A Hero's Work Is Never Done...
As some of us old gamers have griped on message boards a bit here and there (if not at least once a week, ha ha), even though gaming consoles of today have much more power and memory than the systems we grew up with, there are STILL a lot of games out there that do not take advantage of a system as well as they should, which gameplay can be pitifully short, but hey, those cutscenes look pretty darn nice!
Feh. Cutscenes aren't enough to satisfy ME, sorry.
Unfortunately there are those out there who feel just the opposite, that these machines are the greatest things EVER, and us old fools don't know what we're talking about with our old, underpowered consoles, due to our misplaced, fading memories...to match with our misplaced dentures...not to mention Huggies.
So, if there's some young punks out there that think OUR games can't hold a candle to the newer consoles, lets see them check THIS out:
Roderick Hero, at your service. Please, call me R. Hero. Everyone does. I wish to address myself to fledgling Heroes and All-Around Good Guys everywhere. A crisis is afoot, affording me an ideal opportunity to share a few of the finer points of heroic endeavor with you. Do pay attention.
Volcanic activity has trapped miners in mineshafts in Mount Leone. I shall use equipment (some think it rather nifty) of my own invention to help miners no mere mortal can reach. It would give me great pleasure to have your help.
The object of this undertaking is to rescue all the miners possible before running out of lives.
Link: http://www.stageselect.com/3138--Reviews--hero.aspx (full review)
How to Make an Atari Game
If you've been following AtariAge for any length of time, you know that many new Atari 2600 games have been created in the last decade. Have you ever wanted to see if you have what it takes to write your own 2600 game? AtariAge user MayDay has written up an article over on Instructables.com on How to Make an Atari Game. In this article you'll get a nice overview of how to get started, with plenty of helpful links to point you at the appropriate knowledge, resources and tools you'll need. Atari 2600 programming is not for the faint of heart, and the better prepared you are before you dive in, the more likely you'll be to complete a project rather than become overwhelmed.
Link: http://www.instructables.com/id/How_to_Make_an_Atari_Game/
From: http://www.atariage.com/
Retrogaming Times Monthly #59
The April 2009 issue of Retrogaming Times Monthly has been published. In this month's issue (#59), you can find the following articles:
* Show Report: The Midwest Gaming Classic
* Show Report: My First Atari Party
* RTM Idiocy Part 4
* Apple II Incider - Jeopardy
* The Thrill Of Defeat: More 2K Timex Sinclair Reviews
* Videological Dig: 1973 Odyssey Commercial
* Cart Talk Comic Strip
You can read these articles and more inside the Retrogaming Times Monthly, now running 139 months in a row! You can also browse their archives to catch up on past issues.
Link: http://www.retrogamingtimes.com/
From: http://www.atariage.com/
Resurrected prototype game
Shw of D-Bug writes:
Today we bring you something a bit special, an unreleased prototype of a game from the author of Nitro. We were very pleased to be contacted by Jamie and allowed to fix the code a bit so it runs on all TOS versions, and also via the magic of ULS make it HD installable. For more info visit the D-Bug site:
Download Sideways (Zip) http://files.dhs.nu/files_game/sideways.zip
Download Sideways (MSA) http://files.dhs.nu/files_game/sideways_msa.zip
Visit the D-Bug site http://www.dbug-automation.co.uk/
Visit the game developers site http://www.jamiewoodhouse.co.uk/
From: http://www.dhs.nu/
9 year anniversary of the original VCSp
Hard to believe it’s been so long… 9 years ago this month I completed my first portable gaming project, the Atari 2600 VCSp. You can read the original story by clicking here. I found some photos of the unit that I don’t believe have been on the site before, you can check them out below.
Link: http://benheck.com/original-atari-2600-vcsp
From: http://benheck.com/04-14-2009/9-year-anniversary-of-the-original-vcsp
Classic Game Room reviews KASUMI NINJA on Atari Jaguar
Classic Game Room season 1 - 3/15/2000 Great Flaming Balls! It’s the Classic Game Room’s review of Kasumi Ninja from the year 2000! This game was on the Atari Jaguar. Remember the Atari Jaguar? No…? Well, neither does anyone else.Classic Game Room was the first classic video game review show on the internet. Broadcast online from 1999-2000, they were canned in the dot-com bust. The world weeped. They reviewed Atari, NES, Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Dreamcast and Playstation…
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbRXVqJwJ6g
From: http://www.dancevideoreviews.co.uk/dance-video-reviews/classic-game...
