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Now is a great time to do a re-issue of "Balance of Power." |
Posted on 12/11/2004 4:53:11 PM PST by qam1
Today's video games are so deep, complex and involving that you don't play them, you live them. For people who already have a life, that's a problem.
Games now can take 24 hours or more to complete, because gamemakers want to make sure you feel you're getting your 50 bucks' worth from playing a game that cost $10 million or more to make. What happened to the Zen-like simplicity of "Pong," the uncomplicated mad dash of "Pac-Man"?
Actually, they're coming back.
Atari recently released the Flashback, a slim TV-top box stuffed with 20 games from the 1980s. Gamemakers Midway and Nintendo now offer Vol. 2 of their respective retro game compilations. "Xbox Live Arcade" brings in an Internet component so retro gamers with broadband-enabled Xboxes can compete against one another.
The differences between retro games and today's games are simple.
"Older games are reaction-based," notes Adam Sessler, co-host of a cable TV video game review show, "X-Play." To play, all you have to do is destroy the aliens or escape the monsters or jump at the right time, and you don't have to be inside anybody's head.
"There is no learning curve, no intimidation," says Michael Wolf, Xbox public relations manager, "just the opportunity to pick up and play with anyone at any skill level."
This year's hit story-driven titles "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" and "Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal" include old-school-style mini-games that are heavy on action and light on plot, a nod to the popularity of this kind of simpler entertainment and a break from the intensity of the main game's mission.
There's clearly an audience -- these games have become staples of the Internet. Sites such as Yahoo!, AOL and MSN draw hundreds of thousands of gamers,
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
My all time favorite.
My favorite though is Mr.Do - I love to turn it up whem I'm mad at the other half. The music drives her nuts.
Spent MANY, MANY quarters in that sucker.
I felt exactly the same way about Tempest; it was the only video game that ever took more than a buck's worth of quarters from me. Many, many more quarters than that.
So a few years ago, I bought one on eBay. An original, early-80s, standup-console Tempest arcade game. In very good shape; very little paint damage.
Sits near my Ms.Pac-Man cocktail and the pinball machines.
Bliss.
If you're serious about that, FReepmail me and I'll try to dig out some links for you. The pinball-loving gang is still out there and incredibly active.
If you want to restore a beat-up pin, there are resources and parts to do so, and you'll save a lot of money. You can spend $500 - $7,000 on a machine depending on title and condition. Stern Pinball has been back in business for a few years; they've been the only manufacturer since 2001, and you can buy brand-new-in-the-box machines from them.
I own four pins, so I know your lust.
Asteroids
Nope, I will have to check it out. I am still addicted to Elevator Action. Old habbits die hard.
Pop'n Pop takes a pretty decent video card to play smoothly. The only rom I have for it is the jap one, so I can't read the options. You may have to turn "stereo" off to get it to run smooth. I have a PIII 1.1Ghz with a GeForce 2. It runs a lot better on this card than it did on my last one!
Pop'n Pop takes a pretty decent video card to play smoothly. The only rom I have for it is the jap one, so I can't read the options. You may have to turn "stereo" off to get it to run smooth.
Oh my God! You are the legendary QAM??
Too strange...
And Defender was the game that I played endlessly.
After that, Stargate Defender.
I still have a working Atari 5200 with a ton of games, and the new, vastly improved, keypad/joysticks.
Damn, do I want to reply to that! 8^)
The shipping must have killed you. But it would be nice to have a basement full of working arcade machines. (Even if I had to rewire the basement for the increased power requirements).
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Now is a great time to do a re-issue of "Balance of Power." |
As I recall, the shipping wasn't too bad - I think it was truck-freighted for $125 or so from a couple thousand miles away.
When I built the basement, I think I installed two 20-amp circuits for the game room. So far, that serves two arcade video games and four pinballs with no problem - they don't draw as much power as you'd think; the four pins don't come close to maxing out even one circuit. But I wish I'd dropped a couple more circuits there, just in case. Cheap to do when framing.
I am still rather hooked on Doom 2 though. Love to play Death Match over the home LAN with my kids. Sometimes Mom even joins in.
There's a whole internet gaming sub-culture devoted to creating and building entire luxury consoles that run the original games on ROMS taken from the origonal chips. Some of them are quite elaborate.
This one is a homebrew:
http://www.hanaho.com/products/ArcadePC/index.html
You all have GOT to check these out! I started off with a cocktail table and have since added a full size upright cabinet. I have over 3,800 games on each one! All the neighborhood kids (Dad's) love it. I have ALL the classic games from when I was a kid as well as sooooo many others. I told my son that I don't expect to hear "Dad, can we buy a new game?" for about 10 years.
The cocktail table may end up over at Grandma's house.
The owner of the company, Conway Ho, is a great guy to talk to about the industry and trends. Tell him BigDaddy_TX says hi.
Another that I liked a lot which not many others did was Xevious.
I had a friend who spent a helluva lot more time than anyone I knew at the Machine Shop arcade in South Hills Village and he mastered MachIII. Spent HUNDREDS of dollars doing it...
My son just beat me at Galaga and set the hight score on our machine. He's 8 and enjoys playing the classics on this system. I was on a Berzerk kick one summer. It makes me feel pretty good, now that I own the machine, when I hear that "Coin detected in pocket!" "Kill the humanoid".
My son kicks my you know what on all of the Street Fighter type games on this thing. I just send him to his room. :-)
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