tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49448694633160025952024-02-19T10:00:39.739-05:00Video Game History 101A blog and website about the storied history of video games.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger194125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-56094170811095211332013-03-18T20:09:00.001-04:002013-03-18T20:09:17.907-04:00Big Changes Ahead for The Dot Eaters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hello there. I wanted to give anyone reading the blog and history articles a heads-up that we are in the throes of a redesign of the site. The relaunch will be happening on May 1st, but there is a lead-time to get everything up and running. To that effect, I have exported the Blogger blog to the hosted TDE blog, and hence will not be making any further major updates to this one. <br />
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You can still keep tabs on us through our social media hooks, a la:<br />
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Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thedoteaters">https://www.facebook.com/thedoteaters</a><br />
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Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/doteaters">https://twitter.com/doteaters</a><br />
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As for the redesign, you can expect a much better navigational scheme, and a much cleaner, more dynamic and just plain better-looking presentation of the content. We will also be doing some giveaway contests when the site launches in May, so keep an eye out on those social media sites above for your opportunity to win some TDE swag. <br />
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To facilitate your winning of said loot, as well as receiving a heads-up when the new site (still www.thedoteaters.com) goes live, you can hit our contact page through the link at the top of the screen, leave your email, and we'll give a shout out when it happens.<br />
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Thanks for reading the Blogger blog, and for continuing to relive video game history at our site throughout the 15 years of its existence. Game on, people!William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-32100471968307868362013-03-15T23:00:00.000-04:002013-03-18T20:11:30.895-04:00Amazon Opens Retro Game Store<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi37P3KLk6C1VC7kNEOPHRi_WN_eKp2lM48TK6J-mDyaeKORmxsVvzeQ_6diqgvmHlL-oHo34xTgSnQzGZH4cEe9bRgsBKoIGXAcUgEd3rvE0l5ObniVIydLYjml01touOybfMzHvwkPsA/s1600/blog_amazon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi37P3KLk6C1VC7kNEOPHRi_WN_eKp2lM48TK6J-mDyaeKORmxsVvzeQ_6diqgvmHlL-oHo34xTgSnQzGZH4cEe9bRgsBKoIGXAcUgEd3rvE0l5ObniVIydLYjml01touOybfMzHvwkPsA/s400/blog_amazon.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Having long since moved on from just being a simple online bookseller, Amazon has gradually expanded to become the Wal-Mart of online businesses, shilling everything under the sun. The company has recently made a move to become a one-stop shop for retro game collectors with their new Retro Gaming store. From Atari to Zelda, mint boxed systems to boxes of motherboards, they seem to have it all. <br />
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If you want to skip the hassles of online auctions and relive your video game memories with quick, impulsive one-click purchases, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=sr_aj?node=294940&ajr=0" target="_blank">check out the store here</a>.<br />
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Source: <a href="http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2013/03/14/amazon-retro-gaming-store/" target="_blank">MTV Multiplayer</a>William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-7862651943842238792013-03-08T12:00:00.000-05:002013-03-08T12:00:00.221-05:00Game On 2.0 Lands at the Ontario Science Centre<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Coming across the pond from London, England is <i>Game On 2.0</i>, an interactive exhibition featuring the history of video games. Starting tomorrow, it will run at the Ontario Science Centre here in Toronto until Sept. 2. <br />
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The exhibit contains over 150 playable games from across 60 years of amusement gaming history. Along with featuring a section of early video game standard-bearers such as <i>PONG</i> and <i>Space Invaders</i>, Game On also studies important game and system entries by genre, as well as taking a look at the creative process and marketing side of gaming. A look into the possible future of video games rounds out the exhibit.<br />
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This will be the first appearance of this exhibit in Canada, and looks to be a can't-miss proposition for aficionados of video game history, as well as for gamers in general. Look for a more detailed review of the show from TDE in the coming days.<br />
