Casual | Mumbology

06Nov

The New Internet Arcade

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Thanks to the Internet Archive everyone now has a place to go to play all of their favorite old school arcade and console games, the Internet Arcade. With over 900 old arcade games, there is something for everyone. There are plenty of games that I had no idea what I was looking at, but also snuck in there are classics like Street Fighter, Defender, and my personal favorite BurgerTime. It’s been said that some of the games have issues, but in my extremely limited testing, they all seemed to work fine. Just make sure you aren’t in an active mumble channel and have your alt key bound to talk when you try to play. There is a good chance you will be messaged asking wtf you are doing.

Just the internet arcade was enough for me to become excited and decide that’s what I was going to write about today. Granted as you can probably see, it might have been a stretch to turn this into a full post without spending a lot more time trying the games. But as I was casually looking around trying to find more cool things to add to the story, I found something else that just made the deal so much better. Not only does the Internet Archive have over 900 arcade games to play through emulation now, but it also apparently has tons of old school console games from some of the old greats and not so heard of beginnings on the Console Living Room.

Not it doesn’t have any Nintendo consoles, but it’s easy enough to find those on any rom site out there. Instead it has games from some of the classics like the Sega Genesis, and Atari 2600. But it also has some lesser known systems like the Bandai Super Vision 8000 and the Mega Duck WG-108. I still hope that someday they get a Virtual Boy emulator so I can tape a box to my monitor to look into and play it just like the real thing. Nothing is better then ruining your eyes looking at bad red vector graphics for too long and getting horrible headaches.

12Jun

Mario Maker – The Mario Level Editor

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As I was reading about Mario Maker from Nintendo, I couldn’t stop wondering why people were getting so excited over it. It is Nintendo after all. A new year and a new Mario game? Not that I hate Mario or anything, capable of creating a new character anymore? It sure seems like all they can do these days is stick their old characters in new games and hope that is enough.

Beyond the fact that apparently Nintendo will never create a new franchise again, what’s the big deal about a level editor? Sure it’s still early and they might add some kick ass story or something, but right now and they’ve showed so far is an editor. Maybe because I’m more of a pc gamer then a console gamer I’m spoiled, but level editors have been pretty common as something you get for free for a while. Hell even flash games have level editors now, and those are free. There is even a flash game of a Mario clone that not only has the ability to create and share levels, but also has a full game for you to play.

I guess I shouldn’t just be a negative nancy about this. The interface for placing objects in the game did look very simple to use, and like LittleBigPlanet, I’m sure the game will be a huge hit. The ability to switch between retro graphics mode and the newer graphics is also a nice touch. Platformers like Mario, are also a great fit for a create your own levels type thing, which would help replayability of the game. Just look at Trials: Fusion. If that game didn’t have a level editor to create and share levels with, would people play it after the first few days when they play through the stock levels?

Like with most game announcements and previews, I’m going to hold my final judgement until the game is much closer to release. I just feel like Nintendo should have either shown off more of the game if there is more to it, or packaged the editor into a new full featured Mario game.

08Jun

0RBITALIS – Impressions

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0rbitalis, the casual physics puzzle game available on on Steam, is one of the few games on early access that actually feels like a complete game when you play it. It’s a fun little puzzle game where you launch a small probe into space and watch it fly around with the gravity effects from the various objects pull it around to its eventual death. To compete a level all you have to do is shoot your probe off in a way that it doesn’t hit any objects for a certain amount of time. Later in the game levels add sepcific areas that the probe must stay within for the timer to count down.

As you progress through the game, you will encounter new types of objects that have different effects on the probe. In all cases the larger the object is, the greater the effect on the probe.

White objects: Have a small amount of gravity that attracts your probe.
Red objects: Have a larger amount of gravity providing a greater pull on your probe.
Blue objects: Will repel your probe away from it.

With 50 levels, there is enough here to pass some time when you only have a few minutes or you’re waiting for your regular games to patch. If you’re looking for more of a challenge, you can always try your luck at getting the top scores on the global leaderboards. There isn’t a lot to it, but sometimes the simple things can also be good. If you can find the game on sale or are happy with what’s provided in the demo, it it worth considering but for $6.99 there simply isn’t enough to justify the price.