Armchair Arcade - Chronicling the Complete History of Videogames and Computers

Why Google Chrome OS will fail (on netbooks)

Matt Barton — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:17:26 +0000

I've been keeping an eye on news developments about Google's attempt at a true-blue operating system, and came across an op-ed today called Five Reasons Google Chrome OS Will Fail on, of all things, Google News.

GameRoom Magazine on Bill and Matt's Vintage Games Book

Bill Loguidice — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:04:08 +0000

Thanks to new Facebook friend Jeff Rothe for the heads-up on recently released GameRoom Magazine, July 2009, and its review of our Vintage Games book. I don't know what the review says, but I definitely ordered my copy. I'll let you know when it comes, or, if you already have a copy, let us know what it says. Also let us know if you see reviews or mentions of Vintage Games anywhere else. Thanks!

CD32 and AMIGA Coverdisks

MaximumRD — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:37:58 +0000

Here is a look at my Commodore software collection (AMIGA/CD32/CDTV) that I was just going through and decided to make a video about. I talk about some of the disks as well as touch on Amiga Emulation and just basically chat about related stuff.

Mark Plays.... the gamepark gp2x Wiz

Mark Vergeer — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:18:18 +0000

This video is 'part one the Wiz review prequel' and it just contains some quick caps of games and emulators running. All emulators - except for the original gameboy and sadly the Vice emulator - run full speed zero frameskip.

The first part truly shows of the OLED screen in full splendor. The latter part of the movie was taped in a rather dark environment with the camera in Macro so there is actually a moire effect visible and the image is over exposed. Ah well just a quick 'Mark plays'... Read more to view the video. Be sure to select HQ or HD to view the video in the best possible quality.

CompuServe breathes its last

Bill Loguidice — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:59:58 +0000

It was with some surprise today that I learned of the demise of CompuServe Classic, aka CompuServe, which really began as a true online service in 1979, but started well before that. Why the surprise? Because like everyone else, I assumed it was already dead at the hands of the World Wide Web, or what is simply referred to today - though not entirely correctly - as the Internet. I have semi-fond memories of as late as roughly 1994 dabbling in text-only CompuServe on my Commodore Amiga 500 in my college dorm room, though I of course spent far more time on local free BBS systems, which is where I got my first exposure to Internet newsgroups (1994). It wouldn't be the only expensive pay-by-the-hour proprietary online service I would dabble in--later I would get into the impressive ImagiNation Network (INN)/The Sierra Network (TSN) and eventually AOL, before being one of the first 20,000 to give the @Home high speed cable Internet through Comcast a whirl. With a few minor deviations here and there, I haven't looked back since.

It's a bit sobering to think that without the WWW/Internet and the need for essentially all-you-can-surf-high-speed-access-for-one-low-price, if we'd still be mired in pay-by-the-hour-proprietary-hell and what that would have done to the computer industry (not to mention every business, and hell, everything else that relies on instant communication). It NEEDED the Internet to keep thriving, and now we have every day devices whose often primary purpose is simply getting us on the Web. Yes, sometimes things do happen for a reason, and natural evolution does play out its course of action properly. Goodbye, CompuServe, we won't miss you, but we certainly won't forget you and all the other services like you over the years...

Loom, The Dig, Star Wars, Indiana Jones - Now on Steam!

Matt Barton — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:41:48 +0000

Good news for adventure game fans--LucasArts is releasing several of its best graphical adventure games on Steam. Of particular note here is The Dig, which is one of my very favorite adventures and a seriously underrated title in my opinion.

Casual Photos: Magnavox Odyssey 300, Questprobe/Spider-Man, Foes of Ali, Rise of the Robots, Video Chess

Bill Loguidice — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:21:55 +0000

Today's second set of casual photos (Magnavox Odyssey 300 (1976); Electronic Arts' Foes of Ali (1995) and Absolute's Rise of the Robots (1995) for the 3DO; Adventure International's Questprobe Featuring Spider-Man (1984) for the Atari ST; and Atari's Video Chess Special Edition (1979) for the Atari 2600 VCS) are taken with my Panasonic digital camera, and, instead of telling a semi-coherent story to go along with the photos, I'll talk about each one in brief in turn. Photos to follow the commentary (I had some issues with my image processing software at work, so I was unable to finish cleaning these up).