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<a href="http://ontariosciencecentre.ca/GameOn/" target="_blank">Ontario Science Centre Game On page:</a>William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-45574762309533232622013-03-06T16:00:00.000-05:002013-03-06T16:00:01.595-05:00Just Say Yes, An 80's Drug Message Remixed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Reverberating throughout the 80's landscape of bleeping arcades and flashing colours of home video game consoles is Nancy Reagan's simplistic anti-drug slogan "Just Say No". Every First Lady needs a bugaboo to pursue while the President rules in office, and Reagan's was youth drug use. I'm not saying that trying to reduce drug abuse among youth is akin to merely chasing a boogeyman, but if you reduce your anti-drug campaign down to a catch-phrase, well then that's how the public is going to perceive it. It no doubt went in one ear and out the other of kids impatiently waiting to drop a quarter into <i>Dragon's Lair</i> and <i>Afterburner</i>.<br />
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On the evening of Sept 4th, 1986 Americans turned on their TVs and were visited by President Reagan and his wife Nancy, sitting on a couch in the West Hall of the White House, espousing the dangers of drugs to the nation's youth. Known as the "Just Say No" speech, it reverberated particularly fiercely a couple of years later inside the head of a man named Cliff Roth. <br />
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At the time Roth was teaching audio engineering at the Millennium Film Workshop in New York City, and gave his students an assignment to re-edit the audio track of the speech to reverse the message and have the Reagans espouse the <i>benefits</i> of drug use. Subsequently getting ahold of a film reel of the speech, Cliff then took two years to painstakingly edit the visuals to the joke audio track. Released in 1988 to film festivals and public television stations, the video Roth named <i>The Reagans Speak Out On Drugs</i> slowly became an underground, viral sensation; a meme before easy access to editing technology and the global distributing power of the Internet made such creations commonplace.<br />
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Roth's video is both amazing and hilarious to watch. Naturally, it has circulated on YouTube for quite awhile, although Roth has now uploaded a high-quality version of it to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its creation. It is a pinpoint example of culture jamming in a fun, important and creative way, one every lolcat mememaker should take note of:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="319" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EouHnOxPizo" width="425"></iframe><br />
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Source:<a href="http://io9.com/5988426/the-man-who-created-one-of-the-first-internet-memes--before-the-internet" target="_blank"> io9</a><br />
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Image from<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/swanksalot/" target="_blank"> swanksalot's Flickr photostream</a>.William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-4261903051874491462013-03-04T12:00:00.000-05:002013-03-04T12:00:08.505-05:00Monday Meme: Family PortraitIf it's Monday, it must be another video game retromeme:<br />
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<a href="http://i.imgur.com/FIRoQlt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="231" src="http://i.imgur.com/FIRoQlt.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Source: <a href="http://ry-spirit.deviantart.com/art/YO-VIDEOGAMES-315025594" target="_blank">Ry-Spirit</a> via <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/19k2ir/video_game_consoles_family_portrait/" target="_blank">Reddit</a><br />
<br />William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-41126226337773439692013-03-02T16:00:00.000-05:002013-03-02T16:00:00.661-05:00Hard Wares: Star Wars/Pac-Man iPad Back CoverHey, you got Star Wars in my Pac-Man!<br />
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Hey, you got Pac-Man in my Star Wars!<br />
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Hey, I have a cool iPad back cover!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjofqor7o_nsnUWhcVYafCtrONzEUaDa23KbQLUm48q4YfGSgd4jJ_Z-ORfZcl_nm-CoDXo3_JCbLnG-DEL80VJk1murT1TJBQcXVm8go4lque40tQloJsbddgV81hz0hFU_2kmj9CNoK0/s1600/blog_ipad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjofqor7o_nsnUWhcVYafCtrONzEUaDa23KbQLUm48q4YfGSgd4jJ_Z-ORfZcl_nm-CoDXo3_JCbLnG-DEL80VJk1murT1TJBQcXVm8go4lque40tQloJsbddgV81hz0hFU_2kmj9CNoK0/s400/blog_ipad.jpg" width="330" /></a></div>
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You can pick them up at <a href="http://www.redbubble.com/people/amanoxford/works/10001225-pac-wars" target="_blank">Redbubble</a>. May the force be absorbed by your iPad cover.</div>
