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How old were you?


Danial

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I was just wondering how old everyone was back in 1993/1994 when UFO/X-COM came out?

 

I remember it distinctly. I was 14 and in Grade 10. I'd just gotten my first computer and a friend gave me the game to install... Ahh, the memories :D

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Lemme see, December 31 1993 would have placed me at 21 years old starting on my 6th semester at the local university. (Kind of an old fart back then compared to most of you blokes). I really didn't hear about X-COM till the fall of '95 when a buddy of mine at the university in Milwaukee let me borrow a whole slug of games for my Playstation. I had a sweet rig for games at that time, a brand new Playstation, a widescreen TV with PIP and S-Video connections and the audio routed through my receivers loudspeakers. X-COM quickly stood out from the crowd of other titles and I immediately purchased my first copy (used) at Funcoland for $10 USD. Best purchase I ever made. When that copy was stolen during a move in 2000, I was heartbroken and managed to survive for a couple years without it. Then when I rediscovered the internet in 2002 I purchased a copy off eBay for the price of $9.95 and haven't stopped playing it. I wish I had the foresight to purchase a few more copies as they can go for as much as $100 now! :)

 

Now I use the computer version because it makes testing so much easier, but I still play the PSX version from time to time. No Blaster Bomb vertical waypoint bug, no Proxy Grenade bug, the ability to open doors without going through them and the ability to end a mission by MC'ing all the aliens are the primary reasons why. A drawback of course is the huge load times, but that just keeps you honest since reloading a mission can be a minute-long affair. :D

 

- Zombie

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I was 7/8, in 2nd grade, and had no idea what VGA was. I have to wonder if I had already had a CGA at the time, or was I still stuck on the black & white color palette. I heard about X-COM in 1996 or 1997, can't remember. M Then one day in 1998, dad brought his PC from work (they had gotten new ones) with ye ol' 486. Ah, good years. :D
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I was but a nipper of twelve in 1994, and first played it on a friend's computer. Quickly became hooked, played it to the point where he let me borrow the game just to get me out of his house. I didn't give it back until 1995, when I bought the PSX version.
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Hrm, I must have been about nine at the time... My parents either got our first "real" computer that year or the one after. A 486DX2 it was, pretty much the best money could buy. How it aged...

 

Well, I already knew how to play games, and I may have even started programming back then (on the Amstrad and BBC Micro boxes I also had access to). But I didn't actually hear anything about UFO until at least '95 when I saw a review for it in a PC Format mag (still have that, it's a double page thing).

 

As for the first time I saw the game in action, that wouldn't be at least for a couple of years by which time I'd moved country. Not that it was terribly impressive, someone had brought their disks along to a birthday party but forgotten to bring the manual (with the copy protection codes in it).

 

Another year or two on and I finally got to PLAY the game. Not sure how old I would have been then, must have been at least 15.

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I was eleven years old in 1996, when I first played X-COM.

 

I was a most unusual child-gamer. At the time, the only thing I would play were text adventures like Battletech and turn based strategies like Master of Orion 2. Made it really hard to talk gaming with the other kids at school, who were always into the latest Playstation or Nintendo 64 game.

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My first encounter with X-COM was the TFTD demo. I got it on the demo CD of some gaming magazine, and played it to death. The atmosphere, music, enemies and so on was mind blowing! Tested the full game in a computer store shortly thereafter, and bought it. I think this must have been sometime in 1995, putting me at 15 years old. After that I also got hold of UFO: Enemy Unknown, enjoying it as much or more. After this, in 1997 likely, I found Fallout... Those were the days! Where did all the good games go? :D
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  • 3 weeks later...
Ah, 1994. Finally broke down, sold my Amiga 500 and got a PC that year ... when it became apparent Commodore was doomed. I was 15 going on 16 at the time. UFO was one of the first PC games I got ... along with Doom and Master of Orion.
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I first saw X-Com in 1995. I was unemployed and living with my brother, dead broke and down on my luck ... and my brother had x-com on his computer. I played the HECK out of that game. Later, when I moved to Japan, I started to miss it, and told him about it: and my brother bought me a copy of the collector's edition. Awesome brother, eh?
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  • 3 months later...

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