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One Shots: Kickin' it old school
To follow up on this morning's Daily Grind, where we asked what game you had originally fallen in love with in the MMO genre, I figured I'd follow up with this seriously old-school image sent in to us by Kilawhar! While he didn't send in the name of this location, I actually spent more than enough years playing this game to know just where this is. For those of you who don't recognize the above screenshot location, it's a place called Trainer Hill in the Crushbone zone off of Greater Faydark. In this location, many EverQuest players ground orc xp until they could get into a Throne Room camping group. Then you'd sit and camp the spawns over and over for experience and loot. Ahh, the old days -- when a bad pull meant running for the zone line because they didn't stop chasing you until you were out... or dead! Mmm. Grindy.How about you? Do you have some seriously old-school screens floating around on a 5.25" floppy or tape drive somewhere? Did you have to grind uphill in the snow both ways just to get and from your raids? Perhaps you have an older game installed, and can show us just how much the graphics have changed since the old days. Whatever your flavor, old-school or new, we'd love to see your screens and hear your stories! Just drop them in the mail to us at oneshots@massively.com! Yours could be the next one up! %Gallery-9798%
Cartel's nostalgic handsfree system brings back the car phone
Yeah, we did a double take upon seeing the above image too, but believe it or not, that car phone is actually a new Bluetooth handsfree system. Developed by Cartel Mobile Solutions, this in-car setup can reportedly be installed into nearly any whip and will connect up with most every BT-enabled handset. From there, it mysteriously warps you back to the 1990s where you can dial on near-Chiclet sized buttons; once the haze clears, it ushers you back to modern day by enabling motorists to chat without holding anything up to their yapper. Users can opt to wire it to their vehicle's sound system or plug in an external speaker, and yes, that display you see does indeed handle Caller ID duties. Unfortunately, no price was readily apparent, but you can bring that 1979 Buick of yours a few years closer to the 21st century by hitting Cartel up for purchasing details.[Thanks, Mickel]
How the MMO crawled out of the MUD
Clockwork Gamer has a good juicy post up about how MMOs first learned how to do things from MUDs, and since today is Old School Day, I thought it was appropriate. Wait, you haven't heard of Multi-User Dungeons? If you've never played one, you'll probably be shocked that they used to fascinate people-- imagine an old-school computer, with its green text on a black screen, dialing into another computer and entering a text-based virtual world. As in, you dial up your favorite BBS, and a message greets you "You are in an inn. There are exits north and west," and from there, you type in words telling the computer what to do, while other users play the game with you. You can try the whole thing with the java client here if you want.A far cry from the virtual worlds we know today, yes, but that's where it started. CG actually focuses on the higher level of things (in many MUDs, players could actually form guilds, and wander around the world together-- "go north"-- killing dragons-- "attack dragon with great mace"), but even the most basic of MMO thrills was originated in the MUD world. "Seeing" a virtual character pass through the room you're in ("Kingofworld enters the room. Kingofworld leaves the room.") was a thrill, because you knew that there was someone else, looking at a screen just like you, behind that character. On the other hand, as CG points out, there were a lot of things that MUDs could do that graphical MMOs can't nowadays.
LotRO quest inspired by Apple II text adventures
It seems that most gamers these days haven't played any of the old Apple II computer games, much less the particularly ancient text-based adventure ones. Most people now see them as arcane and even intimidating. Those black & white fossils bear no relation to something as modern as say, The Lord of the Rings Online, right?Wrong! Gaming's old-timers will be tickled to hear that a quest in Tal Bruinen was inspired by a gameplay mechanic from an Apple II text adventure game. A Turbine employee revealed this behind-the-scenes tidbit in a thread about the quest on the official LotRO forums.The Apple II was the first widely successful personal computer. It had a large library of games, many of which are cornerstones of computer gaming history. You can play a lot of those games in your web browser at virtualapple.org, one of the best online emulators. It has many of the all-time classic RPGs like Ultima, Might and Magic, and Wizardry as well.
Podcast looks back at Meridian 59 history
Want to work on your old-school cred? Check out Virgin Worlds' "Online Gamer's Anthology" podcast episode #5 and learn a bit about the history of arguably the first graphical MMO ever, Meridian 59.The podcast starts out with a somewhat awkward skit which pays homage to Meridian 59's gameplay, but if you skip ahead about 30 minutes you'll get straight to the meat of it -- an in-depth, tell-all interview with developer Brian "Psychochild" Green, who has worked on the game since 1998. He talks about what makes the game unique and relevant, its demise at the hands of 3DO, and its resurrection by his own company, Near Death Studios. Here's a highlight from the interview -- Green explaining why re-launching Meridian 59 was important to him:If you don't have a good sense of history it's really hard to move forward. Looking at more modern games, you have the level and class based system of EverQuest or World of Warcraft. I think a lot of times people look at only the most recent things and think, "Oh, that's the way it's always been, and that's what we have to follow." I think having a wider range of history -- the Meridian 59s, the Ultima Onlines, even those older games back into the proprietary systems -- knowing more about those can kind of give you a wider perspective.
Rewarding the old timers of WoW
I like Zymm's idea over on the forums-- he suggests that people who have been playing WoW for a while, or just "older" characters, should get some sort of special recognition or title as a WoW "old-schooler." Not just because I am a WoW old-schooler, but because it'd be nice of Blizzard to give out a little recognition for players and characters that have been active and playing for a while. I'm not saying that they should start handing out Epics just for standing around, but a special tabard or title would be kind of nice.And there are other benefits, too. It'd be a quick and easy way of telling who the veterans are in-game-- as in, who should know what they're doing and who might not. Plus, our characters don't actually age, so while gear is some indication of where they're at in progression, it doesn't tell you who's been on for years and who just powerleveled to 70 in the past few months. Some common indicator of age would set a milestone for how long characters and players have been around.Eyonix jokes about "Old School Zymm," but it's a good suggestion-- we should have some way of showing off how long both we and our characters have been around Azeroth.
