|
|
Post by slashpop on Jun 22, 2020 22:45:45 GMT 10
As someone's who is really into classic gaming, I would say that PC started getting really popular as a gaming device around the mid to late 80s with classic adventure games and it peaked across a number of genres until early or mid 2000s when PC exclusive games at some point were not as much as huge thing and there weren't as many gigantic and memorable household names, like before, that everyone was talking about even though obviously PC games were still big and many games were released.
What are your thoughts the golden age or peak of the PC gaming?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
|
0 |
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2020 22:09:36 GMT 10
I know the general consensus among PC gamers was the golden age happened in the ‘90s: we had Half-Life, a whole smattering of cRPGs like Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment, all the RTS greats like StarCraft and Age of Empires, Civ 2 and 3, etc.
But I think there’s a strong argument for the LAST decade as an all-out PC gaming renaissance thanks to Steam, GOG and some of the other online storefronts, which facilitated the rise of some really great indie games: Minecraft, Undertale, This War of Mine, Five Nights at Freddy’s, Gris, Transistor, etc. I don’t know how many of these will be hailed as classics in the years to come, but so many of these indie titles pushed the envelope in ways that were unimaginable in just the decade before. Minecraft especially had an outsized influence on not only PC gaming but gaming in general as survival mechanics were adopted by developers from the small indie shops to the AAA companies. Hell, even titles like Death Stranding show some borrowed elements from Minecraft.
|
|
|
|
Post by slashpop on Jul 31, 2020 4:05:38 GMT 10
I know the general consensus among PC gamers was the golden age happened in the ‘90s: we had Half-Life, a whole smattering of cRPGs like Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment, all the RTS greats like StarCraft and Age of Empires, Civ 2 and 3, etc. But I think there’s a strong argument for the LAST decade as an all-out PC gaming renaissance thanks to Steam, GOG and some of the other online storefronts, which facilitated the rise of some really great indie games: Minecraft, Undertale, This War of Mine, Five Nights at Freddy’s, Gris, Transistor, etc. I don’t know how many of these will be hailed as classics in the years to come, but so many of these indie titles pushed the envelope in ways that were unimaginable in just the decade before. Minecraft especially had an outsized influence on not only PC gaming but gaming in general as survival mechanics were adopted by developers from the small indie shops to the AAA companies. Hell, even titles like Death Stranding show some borrowed elements from Minecraft. I think every era of the 90s was golden. The mid 80s to around 2001 was pretty rock solid era that still hasnt been matched imo. I think Xbox and other consoles in the early to mid 2000s replaced alot of the allure of getting a gaming pc and the exclusiveness that was attributed to PC gaming. When I look at PC games in used bookstores from 2003 to 2008 they tend to have this bland and generic feeling, seeing previews etc I don't see that much of difference compared to console games of the same era in some cases as well. I do think pc gaming got better 2009 onwards but still nothing will come close to the old school challenge and franchises in the 90s. Also the oversaturation of indie games and in game payments is not always seen as positive thing. I also think gaming before 1985 or 1986 was meh alot of watered down atari ports and text adventures. 1986-1997 as the golden age for dos and windows point and click adventure games and the explosion of first person shooters, tons of other genres and games were just like nothing else out there.
|
|
|
|
Post by astropoug on May 3, 2021 6:17:50 GMT 10
I think 1990 was the true start. That's when Secret of Monkey Island and Commander Keen came out. Then the release of Doom in 1993 REALLY blew the lid on PC gaming, and the release of DirectX in 1996 pushed the limits even further.
I'd say 2001 was when the golden age ended. Halo was when first person shooters stopped being viewed as a primarily PC platform, and switched to consoles (ESPECIALLY the Xbox platform). The peak was probably 2000. All the big games of that year, like Diablo II, The Sims, Deus Ex, and Counter-Strike were all PC games.
