RailBadger
New member
Hi all
Few of you will remember the handful of posts I made over a year ago now, before disappearing into the long tunnel of enforced banishment from all things PC, when my ageing rig finally turned up its toes and went to that great rail yard in the sky.
I found “Trainz” quite late on when I bought it for a fiver from my local supermarket. At that point having a receipt did not stop me from tucking it away under my jacket for fear of being pointed at perhaps having stones thrown at me on the way home.
But within half an hour of installing it on my machine and trying to build my first oval track with two stations and a tunnel through a wire frame hillside half covered with hurriedly chosen textures I was hooked! Suddenly I was nine years old again, but with a potential train set the likes of which I could never have dreamed of having spread out across my parent’s living room floor!
Not to mention no cries of “Clear that up before dinner!” and no pesky dog derailing my trains and devouring the commuters innocently waiting for the 6:15 to “Table Leg” via “Dog Bowl” and “Arm Chair”. (Admittedly “Dog Bowl” was a station fraught with danger!)
By the time I bought “Trainz 2004” it was from “Game” with head held high and great hopes for an eventual rail system nestled in the bowels of my PC, covering the entire British Isles!!! Or at least the bit that went between “Barnhurst” and “St Pancras”.
Fate had other ideas though and it wasn’t really very long after these events, that my struggling silicone friend popped its clogs and left me adrift in a gameless sea and a complete lack of sufficient funds to replace the beast (which hasn’t changed) meant that there was no land in sight!
In March this year my wife took pity on my plight and bought me an “Xbox 360” and although I was thrilled with the present there was still a niggling in the back of my mind. An ungrateful wretch who whispered in my ear.. “It’s not a PC though is it.” … “It’s a second class citizen really isn’t it.”
Well I’m pleased to say that I was quickly able to banish the little twerp, when I realized that I was going to be able to play games on this console that I could never have played on wheezing old jalopy.
“Oblivion” for example, completely out of the reach of my system specs before, now purred like a pussycat before my very eyes. “X3” was another title I had always wanted to play and at the time was purported to be making the transition to Microsoft’s baby, but unfortunately never made it.
But since then I have played games which would in all probability reduced my old machine to a smoking pile of ashes and frankly nearly nine months on I barely miss the old girl anymore.
But sometimes I do..
When I am clearing up and see my copious collection of PC titles gathering dust I sometimes get a little pang. When forumites on websites I visit talk about their latest multiplayer exploits on their flight sim of choice I have a little sniff and the occasional “Trainz” newsletter which still winds its way onto my lonely desktop, will sometimes drive me to hot chocolate and a comforting biscuit.
So as you can imagine the whole “Trainz 2006” phenomenon hasn’t exactly helped my mood. Nor have the recent early videos of the upcoming “Silent Hunter 4” which I’d also love to play.
I can’t help but think that it’s such a shame that the chances of either of these titles (or anything much like them) appearing on my newly adopted console are about as likely as…… as….. well, a not very likely thing… erm… dressed in a gorilla suit!
It’s not that the technology couldn’t handle it! The 360 could fling subs and trains around with abandon if it wanted to! I just don’t think that there’s sufficient market on this console or any other, for these games to sell enough units to be viable and it makes me as happy as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!
Granted we here in 360 land are now starting to see titles which are more interesting and diverse than the reams of shooters and racers which have dominated the lists until now. But it’s a slow process, a drip feed, with anything on the horizon which makes me say “ohhhhhhhhh” still being a year away!
(With the possible exception of “Battle Stations Midway” and “Mass Effect.” But we’ll have to see.)
Don’t get me wrong, I’m really enjoying my bone crunching “Gears of War” sessions, the tactical brain workout of “Rainbow Six” and the Bondian spyfest of “Splinter Cell” and with “Xbox Live” making link ups such a doddle, well I probably play more multiplayer games now than I ever did on my PC.
It’s just now and again I’ve love to lay down a piece of track. To level a stretch of land and find just the right land tile texture to give it the look I want. To burrow into a hill and create a tunnel which emerges the other side straight onto an expansive bridge sitting astride a yawning chasm with a broiling river raging below!
Sometimes I miss my Trainz.
