GazzaGarratt

Much better 🖤❤️

Done. If we can get latest hot topics and other FG stuff to the front then thats the plan, but I think it will always require people to help with this to make that happen.

Cheers yeah I agree and back to 10 is good. It only really matters when the forum is busy but it's much easier to track and not miss people's posts with 10 

I agree… which makes me concerned 😂

I don't like the front page, can only see 5 latest topics and the rest is a distraction from that. Sort it. 🤗

Minidiscs? I remember our music teacher saying the above back in secondary school? Then I never saw them again 😄 

Delta force just looks like the original Far Cry / Wildlands game?
 
I fully agree with you James, the innovation that came through then led to such big jumps between games it was probably gaming's golden era really. The current market is stagnated and I find myself struggling to pick up some games as they are generally rehashes or reskins of games from yesteryear.
 
One of my favourite strategy games back then was a game called Skull Caps, a sequel to Baldies. Both were great fun games albeit I can not get the latter one to run anymore-
 
 

Delta Force - 1998.
 
 
I recall that within the box it also had a help card that would fit seamlessly over your keyboard to help you work out what each button was back then, which was so cool. Loads of multiplayer on this too back on the old dial up connection with NTL.
 
Before this - and I'm cheating a little here because it was made in 1988 for PC but I played it in the 90s - F19 Stealth Fighter. Man, I was crap at it, but when I lucked out and completed a mission, it felt like I'd won the lottery.
 
 

Delta Force - 1998.
 
 
I recall that within the box it also had a help card that would fit seamlessly over your keyboard to help you work out what each button was back then, which was so cool. Loads of multiplayer on this too back on the old dial up connection with NTL.
 
Before this - and I'm cheating a little here because it was made in 1988 for PC but I played it in the 90s - F19 Stealth Fighter. Man, I was crap at it, but when I lucked out and completed a mission, it felt like I'd won the lottery.
 
 

The Game Console 2.0 is a great book with lots of visuals of all the consoles ever made across the years. Some interesting facts too about how the video game industry has had a few crashes over time.

Our first PC was an IBM Aptiva in 1995 but despite it being an amazing multimedia device, it wasn't ideal for gaming as it only had 75mhz and 8mb RAM along with a 500mb drive. Most of my games were from 1993-97 with the likes of Doom, Heretic, Stonekeep, Actua Soccer, IndyCar Racing, Championship Manager 2, Stonekeep, Virtual Snooker plus the original Tomb Raider. I had a N64 and PS1 on the side so I didn't mind not playing the latest releases from 1998 where you really needed at least 133mhz and 16mb RAM. Windows 95 was awesome though and it was one hell of a step up from the shitty RM Nimbus PC's we had at school! 
 
We finally got a new PC in 2000 which was cheaper than the £1800 Aptiva but it was pretty high-end at the time. The backlog I had was insane - had the Half Life collection to sift through plus new titles like Deus Ex, SWAT 3, Project IGI and the PC came with Age of Empires 2 which I played the hell out of. I picked up all the Championship Manger games - 3 up to 04/05 and also classics like Commandos 2, No One Lives Forever, Call of Duty, Battlefield 1942, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Thief 1+2, Unreal Tournament, Quake 3, Counter Strike and Max Payne.  The choice was absolutely insane and it was a great time for gaming because of the sheer potential and endless possibilities. 
 
A game from 5 years ago is no different to now but back in those days, the level of innovation in hardware and software was so big, you'd go from Doom to Half Life and all the games in between. The industry now is brickwalled and stagnant. 

So despite never having a vastly powerful computer when I was younger, our house saw a few windows computers pass through it. I remember there being a windows 98 machine and it being my first forray into pc gaming. When I say my first forray my parents never really bought us any games and I made do with some dodgy copies mostly that a friend used to give me at school.
 
This thread is just to discuss some of those experiences and moments and seeing if anyone else here was gaming in the 90s / early 2000s.
 
So to start this off I am going to look at one of the games that came with the computer and led to one of my first experiences of football manager games -
 
Ultimate Soccer Manager 98/99 -
 

 
Now I have opted for this one because I have been going through the abandonware website looking at old games with the hope of getting a few running. This one worked straight away with no faff and the screenshot above is from my machine this evening 😄
 
The things I always remember about this game was that it wasn't just the coaching side of things but you used to be able to upgrade the ground, look at sponsorship deals and such. We won't forget some of the incredible players back then as well -
 

So my other hobby which has slackened off in recent years has always been reading. The past few weeks I have been nosing back through some of my books and realise I have a few now all related to video games. So I just thought I would start a conversation about them and see if anyone else has any recommendations?
 
