Original Xbox with Xecuter 3

The Gaming Setup

External Game Capture

Main Menu systems
PC Games List
Back in the day, games used to arrive in big boxes with mauals, art, discs and extras. Nowadays it's a simple download and you get nothing (ok, code) for your money. Some people form collections of games and Here is mine for the PC thus far.
PS2 Games List
Probably the best era in gaming. Before the consoles went online proper and the developers were putting out quality games. You can see my list Here.
Xbox 360 Gmes List
The twilight years for the console gamers. This is where we lost control of the consoles and Micrsoft and Sony took over. You can see my 360 list Here.

Windows 98 SE PC Build

PC Internal
The general release of WIndows 98 was back in June 1998 and the Second Edition which I am using (Win 98 SE) was released in May 1999. A significant time in computer history with the year 2000 bug looming. 98 was notorious for IRQ conflicts, protection faults and other nasty surprises like seemingly random lockups and hanging. I decided to build a machine around 98 because of the innovation of game companies at this time. Some fantastic software was released and a lot of Genre setting games were put out.

  PSU:                         400W Generic.
  Motherboard:          Asrock K7VT4A.
  CPU:                         Athlon XP 1200.
  Primary Graphics:   Geforce 6800 GT 256Mb.
  Dedicated 3D:         Orchid Righteous 3D II 3Dfx Voodoo 2 PCI Graphics Card.
  Sound Card:            Aureal Vortex2 A3D SQ2500 Optical SPDIF AU8830 Rev. A2.
  Speakers:                Creative Labs Gigaworks T20 Series II.
  Hard Disc:               80Gb.
  RAM:                        256Mb.
  Floppy:                     GoTek Floppy Emulator.
  HDD Mod:                PATA IDE TO SATA Converter Adapter Module.
  DVD ROM:               Pioneer 1.06.
  CDROM:                  Disabled.
PC Internal



At this stage, 3D was being pushed pretty hard by 3DFX, Matrox and NVidia, which was producing healthy competition. Direct X was also pushing effects and cards with the developers having more room to realise their creations. This for me, was a significant time in gaming. Dungeon Seige, Warcraft 3, GTA Vice City all within a couple of years of the platofrm being released. Some of the games from 1999-2005 are still very popular today, although most are (understandably) a niche market.

I intend to use this piece of retro history to complete some Longplays and reviews of the games from this era, so that a new generation may take a shine to it or just the old guys reliving the glory days may decide to watch them. Either way, I hope you enjoy what this era in gaming has to offer regardless of where you get it from.