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Neglected Classic Games That Deserve Remakes?
Thanks to GameSpot for its feature discussing neglected videogames that nonetheless deserve remakes. The "games that may have been forgotten but were at least pretty well known in their day" include Roadwar 2000 ("[an] innovative adventure set in the ruins of American civilization"), Biomotor Unitron ("an exceptional game... [that] had the poor luck of being released on the profoundly underappreciated NeoGeo Pocket Color in 1999"), and Xenophobe ("a lighthearted and memorable arcade game... [that] takes itself less seriously than the average alien shoot-'em-up.")
The Supernatural: The arena of images and idols that do not exist in
objective reality.
(08.40) A. RELIGION
(08.41) Gods and the Origins of Religion
All living organisms constantly compete for limited resources. Organisms
that are even slightly better qualified then others in coping with their
environment, have a better chance of surviving and thus replicating
themselves and their genes. This is the essence of evolution. Evolution, in
turn, is one of the three essential ingredients of life itself. Life on
earth began with the process of evolution. Without evolution, there can be
no life. (For the NASA definition of "Life", see Chapter 5)
The evolution of man conveyed to him superior traits that positioned him
above other animals on the ladder of evolution. His primary battle for
survival, comfort and prosperity involved the constant competition and
conflict with his untamed environment, with nature. His existence was
constantly threatened, not only by competing human beings, but also by
adverse natural events such as floods, hurricanes, freezing, lack of water,
cold climates, lightning and many other perils.
Man was able to adjust to some of the physical adversities, but he felt
powerless to oppose many other events in nature that filled him with fear
and awe. Thunder and lightning often turned out to be the precursor of more
serious events such as rains, floods or hail, which he had no means of
evading or avoiding. Thunder and lightning in the sky made him wonder if the
cataclysmic events invoked by nature might actually be caused by unseen
forces or beings that inhabited an invisible world in the sky.
It would be natural for primitive man to try to talk to and appeal to such
superior beings in the sky in order to persuade them to help him. It seemed
reasonable to assume that these powerful, superior beings, these "gods",
were punishing human conduct for unknown reasons or merely for their
pleasure or displeasure. From this viewpoint, it was only one short step
further to try to appease these gods by appealing to them through verbal
submission, by means of prayers, or by requests for their goodwill by
offering sacrifices of men or beasts.
Sometimes these prayers and sacrifices seemed to bear fruit and sometimes
they did not show any results whatsoever. Whenever these rituals seemed to
be effective, they were continued. Due to his lack of knowledge it was
difficult for primitive man to distinguish between cause and effect
relationships, as opposed to miracles: He merely assumed that prayers were
effective in appealing to the gods. Man attributed more influence to the
power of prayer as the reason for the easing of a flood or thunderstorm,
than the fact that a cold front had just passed through and was replaced
with warm, dry air. Man had no insight in the processes of nature. He lacked
knowledge, science and rationality.
Since prayers and sacrifices seemed to be effective at times, their lack of
effectiveness at other times was ascribed to improper or insufficient
prayers or sacrifices.
Such appeals to superior beings who could not be seen but who seemingly
could be appeased by direct appeals, represent the birth of the
"supernatural" and were the beginning of religious emotions in man: The
feeling of fear and of awe, of submission to the gods and prayer.
These beginnings of religion can be traced to the prehistoric development of
man between 500,000 and 100,000 years B.C.. It was during this long period
of human evolution that religious emotions and motivations became hard-wired
into the human brain and genes.
Right up to the modern age, there are three ingredients, which are essential
to the survival and prosperity of all religions. No religion can survive for
long without these elements although some religions are somewhat oblique in
addressing them or disguising them:
1. There must be a