At long last a Link Dump!

I've had all these links just piling up, I thought maybe it was time for another LINK DUMP!

For starters, check out this totally sweet 8-bit style Smash Bros, put together by CJartan at Deviant Art.


I think that was pretty neat.  Next up, Bennet Foddy's Speed Chess.  You may remember Bennet Foddy from such hits as 'QWOP' or the sequel 'Clop.'  If you don't remember him, that is fine, but you should probably check those games out, preferably with someone around to laugh with you.  

The story with Speed Chess is that Bennet Foddy thinks Chess is too slow, and thus he created a new version of chess that plays in real-time.  Also, there are 16 players.  Interested yet?  It's certainly worth a look.
Well, here's the thing: It's actually designed for 16 players, all plugged into the same console.  16 controllers, can you believe that?  How silly.  I hope he decides to make an online version.  

Alright, we can't play Speed Chess.  Even though it sounds like fun.  Maybe in the meantime we can just read this Cracked article about mini-games that people developed within other video games.  Avoiding the Kamikaze mushroom in Mario 64 sounds like fun!  Cracked really has come a long way from being a poor man's MAD magazine.

Speaking of mini-games.  One time there was a site dedicated to Underdog games at Kongregate.  I always like to see people sticking up for the little guy.  It's too bad the site stopped updating in 2008.  I remember those innocent years.  Before Indie Gaming was a huge industry, and Steam was still an upstart.  Just sifting through Kongregate, looking for something worth playing.  Finding plenty of five to ten minute interesting plays.

Oh, the old days.  So,  I'm no Sonic the Hedgehog fan, but I can respect the content of this next article.  It's written by a die hard Sonic fan about a hidden level in a Sonic game.  This level was featured in a preview story about the game, but was not actually included in the published release.  But that didn't stop die-hards from searching and spreading rumors and writing in.  It's a cool story, for which I can put aside a deep grudge against Sega.  Sonic did have cool art, afterall.  

  

A Quest for the Secret Origins of Lost Video-Game Levels.

Finally, I'll leave you with this sweet little comic.  Go ahead and click the picture to read the whole thing.  Brought to you by JPBruneau and OwlTurdComics.

We Go Forward

-D

    

Okay then, Introductions:

Four switches, I wonder what they do?

Hi, I'm David.  I've got nicknames too, like Dave.  And Doctor Potts and Potts Ivy.  And DAMP, I guess (stands for Dave-a-ma-Potts).  And everyone in my family got "Pots and Pans" at some point or another.  I'd like to requisition a drawing of me decked out in armor made entirely of pots and pans.  Anyone?

The earliest games I can remember playing were on the Atari 2600, with wood paneling.  That wood paneling was such an absurd aesthetic choice that it has stayed with me forever.  Atari gets a thumbs up for being so silly and memorable.  The 2600 also had some fun switches, one was a reset button which would bounce back into place when you moved it, and one was an on/off switch that would stay in place, I think.  Here's a picture!  (Doncha just love the internet?).  Sometimes I would get distracted by playing with the buttons when the games wouldn't work- they often had trouble working.

Check out Ian Bogost for some modern Atari programs and video game theory stuff.

I was, like Jack, active during the Nintendo/Sega console wars.  I learned to appreciate and also despise advertising campaigns during that time.  I distinctly remember Sega using a lot of aggressive and negative attitudes in their commercials, as well as made-up industry terms (blast processing anyone?).  I consoled myself by saying that they were just jealous that the SNES had much better games and was, overall, the superior console.  I was probably a bit biased- an avid reader of Nintendo Power- but hey, I was making this up on my own.  And I learned a little humility over the following years, as I watched my sad Sega friends lose their favorite hardware maker.  I will definitely want to write more about the console wars.

I've also been a big fan of RPGs.  In fact, the first non-Nintendo console I bought was a Sony Playstation, just to play Final Fantasy VII.  I agonized about this decision.  I had been following the hype leading up the FFVII, the disappointing news that it would never be released for the Nintendo 64, and, as a matter of fact, Square was breaking their Nintendo-exclusive relationship that had done a lot to make the Super Nintendo such a fantastic system.  But yes, I bought a Playstation and Final Fantasy VII (with Bushido Blade Demo) and shortly thereafter got it modded so I could play burned games.  Oh, technology, changing the way we make our consumer choices.

This is what it has come to:  Sonic on the cover of Nintendo Power

A couple of years ago, I bought a Nintendo DS, again, to mod the thing, and play emulated NES and SNES games.  That's the last name-brand gaming hardware I bought.  I have dropped out of the console world, and now play almost exclusively on the PC.  I think it was the expense that drove me away from consoles.  And also, roommates.  I always had a roommate or good friend with all the latest hardware, so I would get my fix there.  I weaned myself away from all the latest stuff, and now I find myself with no TV, but a decent enough PC.   And not nearly as much time as I had way back when.  The world of Steam, and $0-$10 Indie games is my gaming world now.  I like it.  I've played some great games:  Super Meat Boy, Bit.Trip.Runner, Braid, Cave Story, Everyday Shooter and more.  Sometimes I miss the fancy AAA titles, but not most times.  Mostly I miss the time, all that time that I had to play 40 hour RPGs, all those weekends burnt.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to make breakfast.

#Console Wars, #Atari, #Introduction