rarusk

It has been months since I made an entry here. Mainly due to the holidays and the grind of working through them.

Just before Thanksgiving I did another guide, this time for the cult game "Deadly Premonition". Took me about a month to finish and posted it at GameFAQs around Thanksgiving Day. It would also win one of the FAQ of the Month awards from GameFAQs in December. That is the fifth time I've won one of these awards.

I also got eight games for Christmas all for the Xbox 360:

>>"Apache: Air Assault"
>>"Mortal Kombat"
>>"Goldeneye: Reloaded"
>>"Saints Row: The Third"
>>"Rage"
>>"Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars"
>>"Shadows of the Damned"
>>"Batman: Arkham City"

I played through part of "Apache: Air Assault" and beat "Goldeneye: Reloaded" and acquired most of the Achievements for it. I also beat "Rage" and got all of the Achievements for "Saints Row: The Third". I barely played "Mortal Kombat" and haven't touched the others.

After beating SR3 I went back and replayed "The Darkness" so I could do a revision to my guide for it in preparation for "The Darkness II". I got "The Darkness II" last Tuesday and yesterday I acquired all of the remaining Achievements for it. With that done I have now started writing my guide for it. I don't know when I will be finished but I hope to have it done in about a month.

In the meantime I am also prepaying for the upcoming game "Syndicate". The main reason I am interested in it has to do with its developer: Starbreeze Studios. They did the first Darkness game and both of the "Chronicle of Riddick" games, games that I did guides on. Chances are 50/50 that I may do a guide for it based on the developer alone. We'll see but "The Darkness II" comes first.

Based on new information from Rockstar Games it appears that GTA V probably won't be out until the end of the year at the very earliest. It's bad because that means that I won't be able to play the game but good in that I may be able to do a guide on "Hitman: Absolution" first without it colliding with my GTA V work. Of course, that will depend on the release date of Absolution.

And then there's "Lollipop Chainsaw". This is basically an action game that is inspired by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". That is if Buffy was a buxom cheerleader brandishing a large chainsaw whose main goal is to rid her high school of zombies. The trailers look very good and has a lot of campy over the top visuals and humor. Once I find the release date then I will start prepaying for it after I finish prepaying for "Syndicate".

Lot of good games coming out this year. And I have yet to finish up my Christmas games. Decisions, decisions.....

Recently Electronic Arts announced that they were no longer making paper manuals for their games. This was to help them to "go green".

Many gamers automatically assumed that this was a greed move to save them money without lowering the prices of their games. Others said that it was about time since they never looked at the manuals to begin with.

Game manuals have been considered secondary for a long time. Back in the 80's, game manuals helped to shape the world that you would explore and were often part of the copy protection schemes to thwart piracy.

Some of the best game manuals I've seen were most anything from MicroProse and "Wings" (Commodore Amiga). Those were works of art.

As game graphics and copy protection improved there was less of a need to use the manual other than to tell you the basic controls. Many games now have a tutorial level or practice area that lessens the need for them further.

And now they are on the verge of being extinct. At least on paper anyway.

Some PC games have the manual in .pdf format for you to look at and even print out if you so desire. However, that can't really be done for those on the consoles because the companies prefer you don't put their games into PCs.

If done correctly one can expand the "practice area" concept to include information on the game world and rules without being intrusive. In other words, an interactive game manual - one that can be avoided by those who don't want them but is there for those who do.

Even better is the fact that it is built into the game - you can never lose it. Since I prefer to have a manual around this is not really a bad thing.

There is also something else about game manuals that also inspired me to write this essay.

Over the past several months I've been raiding the PS2 bins at the local GameStops looking for cheap games that I had passed over originally. Many of them were in those cheap CD envelopes.

I had quite a stack of them - at least twenty five games worth. But I didn't want them in those envelopes. In addition, many of my prior used GameStop purchases were in grungy beat up cases with lots of stickers.

So I decided to get rid of those cases and envelopes. I acquired three Vaultz CD/DVD storage cases. They look like small square briefcases and can hold about 128 discs each. However, the company that makes them also makes additional pages that you can use to expand their capacity.

