Since it will be some time before I get to see the good old C64 mentioned on the Slashdot first page, I'd like to say that Jack Tramiel is the unsung hero of the personal computer, even more than Steve Jobs in this regard. He advocated a computer 'for the classes, not for the masses'. By driving down the retail price and selling the C64 in toy stores and Walmart, he created a broader market and introduced a lot of low-to-middle class kids, who could not afford the Apple II or the Macintosh, to the joys of computing.
By sparking the low-cost microcomputer revolution of the eighties, he prepared a whole generation to the modern digital age.
Elite was impressive considering the very limited resources of the BBC Micro, but Frontier (Elite II) was even more impressive, it being single handledly coded in pure 68000 Assembler by David Brarben, with a procedurally generated universe and real sized planets you could land on, all in 400Kb (uncompressed).
My own picks, in no particular order:
Herzog and Herzog Zwei by Tecnosoft: basically invented the whole RTS genre; Westwood acknowledge it inspired Dune II and Command & Conquer.
The Mercenary Saga by Novagen: first person, free roaming adventures in a sandbox solar system, with multiple ways you could complete the game.
Phantasy Star 2 by Sega: the archetype of the modern JRPG; inspired Final Fantasy 7, and we all know what a massive it was.
Silent Hill 2 by Konami: a perfectly crafted mindfuck that so many other games, including its sequels, failed to replicate.
It Came from the Desert by Cinemaware: first real attempt at an interactive movie; look ma', no CD-ROM!
Metal Gear Solid by Konami/Hideo Kojima: broke the fourth wall and delivered the first, real interactive movie; and what a ride that was.
I learned BASIC on a Commodore Vic-20 when I was about 6. The big problem with that flavor of BASIC was its shallowness: it didn't reward elegant solutions to programming problems and it was very easy to hit the performance limit. I never really managed to build anything more complex than text adventures and very simple arcade games. Still, the BASIC prompt was the very first thing you saw when switching on the micro so you were naturally attracted to experimenting with it, assisted by handbook that was included in the box. The prompt rewarded curiosity, especially when you started to enter those seemingly random values for PEEKS and POKES. Nowadays, on Windows machines, the prompt is hidden away from sight and there's hardly any mention of a programming or scripting language anywhere in the GUI.
I can't say that learning BASIC made me a better or worse programmer, but that's what got me interested in computing in the first place: those simple but oh-so-thrilling rewards of getting the machine to do what you want it to do.
Pity it doesn't have a remix of the brilliant tune "Tears of the Stars, Hearts of the People". I consider it one of the most memorable melodies written for a game. Here it is for those who are curious to listen to it.
Oh, by the way: here is the youtube playlist of the original Xenogears OST. Enjoy.
It seems that videogames will be truly platform agnostic from now on.
No need for the developer to mess with different vendor-specific OpenGL rendering paths on Linux. All you need is the Gakai's plugin, which I assume could be easily ported to different operating systems: it's a streaming video client with enhancements for remote control, I don't know why but it reminds me of the old Laser Disc games of the past...
It seems we might see id's Rage on Linux after all.
Actually, many years ago I tried Eve Online hoping to satisfy my cravings for another Elite game, but was quite disappointed.
Elite is primary a spaceship simulation game, with elements of commerce thrown in to a good measure, while Eve is a massively multiplayer role-playing game with strong elements of economy and politics.
The opportunity is still out there for a developer who wants to create a Frontier - Elite II clone that is massively multiplayer. No software house seems to have hit the spot yet.
> "Microsoft is not the patent threat Linux and open source developers should be worried about"
Of course! SCO is the REAL threat!
Those godless, marauding mancubi will feel no remorse prying your $699 from your cold, dead, chips/pretzel/pizza/popcorn/nacho/cheetos/Neal mix stained hands...
The name of the game is "The Count" and I had it too when I was a child. It is one of Scott Adams most challenging text adventures. One of the game objectives was inventing stratagems to quench the Vampire's lust for blood in order to survive the arrival of the night and live another day.
The tagline is really bad: "Life could be simple". Why add a tagline at all? It's not like it clarifies the mechanics or the goal of the game to a clueless prospective buyer? Instead, it really detracts from the general atmosphere of mystery.
Slashdot Mirror
Since it will be some time before I get to see the good old C64 mentioned on the Slashdot first page, I'd like to say that Jack Tramiel is the unsung hero of the personal computer, even more than Steve Jobs in this regard. He advocated a computer 'for the classes, not for the masses'. By driving down the retail price and selling the C64 in toy stores and Walmart, he created a broader market and introduced a lot of low-to-middle class kids, who could not afford the Apple II or the Macintosh, to the joys of computing.
