasn't easy when you couldn't just google any problems you had.
Anonymous No.12160235 [Report]
>>12159935
Not in my experience. I could get literally any 90s game to run flawlessly on my old Windows XP computer.
Anonymous No.12160240 [Report] >>12160262
I hated the cardboard boxes, big, damage easily, and the actual disc is often inside some shitty paper sleeve.
Only thing I miss are additional physical goodies that some games came with like maps.

While pc gaming got overall worse with all the WoW and steam babbies shitting it up, the DVD cases were an actual improvement.
Anonymous No.12160242 [Report] >>12160248
>>12160230
EMM386 has been included with MS-DOS since the late 80s and the configuration was always automatic when installing DOS.
Anonymous No.12160243 [Report] >>12160248
>>12160230
If you had to do something special to get it running, they explained it to you in the manual or in a readme file.
Anonymous No.12160248 [Report]
>>12160242
>>12160243
You never tried to get Ultima 7 running.
Anonymous No.12160262 [Report] >>12160270
>>12160240
>Only thing I miss are additional physical goodies that some games came with like maps.
That was the whole point of the big boxes. Game devs could focus on making the best possible game they could instead of having to divert resources towards tutorials and dumbing down the game for retards, because you were expected to read the manual before playing the game. It's no coincidence that the PC gaming player base became so low IQ at the same time big boxes went away.
Anonymous No.12160267 [Report] >>12160269
>>12159567 (OP)
Once games stopped coming with instruction manuals, it went to shit. I miss being in the car on the way home with a new game and reading the manual.
Anonymous No.12160269 [Report] >>12160276
>>12160267
Don't worry, one day soon you'll be driven home from the doctor and reading an instruction booklet about some medical device or treatment you need. Prepare for nostalgia waves.
Anonymous No.12160270 [Report] >>12160273
>>12160262
>That was the whole point of the big boxes.
But only a minority of games did that.

