Who else misses early screenshots?

[noiseredux]

the HG101 blog ran a post today about pixel-perfect emulation (and improvements in printing quality) have led to a new era of screenshots in magazines, websites, etc. But this started me thinking about old screenshots. Who else remembers when magazines would run screenshots that were literally just somebody taking a picture of the TV screen? In a way I really miss those. I mean, it had this sort of DIY feel to it that was ineffably awesome. Especially when you'd see walkthroughs for entire levels of a platformer, or map of an RPG that were just a series of still photos of TV screens just pasted together side-by-side. (you'd see your hero on every map square for instance). It was all very endearing when you think about the amount of work that went into such a thing.

[CRTGAMER]

I miss them, give me a real screen shot any day. When there are screens shown in a higher resolution from emulation, it defeats the point of a review. On the other hand, sometimes I see a pic in a magazine where the image looks like a bad screen capture. The capture makes the image lower resolution with some pixels missing.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I like them. Made an upcoming game seem more "mysterious" because you really weren't 100% sure what it would look like until it was running on your own television.

I was also one of those kids who tried to send high scores into Nintendo Power by taking photos of my TV screen with a game paused. Half of my pictures were just white blobs once they got developed.

Things are much less interesting today. I remember how cool old maps were, like the ones in my NES Atlas. Maps in strategy guides today are all computer generated drawings, as there's no way to replicate a 3D world on a flat page.

Another beef I have is how games today are advertised/reviewed solely with screenshots from cutscenes instead of gameplay. So obnoxious and doesn't give the reader any idea of game mechanics. TV commercials are even worse with this sort of thing.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Things are much less interesting today. I remember how cool old maps were, like the ones in my NES Atlas. Maps in strategy guides today are all computer generated drawings, as there's no way to replicate a 3D world on a flat page.

You just reminded me about how I used to draw rudimentary maps in open-worldy (Metroidvania style) games so I wouldn't get lost and have to look for things again.

Anyways I agree, I hate all the ads and reviews that don't show any actual gameplay.

[AppleQueso]

Another beef I have is how games today are advertised/reviewed solely with screenshots from cutscenes instead of gameplay. So obnoxious and doesn't give the reader any idea of game mechanics. TV commercials are even worse with this sort of thing.

Ever seen the old commercials for Final Fantasy VII? There is literally not a single shot of gameplay footage, ALL of it is from the FMVs.

[fastbilly1]

I dont miss old screnshots of tvs. But I do miss screenshots of ingame, the pictures of Tvs were usually just really bad.

[TEKTORO]

How come (which seems like PS1/Saturn Era) the screen shots on the back of cases look much sharper and better than the games actually play?

Did they have optimal setups when taken or just from better versions?

[AppleQueso]

How come (which seems like PS1/Saturn Era) the screen shots on the back of cases look much sharper and better than the games actually play?

Did they have optimal setups when taken or just from better versions?

Guessing optimal setups, shots sourced from RGB, etc.

[deathsled]

How come (which seems like PS1/Saturn Era) the screen shots on the back of cases look much sharper and better than the games actually play?

Did they have optimal setups when taken or just from better versions?

Guessing optimal setups, shots sourced from RGB, etc.

that and the screenshots were reduced to a fraction of the size of a TV which effectively increases the DPI making them look better.

[isiolia]

I don't miss poor quality, tiny little screenshots at all.

I do think that shots of older games sourced from an emulator look a bit odd though. Sure, they can allow for appreciating the pixel art that was actually there, you can more readily see the "whole" picture...but it's just artificial looking. Better to make those at least look like they came from a high quality RGB monitor, IMO.