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Manual fot lightspeed:
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=639

Manual for hyperspeed:
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?name=Hyperspeed

Manual fot lightspeed:
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=639

Manual for hyperspeed:
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?name=Hyperspeed

well, this probably won't be seen by many, but hopefully submitter will read all answers ;)
there's a game my gf was just keeping on playing (and dragging me into it) - dr drago's madcap chase.

it's something between monopoly and... and... ahh, whatever :)
you can even get it from underdogs :
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=326

i was able to get it running in wine with only minor artifacts some time ago :)

Check these out. Moonbase Commander is a top-down, turn based game. My girlfriend found it easy to learn, and soon enough, easy to win. It's good co-op against the computer or against each other. Another two player game is Crack Attack. It's a Tetris style game with multiplayer. My girlfriend comfortably kicks my posterior these days. The cool thing is that they are both free.

Check these out. Moonbase Commander is a top-down, turn based game. My girlfriend found it easy to learn, and soon enough, easy to win. It's good co-op against the computer or against each other. Another two player game is Crack Attack. It's a Tetris style game with multiplayer. My girlfriend comfortably kicks my posterior these days. The cool thing is that they are both free.

As an aside, I think we're almost reaching a point where single-player games are getting under-served.

Amen! What the world today really needs is more Guybrush Threepwood! Which is to say, more adventure games chock full of puzzles, humor, and living environments to explore. The recent fan game Stargate Adventure really reminded me of how much fun those old games were. Sure, they didn't have "Three-Dee", but that was okay. They had distinctively attractive artwork that gave a much more organic feel to the game than today's 3D-based games. They also provided the perfect viewpoint for playing out a television or movie in a game.

In fact, many of the more serious adventure games were spinoffs of movies or television. Star Trek 25th anniversay is an example that comes to mind, as is Star Trek: A Final Unity. Another good example is Indiana Jones. The Dig even had a book version of the story!

Today, all that creativity has been shunned in favor of more action and 3D graphics. (Not to mention "adult" themes.) Can we have back a few games that are actually games rather than "entertainment products?" Please?

Here's a place where you can download the manual

Just make sure you only download one thing at a time.

And stop browsing their site while the manual downloads. I had it boot me for 7 or 8 simultaneous downloads once, 'cuz apparently the images and html for their website count as downloads. Weird.

Dunno if it's any better than the one you've got, I didn't look. Worth a shot, though.

Also, completely different concept.

Spore isn't exciting to me just because it looks like it'll be a really cool game. It's exciting because the ideas behind it could infuse some new life into the industry as a whole. The idea of giving players very simple, intuitive tools with which to create content, to actual make that content creation part of the game itself (as opposed to something you do externally with modding software) is promising.

Also, nice as the quasi-online element of Spore sounds to be, I long to see how this concept might be applied to more traditional online games, such as MMOs. With just a bit of extension, I could see the technologies being created/exploited in Spore applied to an online version of Starflight or The Ur-Quan Masters, but with even larger slices of the galaxy and more detailed planet surfaces, life forms, etc. and alien ships that you encounter are not pre-scripted encounters with NPCs (or at least, not all of them) but interactions with other players. Or your more traditional fantasy MMORPG, where instead of fighting the same re-textured orcs and rats for six months, each new area you explore features completely new monsters.

Best of all if they could combine these technologies (easy to use tools for developers and/or players to create stuff, procedural generation to breathe life into these creations and to populate vast landscapes very quickly), with other features and technologies that have been growing in popularity and maturity over the past couple years, such as realistic physics, destructible environments and more robust AI. This could open the door for a persistent world that is truly mutable, where players are free to create, destroy and explore an almost unimaginably vast world. It could be the ultimate sandbox experience that could combine aspects of various beloved genres as well (FPS, RPG, whatever).

If Spore itself doesn't qualify as something awesomely different from everything that has come before, then at least it could be a big step towards a game or games that do qualify as such.

There are a number of games that have gameplay similar to what you describe. You're probably referring specifically to Origin's Omega.

Rob

Remember Neverwinter Nights?

Remember Pool of Radiance? (And no, I'm not talking about that hideous bastard child from Ubisoft.)

I've been going in to Radio Shack for years, since I was a kid and just wanted to play Thexder on the trash-80.

Wow. I thought I was the only one. :-)

I also lusted for Space Quest (I and II) but Thexder and Silpheed was what brought me to Radio Shack.

I reckon Starflight has a prior claim, even though it's a space RPG, and occurs during a galaxy wide apocalypse.

