Friday, August 31, 2018
NHL Hockey ’95 (DOS)
NHL Hockey ’95
NHL '95 is probably better known for its console versions on the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. However, as the ad above indicates, there was also a DOS version and it was really just as good. While I'm not much into sports games and I tend to prefer them on consoles when I do play them, this one was perfectly fine on a PC as long as you had a decent controller.
NHL '95 is part of a long, long line of sports games by Electronic Arts (EA Sports). In the NHL line alone there have been 27 releases including one this year. NHL '95 was the fourth. Honestly though, I thought these games were more fun back in the 90s or even earlier. Heck, Tecmo Bowl is one of my all-time favorites and still one of the most fun to play. There was more innovation and greater improvements year to year. Nowadays, not so much.
Like I said, I'm not that big into sports games and never have been but if I do play them, I tend to prefer the older ones like this one. Old versions of these games do not tend to be re-released so you'll have to track down an original or resort to emulation if you want to play it. Fortunately, old sports games like this are literally almost a dime a dozen.
Screen shots above are for the PC version of the game.
S.A.M. (Atari 400/800, Apple II/II )
S.A.M. (Atari 400/800, Apple II/II )
Speech synthesis seemed to be all the rage in the early to mid 1980s. S.A.M. is one of a variety of speech synthesis products available during that time. S.A.M. is short for Software Automatic Mouth (I can see why they abbreviated it) and was available for the Atari 400/800 and Apple II/II+. This was a product primarily designed to incorporate speech into your own programs.
Advertised as "cheap", I suppose that's a matter of opinion. The Atari version was priced fairly typically for the time at $49.95. However, the Apple II version required additional hardware and cost $124.95. Not really cheap in my opinion, especially for the time. The Atari sound chip was sophisticated enough not to require additional hardware for speech synthesis of acceptable quality at the time. Despite the limitations (iffy speech quality and having to blank the screen for maximum quality among others), these products were fairly popular and S.A.M. was one of the better known products of its type.
The whole talking computer thing never really appealed to me that much (though we have it now more or less with products like Alexa). I guess after the movie Wargames, everyone wanted a talking computer...or something.
This ad is from the March 1983 issue of inCider. S.A.M. (Atari 400/800, Apple II/II )
MegaCon 2018: The X-Files (part 5)
More pictures from the X-Files panel at MegaCon 2018 in Orlando Florida with Mitch Pileggi, Annabeth Gish and William B. Davis.
More pictures: Supload | MegaCon 2018: The X-Files (part 5)
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Slides - Florida - Early 1970s (6)
See the previous post in this series here. You can skip the qouted intro text if you have read it before.
I had the opportunity to pick up a huge batch of slides recently. These are pictures spanning from as early as the late 1940s to as late as the early 1990s (maybe earlier and/or later but these are what I have sampled so far). These came to me second hand but the original source was a combination of estate sales and Goodwill. There are several thousand...maybe as many as 10,000. I will be scanning some from time to time and posting them here for posterity.
Apparently, getting your pictures processed as slides used to be a fairly common thing but it was a phenomenon I missed out on. Though my family used some obscure technologies (disc film comes to mind), we always had regular prints. Having said that, my Grandfather had a few dozen slides (circa late 1950s) that I acquired after he died. That along with some negatives is what prompted me to buy a somewhat decent flatbed scanner that could handle slides and negatives (an Epson V600). That was the most money I was willing to spend on one anyway. It can scan up to four slides at a time with various post-processing options and does a decent enough job. The scanner has been mostly idle since finishing that task but now there is plenty for it to do.
