• 25Oct 12

  DOS digression

  I dug out my pile of DOS games from somewhere in my garage after making my game list, realizing that several of the games I claim to like so much are, while not ancient (ancient would be my Intellivison Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Cloudy Mountain game), are well past the moldy-oldy stage.

  

  I added these oldsters to my collection list, if they werent there already, and thought wistfully: "I wonder if there's any way to play these things on my MAC?"

  There is, though its not a perfect solution. I found Boxer, subtitle: "The DOS game emulator thats fit for your MAC."

  So far, Im impressed. Its got a fairly simple interface. You just drag your mounted game disc onto the import new game hot spot of Boxer. Boxer mostly does the rest. You have to do a little guessing about which .bat or .exe file you want it to run, but once the game installs, it puts the game box into a folder you create, allows you to modify the icon (predictably, I use the game packaging image) , and runs the game through Boxer, so a double click handles on the game box is all you need to do once the game is installed. I used other emulator software that forces you to open one or two helper applications along the way, without telling you that you need to. Very annoying.

  I think it was able to run five of the seven games I tired, not a bad ratio. Unfortunately, Dark Seed was one of them I couldnt get going. I wanted to see that thing again after almost 20 years.

  The games, as you might expect, leave a bit to be desired. Its more nostalgia than a desire to actually play Callahans Crosstime Saloon again, but as I say that, I played it for half an hour today, despite the clunky graphics and simple interface. Step one was to get em running. Now Im wondering if they go right back into the plastic tub for a year before I ever feel like playing any of them.

  • Posted Oct 25, 2012 6:16 pm GMT
  • Category: Games
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• 2Oct 12

  Top 10 List of Games I Actually Own

  Since I don't have the large, or varied, a collection of video games, I have a limited ability to put together the kind of lists commonly found on Gamespot. But since the system has berated me for years for not blogging enough, I thought Id give it a shot.

  1. The 11th Hour: Its old, its DOS, and its a bit overwrought, but its still the most fun I ever had playing a video game.

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  2. SimCity3000: I cant even count how many hundreds of hours Ive spent building cities, laying roads and power lines, and downloading replacement buildings for my skyscrapers.

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  3. Sid Meier's Pirates!: despite all its its flaws, especially those of repetition, this game made an entire baseball off-season pass almost overnight.

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  4. The Bards Tale: snarky, humorous, and basic dungeon crawling entertainment. Great voice work.

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  5. Silent Hill 2: my first experience with the Silent Hill franchise was an eye opener. Never before had I found the immersive, frightening experience found in this game.

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  6. MediEvil: my first non Crash Bandicoot type video game for PlayStation, and the beginning of an era. Fun, challenging, and with just enough edge to make it cool.

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  7. The Godfather: they took one of the greatest movies and turned out a great game. Its been years, but Im pretty sure I could still navigate my way from Little Italy to the Little Italy Industrial Park with only a few backtracks to find my way.

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  8. Pitfall-The Lost Expedition: I barely remember it, but I do remember the quick moving story, the complex but rewarding searches, and the complex but ultimately learnable techniques it took to solve this one.

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  9. Baldur's Gate-Dark Alliance 2: building custom weapons. The possibilities actually make it pleasant to slog through the four millionth mile of cave crawl.

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  10. Test Drive 5: muscle cars. Im sure it wasn't the best driving game out there at the time, but racing muscle cars that sound like they have a nine-inch cam lobe is really satisfying.

  • Posted Oct 2, 2012 10:29 am GMT
  • Category: Games
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• 24Sep 12

  Princess Isabella: A Witch's Curse (Wii)

  Searching still shots can cleanse curses

  A kid's single-player game with plenty of different levels, puzzles, and a bit of a plot line. Princess Isabella consists of a series of still images that you point and click on to locate items, solve puzzles (often consisting of hidden item searches in a complicated still image), and navigate to new rooms, with the occasional comment on elements of the castle. You are accompanied by a fairy who actually performs the actions you implement with the controller. Located items allow you to solve some of the puzzles, such as putting strings in a piano. Together with learning a song in another solved puzzle, you can then play it on the piano and solve the room. Your character will also learn abilities (fire, wind, etc.) that allow her to grab items otherwise unavailable. This game is perfect for younger kids the search through the castle is easy enough to navigate, and the puzzles, while they get more challenging, are also solvable by enough random clicking if you can't work out the actual solution. This game is a good one for a parent and child to share the duties it has just enough challenge to interest an adult while still allowing the child to lead the team.

  • Posted Sep 24, 2012 11:08 am GMT
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