1) Wasteland is the godfather of all post-apocalyptic RPGs. If you haven't played it, try giving it a few hours.

2) Burntime is another people might enjoy, it's a challenging mix of post-apocalyptic RPG and RTS.

1) Wasteland is the godfather of all post-apocalyptic RPGs. If you haven't played it, try giving it a few hours.

2) Burntime is another people might enjoy, it's a challenging mix of post-apocalyptic RPG and RTS.

Read about and download M.U.L.E. here.

Lies! the sequel to Syndicate is Syndicate Wars, which in my opinion is a far superior game (although it was the one I played first, so maybe a little bias) Syndicate Wars was the shit, and its the only reason I still have my 486dx2 box lying around. I've never been able to get it to run right on my P450 or my A64 :( I suppose I could try dosbox, but does anyone know if I could still do LAN games of syndicate wars? one can find a detailed entry at the underdogs. http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?gameid=1917

Somebody just has to clone this Minter classic!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_of_the_Mutant_ Camels
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=2807

I originally had a Commodore 64, but the first actual PC game I can remember playing and being addicted by was Castle of the Winds. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_of_the_Winds

I received both games with my first IBM PS/2. It was the first game, after Solitare that I ever played on windows. I probably spent upwards of 100 hours playing through both games, and even have it loaded on my laptop right now.

Both games are now freeware and can be downloaded leagaly. (Drop the author, Rick Saada http://www.exmsft.com/~ricks/ , an e-mail if you like it.)

Be careful of these websites. They appear to be a bit underpowered to handle the slashdot effect.

http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=4403
http://wind.prohosting.com/cotwrpg/download.html
http://digital-eel.com/files/castlewind.zip
http://www.exmsft.com/~ricks/castl11a.zip
http://www.freewebs.com/castleofthewinds/Downloads .htm

Any o you COCO geeks remember Thexder? That game was TIGHT.

Better than that, there was actually a 3D "building blocks" (they weren't really Legos) program called Gryphon Bricks. (Possibly 'Bricks 3D'.)

I just looked it up and it seems as though the company has gone kaput, making me belive the program is probably abandoned. (Release date was Sep 1996.) I have the actual retail box around somewhere.

I was kind of a neat concept, but honestly I found that arranging bricks via the mouse was considerably more difficult and less intuitive than putting them together by hand. One of the program's features, IIRC, was that you could put together a model in VR and then it would print a parts list for you. I suppose on very complex models that might have been useful, but I always felt like it would be easier to build the model by hand, take some Polaroids, and then take it apart to get the parts list.

Anyway, it was a neat little program anyway, usefulness to 'Lego designers' nonwithstanding. It was fun if you were on a plane or something and just wanted to have a game to play that wasn't competitive but wasn't as ass-achingly boring as four hours worth of Minesweeper.

And aside from the obvious weaknesses inherent in trying to move a physical-world building toy into the virtual one, it was a very well thought-out program. It was even AppleScriptable, which allowed for some interesting hacks.

Information:
http://www.thecomputershow.com/computershow/review s/gryphonbricks.htm

Demo (MacOS 7.1 or later, OS X under Classic):
http://mac.the-underdogs.org/index.php?show=game&i d=297

Thanks, but I'll wait for Rocket Jockey.

http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=2094

I'm sure nobody cares, but the company that made Giana Sisters was not a "tiny shareware outfit." They were a moderately sized, commercial game company in the early 90s, making mostly C-64 and Amiga games.

http://www.the-underdogs.org/company.php?name=Rain bow+Arts/

Wonder If I could have possibly screwed up that link any worse? http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?gameid=538

I loved that game.

Get it from Home of the Underdogs if you still want it.

Damn, you beat me to it. Mod parent up for having a very insightful opinion. The Stargate Universe is vast. Almost as vast as the Star Trek Universe. However, the limitations on the Stargate Universe (there is, after all, only on SGC) will require that a lot of imagination be put into making this a successful product.

Speaking of which, I've been playing the fan-made Stargate Adventure a lot lately. It reminds me of how much I miss the old adventure games. For the longest time, Star Trek could only be done well as an adventure game. The final farewell to the Genre was the TNG: A Final Unity. Now that Stargate has taken Star Trek's place, I find myself yearning for a professionally done adventure game again.

I know it's pretty much hopeless, but if any game publishers are listening: We want a Stargate Adventure game! I don't even care if you make it 2D or 3D. We want an adventure game! Kapeesh?

