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PC shop software-bundle nostalgia!
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Pengling Dec 19, 2023
Checking my calendar, I noticed that it's now been about 28 years since my family got our first x86 PC - a Pentium 75 box with 8MB of RAM and a 1GB hard-drive, along with a monitor and a Hewlett Packard printer, sold by Escom, using the Commodore branding that they had then-recently bought (complete with little official "C=" case-badges slapped on their beige-boxes). However, these machines had nothing to do with Commodore - they were just generic Intel/Windows 95 affairs, with the Commodore name used on them in order to gain consumer trust. I never got on with Windows (that was my first exposure to it and it was awful and never got any better), but I'm not here to talk about that - I'm here to talk about the games!

As I expect most GOL'ers are old enough to remember, back then PC retailers would throw in massive bundles of usually-slightly-older software as a value-add - bundles like these, of course, all served the purpose of showing off what your new hardware could do, and were therefore roughly equivalent to console pack-in titles (another practise which has all but died out in this day and age), except with PCs you typically seemed to get a whole lot more. Some things never change, I guess!

The package that we bought came with the following;

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Aces: The Complete Collectors' Edition (MS-DOS), which contained A-10 Tank Killer, Aces of the Pacific, Aces over Europe, and Red Baron.

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Award Winners Gold Edition (MS-DOS), which contained Elite Plus, Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker, Sensible Soccer: European Champions, and Zool.

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Award Winners Platinum Edition (MS-DOS), which contained Civilization, Frontier: Elite II, and Lemmings.

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SoftKey Shareware CD-ROM Power Pack (Windows 3.1), which contained heaps of freeware and shareware games and utilities - some good, some of dubious usefulness.

Non-gaming-wise there was also Hutchinson's Multimedia Encyclopedia 1995 and Quicken.

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And on top of all of that, we got to choose one new release as well - we went for Lemmings 3D (MS-DOS), the big-box for which also contained the Lemmings 3D Winterland demo, and a sample packet of Jelly Belly jelly-beans, since that company had sponsored the game.

To me at the time, this all seemed reminiscent of the sorts of pack-in bundles that Commodore (the real one, not Escom masquerading as them ) had done in the past, as well, having gotten the Commodore 64C Mindbenders/Night Moves pack some years earlier.

I must be honest, I miss this sort of thing - not only did you get a whole lot of software, but the tangibility of it really added something to the experience, too.

Anybody else got any good memories of old PC game/software bundles?
StoneColdSpider Dec 19, 2023
Quoting: PenglingAnybody else got any good memories of old PC game/software bundles?
My first PC came bundled with Age of Empires...... Which I thought was a edutainment "game" so I did not play it for the longest time.........

It also came with a little known game called DOOM....... Pretty sure it was a shareware version...... And it also came with M$ Office and some other things....... The biggest thing for me was AoE........ I know im stupid but thinking that was an edutainment "game" makes me feel extra stupid........
Pengling Dec 19, 2023
Quoting: StoneColdSpiderThe biggest thing for me was AoE........ I know im stupid but thinking that was an edutainment "game" makes me feel extra stupid........
At the time, Microsoft was well-known for publishing stuff like the Encarta encyclopedias and not games, and given the general vibe of the box-art I don't think that it was a dumb conclusion, to be honest.

Last edited by Pengling on 19 December 2023 at 9:46 am UTC
whizse Dec 19, 2023
Pretty nice spread there Pengling! Sadly, aside from Lemmings, I don't really recognize any of the titles.

The only thing I remember being bundled with the first family PC was some knock-off Encarta encyclopedia and a copy of Chessmaster 5000:

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I remember being a little bummed out by the lack of games. A friend had free pickings when they bought a PC some months prior and wisely choose Duke Nukem 3D. In hindsight, pushing for the educational and safe games like chess might have been a pretty shrewd move by the seller. Some parents were pretty concerned about the whole video game violence thing.