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Source: <a href="http://www.reddit.com/user/a_man_oxford" target="_blank">a_man_oxford</a> via <a href="http://www.reddit.com/" target="_blank">Reddit</a>William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-82489950444891416772013-02-27T12:00:00.000-05:002013-02-27T12:00:01.929-05:00What C. Everett Koop Thought About Video Games<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As the first "superstar" Surgeon General of the United States, C. Everett Koop held a lot of sway over public opinion when it came to health issues in the 1980's. With his passing on Monday at the age of 96, one figures he must have had some knowledge on the subject of longevity.<br />
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Koop took what was previously a relatively obscure governmental position and used his pulpit (pun intended; Koop was an evangelical Presbyterian), to push some important health issues into the fore, including critical education on the subject of the then burgeoning AIDS epidemic, as well as the lethality of smoking. It's hard to criticize a man who fought so tirelessly in his surgical career to correct infant birth defects, who then went on to evangelize against stigmatizing AIDS victims and the promotion of inherently dangerous products by the tobacco industry, but when it came to the topic of the effect of video games on children, Koop was dead wrong.<br />
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He addressed a conference of public-health workers at the University of Pittsburg in 1982 on the topic of family violence, and afterwards during a press conference he directly implicated video games as a main contributing factor of intrafamily violence, along with television and the poor economic conditions the country was facing at the time. For video games, he said:<br />
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[children] are into the games body and soul - everything is zapping the enemy. Children get to the point where when they see another child being molested by a third child, they just sit back.</blockquote>
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It was the ever-popular "desensitized to violence" argument, and it flew in the face of reputable studies that refused to reinforce the idea that consumption of media can be said to be a main cause of real-life violence, either in adults or children. Koop himself, of course, did not cite any evidence to back up his claim, and it seems wildly irresponsible for such a notable public figure, who relished the ability to effect dramatic changes on U.S. health issues, to so baldy present the public with a red-herring as to the causes of family violence. Koop knew he could address any of the real factors: exposure to abuse as a child, alcohol abuse, an indifferent education system, personality disorders. There's a shopping list of societal ills that could have accompanied poor economic conditions as reasons for family violence. Instead Koop decided to demonize video games as a causative factor. <br />
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His comments helped take America's eye off the ball as to solving the real causes of societal violence in the country, and for that it should be considered a grave misdiagnosis in Koop's career as "America's Doctor".<br />
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For more information on the history of video game violence, <a href="http://www.thedoteaters.com/p2_stage1.php#deathrace" target="_blank">consult your local Dot Eaters article</a>.<br />
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<br />William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-24092938786787278742013-02-26T12:00:00.000-05:002013-02-26T12:00:02.055-05:00The Game Over Tinies<i><a href="http://takalak.narod.ru/gorey/" target="_blank">The Gashlycrumb Tinies</a></i> is an infamous 1963 book written and illustrated by Edward Gorey. In it 26 children, each one with a name that starts with the next letter of the alphabet, die from various causes, all put to rhyme.<br />
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Over at brentalfloss, they have adapted Gorey's work as the <i><a href="http://brentalflossthecomic.com/?id=143" target="_blank">Game Over Tinies</a></i>, where various video game characters meet their demise in similar fashion. It is a masterfully done tribute to both the original work and the dangerous lives of video game characters. Here's a sample:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCkPlaD7p9oa9IGF8GqNdlrFXArf8lRvRL4HTB1iCLrdb53A8u2oeR9m37Wm-wuPGvoYT5TmETrHBM34wxNZ1gq08cRtIFs9QCnhvP7fnZXiPt8UAPYbQBq_BBGNzsKj64zxK1mfpf4lM/s1600/blog_gotinies.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCkPlaD7p9oa9IGF8GqNdlrFXArf8lRvRL4HTB1iCLrdb53A8u2oeR9m37Wm-wuPGvoYT5TmETrHBM34wxNZ1gq08cRtIFs9QCnhvP7fnZXiPt8UAPYbQBq_BBGNzsKj64zxK1mfpf4lM/s640/blog_gotinies.png" width="292" /></a></div>
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Source: <a href="http://www.ufunk.net/jeux-videos/game-over-tinies/" target="_blank">Ufunk</a>, via <a href="http://paper.li/galamoon?utm_source=subscription&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=paper_sub" target="_blank">The Galamoon retrogaming Daily</a></div>