Sera

Call me old-fashioned, but at least once every year or two I fire up Karl Buiter's Sentinel Worlds and play through it from beginning to end. I played it first in 1989 in glorious CGA, sharing the keyboard with my dad for hours every night. My life has shifted dramatically since then--family members have died, jobs and homes have come and gone, but when I sit down and start up that game and hear the PC-speaker music start up, it's like I'm eleven years old and I've come home.

it was called "Fade To Black", but it wasn't very much like the original.

Agent U.S.A Educational type simulation (U.S. States/Cities/Capitals) where the hero must fight an pandemic that travels via the railroad network.

On Windows, I've managed to get Firefox up to 758MB of RAM before I shut it down. That's 3/4 of my real RAM used by a single non-computational-heavy application.

The site in question wasn't a porn site, it was Home of the Underdogs and their Hall of Belated Fame.

The fan-made game Stargate Adventure is available here:

http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=5309

Some rough English translations and a bit short, but it held my attention.

Damn was that game ever hard. The intelligence agencies were bloody useless, as well... I once played a two-player game against myself, running both sides with equal incompetence, and the KGB were assuring me that the Americans were about to orbit a minishuttle - I'd barely even got Gemini spaceworthy :)

I'm about to turn 27 and I laughed when I saw he was 26. I'm not an old gamer quite yet. My mother still plays games, I'd say she may fall into that old gamer catagory, just not where she can hear me. She's hooked on PS/2 RPG and horror games.

I just recently reinstalled dosbox on my laptop so I can play some of my old favourites when I'm on the road. I'm replying the original Battletech Crescent Hawk and downloaded Buck Roger's Matrix from Home of the Underdogs. I played the original Buck Roger's goldbox game on my c64 so many times, but never had the sequel. If I only still had my original characters to import in! I remember in the original on the c64 when you're on Mars (or a Mars like planet, I can't remember,) the red stone it tells you to go to isn't shown for some reason, so I had to wander the map until I hit it. I played it once up to that point on dosbox ages ago and the red stone was actually on the map, right where I remember finding it (but it not being visible until hitting the exact right spot.)

Weird enough I spent 5 hours of the past 24 playing Epyx Sub Battle. It was released in 1987, my parents gave it to me for my 12th or 13th birthday. Even though I have the original game I use a crack now because 5.25" discs have gone out of fashion.

I have been wondering why it is still so playable despite its age. My answer is that it was really well made. I played other sub simulators (Hunt for Red October, 688 Attach Sub, Wolfpack,... all 90's stuff) but none had the detail, AI and suspense as Epyx's. Remarkably because they are mostly known for Summer games etc. And all that on ONE floppy...

Yes and no. The trick is that no, retailers don't make money on the games themselves. They make money selling the SPACE on the shelves. No money, no space. It's part of how Doom made it big - rather than buy space at stores like Best Buy, they bought space on the counter at Circle K, 7-11, etc. This is, btw, how grocery stores make their money.

Anyhow... of the 50$ of the game, the store usually gets 10. The Developer gets 5. Who gets the rest? Congrats, you get a biscuit. Yup, it's the publisher/distributor. Yes, they assume risk on a game. However, the publisher tends to be a LOT better off, on the whole. Sure, Eidos is having problems, but EA certainly isn't. And considering how often a game company releases a game then is closed (okay, I gave up hunting down links - you get the idea), I feel little sympathy.

[the-underdogs.org]

... What I wanna know is, where's my updated version of Karateka?

(Or Kabul Spy?)

Ask, and ye shall receive. Archon Ultra.

The founding fathers of the US were an interesting bunch; some of them were into some strange things. Many were members of secret societies, with hidden knowledge and rituals. You think the eye in the pyramid on the back of the dollar bill doesn't have some hidden meaning? Right. These people knew of the evil arcane power of the vampire-corporation; the British controlled the colonies with a few huge and powerful corporations. After the Revolution, they let corporations exist, but they reserved the right to plunge a stake into their hearts at any time. For the first 100 years of the US, corporations were highly limited. But they were plotting and planning their release. They got their big break during the Civil War. At the same time that black folks were getting freed from slavery, the vampires of Wall Street were slipping their bonds, setting up a slave system for all of us. In 1872, they convinced the Supreme Court that corporations had all the rights of a person. And that's what we have today; America Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of GlobalCapitalists'R'Us.

Cosmology of Kyoto

The ESA (Entertainment Software Association), a body representing many software companies, sent a threatening letter to Home of the Underdogs a few years ago, demanding that they cease the sale of all copyright materials from their website. They state to be standing behind the DMCA.

