The title of this was going to be "Classic Gaming is Dead, Officially", but I wouldn't want to step on any toes of anyone who has a totally different experience from me, etc. I'd encourage hearty debate here, so feel free to debate and leave a comment in this or PM me here if you feel I left something out and I'll attempt to respond or point/counter-point.

I've done the research, and so have a few of my local peers and amongst my blogs-o-cube friends, (i.e. on another website & in another castle), and after some surveying and exhaustive number crunching.. I've come to the same grim conclusion as them..

Classic Gaming in USA is D-E-A-D. DEAD as a door nail or obliterated zombie dead.
Again, the caveat: At least, as far as I and many of my peers can tell.

Hey, I'm just the messenger, not the originator. Y'see, here are some of the facts.

A) The classic gaming expos/conventions of years past are all but disappeared. (Everywhere except some still going on strong near the Great Lakes/Ohio Valley area, or, in the largest of cities/East/West Coast) Or, in the case of the last time a local expo was held near me, even though it was free, there were almost no turnout. Even sponsors of the event pulled out and left halfway through... FAIL#1

B) New attempts at trying to capture classic gold, (in the form of classic arcade games) have either stalled, or outright failed with one exception: Nintendo Virtual Console. Besides there being 1 or 2 exceptions to this, (Bionic Commando should be Awesome, we shall see), it seems now and for the foreseeable future: no one (except the aforementioned exception(s)) wants to focus on classics in their new console offerings.

XBox live hasn't had any new classics in months.. When they did re-issues (Tron/Discs of Tron was the last one, me thinks) complaints and rabble 'rousing are heard throughout the community about how the new updates to/in the game doesn't feel the same, look the same, etc... FAIL#2

C) Kids today are being raised in a minimum 3D game world level, and are taught by their peers to be more consumerist and fickle when it comes to the classics. Unless they are given nothing besides an older console, (as a hand-me-down or whatnot) they don't embrace any of the classic stuff, (Pac-Man, Defender, Dig Dug, Gyruss, Galaga & Many other of the Konami, Namco, Atari, or Midway games)...FAIL#3

D) Arcades, while still in existence, are not offering most of the older games (unless, well, it is a 'museum' now..)... FAIL#4

E) When is the last time you actually played in a classic game tournament.

Unfortunately, I can go on and on, since I have data here to prove the point more. But, I won't ramble on that anymore, I'd much rather focus that energy on how we can save the wonderful pasttime that is classic gaming, and help the younger generation understand why these retro games are so important/valuable. I mean, today the famous Konami code, Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start doesn't help a new game much, but, there was a time when it did help to make a player feel like a virtual god. Old games may be old, but the gameplay was real, (while in some ways remaining almost unchanged in many games today), and even if there aren't any more fans or adopters of the classics, may whatever fun is left to be had continue and keep on strong in retro havens such as RetroForce, Digital Press, and all the rest.

Retrose Tinted? Or, just the fact that retro games taught many of us adults what real gameplay and originality is all about. Either way, I'll still remember "real games" even if many others today don't or won't even acknowledge.

Also, classic games never die, they just go into emulation!

Hey everyone, I know GTA4 is pulling you all in, and is mostly impossible to put down. But, if you're looking for a fun little (casual game) break, why not try my little mini homebrew game? Yes, it is nothing blockbuster or FPS.. It is actually just a little 2-D sim business game. And it is FOR FREE.

Well, considering it is my first unreleased game, it may not be everyone's cup of tea.. (It does feature colors beyond color, and [color=green]rainbows... AHHHHH!!!) But if you like retro games, flash games, and mindless pointing and clicking and games that go CHA-CHING, well, it should be at least a little fun or distraction in your day. If you only like naked bodies (I'm looking at you SecondLife!) or blood and gore on screen at all times, just pass on it, coz it deff won't add inches to your already beefy member.

Some System Requirements
--------------------------------
It is Windows 98~XP only as far as I know (Sorry Mac/Linux/Vista :(
It may or may NOT run on Vista.. I haven't tried yet, but maybe someone will let me know?
Almost any and all video cards should work!!
The D/L is only 12 MB, and should take about 30 seconds to d/l over broadband.
On average it should take about 4-5 minutes to install
It takes up about 43 MB on hard disk. It has an Installer to install wherever you like. To uninstall, just delete all files in the folder and any desktop/start menu icons, (read the readme.txt for more information).

Title Screen


Download It Here! TGG1FULL.MSI (12.5 MB)[/color] [Update: Link is broken, due to no webhosting at this time. -Aug. 08, 2008.]

Now as with most homebrew and beta games - Oh Noes! A DISCLAIMER!!:
Although this download is 100% free of spyware, adware and malware of any kind, I or my company or any affiliated companies are not liable for any/all problems that may arise from your using the software. As this software is provided completely FREE, I cannot provide technical support, nor, be held liable for any damages from the use or inability to use this product. No warranty either express or implied.

IN OTHER WORDS - If you download this, and it ends up being the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back and ruins your computer or day, sorry, but I provide this FREE and it is downloaded or used AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Whew, now with that out of the way, enjoy, there are a few secret cheats in the game, (hey, at least that is something my game has in common with GTA!) and ignore the wordiness of the license.txt and readme.. It was something I sent to Microsoft, so all the blah blah is mainly for that. However, if you read towards the end of the readme, you might just find a few cheats/spoilers. There are some math errors and imperfections, (like debug info in the corner, etc.), I'm already aware of, but overall it is just for fun, not really meant to be an actual "SIM".

