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Exactly--I think emulation has become so big precisely because of the nostalgia associated with those quirky old games we all used to play, or just the quirky old OSes we made do with. After all, some of the first emulators were for things like the Atari 2600, ancient technology with horrid graphics and pitiful resolution by today's standards--but we remember fondly those old games.

No one has mentioned this one yet, so I thought I'd post it right toward the top since I LOVE it so much. It is bar none my favorite piece of software--I use it every day. It's Basilisk II, the open-source project that emulates a 68k-based Macintosh.

And it emulates a 68k Mac perfectly, only faster than the originals on my old K6-2 400. I can't wait to see it speed along when I finally upgrade--AMD, VIA, please hurry up and get dual Athlon solutions out the door, okay? The proggie is even optimized for dual processor machines; you can run it on one particular CPU, and use the other for other tasks.

This brings me to the one drawback: it tries to eat 100% of CPU time, from what I understand even on fast machines--but not a problem if you stay inside the emulated Mac while it's running, like I do, or have a dual-processor machine.

But Basilisk II is superior in most respects to the closed-source, commercial Mac emulators, SoftMac 2000 and Fusion--it's much more stable, crashing less frequently than a real 68k Mac, whereas Fusion and SoftMac crash more often.

I highly recommend that anyone who's ever used an old Mac and liked it or some of its software, check out Basilisk II at its homepage. If you run it under a Windoze platform, the homepage for the Windows port is here.

The great part is that Mac OS versions through 7.5.3 and its update to 7.5.5 are free for download from Apple's own website, so that you can run a real MacOS unlike with the runtime environment Executor some here may have tried. Links to Apple's FTP to get the OS are on each Basilisk II homepage, but the directions for installing MacOS on a HFS partition image file seem a bit more detailed at the Windoze version's homepage.

The only thing you need is a Mac 68k ROM, which you can download from a real Mac you own (instructions are given for how to copy this to a file), or you could pirate it from the Net. A ROM from a Quadra works best, since it's a 32-bit clean ROM unlike some of the older 16-bit "dirty" ROMs. Not that I condone piracy, but...you can easily find quadra.rom with some creative guesswork at Google.

It's been great to have that old Mac I used to use at the college computer lab in '95 back, and better than ever. I've been playing Barrack, one of my favorite games of all time. I've been playing that quaint old classic Risk, simple but addictive as it was in the early 90s. And Basilisk II even allows your virtual Mac to use your PC's internet connection, so grab Netscape 3.04 from the Netscape archives and have deja vu all over again (I still think the rounded look of the old versions of Netscape for the Mac are better than most of today's browsers look).

Sorry for running on so long, but I love it. The only problem has been tracking down older versions of Mac apps and games--I decided I wanted to make my virtual Mac an authentic 1995 beast, not only was it my first year of college, it's the year the Net really exploded into the mainstream. I've been collecting these old apps that were common back then, and eventually, even though it's a copyright violation, I'm going to release a 150MB HFS partition file on the Net containing a snapshot of 1995, with all the common software that's now difficult to find. Much of it I had to find by poring through old FTP mirrors, like this and from here. The olf NCSA Telnet and NCSA Mosaic ftp archives are still there, and have period versions of common utilities.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share something about my favourite emulator. Ciao.

If they can make Mac-only software run on x86 platforms, they've got a viable OS...because there's a killer app. That's right, Escape Velocity. The hordes of chronically deprived PC users will finally discover what a real game is.

The problem with liquid air is that the LOX and the LN2 would tend to separate: different densities and different liquification temperatures. So you could potentially wind up with a puddle of significantly concentrated liquid oxygen in your "gas" tank, and that is a fire hazard in a BIG way.
If you don't believe me, check out these images of people BBQing with LOX here and here.

i've at least tried out, and bought most of, every ambrosia game that i know of. now, i can't say anything about the utilities, but i have come across one bug that actually hung the system (Escape Velocity), and it was fixed in the next release. none of the few other problems i've had with ambrosia software requires a patch or a workaroud; they're mostly little graphics hiccups that don't affect gameplay in the least. bottom line is, when your product is as quality as ambrosia's stuff is, with whatever bugs present being honestly mistakes that somehow made it past the testers, you're allowed to come up with oddball marketing schemes like this.

(for those of you who don't know who ambrosia is, they're a small group of mac developers who have been churning out amazing games and pretty cool utilites for years now. they actually care about putting out a good product and less about hype and marketing...just a bunch of Good Guys doing Good Things.)

