Happy Easter

The Low-res Textures team wishes you Happy Easter (better late than never)!
May all your gaming wishes become a reality!

Suckers

What is the best way to make money in the video game industry? I bet your first guess would be to make a really good game that will sell millions of copies. Well, you could do that, but that’s for suckers.
There are two other ways. The first one would be to make a game that will sell at least fairly well and then convert it to every goddamn platform including cell phones screwing the fans and consumers along the way. I call it the “EA way”, or the “Resident Evil Syndrome”. The other way is to release a game, and after a few months release it again with a few extras and say it’s the proper, complete experience and if you waited for two years for it and pre-ordered the original release fourteen months before it came out and you are a gullible moron. I call that “the Konami Effect”. I’m sure you know what I mean. Let me tell you why I’m bringing it up. Capcom decided to release Lost Planet: Colonies. If you think this is a new iteration or an expansion pack for this game you’re in for an unpleasant surprise that could only sprout in a cunning Asian mind. You’ll get the same game as the original Lost Planet just with some new playable characters (the point is?) and new multiplayer modes and I’ll bet that it will come as a new game at full price. I, for one, cannot find a justification to pay twice for the same game (a very generic shooter if I might add). Sure, it’s nice for those that don’t have the game yet, but I would still choose the original version that will cost one third of the new one. It’s like having dysentery for a week, then having an eight month break, but after those eight months you feel something is wrong again so you go to a doctor. The doctor examines you and asks if you want the same dysentery again, but for three days only or do you want it for week again and a sore throat. I’m sure there are some masochists who would choose the latter, but I’m sure there are not that many of them.
In an age of downloadable content I see that as a friggn steal. It should have been released six months ago as a bonus pack for five or ten bucks.
It’s becoming a common theme especially amongst Japanese companies to make money on the same thing over and over again.
This is the reason I won’t but Metal Gear Solid 4 right after the release, even though I’m a big fan of the series. Just like with every other MGS there probably will be a “full experience” version released a few months after the original. Metal Gear Solid 4: Substitution?
You can think of this ran as a prelude to my next editorial where I will explain why I have no real respect for the likes of Kojima and Kutaragi, but I do for Mikami and Miyamoto.

Readers wanted

As you probably noticed we haven't written anything for Press Play on Tape last week, or actually haven't written anything at all. This was mainly because of the depressing fact that we didn't have new visitors on the site for a few weeks in a row (at least acording to statistics). No use writing if there is nobody reading it (excluding Madaraczlep, our faitful reader).

If I am wrong - there are people reading our blog, I encourage you to take part in our poll.

Walker

A neat little game released in 1993 on Amiga by DMA Design (currently known as Rockstar North). Not particularly long (5 levels, 2 stages each), very straightforward, almost unbeatable, yet insanely sweet. There is a bipedal mech called Walker armed with two powerful cannons and nothing else, and several tons of various military equipment (not to mention several hundred soldiers).

All they do is just keep coming in horrendously large waves - soldiers, trucks, buggies, tanks, missile launchers, trains, choppers, planes, airships, some futuristic alien vehicles - and all you do is shoot them or crush them with Walker's huge paws if they come too close. You got the energy bar and a heat bar which may shut down the cannons if you become too trigger-happy. That's it. Sounds like a zillion other 2D shooters we've all played before, yet there are some features which made the game stand out a little. First of all, the screen moves right-to-left, rather than traditionally left-to-right. NeXT, the controls were also somewhat innovative as the player had to use both keyboard (left and right for moving Walker) and mouse (for aiming and shooting - LMB to shoot, RMB to lock on targets). There was virtually no music, except for the really cool intro screen tune and its expanded version playing while you get to watch the highscores. The only sounds you hear are gunshots, explosions and screams. Sweeet.
(there are also some radio voices available to turn on if you have more memory, but they suck).
The background graphics were very dark and gritty which created a heavy atmosphere, yet the Walker model is very smooth and detailed, as are the enemy vehicles.

But that's just superficial stuff. The core of the game - the very thing which made Amiga owners proud of their gear - is the mayhem. You press the mouse button, move the crosshair around the screen and everything disappears, usually having been converted into bloody pulps or burning junk in a beautiful rhapsody of fire and sparks. Just how many games today give you that sense of unstoppable destructive power?

