Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Rockdog on August 27, 2014, 08:09:06 AM
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I know there are a bunch of you still around, but who remembers?
Any of you have screen caps or video of the old days? I think it would be cool to compare where we came from on our 14.4k dial up and no textures to where we are now. It's amazing how far HiTech and Pyro have brought this simulator over the years. Every time I see some complaining about the slow progress I have to shake my head.
Thank you for staying with it HiTech (and team)!
Though life has had me drift away a few times, I always seem to find myself coming home.
RAJI
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I have no film only memories of AW furballs over A/B and A/C land. The fights were a blast but I much prefer the AH game today. I recently found and installed my Falcon 3.0 disks. The graphics back in the day were satisfying but they look like vomit today. I imagine installing and running AW would bring the same experience. I liked AW but I like AH even more.
:salute
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I have AW on a CD (still have the CD), now compared to then is like wright brothers to jets
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I used to play WarBirds and even Air Warrior (I think) in the late 1990s when I was a wee lad of 12 or so. I had no idea of ACM back then (just turn and burn) but I did catch the bug. It was only in 2012 that I came back to flight sims, starting with Aces High. Now I'm glad to be back "home" too :aok
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There are some videos on youtube.
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Shout out to my Italian boys of the 51° Stormo 'Gato Nero'! They taught me the joys of flying online in Air Warrior many moons ago. :salute
AH beta was a revelation to me back then and I've been coming back ever since. I wonder what the future holds!
:noid
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In Air Warrior I was "DDY" and "YYZ", and for a time was in the Avengers squad. Only flew FR unless the arena was down. yayyyy! :salute
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Ugh. Yeah, I remember them. Heck, I remember calling a local BBS on a 300 Baud (this one). When I got my Commodore 64, I went out and paid $200 for this puppy... (http://www.4freeimagehost.com/show.php?i=2478c7f47051.jpg).
I was floored on how fast it was compared to the old 300 baud modem. And when the 9.6k came out, I had a PC running a AM486 (overclocked) and a CD with Air Warriors from the PC Management. I think I had to connect to AirWarriors through CompuCom(?) and it was like $100 a month or something stupid - late 1980s-1990s. And then Warbirds came out in 1995 - that was a game-changer.
And then in late 1999, Aces High came out.
Nuff said.
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There's some neat old stuff on the web:
(https://tagn.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/mustangmacii.jpg)
(https://tagn.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/may89pricehike.jpg)
(https://tagn.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/july90improvedairwarrior.jpg)
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Awesome the new update is fantastic :aok
Cheers Hitech :)
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Did Air Warrior on Genie at $6/hour. I knew a guy that had a 4 digit bill one month….which was also his last month of flying when his wife found out. I was home on a work comp injury and wracked up a $300 bill. IIRC started with a 2400 baud modem….eventually up to 14.4.
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I know there are a bunch of you still around, but who remembers?
Any of you have screen caps or video of the old days? I think it would be cool to compare where we came from on our 14.4k dial up and no textures to where we are now. It's amazing how far HiTech and Pyro have brought this simulator over the years. Every time I see some complaining about the slow progress I have to shake my head.
Thank you for staying with it HiTech (and team)!
Though life has had me drift away a few times, I always seem to find myself coming home.
RAJI
A big :aok on that!
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Amazing, what one can find on YT! :O
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gFuqEDTpzc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gFuqEDTpzc)
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I started playing Air Warrior in 1988 when it looked like this (only black and white, as I was playing on a Mac SE):
(http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/591555-air-warrior-atari-st-screenshot-time-to-take-offs.png)
I *LOVED* it, but I didn't play much until the early 1990's as it was too expensive (at $12/hour). In the early 1990's, I played a lot once it became available on the PC. It first looked like the above picture but improved over time. The later SVGA version for the PC looked like this:
(http://electraforge.com/brooke/flightsims/scenarios/longbow/pics/p1f2/lb_p1f2_0096_b17-5hit.jpg)
I played in the first scenario when they were invented by DoK and loved scenarios from then on. Pics of the action of those past scenarios (including the 18 frame mega-scenario "Longbow") is here: http://electraforge.com/brooke/flightsims/scenarios/scenarios.html (http://electraforge.com/brooke/flightsims/scenarios/scenarios.html)
Tales from the early days of Air Warrior are given here by DoK: http://www.gonzoville.com/games/t-rex-ala-mode/ (http://www.gonzoville.com/games/t-rex-ala-mode/)
I wrote a manual on ACM for Air Warrior ( http://electraforge.com/brooke/flightsims/air_warrior/awtaman.txt ), helped to start the Air Warrior Training Academy (AWTA), and helped to found the first organization devoted to making and running scenarios (the Scenario Masters' Guild).
