Productive/Creative – Analog Man in a Digital World
I’ve been a Linux user for going on twelve years now. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I discovered Linux was actually a pretty good platform for gaming too. And with Steam’s supporting Linux, it became official: Gaming isn’t just for Windows.
On a whim, I picked up a title called Beat Hazard Ultra from Steam, since it’s one of the games that runs natively on Linux.
Ho-lee-cow.
Since stumbling across several old video games from my DOS days (think pre-1995) I’ve decided to fire up a few of them and offer up some fun reviews of games that were made before many of you and gadgets at https://progamerreview.com/best-gaming-keyboard/ were even born. These games, in some way or another, shaped the gaming industry into what it is today. They were the birth of the PC gaming industry, when Atari and Nintendo had been dominating people’s living rooms for over a decade.
I can remember playing my first networked multiplayer games in 1993, when Doom and Descent came out. There weren’t Cat5 ethernet cables back then, everything was 10-Base2 running on Coaxial cable with BNC T’s and terminators. TCP/IP hadn’t become the standard yet, either, so everything ran Novell Netware and used IPX addressing (instead of TCP/IP addresses that everything uses now). The hardcore guys would either play point-to-point on dialup modems, or drag their computers to a friend’s house and use a null-modem cable to simulate a phone line. We’re talking back in the days before Pentiums were invented… the first PC I played Doom on was a 386dx clone, running at 33Mhz. I think it had 2MB of RAM. We’re talking before PCI slots were standard. Just think about that for a minute. A 28.8Kbps modem was all you could get then. Let that sink in. Continue reading “New Feature: Retro Game Of The Month”
Recently, in one of their Netflix binge-watching marathons, my kids discovered a show called Video Game High School. Most of what they watch is aimed at younger teens, mostly Disney (teenage soap opera) drama and comedy. This looked pretty promising at first, but as the series ran on, I started not liking what I saw.
The show centers around a kid who unintentionally ends up at an elite high school for competitive video gamers. It’s filled with the usual action and drama, but I guess I was expecting more of the traditional cheesy comedy. I ended up pulling the plug when the show’s main antagonist started dropping 4-letter words (cause my pre-teen kids were watching it too).
The problem is, in typical drama show fashion, VGHS shows unrealistic caricatures of what real gamers are like. If you didn’t know better and only went off of what the show presents, you’d think all skilled gamers are egotistical jerks, they all have some weird accent/slang dialect, and run in weird cliques. But from my experience, the people that have the dedication to drag a computer setup to a hotel ballroom somewhere just to play video games for fun and prizes are much, much nicer than that.
Twenty years ago, I used to be pretty big into gaming. I had a dedicated LAN party rig, and I went to competitions a few times a year. I gave that up to be able to raise a family shortly thereafter, and for the most part, I never really got back into it. Here’s a shot of my last custom LAN rig: Continue reading “The Prodigal Son Gamer”
(NOTE: this article is a repost of the original I wrote back in 2005. Next year will be the 20th anniversary of Descent. This article still holds a lot of truth to it. Links have been updated where possible.)
If you’re a video game fanatic, you’ve probably at least heard of the game series called Descent. It was first introduced in 1995, and became widely known as one of the first truly 3-D computer games ever made. It was ahead of its time in almost every aspect, including full 6-degree motion, and fairly advanced AI.
So now it’s 2005 2014. What does that have to do with us today?
Good question. Why do people play video games? One, for simple entertainment, two, for a challenge, and three, for community. So why play the Descent series?
Simple.
Because Descent can still fill those needs…
In a way that most games since cannot.
How? Pure Entertainment!
Let’s start with entertainment value. This has to do with how much you enjoy playing the game, which consists of several parts, including graphics and gameplay. With the exception of D3, Descent’s graphics are dated, to say the least. However, there’s several examples of games with poor graphics that still get tons of play. Do a search for “ROMS” and you’ll find thousands of old Nintendo and Sega games that still get played, because they have great gameplay value.
Playing the Game
Gameplay is one of Descent’s strong points. It has a good balance of weapons and powerups, and the single player mode has very strong and fairly smart enemies. However, since it has such a complex movement range, no two people play it with the exact same control setup, unlike most first-person shooter games that all use “mouse-and-WASD” controls. Descent is much harder than point-and-click gaming. It’s akin to flying a helicopter while trying to memorize card patterns, to music, while robots are trying to kill you. It’s fun, but it’s hard, which is probably a big reason why it isn’t as popular as most other FPS games.
How Hard Could it Be?
This brings us into the next part, which is how Descent is still a challenge to modern gamers. There are few games (even today) that have as many facets to them as Descent. Not only do you have to figure out how to control the ship, but you have to evade robots and traps, keep track of ammo, rescue hostages, figure out puzzles, find secret doors and switches, and eventually (in D1 and D2) blow the reactor and escape alive and (in D3) accomplish several goals in order, none of which are very easy. In multiplayer mode, you get a half dozen really good pilots instead of robots and puzzles, which makes things even tougher. And of course in multiplayer, there are several other things to consider like ammo control, setting traps, and predicting where other players will be.
So Who Can I Play With?
This leads us into the last part, which is the Descent community. Generally speaking, Descent players are mostly older, more mature gamers (the original game is over ten years old at this point). Though there are always exceptions, most Descent players are simply glad to help anybody who is brave enough to try the game out, or come back after a long hiatus.
The Descent multiplayer experience is by far one of the most hectic, nerve-wracking, and technical things you can do with a video game. The game also sports several features tailored to multi-play that are just now beginning to be re-incorporated into games as “new features.” Cooperative play hasn’t been seen in years, until Doom 3 decided to bring it back. The feel of “deuling” is rarely seen, with the notable exception of Jedi Knight 2. Overall, the game still has a lot to offer the modern gamer as far as gameplay and difficulty. Descent 3 has about nine different multiplayer modes, from racing mods to CTF to a version of “soccer” using lasers and missles. There’s a lot to be experienced here.
Will It Run On My Computer?
One of the last arguments about playing Descent is that there’s no reason not to play. Versions of all three Descent games are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, with an active mapping community that still cranks out new and exciting levels (including single-player) there’s nothing stopping you from trying it out. Even the newest USB joysticks will work with Descent, which is almost 100% configurable, unlike most other games that only let you choose certain premade joystick axis configs (the Mechwarrior 4 series comes to mind). In short, if you can dream up some crazy controller setup, Descent probably supports it as long as the OS recognizes it. Twin joysticks? Not a problem. Keyboard, mouse, and joystick? It’ll do it. Full flight sim setup? Check. Playstation controller? Ditto. This is yet another area that Descent was miles ahead of almost everyone else in (and in some cases, even today). Some people I know still play with just the keyboard!
Here’s a picture of what I play Descent with. This is an older, discontinued Playstation controller designed specifically for the Playstation version of Descent, not by a small coincidence. To use it on my computer, I bought a $15 adapter that turns it into a USB joystick. It does have a large deadzone which I don’t like, but more importantly, it just “feels right.”
Just for fun, here’s a screenshot of my computer running all three Descent games… at the same time!
Links to Check it Out!
These are all places I’ve been to in my quest to rediscover the phenomenon known as “Descent.” No paid plugs here.
