MontyMole

This is amazing. I don’t even own a C64 and still don’t think I can turn this down. The physical is practically the same price it would have been in 1990 and it comes with a free digital copy.

@KingMike Nice try, Nintendo Ninja…

I hope some day Ron does get to make his Zelda RPG, because honestly, on paper that sounds amazing.

4 and a half people? I heard the other half of that person had to clean the toilets. The Japanese are brutal when it comes to business.

@metaphysician I hadn’t heard of this and you’re right, it’s hard to imagine how they will pull it off.

I can see why people working in the industry are getting nervous, but when you see ideas like this, it’s clear that AI has exciting potential in the right hands.

Personally I’m excited to see what people can achieve with AI. I don’t have to purchase the inevitable slop that’s going to be churned out. Companies like EA will find ways to exploit the industry in the name of profits with or without AI.

@NatiaAdamo I’m pretty sure you know what I meant. In case you didn’t, then yes. I meant Dragons Lair.

@flojomojo Good point and well made. I loved that period of FMV games, even if the games were mostly disappointing in terms of gameplay. I don’t think the comparison is perfect though. FMV games were still made by skilled artists with their own ideas. Dragon Slayer still does it for me and largely because it’s Don Bluth’s hand drawn animation that hasn’t aged like graphics do.

If AI is used considerately, rather than simply a cheap manufacturing process, I’m certain it can be a groundbreaking tool in the right hands. The artistry and skill of development needn’t be lost. My fear though is that the reality might be closer to an exec typing “make me a game about a frog” into ChatGPT or whatever AI thingy you can make games with.

Mirror’s Edge for me. Was my first 360 game and still impresses me to this day.

Whoever was playing in the trailer footage would make a pretty good stormtrooper.

@ChromaticDracula “ “Oriental” is a term traditionally used to describe objects”

I’ve not heard that before. Historically it was used to describe East Asian people and culture in my part of the world at least, but yes it’s definitely considered rude nowadays.

Interesting that they changed Joanna Dark’s features for the Japanese release though. I had no idea.

It’s a genuinely great feature for those wanting to use their physical cartridges. Going back to native N64 game is a blurry experience that didnt bother me in the slightest back then, but is jarring now. This clearly is a huge improvement in resolution.

@no_donatello “ Maybe in the same way that Tetris is anti-Mario”

I’d say more like in the way that Mario is great fun to play, with perfect controls and flawless level design, whereas Tail of the Sun is the polar opposite of those things.

I was never a huge fan of the original, despite my love for the point and click genre. If I end up enjoying origins, I’d be willing to give it another crack though.

I used to worry about the scarily swift growth of AI, but by all accounts it has pretty much reached a plateau and still draws a human hand with 9 fingers; each pointing in a direction that wasn’t intended by the gods.

In fact, the need to create something “unique” every single time it generates an image is no doubt its downfall. Things will only get weirder the more it is used.

“The lights from the sky took my cow!”

Ok, I’m getting it.

@Gerald “ As an Amstrad owner, we were not really part of the C64 Vs Speccy War. We were just better 😜”

Yeah, better at being SMELLY!

Just kidding. You smell great… probably.

@slider1983 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaion

I think it’s actually pretty cool that it recycles genuine components, even if it doesn’t match all the QOL improvements of later models.

Also, are those hinges unique to this model? I don’t recall any of my NDS’ having hinges like that. I wonder if it fixes the common issue of cracking the case?

Interesting how the box art for hardware has become so boring over time. If I had to choose on the strength of the boxart alone, I’d rather have a game boy power pack than a Switch 2.

@boatie The 1200 was true 32 bit and had 2 whole MBs of Ram (as opposed to approx 500k of the 500).

I’ll call it now. Chic-Ken nuggets… and possibly a Vega’n option?

@Exerion76 “ It's just insane, that people have to start a gofundme, to be able to afford an operation, in the US.”

Yeah and anywhere in the world. What’s the point in scientific progress if it only benefits the wealthy?

@MysticWangForce “ coeliac disease, so I'm on a gluten free diet which is really.... REALLY FUN!”

I’m coeliac myself (about 12 years or so). Once you get used to the changes, the diet is actually pretty good. It’s certainly a lot more fun than a mouth full of ulcers and crippling belly pains!

Now this is a conversation I never expected to have on a gaming website.

I feel I can probably speak for everyone when I say cancer can bu##er off! Here’s wishing him a full recovery and the strength to persevere.

"I was looking at Bomb Jack boards on eBay and pondering how they had enough fill-rate to draw 24 16x16 sprites and have the option for some to use 32x32 mode as well”

Yeah, we’ve all pondered that at some point in time.

Seriously though, this is an incredible feat!

I have strong memories of my parents Binatone TV Master, with tasteful orange trim, so Pong could well have been my first video game… makes me chuckle to think there was a moment when this thing was basically the PS5 of its time.

CH is real 2401

@The_Nintendo_Pedant “ (is it super goofy and ugly or is it just me? 🤔)”

I wouldn’t say you were goofy…. but yeah it reminds me of the West Germany football kit and I’ll never be able to unsee that.

Are there any modern games where you need to jump a herd of stampeding cattle? There was a time when it was pretty standard and I never questioned the madness until now.

Shuji Utsumi: “We are not a retro company”.

