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Game Classic Computing ("RETRO")

morPR

PRmeister
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
The introduction of the "Girlfriend PC"
You've heard of it but you will recall the name when you watch the video.

I have to admit my "expertice" from the old days was consoles because I was a kid. Sort of. I had a Tandy 1000 EX with less than five games all told but spent my time word processing.

Does anyone pay these old relics any more? DOS BOX anyone?
 

Laura_Gold

Certifiable
Governor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
I had plenty of the Commodore 8-bitters, and also an Amiga 1000.
I had some of the other 8-bit computers of the 80s.
Since the advent of eBay, I've accidentally collected a bunch of other retrocomputers. Playing with them is a sporadic fun hobby.
 

morPR

PRmeister
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I don't understand 8 bit when it comes to computers. Was this a graphical thing? I also acquired via Ebay an Apple II GS. Long story short, I resold what I bought and no longer have them. I know 64K of memory was the reasoning behind "Commodore 64."

When I played Black Cauldron I was amazed to see the character of Taran walk thru a bunch of leaves in a tree. Such color! Years later I finally played some classic DOS games but it was too little too late for me.
 

Lore

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
I use DOSBox for a lot of old games. GOG.com will sometimes come with it preconfigured.
 

morPR

PRmeister
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
May as well ask your favorite games.... so what are they? For what machine?
 

morPR

PRmeister
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Doesn't talk much about processor. I had NES/ SNES/ Genesis / Sega CD / Sega Saturn/ Game Boy Pocket/ GBC/ GBA/ PSone/ PS2/ Dreamcast/ Ps3/ Game Cube/ DS/ / Wii/ Wii U over the years.

Infortunately I sold my consoles except for PS2/ PS3/ Wii / Wii U / DS. I seem to tinker around with 2DS more often than other gaming devices.

My confusion remains: is 8bit the CPU or the GPU? 8-bit color.
 

petemage

Babbling Loonie
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Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Doesn't talk much about processor. I had NES/ SNES/ Genesis / Sega CD / Sega Saturn/ Game Boy Pocket/ GBC/ GBA/ PSone/ PS2/ Dreamcast/ Ps3/ Game Cube/ DS/ / Wii/ Wii U over the years.

Infortunately I sold my consoles except for PS2/ PS3/ Wii / Wii U / DS. I seem to tinker around with 2DS more often than other gaming devices.

My confusion remains: is 8bit the CPU or the GPU? 8-bit color.
Yea, what they mainly refer to is the CPU architecture, which was 8-bit CPUs back then, meaning they could only handle calculations with 8-bit values (0-255). For reference: Computers today are usually 64-bit, meaning they can handle much larger numbers in calculations. You can also think of it like when talking about digits. Old computers could only handle numbers with 8 digits, while current ones can handle large numbers with up to 64 digits.

The 8-bit color thing was mostly dependant on the above mentioned CPU architecture. When a game programmer wanted to use colors, he was limited by the actual hardware, which naturally could only name as many different colors as it could think of different numbers (8-bit of them, or 256 decimal).

The PS3 is maybe worth highlighting in this context. Back then the standard consumer PC was all single core 32-bit, while Sony kinda as a very early player pushed a multi-core 64-bit architecture (like every smartphone has these days :rolleyes:). It was an expensive stunt, mainly for game developers, since it was very exotic hardware with its own pitfalls and tricks. For PS4 they are back to a standard PC hardware, hence almost every game is published cross platform these days. But the PS3 was outstanding at its time :)

But after all I agree with those that say 8-bit gaming more describes an era of gaming, rather than those technical details.
 

Lore

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
May as well ask your favorite games.... so what are they? For what machine?
Sticking with pre-21st century.. I never had an SNES or other systems not listed.

PC, DOS: Might and Magic: World of Xeen, Doom, Ultimas, Warcraft 1 and 2 and expansions, Sim City, Oregon Trail, Kroz
PC: Vampire the Masquerade, Heroes of Might and Magic, Warcraft 3

Nintendo: SMB 1 and 3, Zelda 1 and 2, Ninja Gaiden, Jaws, Mike Tyson's Punch Out, Contra
Sega Genesis: Phantasy Star 4, Shining Force 2, Altered Beast, Might and Magic 2: Gates to Another World, Mortal Kombat 2
Playstation: Final Fantasy 7, Tactics, and 9, Suikoden 1 and 2, Azure Dreams, Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen, Tactics Ogre, Breath of Fire 3, Gran Turismo, Castlevania Symphony of the Night.

 
Oh that brings me back. We first had an apple2, then garbage picked a tandy, then had a commodore64, Then an amiga, and then build a homebrew scuzi frankenstein machine. Among others.

I found an old pc mag about a year ago and had a laugh at the prices for mere mb processors for like $3-4k.

Sometimes I am glad I lived during the time but also I wish I was born now with all the crazy things out now.
 
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