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Non Serviam posted:That's a really cute story. This thread inspired me to read some old gaming magazines on some Internet archive. The staff for one publication would hold "call-in days" every month where the writers would man the phones for the hordes to call and ask for help with games. I am not sure if that was strictly for gameplay or if it included hw/sw troubleshooting. It sounds terrible for the writers.
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Feb 2, 2016 03:10
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TotalLossBrain posted:This thread inspired me to read some old gaming magazines on some Internet archive. The staff for one publication would hold "call-in days" every month where the writers would man the phones for the hordes to call and ask for help with games. I am not sure if that was strictly for gameplay or if it included hw/sw troubleshooting. I know this sounds like being old but... poo poo, kids don't know how easy they've got it now being able to just Google whatever game they're stuck in.
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Feb 2, 2016 04:14
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Non Serviam posted:I know this sounds like being old but... poo poo, kids don't know how easy they've got it now being able to just Google whatever game they're stuck in. no loving poo poo, I got my rear end handed to me by my mom for calling some 900 number game boy tip line for the Gameboy version of Alien3 They were basically like "poo poo dude IDK its an LGN game" in more or less words now that I reflect upon it. This guys books were pretty clutch: 
CHICKEN SHOES has a new favorite as of 04:27 on Feb 2, 2016 |
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Feb 2, 2016 04:24
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TotalLossBrain posted:Did anyone here play MDK? Only managed to get through a few levels, but I never had enough time to actually sit down and beat the entire game.
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Feb 2, 2016 05:55
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Tumble posted:Speaking of Kesmai; anybody remember the online game service "GameStorm"? Was behind on this thread, but Kesmai's GameStorm was my first job, right when I started college in Charlottesville, VA. It was a TINY and super-quirky small business, run perhaps entirely by late nights, once-only luck, and vastly underpaid but overzealous college-age employees. Next was a weird role at a game-show game company named Boxerjam, also in C'ville. This made me realize I absolutely did NOT want to work in the "gaming industry."
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Feb 2, 2016 06:47
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a month and it got you some pretty funky little games.
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TotalLossBrain posted:Did anyone here play MDK? MDK was one of the first "next-gen" games I saw, when we moved from the old 486 25mHz in 1997, and on screenshots in magazine it looked like a game from goddamn future. I actually enjoyed the full game a lot after buying at GOG, and even later bought the OST CD (composed none by megalomaniac Tommy Talarico himself) on auction. Good game. Need to get into the sequel one day.
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Feb 2, 2016 08:15
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Big Mean Jerk posted:These two came preloaded when my elementary school bought iMac G3s.
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Feb 2, 2016 08:41
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TotalLossBrain posted:This thread inspired me to read some old gaming magazines on some Internet archive. The staff for one publication would hold "call-in days" every month where the writers would man the phones for the hordes to call and ask for help with games. I am not sure if that was strictly for gameplay or if it included hw/sw troubleshooting. Also with gaming magazines, getting onto the highscore list in the back page consisted of trying to take photos of the score which would always wash out from the flash on the CRT, get them developed, mail them to the magazine, and hope that your month or more of hard work beating the score wasn't beaten the same month and your photos just tossed out. Another good memory was my mailman was an rear end in a top hat that rolled my subscription magazines and put them in the mailbox - which curved or cracked the CDROMs. I called them about it (i was maybe 13) and they sent me the CDs again, and hand wrote in permanent marker on the plastic DO NOT FOLD OR ROLL EVER after that. The magazine staff really seemed to care back then. Especially when I won every competition in the mag one month. They called me and explained that I did win and would get all the prizes, but for the sake of it not looking rigged, do not tell people about it. They also drew prizes again and gave them to other people. They really could have just NOT let me know I was drawn the winner on everything and just sent one prize - as if I would know.
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Feb 2, 2016 08:46
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I misunderstood the purpose of the hint-line in Nintendo Power. I thought you called them up and got to pitch your ideas to them. Luckily my parents weren't about to let me call a 1-900 number regardless.
