Windows 98: What does it do for gamers?

Well, it's finally here, 3 years after Windows 95, and countless legal battles with our beloved government. While it wasn't released with the same media blitz that accompanied Windows 95, Windows 98 still managed to break sales records in just the first few days, previously held by Windows 98.

Windows 98, at first glance, looks simply like a $90 upgrade (with some added bells and whistles) to Windows 95, an operating system that many people would agree was not the most stable OS created. Honestly, while I do think that Windows 98 does run a bit faster (as long as you have enough RAM and turn the "Active Desktop" off), I wouldn't go as far as to say it was more stable. As with Windows 95, if you run Win 98 for several days without a reboot, it will begin to get angry and things will begin to crash. However, I did notice that Win 98 is more robust: Running Scandisk on Win95 would routinely find file fragments that would slow down the system, while Win98 is much better at handling this sort of file management.

While Windows 98 is not primarily aimed at gamers, Windows 98 does provides a few new features which I think will be beneficial:

DirectX 5 - While most Windows 95 users have already upgraded to DX5, those who have not will benefit from the (usual) speed increase from the new graphics drivers.

USB Support - Windows 95 supported USB devices, although until the release of Win98, there really weren't any USB devices to be bought. Basically, USB is the future of alll computer peripherals. Theoretically in the future, all your computer hardware (keyboards, joysticks, mice, speakers, printers, even monitors) will be daisy-chained together and plug into one port on your computer. Virtually an unlimited number of additional devices could be added by simply hooking them into the chain. The huge bandwidth provided by the port also allows for better products: Mice will be more sensitive, joysticks and joypads more responsive. With USB ports built-in to most new computers, if you are considering buying a new joystick, I'd recommend a USB one.

Windows Update/Driver Database - This, in my opinion, is one of the best, if not the best, new features in Windows 98. Probably most computer users agree that the worst part about running Windows is the necessity to upgrade drivers, be it video, audio, cd-rom, etc. Some new 3D video card vendors seemingly release new drivers every week! With this new feature, you can update all your drivers at once over the Internet.. You simply click a button, and Windows 98 does the rest. I know for a fact that this is a godsend for novice computer users. Windows Update is similar to the Driver Update system, allowing you to download new Windows 98 software (and updates/bug fixes to Windows 98 itself) direct from Microsoft -- it also is auto-installed.

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