Archive for March 2015
SimCity Review
Platform: PC (but was ported to almost everything)
Released: 1989
Developer: Maxis
Publisher: Maxis (later part of EA before closing this year)
Digital Release? Yes, far too many to count
With the regretful closing of Maxis this year and the recent discussions of the value of city simulation games, I thought it was appropriate to return to Will Wright’s massively successful city simulation game that started it all. Although this game was not the first of Wright’s, that was a so-so top down shooter called Raid on Bungeling Bay for the Commodore 64 in 1984, this seemingly tame and rote concept came from that initial title when Wright was developing map builders for its levels. From there a few engineering books and some other research led to the genesis of Micropolis, the game about miniature versions of cities and managing the development and monthly activities. The title was supposed to release years earlier on the Commodore 64 by publisher Broderbund, who had handled Bungeling Bay, but they could not see the value in trying to market and sell a game like this – I wouldn’t have either – so it remained unreleased. It wasn’t until the late 80s that Wright had a meeting with Maxis founder Jeff Braun and secured the license for a Macintosh port that eventually released in 1989.
Download Titles Come to Club Nintendo Europe, Finally
Club Nintendo Europe I feel has always been the worst of the three available. Its a mash up of the worst things from the American version and the Japanese version. To this day I have struggled to decided between the catalogue of gimmicky crap like wrapping paper, key rings, or cash in your stars for Wii points. Yes that’s the original Wii not the Wii U or 3DS. But all that has changed and just in the nick of time Nintendo because as we all know Club Nintendo is finally coming to end in all territories. You can now finally exchange those hard earned stars for actual downloadable games on the Wii U and 3DS.
Atari claims Copyright on TxK
Rather than spend time developing new and exciting games Atari has decided to threaten British veteran game developer Jeff Minter with copyright claim. They claim the vita game TxK is too similar to the old school Tempest series and has demanded Minter remove the game for sale. There is no denying that TxK is very much a spiritual successor to the Tempest series. In fact Jess Minter actually developed Tempest 2000 for the Atari Jaguar. Minter has stated that he has been having problems with Atari behind the scenes for several months and even offered to develop a sequel to the Tempest series with the company but they have denied him the luxury. Instead just threatening more legal again to Minter who claims he lacks the funds to take the case to court.
Pixelated Pints: Episode 27 – VR is the Future!
This week Fred and Heffe discuss the glut of VR headsets announced the day after the last show, Steam boxes, companies closing, people leaving, sequels to big games, and then technical issues kill the show early.
HuniePop Review
Please Note: Any way you dice it, HuniePop is a game intended for adults. There is smoking, drinking, very adult language, scantily clad (and potentially fully nude) individuals, adult situations displayed/discussed, and potentially what could be described as pornographic art of a certain type referred to as “hentai”. Now, perhaps you already know this, but it’s a warning for those that don’t. Fortunately this review, while it mentions this content, contains none of these items. It can be considered safe for work (although someone may make fun of you), including all screenshots, and only mildly discusses themes that would be considered appropriate for, at worst, a teen audience. This is just a friendly warning from the folks here at Gaming History 101.
I get it now. For years I have watched my friends, family, and even gamer peers play match three games and never understood it. Sure, I gave a good couple of weeks to Marvel Puzzle Quest, and I had played the original Puzzle Quest in the past, but I was never drawn into them like others were. Eventually, I quit playing these games altogether. But I get it now and I will sadly admit that for more than 15 hours of my life – which may be the blink of an eye to the average Candy Crush addict – I was officially hooked to a match three game. Unfortunately that match three game also happened to be a hybrid dating sim, and a relatively poor one at that, which also had a readily available uncensored patch that displayed an occasional pornographic hentai image, but a match three game nonetheless. It may be shameful for some, although I have no shame, in admitting that I not only liked but got addicted to HuniePop, but I did and it was definitely the match three game that did it. No, seriously, there were easier ways to see the art and out of those 15 hours I spent about 2 minutes looking at art, one total hour playing the dating sim, and 14 more doing nothing but match three. In fact, the game is pretty terrible at everything it attempts to accomplish outside being a basic match three clone. But still, I was hooked.
Podcast: Arcade Memories
This week Fred and Jam wax nostalgic on their favorite arcades from the past. It’s always been our belief that not only were the cabinet games themselves impressionistic, but the particular arcade you would visit and games you selected at those arcades to be just as significant. We talk about the locations, interiors, moods, feel, and of course our favorite games.
New Retro Arcade, The Emulator Frontend We Wanted Game Room To Be
A new development has come from the folks at Digital Cyber Cherries called New Retro Arcade that utilizes Unreal Engine 4 and a bunch of assets to simulate an actual arcade for your MAME emulation. This program is what we all probably hoped the Xbox 360’s Game Room was going to be but never was. You can browse your arcade, complete with random lights, sounds, and crazy carpeting, and play whatever you like. Built into the program are random arcade activities like darts and bowling, but the real draw is picking up that SNES controller, Gameboy sitting about, or walking up an arcade cabinet and playing the game. You can see in the video below that of the authenticity retained by this program, scanlines and rounded edges are a welcome part of it. The demo has it running on a GTX 780 TI, but it clearly doesn’t seem to need that power, however the average Windows XP MAME machine is probably not going to have the chops to run it. It’s a good start, but I’m going to want to test it myself and I can’t see it replacing my MAME machine as my go-to for arcade emulation, but if I get some sort of VR helmet in the future it does appear be an enticing recreation. Clicking on the company name above will take you to the site to get this free download.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blE43U3PTGQ]Swedish Airports Have Arcade Charity Machines
This is a incredibly creative way to raise money for charity that will hopefully catch on in other countries. Working with the Red Cross arcade machines of Space Invaders, Galaga, and Ms. Pac-Man have been installed to accept multiple types of currency with all the proceeds going to charity. So you can enjoy your favourite retro games while you wait for that plane ride knowing it all goes to a good cause. If this catches on maybe well see other games brought back into the fray. If I could choose I would sink plenty of money into a Bubble Bobble or Rainbow Islands cabinet.
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number Review
The original Hotline Miami is still a massive indie hit that has a colourful over the top retro look to it with a fantastic soundtrack to accompany it. The goal of each level was simple: kill every enemy on screen by any means necessary. Although that comes across as a very basic concept the game is very difficult and you will find yourself restarting constantly until you finally figure out the magical formula to dispatch all the bad guys in the level. I was hooked to this game instantly when I first played it, and was pretty excited to hear a sequel was on the way.
Apogee Software and GoG Are Giving Away Rise of the Triad
Today at 4:00 PM GMT (that’s 12:00 PM EDT and 9:00 AM PDT for those who need it easy) game distribution site Good Old Games is giving away Rise of the Triad for the first 30,000 people who request it. Now what’s funny to me is that the press release says they’re giving away the 2013 version of Rise of the Triad whereas I would have assumed it would be the original The Dark War version from 1994 but who knows, for now I would trust it’s the newer (and better) game. After the first 30,000 go it’s still going to be available at 80 percent off, which is a steal for that game. As my review in the link will explain, if you want the 90s brought back to life with modern controls and graphics, this long 20+ hour FPS with a campaign and frag-fest multiplayer is a gem. If you want to be prepared, you may want to zip over to the site, make a username if you don’t have one already, and be signed in and ready to refresh your browser at the golden hour. It’s free, what have you got to lose. Also if you’re curious to read up on what started life as the sequel to Wolfenstein 3-D, feel free to check out our historical context article on the development of the original.
Gaming History 101 