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<br />William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-63861525114863480492013-02-25T12:00:00.000-05:002013-02-25T12:00:03.756-05:00Monday Meme: A Simple PlanIt it's Monday, it must be another video game retromeme:<br />
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Source: <a href="http://www.imgur.com/" target="_blank">Imgur</a>, via<a href="http://www.reddit.com/" target="_blank"> Reddit</a>.William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-84699209349729307552013-02-20T12:00:00.000-05:002013-02-20T12:00:01.838-05:00What Nolan Said: InnovationNolan Bushnell founded Atari in 1972, sold it to Warner Communications in 1976, and was eventually ushered out of the company in 1978. The writing had been on the wall for awhile, for the man who had kept Atari alive by constantly innovating, by constantly swimming forward in a sea of ravenous competitors. By then, Atari had gone from a company about innovating to a company about marketing past successes, and that attitude eventually helped sink the entire industry in 1983-84. What Nolan Said:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMkoJVbayUkkQozjUEiDnBjpBO2bLJz143DtHcNMTaTw07rjMEzmCySQXNtrVIAdfuHsmg0Lyy8zfbNbCkdXVC1FgPU5Q_B8nHFoUpyR0HRlOkuJfvgV8KymbvVURph4hJ7Mm73R-F7Bo/s1600/blog_bushnell_tech.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMkoJVbayUkkQozjUEiDnBjpBO2bLJz143DtHcNMTaTw07rjMEzmCySQXNtrVIAdfuHsmg0Lyy8zfbNbCkdXVC1FgPU5Q_B8nHFoUpyR0HRlOkuJfvgV8KymbvVURph4hJ7Mm73R-F7Bo/s400/blog_bushnell_tech.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Quote comes from a <a href="http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/404" target="_blank">2007 interview</a> of Bushnell by Benj Edwards for <a href="http://www.vintagecomputing.com/" target="_blank">Vintage Computing and Gaming</a>. <br />
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Image is of Bushnell at the Campus Party Brasil Expo in Jan. 2013. By Camila Cunha.William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-81817655687499076432013-02-19T12:00:00.000-05:002013-02-19T12:00:02.354-05:00The Ad Game: Vanguard for Atari VCS/2600<i>Vanguard</i> was an arcade game developed by "shadow" developer TOSE, and released in Japan by SNK in late 1981 and licensed for North America by Centuri. It was an important intermediate step towards modern side-scrolling shoot-em-ups such as <i>Gradius</i> and <i>R-Type</i>, improving on a genre first formed by William's seminal <i><a href="http://www.thedoteaters.com/p2_stage5.php#defender" target="_blank">Defender</a></i>. <br />
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Today in the Ad Game we feature a TV commercial for the Atari 2600 port of Vanguard:<br />
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Vanguard was definitely a great arcade game, and the 2600 version a spectacular port that demonstrates the amazing things Atari programmers were able to pull off with the platform as it matured. This ad, however, doesn't do any of that justice. <br />
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For instance, who trades off the joystick to their buddies in the middle of a game? Hard to keep your concentration and momentum going with some jerk begging for the joystick. Just wait until he crashes, it won't be long to wait. Try shouting "The wall, the wall!" into his ear, that oughta speed up his destruction.<br />
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One of the big innovations touted in Vanguard was the ability to shoot in four directions, but in the ad the shooting looks pretty spastic. The key to any successful shooter is the precision of your shots, and here it looks like the gunner is having a seizure.<br />
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Then, of course, we have the hulking Luthor, who's sole responsibility is to defeat the Gond, the boss at the end of the round. A man of few words, it is rumoured that Luthor once, when a kid refused to give up the joystick to him, stuffed the poor bastard's hand completely into the cartridge slot. We can only know his moods by his demented chuckling. <br />
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Perhaps Luthor is related to Beavis?<br />
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William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-53731880432124691762013-02-18T16:30:00.000-05:002013-02-18T16:30:02.179-05:00Monday Meme: Super Effective!If it's Monday, it must be another video game retromeme:<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8OvY4EzJICPTsvWjx4_pNwYu9vbXj3kRdsbKxC7csoCjVWya2wTW9rXbzz8NkwS_YgjAxnqhj3z0qOVYGdual-LMJZfGTUz6necyrXh2yLvVCd_mGJA_Dq-eEPQIucOZylpHX4Lc0Hno/s1600/blog_pokemon.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8OvY4EzJICPTsvWjx4_pNwYu9vbXj3kRdsbKxC7csoCjVWya2wTW9rXbzz8NkwS_YgjAxnqhj3z0qOVYGdual-LMJZfGTUz6necyrXh2yLvVCd_mGJA_Dq-eEPQIucOZylpHX4Lc0Hno/s1600/blog_pokemon.gif" /></a></div>
