Side-Quest: The Retro-Gaming Surge
August 26, 2008 14:02
When the Xbox 360 launched in 2005, one of the big draws was Microsoft's digital download service Xbox Live Arcade. The pickings were slim early on but Geometry Wars quickly became a favorite of mine for short gaming sessions. Xbox Live Arcade has been an invaluable resource for retro gaming - making available arcade-perfect renditions of classic titles like Tron, Contra and Rush'n Attack - as well as introducing high-quality smaller games like the aquatic shooter Undertow and time-warp puzzle game Braid. What I enjoy most about Xbox Live Arcade is when old games receive a new coat of paint and no game demonstrates this better than Capcom's Bionic Commando: Rearmed (which is also available on the PSN for Playstation 3 and PC through services Direct2Drive, Gamer's Gate and others).
Bionic Commando: Rearmed
Bionic Commando: Rearmed (BCR) takes the original side-scrolling 2D shooter action from Bionic Commando and substantially improves the art and animation through hi-res 3D graphics. It's the original game made new. Producer Ben Judd recently posted in the "Bionic Commando Weekly Field Report" that BCR sold 130,000 units in its first seven days. That figure may get dwarfed when compared to sales figures for Texas Hold 'Em (around 860,000 units sold) but it's a very respectable number after a week of sales. It shows there is a strong desire to see the games of our youth made relevant again without re-imagining them entirely.
However, the draw of the new retro game is something beyond upgraded graphics. Look at the anticipation surrounding the upcoming release of Capcom's Mega Man 9. Here's a game that isn't just a rehash of an old favorite - it's being designed from the ground up to look and sound like the original Mega Man on the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System. It even includes an option to add in flaws like the occasional screen flicker or slowdown to further emulate the performance of the old game. Nostalgia can take you a long way in videogames. It isn't just the act of playing a game that's fun, there's also the way it takes you back to another time in your life. If Capcom is looking to capitalize on its catalogue of older games I'd like to cast my vote for a BCR-style revamp of Strider.
This may look like an NES screenshot but it's actually from Mega Man 9 which is coming soon.
This attention to the games of yesteryear is outstanding for console gamers but what's a PC gamer to do to get a nostalgia fix? For some games it's as easy as finding the old disc and loading it up but others can present compatibility problems with newer versions of Windows and graphics hardware. Then there's the problem of scratched and missing discs, missing CD keys or missing manuals (which makes appeasing a copy protection scheme that asks for the seventh word on page 32 of the manual hard to do). PC gamers who need to purchase - or re-purchase - older games can turn to online outlets for used copies but what we really need is a single point of contact that uses digital distribution to sell older games that are already patched for newer systems.
For gamers looking to dabble in a large number of older games across multiple systems the answer may be GameTap: a subscription Website that allows customers to play games from both PC and console libraries as long as the subscription is active. Instead of a pay-per-game model, GameTap allows its subscribers to play all available games for the flat fee of the subscription. The catch is that when you cancel the subscription you no longer have access to the games. In that respect it is more of a rental outlet, although it does offer the option to purchase some of the games through their online store.
If you do still have the media for your older PC games but have trouble getting them to run, or just want to see them with prettied-up visuals, look no further than the tireless mod communities that continue to support older games. Not only do these communities have tips for getting the older games to run on new hardware and software but community members will sometimes take it upon themselves to develop elaborate patches and upgrades for the art assets.
ScummVM is a program developed to allow old point-and-click adventure games to run with improved compatibility and visual tweaks. The name comes from LucasArts' SCUMM engine that powered its old adventure games like The Secret of Monkey Island and Full Throttle, but it also supports non-LucasArts classics like King's Quest, Space Quest and Beneath a Steel Sky. Other projects like the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade, the FreeSpace Source Code Project and the Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries High Definition Patch can also help to extend and even bring new life to older games.
Revitalizing these old PC games through user modification is a wonderful idea but it's still a long way from the ease of Xbox Live Arcade or the quality of Bionic Commando: Rearmed. We may never get a service that provides the opportunity to purchase Strike Commander or The 7th Guest with the option for visual improvements and full Windows compatibility (as much as can be guaranteed anyway) but it's something I'd very much like to see.
Know of more communities working to keep old PC games alive? Post them in the forum.
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