Gaming at 50 years old

[Aces_High]

What a fantastic thread! Turning 54 soon and been a gamer since my Spectrum 48k. Ah those days of Computer & Video Games or Personal Computer Weekly, typing in code line by line…messing up one symbol and the damn thing never working…..or the joys of tape loading and taking 2 days to get The Hobbit to load…then getting stuck at the trolls clearing for the longest time then solving it completely by accident.

I remember the fab colours of SabreWulf, the amazing JSW and of course Manic Miner….then onto the BBC Model B…Atari…happy times. Jeez, then a gap till the PC and Rome: Total War….HL2…Quake III Arena….Serious Sam…Wolfenstein…Far Cry…Uncharted series…Resi Evil…GTA series…..sorry, I’ll stop. What a trip! Just realised how important games have been to my life. Wistful now.

To the OP, all I’d say is that if you want to truly lose yourself in another world, no games come close to The Witcher 3 (stick with it, it’s a slow start but becomes absolutely amazing and the two DLCs are even better still) and for me, finally, the masterpiece that was The Last of Us (1). That game packs such an emotional punch I still think about it a decade later. Never have I wanted to protect a fictional daughter figure as much as in that game.

I need to buy a PC again.

[boyse7en]

Mirinjawbro said:

what do people think is the main reason/s for not playing games as much as when we were younger?

back from age 6-17 i played so much i had to be banned from playing as i never did anything else.

now these days i need reasons to play and cant get into them as i used to.

are games worse? or is aging just something that was always going to happen?

Kids
Cooking
Gardening
Fixing stuff
hoovering
cleaning
taking the kids to sports...


And when you have done all that, have an hour to yourself and fire up a game, it usually says it needs an update and starts a 30 minute download and install... at which point i give up and go and watch TV

[UTH]

What I need to do is stop following Mrs UTH when she goes to bed between 8 and 9 and then wasting 2 hours watching TV in bed, and stay in the living room and get back into my PS5!! Can't remember when it was last turned on, which is such poor form from a supposed gamer.

[HRL]

47 here so not as old as some on this thread but I bought myself a Steam Deck for Christmas and it has helped me start to clear my Steam backlog.

The instant resume feature has made PC gaming pick up and play again, even with limited gaming time.

Great when my son goes to Karate or cadets and I can squeeze in another 90 mins here and there.

Currently downloading the Nolvus mod package for Skyrim as I started yet another new game via the Steam Deck. If it works as well as I’ve been led to believe I’ll end up completing Skyrim on my desktop PC and then play something different on the Deck instead.

Currently downloading and installing 2054 mods for Skyrim over our peasant broadband. It’s going to take some time!

[UTH]

HRL said:

47 here so not as old as some on this thread but I bought myself a Steam Deck for Christmas and it has helped me start to clear my Steam backlog.

The instant resume feature has made PC gaming pick up and play again, even with limited gaming time.

Great when my son goes to Karate or cadets and I can squeeze in another 90 mins here and there.

Currently downloading the Nolvus mod package for Skyrim as I started yet another new game via the Steam Deck. If it works as well as I’ve been led to believe I’ll end up completing Skyrim on my desktop PC and then play something different on the Deck instead.

Currently downloading and installing 2054 mods for Skyrim over our peasant broadband. It’s going to take some time!

What's a steam deck, not a clue what one is but have seen it mentioned

[Kowalski655]

58 year old gamer here, always been a fan of flight Sims and they have never been better, love MSFS, XP-11(need to upgrade!) IL-2, even DCS. VR is a game changer.
Also so many slower, story driven games like Firewatch, that don't need the reactions of a 14 year old hyped up on Red Bull

[Hedgedhog]

boyse7en said:

And when you have done all that, have an hour to yourself and fire up a game, it usually says it needs an update and starts a 30 minute download and install... at which point i give up and go and watch TV

This is one (of many) reason that I stopped playing COD games. Not only is there a massive update every other day but the shaders need rebuilding slowly every time graphics drivers are updated. The two combined makes it impossible to every just jump in for a quick game.

[HRL]

UTH said:

What's a steam deck, not a clue what one is but have seen it mentioned

https://www.steamdeck.com/en/

It’s a Linux portable PC running Steam OS. Links to a new or existing Steam account and runs pretty much any Steam title. It’s also very good for emulating consoles too.

Have got it setup to play old Nintendo and Sega consoles, plus Switch emulation.

The Steam Deck isn’t amazingly powerful but it only has a 1280x800 screen so even recent games generally play pretty well on it. Games a few years old work flawlessly even on high settings.

Cracking bit of kit for the money, especially the newer OLED model.

[UTH]

HRL said:

UTH said:

What's a steam deck, not a clue what one is but have seen it mentioned

https://www.steamdeck.com/en/

It’s a Linux portable PC running Steam OS. Links to a new or existing Steam account and runs pretty much any Steam title. It’s also very good for emulating consoles too.

Have got it setup to play old Nintendo and Sega consoles, plus Switch emulation.