These pictures appear to be taken as part of a vacation in Florida in the early 1970s. This batch consists of more from the water ski stunt show at Cypress Gardens (now Legoland). These are raw unmodified scans (except for converting to JPG). Click on one of the images or the link below to also see versions processed with Digital ICE which is a hardware based dust and scratch remover, a feature of the Epson V600 scanner I am using.
https://supload.com/By5TFOzLm
Electronic Gaming Monthly (February 1995)
Electronic Gaming Monthly (February 1995)
When you think of video game magazines, it's hard not to think of Electronic Gaming Monthly. While there were a number of popular video game magazines, EGM was king of the hill for a long time. The May 1995 issue includes:
- Saturn Vs. PlayStation: The Battle Begins For #1! - The battle of the systems has begun, and in this issue we look at the Sega Saturn and the Sony PlayStation! We have compared both systems' release of the wooden labyrinth game, TAMA. Don't forget to check out the PlayStation's cool games Ridge Racer, Parodius and Hot Blooded Family plus Saturn's Myst and Gale Racer. Who will take the number one spot?
- Mortal Kombat III: Could This be the Last Bloody Fight? - Just when you thought the kombat was over, plans for Mortal Kombat III have been brewing. In this exclusive story, take a look at who will be in the game and who won't be returning. Plus, secret moves, new outfits, rumors circulating about the game and when it will be released. It's time to go back to the Outworld for Round Three!
- NBA Jam: TE Comes Home; Pippen Talks with EGM! - In Team EGM, NBA JAM:TE comes home to the Super NES and Genesis. Also, go into the locker room for a chat with Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls on his new game, Slam City with Scottie Pippen for the Sega CD.
- Departments
- Insert Coin
- Interface: Letters to the Editor
- Review Crew
- EGM's Hot Top Tens
- Gaming Gossip
- Press Start
- Arcade Action
- International Outlook
- Tricks of the Trade
- Next Wave
- Special Feature
- Team EGM
- Lifestyles
- Ad Index
- Fact Files
- Super NES Times - This Valentine's Day, make your Valentine's heart beat wildly with the latest Super NES games! He/she will fall in love with such games as The Flintstones, Lemmings 2, Itchy & Scratchy and Rise of the Phoenix!
- Outpost Sega - I'm in the mood to play Sega Genesis carts, simply because they're near me ... and because they're terrific games that include Thor, Metal Head and Shadow of the Beast.
- Planet 3DO - Be a kid again as you take over a TV station in Station Invasion!
- Jaguar Domain - Okay, maggots! Either shoot or get shot in Cannon Fodder!
- Super Gear - The famous cat-and-mouse team hack it up in Itchy & Scratchy!
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Slides - Florida - Early 1970s (5)
See the previous post in this series here. You can skip the qouted intro text if you have read it before.
I had the opportunity to pick up a huge batch of slides recently. These are pictures spanning from as early as the late 1940s to as late as the early 1990s (maybe earlier and/or later but these are what I have sampled so far). These came to me second hand but the original source was a combination of estate sales and Goodwill. There are several thousand...maybe as many as 10,000. I will be scanning some from time to time and posting them here for posterity.
Apparently, getting your pictures processed as slides used to be a fairly common thing but it was a phenomenon I missed out on. Though my family used some obscure technologies (disc film comes to mind), we always had regular prints. Having said that, my Grandfather had a few dozen slides (circa late 1950s) that I acquired after he died. That along with some negatives is what prompted me to buy a somewhat decent flatbed scanner that could handle slides and negatives (an Epson V600). That was the most money I was willing to spend on one anyway. It can scan up to four slides at a time with various post-processing options and does a decent enough job. The scanner has been mostly idle since finishing that task but now there is plenty for it to do.
These pictures appear to be taken as part of a vacation in Florida in the early 1970s. This batch consists of more from the water ski stunt show at Cypress GArdens. These are raw unmodified scans (except for converting to JPG). Click on one of the images or the link below to also see versions processed with Digital ICE which is a hardware based dust and scratch remover, a feature of the Epson V600 scanner I am using and others.
https://supload.com/BkyDI0eLQ
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
ClayFighter (Sega Genesis) – Megalextoria
ClayFighter (Sega Genesis)
ClayFighter was released for the Sega Genesis in 1994, about a year after the original Super Nintendo release. Fortunately, the Genesis version was just as good. In an era where 2D fighters seemed to be the dominant form of video gaming, ClayFighter was a step above the rest, at least in terms of originality and humor.
