Re: Why doesn't the Apple II have a gaming community like C64, Atari, DOS, etc

[Sean Fahey <a2fan@hotmail.com>]

On Monday, March 12, 2012 12:48:45 PM UTC-5, N.N. Thayer wrote:

> I think it's because the Apple II only had a very brief time to shine
> as a gaming platform.

I agree with some of what you said, and disagree too.

The Apple's gaming popularity window is probably much longer, 78/79 through 85/86, practically an eternity in gaming technology time. The IIGS gaming scene was too little, too late to the party to save Apple II gaming (or even the platform as a whole).

Many of the most iconic games of the era were released on the Apple II first before being ported to the C64 and Atari. I can think of only a few quality 8-bit titles (M.U.L.E. for example) that came out for other platforms and which skipped the II that were missed.

The Apple's gaming demise ended the same way as nearly all the other platforms did for 2 major reasons - it was the end of an era:

The IBM PC clone market exploded in popularity and ate their lunch. The C64 gaming market held on for a little while, just out of sheer mass but the PC became the defacto gaming platform for home computers late in the 80's and through the 90's.

The Nintendo Entertainment System was released and consoles finally had decent graphics and sound that were worth a damn at a price that competed with bargain basement home computers. Consoles have been spanking PC's ever since.

I don't feel there is a correlation with the lack of gaming sites for the Apple II and it's popularity as a gaming machine. We've had a few over the years; virtualapple.org comes to mind, and others have come and gone. I'm more inclined to believe it's for lack of interest in running a gaming themed site more than anything to do with the Apple II's popularity.