uVme have released another new retro game. The new release is named Paddlong and has been inspired by the hugely popular game Pong, which was first released in 1972.

Pong was the first game to become a success with the public and it appears it is still a hit as the new retro game Paddlong has gone down well with uVme fans. The simplicity of the game makes it very addictive and very easy to pick up and play. You won’t need any previous gaming experience to give this game a go.

See how good you are at Paddlong by clicking here.

You can play Martian Ball at the uVme games site.

History of Games 1984 to 1989

1984 - Atari undertook a market study to discover what the public wanted. They then released the 7800 which was compatible with the 2600 software already available.

1984 - Apple’s Macintosh is released in January, one of the first computers to feature GUI (graphical user interface)

1985 - Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in America with successful sales thanks to Mario. What Nintendo also attributed their success to was granting licenses to software companies and manufacturing the cartridges themselves. This control over software prevented duplicate games being produced, which was what lead to the crash in 1983. It also meant they ensured only quality games were released.

1987 - Not following Nintendo’s new approach to software, Sega’s Sega Master System did not achieve the same success. By now it was clear how successful Nintendo’s NES had become, far outselling the Sega Master System and Atari’s 7800.

1987 - The new IBM PC made graphics cards more common in home computers. In 1987 IBM started using the VGA, allowing for more colourful games. IBM were now a main supplier in the home computer market.

1989 - After Nintendo had dominated the console market, Sega released their own 16 bit console: Genesis or also known as the Megadrive. It now had 3rd party software developers.

1989 - Nintendo released the handheld Gameboy. Although Atari also announce a handheld that year, the Lynx, it is not released until 1990 giving Nintendo an advantage in sales.

The eighties was quite an eventful decade for the gaming market which is why Gaming in the eighties has been spilt into two parts. If you missed part 1 you can read it here.

Play Tetrablock now on the uVme games site!

Two tournaments have already been begun with the launch of the new uVme game Blob Factory. One of those tournaments will end tomorrow so we’ll soon see who the best Blob Factory players are. The other tournament will last for a week.

I’ve already been practicing by playing for free and I’m hooked! Blob Factory is certainly going to rival Fruit Frenzy and Speed Pool for the title of most popular game.

Subscribe to our RSS Feed to be updated as soon as the Blob Factory review has been posted, telling you all about this great new game.

You can play Blob Factory now by logging on to the uVme website.

As soon as Speed Pool was added to the line up of uVme games I was hooked! I have always enjoyed pool down the pub with mates but why am I so addicted to this game?

This pool game differs from 9 Ball Pool as it says in the title it is Speed Pool. All the balls must be potted as fast as possible. All the reds must be potted first before finishing on the black. The faster you pot a ball the more points you receive for it. There is no hanging around with this game. Fouls are given in the form of minus points should you pot the white, miss the ball or pot the black before all the reds have been potted. Get big points by potting as many balls as early on as possible.

When you compare Speed pool to 9 Ball Pool, the controls for the game are so much easier to use; you still have all the same controls but they have been displayed in a much more user friendly way.

The difficulty in Speed Pool resides in the ability to remain calm. (put picture of me in)

As tension and heart rates rise the miss of a pot can lead to panic, frequently leading to the miss of a second easy shot and before you know it that top score is out of reach and you’ve been beaten by your girlfriend. Speed is very much the key, but ensuring a pot is far more important; it doesn’t matter how fast you take two shots it will always be quicker to take just the one.

With only the exception of the final black Speed Pool allows the reds to be potted in any order!

9 Ball Pool requires the use of accurate spin and power with almost every shot, with time not on your side, Speed Pool can be successfully played with good use of power alone as more often than not you will end up on another red.

uVme WebLog’s Speed Pool round up

The fast and furious action Speed Pool will give even hard core gamers a sweaty mouse hand, coupled with quick game turnaround and the satisfaction of beating your friends this is one of the top games on the uVme platform.

