As for Kindle/iBooks vs. real books? I am currently reading Atlas Shrugged on my iPad and iPhone (depends which I have with me). On the other hand, I like the feel and, oddly enough, the smell of an actual hardcover book and don’t mind reading them that way, either. Where ebooks make the difference for me is storage. I have 8 bookshelves full of books that I don’t want to get rid of. Kindle and iBooks are great because I don’t have to have it on my device unless I need it.

I’ve got an 80 MHz system in the basement running Windows 95 specifically so I can play Doom and Descent.

Not that I use it anymore, because I’ve discovered the Doomsday Engine:

http://dengine.net/

Software that lets you play Doom in Windows with majorly upgraded graphic effects.

Doom never looked so good.

Sure, they accomplish the same task…but I do it in style. And console gamers are stuck with their hardware…I can keep upgrading whenever I want. I have a monster that is too big to fit on an airplane and requires liquid coolant to keep it from bursting into flames. In my book, that is awesome.

And I never liked Steam until more recently, because it actually makes it easy to find, buy, and manage games. Like, I can uninstall games with a click and free up HD space, then turn around and reinstall the games no problem. And they have great package deals for guys like me that missed out on whole series of games, like Call of Duty which I finally played all of not too long ago. But I don’t much care for multiplayer and whatnot, which is the original point of Steam.

And Harvey: you can play Steam games offline. There is a mode for that.

And in 20 years, you will most likely not be able to play Doom. At least, not easily. A lot of great games are no longer playable without a lot of headache to get them running. I gave up on both Star Wars Rebellion, and Aces of the Pacific/Europe a long time ago. And the original Wolfenstein 3D? Looks horrible…if you can even get it running.

Then again using steam is more or less a question of convenience for the gamer, which clearly many people are willing to accept.

Back in the 80′s, I had the TRS-80 Color Computer with a mind-boggling 4k of RAM.

I actually wrote programs for it in BASIC that were too big for the memory to hold.

@6 – Yeah, I just finished a physical book last week. Great story, but reading is SO much easier when you can set your Kindle down & poke it occasionally instead of having to hold a book open while your fingers sweat all over the cover and your hands keep cramping.

Anyone ever play the “Close Combat” series? Real-time WWII combat. The AI engine is so realistic, the Marine Corps uses it. You can play offline, don’t any stupid online account, AND, you can play head-to-head armed with nothing more than your buddy’s IP address. And you don’t need the disc to play, either!

And did I mention, Death to Steam?

I’ve been playing video games since we first got Atari in the late 70′s. Also played my fair share on the TRS-80; also wrote my first programs on the TRS-80, too!

What if I just want to sit out in a cabin in the woods and play a damn game?

And what if Steam goes out of business? All your games become worthless.

20 years later, I can still play Doom if I want. 20 years from now, will you be able to play Hitman?

Harvey,
Thanks for letting me talk video games. And I like Steam because I no longer have to put in a disk for each game I want to play. I hate how modern PC games made me load 10GB on my harddrive yet still made me have the disk to start. Archaic.

Which Steam destroyed.

I *really* miss being able to just put in a disc and play a game without being hassled by some faceless online corporate buzzkiller startup screen.

Will you ever post your Steam ID so we can friend you? I’m mikeszekely, here and on Steam (and just about everywhere online).