So the first one I am going to talk about is 'A guide to Japanese Role-Playing Games', this is probably my go to book at the moment for a few reasons, the artwork is brilliant in there as well as the game screenshots but it really goes into depth with a lot of mainstream series but also some unknown or more obscure titles. It is also where I am getting my influence from currently for my video game collection 🙂
 
When I say it goes in depth it literally goes back to discussing how a video game was first conceived in some instances, the writing can be a little mixed as it is a combination of lots of writers putting together their thoughts, history and experience on each series and such. This leads to some cool little memories and such being talked about.
 
So yeah, if you enjoy JRPG's and enjoy reading this is probably the definitive guide for it.

I got the Saug gold recently, also finished the 3rd LMG gold. 
Then upgraded the LMG's to Diamond. 
 
3 Diamond Categories, but probably the easiest/smallest ones. 

I've given a few of each a go! 
 
DPS - I've tried a few, Black widow isn't bad as I do enjoy sniping and seem to be quite accurate, bucky I'm slowly trying to get the hang of, same with wolverine, however whilst playing ranked I've settled on Punisher, I think people massively underestimate his smoke bomb and zipwire, yes his guns are class but when team mates die and your up against it maybe 2 v 6 for a limited time, smokescreen then zipwhire to get the hell back to wait for your team. Also linking up with rocket or a good healer who gives you increased damage or bullets and your near unbeatable! 
 
Tank - Sorry but I will only stick with one on this and that is Groot, the guy is a legit cheat code, using your larger walls to help block damage, staying close to them helps heal you, then using your smaller walls, try if you can to put them above your enemies so they can't see and won't shoot them down, so then when activated will deal out some decent damage whilst using combination of R2 and right analog, his grenade bomb is pretty good also, going back to the walls, they can really help get you those extra seconds needed on the point, blocking off certain entry points for the enemy. His Ult is perfect for setting up a team mate who can deal some damage, grabs multiple enemies at a time and delivers some great damage, keeping them still for around 5 seconds which is more than enough time for someone to dish out some destruction.  To sum up....GROOT IS KING!
 
Healer - I have tried using Jeff and if used correctly can be an irritating little shit to the opposite team, especially if they are all occupying the point, his ult can take the whole team if needed and launch them clean off the map, his healing process via bubbles and water gun are good but you have to be accurate with that. My go to for healer though is Adam Warlock, I don't he's best being used as a more defensive healer, keeping out of site if possible, don't get me wrong, he can deal damage, if you build up his L2 beam and nail it, easily capable of nearly eliminating someone, combine that with his regular R2 move and it's pretty decent combo, his healing is fantastic though, constantly being able to pick which team-mate to heal via R1 then also using L1 to share the damage throughout your whole team which if used properly is a God send, his ult if timed right is perfection, I think if you use it within 5/10 seconds of team mates dying, can all be revived instantly! 
 
So yeah my go to guys are 
 
DPS - Punisher
Tank - Groot
Healer - Adam Warlock 
 
Favourite Player - Groot! 

I treated myself to the Bond box set at Christmas so I’ll look out for those 👍

I used to have a huge collection of DVD's but ended up offing most to Music Magpie to declutter years ago. I'm tempted to start rebuilding again as streaming just feels so soulless and even if you 'own' a purchase that is streamed, it can still be taken away from you at any time down the line *cough Sony. Some DVD's used to have awesome extras on them especially the James Bond films. 

I have started doing this with blu rays for the same reason, I dont have to worry about them disappearing on me. I have a little collection should the internet ever go down n such and generally the quality is better along with extra features n such

Not quite a technology of yesterday but Blu-Ray DVDs.
Instead of streaming old films (and some new ones) that I want to watch I buy them on E-Bay for about the same cost of a stream and then I own them. They won't disappear overnight if I leave Netflix, etc or the streaming service doesn't host them any more

This has just released, but in early access for some reason. The game is a bit threadbare right now so not one for me, at least not yet...
 
 

Hilarious!
Can't wait to play this. 

Keep forgetting about this game as it has a messy history....but it is due to release in 2025 and could be a game of the year contender if it's anywhere near the original.
 
There's a thread for the first game with some previous videos for this sequel but i think it deserves it's own thread 🤗
 
 

Did you go by yourself? 😂

Of course! 🤣

Happy birthday Lee you absolute legend! Sorry it's late.