What's this all about then?

Well, after a recent posting after one of the Gamespot daily reviews, I received a fair amount of feedback and comments regarding PC gaming, and where we're at today. Let me start out by saying that I'm what is known in the gaming world as a veteran (aka old fart). I'm nearly 40, and have been using a PC for games since I was 10. My dad was an engineer, and used to bring all sorts of bits and pieces home, and together we would put together working PCs - great fun!

My very first experience with a PC was an ancient IBM 8086 with (get this) double 5.25" floppy drives... one for the o/s and the other for loading up whatever. It was already old when I got my hands on it, and I remember many hours of playing Rogue (d&d ****adventure game) or Pac-man on the tiny green screen vdu.

We graduated from there to the humble 286, then the 386 and on to the 486 (DX no less!). The games also chugged along, first as .exe files on a 1.44Mb floppy, then zipped into a floppy, then spanned over several. Anyone remember such gems as Sector 7, Quarantine, Wolfentstein?

But here's the thing - the grapics may have been blockier than Peckham, the sound more like a duck farting than anything else (yes, even with Soundblaster Pro) and the AI non-existent, but they held our attention. Why? Was it simply because there was nothing else out there? Perhaps. But they generally had something that many games lack today - content. Since the game designer knew the graphics and sound weren't up to much, they generally had to pack the game with innovation, a rarer commodity today.

Anyone remember first seeing an isometric display? How about when System Shock first came out? Different paths to a goal, even NPCs brought light and life to genres.

Now, I know you're going to say that it's easy for me to wax lyrical about the days of yore, when all ideas were new and exciting, but it's much harder to be revolutionary now that it's all been done and seen. Of course, I'm not saying it's easy - innovation never is. But if we want to see the games industry continually improving, and not just churning out clones of games we've already played before, we need to get the message across - yes we're loving cool graphics and surround sound, maybe even 3D, but for the love of mike, please try to keep pushing the envelope. Don't be afraid of missing once in a while, look forward to hitting something special.

Well, that's my tuppence worth. Of course many of you out there might be deliriously happy with the way things are right now, and think I'm just an old fogey banging on about the past. But maybe, like me, you've come from the old days, and want to see what could be done if the developers really try their best. Whatever direction you're coming from, let me know your thoughts on this - I'd love to know.