Platform: PC (Microsoft Windows)
Friday the 13th: The Game
Deus Ex
Grey's Anatomy: The Video Game
Battle Chess
Madden NFL 2001
Pepper Grinder
Popgoes Arcade
Overwatch
Sonic Mania
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Zoo Tycoon
Doctor Who: The Adventure Games
Mega Man 10
Slender: The Arrival
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
Wallace and Gromit in Project Zoo
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Octodad: Dadliest Catch
Mega Man X6
Serious Sam Double D
Far Cry 6
One Piece: World Seeker
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Call of Duty: Ghosts
The Surge 2
Far Cry 2
Tom Clancy's The Division 2
Prey
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
Tomb Raider: Legend
Fez
World of Warships
SoulCalibur VI
The Thing
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
Touhou Koumakyou: The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
Company of Heroes
Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!
Pathologic 2
The Incredible Hulk: The Pantheon Saga
Bit.Trip Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction
True Crime: New York City
Just Cause 2
WWE 2K21
MyPopgoes
Deadpool
Rise of the Tomb Raider
subdirectory_arrow_right Tekken 3 (Game), Metal Gear Solid (Game), Gran Turismo 2 (Game), One (Game), PlayStation (Platform), Dreamcast (Platform), Xbox (Platform), Sony Interactive Entertainment (Company)
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Bleem! was a PlayStation emulator released for Microsoft Windows 98 and the Sega Dreamcast. Unlike the vast majority of emulators before and since, it was released as a paid product on store shelves. Bleem!, although very impressive for the time and capable of running on low-end PCs, had many compatability issues, with the only game that ran perfectly on Windows Bleem! being the US version of One, while the only games that could be run at all on Dreamcast were Tekken 3, Metal Gear Solid, and Gran Turismo 2, all with specialised emulators released on their own "Bleemcast" discs.
Sony would sue Bleem! twice over alleged copyright infringement, and despite all odds, Sony lost due to Bleem!'s use of screenshots in promo material and the PS1 BIOS being protected by fair use. However, a mix of legal fees and Sony threatening retailers stocking Bleem! products with subpoenas would force Bleem! off of shelves anyway, and its website would be replaced with an image of Sonic the Hedgehog mourning at a grave with the Bleem! logo carved on it. Bleem! would countersue Sony for anti-competitive activity.
The popularity of Bleem! would lead both Sega and Microsoft to attempt to work with Bleem! officially to make PS1 games run on Dreamcast and Xbox, though these plans fell through due to Sega being afraid of Sony's litigation, while the developers of Bleem! simply felt Microsoft wasn't paying high enough for the license for Bleem! (something they had come to regret in the years since).
Sony would sue Bleem! twice over alleged copyright infringement, and despite all odds, Sony lost due to Bleem!'s use of screenshots in promo material and the PS1 BIOS being protected by fair use. However, a mix of legal fees and Sony threatening retailers stocking Bleem! products with subpoenas would force Bleem! off of shelves anyway, and its website would be replaced with an image of Sonic the Hedgehog mourning at a grave with the Bleem! logo carved on it. Bleem! would countersue Sony for anti-competitive activity.
The popularity of Bleem! would lead both Sega and Microsoft to attempt to work with Bleem! officially to make PS1 games run on Dreamcast and Xbox, though these plans fell through due to Sega being afraid of Sony's litigation, while the developers of Bleem! simply felt Microsoft wasn't paying high enough for the license for Bleem! (something they had come to regret in the years since).
Video on Bleem! history:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGHul1PrXCE
Source of Bleem! collection photo:
https://www.reddit.com/r/gamecollecting/comments/dvf1ow/bleem_the_playstation_emulator_for_pcs_and/
Bleem! article:
https://www.eurogamer.net/the-history-of-bleem
Archived Bleem! page for One:
https://web.archive.org/web/20001109112400if_/http://bleem.com:80/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGHul1PrXCE
Source of Bleem! collection photo:
https://www.reddit.com/r/gamecollecting/comments/dvf1ow/bleem_the_playstation_emulator_for_pcs_and/
Bleem! article:
https://www.eurogamer.net/the-history-of-bleem
Archived Bleem! page for One:
https://web.archive.org/web/20001109112400if_/http://bleem.com:80/
subdirectory_arrow_right Windows Solitaire (Game)
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Solitaire was included on Windows hardware to soothe users unfamiliar with computers by using something familiar that could also introduce them to the functions of a mouse.
subdirectory_arrow_right Cheese Terminator (Game)
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Cheese Terminator was a game given away for users who answered a survey included in the box with Microsoft Windows 3.1 in Eastern European countries. When a player decided to send the survey in in 2016 out of curiousity, they received a floppy disc and USB floppy drive containing the original game, packaged in a box advertising a limited-time free remake, Cheese Terminator: Reloaded, that would be released soon after.
subdirectory_arrow_right Reversi (Game)
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subdirectory_arrow_right 3D Pinball: Space Cadet (Game)
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At an unknown point after 3D Pinball: Space Cadet's removal from Windows hardware starting with Vista, there was an attempt within Microsoft Garage (Microsoft's program for experimental, non-profitable employee projects) to revive the game with compatibility for current Windows operating systems. While the port was finished, it could not be publicly released due to the 1994 contract with Cinematronics (now merged into THQ Nordic) stipulating that the game could not be released as an independent entity, only bundled with Windows hardware.
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The NJS-3D1 was a PC flight stick made by Laral Group LLC - unusually, the flight stick bears the name and official quality seal of Nintendo on its packaging, along with a Nintendo 64 logo on the controller itself, despite not being compatible with any of Nintendo's hardware. The controller was made in a short-lived deal to manufacture PC accessories with Nintendo branding, with the only other product to come out of the line being a set of headphones.
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The "Glorious PC Master Race" is a term coined by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw of The Escapist in a review of The Witcher, used frequently in the 2010s by fans of PC gaming. Despite being used as a term of endearment by PC gamers, its origins were ironic and intended at the expense of the common gatekeeping against casual gamers in the PC gaming community at the time. Croshaw explained in a 2013 Extra Punctuation article:
"It was intended to be ironic, to illustrate what I perceived at the time to be an elitist attitude among a certain kind of PC gamer. People who invest in expensive gaming PCs and continually spend money to make sure the tech in their brightly-lit tower cases is up to date. Who actually prefer games that are temperamental to get running and that have complicated keyboard interfaces, just because it discourages new or 'casual' players who will in some way taint the entire community with their presence. I meant it as a dig."
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The KFConsole was a satirical computer announced in 2020 by Intel, Cooler Master, and Kentucky Fried Chicken that would have been shaped like a chicken bucket and have an oven for reheating KFC chicken. Despite Mark Walton of Intel claiming it to be a real product, the computer having a page on Cooler Master's website, official stats being available for the hardware, and similarly outlandish KFC marketing stunts eventually being released as products, it has not emerged in the years since and is believed to be vaporware.
KFConsole reveal article:
https://collider.com/kfconsole-real-specs-price-release-date-details/
Mark Walton tweet:
https://twitter.com/markalexwalton/status/1341430877356765185
https://collider.com/kfconsole-real-specs-price-release-date-details/
Mark Walton tweet:
https://twitter.com/markalexwalton/status/1341430877356765185
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Some of the prototypes Steam Controller redesigns had customizable touch screens that would later be replaced by Back, Start, and Steam Buttons. The A, B, X, and Y Buttons of the prototypes were moved to the bottom of the controller along with new Arrow Buttons. The Arrow Buttons were later replaced with an Analog Stick, and a D-Pad symbol was placed on the Left Touchpad.