Demo Disc

A minute’s silence in memory of the demo disc, if you please. Coup de grâced by broadband, the wafer of wonders* that once clung limpet-like to the front cover of almost every games mag is no more. Denied these monthly mix tapes, the gamer of today is, I reckon, less inclined to reconnoitre and genre-flit than their predecessor. Because in 2024 you rarely find yourself installing kite flying sims, apian Settlers clones, and puzzle games inspired by Underground Railroad quilts, out of boredom-tinged curiosity, there’s less chance of unlikely love affairs blossoming.

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D-Day Defeats

The dense ‘D-Day 80’ coverage on British TV and radio has shaped my reading and gaming this week. Stephen Ambrose’s Pegasus Bridge has been reminding me just how close Operation Coup de Main came to failure and just how gruesome warfare can be at ground level. And Command Ops 2 has been reminding me just how rusty my Command Ops 2 skills are, and sad it is that Panther Games has never tackled Overlord head-on or produced a squad-level title.

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Dusty But Trusty: MechWarrior 2

To qualify for a Dusty But Trusty article, a game must be old enough to vote in Nicaragua, buy tobacco in Djibouti, and make the beast with two backs in Nepal. More importantly, it must be demonstrably super, smashing, great, ace, wizard, bonzer, the knees of the bee, the testicles of the dog, and the whiskers and pyjamas of the cat. You don’t need rose-tinted pince-nez or a cutting-edge pixel pump to enjoy 24 karat golden oldies like… MechWarrior 2.

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