One of the first games I was introduced to on the 2600 was River Raid, back in 1982. I remember it vividly, as I was at my cousin David’s house, who was older than me, and he’d “baby sit” me so the adults could have some adult time hanging out in the dining room. We’d sit in the family room playing 2600, mainly River Raid.
This is an Activision game, and was later ported to Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, C64, ColecoVision, IBM PCjr, Intellivision, ZX Spectrum, and MSX. The player controls an airplane in a top-down view over a river and gets points for shooting down enemy planes, helicopters, ships and balloons (for versions after the Atari 2600). By flying over fuel-stations, the plane’s tank can be refilled. The player can shift side to side and change the speed of the plane. Sections of the river are marked by bridges.
The game was highly acclaimed for its ability to stuff tons of map into small amounts of space. The map was huge and it fit on the disk because it’s randomly generated using a common starting seed, basically, imagine some of the Diablo dungeons…they’re randomly generated but the starting seed which starts the random process is also ‘random.’ (probably based on clock time which isn’t too uncommon). Atari, rather than try to make a random level each time used the level random generator to build a procedural based level rather than drawing it and saving it into the cart. GENIUS.
A more highly randomized number generation system was used for enemy AI to make the game less predictable.
Germany consider this game harmful to children, indexing it on their list of games “harmful for children” along with the game Speed Racer. It remained on their list until 2002 (since 1984) when developers petitioned it off the list before the PS2 launch of Activision Anthology (otherwise they’d not be able to put it in the game)
Some of the Germany reasons: Minors are intended to delve into the role of an uncompromising fighter and agent of annihilation (…). It provides children with a paramilitaristic education (…). With older minors, playing leads (…) to physical cramps, anger, aggressiveness, erratic thinking (…) and headaches (wikipedia)
All in all, a great game! To hear all the details on River Raid and our opinions, checkout TD Gaming Podcast Episode 78.
Its Jack Nicklaus! (/Facepalm)
The main reason I was asking about WiiWare was that Wii online now has a form of internet referral system. Basically, if you help someone get their Wii online, and you both submit a form with the other person’s friend code, you get 500 points. I certainly don’t intend to be hardcore on the Wii, so was thinking of getting a casual game, but maybe I should just cash it in for a NES game.
Its Jack Nicklaus! (/Facepalm)
The main reason I was asking about WiiWare was that Wii online now has a form of internet referral system. Basically, if you help someone get their Wii online, and you both submit a form with the other person’s friend code, you get 500 points. I certainly don’t intend to be hardcore on the Wii, so was thinking of getting a casual game, but maybe I should just cash it in for a NES game.
In response to question of the week, I think Tiger will be shelved from EA. He has been sacked from one of his high earners. Gillette is cutting back his appearances in their advertisements, and he is taking a break from Golf anyway.
And yes, adultery is not in the same league as rape and alleged murder, but Tiger Woods is a brand, and it certainly doesn’t make him look cool.
In response to question of the week, I think Tiger will be shelved from EA. He has been sacked from one of his high earners. Gillette is cutting back his appearances in their advertisements, and he is taking a break from Golf anyway.
And yes, adultery is not in the same league as rape and alleged murder, but Tiger Woods is a brand, and it certainly doesn’t make him look cool.
i bought myself a christmas Present today AC2 Special edition for $130 =]
i bought myself a christmas Present today AC2 Special edition for $130 =]
The “foot bag” game is called Hackeysack, you dweebs, screamed Derrick at Epyx.
The “foot bag” game is called Hackeysack, you dweebs, screamed Derrick at Epyx.
She didn’t tip us off, we were aware of the Punch-Out game and it’s name change, you covered that in one of your earlier shows.
And since we’re talking about Tiger: EA will not mainatin their support. Besides the fact that there was a precedent with Punch-Out (although set by Nintendo?), they’ll fear that backing him up could also be interpreted as backing up his conduit.
PC gamming is far from dead. All people that I know as gamers are PC gamers. And I’m not talking about online communities here, I’m talking about people that I meet.
I don’t know how many people in Romania (now you know where I’m from) own a console, but I don’t remember seeing console rushes in stores. I did see a boom in PC sales though, in the 2001-2007 time period.
And no, I am not foaming at the mouth 🙂
She didn’t tip us off, we were aware of the Punch-Out game and it’s name change, you covered that in one of your earlier shows.
And since we’re talking about Tiger: EA will not mainatin their support. Besides the fact that there was a precedent with Punch-Out (although set by Nintendo?), they’ll fear that backing him up could also be interpreted as backing up his conduit.
PC gamming is far from dead. All people that I know as gamers are PC gamers. And I’m not talking about online communities here, I’m talking about people that I meet.
I don’t know how many people in Romania (now you know where I’m from) own a console, but I don’t remember seeing console rushes in stores. I did see a boom in PC sales though, in the 2001-2007 time period.
And no, I am not foaming at the mouth 🙂
Romania? Nice! I’m used to international listeners by now, our cocktail show has a ton of international viewers anywhere from Lithuania to Australia and beyond. It’s fun hearing the culture and trends of the different areas, since we’re US Based it’s easy to lose site of the trends, such as heavier PC gaming abroad.
Around these parts, everyone I meet’s got either a 360, wii or PS3 (few PS3’s though). Most have also had their 360 die. Nobody I meet has had their PC die though 😉
Romania? Nice! I’m used to international listeners by now, our cocktail show has a ton of international viewers anywhere from Lithuania to Australia and beyond. It’s fun hearing the culture and trends of the different areas, since we’re US Based it’s easy to lose site of the trends, such as heavier PC gaming abroad.
Around these parts, everyone I meet’s got either a 360, wii or PS3 (few PS3’s though). Most have also had their 360 die. Nobody I meet has had their PC die though 😉
Derrick, I thought you guys would mention Mega Man 10, and you’d go on about how you were going to avoid it because of how freakin’ HARD Mega Man 9 was. You’re losing your edge, man. Have a Red Bull. It’ll give you wings.
Derrick, I thought you guys would mention Mega Man 10, and you’d go on about how you were going to avoid it because of how freakin’ HARD Mega Man 9 was. You’re losing your edge, man. Have a Red Bull. It’ll give you wings.
Quite honestly, I’ve never known myself to have any edges at all.
Quite honestly, I’ve never known myself to have any edges at all.
Oh, you’re edgy. You’re the worst kind of edgy – the edgy guy who doesn’t know he’s edgy. >:)
Maybe you’ll discuss it on 2old2type.
Oh, you’re edgy. You’re the worst kind of edgy – the edgy guy who doesn’t know he’s edgy. >:)
Maybe you’ll discuss it on 2old2type.
In response to the question for this week: Tiger Woods has dominated the sport so much that no-one else has a reputation like his. Who else would they put on the cover? Vijay Singh? Phil Mickelson? These players are nowhere near as iconic as Tiger Woods.
On the other hand, Tiger’s image has been massively damaged, so while the cover art might still have Tiger on it, EA may decide to just cut the name to “EA Sports PGA Tour 2011”, without having a specific golfer attached to the title.
In response to the question for this week: Tiger Woods has dominated the sport so much that no-one else has a reputation like his. Who else would they put on the cover? Vijay Singh? Phil Mickelson? These players are nowhere near as iconic as Tiger Woods.
On the other hand, Tiger’s image has been massively damaged, so while the cover art might still have Tiger on it, EA may decide to just cut the name to “EA Sports PGA Tour 2011”, without having a specific golfer attached to the title.