The Rise & Fall of Shareware Gaming

The Adrenaline Vault has a new article online called "The Rise and Fall of Shareware Gaming". In it, the article details the author's perceptions on the importance (or lack thereof) of gaming shareware nowadays, and the Internet's impact on all this. Scott Miller of Apogee/3D Realms features in this article, and is consulted several times by the article's author, Bob Mandel. Scott talks about his infamous set of letters to John Romero (then of Softdisk), and several other "origin of Apogee" stories. This is a quote from the author about his feelings about gaming..

I know I must sound like some old codger yearning for the good old days. But you should know I would not give up the bells-and-whistles of today's state-of-the-art 3D video accelerated, 3D sound enhanced games for anything. At the same time, I cannot help but be wistful for the simpler days of the golden age of game shareware, where the relationships between game buyers and game developers were so much closer and more mutually rewarding, where solid gameplay took precedence over slick presentation, and where creativity and innovation rather than financial support were the keys to success.

This is a good look on gaming shareware, and worth your time to read. Check it out!

Posted by Joe Siegler on September 30, 1998 at 1:00 PM | Permalink
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