Also, you may spread the game around if you see fit, (ignore the license.txt - again that was for distribution, selling, etc.. You CAN give it away AS LONG AS YOU DON'T RESELL IT. IT IS OK to torrent, share, upload to anyone you like), just don't rip on my game / reuse assets / images in any way that changes them or puts them into something else. I'm not trying to be a pain here, just, before you make any changes to the code or gfx, or resell on a compilation CD or whatnot, I'd appreciate it if you dropped me a line first. Thanks.

Oh, feel free to give me feedback, and ask questions if you like or are trying to make your own homebrew game, maybe I can offer a little help here or there.. Although I still use this as a portfolio piece as an example of something easy I did in about 2-3 months time, I won't be working on it anymore (it isn't a wholly original idea after all, and years old already) I might use any/all of your comments to help shape future games, thanks.

Vaporware. The bane of all developers and publishers. It isn't a pretty thing. It is like going to get a happy meal, opening it and finding out none of the toys on the menu board or on TV are in your meal... "We don't have that toy yet" may be one response... Or, "We're out" may be another.. But, then it's NOT a very Happy meal now is it?

NSFW Pulp Fiction Hamburger Scene is NSFW (Language/Violence)


Many a game have earned the vaporware label by not making it to the finished gold master disc stage. In 2005, Nintendo showed off a new Kirby game in development known as Hoshi no Kirby (Kirby of the Stars) for the Gamecube. However, shortly thereafter, nothing else of it was really ever shown or heard again.

Rumors have floated around now and again, everything from it is still going to be released in Japan this year, with a USA and Europe release sometime in 2009. Some rumors/truth is when asked at E3 last year a Nintendo spokesperson said it was canceled altogether, yet, while still others say is it going to happen, but releasing for Japan-only.

:(


Trailer for Hoshi no Kirby - Kirby of the Stars (Wii)

drools.. Old school side-scroller?! CHECK. New school graphics?! CHECK. Kirby? CHECK!

Old news may be old.. But this may be the point in time when maybe something can be done. It worked with EA when the fans protested them about the new guns in Battlefield. Maybe we need to remind Nintendo of what we want to play? If so, then, I say now:

Kirby looks too good to horde it away Nintendo! Release it! Release the Pink Fury!!!

/end rant

Hey everyone here is my PC setup.. It looks like crud with all the cables and stuff, but trust me, in real life my floor and around the PC is cleaner than it looks in the pics. I'm trying to beat the deadline here, so if the pictures don't appear I'll try my best to fix, (they might be too big and I'll have to scale them down, etc).



It was hard to get any light around but I tried :/



Here are my cpu's stats (don't laugh, I know its old)

Home-built, XFX Motherboard
AMD 1.66 MHz [it's branded as a Athlon 2000+ XP]
Nvidia GeForce 5500 FX
0.5 GB RAM .. so slow it always makes me grr! :/
Lite-On DVD+-R/RW
Optorite CD-R/RW
Logitech Dual Action Controller
Gravis Gamepad Pro
Western Digital 80 GB Hard Drive
4 Port USB Hub
SD/CF Media Card Reader

It is always crashing on me when I go full screen anything and it is always overheating, so besides the 2 internal Color LED FANS I have to put a fan over the A/C vent pointing into the side of the case. And, oh, the side of the case is always off, but it came with a clear plexi-glass panel.

I'll post pics of my console(s) in the coming days. Yay Destructoid!

Y'know sometimes I envy the staff and reviewers here on Destructoid.. All those free trips to Cancun, ahh to bask in all the glory that is free swag and getting to see games before they're released.

Well, maybe not. After all, seeing, knowing and playing an unreleased game and not being able to tell ANYONE would be teh suck.

Anyways, this is my first blog post here and I'd like to share with you something I ran across.. It is TEH HALOZ IN 3D WITHOUT GLASSES.

Now, I haven't secured full permissions to show, yadda, yadda.. So instead of embedding or linking URLs here, I'll just put the URL and you can check it out if you like. I've been waiting for awhile and wondering when we all may get to see some real 3d/4d gaming. While some or many gamers seem to not care much about true 3D/4D gaming, and like the convenience of not bumping around the house with a helmet or HUD on, I owned a pair of 3D Sega Master System glasses.. (Which I think are pretty cool, and in true 3D), and that was like 20 years ago. I feel many games may not see too much of an effect and go back to their HDTV/SDTV/blah blah, but for me, I'm a novelty kinda dude and my g/f and I like to take the game to a whole 'notha level. Check out the link and drop me a few comments or questions if you like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k-oQ86_Uw0 is the first one.. and if you don't get too headache-y from that.. Keep looking by more from the same user. If you can't seem to see the 3-D effect, try taking your finger and putting it between your nose and the screen (about 2-3 feet) and slowly focus on it as you bring your finger a couple of inches to your nose. At that point keep focusing and look for the middle image. If it looks really blurry, my advice is to squint a bit at this point it should be easy enough to see it sharp and everything! Yes, yes, Very cool. Eh?