I flew in the last flight in Air Warrior (on Dec. 7, 2001, the 60th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor).
After the demise of Air Warrior, I looked around for the best on-line flying with the best community, and of course found Aces High. It is a dream come true.
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My first venture was when they first tried to get the Vox to work. It didn't so never went back till a couple of years ago. Vox works great now. :aok
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By the way, the early map for Air Warrior was like this, and was about 1.5 sectors by 1.5 sectors (using AH sectors) in size. Air Warrior sectors were 12 miles by 12 miles (compared to our 25 miles by 25 miles).
(http://tagn.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/pacifictheater.png)
Later, it looked like this, still small by our standards:
(http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/401423-air-warrior-dos-screenshot-off-line-playing-theatre-maps.png)
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In 1988 my roommate played Air Warrior. He was Damnd sldr. I would fire up his PC when he was out and play on his account. By 93 he and I worked for Sound Blaster's biggest competition Media Vision. By that time my AW time was paid for by the company along with equipment from our partner Thrust Master to test out. Media Vision wanted me testing sound cards in the game so I could do support calls if any came in.
Around that time 999000 met my squad "The Thunder Riders" when we were checking out a report of an interesting bug. If you flew a spit9 upside down behind a B17 the gunners couldn't shoot you down. 999000 promptly shot all 6 of us down. He has been shooting me down for a very long time.......I still think he was the source of that spurious bug info just to pad his kills score.
And in AW2 I met a really hot stick named deadf. We used to go at it, him in an La5 and me in a spit9.
A shade of sldr, bstr, b_str, mduce, bustr.
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I was Zoney back in Air Warrior days and flew it for many years. I had way too may bills above 500.00 and then they finally went to a monthly subscription, thank goodness. I flew with Deth7 back in the day in the Pigstompers Squadron. We Kill No Swine, Before It's Time!
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Do you guys think the gameplay in AW was more fun than AH?
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Do you guys think the gameplay in AW was more fun than AH?
Air Warrior was awesome for its time and great, great fun, but Aces High is even better.
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By AW3 and AWMill it got to be a lot like AH is now with all of the professional fight evaders who use alt as ACM to HO and run away at 500mph+. I suspect the players with ability and the willingness to fight had left for WB or FA by then. I was getting the sense parents were using AW to babysit their amoral little monsters. But, then we have grown men 30-50+ today who act the same way. So I could have been mistaken back then.
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Do you guys think the gameplay in AW was more fun than AH?
Quite honestly, both the same game play wise. Even the communities are pretty much the same and the same complaints you hear about AH's community or game play were the same exact complaints you heard in AW.
ack-ack
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I actually did play AW for a few sorties back in the '90s (I think my handle was 'Flames'), but I could not afford the cost at the time, and I actually almost bought the original "Warbirds" when it was entitled, "Confirmed Kill". I saw it on the shelf of a business that was going out-of-business, but again, I could not afford the cost as I was raising my son at the time (y'all remember slow modems and pay by hour).
20 years goes by quickly!
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20 years goes by quickly!
So quickly that I still think of the late 1990's as being recent. :)
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Remember when you had to pass that idiot hardware check for your video card compliance, and you could still try your luck with generic? I had an S3 graphics card that I would run as generic. About an hour into it, I suddenly had 6 tiled screens all with the same action playing on them. My roommate took pity on me and gave me a Matrox card he had just replaced. We lived and died back then on questions like 8 or 16 Mbyte of ram on our video cards. I lusted for a powerful ATI 2D\3D card back then........Air Warrior was as much about the hardware wars. Oh yeah and RAM and a 20inch monitor as soon as you could afford one. They were like putting a space heater in your room. Playing commando had real meaning in those days.
