NEW from VIDEO Magazine, arising out of its popular "Arcade Alley" column, it's
ELECTRONIC GAMES Magazine!
(page of PDF links) Brought to you by editors Frank Laney Jr. and
Bill Kunkel, and filled with all the latest news on programmable home console games, computer games (with special coverage for the new ATARI 800 system), stand-alone electronic devices and arcade gaming.
[more inside]
posted by JHarris
on Feb 7, 2013 -
37 comments
For Zelda Day, some points of interest regarding Zelda II, the black sheep of the Legend of Zelda series of video games:
posted by JHarris
on Dec 26, 2012 -
62 comments
Recently we learned about
Erdos-Bacon-Sabbath numbers. Continuing in this vein,
forum members at Select Button have been compiling Williams numbers, being characters in video games who can be linked to Nina Williams from the Tekken series of fighting games.
[NSFW forum images]
Mikhail Gorbachev is easy, he has a Williams number of only 2. Adolph Hitler has a Williams number of 3. Also, the guy from Doom, Voltron, Barack Obama and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. God has a Williams number of 4. So does T. E. Lawrence and Tron. The Burger King has a Williams number of 5 as well as Sarah Palin, Sigmund Freud, Avatar Aang and H.P. Lovecraft. Homestar Runner has a Williams number of 7.
[more inside]
posted by JHarris
on Jul 1, 2012 -
27 comments
Atari, the first successful arcade video game company, would have been 40 years old today. The blog Arcade Heroes takes the opportunity to look back over 40 years of arcade gaming (from Atari and other companies) with flyers and video.
Part 1 (1970s & 80s) -
Part 2 (1990s to present).
(WARNING: huge pages ahead with lots of flash videos.)
posted by JHarris
on Jun 28, 2012 -
24 comments
The video game
SEGAGAGA, a Japan-only release for the Dreamcast, is an incredibly odd bit of gaming history. A business sim (of sorts) it tasks the player to lead Sega to victory over its rival the evil DOGMA Corporation (a thinly veiled analog for Sony). Loaded with in-jokes obvious and obscure, it is a love letter to Sega fans, and it was one of the last Dreamcast games made before Sega went third party. After a four-year hiatus,
the Segagaga fan translation project has resumed work on localizing this most unusual game.
Intro video.
Edge Magazine interviews the director.
[more inside]
posted by JHarris
on Mar 23, 2011 -
24 comments
In
Aliens, what was the primary danger Ellen Ripley faced? Was it A. the machinations of the officials of the Weyland-Yutani corporation, B. the attacks and acid blood of the aliens themselves, or C. the bizarre, space-warping doors of the space colony dumping her into pits of death? According to a recently-surfaced prototype of a Famicom (Japanese NES) port of
Aliens, produced by Squaresoft, the answer is C!
Sardius of gaming blog
Dream And Friends tells us all about it:
Part 1 -
Part 2 -
Part 3 [more inside]
posted by JHarris
on Jan 20, 2011 -
37 comments
Amidakuji, or "Ghost Leg," is a lottery party game from Japan. At the top of a sheet there are a number of spaces for people to write their names. At the bottom there are prizes. There are an equal number of each. Between them is a map obscured behind a sheet. The map is made of straight vertical lines connecting the names and prizes. Connecting those lines at random intervals are horizontal lines. When it's time to pick winners, the sheet is removed and players can follow the lines to find their prize. You follow the line from your name down until you encounter any horizontal line, which you must follow, then continue down, continuing to follow all horizontal lines you encounter, until you reach your prize. No two horizontal lines can touch. Provided that, the process is perfectly deterministic and reversable. The same ends are reached whether you follow from the top down or the bottom up. If you have difficulty visualizing this, check
the Wikipedia page.
[more inside]
posted by JHarris
on Dec 24, 2010 -
18 comments
YouTube has a fair number of recordings of well-played classic arcade games.
Dig Dug,
Mr Do!,
Mr Do's Castle,
Do! Run Run,
Lady Bug Part 2,
Bagman,
Super Bagman,
Q*bert,
Venture,
Zoo Keeper,
Moon Cresta,
Scramble,
Make Trax,
Phoenix,
Rastan.
click through for more [more inside]
posted by JHarris
on Dec 23, 2010 -
35 comments
Chrontendo is a video podcast in which a guy systematically described and discusses
every Famicom/NES game released. Currently up to 33 episodes and counting, and covering hundreds of games.
[more inside]
posted by JHarris
on Nov 1, 2010 -
23 comments
Remember
Super Mario Frustration? Kaizo Mario World is another of those super-hard Mario level hacks, this one of Super Mario World. Someone played through its first level 134 times, with save states, recording all his deaths, then digitally composited them into one trip through the level. The result was
Many-Worlds Mario. (For those interested, here's a
video of a tool-assisted perfect run of much of the game.
Here's the rest. Here's some more.)
posted by JHarris
on Feb 3, 2008 -
36 comments
Hardcore Gaming 101 has a e-newsletter, but the best things there are the loving introductions to dozens of classic games and game series, all either sadly forgotten or practically unknown to the Western World. Thrill to the serious action of
Compile shooters! Avoid the mocking gazes of friends, roomies and significant others while reading about venerable Konami cute-em-ups
Twinbee and
Parodius! Figure out why the hell so many Namco games have
Valkyrie in them! Try to keep a straight face when confronted with the likes of
Ganbare Goemon,
Phoenix Wright,
The Neverhood,
No One Can Stop Mr. Domino!!!,
Panic!,
Urban Yeti and
Segagaga, the Sega Simulator! Do, uh,
something along with the T&A delights of
Keio Flying Squadron,
Popful Mail and
Valis! All this and
much,
much,
much much more.
posted by JHarris
on Mar 29, 2006 -
26 comments
Oh great merciful heavens! Who, oh who, will protect the dear children from the rampant sexual content that lies buried in... The Sims 2? According to Miami attorney Jack Thompson, it's worse than the now-infamous
Hot Coffee mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that
Hillary Clinton has made such a fuss about.
His claim is that behind the pixellated screen placed by the game in front of nude characters is full, anatomically-correct, genital detail, and a cheat code can remove that easily. Electronic Arts maintains that behind the screen is only Ken-And-Barbie smoothness. (Should be easy enough to check out, anyone?)
posted by JHarris
on Jul 22, 2005 -
77 comments
