VOGONS

The niceties of playing OGONs

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First post, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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Besides the obvious reasons (nostalgia, old games generally have better gameplay, etc), do you enjoy not-so-usual niceties of playing old games on new systems? What are they?

Well, this is my own experience. I've been playing Novalogic's Delta Force 2 on my laptop. Now my laptop is by no means a decent gaming machine, and don't even think of playing Doom 3 on it. Nonetheless, this is Delta Force 2 we're talking about; a game being made when Pentium III was the hottest machine. It runs very smooth on my laptop, and apparently it consumes a ridiculously small amount of system resources. Well, what am I going to do with those unused CPU cycles? I asked myself.

Realizing that the game has no music at all during the mission, I decided to fire up Windows Media Player and have my Command & Conquer: Red Alert soundtrack CD played in the background.

So here I was last night; playing Delta Force 2 with background songs like Big Foot, Crush, Twin Cannon, Run, Terminate, and of course, Hell March without any noticeable choppiness. Needless to say that Red Alert music is perfect for a game like Delta Force. To sum things up:
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INFINITE EXCITEMENT

Well maybe I can do the same with games like Quake Wars or Supreme Commander, but it won't be very smooth, will it? Nonetheless, playing old games in a new, 'overkill' system has its own niceties --provided the games can run on the first place, of course (or run well; Jane's USNF 97 is way too fast on my laptop). I think the Novalogic programmers deserve a credit here.

So what's yours?

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 1 of 2, by DosFreak

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Well I did this alot of times on my 486.

Loaded up a DOS game.
Insert CD audio CD.
Hit play on the front of the CD drive.
Hit skip track when wanted to hear the next track.

If your system slows down playing MP3's or CD audio while playing any games today then you definetly have an issue with your computer.

I've never been much for music in PC games though so I usually turn it way down. Alot of times it gets in the way of hearing the action/dialogue and if the game doesn't offer subtitles (it's not just deaf people that like subtitles!) then the music can be a PITA.

The absolute best thing of playing old games on new systems is the huge number of mods and fixes available.
Second would be the ability to run at higher resolutions, FSAA, full detail levels.
Third, the ability to run the games in a window so you can multitask if you like (I don't do this but many people do).

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Reply 2 of 2, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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DosFreak wrote:

If your system slows down playing MP3's or CD audio while playing any games today then you definetly have an issue with your computer.

Well it's a laptop; a pretty shitty one (for games).

DosFreak wrote:

Second would be the ability to run at higher resolutions, FSAA, full detail levels.

Yep, and that goes for DOSBOX too; I always enable 2xsai when playing the likes of Code Name: Iceman or Dragon Wars.

DosFreak wrote:

Third, the ability to run the games in a window so you can multitask if you like (I don't do this but many people do).

I do, especially when playing adventure or RPGs --multitask with the game itself and Notepad to keep notes. This is especially true for DOSBOX games; the first time I played Martian Dreams, I had to use pen and notebook to record everything. Now I can use Notepad, which is more convenient.

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

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