The Steam Deck isn’t amazingly powerful but it only has a 1280x800 screen so even recent games generally play pretty well on it. Games a few years old work flawlessly even on high settings.

Cracking bit of kit for the money, especially the newer OLED model.

Oh right, like a 2024 gameboy! Would this play old PC games from my youth, like Command and Conquer?

[HRL]

UTH said:

Oh right, like a 2024 gameboy! Would this play old PC games from my youth, like Command and Conquer?

Yep, pretty much. And funnily enough the C&C Ultimate Collection is on sale at 50% off on the Steam Store currently.

All of the C&C games for £9.68.

EDIT: Would like to point out that the Steam Deck also has dual track pads, although you can use a wireless mouse too if you prefer.

Edited by HRL on Monday 18th March 20:13

[spants]

I am 60+ and I am active on COD. My reaction time isnt as good as it was but still at lvl 450+
I also enjoy LittleBigSnake - a browser based game (lvl 850+)

[robsa]

53 year old here. Been playing since I got my second-hand ZX81 in 1981.

The best games I have ever played are Last of Us and Last of Us 2. I believe the first is out on the PC and the second imminently? I loved these so much they kind of spoiled gaming for me for a while, because nothing else came close in terms of story, direction, thrills and scares and so on.

Witcher 3 is my second favourite game ever, just huge and brilliant and the add-on packs are brilliant too.

I started playing RDR2 but lost interest, but maybe I will give it another go after I finish Assassins Creed Odyssey.

[Whistle]

robsa said:

53 year old here. Been playing since I got my second-hand ZX81 in 1981.

The best games I have ever played are Last of Us and Last of Us 2. I believe the first is out on the PC and the second imminently? I loved these so much they kind of spoiled gaming for me for a while, because nothing else came close in terms of story, direction, thrills and scares and so on.

Witcher 3 is my second favourite game ever, just huge and brilliant and the add-on packs are brilliant too.

I started playing RDR2 but lost interest, but maybe I will give it another go after I finish Assassins Creed Odyssey.

I am into the same type of games.

Have a go at Days Gone, give it about 6 hours play to get into it, you won’t regret it.

I am currently on my 3rd time playing it over 200 hours,

[Gnits]

RizzoTheRat said:

Gnits said:

Recently been sucked into VR:
S
Been spending some time recently in DCS in Hueys, Paradise Lost campaign is the reason you get the Huey - VietGuam baby!
Am just moving on the Gazelle now and it is incredible how different it feels to the UH1.

Does DCS work with VR? I have Starwars Squadrons which feels impressive in VR, and love the idea of a Hueuy in VR, especially as I'm currently rereading Chickenhawk . I'm guessing I'd need to upgrade form from GTX1080 and first gen Rift though.

For VR in general, Superhot VR is awesome.

Yep DCS works a treat in VR, I am using an Index and there are no issues. Paradise Lost does benefit from being very well done but also cos each mission is a cold start with no help, you have to learn how to start up a Huey, set up your radios etc which really added to it for me. I enjoyed the learning to fly and how to operate it.
Chickenhawk was good, there are a few few other good books like that. If DCS does a Cobra I will be all over that!

[Kowalski655]

It does have the Apache, which is kind of similar
I've no idea if it's good as I'm crap at helicopters, although I did get 4 when on sale for something like $20 the lot

[toasty]

If anyone wants a low stress relaxing game, I recommend Dave the Diver. Catch fish for sushi restaurant, earn funds for better weapons and dive deeper.

[robsa]

Whistle said:

I am into the same type of games.

Have a go at Days Gone, give it about 6 hours play to get into it, you won’t regret it.

I am currently on my 3rd time playing it over 200 hours,

Nice one, I'll give it a go!

[Turtle Shed]

I'm 60.

My prime time of gaming was the Megadrive, SNES and then N64 era. None of this online stuff or downloading things. Plug in the cart and play. The original Sonic, Pilotwings, Mario 64 and Diddy Kong racing were my favourites, though plenty of of others spring to mind.

I've dabbled a bit with gaming again over the years, currently have an Xbox one which I bought years ago. The only game that has grabbed me for quite some time is Red Dead Redemption II. It is superb.

Spent a fair bit of time on Dark Souls 3, but never got anywhere near finishing it. Tried Elden Ring, and whilst I can see it's a masterpiece, it's too hard.

[hungry_hog]

Of the 1976 vintage here so not far off!

Was a huge gamer from age 8-30
so that took me from

C64 - Megadrive - SNES - N64 - PS1 - PS2

PS3 + 4, I bought but didn't bond with. PS5 I won't be buying
I find the games so derivative - same old - GT, GTA, FIFA, PES, COD

I don't think the latest GT or PES play any better than the old ones. Just better GFX. In fact PES has got worse.

The current system that I like is the Switch, but the killer games for that (Zelda, mario) have been and gone, so I sold up while the console and games had some value.

Next console I buy will be Switch 2

I don't have as much time to play games but the Switch was great for the commute!

[AKjr]

I am 36, so a bit younger than the cohort in here, but I have been gaming almost all of my days and I am not about to stop!

Keep it up folks, great thread