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Feb 2, 2016 09:09
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We used to make hardware too, during the Cold War. Imported x86 machines were insanely expensive, so my first touch with computing was on these. Made by the old Tesla company in former Czechoslovakia, they ran on Basic and used a little TV instead of a dedicated monitor.  One of the last models made before the Iron Courtain fell was Didaktik a clone of ZX Spectrum. With models having 3,5" floppies and a mouse. Most of them worked via tapes cause floppies were priced like Bluerays now. Keyboard was entirely made of hotkeys with most of the normally used commands which was pretty neat of a lazy young comrade goon. They had a lot of other crap that could be attached to it and they were one of the first being able to run Atari kind of games. 
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Feb 2, 2016 10:01
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yogizh posted:Bunch of eastern bloc computer stuff Seems like computer development was similar in most of the eastern bloc countries. I suggest reading this text on beginnings of home computing in ex-Yugoslavia: https://hackaday.com/2015/08/03/hacking-the-digital-and-social-system e: There is also this page on development of ZX Spectrum emulator in war time Sarajevo: http://www.worldofspectrum.org/warajevo/
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Feb 2, 2016 10:25
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Doctor Bombadil posted:Seems like computer development was similar in most of the eastern bloc countries. Good article. I really like the smuggling part. Even my parents had a stash of banned hardrock albums back then. Life used to be wonderfully hosed up.
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Feb 2, 2016 10:55
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While I never did play MDK, I have watched a Let's Play of it - which might be the best way to experience the oddness now. Worth a peek if you saw the ads back then and mildly wonder what it was like, I guess. http://lparchive.org/MDK/
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Feb 2, 2016 11:18
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Did anyone play M.U.L.E.? It was probably one of the best multiplayer games outside Summer/Winter games on the C= 64. It also had the best music for a game, I used to just listen to the opening song over and over again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6L6MhSgpgo
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Feb 2, 2016 13:46
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Hillary Clintons Thong posted:
I still bust out these bastards from time to time: 
Iron Prince has a new favorite as of 15:41 on Feb 2, 2016 |
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Feb 2, 2016 15:37
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NES Game Atlas got so much loving use.
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Feb 2, 2016 15:40
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Aside from the lovely SNES version, this was the only version of Monopoly I didn't mind playing by myself. I still got the original cd and jewel case of this:  As a kid I really enjoyed the music, the cute little animations, and the overall aesthetic of this. RIP Westwood Studios.
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Feb 2, 2016 15:57
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Iron Prince posted:I still bust out these bastards from time to time: Had the game boy one of these, it ruled. I didn't actually own any of the games it covered except for Nemesis and Super Mario Land but I was really fascinated by reading about games I figured I'd never play when I was a kid, idk why
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Feb 2, 2016 16:08
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This thread reminded me that I still have a bunch of disks and manuals for my DOS and 3.1 games and I completely forgot about this masterpiece;
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Feb 2, 2016 17:09
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TotalLossBrain posted:The same studio made Earthworm Jim and in 2000, the game Messiah. It was ok. I think that it was only like 1/4 of a game though
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Feb 2, 2016 17:11
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Casimir Radon posted:I misunderstood the purpose of the hint-line in Nintendo Power. I thought you called them up and got to pitch your ideas to them. Luckily my parents weren't about to let me call a 1-900 number regardless. When did the hint-line go to a 1-900 number? I remember using it up through the early 90s and it was still just a regular local number. Of course, with long-distance rates back then it might as well have been a 1-900 number.
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Feb 2, 2016 17:20
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Big Mean Jerk posted:This thread reminded me that I still have a bunch of disks and manuals for my DOS and 3.1 games and I completely forgot about this masterpiece; This and the original roller coaster tycoon. Good stuff.