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William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-29457438123432206092013-02-16T16:30:00.000-05:002013-02-16T16:30:01.280-05:00Hard Wares: Minimalist Tron PosterThis poster is freaking fantastic. It has a great feel to it. I was thinking that this is the way Disney should have gone with the promotion of their groundbreaking CGI video game movie from 1982. Be mysterious with it, low key... instead of the "computerized Fantasia" they pushed. Although, thinking about it, the poster feels a bit too 70's, a vibe that would probably have given the public the idea that the movie was dated even before release:<br />
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<a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/63851349/tron-vintage-style-5x7-print?" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoZqTMNsB13GV9bVP6lVQKntDOkLg36cVeWEWDPne4s0mJHNY9_epHkb7jemJ1eZVZ4ugDnBOIc5w8QQv53fcWbPAsXTt-8moa7L-NPMpRGoagBPT05WaQ183yjqLCfroe506l0LGgGLI/s400/blog_tronposter.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Still though, a great poster, designed by Mark Welser. You can <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/63851349/tron-vintage-style-5x7-print?" target="_blank">pick up a print over at Etsy</a>.<br />
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For more information on Disney's seminal Tron, <a href="http://www.thedoteaters.com/p2_stage7.php" target="_blank">consult your local Dot Eaters article</a>.William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-28425989149068556592013-02-15T12:30:00.000-05:002013-02-15T12:30:01.912-05:00The Walking Dead as a C-64 GameIt's impressive to me that I've been able to watch Zombies shamble into the pop-culture landscape, lurch past the "played out" label, and become a new, timeless horror genre akin to vampires and werewolves. AMC's <i>The Walking Dead</i> is a cable TV series that premiered in 2010, designed to bring Zombies to the small screen, and was wildly successful in the process. <br />
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The series spawned a point-and-click adventure game from Telltale Games in 2012. One of the writers on the project, Mark Darin, has recently published some image mock-ups of how the game would have looked if released on the Commodore 64, the classic home computer of the early 80's. They are the thing to behold:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgneFmnHoRnxi2OblJpZoOieiuXVIVNuqX-6OAaMHB_VgEpIX37WvmGOuzkSkWyrG-9EKFdYbUF6SOnj_d7y5wu0QDLqo2uey492n_aRNwv_bjjgnVlP4V5hPMds2ZlmylqYqpiJyF4qTk/s1600/blog_dead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgneFmnHoRnxi2OblJpZoOieiuXVIVNuqX-6OAaMHB_VgEpIX37WvmGOuzkSkWyrG-9EKFdYbUF6SOnj_d7y5wu0QDLqo2uey492n_aRNwv_bjjgnVlP4V5hPMds2ZlmylqYqpiJyF4qTk/s400/blog_dead.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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You can check out the rest on the German gaming blog <a href="http://schaffigames.de/games/pc/wie-the-walking-dead-fur-den-commodore-64-ausgesehen-hatte/" target="_blank">Shaffigames</a>.</div>
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source: <a href="http://n4g.com/news/1173301/the-walking-dead-re-imagined-on-the-commodore-64">N4G.com</a>William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-69315974859577324302013-02-14T10:30:00.000-05:002013-02-14T10:30:01.566-05:00Valentine's Day, Gamer EditionHappy Valentine's Day, from Kirby and Friends:<br />
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source: <a href="http://www.reddit.com/user/Cloudfenrir94" target="_blank">Cloudfenrir94</a> via <a href="http://www.reddit.com/" target="_blank">Reddit</a><br />
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image used for social media hooks from <a href="http://xquatrox.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">xQUATROx on deviantART</a></div>
William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-6232834225232047472013-02-13T12:30:00.000-05:002013-02-13T12:30:00.220-05:00Retro Games Easter Egg in Black Ops II Map<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXW4oqkgtgZ6RiVdxB0do4EWwoBH3tIis0Qg6Xa0ISXKrNbtN-2qc7ky5hCsx7UkK7N-JY57sjeana4fMv8odb8cZ1huCYmk3jOIRmDaXM0h3DlMI3oB_lxta8Rq6YEzXGF4Z_DmFr2I/s1600/blog_cod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXW4oqkgtgZ6RiVdxB0do4EWwoBH3tIis0Qg6Xa0ISXKrNbtN-2qc7ky5hCsx7UkK7N-JY57sjeana4fMv8odb8cZ1huCYmk3jOIRmDaXM0h3DlMI3oB_lxta8Rq6YEzXGF4Z_DmFr2I/s1600/blog_cod.jpg" /></a></div>
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The <i>Call of Duty</i> series has been a bit of a hit for Activision. It started as an entry in the WWII PC first-person shooter sweepstakes of the early 2000's with the original <i>Call of Duty</i>, released in 2003. This was followed by a, well, army of sequels and spin-offs for every gaming device of any note, eventually shaking off its historical warfare roots and moving into modern times. The most recent iteration of the series is<i> Call of Duty: Black Ops II, </i>released in late 2012, netting Activision $1 billion dollars in sales within the first 15 days.<br />
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Those who pre-ordered BLOPS2 (as it is affectionately nicknamed) or picked up the special <i>Hardened</i> or <i>Care Package</i> or downloaded the <i>Digital Deluxe</i> editions received a free bonus map called <i>Nuketown 2025</i>. A re-do of a map contained in the previous Black Ops game, it is a 50's style "Model Home of the Future", giving more than just a nod to the ominous, retro-paradise feel of Bethesda's recent <i>Fallout</i> games.<br />