IMO the introduction of Xbox Live in 2002, allowing for online play to become mainstream on consoles, as well as PC RPGs being ported to consoles, like Morrowind being ported to the Xbox, was the final nail in the coffin for the golden age of PC gaming.
So basically, 1990-2000.
The Xbox IMO played the biggest role in ending the golden age of PC gaming, as Xboxes are essentially glorified PCs.
|
|
|
|
Post by astropoug on May 3, 2021 6:20:21 GMT 10
Come to think of it, each different form of gaming corresponds well with a certain decade. I'd say:
1980s - Arcades
1990s - PCs
2000s - Consoles
2010s - Mobile gaming
2020s - Cloud gaming
|
|
|
|
Post by slashpop on May 21, 2021 1:30:49 GMT 10
I think 1990 was the true start. That's when Secret of Monkey Island and Commander Keen came out. Then the release of Doom in 1993 REALLY blew the lid on PC gaming, and the release of DirectX in 1996 pushed the limits even further. I'd say 2001 was when the golden age ended. Halo was when first person shooters stopped being viewed as a primarily PC platform, and switched to consoles (ESPECIALLY the Xbox platform). The peak was probably 2000. All the big games of that year, like Diablo II, The Sims, Deus Ex, and Counter-Strike were all PC games. IMO the introduction of Xbox Live in 2002, allowing for online play to become mainstream on consoles, as well as PC RPGs being ported to consoles, like Morrowind being ported to the Xbox, was the final nail in the coffin for the golden age of PC gaming. So basically, 1990-2000. The Xbox IMO played the biggest role in ending the golden age of PC gaming, as Xboxes are essentially glorified PCs. I would say between 1984 and 1987 is when it started. Kings quest series, police quest series, maniac mansion, wasteland were massive games during the mid to late 1980s maybe even bigger than the nes for that time. They also kept gaming going after the video game crash of 1983. Apple 2, Commodore 64 and dos were huge before 1990. I would computer gaming wasn’t in golden age in 1977-1982/1983. For sure though
|
|
|
|
Post by slashpop on May 21, 2021 1:33:25 GMT 10
Come to think of it, each different form of gaming corresponds well with a certain decade. I'd say: 1980s - Arcades 1990s - PCs 2000s - Consoles 2010s - Mobile gaming 2020s - Cloud gaming Mostly agreed the only problem is that consoles were bigger or just as big as PCs in the 90s. You could get away without having played computer games until 1994 or 1995.
|
|
|
|
Post by astropoug on May 21, 2021 3:25:41 GMT 10
Come to think of it, each different form of gaming corresponds well with a certain decade. I'd say: 1980s - Arcades 1990s - PCs 2000s - Consoles 2010s - Mobile gaming 2020s - Cloud gaming Mostly agreed the only problem is that consoles were bigger or just as big as PCs in the 90s. You could get away without having played computer games until 1994 or 1995. For the early 90s yes, and in fact arcades were still very popular in the early 90s too. You forget the early 90s is culturally very similar to and is basically an extension of 80s culture. But by the mid-90s, PCs had taken over. Plus the late 90s are pretty much the stereotypical 90s with teen pop and computer games like Quake, Unreal Tournament, and Half-Life. PCs just started to boom in general around 1995 because of not just computer games, but also the rise of the internet, and release of Windows 95. Consoles CLEARLY peaked in the 2000s, as that's when the PS2, the best-selling console of all time, came out.
