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But are the kids rediscovering those specific games? That's the "memory" we're talking about here. Flight simulation was very prominent as a genre in that time,

But are the kids rediscovering those specific games? That's the "memory" we're talking about here. Flight simulation was very prominent as a genre in that time, but it barely enters into the coverage of any present-day "history of video games", let alone topping the lists.

reaperducer 6y ago
But are the kids rediscovering those specific games? That's the "memory" we're talking about here. If you think it's only the kids' memories that matter, you must work for Google.
bitwize 6y ago
That probably has more to do with the fact that "history of video games" style retrospectives skew heavily towards arcade and console releases rather than computer games. If you are into retrocomputing, of course flight sims top the list of the most important titles. There are some systems for which a flight sim was the only graphical game ever officially released. For others, like the IBM PC, flight sims were a benchmark of compatibility in a time when compatibility didn't have a set definition -- vendors who could get the PC releases of MFS and Lotus running on their machines had a pretty solid claim to being "100% IBM compatible". So they are a critical part of the history of the platform. As for whether "the kids" are rediscovering them, they don't appear in classic game compilations (which, again, skew console-y), but retrocomputing YouTubers like the 8-Bit Guy and LGR rekindle interest in these titles. Inasmuch as young people are interested in classic computers, they will come across these old flight sims.
- rob74 6y ago
  OTOH, flight sims (especially on 8-bit and early 16-bit platforms) were pretty much the opposite of a "casual game" - you didn't only have to put up with the blocky graphics, you also had to memorize the keyboard layout, be motivated enough to master the steep learning curve etc. So these were pretty divisive games with a lot of die-hard fans, but I guess 80-90% of gamers (me included) would steer well clear of them, or try them once and give up...

reaperducer 6y ago

But are the kids rediscovering those specific games? That's the "memory" we're talking about here. If you think it's only the kids' memories that matter, you must work for Google.

bitwize 6y ago

That probably has more to do with the fact that "history of video games" style retrospectives skew heavily towards arcade and console releases rather than computer games. If you are into retrocomputing, of course flight sims top the list of the most important titles. There are some systems for which a flight sim was the only graphical game ever officially released. For others, like the IBM PC, flight sims were a benchmark of compatibility in a time when compatibility didn't have a set definition -- vendors who could get the PC releases of MFS and Lotus running on their machines had a pretty solid claim to being "100% IBM compatible". So they are a critical part of the history of the platform. As for whether "the kids" are rediscovering them, they don't appear in classic game compilations (which, again, skew console-y), but retrocomputing YouTubers like the 8-Bit Guy and LGR rekindle interest in these titles. Inasmuch as young people are interested in classic computers, they will come across these old flight sims.

rob74 6y ago
OTOH, flight sims (especially on 8-bit and early 16-bit platforms) were pretty much the opposite of a "casual game" - you didn't only have to put up with the blocky graphics, you also had to memorize the keyboard layout, be motivated enough to master the steep learning curve etc. So these were pretty divisive games with a lot of die-hard fans, but I guess 80-90% of gamers (me included) would steer well clear of them, or try them once and give up...