Badger
Few of you will remember the handful of posts I made over a year ago now, before disappearing into the long tunnel of enforced banishment from all things PC, when my ageing rig finally turned up its toes and went to that great rail yard in the sky.
I found “Trainz” quite late on when I bought it for a fiver from my local supermarket. At that point having a receipt did not stop me from tucking it away under my jacket for fear of being pointed at perhaps having stones thrown at me on the way home.
But within half an hour of installing it on my machine and trying to build my first oval track with two stations and a tunnel through a wire frame hillside half covered with hurriedly chosen textures I was hooked! Suddenly I was nine years old again, but with a potential train set the likes of which I could never have dreamed of having spread out across my parent’s living room floor!
Not to mention no cries of “Clear that up before dinner!” and no pesky dog derailing my trains and devouring the commuters innocently waiting for the 6:15 to “Table Leg” via “Dog Bowl” and “Arm Chair”. (Admittedly “Dog Bowl” was a station fraught with danger!)
By the time I bought “Trainz 2004” it was from “Game” with head held high and great hopes for an eventual rail system nestled in the bowels of my PC, covering the entire British Isles!!! Or at least the bit that went between “Barnhurst” and “St Pancras”.
Fate had other ideas though and it wasn’t really very long after these events, that my struggling silicone friend popped its clogs and left me adrift in a gameless sea and a complete lack of sufficient funds to replace the beast (which hasn’t changed) meant that there was no land in sight!
In March this year my wife took pity on my plight and bought me an “Xbox 360” and although I was thrilled with the present there was still a niggling in the back of my mind. An ungrateful wretch who whispered in my ear.. “It’s not a PC though is it.” … “It’s a second class citizen really isn’t it.”
Well I’m pleased to say that I was quickly able to banish the little twerp, when I realized that I was going to be able to play games on this console that I could never have played on wheezing old jalopy.
“Oblivion” for example, completely out of the reach of my system specs before, now purred like a pussycat before my very eyes. “X3” was another title I had always wanted to play and at the time was purported to be making the transition to Microsoft’s baby, but unfortunately never made it.
But since then I have played games which would in all probability reduced my old machine to a smoking pile of ashes and frankly nearly nine months on I barely miss the old girl anymore.
But sometimes I do..
When I am clearing up and see my copious collection of PC titles gathering dust I sometimes get a little pang. When forumites on websites I visit talk about their latest multiplayer exploits on their flight sim of choice I have a little sniff and the occasional “Trainz” newsletter which still winds its way onto my lonely desktop, will sometimes drive me to hot chocolate and a comforting biscuit.
So as you can imagine the whole “Trainz 2006” phenomenon hasn’t exactly helped my mood. Nor have the recent early videos of the upcoming “Silent Hunter 4” which I’d also love to play.
I can’t help but think that it’s such a shame that the chances of either of these titles (or anything much like them) appearing on my newly adopted console are about as likely as…… as….. well, a not very likely thing… erm… dressed in a gorilla suit!
It’s not that the technology couldn’t handle it! The 360 could fling subs and trains around with abandon if it wanted to! I just don’t think that there’s sufficient market on this console or any other, for these games to sell enough units to be viable and it makes me as happy as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!
Granted we here in 360 land are now starting to see titles which are more interesting and diverse than the reams of shooters and racers which have dominated the lists until now. But it’s a slow process, a drip feed, with anything on the horizon which makes me say “ohhhhhhhhh” still being a year away!
(With the possible exception of “Battle Stations Midway” and “Mass Effect.” But we’ll have to see.)
Don’t get me wrong, I’m really enjoying my bone crunching “Gears of War” sessions, the tactical brain workout of “Rainbow Six” and the Bondian spyfest of “Splinter Cell” and with “Xbox Live” making link ups such a doddle, well I probably play more multiplayer games now than I ever did on my PC.
It’s just now and again I’ve love to lay down a piece of track. To level a stretch of land and find just the right land tile texture to give it the look I want. To burrow into a hill and create a tunnel which emerges the other side straight onto an expansive bridge sitting astride a yawning chasm with a broiling river raging below!
Sometimes I miss my Trainz.
Badger
