Kosmosis is based on the idea that the modern shooter is
rooted in the capitalist military-industrial complex. Created by Molleindustria (behind
Oligarchy and
much more) it
reinvents the idea of the shooter along Communist lines. The game play is based on three principles: Thesis I: The task of the vanguard is to instill revolutionary class consciousness in the intergalatic proletariat. Thesis II: The people united will never be defeated. Thesis III: The role of the vanguard will diminish as the educated masses gain autonomy. All with little glowing dots.
[more inside]
posted by blahblahblah
on Jan 11, 2010 -
16 comments
Rails of War is a terrific flash game, where you equip a train with ever-increasing combinations of weapons and guide it through various missions. It is a representative of the growing number of Defense-style flash strategy games started by
Tower Defense and friends, which we discussed before. Now you can try
Age of War, where you try to destroy an opponents base through five distinct eras;
Invasion Tactical Defense where you must manage a nuclear missile plant and its anti-aircraft defenses; the inevitable and
previously mentioned zombie defense games;
StarCraft FA5, where you are the Zerg defending your base; and the lovely and abstract
Red. These is a particularly addictive class of games, so be warned...
posted by blahblahblah
on Nov 29, 2007 -
19 comments
For nearly two decades, fifty computers have been running day and night on an extremely complex problem. Today, scientists from the University of Alberta announced the result of all that work - they have
solved the game of checkers. Chinook, the computer program they developed, can never be beaten -
try for yourself. While checkers is the most complicated game to be solved so far, it is
not the only one. You can play a
perfect game of tic-tac-toe, of course, but also
connect four, and a 6x6 board of the game
othello. Chess players are already
thinking ahead to when their game is solved, with
Advanced Chess being Gary Kasparov's answer. The hardest game to completely solve might be Go, which
may not be solved until 2100.
posted by blahblahblah
on Jul 19, 2007 -
76 comments
Combining incredible hubris with deep incompetence,
Active Enterprises was probably the worst game company of all time. They released precisely two games in the early 1990s. The first was the insanely horrible
Action 52, (retail price: $200), which was designed to
take advantage of a "silent wave of anti, far-eastern [sic] made products," and featured an
unwinnable contest. More amazing, however, was the sequel to the 52nd game in their Action 52 cartridge,
Cheetahmen II. Never quite the breakout hit that Active intended, perhaps because it was crippled with
bizarre bugs and
middle school art, the world never got to see the second issue of the
Cheetahmen comic book, nor the planned set of
action figures, nor their
Action Gamemaster console.
posted by blahblahblah
on Jan 19, 2007 -
26 comments
Chess has a long, if somewhat
shrouded,
history, with beautiful chess pieces found dating from the
5th century. It has spawned
hundreds of fascinating stories, and
many interesting names for moves. For the last five decades, the history of chess and computers have
been intertwined in many ways. Chess continues to adapt to a new age, with controversies around
computer-assisted cheating, attempts to
sex-up chess books,
thousands of variants, and an
amazing online database that can search through recorded games for the last 200 years.
posted by blahblahblah
on Dec 4, 2006 -
5 comments
1,100 Apple II games you can play online. If you are too overwhelmed by your memories to know what to play, some playable classics:
Oregon Trail*,
Ultima IV*,
Archon*,
Captain Goodnight and the Islands of Fear*,
Drol*,
Wings of Fury*,
Choplifter *,
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?* and
Taipan*. Or you can play the
first game mod in history:
Castle Smurfenstein, a modification of the 1983 original
Castle Wolfenstein. What did I miss?
[Young whippersnappers can click the asterisks to find out why the game was important. Use the left and right alt keys for joystick buttons, the other instructions are on the site. Emulator only works with IE, sorry. See also this.]
posted by blahblahblah
on Aug 29, 2006 -
98 comments
While groups like the
Serious Games Initiative are working on making games effective teaching tools, and
Social Impact Games are categorizing hundreds of socially useful games, there are some simulations and "serious games" available now which can also be a lot of fun (at least for a little while). Online, you can try your hand at
the basics of sailing,
setting wildfires,
learning photography, or experience a heavy-handed
simulation of the war on terror. Less seriously, there is the
stapler simulator and the
zombie attack simulator. For a bit more involved experience, download a
college administration simulator, the
UN's Food Force, and, soon, a simulation on the
Rwandan genocide. Is learning this way actually useful, or do we have further to go, first?
[Flash, Shockwave, and Java used in some links. Some prev. here and here]
posted by blahblahblah
on Nov 15, 2005 -
11 comments
The Most Ambitious Game Ever? At this year's Game Developers Conference, Sims creator Will Wright's upcoming game
Spore drew standing ovations. Not to be outdone, Peter Molyneux (of Populous and Black & White fame) revealed his own ambitious game-like project
The Room. While the top game designers have freedom to play, independents
rail (read Greg Costikyan's amazing bit in the middle) at the restrictions of the publisher system. For those who doubt
games can be art.
posted by blahblahblah
on Mar 15, 2005 -
60 comments
