Computer Gaming

Computer Gaming:
The computer games of today are rich in realistic graphics and sound. In fact, the wow factor is as important as the
game. The visual eye candy and surround-sound separate the games of today from the games of yesterday.

The home computer games of the early eighties were text games. There were a lot of logical puzzles to figure out and
the games were interesting. Just to test out how interesting the old text games were, I fired up my trusty old TRS-80
and played 'Zork'. It was still fun and challenging. The prose was matter of fact. - "You are standing in the bottom of
a small ravine. There is a narrow crooked trail going west and a ladder leaning against the north edge of the ravine.
There is a small creek here."- Every frame of the old text game forced you to make a decision. Do you follow the
trail? Do you climb the ladder? Do you check your inventory for a container to get some of the water? There used to be no limit to what you could carry in your inventory and the general rule was that you picked up everything possible. Most of us who played these games resorted to drawing maps to keep up with our location. It was easy to get lost.

The next generation of games was the cartoon-animated games like "Kings Quest". The hero moved about the whole frame and the scene did not change unless he walked to the edge of the frame and that brought up another scene to runaround in. The game play with these was essentially the same as the text games except you could see the surroundings. You had to type in the action for your hero to take. -"Look under rock." Or "Talk to gnome." You controlled the hero's movements with a joystick if you had one or you could use the arrow keys. Depending on your computer, sound could be pretty basic. Sound cards were just beginning to proliferate and so some of the computers of that day included rudimentary sound. My Tandy 1000 had a 4-voice ability and compared with the TRS-80, it was great. The best you could get on the TRS-80 Model I was squeaks and squawks but at the time even squeaks and squawks enhanced the games you played.

Then came "Wolfenstein 3-D". That game was a marvel to play. It had simulated voices and your character stayed in the center of the screen. You looked through your characters eyes. It was great wandering through the prison and Nazi headquarters killing bad guys as you went. The game was fun, and a forerunner for the games that followed. 320 by 200 graphics does not sound like much, but at the time, it was sufficient.

It is my firm belief that some of the old games were better than the new ones. If they reissued some of those old games with up to date graphics and sound, they would probably do well. I also liked the translators so that you could ask questions and tell you hero what to do. I know that you can make the hero do most things with the game controller, but the dialogue between you and your hero via the keyboard made the game more personal and interesting.

Cheers,
-Robert-Link to Serial It is updated weekly.