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.
Actually, the DRM servers didn’t go down – they were attacked by hackers with a denial of service attack.
Actually, the DRM servers didn’t go down – they were attacked by hackers with a denial of service attack.
Derrick? Is Mario Kart a THIRD PARTY title? Name a successful third party title on the Wii.
Derrick? Is Mario Kart a THIRD PARTY title? Name a successful third party title on the Wii.
World of Goo appeared on WiiWare. And are you saying ALL third party developers are idiots? ALL of them?
World of Goo appeared on WiiWare. And are you saying ALL third party developers are idiots? ALL of them?
Portal is awesome, i extremely enjoyed my 6-8hrs of game play. (1hrs being simply entertain with a ceiling and floor portal going zoom zoom!.) portal taught me to never give up on life cuz there is cake @ the end.
Portal is awesome, i extremely enjoyed my 6-8hrs of game play. (1hrs being simply entertain with a ceiling and floor portal going zoom zoom!.) portal taught me to never give up on life cuz there is cake @ the end.
I never said Mario Kart is a third party title. I clearly kept this separate to avoid such a comment. Any developer that truly understands the audience can be successful.
Just because the label says “Nintendo” does not make it a hit. The game has to kick ass and be fun, addictive and great for the entire family. Nintendo knows this, that’s how they sell games.
Third parties that are publishing for it haven’t seem to figure it out. Will the? I dunno. Perhaps someday a company will come along and make a recipe that works as Nintendo clearly can do. It’s not a 100% successful smash hit (i.e. Zelda) but they know their target well for the most part, why is it ONLY they can do it? It’s not magic. It’s not ultimate He-Man powers….
I never said Mario Kart is a third party title. I clearly kept this separate to avoid such a comment. Any developer that truly understands the audience can be successful.
Just because the label says “Nintendo” does not make it a hit. The game has to kick ass and be fun, addictive and great for the entire family. Nintendo knows this, that’s how they sell games.
Third parties that are publishing for it haven’t seem to figure it out. Will the? I dunno. Perhaps someday a company will come along and make a recipe that works as Nintendo clearly can do. It’s not a 100% successful smash hit (i.e. Zelda) but they know their target well for the most part, why is it ONLY they can do it? It’s not magic. It’s not ultimate He-Man powers….
@Jonah, fyi, if the server is attacked by a DDOS and won’t service requests most of us call that “down.”
There are ways to get around this problem that could have rendered this moot in a matter of seconds, but they didn’t take action on that–stupid. If your entire DRM solution revolves around staying up and you didn’t think a hacker group or whatnot was going to “prove” the DRM solution is fallible by DDOSING then the person that made (or didn’t make) the decision should be fired.
@Jonah, fyi, if the server is attacked by a DDOS and won’t service requests most of us call that “down.”
There are ways to get around this problem that could have rendered this moot in a matter of seconds, but they didn’t take action on that–stupid. If your entire DRM solution revolves around staying up and you didn’t think a hacker group or whatnot was going to “prove” the DRM solution is fallible by DDOSING then the person that made (or didn’t make) the decision should be fired.
Also I would like to quote “i hate Itunes.”
Also I would like to quote “i hate Itunes.”
… Jennifer’s got a cold? She sure sounds like that …
@Ubisoft’s DRM
ZOMG! What a big surprise! I didn’t see this one coming! … NOT!!
If you have ONE server (or ONE GROUP of servers) that is supposed to keep a permanent connection to your customer, that’s the single point of failure. You can bet any of your body parts that somebody WILL attack it.
As for it being cracked, well, as an Eastern European, I didn’t see this one comming 😀
As for limitations … come on … a good crack will provide the full game experience. You can bet that the people that make them cracks make sure you can play the game to its full extent.
Now, if UBISOFT’s plan is to rack some money, they’re doing it wrong.
But … but … if their plan is to kill the PC gaming market, they’re doing it right.
@Steam for Macs:
Well, I think the mechanism there is that you pay for the game.
With Steam, you can install a game you payed for on any number of computers, and play it from any of them. However, you can’t play from two computers at the same time, with the same Steam account.
Now, as for having the game on both PC and Mac, I belive that’s just an extension of what I said above. You own the game, regardless of the OS the current computer is running.
And Valve comming for Macs, it was bound to happen, it’s an extra market segment.
And yes, people still play CS.
@MSFT and XBox 36a0 mobo:
I guess they want to make cheaper XBoxes, without the RROD issues. That may end up to a full re-design.
Sorry for leaving that sentence hanging last week, the one about the DICE guy doing games for Wii 🙂
What I wanted to say is that it’s hard to ask somebody who designs hardcore games to make casual or sport games. You’d end up with a baseball game that uses hand grenades for balls and M4 carbines for bats, military grade helmets and kevlar vests for protective equipment …
Wait… I should patent that …
@GOD
Well … you have a point. Selling the company does point out that they were in for the money. And that would mean that posing as ‘indie friendly’ was just to get the developers …
@Question of the week:
I’d like to see the next STALKER game focusing on the interface between The Zone and the rest of the world. Like the mechanism of sneaking into the zone, smuggling out artefacts, stuff like that.
… Jennifer’s got a cold? She sure sounds like that …
@Ubisoft’s DRM
ZOMG! What a big surprise! I didn’t see this one coming! … NOT!!
If you have ONE server (or ONE GROUP of servers) that is supposed to keep a permanent connection to your customer, that’s the single point of failure. You can bet any of your body parts that somebody WILL attack it.
As for it being cracked, well, as an Eastern European, I didn’t see this one comming 😀
As for limitations … come on … a good crack will provide the full game experience. You can bet that the people that make them cracks make sure you can play the game to its full extent.
Now, if UBISOFT’s plan is to rack some money, they’re doing it wrong.
But … but … if their plan is to kill the PC gaming market, they’re doing it right.
@Steam for Macs:
Well, I think the mechanism there is that you pay for the game.
With Steam, you can install a game you payed for on any number of computers, and play it from any of them. However, you can’t play from two computers at the same time, with the same Steam account.
Now, as for having the game on both PC and Mac, I belive that’s just an extension of what I said above. You own the game, regardless of the OS the current computer is running.
And Valve comming for Macs, it was bound to happen, it’s an extra market segment.
And yes, people still play CS.
@MSFT and XBox 36a0 mobo:
I guess they want to make cheaper XBoxes, without the RROD issues. That may end up to a full re-design.
Sorry for leaving that sentence hanging last week, the one about the DICE guy doing games for Wii 🙂
What I wanted to say is that it’s hard to ask somebody who designs hardcore games to make casual or sport games. You’d end up with a baseball game that uses hand grenades for balls and M4 carbines for bats, military grade helmets and kevlar vests for protective equipment …
Wait… I should patent that …
@GOD
Well … you have a point. Selling the company does point out that they were in for the money. And that would mean that posing as ‘indie friendly’ was just to get the developers …
@Question of the week:
I’d like to see the next STALKER game focusing on the interface between The Zone and the rest of the world. Like the mechanism of sneaking into the zone, smuggling out artefacts, stuff like that.