RESTORE RESTART QUIT
Episode 02:
“The As-yet Incomplete History of PC Games, Part One”
with special guest Ben Mansill
It was weeks ago now, over a number of beers, that the three of us here at RRQ decided that really, what would make a fascinating podcast, was to go over the history of PC Games. Now, while most of us have at least partially changed our gaming habits to include Consoles, really we’re all PC gamers at heart. We tinker, and we love depth over The Shiny.
But what a bloody huge topic. I mean, we could easily have spent a single 90 minute episode on any one genre or any one sub-section of PC gaming’s nearly-30-year history. But despite that, spurred on my caffeine and a nice lager or nine, we sat down to record what would become episodes 2 & 3.
So, in this episode, along-side industry veteran and fascinating chap Ben Mansill (now of Byteside, and founding editor of both PC Powerplay and Atomic magazines) we tackled subjects such as:
- Our first PC Gaming experiences.
- Classics that we never got to play, but wish we had.
- The way game design has shifted over the years.
- Early multiplayer, LANs and early pre-internet online gaming services.
- Adventure Games.
- RPGs
- and finally, Massively Multiplayer RPGs.
Next week, you can hear the conclusion of this discussion, when we discuss First-person Shooters, Simulations, Modding, the development of 3D Acceleration and the future of PC Gaming.
Links to things discussed or relating to this show:
- Meridian 59
- The Realm
- The History of 3D Acceleration
- Friendlyware – the GWBasic-driven game collection discussed by Rohan.
- Beneath a Steel Sky – the freely available adventure game Jay mentioned. Both ScummVM and the game data (bottom of the page) are required to play.
[...] Those readers who are somewhat interested in those modern interactive media the under forties are into – I believe they’re known as “videogames” – might find something of value in Restore, Restart, Quit, a podcast/blog I’m doing with a Sydney programmer named Rohan Harris. The most recent episode, with Ben Mansill of Byteside, PC PowerPlay and – in its early days – Hyper, is here. [...]
[...] the first part of this podcast: “It was weeks ago now, over a number of beers, that the three of us here at [...]