Speaking of the unstoppable, nothing's perfect of course and Walker does have some flaws, the most serious one being the incredible difficulty level. If you have beat the game without cheats than either you are a God, or Satan. There are simply no other options. Fortunately the rest of us mortals can enjoy the game with trainers, where you can for example disable the overheating, turn on the godmode or select a desired level (Walker, like many games of early nineties, had no level codes, let alone savegames).

I said it before and I'll say it again: I want to see a remake. Windows, PS3 Network, Live Arcade. Anything. This game deserves it.

Flimbo's Quest

I must admit, I have never completed this game because at the age of 8 when I was playing it FQ proved to be too challenging for me. I’ve got as far as the last level, but the friggin ghost always managed to take away my last life. However, thanks to my dear friend I got the chance to see the ending (thanks Adam). I have many fond memories connected with this game. It was one of my first and certainly my favorite game for the C64.

Flimbo’s Quest is a run’n;gun platformer with a fairly high difficulty level.
It tells a story of Flimbo (obviously) whose fiancee was kidnapped by an evil scientist - Fransz Dandruff (imagine that :)). The bigot created a machine that draws life energy from others and prolongs Dandruffs life.

Flimbo must get through seven levels the last being the mad scientist’s laboratory. On each level Flimbo needs to find a number of magic scrolls and bring them to Dazz Bazian – a helpful wizard running a small shop in each level. To find the scrolls however, you need to find a glowing GUM (Genetically Undesirable Mutant). Along the way Flimbo will need to fight off other GUMs and pick up coins (to buy stuff from the shop) and occasional powerups (including an hourglass to increase the time to finish the level, weapon upgrade and a bomb that destroys all enemies on the screen). Each level has a different theme and different enemies.

The graphics are very good for C64 standards with great use of colour, fluid screen scrolling and nice character animations. There is a nice variety in enemy types and there are leves specific creatures to avoid repetitiveness.

The controls are fast and responsive which is something not very often seen in C64 games.

The game featured two music tracks and I swear to God I still can hum them after all those years:)

Besides the tape version the game was also distributed on a cartridge with 4 other games (including my Dad's all time favourite - Klax). The cardridge version was superior in that respect that there was no loading :D

Pun intended

PC games don’t sell well. It’s an undeniable fact and you can’t do anything about it. At the end of January, if I’m not mistaking, the critically acclaimed (to an unhealthy degree if you ask me, the game is not THAT good) Crysis sold just over one million copies.
You probably think that’s not bad, but let me make a comparison. To be fair let’s take another overhyped game – Halo 3. Now, after a few months on the market Crytek’s game sold over a million copies. Bungie’s game on the other hand “sold” over four times better even before it was released (estimated four million preorders in North America alone). I have no idea how many copies of Halo were sold by the end of January, but I’m guessing it was a LOT. To add to Crysis’, let’s face it, utter failure let’s compare how many people have a PC capable of running Crysis (even if on low settings) and how many have a 360? What would be the ratio - 10:1?

Why is that? Is it because of the high piracy level with PC games, or maybe because you need a plutonium powered PC with eight graphic cards, fifteen gigabytes of RAM, a ten-core CPU and a pool filled with liquid hydrogen built next to your house to cool your machine to actually run the game with a decent framerate?

What’s even more interesting is that Electronic Arts (the game’s publisher) didn’t expect Crysis would sell well at all, as their spokesman stated that…and I quote: “…Crysis sold more copies that we have expected.” (Ok, that might not be an exact quote, but I can’t be bothered to look it up again).

Other big PC games didn’t sell well either. Unreal Tournament III and a PC version of Call of Duty 4 (which sold phenomenal on 360 and PS3) were particularly unsuccessful if you consider their hype.

The PC gaming market is in a lousy condition and to prove that I am right read this – at the last Game Developers Conference game and hardware developers announced that they will form a PC Gaming Alliance to alleviate the cripled PC gaming (those developers include: Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Microsoft, Dell, Acer, Razer, Epic and Activision). A desperate move for desperate times if you ask me.