I then went through my PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, PC, and Sega Saturn games and placed them into these storage cases. The original game cases that were still in good condition were kept for the games I wrote guides for and also kept about five extra for spares - for PS2, Xbox, and Xbox 360.

It also helped me with saving space as well. And the Vaultz storage cases look good on the shelf as well.

But there was also something else. I now had a large stack of game manuals that wouldn't fit into the storage cases. I did eventually find a small Tupperware tub to put them in but it is now full to capacity.

This is in addition to all of my other game manuals from my Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, and Atari and other game systems that are also in tubs. Didn't realize I had that many.

This also got me to thinking about alternatives.

Many of the new PS2 games I got obviously didn't have manuals. To this end I went to a site called ReplacementDocs.com to find some of them.

Here people donate .pdf scans of game manuals. Many of them are good scans but there are a few that could've been done better.

Having them on my Mac does help in the way of manual storage but it can be cumbersome if you want to look at it when you want to play your game. Although this can be easier if you use a laptop.

But the new and expanding tablet market can really change the game here, so to speak.

Instead of reaching for a paper manual you pick up your iPad and activate an app that organizes your manuals. Then you go to your preferred system then bring up a list or group of icons (game case, disc, cartridge) then select the title to bring up the manual.

You can either bring up the .pdf scan of the manual or a reconstructed version that takes advantage of the tablet's features yet still attains the look of the original.

If a game has more than one platform then it can contain the controls and features of all of the versions to make an all-in-one manual. For example, the manual to "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" would have chapters dedicated to the controls and features for the PS2, Xbox, and PC versions.

And it wouldn't be just for game manuals either. Programming manuals, manuals for your non-gaming programs, and manuals for other electronic devices can also be included here.

With proper backup and maintenance you can make an iPad replace boxes and tubs of paper manuals.

Already one airline has announced that their employee manuals will be on tablets only. I can see this happening with other companies too.

With all of this there is but one problem. Who is going to scan in and possibly reconstruct the maunals for tablet usage?

ReplacementDocs.com is one source but they have only a small percentage of possible manuals out there. It is unclear if other gamers or companies will help in this regard.

But as the tablet market continues to expand and the devices begin to become more affordable I can see myself purchasing one just for this specific purpose. And I probably won't be alone either.

However, there is one more question to be asked: if I ever get an iPad and convert all of my manuals to the tablet what will I do with my paper manuals? What will others do with theirs?

As the gaming culture and tablet market continue to mature it will be interesting to see how this particular issue will play out. For now, though, I will continue to maintain my current collection of manuals and try to track down manuals I am missing for my new PS2 purchases.

 I finally posted all of my "Hitman" guides to GameFAQs a couple of days ago. I'm relieved that I finally have this done.

Below are the links to them:

• Hitman: Codename 47
• Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
• Hitman: Contracts
• Hitman: Blood Money

I also found out that all of them are eligible for the FAQ of the Month contest for June so I submitted them all. Hopefully I'll add another gift card to the two I still have (and still haven't used).

The only glitch to my "Hitman" work was that I was not able to play the PC version of "Blood Money". It requires a dedicated video card and I do not have one for my Optiplex GX270 at this time. The game will not run on the integrated graphics on the GX270.

When I am finally able to sort this problem out and play "Blood Money" on my PC then I will update the guide with PC related information.

I have also went through my email to collect suggestions for my other work so I can do revisions. I'll start doing those a little later.

Now that I am done with my "Hitman" writing project the next major writing project I will do is for the game "The Darkness II" when it comes out later in the year. I did a guide for the first game so it makes sense for me to do the sequel.

"Hitman: Absolution" and GTA V are definite givens as well. As for any other game I play it will depend on how I feel about it as I play it.

And speaking of other games.....

While I have been writing these guides I have been letting a stack of games that I got for Xmas sit untouched. Now that I am done I will now go through them starting with a "twisted concept" game: "Naughty Bear".

We'll see if this becomes future FAQ writing material.

 It has been nearly three months since I last made an entry. I need to start doing more to make this blog more substantial.

