Games I played when...I was 16

Playing LoL the other day I happened to be matched with a bunch of very pleasant chaps, and we decided to play a few games together. It's quite rare to meet people who are this nice and fun to be around online, so it was great to be able to get to know them. On talking to them a bit I learned that some of them were only 16, which made me feel mega old!

It got me thinking about the games I played when I was 16. I got my first PC when I was 16, and it was the family's PC so had to be shared. It spent a little time in my Mum and Dad's bedroom, and then eventually found it's way into the dining room. It had no internet, and it had a 486 motherboard, and (I think) 4mb of RAM. It ran on Windows 95 which was practically space-age at the time. I remember watching Weezer's Buddy Holly video over and over again, which I found easily because my other fascination with the computer was being able to open folders, create folders, move stuff and delete stuff (remember how the page of paper would disintegrate as it approached the bin?)

 

It was time I put the computer to better use. I wrote a play set in 1950's America completely in wordpad. And then I lost it. I used it to listen to Oasis CDs; I had a 100 years of the Daily Mail CD-ROM which I occasionally used for homework, and I drew stuff in paint (something all ages can relate to!)

But really I just wanted the computer to play games on! So in tribute to those jolly young fellas, here are the top 5 PC games that I played when I was 16. I have had to borrow some videos from YouTube for this, as I don't own all the games anymore. 

1. X-Wing

This was around the time when we were anticipating the re-release of the Star Wars films, and X-Wing filled that gap perfectly. You got to pilot an X-Wing and take part in missions that took place in the Star Wars universe. Rumour had it you could actually do the deathstar trench run, but I never got that far. About four missions in I was tasked with catching up with a freighter ship that was about to enter hyperspace. I could never catch it, try as I might. I have no idea what it was that I was doing wrong. I'd asked R2 to redirect all the power away from the shields and lasers and into speed, but I could never get there. The freighter would disappear off the edge of space and I'd have to return back to base embarrassed.

Watch this guy do a better job than me.

Skip to 2.51 to get to the game itself.

2. Doom

So violent! I can't believe my parents let me play this. Perhaps they had no idea that's what I was doing. I don't remember the music in my version, perhaps it just didn't work. So much stuff just didn't work back then, and I had no idea whether it should be working or not. Remember there was no internet to consult, and none of my friends played PC games :(

Anyway I'm pretty certain I used the arrow keys to move around, I don't think a mouse was involved. I remember the noise of the doors opening and what BFG stood for (tee hee hee).

3. Command and Conquer

Now when you watch this video you might be surprised by how low-fi and crappy it looks. But I see it and think- Oh Yeahhhhh! Everything about it seems so familiar like this is the only version of Command and Conquer. Those Power stations, tanks, APCs, soldiers- that's what all power stations, tanks, APCs and soldiers should look like. This was such a seminal game for me that any RTS had this to answer to first. How good is this compared to Command and Conquer? Hmm?

I loved the base building missions, not so much the 'protect this person' missions.

Skip to 1:07 for actual gameplay.

4. Age of Empires

A little bit of a cheat, I was actually 17 when I played this. For some reason we seemed to get this pretty quickly after it came out, which was unusual as my family had no idea about the latest releases back then. My favorite way to play was to set up a custom game of 20 minutes with 3 AI opponents. Then I would see who could get the highest score in that time. I just loved the base building part of the game so much that I could just do that over and over and over again. It also meant that I pretty much always won (tee hee). Who needs war anyway? I seem to remember that they removed this type of custom game in the sequels, and so the original AoE was a staple for me until it would no longer run on my computer :(

5. Street Fighter II

Just see how long you can watch this for before the music does your head in. For some reason we never had Street Fighter II on the Mega Drive (our console of choice) but we bought it for the PC. Controls-wise, I'm not sure if that made much sense. I did enjoy button mashing, but I can't say I was very good at this. My brother used to beat me, and that made me very cross.

Special mention goes to: Minesweeper

Who would have thought that there was another Mine related computer craze that wasn't Minecraft. Preceding it by 21 years, Minesweeper was a classic. Pro tip for you all for your minesweeper speed runs- press both left and right mouse buttons to clear away more empty spaces.
Writing this blog made me want to play, so I searched for it on my computer- and it ISN'T ON WINDOWS 8.1! WHAT???? So I had to go here to play http://minesweeperonline.com/

Thank you minesweeper for all the hours. (Of fun, frustration and flipping hell).

I am better than this really, I'm just out of practice

Goodbye PlayStation Home

Today marks a sad event in video games history- the closure of PS Home. It happened just over an hour ago, and even though I wasn't a regular visitor I feel a great sense of melancholy.

Many people I know worked on Home and it became such a strong feature of their lives. From the animator who designed the 'running man' dance, to the designer who created Scribble Shooter, to the developer who voiced the elf in the Xmas Event 2013, and to the producer who loved Home like no other, nurturing it, communicating with fans about it, visiting it regularly.

She understood it's potential, just like many others did. A niche who were loyal to the end. A fanbase who had great times there, made friends and lasting loving relationships. They spent a lot of money there too; some are disappointed that they won't be seeing a refund. Such is the nature of digital content I suppose, whilst you might feel you own the item. You don't own the infrastructure that it needs to exist.

I messaged her last night to tell her that I would be thinking of her as she pressed the button to take Home offline. And this morning, I was. At 8am on the dot I thought of her, pressing that button and saying goodbye to a huge part of her life.

We are all sad that the closure of Home wasn't marked in a more commemorative way. This was left to the fans to organise themselves and I'm sure they did a good job of that. It just felt a little like Sony let Home slowly die quietly, rather than hosting a huge 'bon voyage' party and inviting everyone it once knew.

Even with that said, well done to Sony for taking a risk and for believing in it for so long. Just a shame that it couldn't continue.
Congratulations to London Studio for what you achieved. It is unprecedented and will go down in history, whichever way it is written.

Goodbye PSHome, you will be missed.