Seiji Aoki: “Shut up, fool”

@Deuteros I’ve nearly purchased the vinyl a few times now, but I’ve got an mp3 bootleg downloaded from audiogalaxy, I think… It’s wobbly and distorted, just like the tv show, so I’m quite fond of it. A nice clean remastered version somehow seems all wrong.

I feel quite lucky having grown up with all these. My kid chain watches episodes of Paw Patrol and I pity his future nostalgia trips!

@Ristar24 Love the MCOG soundtrack. I recommend having a look at Shuki Levi’s IMDb page to see just how many classic 80s animations he scored. He’s like the Morricone of Saturday morning television.

And in case anyone cares for random facts as much as I do, I just found out that the guys who wrote the Willy Fog theme, also scored a heap of 70s Italian exploitation films and even ended up on the Tarantino movie Deathproof.

@Sketcz Thank you! I already ordered a dvd set, but have absolutely no buyers remorse. I know I’m going to love it.

@Sketcz No, and I can’t believe I’ve never heard of it. I first saw MCOG when it was shown on the BBC in the 80s, but don’t ever recall Spartakus. Regardless, it looks incredible. I’m going to try and track down a DVD with English dubs…

Thanks for mentioning this, I think you made my day!

This looks lovely; I still watch Ulysses 31 to this day. Mysterious Cities of Gold deserves some gaming love too. Secret Paths just doesn’t scratch the itch for me.

@Atariboy Well done for being the one to say it. Cognitive dissonance doesn’t stop innocent people from being raped, tortured, maimed and murdered by a millions strong army of ill disciplined barbarians.

The Ukrainians are not fighting a moral war. They were invaded and are forced to defend themselves against some of the worst violent and unspeakable atrocities committed in the modern age. How is there any other moral stance than to support the defence of those poor people who were just minding their own business when the first bombs tore into their schools, playgrounds, hospitals and homes.

@BausRifle “ Anybody that uses the term "toxicity" should be ignored for they can't cope with the real world.”

I’ll just quietly point out your use of the term “toxicity”, in case anyone missed it.

“ I am allowing that part of my brain to entropy, to waste away. It's like a muscle”

Crikey, I tried so many times to write something that would resonate and appease, but it just boils down to “no”. There is no “that part” of your brain. Atrophy and entropy are different. You would almost certainly become slower or worse at the things you used to do that you might now rely on AI to do for you, but not lose those skills entirely and likely regain them quickly.

Edit… I’m with you all the way on the use of AI being negative for all kinds of reasons duly noted, by the way!

I’m most definitely (almost) the target audience for Playdate and this news makes it even more appealing. It looks like such a fun concept and I feel that the world of gaming is sorely missing what would no doubt be widely called gimmicks.

Nope, this is of no interest to me at all.

Just kidding by the way, before I get lynched by angry speccy fans. I swear I played on the run so many times, I could sing the tape loading data into a microphone, plugged directly into a spectrum next and the game would load perfectly.

@Andee Yep, looks like the deveelopment team are floundering.

@sdelfin Crazy isn’t it? I guess at some point the term made its way to the arcades or PC when developers were competing to make their CPU characters behaviour appear more independent. I recall those oversized PC game boxes being plastered with terms like “advanced enemy AI” at some point in the 90s.

@cawley1 “ This new game looks rubbish”

Have to correct you there… it looks like a load of carp.

“ The new game, which is ironically titled James Pond: Rogue AI”

My take is that the advertising is poking fun at the use of AI in game development. I thought the teaser was pretty funny!

The actual irony may well be that they forgot how much the internet loves to hate!

@sdelfin “ I wonder when the label of AI applied to game logic started.”

It’s thought that the term AI was first used publicly at the Dartmouth Workshop (1956) where Arthur Samuel was invited to speak. (Samuel built a “ checkers” machine several years earlier)

So the label of AI was applied to games from the very beginning.

I always had a problem with Deterministic AI being called intelligence, because it’s clearly not.

Pacman doesn’t kick my arse because the ghosts learn my behavioural patterns. It does so, because I’m too lazy to learn theirs.

@Sketcz Yeah, I’m generally against using the block button. I can cope with sharing a world with people who have opposing views, but some of these comments can’t even be categorised as points of view. They’re just venomous and unjustified.

Some people need to remember that this a computer games website and a place to hang out with others who share the same hobby.

I’m all for freedom of speech, but can’t for the life of me understand how anyone could be offended that someone owns some video games consoles. I’m even more confused that anyone would feel the need to sling dirt at them for it. Imagine if you took a game to trade in and the cashier called you a “douchebag” for doing it.

This is one of the few sites I actually comment on and I thought it would turn into a healthy community, given most of us are probably old enough to understand the value of having manners. If folk don’t like the site, or the news, there are a multitude of toxic places on the internet where they can go to throw abuse at like minded people.

@NoirConceit I never heard that Mr X origin story before, but maybe you’re right. It’s noted on the RE wiki that there are early Capcom development documents that refer to Tyrant X, which were apparently sent to merchandise companies etc.

Sensible Soccer cups with my mates (after an afternoon playing football in the park of course.) Some of the best memories of my life.

This whole story has been lacking in any meaningful information from the beginning. The police don’t just raid you for a box of computer games that you bought at auction.