By sparking the low-cost microcomputer revolution of the eighties, he prepared a whole generation to the modern digital age.
Jack Tramiel's Wikipedia entry.
Seriously: what does this have to do with the old 8bit microcomputer?
And yes... it does run Linux, sadly...
Those wishing to a Commodore 64 should look elsewhere (or Ellsworth - haha, lame I know...)
My own picks, in no particular order:
I learned BASIC on a Commodore Vic-20 when I was about 6. The big problem with that flavor of BASIC was its shallowness: it didn't reward elegant solutions to programming problems and it was very easy to hit the performance limit. I never really managed to build anything more complex than text adventures and very simple arcade games. Still, the BASIC prompt was the very first thing you saw when switching on the micro so you were naturally attracted to experimenting with it, assisted by handbook that was included in the box. The prompt rewarded curiosity, especially when you started to enter those seemingly random values for PEEKS and POKES. Nowadays, on Windows machines, the prompt is hidden away from sight and there's hardly any mention of a programming or scripting language anywhere in the GUI. I can't say that learning BASIC made me a better or worse programmer, but that's what got me interested in computing in the first place: those simple but oh-so-thrilling rewards of getting the machine to do what you want it to do.
...Muse's next album delayed as the riffs are still compiling.
Pity it doesn't have a remix of the brilliant tune "Tears of the Stars, Hearts of the People". I consider it one of the most memorable melodies written for a game. Here it is for those who are curious to listen to it.
Oh, by the way: here is the youtube playlist of the original Xenogears OST. Enjoy.
It seems that videogames will be truly platform agnostic from now on.
No need for the developer to mess with different vendor-specific OpenGL rendering paths on Linux. All you need is the Gakai's plugin, which I assume could be easily ported to different operating systems: it's a streaming video client with enhancements for remote control, I don't know why but it reminds me of the old Laser Disc games of the past...
It seems we might see id's Rage on Linux after all.
Actually, many years ago I tried Eve Online hoping to satisfy my cravings for another Elite game, but was quite disappointed.
Elite is primary a spaceship simulation game, with elements of commerce thrown in to a good measure, while Eve is a massively multiplayer role-playing game with strong elements of economy and politics.
The opportunity is still out there for a developer who wants to create a Frontier - Elite II clone that is massively multiplayer. No software house seems to have hit the spot yet.
...they learned how to jailbreak their Commodore 64 too...
Since the dawn of gpm...
Not everybody uses Emacs or VI, and some prefer GVim, which fully supports the mouse.
For some kind of activities, such as the highlighting of square blocks of text, the mouse is faster and more efficient that the keyboard.
Obviously, for everything else you should memorize key shortcuts.
I hurt myself trying to install it.
...so now it's bleeding edge?
Coming next: "Japanese and Chinese production of Harvesters up 500%"
>paying $500 more to get a logo on it?
As opposed to paying twice for the same, crappy OS...
I suppose it would be better, in a moment like this, to look for free alternatives... right?
pff... real networks have been doing this stuttering thing since 1995.
...like that puts you out of harm's way.
Joke --------------------> Thinking Computer
. . . . . . . . You
> "Microsoft is not the patent threat Linux and open source developers should be worried about"
Of course! SCO is the REAL threat!
Those godless, marauding mancubi will feel no remorse prying your $699 from your cold, dead, chips/pretzel/pizza/popcorn/nacho/cheetos/Neal mix stained hands...
this means they are finally gonna get a tan this summer?
You're not alone.
The name of the game is "The Count" and I had it too when I was a child. It is one of Scott Adams most challenging text adventures. One of the game objectives was inventing stratagems to quench the Vampire's lust for blood in order to survive the arrival of the night and live another day.
The tagline is really bad: "Life could be simple". Why add a tagline at all? It's not like it clarifies the mechanics or the goal of the game to a clueless prospective buyer? Instead, it really detracts from the general atmosphere of mystery.
>A clean install of Vista uses 544meg ram without any applications running - completely ridiculous IMHO.
I use linux, you insensitive clod.
>Y'know, I still don't see flying cars anywhere near.
The one about the flying chairs was true though...
Dude, there are tons of GL accelerated Linux desktops videos out there, since you switched back to Windows.
It's getting old.
They could send them to Uranus.
(sorry)
You should use the nspluginwrapper: http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-532587.html
Works perfectly here on my x86_64 Gentoo installation.