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Episode 679: E3 WaningEpisode 679: E3 Waning
A lot is going on with Twitch, as the company continues to be terribly run. Microsoft is also making sure the Activison-Blizzard acquisition goes through, and Resident Evil 4 is fun.
The news includes:
- Life By You is coming for Sims 4, with early access confirmed for 2023
- Respawn opens third studio as it targets 10-15 year lifespan for Apex Legends
- Ghostwire: Tokyo is getting an expanded campaign, a roguelite mode, and a dodge button
- Microsoft confirms it won’t have a show floor presence at E3 2023
Let us know what you think.
Gaming Flashback: Lode RunnerGaming Flashback: Lode Runner
Lode Runner, a game many of us logged hundreds of hours upon. Lode Runner has a great deal of replay value thanks to its great map editor. The game was first published by Broderbund in 1983, but was first prototyped by Douglas Smith, an architecture student at the University of Washington.
The Lode Runner prototype was called Kong and was originally written for a Prime Computer 550 minicomputer on campus, but shortly after it was ported to the VAX minicomputer. Originally programmed in FORTRAN and utilized only ASCII character graphics (the most basic of characters).
In September of 1982 Smith was able to port it to the Apple II+ (in assembly language) and renamed it to Miner. In October of that same year he submitted a rough copy to Broderbund and he’s said to have received a one-line rejection letter, “Sorry, your game doesn’t fit into our product line; please feel free to submit future products.”
The original title had no joystick support and was developed in full black and white…not exactly exciting. So, Smith then borrowed money to purchase a color monitor and joystick and continued to improve the game. Around Christmas of 1982, he submitted the game, now renamed Lode Runner, to four publishers and quickly received offers from all four: Sierra, Sirius, Synergistic, and Brøderbund.
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Episode 609: Back 4 Baseball 4 BloodEpisode 609: Back 4 Baseball 4 Blood
Can scalpers get any sleazier? Find out in this episode, as more exciting games are coming this year that the crew get hyped about.
The news list features:
- Electronic Arts buys Super Mega Baseball studio Metalhead Software
- Back 4 Blood details its deck-building card system
- Pokémon Card scalpers are ruining cereal, too
Let us know what you think.