Casual Photos: Computer Preparation for the SAT (IBM PC and IBM PCjr, 1983)

Bill Loguidice — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:39:27 +0000

Today's casual photos - by request - and taken with a Canon digital camera, is from the Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Computer Test Preperation Series, Computer Preparation for the SAT, for the IBM PC and PCjr, from 1983. Its 1983 release date ranks it among the earliest releases indicated being specifically for the PCjr. While I haven't tested this product myself and may never get around to it, the fact that it's a non-intensive text-based program leads me to believe that not only should it work on standard PC compatibles running MS-DOS, but also most MS-DOS compatibles. The difference? Basically true PC compatibles were both BIOS and Microsoft DOS compatible with the original IBM PC (Compaq was one of the first to pull this feat off), while MS-DOS compatibles were not BIOS compatible, but ran their own version of Microsoft DOS (popular MS-DOS-only systems included the TI Professional, the Tandy 2000 and the Otrona Atache' 8:16). While this often meant a degree of file compatibility (and theoretically easy software ports for willing developers/publishers), any software that made specific calls to specific locations would typically fail. Luckily MS-DOS-only compatible systems gave way to 100% or near 100% compatibles by the mid-80's, for obvious reasons, as why support a dozen niche MS-DOS-only compatible systems that each required their own version of your software, when you could just write to the "PC Compatible" spec, holding the original IBM PC as the gold standard (Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft's Flight Simulator were often the best tests of true compatibility--if your system could run those with little to no issues, you were good to go).

Matt Chat 19: Gauntlet

Matt Barton — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:44:02 +0000

Here it is guys, the long-awaited 19th episode of Matt Chat featuring "Gauntlet" from Atari games. I learned a lot about the game in preparing this video, particularly that it was basically a rip-off of an earlier Atari 8-bit game called "Dandy," which had an almost identical setup.

Retro Gamer Magazine on Bill and Matt's Vintage Games Book

Bill Loguidice — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:56:59 +0000

Thanks to friend and long-time Armchair Arcade member "davyK" for the heads-up on just-released Retro Gamer magazine issue 65 and its mention of our Vintage Games book. Quote: Bill and Matt's Vintage Games - "A brilliant book by Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton that looks at a range of classic influential games from Space Invaders and Castle Wolfenstein to The Sims and Dance Dance Revolution and examines how they have all helped to shape the industry as it stands to today. Essential reading." The issue is available at newsstands worldwide, or order here. I know I can't wait for my copy to come!

Mark unboxes.... the gp2x Wiz

Mark Vergeer — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:30:46 +0000

PR: Cloanto Releases Amiga Forever 2009

Bill Loguidice — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:20:12 +0000

I just got this press release in and thought it important enough to share right away for all of you Commodore Amiga and would-be/should-be Commodore Amiga fans. This is a great LEGAL emulation package based on a legendary platform for modern PCs and well worth checking out. I'll try to have some type of review up soon.

BEGIN PRESS RELEASE:

Casual Photos: Fairchild/Zircon Channel F/VES Cartridges (1976+) and Typing Tutor III (1984, Macintosh)

Bill Loguidice — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:49:51 +0000

Today's casual photos, again taken with the Panasonic digital camera, are Kriya Systems, Inc.'s Typing Tutor III (1984) from Simon & Schuster for the Apple Macintosh, and three cartridges for the first ever programmable videogame system (i.e., utilizing interchangeable cartridges), the 1976 Fairchild Video Entertainment System (VES), later known as the Fairchild Channel F after the release of the Atari Video Computer System (VCS) in 1977. In fact, after the name change, Fairchild would come to pull out of the market entirely and Zircon would assume rights to the platform, which limped its way into the bargain bins of the early 1980s.

Latest Update on Upcoming Book, Wii Fitness for Dummies (Q1 2010 release)

Bill Loguidice — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:24:28 +0000

As some of you will remember, my wife and I were contracted to write, "Wii Fit for Dummies". With the recent announcement of "Wii Fit Plus", all work was stopped on "Wii Fit for Dummies" in lieu of "Wii Fit Plus for Dummies", pending that product's release. Well, long story short, its final form is now "Wii Fitness for Dummies", and will cover "Wii Fit Plus", "EA Sports Active: Personal Trainer", and "Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2010", all in glorious full color, coming in at approximately 250 pages. There will also be brief mention of 10 of the other top Wii Fitness programs in a chapter in Section IV of the book, Part of Tens, which any "For Dummies" book fan will be familiar with. We'll let you know as we know more, but right now the only product in our hands is "EA Sports Active: Personal Trainer", so that will be our focus in the mean-time. I'm in contact with both Nintendo and Majesco about the other two products, but whether we'll be able to get pre-release copies of their respective titles is still very much up in the air at this point, as they're not even finished yet.

