I've been off the PC gaming turf for a long time. What's it like to be a gamer today?

[computerdude92]

Playing newer games with their HD graphics will spoil you. Playing old favorites just don't seem to be as much fun but there are exceptions. About a year ago I played Dungeon Siege I on my modern computer with a decent graphics card and high def monitor. Thoroughly enjoyed it .

Some of the older games just look terrible no matter what computer you play them on. Then again, there are old games that have been remastered with updated graphics that give the game a new life.

My biggest gripe with most of the new games is they are massive multiplayer online. That is by design because they have become an enormous cash machine for the game developers. Fees for user online accounts, all of the expansion packs etc.

I'm still working and just too tired at the end of the day to spend hours online. I haven't played any games in awhile because of that.

Right, it's all about the greedy game companies wanting to make the most money...

[Unknown_K]

Playing newer games with their HD graphics will spoil you. Playing old favorites just don't seem to be as much fun but there are exceptions. About a year ago I played Dungeon Siege I on my modern computer with a decent graphics card and high def monitor. Thoroughly enjoyed it .

Some of the older games just look terrible no matter what computer you play them on. Then again, there are old games that have been remastered with updated graphics that give the game a new life.

My biggest gripe with most of the new games is they are massive multiplayer online. That is by design because they have become an enormous cash machine for the game developers. Fees for user online accounts, all of the expansion packs etc.

I'm still working and just too tired at the end of the day to spend hours online. I haven't played any games in awhile because of that.

Its not just that the graphics of old games looks dated, but the controls have progressed quite a bit over time. I play Age of Empires 2 the conquerors pretty much every weekend for hours and it is an old game with 2d sprites. There is a HD version out but to be honest it doesn't do much for gameplay so nobody bothers with it. When Dune2 came out in the DOS days I loved it and even now I fire it up every few years and complete it. Graphics looks kinda crappy and so is the low resolution but what takes the shine off the game I loved back in the day are the controls. You need to click on each individual unit and tell it what to do, same with each factory. In AOE you can multi que factories to pump out units and just drag a box over a bunch of units to tell them what to do.

I find playing old 80's arcade games is good mindless fun when you just don't feel like playing a newer game that requires and hour of effort to clear a level.

[commodorejohn]

It's honestly kinda mind-boggling to me that people really feel newer games are better-looking just because they render more complex models in higher resolutions with a bunch of fancy GPU features piled on top, nevermind that they're mostly dull, desaturated, overly-noisy in terms of design language, and shockingly samey across a bunch of disparate serieses. I'd choose most titles done in 2D pixel art over their modern equivalents in a heartbeat, and I'd take Doom or even Quake (hilarious that people still remember this one for being overly-brown and desatured when you compare it to whatever Gears of Battlefield: Duty of Honor title is the hot new thing at the moment and it's practically an explosion of color) over any modern shooter any day of the week.

[Stone]

I go for the pinball games, e.g., Epic, Tristan, 3D Pinball -- Space Cadet, and Silverball. All are from the 90s.