hello,
so i collect and play old games and recently i got into old pc gaming! like the pre-steam days and all that
but that isn't what i'm talking about today!
my quote-unquote interest in these games spans back a little bit before, since one of my aunts gave me a few games from her frequent trips to garage sales. i don't remember what they were but i distinctly remember one of the plants vs zombies garden warfare games and an assassin's creed? there were a lot of xbox 360 games, mostly ones i didn't care for (as i didn't have a 360 at that time)
i sold most of the games but the one that i somehow managed to keep was a copy of sims 2. at the time, i was new to the world of game collecting, so i made many, many mistakes early on, some of which still bite me to this day. one of those was thinking old pc games would not work on new computers, rendering them unusable unless i had a computer that ran windows xp or smth. (it's possible for games of that age to work on modern stuff, but you might need to do some tinkering but it may vary)
oh, how naive i was a few years ago...
but anyways, the copy was all fine, discs were okay, but it was missing the manual. which wouldn't be a semi-small issue if it didn't contain the code to activate the product! argh!
for those that don't know, pc games came with a little code called a pc key, which was basically an anti-piracy measure or a way to register your game to your computer. i'm unsure.
but now that the explanation is over, i bet you're thinking "jade you silly goose!!! why not look up a potentially malware-ridden website to find a cd key so you can play a sixteen maybe seventeen, eighteen at most year old game at the time!"
remember when i said that i thought old games wouldn't work on new computers? i was super stuck in that mindset, so i never even put the disc in a computer to try it out, meaning i would've had no knowledge regarding the cd key.
anyway, i had the copy laying around collecting dust for a few years, when i decided to sell it. HOWEVER, luck was playing tricky around that time, so imagine my surprise when i get gifted ANOTHER copy of the sims 2 without a manual by the same aunt! which i still have!!
that busted top part isn't just for show. the game came like that, and so did the other one i had before. i swear they're different copies.
four discs containing 3.5 gb of life simulation goodness locked away behind a code on the back of a book made out of air. shoutout to that copy of double dragon 2 that had to hear me think of that sentence.
i don't know how something like that happens. is my aunt like an agent for maxis/ea and wants me to succumb to supposed peak life simulation? does she have a direct pipeline to will wright who's probably super nice and just gave me a copy through her? is there a huge conspiracy with people who operate garage sales to give my aunt their copies of sims 2 and just conveniently leave the manual out as their calling card?
i'm not sure at all! but i swear that someday, i don't know when, i will play the sims 2.
or die trying!
thanks for reading,
-jade