You remember the days. How excited you were when the Super Nintendo came out. It had 16 bits. That was double the bits of the Nintendo. We would brag about it and think how much better the system was. And how excited when we heard there was a 32 bit system coming out. But did any of us actually know what that meant? I know I didn't. I just knew it was awesome. But I was not the only one, bits were a big deal, Nintendo even named their console Nintendo 64 for its 64-bits.
It was not only the name but the commercials. Think about it, why did we even know how many bits there were in our systems? This was a marketing tactic that each system utilized to sell their systems. It was a simple way to sell the system to people who really did not know what technical specs were. And by doubling it each time it was easy for us, the consumer to think, oh it is two times better the last system so I had to get it.
Sure you had the looks of the graphics but having a number to throw around really helped. It is funny now that I think about it, I really did have no clue what bits were. It is interesting how things get positioned to us to sell. And when they do, they kind of take a life of there own. When people think that bits are a big deal you are sure to make sure you put 64 on your next system. When the PlayStation 2 came out, we dropped that and the big thing now is 4K graphics. But in my day it was all about the bits.
Does anyone know what bits really means?
*my upvotes/rep disclaimer: https://steemit.com/steemit/@whatageek/my-steemit-account-where-i-stand-on-bots-self-votes-and-multiple-account
Bits simply meant how much information the CPU could calculate each cycle (the megahertz/gigahertz controlled how many cycles per second). Basically, a 16-Bit console could calculate twice as much information per cycle as an 8-Bit console but half as much as a 32-Bit console.
There were other factors to think about, but we were hardly ever told about them, which effect the overall experience such as additional sound chips, graphics chips (like what the Turbo Grafx-16 made use of), etc.
As we saw with the Genesis versus SNES battle, just having more bits was not a guarantee of a better game as both systems had trash games that were obviously cash runs by the publisher. It still took skilled programmers and other members of the development group to make something truly awesome.
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amazing post.very interesting. I like your post very much.
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I don't know what bits mean :P I know what 32bit and 64bit is in computers.
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Before each bit mattered as it drastically affected the resolution of the game.
Nowadays most people have no care in the world haha.
They just load up their computer or smartphone and tap away
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Games have changed so much, now its all about the best graphics, and effects, and the best resolution, 4K 60FPS, but somehow they've forgotten the main important thing, the Storie. I know three are a lot of great games nowadays, but the joy and enthusiasm of the old games is kinda lost. Great post, really like it.
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I know that I will still being putting my name on the pre-order list for the SNES classic :)
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I remember the first computer games like castle. Basically you were walking around on a colorful piece of graph paper! One techno step above D & D using paper , dice and pen.
I never got into the game systems, but my son did. We bought one of the Adam computer/game system .
Thanks for the memories!
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You should follow my pixel art contest more often.
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I know, I love pixel art, please keep reminding me if I don't. I just followed you.
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Every Monday is the weekly theme announcement.
On Fridays I announce the top 3 entries, and then it goes to steemian votes to select the winner.
Sunday I announce the winner.
Wash, rinse, repeat
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