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What's pertinent here is that if you run through the map at the start of the level and decapitate all of the lifeless mannequins that litter the landscape within a certain timeframe, a TV suddenly shows the classic Activision logo, and with an Atari VCS/2600 controller appearing in the players' hand rendered in Doom-style graphics, they can play four classic 8-bit games from the company's storied past: <i>Kaboom!</i> (1981),<i> River Raid</i> (1982), <i>H.E.R.O.</i> (1984), and <i>Pitfall II: Lost Caverns</i> (1984). <br />
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A nice little nod to their past by Activision, appropriately hidden in a retro-styled map. Don't worry about your team-mates getting upset by you hogging the joystick: you are invincible while you play. Here's a video of the easter egg in action:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="239" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Bm685KXlmZM" width="425"></iframe></div>
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Video from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/FireRockerzstudios?feature=watch" target="_blank">FireRockerzStudions</a></div>
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Image from <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/53311724@N03/" target="_blank">Smith190's Flickr Photostream</a></div>
William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-20920057131669855922013-02-12T12:30:00.000-05:002013-02-12T12:30:01.200-05:00Quote Mining: Lining Up for Success<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisryJsDpgAyN8ZnP3k657q0FOlflee7wbd2iwiNas99EiMaiEVSW9hK6KnDFsNYqSakBX5KKRT_RiMTXM7bLLTrDWtNbekUCqtxHRdDIhV85iXA7KYHGc3OA_B4RHMwi5x5osCLEYdlBo/s1600/ma_quote.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisryJsDpgAyN8ZnP3k657q0FOlflee7wbd2iwiNas99EiMaiEVSW9hK6KnDFsNYqSakBX5KKRT_RiMTXM7bLLTrDWtNbekUCqtxHRdDIhV85iXA7KYHGc3OA_B4RHMwi5x5osCLEYdlBo/s400/ma_quote.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Can you guess the unique video game system Electronic Games magazine was so jazzed about in this quote?</div>
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<a href="http://www.thedoteaters.com/p3_stage5.php#vectrex" target="_blank">answer:</a></div>
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Image used in the social media hooks from<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephendann/" target="_blank"> Dr. Stephen Dann's Flickr Photostream</a>William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-82507921709045887442013-02-11T12:30:00.000-05:002013-02-11T12:30:02.560-05:00Monday Meme: Deploying InvadersIf it's Monday, it must be another video game retromeme:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDbaNvvIy94AcfAb70JEPTp2UU9FX0h7Sj35qDO0qVS8fm8pwWmPdh-PkzsFCYxsInGglsBHBOmRGYBGAM_fxcpNByfBAujqkoGQZrVuyzYGGEXDygESnEEr4nUCJH5JQ7ixuPPV7v6jk/s1600/blog_invadersjpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDbaNvvIy94AcfAb70JEPTp2UU9FX0h7Sj35qDO0qVS8fm8pwWmPdh-PkzsFCYxsInGglsBHBOmRGYBGAM_fxcpNByfBAujqkoGQZrVuyzYGGEXDygESnEEr4nUCJH5JQ7ixuPPV7v6jk/s400/blog_invadersjpg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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source: <a href="http://www.reddit.com/user/lains-experiment" target="_blank">lains-experiment</a> via <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/184xt6/a_view_from_the_invaders_perspective/" target="_blank">Reddit</a>William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-43719428058204448052013-02-08T17:30:00.000-05:002013-02-08T17:30:02.192-05:00A Choose-Your-Own-Pokemon-AdventureGotta love <a href="http://www.dorkly.com/" target="_blank">Dorkly</a>. Chose wisely, Ash:<br />
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<a href="http://www.dorkly.com/comic/50209/pick-your-starter-a-choose-your-own-pokemon-adventure" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifwBV94J4Pi6UUcNCcDJDBDA9HvHg8ykhv1HrfzCBO5FIvxv0hNY8CJDpNfhOoJyhQPgD0WE5XNlcw8TuUkqn5pX6_AR6QKLwiaEA3pLrnLz5gOaHoLEqSQhgASbYUobN6YkgwFxVlYjU/s1600/blog_pokemon.jpg" /></a></div>
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Image used in the social media hooks from <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gemstone/" target="_blank">Mrs. Gemstone's flickr photostream</a>:William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-85096325016529698992013-02-07T23:00:00.000-05:002013-02-07T23:00:05.031-05:00Instant Video Game Collection. Only Half a Million Bucks.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT-AP6EQdh6wraAAiPYLrXy0554mPOYw6Fa-PC7Y0whihjEgTh7IslaPzQ3sEiDZ20PmrgPQDphvCrVsvGtq3UJxkIH4SU4eUh47_YXOsO1mpRvlVZb8FYcm07mdQBz2v-Qo6sHyh0iQg/s1600/blog_collection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT-AP6EQdh6wraAAiPYLrXy0554mPOYw6Fa-PC7Y0whihjEgTh7IslaPzQ3sEiDZ20PmrgPQDphvCrVsvGtq3UJxkIH4SU4eUh47_YXOsO1mpRvlVZb8FYcm07mdQBz2v-Qo6sHyh0iQg/s1600/blog_collection.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But wait, look what else you get!</td></tr>
