Moving onto Home computers

[msimplay]

I was just thinking I really liked the articles Racketboy makes on consoles like "games that defined the Sega Megadrive / Genesis" for example and I was recently playing on the old Spectrum. I'll be honest the graphics were piss poor but its a games system where the gameplay shone through.

So I was wondering what is next in the pipeline ? It would be great if Racketboy made some articles on classic home computers

[Ivo]

There were some true gems in home computers - usually not the arcade ports however

Racketboy is more or less US centric, whereas Home computers were a bigger deal in Europe, so that is why the focus seems (and is) a bit more Console oriented (particularly Nintendo and Sega).

Ivo.

[msimplay]

There were some true gems in home computers - usually not the arcade ports however

Racketboy is more or less US centric, whereas Home computers were a bigger deal in Europe, so that is why the focus seems (and is) a bit more Console oriented (particularly Nintendo and Sega).

Ivo.

It was console orientated here in the UK too but there was still there other side of computers usually the elder generation that had a bit of money bought em.

[Ivo]

Even in the UK, although I didn't live there, I'm fairly sure that Spectrum, C64, Amiga and other assorted home computers had a sizable (if not majority) portion of the "market share" for playing video games at home (of course they offered other possibilities as well). Sure there were NES, Megadrives and SNES in homes as well. I think the UK was actually really impressive in having lots of game developers during a period of the 90s precisely because they grew up coding in these home computers (that is sort of vanishing now - certainly there are less "famous" developers and games from UK-based houses nowadays, compared to 90s).

[Curlypaul]

I agree. I am 31 and home computers were far more popular all the way up until the end of school when the mega drive and snes really started to flourish. The computers were generally more expensive that the consoles (as I remember it anyway) but the cost of the games and ease at which they were copied made sure that the computers were winning the market at that point. As soon the consoles took over the cababilites of the computers and the price of a PC started to fall there was no room left for them

[msimplay]

I agree I'm 26 and the generation ahead always had computers and me being the younger one in our so called group always saw my older friends playing on their Amstrads , Spectrums , Commodores and Atari st's / Amiga's if you were rich. Rich as in comparison to our poor old pockets in those days .

Looking back the generation ahead was those that left secondary school just as I entered , by that time kids that liked Nintendo and Sega were growing up so as the generation ahead left the Snes and Megadrive really started up.

I would like this place to cover home computers as it seems it is completely untouched and ripe for experimentation

[Hatta]

I think one of the reasons for the focus on home consoles is that there are so damn many home computers from the 70s and 80s. Ataris, Apples, Commodores, Colecos, Sinclairs, Tandys, Amstrads, Texas Instruments, etc., etc.. It really boggles the mind, especially when you consider today that there's really only one architecture anyone uses anymore.

I tried to resist getting into computer collecting for quite a while for that reason. Then I saw an Apple IIgs for cheap on craigslist. I ended up spending more on DSDD disks for the thing than I did the entire computer.

[Ivo]

I had / have an article about the Amiga in the pipeline but sort have had little time to devote to it. Maybe I should get around to finishing it and getting it shaped into a Racketboy article.

Ivo.

[otaku]

hell yes amiga! I just picked up an amiga cd32 (more convenient than a amiga desktop) anyway these would be nice articles to have. Also if you guys like spectrum/amiga etc retrogamer magazine covers this stuff all the time in great detail

[RCBH928]

how about DOS and WINDOWS.
Every one played those right?