[karim79]

I couldn't agree with this comment more. If my memory serves me correctly, the next step up for me, in terms of being blown away, was when my dad gave me a Sound Blaster card (the very first one released, which was 8 bits, from Creative Labs as they were called back in the day). I hooked up a couple of really crappy analog speakers to the 286SX with an EGA card and monitor. That was the first time I experienced non BEEP BOP crappy sound on a PC.

...There were those games from Access Software which touted their Realsound tech, or whatever it was called. The Sound Blaster was, for me, the beginning of a newfound respect for PC hardware; I was no longer jealous of my friends who had their Amigas. I really miss the awe and wonder of those days. The days where every seemingly minor advancement actually served as a huge leap in terms of the experiential qualities of games. These days people whine about ray-tracing performance and having to play stuff at < 120FPS. I get it - I just really miss the "before times". Like the first time seeing an image rendered in full 256 colour VGA. </end oldtimer rant>