Super Mario Bros voted greatest computer game ever
Here’s some news that near and dear to my heart, Super Mario Bros has been voted the greatest computer game…evar! (in one poll at least) “The classic platform game was first released in 1985 and has since become one of the biggest selling ever with more than 40 million copies flying off the shelves worldwide. In the game brothers Mario and Luigi – now recognized the world over – try to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom in a bid to save Princess Peach. Super Mario Bros 2 was released in 1988, and Super Mario Bros 3 in 1990. The third version was considered by many as the best, and has sold 18 million to date. The poll of 2,000 gamers, conducted by www.onepoll.com, revealed ‘old skool’ games are still firm favorites with Britain’s army of gamers.” A few weeks ago I played Super Mario Bros. on the Wii, yeah, the original one from 1985, while the rest of the family watched. I was flying through worlds jumping at nothing when a coin would appear. My wife asked, “How do you remember that that invisiable spot became a coin?”, to which I couldn’t answer, it’s just that ingrained into my mind – the simple game means/meant that much! What I like about this, and the other 19 in the list, is that it shows what really matters to make a game immortal as it were; it has to be creative and fun. Damn to the graphics, the 5.1 sound, the online play, if the game isn’t fun, forget it. “This shows that classic games will live on forever in the hearts of computer game fans. The gaming industry is getting more and more competitive, releasing more and more innovative games by the minute – but this survey proves that sometimes the most simple formats work well to keep game players hooked.” (more…)
Study: video games good for kids
It’s an ongoing debate, but a recent study in the UK downplays link of video games to violence. ”Playing computer games may actually be good for children, according to a government study that found no proof that even violent games triggered aggressive behaviour. The games can improve children’s decision-making and instill ‘positive learning traits’, some research suggests. At least one study argues that make-believe violence helps children ‘conquer fears and develop a sense of identity’, as gruesome fairy-tales once did. … The review concluded fears about violent games reflected deeper social concerns about ‘the changing nature of childhood in a modern world’. Most research suggesting a link came from America and did not take into account the context in which children played” I have to agree with this, as I’ve grown up playing games, and loved playing online first person shooters (like my beloved Quake II) without any (diagnosed at least) ill effects. For now my kids are getting into playing the Mario Kart (racing), Mario Strikers (soccer), Mario dance, dance, revolution (you have to dance on a big mat to compete), along with snow boarding and other adventure games. Nintendo knows what it’s doing; you don’t need violence to have a fun game.
Quake II Universal Binary released
Anyone that knows me (or Chuck Bucket) knows that Quake II is my all time favorite online game. I can’t even imagine the time I spent playing that game, I’m just glad it didn’t come out when I was in college, because then it would have just taken over everything. As it was I spent plenty of late nights fragging away with friend and foe. I fell in with a particular mod called Weapons Of Destruction back in 1997 or so, on a server out in Orange County, CA called DugDogs. We’d always have a great time late at night, making friends who would email and talk back on Doug’s forum on the same server. A virtual community that lived to tweak their systems and configuration files to give them the edge on the insult binds, a faster draw, or whatver would cause the most death, chaos and laughs. Last year I even launched a WOD Quake II Server online to allow for others to join in the fun. I’ve played newer games, Return to Castle Wolfenstein being my favorite, but nothing matched the sheer excitement that Quake II (modded or not) would generate. The ‘kill em all’ mantra just left you running down each coridor, aiming high and low around each corner. So, why do I bring this up? Someone has ported the Quake II client to a Universal Binary, so now it plays on OS X under the Intel Macs. We know the Mac Mini’s graphics card is far superior to whatever Voodoo3 we used to play online with, so what fun it’ll be to drop this on a new Mini, configure the WOD mod, pop open a beer and head out looking for servers online…
Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!
UPDATE: eek! That page has gone away, but never fear, the Shockwave file is still out there to enjoy, just do a Google search for smb_super_synth.swf. I found it here, here and here.
Someone has made a Flash page where you can replay all the audio from the NES (Nintendo 8-bit console) game, Super Mario Brothers! So fun, those sounds, especially the background music, is just burned into my brain. Funny, just this week I converted a Super Mario sound theme from Adium (available for download here) to work with Gaim! It’s a ton of fun. Here’s hoping that the Nintendo Revolution will allow us to download and play the original classics like this, as others are claiming that it will do just that.
Will the Crash-box 360 lead to a Revolution?
While the Xbox 360 and Playstation3 (PS3) are going to ‘redefine’ game consoles from something that can play games to something that you can also watch movies on, chat, view pictures, etc, I’ll be sticking with the company that has always focused on making games that are fun to play; Nintendo and their upcoming console Revolution. From the wiki, the talk about the backwards compatibility sounds very promising. Think about it, Nintendo has some of the best games ever, and that goes back 20+ years; why not make them *all* available instead of locking them out? The fact that GameCube controlers, memory sticks, etc. will work too is very cool. “Nintendo has announced that Revolution will have the ability to play all the Nintendo-produced Nintendo 64, SNES/Super Famicom, and Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom games; the software may be recompiled or emulated but will be offered via the Nintendo online download service. Satoru Iwata refers to this feature as the “Virtual Console”.
According to a Japanese press release, “all downloaded games will be stored on the 512 Meg flash memory built into the system.” … Nintendo announced that the downloadable games may be redesigned. It was also said that although the gameplay would stay the same, it would be possible “that with Revolution, we may be able to see the old games with new looks.” Some 3D games may “look sharper when played on Revolution.” (this may be compared to the 1993 SNES release Super Mario All-Stars, a single cartridge containing several classic Super Mario Bros games with updated graphics). If the technical aspects of Revolution also go well, “Nintendo is discussing the possibility of having older games like Mario Party playable online.” With Meanwhile the Xbox 360 is starting to look like it was rushed out, as it has only been out a day, there are already plenty of screenshots and video of the console crashing! Again, trying to make something do everything takes time, perhaps more than they gave it. I’m willing to wait for fun games from Nintendo, vs the latest graphics and Grand Theft Auto style ‘kill everything’ games. I mean hell, I love playing Mario Kart Double Dash on the Gamecube as much as my kids, and if you throw the red turtle shell at the other player, he’ll get knocked down for a second losing all of his speed. It’s not focusing on gore, it’s focused on fun gameplay, which lots of Nintendo games have in spades.
UPDATE: apparently MS is going with their old plan of running the game console as a loss leader, with the thought of it gaining marketshare and recouping money from game sales. According to a report, Microsoft is losing an estimated $126 per Xbox 360 unit.
Hi, I'm fak3r and I've been online for over 15 years, blogging for 10. I work with open source software, various hardware and whatever else that I can hack on. I enjoy learning by doing, painting infrequently and listening to more music than the law allows. Feel free to follow me and comment on my thoughts and ideas; we're all in it together kid.