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Quite honestly, both the same game play wise. Even the communities are pretty much the same and the same complaints you hear about AH's community or game play were the same exact complaints you heard in AW.
ack-ack
To add, but not speaking for ack-ack, the game was a big step forward for most people that played it. It was stepping through into another realm of gameplay. EverQuest had that same type of feeling for a lot of folks as well. To me, AH didn't have that same 'first feeling' of wonder like AW did, but it was an awesome thing to get into and enjoy. You can only lose your virginity once, but every other time still feels great. :)
One big difference that I recall in the community was that AW was primarily adults until it went unlimited. It was just too expensive for kids. It doesn't mean a lot of the attitudes were different, but I remember a difference when I first got hooked.
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I remember The Kraits making it possible for us in AW to change the type of terrain we looked at. Had the surface of the Moon, Desert, Winter etc.
(These were overlays) We could also change the sky. They made great airfield overlays also.
I really enjoyed Air Warrior.
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Played AW briefly in the 96-97 timeframe. Never got into it. Started AH in 99 after playing Ultima Online.
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I remember The Kraits making it possible for us in AW to change the type of terrain we looked at. Had the surface of the Moon, Desert, Winter etc.
(These were overlays) We could also change the sky. They made great airfield overlays also.
I really enjoyed Air Warrior.
The SAC program, also allowed you to change plane skins in addition to terrains. The Tunisian terrain was my favorite.
ack-ack
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Great replies! And the pictures and video, they have brought back so many memories!
On the hardware side, it reminded me of paying $300 for 2mb of ram.
One of the greatest upgrades of its day was the matrix SLI secondary add in cards. I ales remember the sheer joy of the sidewinder joystick when I first experienced rudder control that wasn't on the keyboard.
Now the pay by the hour for both internet and the pleasure of flying.... That I can live without.
Thanks and keepem coming!
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LOL. I remember adding 1mb of video RAM to my existing 1mb of on-board VRAM for my IBM video chip to improve performance in the game. My machine had 16 mb of RAM (upgraded) and an awsome 150 Mhz Intel Pentium processor. It was near the top of the line at the time.
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I started on AW way back in the days of the number id's. Small windows. I remember when we finally got to play with a full screen I flew for a long time with the window. Just couldn't get used to the full screen.
Unfortunately I don't have anything left from those days but memories. Did make some friends there that I still hang out with. :airplane: :joystick:
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I started on AW way back in the days of the number id's. Small windows. I remember when we finally got to play with a full screen I flew for a long time with the window. Just couldn't get used to the full screen.
Unfortunately I don't have anything left from those days but memories. Did make some friends there that I still hang out with. :airplane: :joystick:
Yep same here. Air Warrior DOS I was 5340, Jager
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I flew in the last flight in Air Warrior (on Dec. 7, 2001, the 60th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor).
After the demise of Air Warrior, I looked around for the best on-line flying with the best community, and of course found Aces High. It is a dream come true.
Me too. 7 December is my birthday. Worst. Birthday. Ever.
Last person I chatted to in AW was Arlo. I still haven't managed to scrub myself clean.
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Some old pics from Warbirds
http://www.virtualpilots.fi/feature/articles/warbirdseastereggs/ (http://www.virtualpilots.fi/feature/articles/warbirdseastereggs/)
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Some of us at the last UKAW Con (held a few days after 9/11 :( ) were treated to a preview of AW4 by Spiff - some screenshots:
(http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t497/HelenLister/Air%20Warrior/Combat_Damage_01_zpsf61079f9.jpg) (http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/HelenLister/media/Air%20Warrior/Combat_Damage_01_zpsf61079f9.jpg.html)
(http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t497/HelenLister/Air%20Warrior/Combat_Damage_05_zps8efe2788.jpg) (http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/HelenLister/media/Air%20Warrior/Combat_Damage_05_zps8efe2788.jpg.html)
(http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t497/HelenLister/Air%20Warrior/Combat_Damage_07_zpsfa45885e.jpg) (http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/HelenLister/media/Air%20Warrior/Combat_Damage_07_zpsfa45885e.jpg.html)
Shame it never came to be..... :cry
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Airwarrior was such a mind blowing game for the time for those of us old folks who'd spent much of our childhood building model airplanes and flying them around the room. To know that you were actually 'flying' against other real people was something I'd never have imagined as a kid.
