Last year while starting to consolidate my desktop software collection I stumbled across some older PC games. In a burst of nostalgia I decided to fire-up one of my all-time favorites: MechWarrior 2.
One of the early First-Person-Shooters (OK, in a walking tank, but this was mainly to overcome graphical limitations in the mid-1990's), this is the game that launched my interest in PCs.
The full color 640x480 3D graphics were a giant leap forward at the time, and provided my first immersive gaming experience. I spent many fun hours playing MechWarrior 2 and the follow-on 
expansion packs.
Even in compatibility mode, I could not get my edition of MW2 running in Windows XP, and my original Pentium-90 desktop had long ago transported to “computer heaven.” Microsoft had recently launched Virtual PC 2007, and I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to test-drive virtualization technology and re-live fond memories. So I installed Virtual PC, created an old-school Win95 client, and installed MW2.
It was an amazing and seductive experience seeing these familiar images on my 24" LCD panel: quite an upgrade from my original 14” CRT monitor! The intro movies were greatly enhanced by a thundering sub-woofer, drawing my son and his friends around my PC to see the action. I could see the cockpit controls, turn with the keyboard and mouse, and hear the familiar sounds. What a rush! Everything was fantastic, right up until I discovered that Virtual PC did not support devices requiring specific drivers. No support for a USB joystick?!?! A complete deal-breaker for this game, and a huge let-down.
I experienced in a new and visceral way how our customers sometimes feel when we come tantalizingly close to fulfilling their fondest desires and leave them just slightly short. We've been putting increasing energy into more comprehensive interoperability testing and more overall focus on delivering complete products. This experience added extra personal impetus.
Reminds me of the days (pre-2000 crash) when we would all load up MechWarrior Friday after work and go at it. Multi-player games at it's best!
Posted by: Michael Parks | August 18, 2008 at 06:13 PM