|
|
|
|
Post by slashpop on May 21, 2021 3:39:31 GMT 10
Mostly agreed the only problem is that consoles were bigger or just as big as PCs in the 90s. You could get away without having played computer games until 1994 or 1995. For the early 90s yes, and in fact arcades were still very popular in the early 90s too. You forget the early 90s is culturally very similar to and is basically an extension of 80s culture. But by the mid-90s, PCs had taken over. Plus the late 90s are pretty much the stereotypical 90s with teen pop and computer games like Quake, Unreal Tournament, and Half-Life. PCs just started to boom in general around 1995 because of not just computer games, but also the rise of the internet, and release of Windows 95. Consoles CLEARLY peaked in the 2000s, as that's when the PS2, the best-selling console of all time, came out. Having owned an nes back then, I would say consoles first peaked in late 80s, then every era of the 90s first. Arcades were still popular in the mid 90s because they offered 3d experiences that PCs, snes/genesis and early PlayStation/3DO/Saturn couldn’t handle and exclusive fighting games that they also couldn’t replicate . It’s the late 90s when they took a hit. Consoles we’re not really a big thing in the mid 80s actually seen as dated ....earlier Atari consoles was more of watered down kids thing compared to arcades and weren’t regarded in the same way as late 80s onwards . Nes didn’t really pick up until mid to late 87 going into 88. 83-87 computer gaming was king and the go to gaming experience, while arcades were recovering from the crash of 1983 and just starting to pick up again with innovative games that would later define the new era of the late 80s early 90s ( ghosts n globlins, life force, 1942 etc) Pc gaming then exploded again in 92-93. But it wasn’t mandatory until 95-97.
jaydawg89 likes this
|
|
|
|
Post by jaydawg89 on May 21, 2021 10:10:39 GMT 10
Consoles were more popular than PCs throughout the whole 1990s and even the whole 2000s. What planet do some of ya'll live on. PC gaming really took off around 1995ish too and overtook consoles in like 2012ish. Arcade gaming was still very popular into 1996 too, they definitely took the big drop in popularity in the late 90s.
slashpop likes this
|
|
|
|
Post by Telso on May 22, 2021 5:11:25 GMT 10
According to the most sold PC games of all time: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_PC_games5 of the top 10 came out in the 2010s (but I thought Minecraft was a 2009 game?), 4 in the 2000s and 1 in the 90s. 1998 and 2004 were both HUGE years for PC gaming it seems.
|
|
|
|
Post by astropoug on Jul 12, 2021 8:34:33 GMT 10
I know the general consensus among PC gamers was the golden age happened in the ‘90s: we had Half-Life, a whole smattering of cRPGs like Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment, all the RTS greats like StarCraft and Age of Empires, Civ 2 and 3, etc. But I think there’s a strong argument for the LAST decade as an all-out PC gaming renaissance thanks to Steam, GOG and some of the other online storefronts, which facilitated the rise of some really great indie games: Minecraft, Undertale, This War of Mine, Five Nights at Freddy’s, Gris, Transistor, etc. I don’t know how many of these will be hailed as classics in the years to come, but so many of these indie titles pushed the envelope in ways that were unimaginable in just the decade before. Minecraft especially had an outsized influence on not only PC gaming but gaming in general as survival mechanics were adopted by developers from the small indie shops to the AAA companies. Hell, even titles like Death Stranding show some borrowed elements from Minecraft. Minecraft is already a classic, and considered one of the greatest video games of all time. FNAF and Undertale will likely be considered classics due to their high amount of praise and INSANE levels of popularity (especially the former, as FNAF was the quintessential video game of the mid-2010s) I definitely believe PC gaming has had a renaissance in the 2010s. Something else to consider is the massive popularity of streaming, as well as lets play channels who mostly play on PC.
|
|
|
|
Post by astropoug on Jul 12, 2021 8:44:17 GMT 10
According to the most sold PC games of all time: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_PC_games5 of the top 10 came out in the 2010s (but I thought Minecraft was a 2009 game?), 4 in the 2000s and 1 in the 90s. 1998 and 2004 were both HUGE years for PC gaming it seems. I think the 2010s have proven to be quite possibly the best decade in PC gaming history. Nothing compares to the likes of Minecraft, PUBG, and The Witcher 3. PC Master Race is a 2010s meme for a very good reason. Digital distribution and everyone having high-speed internet certainly helps too.
|
|