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If you have not yet discovered the craze that is Sudoku, then the uVme game Mystic Sudoku may not have appealed to you. For those that it did appeal to, you may have been a little disappointed at first to find that it differs slightly from a regular Sudoku puzzle.

The aim of Mystic Sudoku is to fill each square, row and column with the numbers 1 to 9, without any number being repeated. If you do place a number in a row, column or square where it is already present then you will lose a life. You will need to pay close attention to this as you place the numbers as you only have three lives. The game will finish when you either run out of lives, run out of time or you complete the grid.

While it follows the principle of a Sudoku puzzle, there is more trial and error involved than accuracy and long, careful thinking. To begin with you are only given four numbers, one in each corner, making it impossible to know where each number goes. It is up to you to work out as best you can where each number can go without repeating a number from 1 to 9 in any row, column or square.

If you are familiar with Sudoku then you’ll get the idea. If you haven’t played Sudoku before then it may take you a while to get used to. It’s a different approach to the puzzle but it does give those that are familiar with Sudoku a slightly different challenge.

The appearance of Mystic Sudoku has been nicely designed with an ancient style theme. Suitable music also adds to the game’s atmosphere. While sound is not important to the game the background music does enhance the gamer’s experience, and fits the style of the game very well. The graphics and the music all make the player’s experience much more enjoyable.

uVme WebLog’s Mystic Sudoku round up

Mystic Sudoku will appeal to those with a passion for puzzles. You will need skills in logical quick thinking and attentiveness to get high scores. There is definitely an advantage for players familiar with Sudoku puzzles although there is a slightly different approach required. It may take newcomers a few goes at Mystic Sudoku before they are able to develop an effective strategy for filling the puzzle in quickly.

Game Score

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Play Basket Ball now on the uVme games site.

History of Computer Games 1981 to 1983

1980 - Flash Attack, a strategy game was released allowing two people to play against each other by linking their computers.

1981 – This was a great year for the computer games market. Namco’s Pac-Man was released as an arcade game. With over 99,000 units sold it became one of the most successful videogames of all time. Also released in 1981 were: Galaga by Midway, Frogger by Konami, GORF and then Ms. Pac-Man also from Midway.

1982 - Another year of great of releases including:
Atari’s console the 5200 including a console version of Pac-Man
Nintendo’s Donkey Kong arcade game
Universal’s Mr. Do!
Atari’s Pole Position arcade game
Tron by Bally Midway
Zaxxon by Sega/Gremlin

By 1983 cracks were starting to show in the video gaming console industry. With so many companies producing games a price war ensued driving down the prices of games. Stock prices for companies dropped, companies such as Mattel suffered million dollar loses, and hundreds of jobs were lost. Meanwhile handheld computers and home computers were doing much better in the gaming market: Nintendo released a handheld Donkey Kong and Acorn released the BBC and Electron home computers.

Subscribe to the RSS Feed to receive up dates for the next part of Gaming in the 80s.

Related Posts

The History of Games

Games Before Computers

Gaming in the 70s

Play Jigsaw War now on the uVme games site.

You can play Fruit Frenzy any time on the uVme games site.

You can find out when any new posts have been added to the Picture Gallery by subscribing to our RSS Feed.

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It’s official, the first uVme tournament has begun! Players can now join in the first uVme tournament on the game Fruit Frenzy. The jackpot currently stands at £119.50 and will grow with every new entry. It costs only £1 to enter and you can have as many goes as you wish!

This tournament will end at 12pm (GMT) tomorrow 9th July, but don’t panic as another will be sure to follow. The progressive tournaments will certainly make the games more exciting as people battle for the top place!

You may have noticed e-lottery among our list of sponsors. For those of you who are not aware of e-lottery and how it is connected to uVme I’m going to give you a quick guide to what it is all about.

The e-lottery is run by the company VWD. That’s the same company responsible for uVme. Without the e-lottery uVme wouldn’t exist, as it was the success VWD had from this business which helped them start uVme.

