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davidcalgary29

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Posts posted by davidcalgary29

  1. Posted

    32 minutes ago, PFG 9000 said:

    I know!  It IS criminal, and I'm guilty as charged.  I've had a Lynx for something like 30 years, and I've still barely scratched the surface of Xenophobe.  I'm also a massive fan of the Alien franchise.

     

    Just out of curiosity, which games are the mediocre and crappy ones?  I'm guessing Gauntlet and Ninja Gaiden III?  I've spent a few hours on NGIII, but I'm a huge NG fan and would like to beat it someday.  I haven't beaten the NES NGIII either, but I've beaten the first two NES NG games a few times.

     

    I like the comparison to Klax.  I have a massive backlog of games to play, and it gets longer way faster than I can keep up with it.  I didn't even put the sports titles on my list, because I don't plan to ever put much time into them.

    Yes, I really don't like Ninja Gaiden III, and Gauntlet: the Third Encounter is just really underwhelming. I love Gauntlet, but this is just a meh dungeon crawler without the monster generators.

  3. Posted

    Just the Thomson M05 and M06. I repeatedly saw them when I bought my monthly copy of Micro V.O. in the mid-'80s, and really wanted to try one out. I'd add the Apple IIGS to the list, as I sort-of thought about buying one in 1989, but I didn't like the Apple II family, and even then you could see that that computer was going nowhere fast.

     

    Years later, I thought that the Archimedes computers looked pretty interesting, and thought about hunting one down, but cost was (and still is) prohibitive.

    • Like 2

  5. Posted

    On 10/27/2020 at 10:57 AM, classicgamer74 said:

    In today's episode I discuss the few prototypes for the Atari 7800.  Are there any that I missed?  Were there more games planned than the ones I listed?  

    Rampart? Tempest? Road Riot 4WD? Crystal Castles? Moon Patrol?

     

    I enjoyed your video. :)

  8. Posted

    22 hours ago, PFG 9000 said:

    If you're like me, you've got a running list of Lynx games you've been wanting to put some good time into.  Maybe you're waiting for a rainy day.  Maybe you just don't have much time for gaming. I've played just about all the commercial titles and most homebrews at least briefly, but there are plenty that I want to come back to because they clearly have some good depth.

     

    What's on your list?  And what's keeping you from it?

     

    Here is my list:

     

    Xenophobe

     

    Now that's just criminal. The Lynx port is the best available on an Atari system, and the best home version in my opinion. There are what -- nine or so characters to play -- (even though I always seem to end up as Mr. Eeez) and heck -- you can even play as the Snotterpillar when comlynxed! And it has Festors! It's an awesome and amazing game.

     

    You actually have only one crappy and one mediocre game on your list -- the rest range from good to outstanding. Time to get playing! :)

  9. Posted

    11 hours ago, gilsaluki said:

    Gaiden III.  

    Ugh. Such an ugly-looking game, and I hate the sfx as well. I quite like Ninja Gaiden, but this "sequel" is one of the worst in the library for me.

     

    All of my games in my "gaming queue" have been there for decades, like when you throw the same tiles up the Klax board on higher levels, in the hope that you don't have to play them and the round will end first. Do I actually have to play these? Can't I just pretend that I already have?

     

    World Class Fussball

    European Soccer Challenge (still haven't bought it!)

    Hockey (although I should, just to say that I got to represent the wonderful Manitoban city of "Winepeg")

    NFL Football

  11. Posted

    21 hours ago, Nintendo64 said:

     

    That is funny. Was that actual text in the game? I just recently got back into reading books this year, and these text games look appealing.

     

    Yes, that's the actual gameplay, although the actual command on the last one was "strip", and not "kill cupboard". While you actually do have to order your heroine to take off her clothes in order to advance in the game, if you do this at the wrong time the game responds with "on a ship full of pirates?...Mama would be ashamed! ("Mama would not approve" appears elsewhere).

     

    Text adventures are wonderful things for avid readers. While it can take some time to get used to command limitations, the game's responses are often fun and witty, and it can be quite satisfying to solve a puzzle. The writing can also be very compelling and the descriptions more evocative than what would be capable with these computers' graphical limitations. I'm still not sure that a modern computer could do much more to convey the stench of a pirate ship's hold awash with bilge water, garbage,  and rats, even with true colour at 1080p.

     

    And Infocom became quite sly about withholding critical bits of information in order to increase difficulty and to tease foolish players with the knowledge that they can't actually see their way around a problem, like you can with a graphic adventure. If you LOOK AROUND the captain's quarters, you'll get a general description of the room along with some potential exits. You won't be told, though, that you can go fore (getting past that cupboard) or up (a ladder after you smash a window with a coffer). In earlier text adventures all of these possible directions would be clearly listed for the player. You can't smash and run your way through these games, and that's a refreshing change of pace.