If you read the original story, you'll see several posts from Ambrosia employees stating that the idea came from the Marketing guy himself.

As for the marketing stunt, what else could a marketing director do about bugs? The programmers can fix them, but marketing can only apologize for them. I guess this is a strange way of doing just that.

(snip) The url for that Mac game is:http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/games/ev/

Man, I'd love it if Escape Velocity and it's "sequel" Escape Velocity Override were ported to an OS that'd run on my Intel hardware. I liked EV so much I gladly registered it (shareware). The folks at Ambrosia Software do a great job. If you've got an older Mac or a Mac laptop sitting around, grab this - along with a copy of Bungie's Marathon series :)

No, no, not how fast you have to go in order to get outta this wretched planet's atmosphere, this game from Ambrosia Software. It's pretty cool. Seems like this game is what has been begged for a thousand times on the BBS at escape-velocity.com, a 3-D EV. Unfortunately, EV is only for the Mac, but if you want to get sheepshaver (or have it) then check it out!

Those of us with Macs can enjoy at least one of the classic Ultima games, as well as several derivatives, as downloadable shareware.

Ultima III: Exodus

The Exile Trilogy by Spiderweb Software (I love these!)

Cytheria by Ambrosia Software


J
MacOS Open Source

I am wondering if perhaps there are any games like this or that have the concept of infinite play with a continuous running story that are open for expansion at will. Say perhaps a level or mission pack every 6 months.

There is a game somewhat like you describe. It's Escape Velocity by Ambrosia Shareware. It consists of an expandable map of planetary systems and several elaborate story lines that you can explore and visit as a trader. You can also pick up missions to fight pirates and become good, evil or neutral in different systems and to different alliances.

Systems and missions are simple to create and add on by fans and are available online at fan sites and an official repository.

Unfortunately it is only available for MacOS

I am wondering if perhaps there are any games like this or that have the concept of infinite play with a continuous running story that are open for expansion at will. Say perhaps a level or mission pack every 6 months.

There is a game somewhat like you describe. It's Escape Velocity by Ambrosia Shareware. It consists of an expandable map of planetary systems and several elaborate story lines that you can explore and visit as a trader. You can also pick up missions to fight pirates and become good, evil or neutral in different systems and to different alliances.

Systems and missions are simple to create and add on by fans and are available online at fan sites and an official repository.

Unfortunately it is only available for MacOS

Let's also hear it for Marathon! _Deirdre

OK, I'm just an applications geek, and know next to nothing about hardware, so this probably sounds pretty stupid. Live with it.

Ambrosia's still around and still making games as well as utilities. http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/ has the full scoop. Their games still aren't really up-to-snuff with commercial games, though, if you want my opinion. It would help if Andrew Welch spent less time being a freak and more time coding! (Are you listening, Andrew, you psycho? ;)

Note that there is also a linux port of maelstrom, its one of my favorite svgalib games. There is also a debian pacakge of it in the non-free section.

There's a Mac only shareware company - Ambrosia Software that specialized in remaking old games. They put their own spin on them, modernize a bit, but basically the game is the same. Their most famous is Maelstrom, which is Asteroids. But they've also done a Centipede remake, and even a wierd Windows game called Jezeball (also known as Maxwell) got redone as Barrack. It's a decent example: the addition of some higher-power features and some attitude makes the games so Ambrosia that they never even mention the originals; and nobody really cares.

Ambrosia Software

is known for excellent, stable games.

http://www.AmbrosiaSW .com/Ambrosia_Times/May_98/5.3HowTo.html"

Andrew Welch
el Presidente
Ambrosia Software, Inc.

http://www.AmbrosiaSW .com/Ambrosia_Times/May_98/5.3HowTo.html"

Andrew Welch
el Presidente
Ambrosia Software, Inc.

I am one of the teaming masses who reads Slashdot daily. Several other employees here do as well -- we enjoy the news, and we want to be ready in case Linux becomes a supported platform for our games.

>BTW, I live in Rochester, own a Mac, and tons of us Mac users still want
>internet EV. Go Ambrosia!

Sweet. Glad to hear it -- pay us a visit some time.

As for Internet EV -- Ares is coming:

http://www.AmbrosiaSW.co m/webboard/Forum4/HTML/000052.html

/andrew

Most of the sound effects you hear in video games come from commercial sound effect collections that one can buy (come on CD, usually).

You didn't really think that people played around with sound generators and such at every game development house, did you?