As for the game vs AH, the only thing I'd say that is a big difference is at one point Airwarrior was not win the map. It was big enough and had enough things for the bomber guys to do that impacted the 'war' while allowing the fighter drivers to duke it out too. When Airwarrior went to total land grab it changed things. I remember the night the map was 'won' for the first time. The closer it got to happening the more folks switched sides to be on the 'winning' team. A few of us diehards tried to hold it off but got overwhelmed by numbers.
I've always felt that was a real turning point in the evolution of online air combat. The community was smaller too so I think it was easier to get to know people. You got to know who would be flying when and from where so finding the fight, or the bomber run or the vulch fest was easy depending on what you wanted to do.
That's not a knock on AH as I've had some incredible times playing AH as well.
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Airwarrior was such a mind blowing game for the time for those of us old folks who'd spent much of our childhood building model airplanes and flying them around the room. To know that you were actually 'flying' against other real people was something I'd never have imagined as a kid.
As for the game vs AH, the only thing I'd say that is a big difference is at one point Airwarrior was not win the map. It was big enough and had enough things for the bomber guys to do that impacted the 'war' while allowing the fighter drivers to duke it out too. When Airwarrior went to total land grab it changed things. I remember the night the map was 'won' for the first time. The closer it got to happening the more folks switched sides to be on the 'winning' team. A few of us diehards tried to hold it off but got overwhelmed by numbers.
I've always felt that was a real turning point in the evolution of online air combat. The community was smaller too so I think it was easier to get to know people. You got to know who would be flying when and from where so finding the fight, or the bomber run or the vulch fest was easy depending on what you wanted to do.
That's not a knock on AH as I've had some incredible times playing AH as well.
I quit playing AW in 1999, I remember base capture, but I had no idea there was a way to win.
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I quit playing AW in 1999, I remember base capture, but I had no idea there was a way to win.
Ask any Black Widow vet - only squad to ever capture and win (Dottering old fool that I am - was it Whitecap? :x
NwBie
That was a wild night - I was just a real newb when we did that...I had no clue how rare that was, Teufl was the CO, Gonzo,Pacman, OHIO, DieAz, Spacer, and a few others that I haven't thought of for years.. was a fun squad
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The thing about AirWarrior was that it was fun. This game is fun at times but there are so many ongoing irritations. There were HO shots in AW but it was infrequent. Bombers couldn't dogfight. Shooting someone at 800-1000 yards didn't happen. You had to close in to shoot your opponent.
We had a lot of great dogfights there. Now it's take a base, win the map.
I would have expected that 15+ years after AirWarrior the next game would have taken a huge step forward. It hasn't. That is sad. There was some hope this would happen when I saw IL2 the first time and sat in my cockpit and it was raining. That was amazing at the time. What do we get same sky every day. Same scenario.
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Shout out to my Italian boys of the 51° Stormo 'Gato Nero'! They taught me the joys of flying online in Air Warrior many moons ago. :salute
AH beta was a revelation to me back then and I've been coming back ever since. I wonder what the future holds!
:noid
He should not still be getting in here, next Chris, StSanta and Wastel will be posting!
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Wastel just contacted me through the IL2:BOS forum! :)
The old dogs are coming back...
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Bombers couldn't dogfight.
I beg to differ. The A-26 was a capable dogfighter, especially with a gunner on board, and deathstars were often seen in the midst of furballs.
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I do remember squeaking about the b25 turning tighter than a 109f.
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Some old pics from Warbirds
http://www.virtualpilots.fi/feature/articles/warbirdseastereggs/ (http://www.virtualpilots.fi/feature/articles/warbirdseastereggs/)
Those were great, thx for posting them!
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Airwarrior was such a mind blowing game for the time for those of us old folks who'd spent much of our childhood building model airplanes and flying them around the room. To know that you were actually 'flying' against other real people was something I'd never have imagined as a kid.
Exactly.
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I remember a few times in the air warrior days we would have Cz turn the map Green Day, a bunch of Cz squads would all combine our efforts and we would turn the map green man my AOL bill was high in them days.... and don't forget the seven man Deathstars those were so much fun once the squad got a little liquored up lol I'm an old MotleyAce
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I beg to differ. The A-26 was a capable dogfighter, especially with a gunner on board, and deathstars were often seen in the midst of furballs.
The A-26 vaders were fun to fly in air warriors, the death stars were a hoot I wish we had that option with our bombers in this game, if you multi crew then you get no formation.