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Feb 2, 2016 17:32
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That is a neat looking keyboard. Privately owned computers were rare in East Germany, so I did not get a lot of exposure as a kid in the 80's. Towards 1988 or 89, I remember a couple of friends having Robotron models, East Germany's own 'brand' if you can call it that without any competition. They were Z80 clones at first, not sure about later models. Even a C-64 was worlds better just a year or two later.  The Robotron case and monitor design can only be described as "Fallout". Have a look:   This must have been their last model: 
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Feb 2, 2016 17:36
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Don't think it's come up yet, but the Amigachat in here reminded me of one of my all time favorite games: Archon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hA3DYrOkcQ It was on just about every system available in the mid-80s, but like most games of the era, the Amiga version looks/sounds the best. it had chess-like strategy elements, but you still had to fight, so if you were really good or lucky, one of your pawn-esque guys could take out a high value piece. You also got more life for possessing certain power squares, so you had to fight over those as well.
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Feb 2, 2016 17:43
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stubblyhead posted:This is pretty much the foundation of my own computer knowledge as a kid. gently caress around with something I probably shouldn't have, and "oh poo poo I need to fix this before dad gets home!" The entire basis of my network/sysadmin career revolved around trying to get the same PC to play Ultima 7, Wing Commander and Falcon 2.0 with minimal reboots.
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Feb 2, 2016 19:39
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stealie72 posted:Don't think it's come up yet, but the Amigachat in here reminded me of one of my all time favorite games: Archon If I remember correctly, the Apple II version of Archon (or it might have been Archon II) had a full-featured graphics editor buried away on the game disk that you could access by changing a few bytes on the disk. I think most people cracked the game, then manually extracted the editor and put it as a separate executable so you could more easily get to it. I used to do so much dicking around with Apple II stuff. I even got published a couple times in (Hardcore) Computist Magazine.
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Feb 2, 2016 19:49
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yogizh posted:We used to make hardware too, during the Cold War. Imported x86 machines were insanely expensive, so my first touch with computing was on these. this is awesome
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Feb 2, 2016 19:53
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The_Franz posted:When did the hint-line go to a 1-900 number? I remember using it up through the early 90s and it was still just a regular local number. Of course, with long-distance rates back then it might as well have been a 1-900 number.
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Feb 2, 2016 19:53
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 http://imgur.com/a/PxHCr
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Feb 2, 2016 19:59
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Casimir Radon posted:I got Nintendo Power starting in 1997, pretty sure it was a 1-900 number. I can't tell you about it being a 1-900 number, but in the early days of Nintendo Power it was just a local Seattle 206 number. EDIT: Nintendo wasn't charging you, but you were getting charged long-distance fees if you didn't live in the Seattle area.
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Feb 2, 2016 19:59
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Iron Crowned posted:I can't tell you about it being a 1-900 number, but in the early days of Nintendo Power it was just a local Seattle 206 number. 206-885-7529
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Feb 2, 2016 19:59
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TotalLossBrain posted:The Robotron case and monitor design can only be described as "Fallout". Have a look: What is it with Russians/soviets and that dingy green color? It as though it was one of the only colors the people's paint factories were allowed to produce because everything east of the iron curtain was at least partially painted that color. Even today, if you watch a tour of the ISS it's extremely obvious when you cross into the Russian section because it's that same drab green.
