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By Greg, April 2, 2010 5:49 pm

Nostalgia. In medical terms, the suffix "-algia" refers to pain and suffering. Buggered if I know what the prefix "nost-" might mean, but it seems to me that when we pine for days of old.. it hurts. Anyway, defining the stems of nostalgia is overkill, considering the content of this post. My aim is simply to try to find out why old school games have such a strong nostalgic appeal, while newer titles seem to pale in comparison.

As a gamer that grew up in the 80s, I’ve been around (almost) since the beginning. I played text adventures, I have had to code games prior to playing them (which was sometimes more enjoyable than you think, unless the game turned out to be crap, which was unfortunately often the case), I’ve played games on tape, cartridge, CD, DVD, UMD, BDROM, and by download, and I’ve seen played on many and varying systems. I’m sure there are others out there that have seen much much more, but I’m happy with the experience to date, and look forward to what’s ahead.

However, when I look back on my childhood, and think about old school games – games such as Berserk on Atari 2600, Food fight on Atari 7800, Lock’n'Chase on Intellivision, among many, many others – all I can remember is loving every damned second of the game. But when I think about Bioshock, for example, as much as I enjoyed playing that game… I just don’t care to play it through again (at the moment at least). The same feelings aren’t there. But why? Bioshock is, at its heart, a much more polished title, with a memorable storyline and setting, and a very specific ‘feel’. Some would say it’s a much better game than, say, Food Fight. But why do these feelings exist for the (arguably) lesser game?

Continue reading 'Old school is the best school'»

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By Greg, February 7, 2010 8:32 pm

In my previous post, I mentioned that the iPad hardware was fine, and wondered as to what people were really expecting from the iPad. Well, in his comment responding to said post, Mr Name of “Internet” clarified exactly what he was looking for, and it made sense. A lot of people were expecting some super mega-awesome tablet of sweet, sweet computing power, which admittedly would be cool. I had to consider why I wasn’t expecting this myself, considering I love my gadgets and my puty bits.

I came to realise it probably had a lot to do with the fact I have a tablet notebook at home, and have been soured on the PC-tablet as a result. Don’t get me wrong – I love it. However, I’ve also learned that – for a fully-fledged PC – touch just doesn’t cut the mustard. A PC needs a keyboard at the very least, and it doesn’t hurt to have a good sized HDD and a DVD drive. This is why netbooks work, as they are not only useful for a spot of portable internet, but also for some mobile computing, word processing, and the like. I found myself very rarely using the notebook as a tablet, as it just wasn’t as functional.

Continue reading 'Why I think the iPad hardware aint all that bad'»

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By Greg, January 31, 2010 3:33 pm

At an inauspicious event, little known start-up "Apple" announced a totally unexpected new device to add to their largely unknown set of devices. Few were there to witness. The Internets did not throb with information, and the world’s media did not report this event. The product appeared on the market several weeks later to critical acclaim, but flopped.

In the real world, however, the truth of the matter is much more interesting. Apple – being Apple – has created buzz of extreme proportions and the reactions of the good people of the Internet were… well, pretty much as expected, really.

Continue reading 'Weighing in on the iPad'»

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By Greg, November 15, 2009 8:02 pm

I was reading a transcript at Kotaku of a discussion about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on a morning show recently, and my blood began to boil – mainly because the host asking the questions displayed the same ignorance and triviality of the subject as we gamers are now used to seeing. At first, I was upset about the situation – the host seemed to simply keep repeating that you could ‘play as a terrorist’ and that it was ‘interactive violence’, without displaying any further understanding of the topic at hand. And to some degree, it still does irk me – but it made me realise that – regardless of the facts at hand – we will always be on the back foot here… But we gamers need to make some changes, too.

Continue reading 'Violence and ignorance'»

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By Greg, August 31, 2009 9:10 pm

Soon enough, the balance of things will shift, and a new digital revolution will begin — namely by way of digital distribution. We’ve discussed this before, yes, but it seems that things are gaining traction. Ars Technica reported that iTunes accounts for 25% of ALL music sales in the US (not just digital sales), and it has also been suggested that iTunes will replace physical media as the number one choice for music consumers as early as next year. This comes as a bit of a surprise to me – I knew things were headed this way, but I had no idea it was already upon us!

Of course, it will still be a while before digital sales take over completely. Most people still don’t have the means nor the know-how, so it’s still likely to be about 10 years away. Even so, there’s something that hasn’t really been addressed yet, which is going to have some effect on how well this is received by consumers… and that is – the organisation and management of digital goods.

Continue reading 'Our digital future – possible calamity?'»

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By Greg, May 3, 2009 7:26 pm

Classics. In all forms of art and entertainment, there are several items that are considered "classics". But why? Generally, it comes down to the fact that these particular pieces fit the mould of what is perceived to be "good form" or "artistic" or "professional" (or any number of alternative adjectives) — and most of the time they’re right.

But sometimes, classics are as boring as granny poop.

The problem is – most people don’t want to mention that they found a certain classic to be geriatric excrement (I’d like to say geri-poo). But why? It’s a pretty simple (and well known) concept — although aware of the right to opinion, a lot of people believe they have to conform to fit in. But screw it. There are some classics I don’t like — I’m not cultured, and I’m proud.

Continue reading 'If I don’t like a classic, does that make me less cultured?'»

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By Greg, April 10, 2009 4:28 pm

Heard an interesting comment on the radio recently that made me think — and this is a fairly uncommon experience for me. So I decided to write about it. And what was so interesting that it would prompt me to pop it on the frog? Well, it was about music, and it made me think about why we like the things we like.

Continue reading 'Music made me think and hurt my brain'»