But this is what generally happens when I get into a guide writing or upgrade project. Certain things go by the wayside. This blog being one of them.

I completed the guide to "Hitman: Codename 47" but it is not finished and won't be released until I have done the guides to the remaining three games in the series. New ideas that come about while I do those can be implemented in the H:C47 guide.

This is especially true when I get to playing through "Hitman: Contracts" again. Some of the missions featured in H:C47 were remastered for that installment and observations from playing those missions will be implemented in both the H:C47 guide and "Hitman: Contracts" guide.

Right now I am taking notes on "Hitman 2: Silent Assassin". I have spent a lot of time going through some of the missions looking for ways to improve on old strategies and noting various differences between the different console versions of H2:SA.

I have made a copy of my H:C47 guide and using that as the basis for the H2:SA guide. Information will be swapped out and tweaked as needed.

I will use old game saves from the console versions (PS2, Xbox, NGC) to iron out the strategies then play through the PC version to finish things off before moving onto "Hitman: Contracts".

And still no information when the next "Hitman" game will be announced. Hopefully it will come out when I am done with all of my work.

Today I went looking for "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" for my PC and I eventually found it for $8 at Half Price Books. But I also bought "Bully: Scholarship Edition" ($5) and the "Hitman Trilogy" ($5) even though I have them individually however I wanted a backup.

Then I went to Goodwill Computerworks in Austin and picked up "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis - Graphic Adventure" ($3) and "LucasArts Classic Adventures" ($3). I don't know when I will be able to play them all but it is always nice to get some good cheap titles.

And speaking of "Hitman", I have finally started on my "Hitman" writing project starting with "Codename 47". I am focusing on the early Hong Kong missions so I can set up the format of the documents to follow. I am also using Xpadder which is a program that allows you to map keyboard commands to a joypad such as the Xbox 360 joypad I am using.

I can't play "Hitman" with the keyboard/mouse setup so Xpadder is a real godsend. This program will get a writeup within the "Hitman" guides since it is a nice option to have for those who have trouble with the standard setups.

 As you may have noticed I have not made any posts in quite some time. That was because I have been hard at work at finishing up my guide upgrades and I usually don't do a lot of forum postings or other internet activity when I do that.

But now I am finally finished and I will start to become more active here and at other places. I am also updating my resumes which I will use to make my return to the gaming industry somewhere.

And I also need to play around with some games I have let sit while I have been upgrading.

And to make plans to start my new writing project.....

Tonight I just uploaded my most recent version, V6.0, of my "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" guide to GameFAQs. It is the most massive update I have undertaken to that guide.

Mostly it was to re-chronicle all of the items and collectibles using better landmarking abilities I learned when writing up my "Grand Theft Auto IV" guide. I also cleaned up the formatting to make it them easier to read.

I also changed up some of the mission order to facilitate earlier opening of the Ammu-Nations and I re-named the "Pilot's License Glitch" to the "Off-Map Glitch" because of its actual origins. And I broke down larger paragraphs and cleaned up spelling and grammatical errors that have been around a long time.

Now, that I have done that, I will now move onto updating both of my "Grand Theft Auto III' and "Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories" guides pretty much doing the same thing that I did to my San Andreas guide.

And I find it interesting that a movie based on the "Prince of Persia" game is being released. I actually helped gametest the original many years ago when I was a tester at Broderbund Software. However, thinking back to those days is very bittersweet for reasons I will not make public.

I don't know if I will see the movie or not. Then again, I haven't seen a movie in a theater since "Watchmen".....

It has been many months but I am now doing a long overdue update to my "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" guide. I have gotten a lot of mail on it over the past nine or so months so I felt it was time to go back.

It feels weird to go back to San Andreas after playing GTA IV and it's two additional chapters "The Lost and Damned" and "The Ballad of Gay Tony". The controls feel different and the graphics suck in comparison. But it is still a classic game.

Right now I am trying to recreate the so-called "Pilots License Glitch" (which I intend to re-name the "Off-Map Glitch" in this update). This particular glitch happens only in the Adults Only version of the game for the Original Xbox. I am playing it on the Xbox 360 (using the Backwards Compatibility feature).

