No episode this week due to family emergency. See you next week.
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Episode 383: Get Some Board Games InEpisode 383: Get Some Board Games In
This episode was recorded on short notice thanks to last week’s late posting, so the Listener Feedback that responded to 382 couldn’t make it here. Paul and Jonah discuss some board games with remarkably similar themes they played in the past few days. Paul also waits for his compensation for The Sims Freeplay.
The news of the week includes:
- Microsoft discontinues Kinect for Windows
- Microsoft says open source Windows is “definitely possible”
- OnLive shuts down streaming games service, sells patents to Sony
- Mario Maker gets release date
No Listener Feedback this week, so the Question of the Week remains the same: “What do you think the future is for old games?”
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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Gaming Podcast 142: HatecastGaming Podcast 142: Hatecast
This episode brings the hate, sarcasm and skepticism in all that is gaming news. We’re also super charged with a gaming flashback on Autoduel and the history of Origin Systems, Inc. But, what really brings it all together is the news of the week:
- Nintendo Wii getting exclusive titles
- Microsoft implementing video capture on the 360?
- Rockstar challenging MySpace Music artists
- Ars Technica hates on the PSP Go
- Valve Spending $25 million on Ads
This week’s question of the week is quite simple: any board games that need to be re-created as a video game?