Jim Alfredson Posted August 14, 2003 Report Posted August 14, 2003 Since Joe Christmas' thread has been hijacked thanks to me and my obsession with his avatar (see here), I thought I would start my own thread about classic and modern computer and arcade games. My brother and I are game fanatics (he even more so) and have been playing them since my dad brought home the trusty Commodore 64 back in the mid-80s. As I mentioned in the original thread, one of my favorite games from that era was Wasteland. I still think it was a truly brilliant game. Some of the original game designers are now working for the Black Isle company, responsable for such great RPGs as Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and the semi-sequel to Wasteland, Fallout (and Fallout2) which are brilliant games. I actually made a childhood friend because of Wasteland. I remember discussing it with another friend in the lunchroom during sixth grade. This fellow sitting behind me overheard us and joined the conversation since he was playing it, too and the next thing you know we became good friends all through middle and high school. Another game that I was obsessed with was Aliens, based on the movie. My dad bought this for my siblings and I but nobody could even get past the first level. One night, after weeks of all my siblings trying, I made it past the first level! The following morning I pretended to be sick and proceeded to play that game non-stop for about 10 hours and actually beat it!!! My older sisters couldn't believe it. Thankfully the game provided codes that would bring you to various parts of the game so I could prove it to them that I had indeed beat the whole thing. I also played the original Ultima games. Those were fun and pretty wacky. My favorite games were the original AD&D Gold Box games. My siblings would all sit around the computer, each of us had a character in the party, and we go adventuring around for weeks with those games. Fun stuff. Quote
Rooster_Ties Posted August 14, 2003 Report Posted August 14, 2003 Can we hash about our various thoughts about infidelity in this thread too??? Quote
Jim Dye Posted August 14, 2003 Report Posted August 14, 2003 I had a VIC-20 and loved it. Never made the leap to a C64. We also had an Atari 2600 growing up. I used to be able to beat anyone at Missile Command on the Atari. I would even use the joystick with my feet and still beat them. My brother and I were also very lucky growing up in the 80's. My uncle worked for and eventually became part owner of an arcade in Lansing. We would have pinball machines and video games in our house on a rotating basis. My favorie was the old black and white atari football with the huge croquet-size track balls. You would beat the shit out of your hands playing that game! Just x's and o's, but the game play was terrific. Too much fun! Quote
Joe Christmas Posted August 14, 2003 Report Posted August 14, 2003 Schools grading obesity get results August 12, 2003 BY LINDSEY TANNER A school program that sends home report cards with student weight information has helped get parents of fat children involved in fighting the problem, a study found. While the program studied at Boston area schools did not change some unhealthful behaviors, the researchers say their results show health report cards might be a promising tool in the battle against the childhood obesity epidemic. ''Parents who received health and fitness report cards were almost twice as likely to know or acknowledge that their child was actually overweight than those parents who did not get a report card,'' said Robert McGowan, physical education program leader at Cambridge (Mass.) Public Schools. They also ''were over twice as likely to plan weight-control activities for their overweight child,'' said McGowan, a study co-author. The report appears in August's edition of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, its first issue devoted exclusively to obesity research. August's Archives, published Monday, aims to get more doctors involved in obesity prevention, treatment and research, said journal editor Dr. Frederick Rivara, a Seattle pediatrician. ''It is the first time we've done it because it's pretty clear to everyone now that obesity is a huge national epidemic,'' he said. ''We really need to think about interventions during childhood and adolescence not only to prevent childhood obesity but also to prevent adult obesity.'' The reports come a week after the American Academy of Pediatrics urged doctors to measure all youngsters' body-mass index in its first policy dealing solely with identifying and preventing childhood obesity. The study involved 1,396 students at four Cambridge elementary schools in 2001-02. Health report cards were sent at the school year's end to 481 parents, including those with normal-weight children. Afterward, 42 percent of parents of overweight kids reported initiating or planning physical activities, 25 percent planned medical help, and 19 percent planned dieting activities. Among parents of overweight children who didn't get cards, 13 percent or fewer reported doing any of those activities. AP Quote
Jim Alfredson Posted August 14, 2003 Author Report Posted August 14, 2003 See the funny thing is that I played (and still do play) video games all the time, but I'm not obese nor are any of my siblings. I think it comes down to, like anything else, moderation. No, you can't let your child sit in front of the TV all day. DUH! Kids should be allowed to play the computer or the Playstation for a limited amount of time per week. That's how I would do it. "You have 14 hours to spend watching TV or playing video games this week. If you spend all those hours within the first couple of days, well... tough luck!" After they spend 'em, they gotta find something else to do (aka, go outside and bikes!! That's what I did as a kid. I'd spend all day riding around on my bike and play a few hours of video games before bed.) Quote