IDSA is providing this letter of notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and 17 USC =A7 512 (c) to make you aware of material on your network or system that infringes the exclusive copyright rights of one or more IDSA members.
...
IDSA has a good faith belief that the Internet site found at theunderdogs.org infringes the rights of one or more IDSA members by offering for illegal sale one or more unauthorized copies of one or more game products protected by copyright...

Anyone who has seen this website knows that they do not sell games at all and never have. They provide abandonware downloads - games that have been out of print and not for sale for many years - in the interest of the preservation of culture.

Just another example of clueless bullies hiding behind the DMCA, seemingly for financial gain, but for properties not even for sale! Read the full letter and the webmaster's commentary for full details. http://www.the-underdogs.org/partdeux.php

The ESA (Entertainment Software Association), a body representing many software companies, sent a threatening letter to Home of the Underdogs a few years ago, demanding that they cease the sale of all copyright materials from their website. They state to be standing behind the DMCA.

IDSA is providing this letter of notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and 17 USC =A7 512 (c) to make you aware of material on your network or system that infringes the exclusive copyright rights of one or more IDSA members.
...
IDSA has a good faith belief that the Internet site found at theunderdogs.org infringes the rights of one or more IDSA members by offering for illegal sale one or more unauthorized copies of one or more game products protected by copyright...

Anyone who has seen this website knows that they do not sell games at all and never have. They provide abandonware downloads - games that have been out of print and not for sale for many years - in the interest of the preservation of culture.

Just another example of clueless bullies hiding behind the DMCA, seemingly for financial gain, but for properties not even for sale! Read the full letter and the webmaster's commentary for full details. http://www.the-underdogs.org/partdeux.php

I thought I remembered seeing this on HotU a while back, and I was right.

If the box is missing the tape, here's an MP3 of it.

http://www.the-underdogs.org/games/l/loom/files/lo om-audio.zip

Now that's news!

A solid innovative product that people actually want to buy helps a company turn a profit!

Now if only the rest of the gaming industry (I'm talking to you, EA!) would catch up, we might be able to escape the FPS monotony we've fallen into.

It seems that the popularity of a game is solely determined by the level of hype surrounding it. Halo specifically comes to mind. I'll concede that it's a solid FPS, but the level of hype surrounding the launch of Halo 2 was obscene.

I'm sorry, but there are just so many things about the gaming industry that irritate me. The companies. Overinflated prices. Overinflated gamer egos. Lack of innovation. Hype. Obscene system requirements.....

Here's what I've been playing in the past year:
-More SNES/N64 games than you can shake a stick at. I'll probably buy a gamecube because Nintendo's games seem to have the greatest degree of innovation/replayability right now (and yet they're the least popular, go figure)
-Liero (hailing all the way from 1993)
-All of these downright bizarre arcade-style shooters that are strangely addictive
-Wulfram. One of the first good online games back from 2000. It's finally being actively developed once again...
-Darwinia. Another great non-photorealistic game. (Could be better to tell the truth, but a solid game nonetheless)
-Escape Velocity Series -- they've been around forever for the mac. A few have been ported to Windows. Go see what the PC world has been missing out on for over a decade!
-Freespace 2 -- One of the best space shooters ever made. Period. Made by a major studio, but enjoyed little commercial success. I can't even begin to fathom why....

I played that a while ago -- http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?gameid=5060 has it now, and as you said it's well worth a try.

Home of the Underdogs, for all those under-rated games of yesteryear.

...has absolutely abysmal graphics but really brilliant puzzles and engaging gameplay. It deserved better than its bargain bin fate!

Also, http://www.the-underdogs.org/ is a GREAT place to find reviews of modern games that slipped under the radar despite their brilliant gameplay and creative presentation, like critic-fave Beyond Good & Evil.

Yes, I remember catacombs. It was written by John Carmack for the Apple // series and then the PC. He later wrote Catacombs 3D, took the engine and made some improvements and then wrote Wolfenstein 3D as ID software. The rest is history. You can find catacombs here: http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=2450

Though if you want to see one of the first FPS style games, look for "Way Out" by Sirius software -- it's a rare find but it is real indeed. It was a realtime 3D environment with a suprisingly fluid framerate for an Apple //e or Atari home computer (not a Stella 2600, I mean the computer that had more modern features like a freakin video buffer)

And of course, there's the other 3rd person view city based semi open ended game that everyone always forgets about, that being Syndicate.

The boardgame is from 1981, when the common Home-PCs didnt even have means to present a computergame like Civilization.