Gaming wise I eventually saved up enough money to buy Monster Truck Madness, my first PC game:

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whizse Dec 19, 2023
Quoting: StoneColdSpiderMy first PC came bundled with Age of Empires...... Which I thought was a edutainment "game" so I did not play it for the longest time.........
You played yourself before playing the game!
StoneColdSpider Dec 20, 2023
Quoting: whizse
Quoting: StoneColdSpiderMy first PC came bundled with Age of Empires...... Which I thought was a edutainment "game" so I did not play it for the longest time.........
You played yourself before playing the game!
You could say im an expert at playing myself.......
Pengling Dec 20, 2023
Quoting: whizsePretty nice spread there Pengling! Sadly, aside from Lemmings, I don't really recognize any of the titles.
Thanks! The Award Winners packs are totally early-1990s-UK-centric, so I'm not too surprised there. You might've noticed that I have a bit of a fondness for Zool via the Weekend Players' Club threads, though.

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If not, well, this (pre-Steam Deck) image ought to speak for itself.

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That's just the official items, though. I've also got this neat fan-art acrylic block that I picked up from Redbubble.

Quoting: whizseThe only thing I remember being bundled with the first family PC was some knock-off Encarta encyclopedia and a copy of Chessmaster 5000:
Oh goodness, that is super-nostalgic! I remember the Chessmaster series being a really big deal back when I was a kid, and that guy's face was everywhere!

Quoting: whizseI remember being a little bummed out by the lack of games. A friend had free pickings when they bought a PC some months prior and wisely choose Duke Nukem 3D. In hindsight, pushing for the educational and safe games like chess might have been a pretty shrewd move by the seller. Some parents were pretty concerned about the whole video game violence thing.
That's a really interesting point, actually - it's easy to forget these days that it was ever a big deal, but it certainly was, and that whole issue got to be very PC-centric at some points, unfortunately...

Quoting: whizseGaming wise I eventually saved up enough money to buy Monster Truck Madness, my first PC game:
I'm surprised that Monster Truck Madness wasn't an option with the PC - I can't imagine anyone taking offense at it!

Last edited by Pengling on 20 December 2023 at 3:55 am UTC
Shmerl Dec 20, 2023
The Neverhood is from that era. It's somewhat obscure, but a classic (playable in ScummVM):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYvlcP1OheI
whizse Dec 26, 2023
Quoting: PenglingThat's just the official items, though. I've also got this neat fan-art acrylic block that I picked up from Redbubble.
Always the best swag! Do you have a mini museum in your home with all these pieces on permanent display?

Quoting: PenglingOh goodness, that is super-nostalgic! I remember the Chessmaster series being a really big deal back when I was a kid, and that guy's face was everywhere!
I mostly remember Chessmaster because the first time I started the game, I had the volume knob on the speakers turned the wrong way around.

There's a rumbling or thunder during the intro. With the volume turned all the way up it was so unexpected and loud it scared me half to death. Every time I see that face I still feel a twinge of fear.


Quoting: ShmerlThe Neverhood is from that era. It's somewhat obscure, but a classic (playable in ScummVM):
I played it for the first time a couple of years ago. It was a lot of fun and didn't feel particularly date!

(Apologies for the late reply. I had this sitting half finished in an open tab and forgot all about it!)
Pengling Dec 27, 2023
Quoting: whizseAlways the best swag!
Hehe, thankyou.

Quoting: whizseDo you have a mini museum in your home with all these pieces on permanent display?
I'd say that's a fair description. And the Bomberman collection could be a museum in its own right, honestly, haha!

Quoting: whizseI mostly remember Chessmaster because the first time I started the game, I had the volume knob on the speakers turned the wrong way around.

There's a rumbling or thunder during the intro. With the volume turned all the way up it was so unexpected and loud it scared me half to death. Every time I see that face I still feel a twinge of fear.
Oh yikes! Still, that's a really interesting intro - and it really has that "multimedia era" vibe that you don't see anymore, too.
CatKiller Dec 27, 2023
Quoting: Penglingroughly equivalent to console pack-in titles (another practise which has all but died out in this day and age)


They've found that they can get more money by selling specific bundles instead - sometimes with limited edition colouring to go with it.

QuoteAnybody else got any good memories of old PC game/software bundles?

Every PC I've ever owned has been either a hand-me-down or constructed by me from components, so no opportunity for pack-in games. I did get a Steam key for Rocket League with my Steam Controller and a GOG key for The Witcher 3 with my graphics card, though.
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