Hi

I am so often surprised here at Gameboomers when people talk about "old" (graphic) adventure games

Old games for me are those that were released 10 to 20 years ago but even so, as I still play and enjoy them, somehow they don't seem that old

Lots of members, however, deem games released over the last two or three years to be old, whereas I think of those as still "recent"

[Lots of game release dates can be seen HERE]

So when do you consider a game to have become "old"

Cheers.

Mad

Hi, MaD

For me a game is old after I played it once...

I have tried in vain to replay a game, but each time I always remember whats going to happen next & I can't get into the game.

Graphics & years don't make a game old for me...

Good Topic

I think it's old if it was designed for an operating system that is no longer current.

Ditto what Colpet said.

Ana

I'm with you, Mad. Games don't get old for me till they are at least 10 years old. One distinction is that they aren't built for XP. I'm still playing catchup with games from the mid 90's. As for replaying them... I consider it both a blessing and a curse that I forget so much. It's almost like new to me.
However I have 60 adventure games alone that I still haven't played waiting for their turn. I don't feel, in good conscience, that I can replay an old favorite till I have whittled this number down. Although, I will still keep adding new games to the list, such as Dark Fall: Lost Souls (when it's released)and some other much anticipated releases. :summer:

Edit: I was typing that distinction while the other 2 comments were submitted. -- Still holds true for me.

For me, in general, it's when I've completed the game. However, I have to admit that there are times when I submit to the media-driven impression that six-months-ago is old. I fight it every time, though.

For me "old" means created before the time I started playing games in 1994. Everything else is "new" .

I also agree with colpet and Ana. Old is made for an older OS.

I used to think "old" meant DOS games or any early Windows games where you had to adjust config.sys and autoexec.bat files to get sound. Now I usually think of games made for XP SP1 and earlier as "old" because they weren't made with Microsoft's increased security features in mind (introduced with XP SP2) and often have to be installed in My Documents from an account with administrator privileges to avoid problems. So though the dividing line has shifted, both have to do with how much fuss it takes to get a game working on a modern system (outside of driver issues and adjustments for not meeting system requirements).

But there is still a part of me that has a more "intuitive sense" (I'm not sure how to phrase it) that games like Grim Fandango (1998) aren't really all that old. When I first started playing adventure games, Grim Fandango was a fairly new game, still sold in boxed form in stores. And Syberia (2001) and TLJ (1999-2000) still "seem" like "modern" 3rd person games. This is more of a personal feeling though, based on when I started playing rather than any kind of universal basis.

But everyone has their own idea of what's "old." Some people seem to think that any game that wasn't released in the past month is "old." And some people think that any game that doesn't "push their hardware to the edge of its capability" is dated.

I consider something old depending how technology has advanced from the release of that game up until today. If the difference is significant then you can say that game is considered old, it might not be old in terms of when it came out but it can be old in terms of graphics, operating system required, hardware requirements. If for example a game comes out now that the graphics are not that good and you can run it at very low system specs without any problems then i consider that game to be of "old technology", meaning it does not utilise the new graphics or new systems or even new operating systems (for example DX10 on Vista/Win 7 compared to Win XP). So the game might not be old itself but it might utilise older technology which really makes the game old.

If all new computers had been made to accommodate games of any vintage, we wouldn't even be thinking about the descriptions 'old' or 'new'.

It's really too bad, too.

All of those titles are still sold in boxed form in stores where I live.

Where I live, you might find a jewel case (or cardboard folder) version of Syberia, but for Grim Fandango you'd have to go online. Grim Fandango in the big box version has been out of print for almost 10 years, and it can't be found in local shops at all -- even in jewel case versions. It may be different in other parts of the US, where they have Fry's stores -- but those aren't found within a thousand miles of where I live.

It seems like Poland is a good place to live if you're an adventure gamer. The Gamestop near me just reduced the size of their PC game section once again -- and from the way they have things arranged, it looks like they're planning to get rid of their PC section entirely. They make most of their money off of selling used console games and buying them back at 1/10 of what they sell them for. So the sudden downsize may be partially due to the current state of the US economy.

I noticed that also Jenny100. Our Gamestop which I have to drive 45 miles to was cutting back on the PC games, it was getting smaller and smaller each time I went there, so I stopped going there and now just order it online. And Walmart near us must pick and choose what they will allow in and alot don't make it or it takes ages for them to get!

Sorry that was a little off topic!

Lori

Interesting to see what different criteria people use to "date" their games - and thanks very much for your replies

I do still catergorise the age by the release date myself, as even quite ancient games can still be played (irrespective of the OS current at the time of release) if, of course, a person is interested enough to want to play them

Thanks again

Any game that comes with more than 2 discs that you have to change each time you change location.

Interesting topic! I haven't really thought about it before, but I suppose to me an older game is one that was released more than five years ago and hasn't been re-released, either in a jewel case version or a boxed version that's updated for the most recent Windows operating system or a Director's Cut. By five years out, without a re-release, you pretty much have to buy the game online, so it's not as easily available as a more recently released game.

Some games released at the same time as others just seem older, too. Pixelated graphics can make a game seem "old," as can a clumsy interface.

Becomes old after I've played it once. Doesn't mean I won't play it again. I've played all the Space Quest, Tex Murphy, Gabriel Knight old (lol) Monkey Island games several times. I think I've played Discworld Noir more than any other game. I wish there was a sequel.

I have many many "old" games, when I say old it is because I cannot play them any longer on my "up to date" computer. To try and change configurations to accommodate the games is awful and confusing.....alas I have many games I would love to replay, i.e. 11th Hour, Shivers I,II, Tex Murphy games, etc. Is there a special program out there that doesn't take an Einstein to use that could accommodate these games? If there is please let me know. I also agree with the diminishing availability of games at Gamestop and I regret so many new ones are downloads only and that too is a downer, especially if you still have "dial up", and some of us do.

This is a great question for Glitches, please post there and we'll keep this for the discussion of games.

Ana

Hi Mad,

I feel the same way that you do. My two favorite games of all time were from the 90's. Gabriel Knight 2 "The Beast Within" came out in 95 I think and The Longest Journey was released in 99. Oldies but goodies.

Yes .... My all time favourite adventure games do happen to be from the 1990s but I wasn't asking about "best loved" games from any particular period when I started this thread, I was just interested to know how people determined that a game had became "old" in their view.

So are you telling us that you go by the release date - as I do ??

I would go by the release date to see if a game was old although I really don't care if a game is old or not. I just care if it is good.

An old game to me is one (as other posters have said) that is not immediately compatible with my present OS which is XP. I have got older games to play but the fact that I have to tweak, download other programs or generally have to fiddle about to get a game to play makes it 'old'! (That doesn't mean bad!)

Yup, sounds about right; if it's too old to run properly on my machine, there you go; otherwise, it's new to me! Of course, by that definition there's such a thing as "too new," too.

Really, the only "old" that matters to me is, "I've played this so many times now, it's starting to get a little..."