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Got some discretionary spending money burning a hole in your pocket? If so, you could <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121062811693&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en" target="_blank">buy this game collection on eBay</a>. It's the culmination of 30 years of collecting, and as the seller mentions in the description, even though he has spent the last two months working eight hours a day to catalog what he has, he's still not sure he's covered everything! <br />
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The collection is composed of over 6850 games, over 330 game consoles, and 220 controllers. He seems to be like me and doesn't like to throw out packaging (who knows when you might need to sell this stuff on eBay?), so the vast majority of equipment comes boxed. There's also tonnes of promotional items such as game-related action figures and soundtracks, books and strategy guides. Even arcade games are represented, with a collection of PCB boards available so you can finally come out of the dark alleys and play games legal on MAME.<br />
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As the sellers says, you could make yourself an instant video game museum with a one-time payment of only $500,000. Start yours, today!<br />
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Thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/freemantim" target="_blank">@freemantim</a> for the heads up.<br />
<br />William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-29416057380952653972013-02-06T11:30:00.000-05:002013-02-06T11:30:00.204-05:00Hard Wares: It's Dangerous to Go AloneI need one of these:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJecYVzpcf156D0FFg88NR_PbwBs5O1q_PzZ_SzEkioYUKHt_1KzfLPr0tQASK-hGIwgIwXHPX0YTbTn2JZPkk3osPV1fId9fTNlviKMecbZDHctJX1rkj8RZ7j_Ek2yfZI0MDVmfN5zQ/s1600/blog_keys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJecYVzpcf156D0FFg88NR_PbwBs5O1q_PzZ_SzEkioYUKHt_1KzfLPr0tQASK-hGIwgIwXHPX0YTbTn2JZPkk3osPV1fId9fTNlviKMecbZDHctJX1rkj8RZ7j_Ek2yfZI0MDVmfN5zQ/s400/blog_keys.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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by <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/112440212/three-hook-legend-of-zelda-inspired-key?ref=sr_gallery_8&ga_search_query=retro+video+game&ga_order=date_desc&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=CA&ga_page=0&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet=retro+video+game" target="_blank">DeeplyDapper at Etsy</a></div>
<br />William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-20446838624043957252013-02-05T12:30:00.000-05:002013-02-05T12:30:00.424-05:00Just the Laughs, M'am: L.A. Noire and the Gag Reel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6dbdaeffsj2jAWDfUwi2eosu5QrEwUAEuVL_TQAGDysrQUjRB9JA0tn2BEuSesq2aoNoA1iGIGcGserLo0GNbIdLvmurcKe2zNeqwoao4QMSMMOZbecSqhAmoXHpgtQpSK3X6Q4UJFts/s1600/blog_lanoire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6dbdaeffsj2jAWDfUwi2eosu5QrEwUAEuVL_TQAGDysrQUjRB9JA0tn2BEuSesq2aoNoA1iGIGcGserLo0GNbIdLvmurcKe2zNeqwoao4QMSMMOZbecSqhAmoXHpgtQpSK3X6Q4UJFts/s1600/blog_lanoire.jpg" /></a></div>
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Featured in today's post is a video fascinating to me. It was released by Depth Analysis, the Australian sister company to Team Bondi, developers of<i> L.A. Noire</i> for Rockstar. DA was formed to do the ground-breaking motion capture work for the game.<br />
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L.A. Noire was a great title released in 2011, a third-person police procedural set in 1940's Los Angeles. While it appears on its face to be a historical version of an open-world game in the style of Rockstar's flagship <i>Grand Theft Auto</i> series, the guts of the game actually harken back to classic dialog-tree games such as Accolade's <i><a href="http://youtu.be/fozay0rEVK4" target="_blank">Law of the West</a></i>. While the gamer does find themselves tooling around L.A. in classic cars chasing cases, once a suspect is approached the game moves into an interrogation mode where questions are posed by the player. Depending on the attitude tack chosen with each question, those being grilled either clam up or spill the beans.<br />
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While the interrogation scenes may have reminded one of games of yore, the facial capture technology on display was a look into the future of gaming, startling in its realism, and not just another pretty face. Dubbed Motionscan, it played a key role in gameplay, allowing the subtle ticks or stoney stares of the actors' performances to give clues to the player about guilt or innocence. To achieve the effect, actors were put in a chair surrounded by a rig of cameras capturing their performance; not just the front of their face, but all around and even from above and below. All this tech allowed for a perfect 1 to 1 recording of facial movements without any subsequent processing needed to complete the look in the game. The actor's emotions are wonderfully exposed via this technique, and as I said it is startling to behold. Before we get to the main event, the following is a short video on the process, produced for the game's release:<br />
