Re: Did EGA Save PC Gaming?

On Sun, 21 Jul 2024 14:10:09 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Still, the article does bring up some amusing points; in particular,
the cost of an EGA card. The most basic model would set you back $500
USD, and you'd need to buy a compatible monitor to go with it. A
high-end EGA card and monitor would cost you the equivalent of more
than $5000 USD in 2024 money.
>

You could get a Commodore 64 for $300 list in 1983 (~$975 in 2024), and
get comparable graphics, better sound, and use your TV as a monitor,
though they also sold Commodore monitors that were much sharper.

The 1541 disk drive cost another $300 in 1983, IIRC. So about $2000 and
you were set*. Apple was hella expensive like the PC, but at least they
had the Mockingboard** available.

So, IMHO, 80s PC Gaming was people who had to pay through the nose for an
actual IBM-PC, for _work_, looking for something fun to do with it.
Nothing could save it, because there was very little to save. There
weren't enthusiasts, there were business people who needed a "boss key."

Any computer game enthusiast was playing on something else. Usually a
C=64. Atari ST. Amiga. Something like that. PCs sucked.

As far as sound cards, we are in agreement. I had no interest in PC
gaming until the AdLib, but couldn't afford it. By the time I got my
first PC I had a 486DX33 with a 1x CD-ROM, Soundblaster 16 and Tseng
ET4000 onboard VGA. It was a Dell***. My dad bought it for me and my wife
in 1993 as a wedding present.

Until then, I was happily doing my word processing and gaming on a C=64
well into the 90's. A C=64 and a daisy wheel printer got me through
university. I wrote the print driver for the printer myself. I didn't
even have spell check.

But prior to the 90s, gaming on the IBM-PC was hella expensive and weak
sauce to boot. _VGA_ changed that, not EGA. EGA gaming was for people
with too much money and too little common sense, and they kept PC gaming
on life support until it was comparable to an NES**** for 5 times the
price.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten


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*    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_1541#Introduction, p2

**   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mockingboard

***  The Dells came with tag numbers that you had to read off to tech
support because they used commodity parts, cobbled them together, and
sold them as the same model. Some people had S3 graphics.

**** That and Carmack's legendary sidescrolling hacks for the Commander
Keen series would get you a cup of coffee.