Slashdot Mirror
Domain: cinemaware.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to cinemaware.com.
Comments · 12
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Re:Hassle
There was a video game called Rocket Ranger back in the 80's that used this device called a "Secret Decoder Wheel" to compute the fuel necessary to go from destination to destination. In fact, you had no way of punching in where you wanted to go. You only entered the fuel amounts.
Of course, the "Secret Decoder Wheel" was really a fancy lookup table, so it's wasn't too difficult for determined pirates to defeat this protection. But it was something in the vein you're thinking of.
The game can now be (legally!) downloaded for free at Cinemaware's website: http://www.cinemaware.com/clsgame_rr.asp
They even throw in a virtual decoder wheel.
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Re:This reminds me of an old game...
This reminded me of an old Cinemaware game called "Rocket Ranger", where the Nazis obtained alien technology that they could use to conquer the world. Rocket Ranger had to stop their plans, and go to the moon to dismantle their base.
I have that game for the Commodore 64! Most annoying design, ever. You have to sit through ALL the cut scenes before you play the game. Then it's really a collection of mini-games that start with the oddest rhythm game in history. (Basically, tap the joystick to the beat of the character's run so that you have a running start when taking off with your jet pack.) On top of everything, you have to swap disks CONSTANTLY, which makes the game even slower than it already was.
That being said, the game grows on you after a while. There's a lot more strategy to the game than it would appear on the surface, and the cheap deaths become less of a problem once you get the hang of it. Even the secret decoder wheel (an anti-piracy device required to play the game) actually becomes kind of cool after a while. It gives you more of that WWII, "slide-rule" feel to your adventure. However, fuel is a constant problem. It seems like no matter how much you steal from the Nazis, you never have enough to keep your jet pack running AND add fuel to your moon rocket. (For the game's finale.) Plus your secret agents are disposed of by the enemy as soon as you get anywhere in the game. The end result is that the game is HARD to finish.
None the less, it is still a rewarding game. If you're interested in playing it again, Cinemaware has actually released the game for FREE on their website. All you have to do is sign up for their site and they'll allow you to download a disk image to use in your favorite emulator. They even throw in a copy of the Secret Decoder Wheel(TM) so you won't have to search the 'net looking for the information!
For those of you who haven't tried it before, I highly recommend downloading it and giving it a try. With modern emulators, pesky issues like disk swaps are nowhere near as annoying as they once were. Or if you're a hardcore classic gamer, you can even write the images back to floppies and play the game on original hardware as God intended. -
The good old days are back
You can get a good Amiga emulator at Amiga forever. You can also get the original version of Defender of the Crown for free at Cimemaware. Event the sound works, everything just like I remember it.
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Re:Wings
Double Holy Crap! You can download disk images of many of the old Cinemaware games! http://www.cinemaware.com/vault.asp?vault=games
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WingsI liked Wings on the Amiga. My Cinemaware favorite. I even hacked a joystick adapter to use a 15-pin analog joystick on my Amiga to use with it.
And holy crap! Wings is available again -- on the GBA! http://www.cinemaware.com/gbawings_main.asp Now can I had a flight stick for a Game Boy?
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Re:Jack Tramiel Will Have His Vengeance!
Nebuchadnezzar!
The real power of the Amiga 500 was realized in The King of Chicago! -
Re:Updating old PC games
There was a sequel to Battlezone a few years back: Battlezone 2. Improved graphics, slightly different gameplay, fun to play. Unfortunately, it didn't sell. Just like the first part. A real pity
Personally I nonetheless think that brushed up classics could sell. It just has to be done right, not 'simply' transferring the game to current hardware. -
Re:Fair light on Fairlight
On a related note, Cinemaware released the old versions of Defender of the Crown to the public for free. Ironically, the version they offer for the C64 on their website is a cracked version. The original was protected and is somewhat difficult to dump to a disk image.
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Re:Abandonware grey areas
1. If you're willing to pay for those oldies, then just let the owners of the rights know. A number of them have already made their old games available again because of such reactions, either at a small charge or even completely free. This is for instance the case with the various versions of the excellent space sim Elite or the various Cinemaware games such as Defender of the Crown.
2. Leisure Suit Larry was was created and published by Sierra, which obviously still exists. They are even quite fond of releasing old games at low prices or entirely free (the excellent Betrayal at Krondor, for instance). -
Also...
Ants the size of a Mack truck. ICFTD can be downloaded for free from Cinemaware, btw (Amiga, PC, Genesis).
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Why don't you email me privately?
Congratulations. That was your third post ever, and you're still a fucking moron
I rarely respond to ignorant filth like this, but since you seem so inent on trying to discredit me, I might as well set you straight.
