A Brief History Of Modern Retro
Posted by Alec Meer on March 1st, 2010 at 4:27 pm.
This feature was written for PC Format magazine what feels like a million years ago. It’s a very broad overview of some of the choicest morsels of PC gaming in the late 80s to mid 90s, primarily the pre-3D age, and aimed at those who didn’t grow up with a beige box rather than at those who did. Clearly too, it’s more shaped by my own experiences and influences than by anything like objectivity. My objectivometer must have been out for repairs that week. I repost it here with minor updates, and tired resignation about how many comments will say “what, no game X?†No wordcount in the world is big enough to encompass everything that should be mentioned – but it’ll certainly be useful if the comments thread becomes a juicy list of olden gems for other curious readers to hunt down.
PC gaming is doomed. No, really, it’s going to cop it any day now. It may even have expired while you were distracted by this introduction. After all, people have been predicting its demise for some 20 years now – it’s all piracy this, expensive hardware that, niche appeal this, compatibility problems that… Oh, shuddup. PC gaming isn’t going anywhere. The platform’s infinitely adaptable, it’s currently hand in hand with the dramatic rise of casual, ad-supported, digital download and subscription-based games, and it’s got a back catalogue several hundred orders of magnitude huger than any other gaming system...
