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Long-lost 'Days of Thunder' NES game recreated from 30-year-old floppies
Archivists have recreated a long-lost 'Days of Thunder' NES game using 30-year-old floppies with the source code.
The Game Archaeologist: The Chronicles of Spellborn
Hey! Hey you! Yeah, you the I'm-so-bored-with-all-of-these-MMOs gamer! You've been grousing about for years how MMOs never take risks, never innovate, and are merely content to rehash the same-old fantasy tropes that were stale even when World of Warcraft launched, right? Yes, we at Massively saw your poorly spelled reddit post on that subject, thank you. Well, what if I were to tell you that there's an MMO that bucks the clichés? It's true! Imagine an MMO that exists in a post-apocalyptic fantasy setting that's unlike anything you've seen before. Imagine that combat isn't merely hotbar button mashing but tactics mixed with positioning. Imagine that you can create your character to look any way you want from the onset instead of having to collect certain pieces of gear. Imagine an immersive world that is a delight to the eyes and ears. Got all that? Want to play it? Well, you can't. That game was The Chronicles of Spellborn, and since you and pretty much everyone else on the planet ignored it, it tanked in 2010 after less than a year of operation. Yet for its lackluster run, Spellborn has been strongly mourned by those who saw tremendous potential in it and who keep creating internet petitions to bring it back. Because petitions change everything. Today we're going to take a look back at an MMO that took the path less traveled.
Nabaztag robotic rabbits rise from the ashes at midnight
Twas a sad day when Mindscape was forced to shutter the online service used by its collection of Nabaztag robotic rabbits -- as the tale goes, the domain's demise left the tiny, Linux-running hares inanimate, mute and nearly useless. But just five short months later, things are starting to look up. Via email, the company has confirmed that nabaztag.com will come (back) alive on midnight of December 24th (a timezone was not specified), allowing Nabaztag users to communicate with their coney comrades. "At midnight you can turn your rabbits on without changing anything," writes the bunny builder. That's not all. The company is promising to "enrich" the devic's modules with "community contributions." If you're a Nabaztag owner, step away from that eggnog and put on a pot of coffee... Christmas is coming a full 24-hours early.
Mindscape pulls the server plug on Nabaztag, hands source code to developers
Mindscape's ambient hare progenitors are officially headed off to that matrix briar patch in the sky. Turns out a battle with the server's host has left the company in a sticky financial situation, effectively shutting down support for the WiFi-enabled bunnies. In a recent YouTube announcement, CEO Thierry Bensoussan addressed the community's concerns, offering up source code that ensures a homebrew future for the Little Linux-Bunny Foo Foo forebears. Hobbyists hoping to snag that Nabaztag.com domain for themselves will instead have to accept a url redirect, as the site remains firmly under the software publisher's lock and key. But don't mourn your news reading, weather-forecasting buddy just yet, you can always replace it with the discounted love of lil' bro, Karotz.
MindScape's Karotz continues the proud Nabaztag lineage
It's been a while since we've heard anything on the Nabaztag front. Violet, the company that built the original "ambient" bunnies, went bankrupt but was snapped up by MindScape a year ago. Now MindScape is ready to show off the latest addition to the Nabaztag family, dubbed "Karotz." The WiFi rabbit runs on Linux, with a 400MHz ARM CPU, 64MB of RAM and 256MB of storage, so it should have plenty of headroom for that vibrant hacker community that sprung up around the first two Nabaztags. Karotz can also run off batteries or be plugged in via USB, and has the same RFID reader functionality of the Nabaztag/tag. The biggest new feature is a webcam, which will purportedly have face recognition (to be paired with Nabaztag's existing voice recognition), along with allowing you to check up on your home from a smartphone app. Karotz will retail in France starting in November for €150 (about $210 US), followed by the UK in December and February in the US. Hopefully Karotz can find a bit more market success than its ill-fated predecessors. %Gallery-105157%
New Mindscape studio pulls EA, Free Radical staff for downloadable games
Mindscape has established a new development studio in France called Punchers Impact, Develop reports. The news here isn't so much that the team will be focusing on downloadable games for XBLA, PSN and PC -- rather, that many of the 40-odd staffers come from noteworthy devs EA and Free Radical. The studio is being led by Guillaume Descamps in the role of studio director and executive producer. Previously of casual game devs ZigZag Island and DK Games, Descamps is in charge of Punchers Impact's yet-unnamed first release, which Mindscape says will be ready for the end of 2010. While the team's makeup may lend itself well to delivering a solid downloadable action title, we have a sneaking suspicion that, given Mindscape's track record of games such as My Pet Hotel, the chances of a TimeSplitters-like release have been neutered.
CBS bringing Diagnosis Murder, some other stuff to gaming platforms
CBS announced today that it's bringing a wide array of its TV programming to the video game world, mainly via the PC, Wii and DS. As you can see after the break, the company revealed equally insipid-sounding game versions of Survivor, Hollywood Squares, The Amazing Race, and Criminal Minds, but we don't see how we're supposed to care about any of it when it was also revealed that a Diagnosis Murder game is in the works. We're assuming it's a Visceral-developed "dark" take on the DM mythos, with a Gothic Dr. Mark Sloan walking a demonic version of Los Angeles, solving murder mysteries with a caduceus-shaped staff dipped in angel blood. We assume this because we laid out the design doc pretty clearly in our letters, and we can't fathom why CBS would want to disappoint us.
Bury the Shovelware: Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?
After a controversial piece last week, followed by a stressful and virus-contracting holiday weekend, I decided to take things easy this week and go for an easy target. As you can assume, my expectations for this title aren't that high. In fact, I've really only one question: is this game worse than Deal or No Deal. As I popped the game into my DS, I notice something interesting. I asked for "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader," but it looks like they sent me "Are You Smarter than a 10 Year Old," which is the British version of the American game show. I guess whoever was responsible for this is not smarter than a 5th grader ... (punches self). At least I won't have to deal with sub-par humor.
Syberia takes an adventure on the DS
It looks like Myst isn't the only oldschool PC adventure game to be ported to the DS. According to Mindscape, Syberia is on its way, too. Since it's only a port, it won't contain any new content. Yet, we're glad to know that the game will feature touch-screen functionality, since that's always a plus in adventure titles. You can also expect an improved interface and menu system, to make inventories easier to navigate. In Syberia, you take control of businesswomen Kate Walker, who's looking for the long-lost heir of a toy-making family. One of Syberia's best aspects, though, is its surreal, steampunk-esque setting, which we hope translates well onto the DS.The game is scheduled to release in Europe this October, but there's no word yet of a North American localization.[Via Nintendic]
MTV Fan Attacks you with panties
"Experience the life of a Rockstar!" MTV Fan Attack is packed with minigames conducive to the Rockstar experience, like escaping the paparazzi, destroying a hotel room, and, according to the screenshots Mindscape Australia released earlier today, catching intimate garments that've been thrown at you.Considering MTV's younger audience and the prepubescent, pink design of the underwear in the image, holding onto this particular pair doesn't seem like a good idea. You never know, Chris Hansen could be in the audience, plotting your demise! Apparently, MTV Fan Attack will also allow you to "seduce your fans." The game is listed with a "G" rating on its product page. Remember Bell Biv Devoe's "Do Me," when the three-man group rapped this cringe-worthy ditty? "Backstage, under age, adolescent. How ya doin'? 'Fine,' she replied. I sighed, 'I like to do the wild thing.'" We forgave them eventually, as you would have too, because they made "Poison." If "Poison" isn't the most fantastic 1990 song ever, we don't know what is. We went ahead and embedded the music video past the post break. Why, you ask? Because we can.
