I'm sorry there hasn't been much activity on the blog front during the past week, but as regular readers will have spotted I've had the decorators in and I like what they have done with the place.
Apart from a new paint job to the blog (which makes it easier to read I think) other changes are that the tag board is no more, although it could show up again on the brand new supplemental website currently in development (more later). The archives are now listed as months (or at least they will be as at the moment there is only one month to archive so far) rather then weekly and I think it just makes the blog look less cluttered and improves navigation around the blog. So we'll see how this layout works out.
The website is currently under construction (so sayeth the current homepage). Once the site goes live the plan is to use it as a supplement to the main blog (possibly with a similar design style) which at the moment will probably include photos (even though it's possible to add images to the blog I'd prefer to keep it text only for now) and an archive for the game rants and anything else I can think of that might not be blog worthy.
That's all for now. See you later.
Saturday, July 03, 2004
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Movie Bloopers and Mistakes
Well not much going on at the moment and I've got nothing to rant or blog about, so let me point you in the direction of the following website:-
http://www.moviemistakes.com/
Identified by FHM magazine as one of the 100 greatest websites, this website lists bloopers and mistakes that have been found in movies (I think the website's address kind of gave that one away). Nearly all of the site's movie mistakes come through contributors from around the globe, so go on add your own.
Of course you will be rushing to get that movie into the DVD player just to see the mistakes for yourselves....
http://www.moviemistakes.com/
Identified by FHM magazine as one of the 100 greatest websites, this website lists bloopers and mistakes that have been found in movies (I think the website's address kind of gave that one away). Nearly all of the site's movie mistakes come through contributors from around the globe, so go on add your own.
Of course you will be rushing to get that movie into the DVD player just to see the mistakes for yourselves....
Sunday, June 27, 2004
The Njc Retro Game Review For Pong
Where it all began or did it ......?
Not knowing which game to start with for reviewing I thought I'd start at the beginning with a retro review of the game wrongly recognized as the first video game Pong.
Brief History Of Pong (the full history is much bigger)
The history of Pong can be traced back to 1958 when Willy Higinbotham created a playable version of tennis using an oscilliscope. The oscilliscope (the X-BOX of it's day - a large, bulky machine with few games for it) was also the hardware platform that played the first nationally recognized video game called Spacewar although to run this game an expansion pack was required in the form of a room filling mainframe (it never caught on).
While Spacewar was renamed to Computer Space and turned into an arcade machine (without the need for a room filling mainframe)it was not a success when released to the public. It was found that the public (who never seen a games arcade before, let alone an arcade game) found the game too complicated. The public needed something a bit simpler and what could be simpler then hitting a ball with a bat or as we know it Pong.
So while Pong was not the first videogame, it was the first arcade game that people knew how to play (early instructions simply stated that a player needed to hit the ball with bat to maximize score!) and the first mainstream videogame that was available to almost everyone, so there.
Gameplay
It's just like tennis, you hit the ball with your bat your opponent does the same and this goes on till someone misses the ball and then you play the next point or someone gets to 15 points at which point we have a winner, it's simple but it is addictive.
Graphics
Not much to say really, there's two bats (disguised as vertical lines) and a ball (oddly square shaped) and in later versions on screen scoring and it's all in glorious monochrome, although later versions and the many varients will use colour (blasphemy).
Sound
A beep (or pong sound) when the ball hits the bat, what more do you want?
Lifespan
When it was the only video game there was it's lifespan was huge, now it's probably just coffee/tea break material.
Ratings (out of 5)
Gameplay 5
Graphics 5
Sound 5
Lifespan 5
The Blogger says...
Alright so the ratings are a bit off as the game hasn't aged well and we are all now used to graphic intensive games but if it wasn't for Pong achieving mainstream success, computer/video games may never have taken off and we wouldn't have the graphic intensive games and consoles we do today, and besides I'm pretty sure everybody at one point or another has played a variant of Pong, if not shame on you.
Overall Score 5
Highly recommended. A true video game classic.
More Information about Pong
http://www.classicgaming.com/museum/pong
Not knowing which game to start with for reviewing I thought I'd start at the beginning with a retro review of the game wrongly recognized as the first video game Pong.
Brief History Of Pong (the full history is much bigger)
The history of Pong can be traced back to 1958 when Willy Higinbotham created a playable version of tennis using an oscilliscope. The oscilliscope (the X-BOX of it's day - a large, bulky machine with few games for it) was also the hardware platform that played the first nationally recognized video game called Spacewar although to run this game an expansion pack was required in the form of a room filling mainframe (it never caught on).
While Spacewar was renamed to Computer Space and turned into an arcade machine (without the need for a room filling mainframe)it was not a success when released to the public. It was found that the public (who never seen a games arcade before, let alone an arcade game) found the game too complicated. The public needed something a bit simpler and what could be simpler then hitting a ball with a bat or as we know it Pong.
So while Pong was not the first videogame, it was the first arcade game that people knew how to play (early instructions simply stated that a player needed to hit the ball with bat to maximize score!) and the first mainstream videogame that was available to almost everyone, so there.
Gameplay
It's just like tennis, you hit the ball with your bat your opponent does the same and this goes on till someone misses the ball and then you play the next point or someone gets to 15 points at which point we have a winner, it's simple but it is addictive.
Graphics
Not much to say really, there's two bats (disguised as vertical lines) and a ball (oddly square shaped) and in later versions on screen scoring and it's all in glorious monochrome, although later versions and the many varients will use colour (blasphemy).
Sound
A beep (or pong sound) when the ball hits the bat, what more do you want?
Lifespan
When it was the only video game there was it's lifespan was huge, now it's probably just coffee/tea break material.
Ratings (out of 5)
Gameplay 5
Graphics 5
Sound 5
Lifespan 5
The Blogger says...
Alright so the ratings are a bit off as the game hasn't aged well and we are all now used to graphic intensive games but if it wasn't for Pong achieving mainstream success, computer/video games may never have taken off and we wouldn't have the graphic intensive games and consoles we do today, and besides I'm pretty sure everybody at one point or another has played a variant of Pong, if not shame on you.
Overall Score 5
Highly recommended. A true video game classic.
More Information about Pong
http://www.classicgaming.com/museum/pong
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