This bug manifests itself when you fly off the map then return. You cannot do Taxi Missions (no fares will ever show up) and it keeps you from completing the mission "Mike Toreno" which happens about a third of the way through the game.

I have had people write to me that you can actually finish that mission if the bug occurs. So that is what I am trying to verify.

But it has been a problem. I decided to get up to the mission before "Mike Toreno" then fly off the map and get the bug to activate. However, I was not able to get it to activate. I can't understand it.

So I went back to a game save at the beginning of the game and flew off the map and returned. This caused the bug to activate. Apparently, if you are still in Los Santos at the beginning of the game and you fly off the map then you will get the bug to come up but if you get far enough in the game to activate another part of San Andreas (such as the San Fierro area) you won't be able to get the bug to appear.

It could also be my Xbox 360 but I will try it later on the regular Xbox. However, this means that I have to go through all of the necessary missions to get back to the "Mike Toreno" mission. Annoying since that is quite a ways into the game.

After playing around with the Off-Map Glitch then I will get to the rest of my mail on this game and make additional revisions. I will also re-write large sections to bring it more in line with my GTA IV guides which uses a more organized style. 

After acquiring my new $10 PC from Goodwill Computerworks I went about replacing the blown capacitor on the motherboard. After that I went back and had them try it out to see if it actually was a working unit.

At first things wasn't going well. The tech told me that it wouldn't come on and there was a high pitched whine from the machine. It could be either the motherboard or the power supply.

I asked him to try it with another power supply. That did the trick and the machine booted up perfectly. So now I had a dead power supply to replace in addition to getting a hard drive and RAM.

The problem was that the power supply for this Optiplex was a long narrow unit and the vast majority of PSUs are square and won't fit this machine. In addition, he had no spare units of this type to give me.

I felt that I had to solve this problem before acquiring any more pieces for this unit. After a couple of weeks of going to various places to try to find a replacement unit I ended up getting one from the same Goodwill Computerworks where I got this Optiplex.

The guy told me that these PSUs just came in the day before. Good timing on my part.

Tonight I installed the new PSU and all that remains is the hard drive and RAM. From there I will install Windows XP and proceed to play around with some older games, emulation and various gaming tools. How long that will take, I don't know.

I am not much for driving games but I was intrigued by the concept behind the PlayStation 2 game "Stuntman". In this game you drive various courses and perform stunts for movies. I got this game shortly after it was released in 2002.

I really like the concept behind this game. It has some really nice stunts to do, a "documentary" that follows the stuntman you play as he goes from film to film and movie trailers that incorporate your own work into the footage.

There are six films that you do along the way to becoming the best stuntman in the business:

• "Toothless In Wapping" (A British gangster comedy)
• "A Whoopin' and a Hollerin'" ("Dukes of Hazzard" style comedy)
• "Blood Oath" (A Thai gangster flick)
• "Conspiracy" (A suspense thriller involving the military)
• "The Scarab of Lost Souls" ("Indiana Jones style adventure featuring Dakota Scott)
• "Live Twice for Tomorrow" ("James Bond" style adventure featuring Simon Crowne)

And here are some YouTube videos of the game in action:

• Introduction
• "Blood Oath" - Tuk Tuk Chase
• "Conspiracy" - Microlite chase
• "A Whoopin' and a Hollerin'" - Corkscrew

In-between each film there are also stunt courses you do in front of a large crowd. Plus there is also a "construction set" where you can make your own tracks to play in (and pieces for it to unlock as you complete each course and get a 100% score on them).

All in all, a well rounded driving game.

Unfortunately it also has the dubious distinction of being the most frustrating game I've ever played. Mainly due to several design flaws that really try your patience.

There are two types of frustration a gamer can experience during a game. The first is skill based.

This happens when you get to a tough level or fight. It may seem at first to be unfair or cheating but it mainly boils down to you not being good enough to beat it yet. With enough practice and/or help you can eventually get through it and realize that it wasn't unfair - just well designed and made to piss you off.

The second type of frustration is flaw based. This happens when you encounter something, in either the game design or programming, that is obviously wrong and makes the game harder and annoying than it needs to be regardless of how easy or difficult it is really supposed to be.

