Cynicaster

As Requested: The author in that article is shown as Steve Sanders... is that Billy Mitchell's sidekick? Thanks for posting, although this article has been plagiarized verbatim somewhere on the net; I know I've read this before.

Super Mario 2 is one of the best NES games of all time, IMO. I don't care how it came to be, a good game is a good game. As for let-downs, Twisted Metal 3 on Playstation. TM2 is one of my all-time favorite games, and this sequel--which I believe was done by a different development house--was wretched.

32,760 Man, this game is tough.

Put this in your X-Arcade and smoke it: 112,450 (sorry folks, sibling rivalry )

96,060

"On my phone it says... balls." Classic.

Well, I knew there was bound to be a backlash sooner or later, given the coverage Jobs has gotten these past few days. I also knew that somebody was going to seize upon the fact that he made lots of money, as if that's a bad thing. Inventors and businessmen like Jobs create more real social value through the products they create than any saint ever did, yet somehow, it's the saints who are always held up as the virtuous ones. To be clear, I was not and am not faulting Jobs for making lots of money. That's kind of my point: he was a businessman, and that's what businessmen do. They make money. If they don't, they're failures as businessmen. People are allowed to buy and appreciate his creations all they like, I'm all for free consumer choice. All I'm saying is that I strongly feel these people across the blogosphere weeping on their keyboards need to get a grip. In the same way that Facebook has cheapened the sentiment of "happy birthday" by means of allowing 150 people you haven't talked to since high school to post those words on your wall when the automatic reminder pops up in their newsfeed, it cheapens the concept of mourning death when people get all gushy over the passing of a man simply because he dreamt up a device enabling them to watch YouTube at the bus stop or post vapid tweets from their camper in the mountains. I realize this is all personal opinion, but before I accept the designation of "philanthropist via technological contribution" as appropriate for Steve Jobs, I'd need to be convinced that his products are actually making our lives better and making the world a better place to live in. In doing so, it's critical to carefully distinguish between "improving" our lives and simply "changing" them. That he achieved the latter is self-evident, but it's not so cut-and-dried for the former. For every person that points out "hey, I can have a video chat with my grandma from my iPhone, that is so handy!", somebody else could say "every time I go out into a social setting, people's faces are buried in their iPhones, and that's sad". Changing gears a bit, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that a business plan that involves strong-arming consumers into buying Apple products to play music from his much vaunted digital distribution network is an odd move for a philanthropist. Back in the CD era when Sony was a much bigger player in music distribution, I'm pretty sure most of us would have thrown a fit if we brought a CD home from the record store only to find out that it wouldn't play in our Samsung CD player. I don't really know how to respond to the article you posted--the author was obviously a died-in-the-wool capitalist, so it makes sense that he would deify Steve Jobs. Again, if capitalism is the be-all-end-all, then how come the biggest capitalist economy in the world is unable to pay back billions in loans to China, a communist country? No, I'm not advocating communism, and I do not wish to talk politics, I'm simply making the point that it's all too easy to see a certain reality when you want to badly enough. There is one thing in the article that I have to address, though: This guy really likes to speak as if his perception is synonymous with reality, doesn't he? The first half of his statement is completely subjective, the second half is patently and demonstrably false. Maybe he's never read a Best Buy flyer?

In Canada, a 64 GB iPad 2 will run you north of $900 after taxes, last time I looked. I find that utterly indefensible and absurd. It just might be the worst bang-for-your-buck quotient in the history of consumer electronics. But hey, nobody ever said being hip would be cheap. It's tragic when anybody succumbs to illness at such a young age. Steve Jobs was obviously a talented and innovative businessman, and there is nothing wrong with people paying their respects to the man by saying “RIP Steve, you will be missed” or something similar. But there comes a point where it gets a bit ridiculous. I’ve read some teary-eyed, long-winded articles and blog posts from common folks like you and me that have really got me shaking my head. He was a business man out to get rich, not a saint. If you think I’m being crass, fine, but the way I look at it is this. The man didn’t give a crap about me. He wasn’t my friend, he wasn’t my uncle. My relationship with him consisted of a few impersonal, anonymous business transactions at Best Buy. I more than fulfilled my responsibilities in our relationship by over-paying him for his disposable gadgets. I don’t owe him a eulogy any more than he owes me a new iPod touch to replace the one I bought that lasted less than 2 years before the battery wouldn’t hold a charge.

The exact same thought crossed my mind. I just can't react quickly enough to actually "choose" a path... the damn nibbler just slithers about more or less on its own.

"An in-person thing" wouldn't be impossible. It really depends on location. I threw a feeler out there to host a two-day tournament at my house. 24 titles in the tournament spanning about a 1/2 dozen consoles and a $25 entry fee with cash prizes. Not a single person here on AA was interested. If you are in an area with a strong concentration of classic gamers, it would work. However, I'm not. For what it's worth, I'd be there in a New York minute if you lived in my neck of the woods... an in-person tourney for cash with people who can actually play would be friggin' sweet. I've tried things like this at my house but most participants aren't even real gamers and tend to suck at just about every game.