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Air Warrior was a blast for me starting in 1996 on AOL. I called it AOHell cuz they would always boot me when downloading large files.
People did the same crazy stuff then that they do now. We all seem to look back with rose colored glasses eh?
Here are some interesting features of full reality (FR) arena I remember:
The A26 had a feature I called spinfighter. You could get it spinning like a helicopter, pull the trigger as planes flew by, and kill a lot of stuff! Hit bubble made that possible. You could start/stop the spinning at will and it would just float in the air.
Was a trick you could do if you moved the joystick/pedals just right, your plane would pull a 180 degree turn without losing any e or changing position. The 190 was easiest to do this in. First time I saw it irked me no end. Chasing a 190 and it reversed direction and HO'd me. You couldn't tell it reversed direction.
Also there was a bug where everybody else's planes would freeze in midair and you could fly around shooting them down. The frozen planes couldn't see you. oh the wailings...
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Found Air Warriors in 1994 when I got my first PC . Played it about a week and found AH and been hooked sense .
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I beg to differ. The A-26 was a capable dogfighter, especially with a gunner on board, and deathstars were often seen in the midst of furballs.
You bet they did! :D I used to gun for Spiff who would dogfight with a B17 with me in the Chin gun - great fun! :devil
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1998 a buddy let me play Air Warrior . . . been hooked ever since.
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After reading the first post I think the tl;dr of this thread is... y'all are old :old: :old: :old:
:bolt:
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After reading the first post I think the tl;dr of this thread is... y'all are old :old: :old: :old:
:bolt:
You youngsters have it so easy today with your Picture camera phones, and your vidya games,, and your book of faces media sites. When I was a kid we used to have fun by throwing rocks at one another! :old:
My mind was blown when we got split-screen games. TWO people playing ONE game at once! :O :x
(Am I allowed to act old yet? God I miss the days of rock fights :) )
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You youngsters have it so easy today with your Picture camera phones, and your vidya games,, and your book of faces media sites. When I was a kid we used to have fun by throwing rocks at one another! :old:
My mind was blown when we got split-screen games. TWO people playing ONE game at once! :O :x
(Am I allowed to act old yet? God I miss the days of rock fights :) )
IN MY DAY WE DIDN'T HAVE YA FANCY GRAPHICS AND YA QUAD CORE PROCESSORS... EVERY GAME WAS MINECRAFT!
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IN MY DAY WE DIDN'T HAVE YA FANCY GRAPHICS AND YA QUAD CORE PROCESSORS... EVERY GAME WAS MINECRAFT!
Minecraft before Minecraft was cool..... or even made. :lol
.....are you a Hipster? :uhoh
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Minecraft before Minecraft was cool..... or even made. :lol
.....are you a Hipster? :uhoh
IN MY DAY WE DIDN'T HAVE HIPSTERS.. JUST BROKEN HIPS...
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IN MY DAY WE DIDN'T HAVE HIPSTERS.. JUST BROKEN HIPS...
You might not want to wish for the day when your exercise is falling down and your social life is attending funerals.
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You might not want to wish for the day when your exercise is falling down and your social life is attending funerals.
You must be fun at parties...
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You must be fun at parties...
IN MY DAY WE DIDN'T HAVE PARTIES... :old:
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Quite honestly, both the same game play wise. Even the communities are pretty much the same and the same complaints you hear about AH's community or game play were the same exact complaints you heard in AW.
ack-ack
:aok
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About 16 years ago I saw an Air Warrior package sitting on the shelf of a game game store. Was instantly excited until I read "online game".
Shrugged and went away ... :old:
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After reading the first post I think the tl;dr of this thread is... y'all are old :old: :old: :old:
:bolt:
That may be true. That being said. Go to your room! You are grounded!
Kids these days! No respect! :)
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FOUqQt3Kg0
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After reading the first post I think the tl;dr of this thread is... y'all are old :old: :old: :old:
Yeah definitely true in my case - 61 next birthday! :uhoh :old:
You youngsters have it so easy today with your Picture camera phones, and your vidya games,, and your book of faces media sites.
Oh I have those too, though! I like my gadgets..... :joystick:
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Amazing, what one can find on YT! :O
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gFuqEDTpzc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gFuqEDTpzc)
HUH. Don't remember seeing target boxes in AW2 Or 3. Must be an AW1 feature. Pretty cool vid though.