The majority of frustration I encountered within "Stuntman" is flaw based. Don't get me wrong. This game would be challenging enough without the flaws but the following problems, in my mind, really hurt the integrity of the game.

Going against the grain.

In real life stunt work the stuntman has to do his job in one take and do it without hurting himself and others around him. It is mark of professionalism and pride.

In order to do this the stuntman has to practice the course and know where everything is at and what is going to happen where. This is essential to make sure that the shot is done correctly and safely.

In "Stuntman", however, you pretty much have to feel your way around the course. Other than the stuntman pointing out the major stunt you perform on a given level you have no idea what stunts you will encounter on the course.

The manual states that there is a director flyby that points out the stunts on the course but that was probably taken out shortly before release since I have never seen one. Worse, there is no way to practice the course to know where everything is at before you do it in front of the camera.

At one point during the "documentary" the stuntman even notes that they practice the course using toy cars on a tabletop. Why the designers didn't even give us that option is beyond me.

Even though a couple of real life legendary stuntmen were involved with this game this particular concept of "feeling through the course" completely goes against the main tenet of stuntwork.

To make matters more frustrating there are time gates you need to hit or that scene will be stopped because you are too slow (mainly trying to perform certain stunts before the gate). Of course, there are also certain stunts that, if you don't perform them correctly, will get you stuck and you will have to restart.

You will have to go through the course little by little many times before you can get to the end. This isn't too bad at the beginning but it can get really trying as you progress further into the game and onto the harder courses.

Bad physics.

One of the more annoying things about this game is that if you barely clip a corner you will spin almost 180 degrees and come to a near stop.

This alomst ensures you will be doing a course repeatedly because you won't be able to make some of the time gates if you clip something and spin out or miss the timing of an important stunt and get stuck.

But these bad physics can allow you to do some really cool wipeouts so that's at least one positive.

Objects that should be destructable, aren't.

This one really got under my skin. In "Stuntman" there are many objects you can run into and destroy.

However, there are objects that you think you can destroy but can't. The single most notable object is a road sign.

If you run into a stop sign in any other driving game it will simply break off like it is supposed to. But, in this game, when you run into a stop sign you will STOP or bounce off of it and spin 180 degrees.

To make this even worse there are objects that you think are entirely destructable but only part of it is.

In one of the early stunt runs you have to break through a wooden fence. It is a long fence but there is only a part of it you can actually break through. If you turn too tight or too far and hit the fence you will simply bounce off of it.

Another example is a large sign you need to break through. But only the center is destructable. Go off center and you will bounce off of the sign.

Extremely annoying.

Why are these problems in the game? As far as I can tell I believe that it simply boils down to poor design decisions. This is especially evident with the unbreakable objects problem.

"Stuntman"'s unecessarily high frustration level kept it from being as big a hit that it should've been given the concept. But it made enough of a splash to warrant a sequel (even though it was made by another company).

"Stuntman: Ignition" is a far more polished title than its predecessor. Although it doesn't have a practice mode (again a flaw) it does at least do a much better job of telling you what you should expect on the course.

The physics feel better and the frustration is more skill based. Although your work is no longer incorporated into the trailers it does allow for the CGI based films to more complete and consistent.

In short, "Stuntman: Ignition" is a major step in the right direction for this franchise which is currently stalled which is a shame because it is such an awesome concept. I hope it becomes unstalled in the near future so I can work on the next Simon Crowne film.....

With the release of "Perfect Dark" for Xbox Live I decided to list a number of games I think would be good to update, remake and port to a console (with plenty of links to various pages):

"Perihelion" (Commodore Amiga)

• Introduction (YouTube)

I already noted this in a previous entry. Basically use this game as a follow-up to the hit game "Borderlands".

Replace the Destroyer with the Unborn. Replace the Action Skill with a spell casting ability. Expand the story to get deeper into this unique world.

Instead of having all of the emotion runes (which you use to build spells) available at the beginning have the most powerful ones spread out to be found and fought over so you are not too powerful early.

And, of course, keep the very unique color palette of oranges and grays.