Pressure Cooker Popeye Smurf (or is it Smurfs? Whatever... I always thought the way the music changed to an evil/spooky sounding tone when you entered the screen with the spider was a cool and creative touch)

Are we making a distinction between “most faithful” and “most fun to play”? Because I don’t think they’re necessarily the same thing in all cases. For instance, as several have mentioned, Atari 2600 Missile Command is a totally solid title for the system—one of the greats, IMO—despite missing several defining characteristics of the coin-op (trackball control, 3 missile bases, enemy planes). I never played the coin-op version in my life up until about 6-7 years ago when it popped up at a local (now defunct) arcade, and when I couldn’t crack 10k after several tries, I immediately realized how different it is. To state the obvious, I think the main thing driving down the “faithfulness” of 2600 arcade ports is the limited graphical capabilities of the system. Often, items that had neat shapes and colors in the arcade would show up on Atari as little glowing dots or blocks. Fields of colorful swarming enemies in the arcade were reduced to thinned-down blobs of monochrome flicker. So in this sense, I think it’s hard to top Berzerk in the faithfulness department; it really had the look and feel of the original in most respects. Personally, I always preferred the original/non-ported titles that were designed from the ground up within the constraints of the system (Frostbite, Pressure Cooker, Enduro, etc.) but here are some of my favorites that originated in the arcade (not sure if these are all pre-crash or not): Q*Bert Frogger Popeye Mario Bros. Dig Dug

WOW... for the guys that marathon this game, I refuse to believe they stand there and listen to the music for the whole time. I couldn't stand it for 2 minutes. It makes it a good game to play with tunes on. 56,400

Do's Wild Ride: 35,635 That level with the bouncing horses was driving me nuts. Cool game, but at least for the first 4 levels, once you find a pattern you can do it blindfolded.

Do's Castle: 67,720 Perhaps not for Richard Stewart, but for us novices in the sub-100k range I think the trick to this game is racking up as many points as possible on the first few levels. I've worked out a routine on the first level to get me over 25k. Another thing I started doing today was completely forgetting about trying to spell EXTRA. I use the "free time" I get from collecting the shield to set up the board for racking up some points with the blue monsters; this usually is simply knocking out a few blocks to create a "chute" from the top of the board to the bottom. PS--I think that 8k bonus diamond is stupid.

Managed to squeeze this in at the Frankfurt airport: Mr. Do's Castle: 46,060

"Push It" by Salt N Peppa reminds me of playing Atari 7800 Xevious. I have no idea why. "When Doves Cry" by Prince reminds me of playing Atari 2600 Moonsweeper. Weird, right?

Saw this game for $10 at a game store a while ago, guess I should have grabbed it.

I'm still on my European work-vacation but hopefully I can find some time to devote to these games on my travel MAME rig. I had an improved Mappy score last night but unfortunately the cheap-o hotel I was staying at outside of Venice didn't have internet and for some reason my Blackberry doesn't like the new forum layout and won't let me read or post messages on AA. On an unrelated note, if I see ONE more European dude with a faux-hawk and popped collar, he's getting a punch in the dick.

I'm pretty crappy at Mappy. 41,780

Greetings from Austria, MAME'ers. I managed to squeeze a few more games in on my portable rig. Man this sucks compared to playing on my cabinet, but better than nothing. Bump N Jump - 74,112

Astro Fighter - 5,890 Bump n Jump - 26,652 DoDonPachi - 9,806,890 GigaWing - 319,733,869,460 Karate Champ - 5,400 Mad Alien - 7,180 Metal Slug - 146,220 Metal Slug 2 - 343,600 Vasara - 312,620 I think I've developed tendonitis in my right arm from all the button mashing in this tournament. I've heard a lot about the Metal Slug series but never played it. Honestly, I didn't care much for MS1, but MS2 is great. Same gameplay, but more interesting levels. I can post some pics later if necessary, but right now I gotta catch a plane.

I've only played the pack-in Move game (forget what it's called, but it has frisbee golf, bocce, and others). I was a skeptic going in, and frankly didn't even want to like it, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well it seemed to work. I actually found myself legitimately enjoying the games. In contrast, whenever I play Wii, it's usually at social gatherings just to go with the flow and participate; typically, I can't wait for the games to be over with. I don't know if it is due to better game design on the part of the PS3, better control system design, or perhaps a little bit of both... but based on the limited motion control titles for both systems that I've played, the Move is hands down the winner.

DoubleDongerPachi - 5,420,670 Lock N Chase - 25,700

The door only appears where two light blue line connect. (connection point) When you press the button, the door will appear on the last connection point you crossed.(I'm not sure if this is clear enough) Also, you can only have 2 doors at the same time. A door will stay visible for a few seconds. you can use the doors to slowdown the police men or to trap them for extra points. 100 for 1, 300 for 2, 1000 for 3 and 2000 for all the 4. see image below for the trap locations. Thanks, Pat. I don't see myself making much use of your advice because I totally suck at this game, but it's good to know.