Post 1 [slashdot.org] [....] Google the current story, clip what you find, post a reply. As proof, read his post and then read this [washington.edu]. It's a direct rip
I guess you are familiar with this technique because you use it yourself, I, on the other hand, did not do this. If you do this yourself, then I can understand why you would think I also did it here, but that is quite cynical of you, I must say. Perhaps if you denounced your cynical and ignorant ways, instead of jumping to conclusions and trying to discredit people who are far superior in knowledge and skill to you, you would make progress in your own career and improve your own skills and knowledge to the point where you wouldn't need to rely on needlessly destructive criticism to "prove" yourself.
Yes, the text is very similar to my writing, probably because I read that very same text last week while preparing notes on whether or not it would be a good idea to implement part of our next-generation 3D engine with MPEG-4 interoperability support. If you don't understand what this means, I will gladly explain it to you, although it will be like a man explaining something to an to an ape, if you would just take the time to email me privately at woston@yahoo.com If you want to consider it a "direct rip", go ahead. Yes, the source is that article, but I memorized it, I did not cut and paste.Wow! That's some heavy code he displays as a "hack I devised". Well then he may want to take a look here [codeguru.com] because it displays the exact same code
I am not denying it. And yes, that WAS a hack that I devised. And yes - the author did rip it off from me, which I consented to - it is a pity that the author doesn't acknowledge the true source of the code, though.Somehow I don't think they are the ones performing the ripoff.
Well, there's that jumping to conclusions thingy again. Email me or even the author of the codeguru article for details. I'm sure that the author will deny it completely, though. Oh well - imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I'm not bothered by it.But he makes a fatal flaw and shows he's just a simple idiot, claiming to rm -rf / any offending mail server he chooses
I'm sorry that you don't understand that no security measures are perfect, and I would say yes, approximately 90% of mail servers currently running are rootable remotely. Administrators who leave relaying on are usually not in the 10% that have a clue about security, so considering the fact that average mail server is rootable 9/10 times, the average mail relay is a pitiful joke as far as security is concerned. Not that I would expect you to know that, but perhaps my standards are just higher than yours, I don't know. Whatever. Either get your facts straight, or take your filth off this forum.Why? So they can make better versions of Wings, Defender of the Crown, and The Three Stooges [cinemaware.com]?
This a pitifully pathetic attempt at discrediting me. Cinemaware are currently developing a whole slew of next-generation games, some of which are targeted for release later this year. You were on the Cinemaware site, but you didn't pick this up? I don't know what to say to you, really. Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown. Yes, it would seem they are indeed making a new version of Defender of the Crown. And they will be bringing out many original and rereleased titles. Learn what you are talking about before you talk.I do not punish or repremand unneccessarily, because I believe that everyone interested in technology or any other area has the potential to acheive things in their chosen field, and curiousity and throwing around of ideas is never a bad thing. Unfortauntely you chose to try and discredit me with misinformation. So I will give you this one chance. Start posting decent comments onto this forum. Show that you have a valid contribution to make. Let's try and be civilized here.
Until you do so, you are just behaving childishly by trying to get me "added" to the "Foe List". When you have as much experience and wisdom as I have gained during my time in the Industry, perhaps you will be in a position to criticise me, but most likely not - when you reach that level you will see the folly of criticisng someone who's only crime is trying to depart knowledge to others with less knowledge, in order to improve the computing industry, especially the gaming industry.
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MOD Parent down
Congratulations. That was your third post ever, and you're still a fucking moron. That post will, however, still look interesting to potential moderators. So since it's 3:49am and I'm an insomniac so lemme do the work for you. MODERATORS: Read this before modding the parent, and I could care less about my own karma, but don't mod this down. Other moderators need to see this as well.
Post 1
He actually seems to know what he's talking about, but it's rare that someone not in the codec industry to know this much about codecs. This is most likely the search-copy-paste routine: Google the current story, clip what you find, post a reply. As proof, read his post and then read this. It's a direct rip.
Post 2
Wow! That's some heavy code he displays as a "hack I devised". Well then he may want to take a look here because it displays the exact same code. Somehow I don't think they are the ones performing the ripoff. Another classic search-copy-paste routine. He also makes references to coding a "next-gen" game engine for Cinemaware. Why? So they can make better versions of Wings, Defender of the Crown, and The Three Stooges?
Post 3
Off the bat it seems he's getting lazy. There don't seem to be any outside sources "cited". But he makes a fatal flaw and shows he's just a simple idiot, claiming to rm -rf
If there ever was a good example of who to add to your Foe list, this is it. Yeah, I'm probably an idiot for even bothering with this, but I already do origami and listen to George Michael so why not nail the coffin shut.