Forum Post of the Day: You're old school when...
Over on the official forums, there's a nostalgic discussion of how to tell an old-school WoW player from a newbie. (Of course there's game knowledge -- but there's always the chance a newbie might have taken the time to read up!) So what makes the difference between an old-school player from the rest? Well, if you remember any of this, you're old school: When Dire Maul was new When Warlocks were free HKs When you had to go to the Barrens or Ashenvale to sign up for WSG When Alterac Valley lasted at least 8 hours a match When you could run 40 players through Stratholme, Scholomance, Blackrock Depths, Blackrock Spire, etc. When the sight of a full dungeon 1 set was impressive So, what makes you old school?
Tabletop gaming con comes to Iraq
We know that those serving in Iraq tend to be big on first-person shooters like Halo and Star Wars: Dark Forces, but what about Army gamers whose tastes run a little more cerebral? For them, Ziggurat Con will provide the opportunity to blow off some steam with a day of good, old-fashioned tabletop role-playing.Described as "the very first D&D convention/game day ever held in a war zone," Ziggurat Con will give soldiers "a place where we can go somewhere far away from the IED's, mortar attacks, and gunfire, without ever leaving the safety of our camp," said Con organizer David Amberson. The Camp Adder/Tallil Airbase Community Activity Center will become a role-playing and anime-watching paradise for nine hours on June 9, with the blessing of the Army's Morale, Welfare and Recreation Department.Many game manufacturers have agreed to donate materials for the gamers, but the scarcity of gaming stores in the greater Iraqi area may force attendees to share dice. It's true what they say ... war is hell.
Zack Morris chic: China's BW-A888 brickphone
Following a uniquely Asian trend as of late, the BW-A888 brings retro-cool to an everyday handset. This phone can run on its own or be snapped into the giant brick enclosure to instantly impart that early '83 Motorola DynaTAC cool. Not only does the "brick" component give you extended battery life, added weight, and a big speaker, it has what appears to be a compass mounted on the side in place of bothering with fancy technology like GPS. We kinda like this idea; not enough to go out and buy one mind you, but enough to at least check out the pics and smile a little wayback-when smile.
Mashup: NES meets DVD and wins
Joystiq reader Zach has just spent countless hours, amounts of sweat, and possibly even ounces of blood by mashing up a Nintendo Entertainment System with a portable DVD player. The end result is a pretty swanky DVD player that even has a controller hooked up to it via USB to serve as the remote. It also plays nice with his PlayStation Portable, making this a completely bizarro world where Sony and Nintendo work things out and just get along.Check out his Flickr album of the whole project here, and then swing by and check out the video of the whole thing if you're so inclined. It's an impressive amount of work and looks pretty darn cool. He even has the original Nintendo bag as a little carrying case for it! In fact, if these were for sale, we'd buy a couple of 'em. This may have just inspired us to dig the old NES out of the garage and give it a whirl. One day the sweet day will come when someone mods a PS3 into one of these things
Sewing the seeds of retro: crocheted Atari 2600
Who said that grandma's skill set wasn't that useful? It's a custom crocheted Atari 2600, complete with two controllers, a game cartridge, and Pitfall on the screen. Amazing! These is exactly the sort of old school stuff we'd be filling our homes and offices up with if it was for sale in stores.Now the real proof comes when someone knits us a next-gen system complete with a multiplayer game playing out on the crocheted screen in -- wait for it -- high definition. That'd be like a million lines of yarn or something. Better get to knitting before Super HDTV gets invented.[Thanks, Mike]
Retro gamers' next-gen battle is between SNES and Genesis
The Washington Post takes a nostalgic trip into the homes of retro gamers. These players are satisfied with the NES and other classic systems; they don't need any next-gen battle.The article portrays those gamers as just growing up with those systems; there's not a crazy, technology-hating gamer in the bunch. We hang on to as many old systems and titles as we can and, once in a while, we revisit the classics. But there's a Zen simplicity in primarily gaming with a controller that has two -- or fewer -- buttons.
Mad Catz readies Xbox 360 Live Arcade Stick for holiday release
Manufacturing hiccups, or intentional delays to ensure a holiday release? Whatever the reasons behind Mad Catz taking its sweet time on the Live Arcade Stick -- which we were (fairly) certain was eventually coming -- remains unknown, but at least it's (almost) here. According to our pals at Joystiq, the retro-styled controller slated to help Xbox Live Arcade gamers feel a bit more like 1985 is just a month or so away from hitting store shelves. Aside from sporting all the familiar Xbox 360 buttons and rumble functionality, purchasers will also get Frogger, Time Pilot, and Astropop when they throw down their $49.99, and if you're into multi-purpose gizmos, you'll certainly appreciate its ability to play nice with PCs. So if you had every intention of delving into Nintendo's classic library of games today, but couldn't scrounge up an actual Wii for yourself, Mad Catz will hopefully deliver that dash of yesteryear before too long.
Modojo rounds-up retro PSP games
I can't remember a time in a system's life when it had more retro compilations than the PSP is seeing right now. And with games the likes of Sega Genesis Collection, Metal Slug Anthology and EA Replay releasing this week, it's a veritable wet dream for us old-school gamers out there.And Modojo has gone through each title and decided which are worthy of your purchase and which are worthy of the trashcan.We're Not Worthy!