Most games just had the disc, a small manual, some stupid mail-in thing to register your game (I still don't get what kind of scam this was supposed to be) or warranty card.
Anonymous No.12160273 [Report]
>>12160270
>Most games
That you played, lol.
Anonymous No.12160276 [Report] >>12160280
>>12160269
Still have another 20 years until I have to worry about that. Can't beat father time, it comes for us all at some point.
Anonymous No.12160280 [Report]
>>12160276
Sure, I'm not there myself, but I do drive my mother back from the doctor every now and then as she approaches 80, the role reversal put it into perspective for me.
Anonymous No.12160285 [Report]
>>12159935
No, they did it because the industry used to have soul
Anonymous No.12160296 [Report] >>12160303 >>12160331
>>12159567 (OP)
They didn't though. Good PC games are still made, as well as shit games, same as back then. I actually played more janky slop in the bad old days, because I had less information available.
Anonymous No.12160303 [Report] >>12160359 >>12160364 >>12160382
>>12160296
I'd say PC gaming has never been better. So much cool shit out there if you aren't a mainstream drone.
Anonymous No.12160306 [Report]
>>12159567 (OP)
It's just cardboard, whatever.
Anonymous No.12160309 [Report] >>12160314
Which 1990's (year 1996) console would a child have had who didn't have a computer at home, whose parents couldn't even afford a used PC, and who was also a child who wasn't interested in playing on a PC?
Anonymous No.12160314 [Report]
>>12160309
idc
Anonymous No.12160331 [Report] >>12160337 >>12160338
>>12160296
>because I had less information available
You could've just consulted the CGW Hall of Fame. I'd argue that there was more high quality information available back then because on the internet today is paid marketing.
Anonymous No.12160337 [Report]
>>12160331
*because everything on the internet
Anonymous No.12160338 [Report]
>>12160331
>Diablo brought back RPGs
What a fucking useless rag that mag was.
Anonymous No.12160359 [Report] >>12160392 >>12161441 >>12161441
>>12160303
Retro gaming isn't about playing games, but jerking off to trinkets, watching friend simulators, and whinging about games you haven't played.
Anonymous No.12160364 [Report]
>>12160303
Nah, some games are cool, but indie devs pay too much attention to jewtube fags
Anonymous No.12160365 [Report]
>>12159935
Only games that were like this in my experience was Looking Glass/Origin games.
Everything else was plug n pray.
Anonymous No.12160382 [Report] >>12160392
>>12160303
2 gems per year coming out at most from 1 man indie devs, not exactly a golden age
Anonymous No.12160389 [Report] >>12161152 >>12161429 >>12161718
Did any games have manuals thicker than Jane's?
Anonymous No.12160392 [Report]
>>12160359
Old games are fun too. I just never got the "sky is constantly falling" thing.
>>12160382
Not my experience.
Anonymous No.12161152 [Report] >>12161718
>>12160389
Maybe this not sure though
Anonymous No.12161304 [Report]
>>12159567 (OP)
Only bad games need a big cereal box to wow the kids and compensate for the shitness of the games themselves.
Anonymous No.12161305 [Report]
What a beautiful collection.
Anonymous No.12161420 [Report]
>>12159567 (OP)
you have a point
Anonymous No.12161429 [Report]
>>12160389
microsoft flight sim and empire earth
Anonymous No.12161434 [Report] >>12161701
>>12159567 (OP)
nice colleection OP, good taste need diablo, diablo 2 , baldurs gate but yours is better than mine
Anonymous No.12161437 [Report]
>12161304
> incomprehensible sperg noises from someone who has no clue
Anonymous No.12161441 [Report]
>>12160359
>>12160359
>being a tarded troll gaming isn't about playing games, but jerking off to youself, watching friend simulators, and whinging about games you haven't played.
Anonymous No.12161461 [Report]
>>12159567 (OP)
Pretty much, yeah. I love big box games, they're my favorite thing to collect. It's almost like vinyl where you're buying a big piece of artwork and not just music alone. My most prized possession is a sealed copy of Heart of Darkness for PC that's close to mint. There's only one other sealed PC copy on eBay and I don't think it's in as good condition.
Anonymous No.12161701 [Report] >>12161803
>>12161434
I found it on reddit.
Anonymous No.12161718 [Report]
>>12161152
Based on what I see in >>12160389, probably not. It came with I think a 5x7" manual, maybe 3/8" thick. And the thing was perfect-bound so you couldn't lay the thing flat.
Anonymous No.12161738 [Report] >>12161773 >>12161843 >>12162171
>>12159567 (OP)
How did they arrive at that size box? CD longboxes were made to fit in Vinyl LP bins. But software boxes?

Did tabletop game boxes come in particular size boxes? Thus adopted for software since they catered to similar circles of nerds, if not published by some of those companies.
Anonymous No.12161773 [Report] >>12161794
>>12161738
>Did tabletop game boxes come in particular size boxes?
No.
Anonymous No.12161791 [Report]
>>12160216
>All games had idiot proof installers by the 90s
You were not alive at the time obviously. I was aside from stuff from the likes of blizzard and ea it was often hand to hand fucking combat to get some stuff to run.
Anonymous No.12161794 [Report]
>>12161773
Actually they did. Not being mean it's just I have shelf of them and yes, they are mostly roughly the same heigh as are PC big box games, probably comes from some standard shelf height used in retail.
Anonymous No.12161803 [Report]
>>12161701
well whoever rounded that up had good taste, I don't use reddit, don't have an account there or any namefag media
Anonymous No.12161843 [Report] >>12162175
>>12161738
I think software boxes were derived from the size of the old IBM PC manuals. I just checked and they're the same exact height.
Anonymous No.12162171 [Report]
>>12161738
big box occupies more of your field of view so you see big artwork and buy and be disappointed fuck you MIB you ruined my life. I almost got Warcraft 2 but then my mom found Men In Black which she assumed to be less violent so I picked that instead because MIB was the coolest shit ever to dumb kid me
Anonymous No.12162174 [Report]
>>12159581
Photographs?
Anonymous No.12162175 [Report]
>>12161843
Got any old tabletop games to compare? Particularly those that also went into software? (ie Avalon Hill.)
I have a few games like Ultima II that came in a particularly larger, thinner box, which I *think* is comparable in size to some Steve Jackson Games boxes.