Earlier quoted context omitted.
> When I was a youngster in the early 90s [...] most homes didn't have a computer "Most homes" might be technically correct, but home computers were a thing since the late 70s, and really taking off in the early 1980s withe the ZX81, ZX Spectrum, VIC 20, Commodore 64, and a myriad of others, depending on your geography. > Almost nobody my age was playing computer games, only people working in industry. This, of cours…
I think you should allow people to share their own anecdotes and recollection of their own childhood. Its not like this person claimed that this was the case for all of the world, all of the US or all of their state. Maybe few/nobody his age where he lived was playing computer games, how can you know if that is nonsense?
A history of Hup, the jump sound of shooting games
61–70 of 107 posts
Re: A history of Hup, the jump sound of shooting games
#62I wish someone did an article on that sound too!
Re: A history of Hup, the jump sound of shooting games
#63Re: A history of Hup, the jump sound of shooting games
#64The 'hup' for me will always be associated with Quake, as I played that for a long time. When I was a youngster in the early 90s, a grade school classmate of mine had a huge computer network at home. His dad worked for the (local) Washington, DC NBC affiliate as one of their system engineers. Their house was fully networked mecca of multiple Unix, Windows, and Apple machines on different floors. Back then most homes…
Re: A history of Hup, the jump sound of shooting games
#65There is this explosion-like “swoosh” sound that was emitted in Doom by one of the big baddies, and ever since I played that game as a kid I’ve heard it in all sorts of TV shows, movies, and other games. I wish someone did an article on that sound too!
Re: A history of Hup, the jump sound of shooting games
#66The 'hup' for me will always be associated with Quake, as I played that for a long time. When I was a youngster in the early 90s, a grade school classmate of mine had a huge computer network at home. His dad worked for the (local) Washington, DC NBC affiliate as one of their system engineers. Their house was fully networked mecca of multiple Unix, Windows, and Apple machines on different floors. Back then most homes…
> What I think of as the golden age of FPS games happened shortly after, in 98, with the release of Half-Life and Unreal. I think there are two components to this: the quality of the games and the community. Modern shooters like Overwatch are amazing. Where they tend to falter: 1. Lack of emergent gameplay (circle jumping, bunny hopping, conc grenade jumping) 2. Curated experience (matchmaking) is inferior to communi…
Re: A history of Hup, the jump sound of shooting games
#67Huh, I never would have guessed. And yet — and several readers here with me I guess — reading that sentence immediately retrieves that sound from wherever my brain was keeping it and plays it internally (on repeat). Playing Quake I as a teenager on a LAN with friends must've had an impact.
Re: A history of Hup, the jump sound of shooting games
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you should allow people to share their own anecdotes and recollection of their own childhood. Its not like this person claimed that this was the case for all of the world, all of the US or all of their state. Maybe few/nobody his age where he lived was playing computer games, how can you know if that is nonsense?
He's right though. Home PCs exploded in the early 90s. He said he was in DC. What he's saying is just not accurate at all. I grew up in a small Midwest town and tons of people had computers in the early 90s. Most people had a PC and internet by the late 90s. It was the heyday of Doom for crying out loud.
First you had to be able to afford one, even second hand 286's in the early 90's were a moderate expense for many families.
I was absolutely the abnormal one of my peer group in school when I had pre-existing computer knowledge from home for "computer class". Certainly the only one at all into gaming on it, other than friends enjoying coming over to play random games at times.
Entering high school in the mid-90's there were only maybe a half dozen to dozen kids who you could remotely describe as "PC Gamers" - but plenty of console folks who you could at least talk with. Only a small handful who regularly used BBS' or knew what a MUD was or the like.
I think for "most houses had a PC by then" might be accurate for houses with school-age children (as it was a powerful meme by then you needed one for schoolwork), but I don't recall a single childless relative having one other than the hacker uncle who taught me. The vast majority of my peers who had PCs or Macs at home never really used them other than as-prescribed for word processing or whatnot - a lot lacked the hardware (math coprocessors, sound card, a bit later graphics accelerators) to really interest most kids when they had been exposed to arcades and the NES by then.
It rapidly shifted around 93-95 or so, but the years fly by so I could be off a couple. I remember distinctly going from being the only one who had ever heard of the Internet to being asked daily about how to get hooked up. Crazy rates of change compared to today's relatively stagnant industry.
Re: A history of Hup, the jump sound of shooting games
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
> When I was a youngster in the early 90s [...] most homes didn't have a computer "Most homes" might be technically correct, but home computers were a thing since the late 70s, and really taking off in the early 1980s withe the ZX81, ZX Spectrum, VIC 20, Commodore 64, and a myriad of others, depending on your geography. > Almost nobody my age was playing computer games, only people working in industry. This, of cours…
I think you should allow people to share their own anecdotes and recollection of their own childhood. Its not like this person claimed that this was the case for all of the world, all of the US or all of their state. Maybe few/nobody his age where he lived was playing computer games, how can you know if that is nonsense?
Re: A history of Hup, the jump sound of shooting games
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
> When I was a youngster in the early 90s [...] most homes didn't have a computer "Most homes" might be technically correct, but home computers were a thing since the late 70s, and really taking off in the early 1980s withe the ZX81, ZX Spectrum, VIC 20, Commodore 64, and a myriad of others, depending on your geography. > Almost nobody my age was playing computer games, only people working in industry. This, of cours…
This strikes me as a bit pedantic as both of you are somewhat right and ultimately a lot of the assessments have been pretty subjective/qualitative. I tend to lean towards the other guy’s characterization personally, but I wouldn’t say you’re wrong . Part of it is that we have to recognize the video game industry dwarfs all other media right now - but in the early 90’s? Not even close. Yes gaming existed prior, inclu…
Things changed very fast after 1994, though. I think by 1998, everyone I knew had a desktop at home, even if they didn't play videogames.