    • Like 3

  12. Posted

    1 hour ago, drpeter said:

    Opinions vary on the usability of the 400 keyboard.  As membrane keyboards go, it's about as good as they get. I did an awful lot of typing on mine before eventually replacing it with a 3rd party 'proper' keyboard and for me it was acceptable for programming- certainly wouldn't have dreamed of swapping my 400 for a VIC-20!

     

     

    I bought my first 400 (and modded, too) a couple of years ago and was pleasantly surprised by the keyboard, which is pretty responsive for what it is. Then again, we've been trained to accept crappy, flat, non-mechanical keyboards for quite a few years by laptop makers and smartphone screens, so maybe the 400 was just way, way ahead of the curve. :D

    • Like 2

  14. Posted

    I convinced my Dad to get an 800 because I pointed out that Consumer Reports had rated its keyboard as "excellent". He rated touch-typing as an important skill, and I assured him that I would learn to type properly. I did learn QWERTY touch-typing, but that was later on a Royal manual typewriter. :D

     

    The salesperson we spoke with tried to convince us to wait and get a Commodore 64 (this was April '83). I said NO, and am so glad that I did.

    • Like 1

  16. Posted

    5 hours ago, Blues76 said:

     

     

    For example, I find 600 for the xegs expensive but maybe I’m wrong. 

     

    Also, do you feel the inventory is low?

    Yes, $600 for an unmodded XEGS is really, really expensive. They're certainly not as cheap as they used to be, but that's a stratospheric price for this system.

     

    "Inventory" is an interesting question. The A8 was a moderately successful computer line that was produced for a very long time, and while I'm sure quite a bit of old stock ended up in landfills (or on random episodes of Hoarders), I don't think that the current sticker shock on eBay is a result of low stock -- it's more like you're running up against the inflated expectations of resellers, and not finding owners of original equipment who want their stuff to go to good homes. Just post in the Wanted section.

    • Thanks 1

  21. Posted

    I've just received my cased (of course, as I thought I'd be flexible) ultrasatan...and found out that the male DB19 connection won't fit flush with the Mega STe case because of the VME port. I bought this when I should have bought something like this. I don't see anything on the Lotharek website -- does anyone sell a flat DB19 male/IDC 20 cable anymore?

  22. Posted

    7 minutes ago, drac030 said:

    Running a decent file manager:

     

    obraz.thumb.png.ea36a69b8812ea25290f9d7cbe5b9eae.png

     

    Viewing directories under DOS in their full width:

     

    obraz.thumb.png.88d7e4cdd8a175b3c9472c6dce83a5b8.png

     

    Reading documentation files:

     

    obraz.thumb.png.76e41e9e9b1edbb4f9e13431beb10de2.png

     

    Viewing Atari ST VT-52 animations: :D

     

    obraz.thumb.png.0677bd000c3371d9225ff98d9921e576.png

     

    Programming:

     

    obraz.thumb.png.1ddd8da5ec181c723d365b090915519f.png

     

    Editing documentation files with TLW of course.

     

    What are you using for your display?

    • Thanks 1

  24. Posted

    2 minutes ago, hloberg said:

    hum. I always like the XEP80 and it's odd design choice. yes it's slow and limited but still, any Atari 400 to XEGS could use it. RaPi is an interesting thought as a replacement. thing is, I'm not sure there is much info out about the XEP80 and would need to be reverse engineered which wouldn't be worth it. (Of course if there is info out there...)

     

    I'm curious -- what are you looking for?

  25. Posted

    It would certainly be an...interesting choice for a hardware project. I'm not sure that anyone would want to replicate the unusual (ie. limited) architecture of the XEP80 when so many other directions could (and should have) perhaps been pursued.

     

    I'd first get rid of the joystick connection, and make it a true PBI/ECI "plug 'n play" device. And I'd certainly would have wanted some type of graphics co-processor to create true, usable  640x240 bitmapped graphics instead of the squashed, crippled graphics 8 we (sort of) got with the XEP80. You'd then have to assemble a team to ensure compatibility with software that does not solely use graphics 0 or 8 (or 8 + 16), or could not originally access screen commands in BASIC (like DRAWTO) with the XEP80. Because surely this new device would support all the other native graphics modes, right?

     

    Parallel port? I mean, it was nice to include it as a bonus, but it's really not used much these days. Let's replace that with a SIO2USB port combo. And a couple of extra SIO ports would be nice for daisy-chaining.

     

    I haven't tried my XEP80 on a modern LCD, but we could surely do better than its standard output. Something like the Brewing Academy's BoB box would be great, but I'm not sure how feasible it would be without really complicating this type of project.

     

    And...yeah. I think I'll stick with my VBXE-modded XEGS and modern peripherals. :)

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