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Feb 2, 2016 20:53
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I used to call the Sierra On-Line BBS when Sierra HQ was based out of Coarsegold CA when I was completely stuck in any of the *Quest games. It was only a local toll call from where I was at the time a few counties over as long as I only called on a weekend after 5pm my Dad wouldn't string me up by the balls for running up the phone bill. Then I discovered phone phreaking and obtaining Sprint long distance codes. That was when my world opened up completely in the pre-Internet days, when I would be up for all hours on the weekends calling half of the BBS' on bbslist.txt including the infamous ones like Sherwood Forest and The Well. Those were good times for me, not so much good times for the poor schmucks that got their Sprint bills that I ran up for a number of years. I would only use a Sprint code for no more than a week before retiring and moving onto the next one. It was a flawless system that as far as I knew was untraceable at the time because the call went through too many exchanges. Robnoxious has a new favorite as of 21:03 on Feb 2, 2016 |
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Feb 2, 2016 21:01
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The_Franz posted:What is it with Russians/soviets and that dingy green color? It as though it was one of the only colors the people's paint factories were allowed to produce because everything east of the iron curtain was at least partially painted that color. Even today, if you watch a tour of the ISS it's extremely obvious when you cross into the Russian section because it's that same drab green. Robotron was east german. They did a lot of the reverse engineering of western stuff, and as a satellite state of course, whatever they had the soviets had also. The ZX Spectrum was so popular to clone in the eastern bloc because it's a machine you can really build out of off-the-shelf parts rather cheaply, contrary to other home computers like the C64 which rely heavily on advanced (for that time) custom ICs specifically developed for their feature sets. Not really a lot of innovation here. The eastern bloc was always behind in IT. Robotron also did their own developments though, and had quite adventurous deals with the west due to their unique position with west germany and contacts within west german industry especially where they also managed to get a lot of their machinery and tooling and even somewhat of a supply of western technology. Around the second half of the 80s where the technology race started to get heated, of course their economy was in a dysmal state as it was with all the eastern bloc countries shortly before it all fell apart. They did deliver results (which over there, wasn't a given) and did have quite a bit of know-how though for what they had to work with, although not results comparable to western technology.
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Feb 2, 2016 21:28
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laserghost posted:MDK was one of the first "next-gen" games I saw, when we moved from the old 486 25mHz in 1997, and on screenshots in magazine it looked like a game from goddamn future. I actually enjoyed the full game a lot after buying at GOG, and even later bought the OST CD (composed none by megalomaniac Tommy Talarico himself) on auction. Good game. Need to get into the sequel one day. As I recall, "MDK" was an acronym for one of two things: "Mission: Deliver Kindness" or "Murder Death Kill"
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Feb 3, 2016 02:36
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Gonzo the Eggman posted:As I recall, "MDK" was an acronym for one of two things: "Mission: Deliver Kindness" or "Murder Death Kill" It's also referencing the three main characters: the dog Max, the Doctor, and the hero Kurt.
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Feb 3, 2016 02:37
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TotalLossBrain posted:It's also referencing the three main characters: the dog Max, the Doctor, and the hero Kurt. Well, there you go, then. I only played part of the first level. I have a dim memory of the dog having a more prominent role in the sequel.  (Jagged Alliance II received a recent remake - to mixed reviews, I think)
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Feb 3, 2016 02:43
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Jagged Alliance 2 has probably more gameplay time from me than any other game. Such a great blend of, well, everything.
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Feb 3, 2016 03:00
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 This was on a disk with Star Wars: Dark Forces. Must've worn that CD out. Good times. "Whenever I smell asphalt, I think of Mereen. That's the last sensation I had before I blacked out." Captain Splashback has a new favorite as of 03:17 on Feb 3, 2016 |
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Feb 3, 2016 03:13
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Hillary Clintons Thong posted:Jagged Alliance 2 has probably more gameplay time from me than any other game. Such a great blend of, well, everything. Same here, I've have spent more time on JA2 than any other game in the past 26 years. I still dig it out now and then to replay. One of the very few games that I have bought multiple times. The various weapon mods in that game ruled. I don't think they were documented, either. (Like any rifle + superglue+pipe would net a barrel extension, getting greater accuracy). Fun fact: At least two NPC's are based on German game magazine writers (Frank Heukemes and another guy I can't remember). Frank was deeply involved in the localization (i.e., translation into German) of JA2. Frank's character is the bar owner in San Mona. While I wait for XCOM2 to get cheaper, I guess I'll dig out JA2 again.
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Feb 3, 2016 03:15
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