Good grief, that'd be a tremendous waste of time and effort.

So, no Ambrosia (probably) doesn't own the sound effects in most of its games, id doesn't own the shotgun/door/whatever sounds in Doom or Quake, Bungie doesn't own any (to the best of my knowledge) sounds in the Marathon series, etcetera.

Since Ambrosia folks seem to be watching this thread, you guys want to clear this up further?

Jason is half Korean, but he assures me that he has never eaten an insect before in his life (not on purpose, anyway -- I told him not to open his mouth while riding on that motorcycle), so this will be a new and perhaps... memorable experience for him.

Andrew Welch
Ambrosia Software, Inc.

Let's be honest here, this will make us try harder, some bugs will slip through the cracks (ahem) in the next 6 months.

Open wide, Jason, it was your idea!

Andrew Welch
Ambrosia Software, Inc.

Let's be honest here, this will make us try harder, some bugs will slip through the cracks (ahem) in the next 6 months.

Open wide, Jason, it was your idea!

Andrew Welch
Ambrosia Software, Inc.

Their software *is* pretty cool. It's MacOS-only, but for pure shareware the programs and games are top-notch.

Check out Escape Velocity and Avara while you check out their web site. Two of the few pieces of shareware I've registered so far.

Geez, some of you need to lighten up! Not every PR stunt is a manipulative scheme devised by marketting flacks. Ambrosia has actually made some pretty cool games for the Mac, and even allowed one of their most popular to be ported to Linux.

Speaking of marketting flacks, I once heard both music and sound effects from the game Apeiron on a commercial for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I only saw it once, and no one believed me. I couldn't have been the only one, will someone confirm this? It may have been made by the local station, channel 46 in Atlanta.

I doubt they got permission. It would be ironic, considering how uptight Paramount has been about copyright infringment by overzelous fans.

Geez, some of you need to lighten up! Not every PR stunt is a manipulative scheme devised by marketting flacks. Ambrosia has actually made some pretty cool games for the Mac, and even allowed one of their most popular to be ported to Linux.

Speaking of marketting flacks, I once heard both music and sound effects from the game Apeiron on a commercial for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I only saw it once, and no one believed me. I couldn't have been the only one, will someone confirm this? It may have been made by the local station, channel 46 in Atlanta.

I doubt they got permission. It would be ironic, considering how uptight Paramount has been about copyright infringment by overzelous fans.

This is not a punishment for Mr. Whong. He thought up the challenge himself. A transcript of the email conversation that spawned this PR exists. Summary:

President: Are you sure you want to do this? There definitely WILL be bugs in those products...
Marketdroid: Heh, they're high in protein, and good for you.
President: Yes, but you really will have to eat them -- that's gross.
Marketdroid: I bet with the right kind of seasoning, they'd be scrumptious. I'm thinking of chocolate covered crickets to start...

It wasn't a ploy for some /. attention - Ambrosia released this to their PR list long before it was posted to /.

For a little background info, this page has details on how it got started.

The "look and feel", as others have pointed out, seems to be a baseless claim, as no one has succeeded in winning a l&f case in court. But what about the "rules" to the game (which I think the company is really alluding to in its email)? Can you copyright those to some extent?

If you took the game Monopoly, and replaced the squares and pawns with an "Open Source" theme (20 lines of source required to stay overnight on Debian Avenue, with the pawns being Eric Raymond, Richard Stallman, etc.), and just simply named it "The Bazaar", would you be in violation of Parker Brothers' copyright? The name doesn't sound like "Monopoly," but the rules and flow of the game are exactly like Monopoly's. I think you'd be asked to remove it pretty quickly from their legal team.

A lot of shareware games have seemed to dodge this issue by modifying the game just slightly so that it feels a lot like the original game, but is tweaked just enough that it's not a blatant copy. I think of PacMan and Galaga in the early days (there was "MunchMan" on the TI-99/4A, for example, and Ambrosia Software made its business making copies of popular arcade titles). The precedent set in the industry, thus, seems to be that it's OK to copy an original, just as long as it's not an exact copy - i.e., add some "value" to it.

I think it's an interesting issue because I'd like to do a PalmPilot-version of the board game Quorridor. It's a great game with simple rules, and can even be played with a piece of paper and pennies. But since its rules are so simple (and perfect they way they are right now, in my mind), I wouldn't change the rules a bit (and then, without a doubt, I'd be ripping off someone else's great idea).

So, can you copyright the rules to a game?