Me in Fight Night Round 4

Bill Loguidice — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:24:14 +0000

Having finally had a chance to play my copy of Fight Night Round 4, one of the more interesting features to me was the "Photo Face" feature, where you use your Xbox Live Vision camera (or go through a process of accessing proper images) to capture front and side profiles of your face, then via some digimagic, it maps it to a 3D model.

As for the game itself? Still not sure if I really like it, or really, really like it. It definitely doesn't have the same "wow" factor Round 3 did (how could it? You can only surprise people once!), though it does seem improved in just about every way. So far, just a few hours in and I'm still coming to grips with the new control scheme.

Anyway, here's what my first attempt looked like (I've since changed the hair to better match how it's actually shaved):

Casual Photos: Macintosh RPG's from 1989 - "TaskMaker" and "Citadel"

Bill Loguidice — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:23:04 +0000

Today's casual photos (bit higher quality than usual, with my Panasonic digital camera), shown below, are two rare Apple Macintosh RPG's from 1989, Xor's TaskMaker (original version) and Postcraft's Citadel: Adventure of the CRYSTAL KEEP. The classic Macintosh platform is not known for its RPGs, and stand outs on the platform have been few and far between. Some of the others I own are rare and generally highly sought after, including Legends of the Lost Realm, a multi-character role playing game from Avalon Hill (1988; I don't have the sequel, which uses the same box, just with a small sticker on it to distinguish it), and the classic, Quarterstaff: The Tomb of Setmoth (1988, Infocom), which was originally released by Simulated Environment Systems in 1987 as simply Quarterstaff before Infocom's acquisition, and is considered one of the few authentic pen and paper-style RPGs in videogame form. Photos below:

Matt Chat 18: Summer Games and the Olympic Mini-Games

Matt Barton — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:33:58 +0000

Hi, guys, here it is: Matt Chat 18: Summer Games. Enjoy, and please rate the video and let me know what you think about Summer Games. I hope you guys had as much fun playing this one back in the day as I did!

Casual Photos: Zhadnost: The People's Party (1995) for the 3DO and Thoughts on FMV Gaming

Bill Loguidice — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:18:49 +0000

Today's casual photos are of Zhadnost: The People's Party (1995) from Studio 3DO for the 3DO, taken with the iPhone 3G. Zhadnost is a late-life 3DO title in the spirit of one my favorite videogame game shows, Twisted: The Game Show (Electronic Arts, 1993), also for the 3DO platform. Both titles use lots of wacky, high quality full-motion video (FMV) segments featuring a combination of live actors and stock footage. Twisted errs more on the trivia side of things, while Zhadnost errs more on the mini-game side of things, and features a very specific type of humor. Both titles are highlights on the 3DO platform, making excellent use of the platform's capabilities to overlay quality full motion video over pre-rendered backgrounds. The production values of both are also high, with just the right amount of wit. In short, they're great multiplayer party games and in a format where the use of oft-maligned FMV makes perfect sense, and something more modern day games should consider over often low quality and robotic 3D models. Thinking of these FMV video game shows made me think of the Philips CD-i platform, which was home to several such games, including a favorite of my family's, 3rd Degree (PF Magic, 1992), which had the unique feature of containing a database of pre-recorded (pre-spoken) names, so unless you had an unusual name, the game would actually refer to you by name in the game host's voice (not synthesized). If your name wasn't in the database, they had a selection of cutesy and nickname type of monikers to choose from as well. Definitely another feature that should be incorporated in more modern games. Anyway, here are the images of Zhadnost:

Bill's Quick Video Look at the Official Frogger and Zaxxon for the TRS-80

Bill Loguidice — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:40:25 +0000

As requested, here's Chatty Cathy's (aka, Bill Loguidice's) casual, single take look at the official TRS-80 versions of Frogger and Zaxxon, shown on a 128K TRS-80 Model 4 with a black and white monitor. Of course I talked too long yet again, so yet again it won't fit on Youtube.

Ultima VII, the Black Gate: Virtual Worlds, Emergent Gameplay

Matt Barton — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:51:02 +0000

Ultima VIIBy request, this week's Matt Chat covers Ultima VII: The Black Gate. Ultima VII is a masterpiece of the early 90s, with tremendous scope and important innovations that would influence many later games. It's definitely not hard to see this game's influence on later hits such as Diablo (1997) and Baldur's Gate (1998).