Posts Tagged ‘atari’
Podcast: 2017 on the 5s and 10s
In what has become an annual tradition, Jam and Fred delve into the past in 5 and 10 year intervals. In 2017 that means any decade in gaming history that ends in either a “7” or a “2”. There’s a great deal to be had and the time flies far too fast, but we guarantee you’ll learn something you didn’t already know.
Friday at the Movies: Cloak & Dagger
The 1980s was a weird time for movies. It seems like during this time period that younger kids between the ages of 8-14 were a demographic that was heavily marketed to. While I concede that films of today like anything animated by Pixar or even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are marketed to kids, it doesn’t seem like the movies are specifically created to speak to them. Cloak & Dagger is a film I can’t imagine was marketed for anyone other than young boys that were into G.I. Joe, played video games, and struggled with their parents. So, yeah, every young boy. It tells the tale of an 11-year-old Texas boy named Davey (played by Henry Thomas just after his big debut in E.T.) that is obsessed with a spy role playing game Cloak & Dagger starring a James Bond type named Jack Flack. One day Davey witnesses real terrorists trying to deliver confidential government materials in an Atari 5200 video game cart and of course the world doesn’t believe him because he’s already annoyed them profusely with his imaginary spy nonsense. What I love about this movie is that it speaks to kids at their level and, believe it or not, sneaks in plenty of after school lessons that will hopefully better equip them for handling the real world. If you are into brand marketing the way we all were in the 80s, you won’t be able to ignore the glut of Atari references. This film released in the summer of 1984, which is quite an ironic time to have a film engulfed in Atari marketing since the crash of 1983 was in full effect. I’m sure when it was filming and when the deals were signed, this was at least a year earlier when Atari ruled supreme. Nowadays you will want to watch this film not because of its entertainment merit per se, it is still a movie made for and talking to pre-teens, but more because of the hybrid of going back to your youth and nostalgia for the time period.
My Weekend With MicroProse’s 1997 Magic The Gathering Game
I was an avid Magic: The Gathering fan since the day it released. While I jumped in at the tail end of Unlimited, the first run of the game, my friends and I really jumped in at the Revised edition that combined a majority of the core Unlimited set and integrated the then two expansions Arabian Nights and Antiquities. If you are a Magic: The Gathering first release player, the most intriguing, powerful, and expensive cards exist in the pre-Revised era. This is why when Microprose released Magic: The Gathering game in April of 1997, which was based purely on the Unlimited set, my friends and I were ecstatic. Couple that with the reduced price update, Spells of the Ancients, that added Arabian Nights and Antiquities in September 1997, we all had nostalgia for a game that was only about 4 years old. I think the biggest factor is the what Magic: The Gathering is – a card-based game that lives and dies by the introduction of new sets and consistently selling cards to players – and the fact that these early power cards were super expensive and we all wanted a way to play with them, that I instantly migrated over. Furthermore, it was the first true Magic: The Gathering video game (all other attempts were other types of games with M:TG skins) that gave you everything you wanted: deck construction, online play, tournaments, and even a pseudo-RPG called Shandalar. It’s now available to play on modern systems, and free (provided you are willing to skate legalities), and I had a chance to jump back into one of my favorite high school PC games. For those not familiar with Magic: The Gathering, the next portion of this article is a brief history and explanation of the game (not how to play), but if you’re familiar, feel free to skip to the game section that follows.
Lost Treasures of Gaming: Marble Madness
This week Syd and Sean were graced by the presence of a wonderful game developer named Mark Cerney. Responsible for working on a bunch of games we all loved including Sonic 2, Crash Bandicoot, and more, one of Cerney’s first releases was Marble Madness. In addition to being a newer perspective on games, this title was significant for many reasons both revealed in the interview and mentioned in this video.
Check out the Lost Treasures of Gaming podcast at http://www.omgnexus.com.
Retro Game Night: Atari’s Star Wars Arcade Games
One of the only redeeming traits of Rebel Strike: Rogue Squadron III on Gamecube is that you can unlock all 3 of the original Atari developed arcade games from the early 1980s. These games – Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi – were games that I had to play every time I saw them regardless of the situation (like me really not liking Return of the Jedi in arcade form).
In lieu of Lost Treasures of Gaming (this week’s ep I’ve already done, Smash TV, and can be found here). Next week we will return to another great Lost Treasure of Gaming.
Lost Treasures of Gaming: Ghostbusters The Video Game (2009)
This week Lost Treasures of Gaming interviewed Ken Rogoway for not only his work on Ghostbusters: The Video Game but also last week’s game Rescue on Fractalus! (the Tandy Computer version) and many others. Here we play one of my favorite parts of the game, a rematch between the Ghostbusters and Stay Puft marshmallow man on the streets of New York.
Check out OMG Nexus for its other shows, including Lost Treasures of Gaming, and content!
Lost Treasures of Gaming: Rescue on Fractalus!
This week’s episode featured David B. Fox in the interview chair and a discussion on the development of Rescue on Fractalus! One of the earliest games from LucasFilm Games before they became LucasArts, this title featured fractal graphics and procedurally generated planets way before that was commonplace.
This was captured in conjunction with the Lost Treasures of Gaming podcast on OMG Nexus. Lost Treasures of Gaming on Gaming History 101’s Twitch channel can be watched live every Friday night at 11:30 pm EST.
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.
Podcast: Famiclone Polystation
This week we discuss the underground world of clone consoles. What started as a seedy underground market for people to get illegal game bundles has evolved into highly faithful, legal, re-creations of classic consoles and hybrids thanks to expired patents. We tackle the history of clone consoles – which goes back farther than you think – and the value of this sideways, but popular market.
Getting It Backwards
Video game consoles are one of the most interesting electronics items on the market for several reasons. Probably the most prolific is the fact that there are frequent hardware upgrades, which we call generations, that move home consoles forward. Because each new console is basically a piece of hardware frozen in time, the need to innovate and improve on future games demands that they be constantly updated. This works counter to movies or music, which see improvements from new hardware but don’t require the upgrade to enjoy the medium. Imagine if you could play Super Mario Bros. on the Wii but with drastically upgraded visuals or Dead Space on the original Playstation with the juxtaposed setback, this is exactly what we see when we watch Ghostbusters on VHS versus DVD versus Blu Ray. As a result new consoles come out all the time, typically in 5-8 year intervals, and usher in a more interactive experience – it’s important to note that the greatest difference between games and other media is that they are active, not passive experiences – and with it comes a new format for software.
Enter the concern of the consumer. It can be frustrating for both gamers and parents of gamers alike to purchase a new console, especially when it renders an entire collection on an older console useless. As retro gamers I’m sure we see the value in it, but for the majority there’s a want to move forward and never look back. Well, that is until there are enough new games to get me to migrate over. This is another slow start that prevents all but early adopters to purchase new hardware, which can then result in fewer sales. With fewer sales comes more canceled projects on new hardware, which then results in fewer sales of the hardware and the cycle continues until a console is considered dead in the water. Just look at the Virtual Boy, Jaguar, and possibly even the WiiU about this problem; developers have enough to worry about, they can’t also deal with poor penetration rate due to a false start console. One excellent solution to help usher in that awkward period between consoles is the concept of backwards compatibility, or a new console that can play a previous generation’s games.
Gaming History 101 