"Spy vs. Spy" (Commodore 64)

Although there is already a remake on the original Xbox I feel that this title can use a better update. The best way I feel that this can work is to make it a cartoon version of "Hitman".

First off, the graphics really should be black and white just like the original cartoons. I understand the need for some color but I would like the artwork to go back to its roots.

To begin you would need to pick a side: black or white.

In a given scenario you would have to complete certain objectives such as obtaining the plans for a missile. But your main objective is to take down the opposing spy.

You would have some basic tools and objects in hand to create a trap to destroy him. However, if you explore enough, you can find other objects that will allow you to create more elaborate and hilarious traps to earn bonuses.

And, by the way, get the licensing to put in the original Commodore 64 trilogy versions as unlockables.

"Conker's Bad Fur Day" (Nintendo 64)

• Introduction (YouTube)

Yes, this one also had a remake on the original Xbox (known as "Conker: Live and Reloaded"). But Rare tweaked around with it too much and, in my mind, made it inferior to its N64 counterpart.

They replaced the comic style font with something more fancy (which detracted from its cartoony look), replaced the cartoony word balloons with a boring balloon with scrolling text (what's up with that?), tweaked with the sound (especially with the Great Mighty Poo) and added enemies where there were none before. And they also censored the game which was really unnecessary.

But the biggest mistake that Rare made was to replace the cool multiplayer modes with a standard deathmatch mode. Now if they added this new mode in addition to the ones from the N64 version then that would be okay. However, they just chucked them in favor with the new mode.

The old modes had some fun stuff that you could also play with bots. The best one was The Heist in which you were a weasel and had to go against three other weasels the get the most money. The money was in the center of the vault and you had to get it before the others could.

If you got the money you had to take it back to your safe to score points but holding the money would slow you down. This would allow the other weasels an opportunity to kill you (especially with the Throwing Knives - best weapon in BFD) and take the money for themselves.

If a weasel was killed while taking the money then the money would start bouncing its way back to the vault making things more interesting. To me, The Vault was the best multiplayer mode on the N64 version.

Sadly, this didn't make it to the Xbox version for reasons that baffle me. And since "Perfect Dark", another Rare title for the N64, was just ported over to XBL, why not port the N64 version of this game as well?

Tweak the graphics and sound to make them a little bit better (and update the controls) but no more. Leave the old multiplayer modes alone but add the one from "Live and Reloaded" as a bonus.

And give me back my Throwing Knives, thank you.

"Lords of the Rising Sun" (Commodore Amiga)

• Introduction and gameplay [using an emulator] (YouTube)

If you liked the old CinemaWare title "Defender of the Crown" then you will probably love this one which is based in feudal Japan. This was a major improvement over DotC and just about every area except one.

Sometimes you could invade a castle and rescue a woman who would later become your wife. You had to do this yourself in a top down scenario.

The problem was you had to use the mouse to control your character. But it was done a certain way. To move your character right you had to nudge the mouse to your right. To stop you had to nudge the mouse in the opposite direction.

As you could imagine this made this task pretty much impossible because you could never move your guy in the direction you wanted to and always ended up in one of the ponds which automatically ended this scenario. Rescuing the woman is the only thing I was never able to do in this game. To me, this mouse control system used for this portion is the worst control scheme I have ever come across in any game, period.

The analog sticks can be used effectively in moving the cursor around to get your armies around and do the various scenarios you can and probably encounter during the game. And, of course, allow one to successfully rescue the woman so your character wouldn't have to sleep alone on those cold Japanese nights.

(It should be noted that on CinemaWare's website you can get the Amiga game for emulator use.)

"Cannon Fodder" (Commodore Amiga)
"Cannon Fodder 2" (Commodore Amiga)

• "Cannon Fodder" Introduction [Amiga] (YouTube)
• "Cannon Fodder" Introduction [Amiga CD32] (YouTube)
• "Cannon Fodder theme with game controllers (YouTube)
• "Cannon Fodder 2" Introduction (YouTube)

These are a couple of cool funny arcadey strategy games that came out in the early '90s from Britain. These games may seem easy in the early going but they can get frustratingly hard in several spots. Good if you're looking for a challenge.

