There is no denying the fact that gaming, which had once taken a backseat after much popularity in the mid 90s is back again. The PC, which was considered the epitome of gaming more than anything else, has taken a back seat. Gaming in other forms such as mobile and tablets has gone stronger with newer players in the foray. However, one cannot forget the DOS based games that were once a craze. Considering the yester years, the transition in the gaming industry has been a drastic one, with real time, multi-player and online games introduced for a heightened gaming experience.
The present age is that of the Windows gaming where one can simply play online games via the internet. The games too have undergone a sea change. Transitioning from the simple ones, the games have moved on to provide real-time gaming experience. However, there is still the question whether the games of the yester years would run successfully on today’s platforms or not. Let us find out.
The technical developments especially in the operating systems would render most DOS based games useless as most of these games used 16-bit memory addressing while the modern day PCs have 64-bit operating systems and this problem is not limited to the DOS based games but is also encountered with some Windows 95/98 titles as well. Another problem that the games from the yester years might face on the modern Windows 8 PCs is the use of DirectX. As most classic games were based on DirectX, they would not run well on the modern Windows 8 PCs as they do not support DirectX.
However, when one runs DOS based games on the Windows 8, there is not much of a problem at least with many of the titles like Syndicate, Star Control (series 1 and 2), Star Wars – Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith, Fallout and X-COM: UFO Defense. The games of the yore are easily playable on the Windows 8 because of the use of the DOSBox, which emulates the earlier PCs making the game think that it is being run on a classic PC. Games also run well on the Windows 8 due to the Compatibility Troubleshooter that allows compatibility between the games and the operating system.
While these were the games of the yester years, Windows 8 can successfully run the present day games with ease. These games can be played either from the desktop or from the shopfronts. The new Windows 8 also allows users to play games from the new “Games” section, which is on the Microsoft store after purchasing them from the store. However, lovers of the classic Windows games like the ‘Solitaire’ would not find it in the standard games menu but at the new games section, which can be bugging.
While the game titles of the yore had their share of success during the years when they were introduced, the present day games being run on Windows 8, have tasted success as well. However, there is one thing that differs and that is the penetration of Windows 8. In the yester years, when PC gaming was introduced, most PC users had more or less the same hardware configuration, except a small portion of users that upgraded their systems as per their recruitment. However, in the present times, the number of PC users that have upgraded to Windows 8 is definitely not as much, limiting the number of users playing games on it.
Conclusion
It is definitely the age of gaming with more and more people opting for smartphones and tablets that allow gaming on the move. Therefore, in this war of gaming, it is definitely the new system that stands out considering the range of games that can be played on it, even though through an emulator.
Author Bio: The article is authored by William Taylor. He is a tech freak and loves to write about video games, technology and gadgets. He is also working for a site Sonic Games 365which is an online gaming site.
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