> The crucial bit is that the public had almost no way of knowing if a game was even playable before buying. I don't agree: computer games magazines were huge

> The crucial bit is that the public had almost no way of knowing if a game was even playable before buying. I don't agree: computer games magazines were huge back then, I remember reading and re-reading the reviews at school with my mates, even without the internet it wasn't hard to find out if a game was any good or not.