Newest Pac-Man plug-and-play from Jakks Pacific goes more retro, comes out ahead
If you're a hard-core gamer, you want a PlayStation 3 or an Xbox 360. But if you just want to share some laughs with friends, Jakks Pacific plug-and-play products work quite nicely. They offer nostalgia over nuance, a chance to play video games of an earlier era simply by plugging the player into your TV. You don't install a game cartridge or disc; the software is built into the game controller.
Granted, the controls are a little stiff, the graphics decidedly old school, and the games require almost zero skill. But for $20, half the price of a single game for most video game platforms, you won't be disappointed.
I've been playing with two models arriving in stores: the Retro Arcade Pac-Man (fifth edition) and the Atari Classics (first edition). I've used the Ms. Pac-Man version for a few years, and both of these offer some improvement. Not much, but that's just fine.
There are 12 games built into the Retro Arcade Pac-Man player. These include the original Pac-Man and three derivatives (but not Ms. Pac-Man, unfortunately) as well as Galaga, Pole Position and New Rally-X, my new favorite.
The Atari Classics includes Centipede, Breakout, Pong and Asteroids. I loved Centipede back in the day, and I'm pretty happy with this version too.
The game controllers on both hand-held players are slightly sluggish, and I sometimes feel that my usual feeble scores would improve if the controls were more responsive. Also, while the players are sturdy, they're not as sturdy as playing an arcade version.
A caveat about pricing: The suggested retail price from Jakks Pacific is $20 for TV Games. But many retailers sell the products for more. I spotted the Ms. Pac-Man game at Amazon for more than $40.
Link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/technology/chi-mon-tech-buzz...
Old School Computer Band Rocks Bohemian Rhapsody (Poorly)
I can't think of a more old school, geeky tribute to Queen than a band comprised of an Atari 800XL, 8-inch floppy disk, 3.5-in hard drive and HP Scanjet 3C. If only it sounded better.
The composer, YouTube user bd594, says what you hear is 100% pure, straight from the machines themselves—no effects or sampling were used. In the case of the Scanjet, the "vocals" were recorded in four separate parts using the one machine.
The aforementioned Atari 800XL is tickling the ivory on lead piano/organ, while a plucky Texas Instruments Ti-99/4a shreds on lead guitar. Rounding out the bunch are the floppy drive on bass and the hard drive clanging cymbals. As many have suggested already, the "instruments" could use a good tuning or ten.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht96HJ01SE4
From: http://i.gizmodo.com/5218400/old-school-computer-band-rocks-bohemia...
News from Cerebral Vortex
GT Turbo writes: A new coder (Matmook) has join the Cerebral Vortex team,
his first production is a Jaguar game called : Do The Same featuring
nice graphics by Bear. You can see some screenshoots. We need beta
testers for this game, if you got a Bjl Jaguar and you want to help,
please contact me (
).
Last news about the JagCF (Compact Flash support for Jaguar), you can see first photos from the PCB on Jagware http://www.jagware.org/index.php?showtopic=663
Regards,
GT Turbo (C.V.S.D, Jagware)
View screenshot 1 http://files.dhs.nu/files_pics/dts_01.jpg
View screenshot 2 http://files.dhs.nu/files_pics/dts_02.jpg
View screenshot 3 http://files.dhs.nu/files_pics/dts_03.jpg
View screenshot 4 http://files.dhs.nu/files_pics/dts_04.jpg
View screenshot 5 http://files.dhs.nu/files_pics/dts_05.jpg
Visit the Jagware forum for more infos http://www.jagware.org/index.php?showtopic=662
From: http://www.dhs.nu/
Best Atari 2600 games of all time
Most people don't realize that I didn't get my start at the San Francisco Chronicle as the universally beloved pop culture critic that you know today. I was actually a Chronicle paperboy in the early-to-mid 1980s.
My best friend Bryan and I had adjoining paper routes in Burlingame, and we would spend most of our profits on movies and video games. Specifically, Atari 2600 cartridges. This was partially during the death throes of the console, so we were able to get games for very cheap -- even as a lot of the best games were coming out. Consequently, we played almost everything.
The technology has gotten infinitely more advance, but I've still never had as much fun playing a video game as I did with that old Atari system. I'm about to dig out my Atari 2600 so my 4-year-old can check it out -- or at least hook up my Atari Flashback 2.0, which is the best of the modern Atari 2600 clones to come out in recent years. Below are the five games I definitely want to play with him -- my choices for the best Atari 2600 video games of all time.
5. ASTEROIDS
4. COMBAT
3. RIVER RAID
2. YARS' REVENGE
1. PITFALL!
Honorable Mention: Adventure, Demon Attack, Warlords, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Boxing.
Link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/parenting/detail?entry_id=38987