You just can't beat aliens in
formation
My fascination with video games, like a lot of other people I
guess, began with Pong in the 1970's. How cool was this? All I
have to do is slide this switch on a controller box on the back
of my TV and I can actually play a game of ping-pong ON MY
TELEVISION??? Oh my God, the pinnacle of technology had arrived.
There was no way they could do any better than this right? I mean
two solid white lines, a moving dot, and incredibly cool "dinks"
each time the dot hit the lines? Wow, this was more than I could
ever ask for.
Fortunately for me, as I grew up and expected more, the folks
at Atari, Namco, et al. were more than willing to provide it. Pac-Mania
hit the country in the early 80's. There were T-shirts and songs
and cartoons and everything for the little yellow mouthman and
his pajama wearing ghost friends. I thought they were pretty
cool, but at that point I had already become jaded, looking for
the next big thing. Then along came the genius from Nintendo,
Shigeru Miyamoto, with the game I voted for, Donkey Kong. I
almost voted for Galaga, but more on that in a bit. Donkey Kong
was awesome. There were actually levels. Things changed. They got
progressively more difficult even though the basic goal was
always the same. I spent what I thought was a fortune on that
game, but that was back when games only cost a quarter so it was
probably an insignificant amount, especially in relation to the
fun I had while playing it.
As far as Galaga goes, I loved it too. If you really think
about it, it was nothing but a fancy version of Space Invaders
but man was it cool. You could get two ships if you were skilled
and then it was ass-kicking time. Plus it had that really cool
bonus stage. If you couldn't get the perfect bonus on the first
one, you were ridiculed and hung in effigy at the arcade
It continually amazes me how far we have come in video games.
My Nintendo 64, particularly Legend of Zelda, absolutely blows
away anything I could even have imagined when I was a kid. I
mean, one of my favorite games on Atari was Adventure. Remember
that one? You were a freaking dot! And the dragon was just a
collection of dots!! It's amazing what they have done and the
best is yet to come with Nintendo's next generation and the
Playstation 2 just around the corner.
Funny Tetris story. A friend of mine and I always played video
games in high school. We were both addicted and always played the
latest and greatest whenever they arrived on the scene. One day,
we walked into a local convenience store and there was a new game
called Tetris. I said, "Andy, check out this goofy ass game.
Who the hell would want to play a stupid game where you line up
blocks?" He agreed with me and we went to play something
else. After a while, I said, "Oh what the hell, I'll give
that block game a shot." So Andy decided to play with me.
About four hours later, we were out of money and seeing the
blocks in our heads, trying to line them up for that perfect
Tetris. That has to be the most addictive video game ever,
especially on Nintendo's Game Boy. I know people who hated video
games that played Tetris until their eyes glazed over.
I suppose the arcade is dead now. Everyone has their home
consoles and PC's and I haven't heard of a great arcade game in
some time. Of course, I could be completely wrong because I
haven't been in an arcade for at least five years and maybe
longer. But I definitely think the lion's share of the market is
in the home systems now.
The new poll goes back to the silver screen. Hollywood's king
autuer, Mr. Spielberg had made a lot of movies in his career and
we want to know which one you think was the best. "Ryan"?
"Schindler's List"? Or do you go against the grain and
pick "Hook" or "Always"? Your call.
I need noms for next Monday's poll. What are the best quotes
from Homer Simpson? My personal favorite has to be the classic
"Oh, Lisa. You and your stories. Mr. Burns is a vampire.
Beer kills brain cells. Now let's get in the car and go back ...
to the place ... where our beds and TV ... is." Please only
send in Homer lines, not other characters. And try to limit it to
Homer only, with no dialogue interaction necessary.
Comments and suggestions to lawdogusc@hotmail.com.
Poll
Topic: Best 80's Arcade Game
|
| Galaga |
 13% - (86 Votes) |
| Pac-Man |
10.9% - (72 Votes) |
| Space
Invaders |
7.2% - (48 Votes) |
| Tetris |
6.6% - (44 Votes) |
| Donkey
Kong |
6.5% - (43 Votes) |
| Defender |
6.2% - (41 Votes) |
| Spy
Hunter |
5.4% - (36 Votes) |
| Asteroids |
4.8% - (32 Votes) |
| Joust |
4.2% - (28 Votes) |
| Street
Fighter |
3.1% - (21 Votes) |
| Mario
Bros. |
2.8% - (19 Votes) |
| Centipede |
2.7% - (18 Votes) |
| Missile
Command |
2.4% - (16 Votes) |
| Ms.
Pac-Man |
2.4% - (16 Votes) |
| Pole
Position |
2.4% - (16 Votes) |
| Tempest |
2.1% - (14 Votes) |
| Dig
Dug |
1.8% - (12 Votes) |
| Punch
Out |
1.8% - (12 Votes) |
| Battle
Zone |
1.6% - (11 Votes) |
| Track
N' Field |
1.5% - (10 Votes) |
| Time
Pilot |
1.5% - (10 Votes) |
| Q*Bert |
1.3% - (9 Votes) |
| Breakout |
1.3% - (9 Votes) |
| Berzerk |
1.2% - (8 Votes) |
| Frogger |
1.2% - (8 Votes) |
| Phoenix |
0.9% - (6 Votes) |
| Qix |
0.7% - (5 Votes) |
| Popeye |
0.6% - (4 Votes) |
| 10
Yard Fight |
0.3% - (2 Votes) |
| Mr
Do's Wild Ride |
0.3% - (2 Votes) |
| Cloak
and Dagger |
0% - (0 Votes) |
Total Votes: 658
|