So here’s what you need to know about e-lottery:

Any lottery syndicate is simply a group or team of people who form a team and each purchase lottery tickets. Winnings are split up among all member of the syndicate, but as more tickets are purchased than playing alone, the chance of winning is far greater.

The e-lottery simply offers this concept, but makes it far easier to play by: Automating the purchase of tickets as well as putting you as a player in the mathematical opportunity to win from playing in a syndicate.

How does the e-lottery syndicate system work?

When playing the UK Lotto with e-lottery, you will be automatically placed into a syndicate of 49 members for both draws (Wednesday and Saturday) each week.

You syndicate number can been seen on your lotto card or your very own e-lottery website.

Each syndicate has 44 entries/lines into each UK Lotto draw, with each line sharing 5 common numbers plus one unique number between 1 and 49 (these unique numbers are the 44 remaining numbers after your syndicate has been given their 5 common numbers).

Why are the 44 entries in your syndicate set up in that way?

That’s easy: To improve the syndicate’s odds of winning a UK Lotto jackpot by 733%!

For example, let’s suppose the 5 numbers common to your e-lottery syndicate are:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

If we combine those five numbers with every remaining number between 1 and 49 (in this example, that would be 6–49), your syndicate is GUARANTEED to match every number drawn in every draw, on one line or another.

By guaranteeing that all of the available numbers are covered on one line or another, your syndicate is GUARANTEED to have one line that is looking for just 5 more numbers – AND NOT ALL 6.

So, the chances of winning the jackpot with that line have gone from 1 in 14 million right down to 1 in only 1.9 million…

… a 733% leap!

Better yet, because e-lottery syndicate members share 5 common numbers, if at least 3 of your syndicate’s common numbers are drawn, all 44 lines will win a prize which every member gets to share!

See for yourself how the e-lottery syndicate system works by visiting www.yourwaytoplay.co.uk or for more information you can contact us at hugh@yourwaytoplay.co.uk

Although very basic electronic games had been invented back in the forties it was in the 1970s that computer games became a commercial success. As more people were purchasing home computers, computer games became more and more popular. The seventies also saw the boom of the arcade games and the very first computer console. So it would be accurate to say that the computer games industry began in 1971.

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History of Computer Games 1971 to 1978

1971 - The company Atari was set up by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. The following year they released their first arcade game Pong.

1972 - The first computer console, the Odyssey, was created and released in 1972. In its first year on sale 100,000 consoles were bought. However because of bad marketing many of the machines made were not sold.

1974 - Atari released the driving game Grand Track 10 and World Cup Football. Unfortunately neither matched the success of Pong. In the same year Atari introduced its first console. Although it only had one game: Pong, whilst the Odyssey offered 12, it was much more successful and profitable.

1977 - The Atari Video Computer System (VCS) was released. Its controllers were nicknamed ‘Joysticks’.

1978 - The Atari 400 and Atari 800 were released. They were now the first and only company to manufacture consoles, arcade games and home computers. In 1978 the home computer BALLY Basic was released. It allowed people to program games and save them to cassette. The release of Space Invaders by Taito and Asteroids by Atari in 1978 made arcade games even more popular.

1979 - This year gave us the first true colour game called Galaxian. Coloured stencils had previously been used across screens on arcade games but Galaxian took colour graphics onto a new stage.

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So by the end of the 70s we had arcade games, home computers and consoles. Video games had become a worldwide media!

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Next week we will have a look at how gaming changed in the 1980s.

To keep up to date with the uVme WebLog posts subscribe to our RSS Feed!

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Related Posts
The History of Games
Games Before Computers

The fact that these games are recognisable and so simple makes them very enjoyable to play. After my first game of Tetrablock I couldn’t resist having another go, followed by another go and another go!

I predict that these two retro games are going to be very popular with uVme fans. It also makes me very excited to see what the uVme team will introduce next.

We would love to hear what you think of the new games so log onto the games site now and come back and tell us what you think!

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It is also the URL to the uvme games site www.uvmewebgamer.com

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Thank you for reading and any feedback you leave.

Regards
Hubik
(Hugh Payn)