I have been going through a bit of a point and click adventure frenzy over the last couple of days, primarily due to the likes of Space Quest I and II, Police Quest, Leisure Suit Larry in the land of the lounge lizards and Black Cauldron being available at: http://sarien.net/

The site is created by Martin Kool, who has set about making classic Sierra adventure games multiplayer!



You can play the games as you would normally, but other players can also play at same time allowing you to see and speak to each other when you are in the same location. In theory this would allow you to ask for help or converse with your fellow gamers, in reality it means players typing insults and gibberish. Luckily there is an option to turn off the multiplayer.

The games don't currently have a save option and are not guaranteed to be glitch free, but I would certainly recommend checking them out even if it's just to get a retro fix for the day. I would be interested to see if the idea of multiplayer point and click games could be taken further with events effecting all players simultaneously, or with players having to collaborate in order to solve puzzles. As a concept it would be interesting to see developed, although how practical it would be to implement is another matter. In the mean time http://sarien.net/ serves as a nice reminder of some great point and click adventure games!

I saw this video yesterday for a game that looks very similar to Super Mario Bros 1-1. Whoever is responsible for creating this game has an evil streak that would make Hannibal Lecter's culinary streak seem positively tame in comparison.

The real genius in the design, is it takes everything that you know about a level that is familiar as the back of you hand and turns it on its head. I found this here and although it says you can download and play it yourself i wasn't able to decipher the Japanese writing after the link. In some ways i'm sure this is a good thing i don't think i would be able to handle the fustration without smashing my computer to pieces. Watching a video of someone else try does provide some amusement though!

I feel like I’m missing something, on the outside looking in and my mind is unable to fathom what is going on. I don’t understand why everyone loves Guitar hero/Rock band so much and I don’t.

Now having played DDR and guitar hero I don’t understand the appeal of the gameplay. All there is to these games is pattern memorisation and nothing more, if you play it enough times and memorise the song patterns you will nail the songs. Fair enough, but if you’re going to spend that long working on pattern memorisation why would you not just pick up a real guitar?

Which brings me to another point, if this game was played on a conventional controller (I know there would be problems with translating it effectively) no one would play it, it would lose the majority of its appeal, the reason being that the big appeal of GH3/Rock band is that you get to hold a crappy little plastic guitar and pretend to rock out. Its only a slight evolution on putting on a CD and strumming a tennis racquet.

I Guess what I’m saying is before you fork out the money on GH3 or Rock band, pause and think; with this money I could buy a guitar and using the hours saved by not playing GH3/RB learn to play it, do something creative, original and worthwhile. OR will you spend it on a soulless parody and condemn yourself to acting like this:



Perhaps I’m just a killjoy, I don’t like karaoke either. But can someone please explain what it is that I’m missing?

Sick of hearing renditions of the mario theme on guitar, 12 string bass or kazoo? Here is the doom soundtrack played on a piano.