However, the main problem would be with the controls. These games were designed for, and work best with, a mouse. And, after playing around with the Atari Jaguar version of "Cannon Fodder" I feel that a joypad is definitely not the best way to play this game.

But, if ported right, a mouse option can be included. Simply plug in or use a Bluetooth PC mouse if you want.

"Raze's Hell" (Xbox)

• Introduction and gameplay (YouTube)

This was a fun little title that snuck up on people. It is an over-the-shoulder shooter where you ran around and killed various enemies and gained power-ups to help you on your way.

What made this title unique was its premise. You were an ugly ogre-like creature trying to save your people from the Kewletts, a really really cute and colorful race of creatures trying to expand their empire.

Even though the Kewletts were adorable they were also vicious. And they curse as well. I had to pause the game one time when one of them taunted me with "EAT IT BITCH!" (in its cute munchkin voice) because I was laughing so hard.

In addition, when you wound one enough to essentially kill it, they would go into a death rattle and say some very amusing stuff on the way out. Great sense of humor this game has.

Definitely one to update and port.

"Body Harvest" (Nintendo 64)

• Introduction (YouTube)

If you played around with this title and you had the feeling that this played like a "Grand Theft Auto" game you're not alone. DMA Designs did both "Grand Theft Auto" and "Grand Theft Auto 2" prior to this title (and later became Rockstar North and did "Grand Theft Auto 3" which skyrocketed Rockstar into the stratosphere).

In this game, which is basically a shooting style title, mankind was all but extinct because of a race of creatures which ate humanity to near destruction. You have to go back in time to various points in history to stop the invasions and save humanity.

In each area you can take various vehicles and use them to help you in your tasks. There was quite a lot of variety in vehicles and tasks.

This game wouldn't be too much to port over but the graphics and sound could use some serious improvement.

"Turok 2: Seeds of Evil" (Nintendo 64)
"Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion" (Nintendo 64)

• "Turok 2" Introduction [PAL Version] (YouTube)
• "Turok 2" Introduction and gameplay [with different music halfway through] (YouTube)
• "Turok 3" Introduction (YouTube)

While "GoldenEye" and "Perfect Dark" were getting all of the press these two games should not be overlooked. They were some of the best FPS games that came out on the N64.

With large levels, great graphics, awesome sound and some incredible weapons these games gave both "GoldenEye" and "Perfect Dark" a run for their money. These two games have aged well considering their N64 roots.

However, the chances that these two games will get an updated port are very slim at best. When Acclaim went under, Disney acquired the Turok license and took it in another, and apparently unwelcome, direction.

Therefore it is unlikey that Disney will let these two games be ported over to newer consoles which would be a real shame.

"The Movie Monster Game" (Commodore 64)
"Godzilla: Generations" (Sega DreamCast)

• "Godzilla: Generations" gameplay (YouTube)

Even though these two games come from different consoles, and generations, they share the same basic idea. Both of these games allow you to take your chosen monster and go through the city and destroy it in a strategic fashion.

There's nothing wrong with monster based games like "War of the Monsters" (PlayStation 2) or "Godzilla: Unleashed" (PlayStation 2) in which you fight other monsters using the cities as an arena. Monster bashing is an essential part of the kaiju genre.

However, destroying a city, and avoiding damage from the armed forces, while attempting an objective, like finding your offspring for example, is something that has been neglected. Strategically using your monster gives it another dimension as opposed just fighting it out with another monster.

"Godzilla: Generations" was a halfway decent attempt at using the Toho monsters in strategically destroying a city. However, the main problem with that game was the fact that it had the single worst camera scheme in the history of vidgames.

It made it difficult to see what you were doing because most times you were either too far away or too damn close to the camera. This is why the game got terrible reviews and was never ported to the US (I got the game from a shop that had an import section).

Basically, redo "Godzilla: Generations" but with a new camera system and with a much larger selection of monsters and cities plus stories for each one that give them reasons for this type of rampage. And hide bonuses and power-ups in the city to help you out and get better scores.

"Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders" (Commodore Amiga)

• Introduction (YouTube)

While a lot has been made about certain LucasArts characters (Indiana Jones, Guybrush Threepwood and Grim Fandango) Zak McKracken (introduced in 1988 on the Commodore 64) seems to have fallen through the cracks. And it is a shame since this is a pretty good game.

Like "Maniac Mansion" before it and "The Secret of Monkey Island" after it Zak is a SCUMM point-and-click adventure game that has our hero trying to prevent humanity from being stupified into submission by an alien race. Certainly, like the aforementioned "Secret of Monkey Island", Zak can easily be made into a Special Edition version to be used in the Xbox Live Arcade.

As far as creating a new adventure, that would require some imagination and not just in the story department either. The controls need to evolve in such a way as to allow for SCUMM style "commands" but in a "Grand Theft Auto" style sandbox world.

This would allow Zak to do many more things in a much bigger world but still have some SCUMM-like feel too. And being that this new Zak story is taking place in a GTA style sandbox world this would also allow for a parody of the "Grand Theft Auto" series as the new story is being told and new puzzles are being solved.

And this would be a great way to bring back an almost forgotten character.

(It should be noted that a group of German programmers have created a fan made sequel called "Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space" but it is unclear if LucasArts will make an official sequel or use the fan made one.)

"Wings" (Commodore Amiga)

• Introduction (YouTube)

If I had to choose one game, and only one game, that I would be allowed to make an updated port it would easily be this one. This was the last game CinemaWare made in the early '90s before disbanding (until they came back a few years ago).

"Wings" is an arcade-like flight sim/shooter set in World War I. You are based out of an aerodrome, on the Allies side, and flew biplanes on various missions.

What made this game excellent was the story that unfolded between missions. It had joy and despair and also told of the horrors of trench warfare and the chivarly of the pilots of both sides of this conflict. It made you want to continue playing just to see what unfolded next.

In addition, it had a secondary manual (which also served as copy protection) that told the story of the war and the evolvement of air warfare during the conflict and some of the pilots that served. It was a fantastic read and really added to the overall game.

As I mentioned, a few years ago CinemaWare reformed and redid some of their classic games for handhelds and consoles. "Wings" was redid for the Game Boy Advance (I played it on the Nintendo GameCube Game Boy Player).

The story within the GBA version was half of the Amiga version but this was okay because this gave them room to tell the GERMAN side of the conflict (which wasn't done on the Amiga version). Since there has been no game based entirely in WWI on recent consoles I feel that "Wings" would be excellent for an updated port.

I can imagine multiplayer with "Wings". While there is nothing wrong with blasting other aircraft out of the sky with missiles there is a whole other challenge in trying to get closely behind another biplane with your own rickety aircraft.

And I can imagine the story itself being acted out in cutscenes with actual actors and music of the era. It would certainly make this title stand out amongst other history based games.

(It should be noted that CinemaWare has an "Wings" Episode 1 Beta at their website so there may be hope to bring it out to consoles. You can also get the Amiga version game for emulator use from there as well.)

And there you have it. My list of games I would like to see updated and ported to today's consoles. If you have any ideas of your own I certainly like to hear them. There are probably many more that are deserving.

With the upcoming release of "Episodes From Liberty City" for the PS3 I am now doing updates to the guides I wrote for the "Grand Theft Auto IV" trilogy (GTA IV, "The Lost and Damned" and "The Ballad of Gay Tony").

Whenever I go into update mode I first sort through my e-mail and copy each letter that I get for the games I am updating into TextWrangler and move them into the appropriate folders in my FAQ Updates folder. Then I make a copy of the current version of a given guide and move the old version to an archive.

From here I put in the game in my console and open up TextWrangler on my Mac. I then open up the copy I am going to update and the letters I have for that guide and start trying them out or correct errors that have been pointed out.

For "The Ballad of Gay Tony" I only had a few letters since I first posted Version 1 last year. But they had some solid information and made changes to certain missions because of them.

Of course, the biggest change I had to make to my TBoGT guide (and for TLaD) is adding the PS3 controls information since these two games originally came out first for the Xbox 360. