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Retro confessions. What are yours?

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Reply 520 of 749, by HanJammer

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Shreddoc wrote on 2021-08-24, 22:17:

I f'ing loved these things when younger. Perhaps because they were part of an entire experience: being a teen, discovering adult humour while still having full appreciation for the immature stuff, surfing on the cutting edge of society driving forwards into a new age, and all that jazz.(...)

No man, in my opinion that has not much to do with it. You enjoyed them because you didn't knew any better. Also Because in fact there was nothing better gameplay wise etc. You were a kid with plenty of time to spend so you didn't valued your time as much as you do right now. Many games like these aged extremely well when it comes to graphics and sound, but extremely bad when it comes to gameplay. Some fortunately were saved thanks to community mods or emulator features.
Look at Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy - this game would be barely playable if not for the savegame system featured in the emulators. Or Little Big Adventure - again, original had horrible savegame system and every collision with wall reduced your life which made the game so frustrating. But it was all fixed in the LbaWin. Same applies to other titles - unfortunately some of them are beyond fixing - while Alone in the Dark is perfectly playable gameplay-wise and looks and sounds cool as well - it has confusing puzzles and is too difficult to enjoy it because it requires huge time investment (and playing it with a solution makes not much sense). We simply have better modern games to play right now...

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Reply 521 of 749, by HanJammer

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Joakim wrote on 2021-08-25, 08:59:

I feel bad taking apart old systems and replace any parts. For this reason I have a hard time buying a old case for my SS7 because they usually come with a working system. >.<

Same here. But some are already broken or modified in the past... Although builds in which all parts have stickers from the same system builder - I usually keep them unmodified ;/
But if you need some empty case for you SS7 then you can contact me I still have many for sale...

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Reply 522 of 749, by RandomStranger

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A different confession.
Sometimes before I sell an old PC, I set it up as if it was in daily use until about an appropriate time (let's say 2003-2005 for a P3 system) then just dumped in a closet until recently. Seemingly personal stuff, installed games with save files, hidden folder with vintage porn. I'd love to see a buyer's face when they explore the hard drive of the careless previous user. Or see someone making a youtube video about it. This gave me the idea: https://youtu.be/Dx9DWSaOGPw

sreq.png retrogamer-s.png

Reply 523 of 749, by NovaCN

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RandomStranger wrote on 2021-08-26, 12:46:

A different confession.
Sometimes before I sell an old PC, I set it up as if it was in daily use until about an appropriate time (let's say 2003-2005 for a P3 system) then just dumped in a closet until recently. Seemingly personal stuff, installed games with save files, hidden folder with vintage porn. I'd love to see a buyer's face when they explore the hard drive of the careless previous user. Or see someone making a youtube video about it. This gave me the idea: https://youtu.be/Dx9DWSaOGPw

That's genius. Personally, I'd give it a fresh install, but then stick a single folder on the desktop labeled "Please delete without opening," and inside would be a single text file called "I TRUSTED YOU.txt" and its text is just ":("
Give the buyer a little laugh.

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Reply 524 of 749, by Joakim

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Lol. You guys are heroes. I once bought a bag of diskettes and one was named nudd gurls or something..It contained actual soft pron, but maybe it was just a big prank. That the spring of the cover had broke was nice touch though!

Reply 525 of 749, by EvieSigma

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NovaCN wrote on 2021-08-26, 13:57:
RandomStranger wrote on 2021-08-26, 12:46:

A different confession.
Sometimes before I sell an old PC, I set it up as if it was in daily use until about an appropriate time (let's say 2003-2005 for a P3 system) then just dumped in a closet until recently. Seemingly personal stuff, installed games with save files, hidden folder with vintage porn. I'd love to see a buyer's face when they explore the hard drive of the careless previous user. Or see someone making a youtube video about it. This gave me the idea: https://youtu.be/Dx9DWSaOGPw

That's genius. Personally, I'd give it a fresh install, but then stick a single folder on the desktop labeled "Please delete without opening," and inside would be a single text file called "I TRUSTED YOU.txt" and its text is just ":("
Give the buyer a little laugh.

I did something like that to a coworker who was obsessive about locking his computer when he left his desk, the one and only time he forgot to lock it I put up a full screen Notepad window saying "YOUR COMPUTER HAS BEEN HACKED!!!!" in 72 point font.

Reply 526 of 749, by Bondi

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I confess that I would really like to learn assembly language. I buy books about it and pile them up. But it hasn't yet gotten to actually learning. Every time I decompile a program and look at it, I have a feeling that I'll never understand how it works. 😀

PCMCIA Sound Cards chart
archive.org: PCMCIA software, manuals, drivers

Reply 527 of 749, by Shreddoc

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HanJammer wrote on 2021-08-26, 11:47:
Shreddoc wrote on 2021-08-24, 22:17:

I f'ing loved these things when younger. Perhaps because they were part of an entire experience: being a teen, discovering adult humour while still having full appreciation for the immature stuff, surfing on the cutting edge of society driving forwards into a new age, and all that jazz.(...)

No man, in my opinion that has not much to do with it. You enjoyed them because you didn't knew any better. Also Because in fact there was nothing better gameplay wise etc. You were a kid with plenty of time to spend so you didn't valued your time as much as you do right now. Many games like these aged extremely well when it comes to graphics and sound, but extremely bad when it comes to gameplay. Some fortunately were saved thanks to community mods or emulator features.
Look at Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy - this game would be barely playable if not for the savegame system featured in the emulators. Or Little Big Adventure - again, original had horrible savegame system and every collision with wall reduced your life which made the game so frustrating. But it was all fixed in the LbaWin. Same applies to other titles - unfortunately some of them are beyond fixing - while Alone in the Dark is perfectly playable gameplay-wise and looks and sounds cool as well - it has confusing puzzles and is too difficult to enjoy it because it requires huge time investment (and playing it with a solution makes not much sense). We simply have better modern games to play right now...

Point-and-click is simply a genre of game that does not gel with my adult self. I've got more pressing ways to spend my time than "rote click my way through a storyboard". Like you said, time is valued differently as a child. There are lots of old games in other genres whose gameplay I enjoy more than the modern, Achievement-drenched fireworks shows that pass for games these days. That said, every era has it's outstanding gems whose quality of gameplay outlasts trends.

Reply 528 of 749, by HanJammer

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Shreddoc wrote on 2021-08-26, 21:50:

Point-and-click is simply a genre of game that does not gel with my adult self. I've got more pressing ways to spend my time than "rote click my way through a storyboard". Like you said, time is valued differently as a child. There are lots of old games in other genres whose gameplay I enjoy more than the modern, Achievement-drenched fireworks shows that pass for games these days. That said, every era has it's outstanding gems whose quality of gameplay outlasts trends.

Well, I simply don't play "Achievement-drenched fireworks shows that pass for games these days" as there are plenty of wonderful new games which are not really like this (even if they have achievments built-in for some reason I simply don't really care nor understand what's the point of these achievments anyway). Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Plague or Paradise Lost are examples of such games I played recently and I would take any of them over most 80s and 90s games to be honest. Whole different level of immersion, aesthetic experience and fun... It's plenty of titles nowadays to choose from - it's just a matter of spending few minutes watching gameplay reviews and reading comments. 😀

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Reply 529 of 749, by Shreddoc

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HanJammer wrote on 2021-08-27, 00:07:

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Plague or Paradise Lost

Everyone has different tastes. Most modern gaming just doesn't do it for me, especially on the PC. It's all so derivative and tech-showoff based, to me. I'm pleased for you that you enjoy it so much, though.

Nintendo's made some great modern games, which I have enjoyed approximately as much as my favourite old games. Overall, imo they are neither superior nor inferior. They're each just "great games, from different eras".

Reply 530 of 749, by chrismeyer6

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EvieSigma wrote on 2021-08-26, 18:21:
NovaCN wrote on 2021-08-26, 13:57:
RandomStranger wrote on 2021-08-26, 12:46:

A different confession.
Sometimes before I sell an old PC, I set it up as if it was in daily use until about an appropriate time (let's say 2003-2005 for a P3 system) then just dumped in a closet until recently. Seemingly personal stuff, installed games with save files, hidden folder with vintage porn. I'd love to see a buyer's face when they explore the hard drive of the careless previous user. Or see someone making a youtube video about it. This gave me the idea: https://youtu.be/Dx9DWSaOGPw

That's genius. Personally, I'd give it a fresh install, but then stick a single folder on the desktop labeled "Please delete without opening," and inside would be a single text file called "I TRUSTED YOU.txt" and its text is just ":("
Give the buyer a little laugh.

I did something like that to a coworker who was obsessive about locking his computer when he left his desk, the one and only time he forgot to lock it I put up a full screen Notepad window saying "YOUR COMPUTER HAS BEEN HACKED!!!!" in 72 point font.

I used to take a screenshot of my friends or classmates desktops then delete all of their icons and make the picture their background. That was good times watching the panic attacks start. Then I'd say let me take a look at it and "magical" fix the computer. Those were fun times.

Reply 531 of 749, by keenerb

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chrismeyer6 wrote on 2021-08-27, 03:12:
EvieSigma wrote on 2021-08-26, 18:21:
NovaCN wrote on 2021-08-26, 13:57:

That's genius. Personally, I'd give it a fresh install, but then stick a single folder on the desktop labeled "Please delete without opening," and inside would be a single text file called "I TRUSTED YOU.txt" and its text is just ":("
Give the buyer a little laugh.

I did something like that to a coworker who was obsessive about locking his computer when he left his desk, the one and only time he forgot to lock it I put up a full screen Notepad window saying "YOUR COMPUTER HAS BEEN HACKED!!!!" in 72 point font.

I used to take a screenshot of my friends or classmates desktops then delete all of their icons and make the picture their background. That was good times watching the panic attacks start. Then I'd say let me take a look at it and "magical" fix the computer. Those were fun times.

We did that all the time at DEC to new hires. My other favorite joke was to replace my computer with a self extracting archive of 100 "My Computer" icons. So they'd double-click My Computer, and in a few seconds they had layers and layers of my computer icons to delete...

Reply 532 of 749, by BitWrangler

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Y'all are reminding me of this classic http://www.thewebsiteisdown.com/ probably NSFW lewd image and f-bombs in the vids. First vid in particular when he does the desktop snapshot thing.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 533 of 749, by xcomcmdr

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Shreddoc wrote on 2021-08-27, 01:53:
HanJammer wrote on 2021-08-27, 00:07:

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Plague or Paradise Lost

Everyone has different tastes. Most modern gaming just doesn't do it for me, especially on the PC. It's all so derivative and tech-showoff based, to me. I'm pleased for you that you enjoy it so much, though.

Nintendo's made some great modern games, which I have enjoyed approximately as much as my favourite old games. Overall, imo they are neither superior nor inferior. They're each just "great games, from different eras".

All your modern and old games are cool and all, but the real man's game is UFO : Enemy Unknown (with OpenXCOM).

Now that's a great game. 😁

Reply 534 of 749, by HanJammer

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xcomcmdr wrote on 2021-08-27, 06:28:

All your modern and old games are cool and all, but the real man's game is UFO : Enemy Unknown (with OpenXCOM).

Now that's a great game. 😁

One of the most boring games I played.

Here's for a taste differences.

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Reply 536 of 749, by Peter Swinkels

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New games might often feel like they’re designed to show off tech. Perhaps that’s often the case. I think it’s easy to forget that seemingly modest older games might have felt show-offish to people used even older stuff. What’s the point of those new fangled achievements? Heh, what was the point of those score lists many classics have?

Last edited by Peter Swinkels on 2021-08-27, 12:13. Edited 2 times in total.

Do not read if you don't like attention seeking self-advertisements!

Did you read it anyway? Well, you can find all sorts of stuff I made using various programming languages over here:
https://github.com/peterswinkels

Reply 537 of 749, by appiah4

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xcomcmdr wrote on 2021-08-27, 09:22:

Ain't that a retro confession. :p

It's a retro sin, actually..

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 538 of 749, by Peter Swinkels

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keenerb wrote on 2021-08-27, 03:48:
chrismeyer6 wrote on 2021-08-27, 03:12:
EvieSigma wrote on 2021-08-26, 18:21:

I did something like that to a coworker who was obsessive about locking his computer when he left his desk, the one and only time he forgot to lock it I put up a full screen Notepad window saying "YOUR COMPUTER HAS BEEN HACKED!!!!" in 72 point font.

I used to take a screenshot of my friends or classmates desktops then delete all of their icons and make the picture their background. That was good times watching the panic attacks start. Then I'd say let me take a look at it and "magical" fix the computer. Those were fun times.

We did that all the time at DEC to new hires. My other favorite joke was to replace my computer with a self extracting archive of 100 "My Computer" icons. So they'd double-click My Computer, and in a few seconds they had layers and layers of my computer icons to delete...

How about writing a fake DOS prompt in QBasic that said nothing but "illegal command" ... in italian? (when dutch was expected). The head of the IT -department at my school unfortunately didn't think it was all that funny...

Do not read if you don't like attention seeking self-advertisements!

Did you read it anyway? Well, you can find all sorts of stuff I made using various programming languages over here:
https://github.com/peterswinkels

Reply 539 of 749, by Stiletto

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keenerb wrote on 2021-08-27, 03:48:

We did that all the time at DEC to new hires.

You worked for DEC? Neato! What did you do there, if I may ask? 😀

"I see a little silhouette-o of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you
do the Fandango!" - Queen

Stiletto