ClayFighter takes the typical 2D fighting game and adds claymation. Graphics were created by actually doing stop motion photography of clay figures on an Amiga. Up to 80 models were crated for each figure to get all of the moves necessary. The plot of the game involves a clay meteor that crashes into a circus turning all of the performers into clay caricatures of themselves with superpowers. This is a very humorous game and for those that like fighting games but aren't fond of all the graphic violence or are just looking for a humorous alternative, then this is the game for you.
ClayFighter was a big success. I'm not sure why the Genesis version followed so far behind the Super Nintendo version unless it was a deal with Nintendo or they just weren't sure how successful it would be. There were two sequels including ClayFighter 2: Judgement Clay for the SNES and ClayFighter 63 1/3 for the N64 (the original was the only one on a Sega platform). There were also a couple of in-between enhancements for each platform, one of which was a Blockbuster exclusive limited to 20,000 copies (Sculptor's Cut for the N64). Rereleases have been pretty limited with just a Virtual Console release in 2009. Interplay announced a more modern sequel and a remastered edition at different times but both were cancelled and unfortunately there is nothing currently in the works.
Screenshots above are from the Sega Genesis version of the game.
Monday, August 27, 2018
Amiga World Tech Journal (August/September 1991)
Amiga World Tech Journal (August/September 1991)
This spinoff of Amiga World didn't last all that long but it was a pretty good technically oriented publication for the Amiga. It was pretty expensive but it also came with a disk that included source and executables for everything in the magazine. The August/September 1991 issue of Amiga World Tech Journal includes:
Articles
- ARexx Arcana: Hosts and Quotes - Successful command passing
- Inside SCSI - An explanation of the spec
- The Basics of Ray Tracing - Master light rays and shadows
- An Introduction to Boopsi - The Amiga's own OOP
- System Events and Event-Handling Routines - A look at the Exec's bookkepping
- PostScript Primer - Graphics-output starter kit
- Get Noticed - Prime PR pointers
- Start-up Messages - Decode those flashing colors
Reviews
- RxTools - Intuition help for ARexx
- AmeegaView - Shortcuts for C
- MINIX 1.5 - Minix-Unix for the Amiga
Columns
- Message Port - Learn or lend a hand
- Digging Deep in the OS - Choose your math library
- TNT - Products just out and on the way
- Letters - What are you really thinking?
On Disk
- 2.0 include files - straight from the CATS' mouth
- Post - a PostScript interpreter
...and more!
Sunday, August 26, 2018
Slides - Florida - Early 1970s (4)
See the previous post in this series here. You can skip the qouted intro text if you have read it before.
I had the opportunity to pick up a huge batch of slides recently. These are pictures spanning from as early as the late 1940s to as late as the early 1990s (maybe earlier and/or later but these are what I have sampled so far). These came to me second hand but the original source was a combination of estate sales and Goodwill. There are several thousand...maybe as many as 10,000. I will be scanning some from time to time and posting them here for posterity.
Apparently, getting your pictures processed as slides used to be a fairly common thing but it was a phenomenon I missed out on. Though my family used some obscure technologies (disc film comes to mind), we always had regular prints. Having said that, my Grandfather had a few dozen slides (circa late 1950s) that I acquired after he died. That along with some negatives is what prompted me to buy a somewhat decent flatbed scanner that could handle slides and negatives (an Epson V600). That was the most money I was willing to spend on one anyway. It can scan up to four slides at a time with various post-processing options and does a decent enough job. The scanner has been mostly idle since finishing that task but now there is plenty for it to do.
These pictures appear to be taken as part of a vacation in Florida in the early 1970s. This batch, like the previous one, appears also to have been taken at Cypress Gardens and features some kind of water ski stunt show. These are raw unmodified scans (except for converting to JPG). Click on one of the images or the link below to also see versions processed with Digital ICE which is a hardware based dust and scratch remover.