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Team Bondi unfortunately went belly-up in the later part of 2011, having burned their bridges with Rockstar during an incredibly long development time, and accruing a large amount of debt through owed bonus and payroll to the staff. I lament the loss of Team Bondi; they created a new, original IP that has great potential. It reminds me of the case of <i>Red Dead Revolver</i>. This was another Rockstar game set in a historical period, this time the old West, released for the Playstation 2 and original Xbox back in 2004. It was a kind of on-the-rails shooter that also harkened back to earlier gaming days, and was met by a middling reception from critics and gamers. That game did, however, spawn a sequel: the astounding <i>Red Dead Redemption</i>, for my money one of the greatest video games of all time. Team Bondi's IP has been picked up in liquidation by a multimedia firm co-founded by <i>Mad Max</i> creator George Miller, so something interesting might happen there, but it seems unlikely we'll get a game sequel based on the material akin to an RDR blockbuster.<br />
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On a lighter note, however, we are still left with a great game that helps bridge the gulf between real life characters and computerized ones, with a slight detour into the uncanny valley. At this point in this article, a lot of people right now might be thinking that the real mystery is when is this guy gonna get to the video in the title!? Well, here we are, a blooper reel of the game's actors flubbing their lines during facial capture sessions. The spontaneity on display here is perhaps the best demonstration of what happens in the attempt to inject as much humanity as possible into video game characters. It is both wonderful and weird at the same time:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="239" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1va8FxBl7Cg" width="425"></iframe><br />
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<br />William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-54448665224857858242013-02-05T10:54:00.002-05:002013-02-05T10:54:53.938-05:00What Nolan Said: The 70th Birthday EditionToday is Nolan Bushnell's 70th birthday. Before co-founding Atari and the video game industry, a previous job had held while a student attending the University of Utah was as a carnival barker. It was a job he ended up doing his whole life. Today's <i>What Nolan Said:</i><br />
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Photo via <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hiperactivo/" target="_blank">kandinski's flickr photostream</a>William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-31880346931750785262013-02-04T12:30:00.000-05:002013-02-04T12:30:02.908-05:00Monday Meme: Skyrim on NESIf it's Monday, it must be another video game retomeme:<br />
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Yesterday we posted an image of the massive open-world RPG Skyrim as an Intellivision cart. That was pretty silly, heck a standard Intellivision cartridge only holds 4K of memory. No, such an old system could never have run a Skyrim game. Now, the NES on the other hand, there was an advanced console...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5iDj3ReHPtdZu2BvQEeP990AUWEK53oWk0siNPvo9kpD-ZfDljeDVC6a3lXHq9Ov0Q-HDGhqv3NarNY_VWy-Ua6P_WyBpotBB9Nzmv6MeQ48RsEmrvS18hN4KUT7CcMQ11FHI1jnA3pY/s1600/blog_skynes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5iDj3ReHPtdZu2BvQEeP990AUWEK53oWk0siNPvo9kpD-ZfDljeDVC6a3lXHq9Ov0Q-HDGhqv3NarNY_VWy-Ua6P_WyBpotBB9Nzmv6MeQ48RsEmrvS18hN4KUT7CcMQ11FHI1jnA3pY/s400/blog_skynes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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source: <a href="http://profile.cheezburger.com/DangerousPyro/" target="_blank">dangerousPyro</a> via <a href="http://cheezburger.com/6224954624" target="_blank">Cheez Burger</a>William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944869463316002595.post-87242923516621208872013-02-03T11:00:00.000-05:002013-02-03T11:00:02.510-05:00Visual Cortex: Skyrim for Intellivision?Consider: They did a few <i>AD&D</i> games on the mighty Mattel Intellivision. Bethesda Softworks' <i>Elder Scrolls</i> series of RPGs goes back a loooong way. Imagine if these two titans of history met...<br />
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source: <a href="http://bridgitalldigital.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">Bridgit Scheide</a> at <a href="http://www.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">Deviant Art</a>.William Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07941476576971567254noreply@blogger.com0