Jim Dye Posted August 14, 2003 Report Posted August 14, 2003 (edited) Hey! I bet I burn more calories playing video games than you do reading Faulkner, Joe! Try playing 2 hours of Atari football. I'll bet you burn 200 calories an hour. Have you seen those dancing video games in the arcades today? They look like quite the workout. Edited August 14, 2003 by Jim Dye Quote
Jim Alfredson Posted August 14, 2003 Author Report Posted August 14, 2003 Dude, the C64 whoops the 2600 anyday. Quote
connoisseur series500 Posted August 14, 2003 Report Posted August 14, 2003 My favorite all-time pc game is Fallout2. Love the story and the humor. Love the slow-pace of the turntaking mode. I don't have to be quick on the mouse or anything. I remember I was morally disturbed when I first played the game as I was presented with some awful moral choices to make. I once had to shoot a kid in order to stop him from barring my exit from a room. At that time, I didn't know how to activate the "push" option. The whole town of Klamath was after me for doing that. I don't think I was able to sleep that night. Quote
Jim Alfredson Posted August 14, 2003 Author Report Posted August 14, 2003 Fallout 2 is a fantastic game. I need to reload that puppy and play it again. Like I said in the other thread, I never finished it because my computer died. Another game I bought and was blown away by the depth of the game is Arcanum. I think a lot of the same people that did Fallout worked on that game. Gameplay over graphics! Quote
Joe Posted August 14, 2003 Report Posted August 14, 2003 "Flamenco strikes back!! Return of Don!" "Hey! Mr. Referee Mario. I like your hair!" "People like my hair. Don't mess my hair!" "Carmen, my love... I dance so sweet for you!" "I'm a beautiful fighter. I have such a style!" Quote
Templejazz Posted August 18, 2003 Report Posted August 18, 2003 That game is a bitch! Fun though. Damn acid puddles. Quote
rockefeller center Posted August 21, 2003 Report Posted August 21, 2003 Leisure Suit Larry Space Quest Quote
Jim Alfredson Posted September 6, 2003 Author Report Posted September 6, 2003 Boy he was looking for work pretty bad back then, wasn't he? I had a Vic-20. It sucked. Quote
rockefeller center Posted September 8, 2003 Report Posted September 8, 2003 Nice ad. Those VIC-20s are hard to find these days. The Sentinel Quote
Jim Alfredson Posted September 9, 2003 Author Report Posted September 9, 2003 I threw one out just a month ago. Are they worth anything? Quote
rockefeller center Posted September 9, 2003 Report Posted September 9, 2003 I threw one out just a month ago. Are they worth anything? Well, $3 - $25. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...0&category=3544 Quote
rockefeller center Posted January 9, 2004 Report Posted January 9, 2004 Paradroid! Now I can't go to bed. Thanks, b-3er. Quote
Jim Alfredson Posted January 9, 2004 Author Report Posted January 9, 2004 Aha, you got me!!! I was just discussing my new avatar with Joe G tonight and told him, "I would be shocked if anyone knew what it was!" Congrats, rockefeller! I animated the Influence Device myself... what do you think? Marble Madness... I'm going to have to download that one for the ol' Commodore 64 emulator. Have you played with an emulator yet? So far CSS64 is the best one I've found and you can find pretty much every game ever made for the Commodore 64 online. Did you ever play Wizball? That was a great game and I was trying to play it today but quickly remembered that, contrary to the instructions, it is truly a two-person, cooperative game. One person cannot really do it alone. I need to get my brother over here and play it with him! Long live Paradroid!!! There's an "updated" version out there called "Freedroid" that works under Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. It's pretty cool! Quote
rockefeller center Posted January 9, 2004 Report Posted January 9, 2004 (edited) Aha, you got me!!! I was just discussing my new avatar with Joe G tonight and told him, "I would be shocked if anyone knew what it was!" Congrats, rockefeller! I animated the Influence Device myself... what do you think? You did a great job, it looks just like the device in the game. Did you ever play Wizball? That was a great game and I was trying to play it today but quickly remembered that, contrary to the instructions, it is truly a two-person, cooperative game. One person cannot really do it alone. I need to get my brother over here and play it with him! Wizball was, and still is, one of my favorite games. Used to play it with my girlfriend back then and we actually finished these 8 levels in team player modus. Marble Madness... I'm going to have to download that one for the ol' Commodore 64 emulator. Have you played with an emulator yet? So far CSS64 is the best one I've found and you can find pretty much every game ever made for the Commodore 64 online. I too am using the CCS64 emulator but for Marble Madness: forget the C64 version of this game. The arcade version is the real deal. Download the MAME emulator to check out the arcade version. Besides Marble Madness, there are thousands of nice arcade games for MAME available on the net. Long live Paradroid!!! There's an "updated" version out there called "Freedroid" that works under Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. It's pretty cool! Thanks for the heads up. Will check it out. Yes, long live Paradroid! Edited January 9, 2004 by rockefeller center Quote
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