More photos: https://supload.com/H1ckfhkUQ
Friday, August 24, 2018
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
MegaCon 2018: The X-Files (part 4)
More photos from The X-Files panel with Mitch Pileggi, Annabeth Gish and William B. Davis at MegaCon 2018 in Orlando, Florida.
Source: Supload | HyvrRUNg7
Monday, August 20, 2018
Computist (March 1987)
Computist (March 1987)
Computist (later Hardcore Computist) was a long running magazine for the Apple II line of computers. It was technically oriented and much of its coverage involved how to remove copy protection from commercial disks. The March 1987 issue includes: Softkeys
- The Periodic Table
- Gemstone Warrior
- Inferno
- Frogger
- A two drive patch for Winter Games - Are you tired of always flipping the disk over with Winter Games? This article tells you how to beat Epyx at their own game.
- Customizing the speed of a Duodisk - This is an expansion of William Wingfield Jr.'s article which shows you how to easily and accurately adjust the speed of your duodisk.
- Roll the presses part two: Printshop Printer Drivers - Do you have a printer not supported by Printshop? Or, maybe you just want to know more about the inner workings of this program. If so, this article is for you.
- The games of 1986 in review - This month, we look at the first half of the adventure games of 1986.
- Input
- Readers' Softkey & Copy Exchange
- Scholastic's Story Maker
- Codewriter's Adventure Writer
- Highlands' Mummy's Curse
- Datasoft's Zaxxon
- The Quest
- Activision's Pitfall II and H.E.R.O.
Brevard Renaissance Fair 2018 – The Craic (2018-02-04) (4)
Source: Supload | H1u4TNqym
More pictures of The Craic performing at the 2018 Brevard Renaissance Fair in Melbourne, Florida on February 4th, 2018.
Sunday, August 19, 2018
Slides - Florida - Early 1970s (2)
See the first post in this series here. You can skip the quoted intro text if you have read it before.
I had the opportunity to pick up a huge batch of slides recently. These are pictures spanning from as early as the late 1940s to as late as the early 1990s (maybe earlier and/or later but these are what I have sampled so far). These came to me second hand but the original source was a combination of estate sales and Goodwill. There are several thousand...maybe as many as 10,000. I will be scanning some from time to time and posting them here for posterity.
Apparently, getting your pictures processed as slides used to be a fairly common thing but it was a phenomenon I missed out on. Though my family used some obscure technologies (disc film comes to mind), we always had regular prints. Having said that, my Grandfather had a few dozen slides (circa late 1950s) that I acquired after he died. That along with some negatives is what prompted me to buy a somewhat decent flatbed scanner that could handle slides and negatives (an Epson V600). That was the most money I was willing to spend on one anyway. It can scan up to four slides at a time with various post-processing options and does a decent enough job. The scanner has been mostly idle since finishing that task but now there is plenty for it to do.
Just to be clear, I did not take these pictures nor do I know who did. My task here is just to digitize and describe them the best I can.
These pictures appear to be taken as part of a vacation in Florida in the early 1970s. This second batch, like the first, appear also to have been taken at Cypress Gardens. These are raw unmodified scans (except for converting to JPG). Click on one of the images or the link below to also see versions processed with Digital ICE which is a hardware based dust and scratch remover.
Friday, August 17, 2018
Lucia (Devil May Cry 2) – PlayStation 2
Lucia (Devil May Cry 2) – PlayStation 2
Devil May Cry 2 is a 3D action adventure game that was initially released for the PlayStation 2 in 2003. It consists of a series of mission and while the plot is somewhat convoluted, the ultimate goal is to defeat an evil demon. As a sequel, Devil May Cry 2 was somewhat of a disappointment. Judged on its own merits however, it was a pretty decent game.
The most unique thing about the game is probably the fighting "style" system. Part of how your performance is judged in the came is based on your fighting style. Basically, the more hits you get on your enemy without being hit yourself, the higher your style rating. Relatively short button sequences are translated into rather complex moves.
The image at the top is from Play Magazine's Girls of Gaming and features Lucia who was new to the sequel. Screen shots are from the PS2 version of the game.
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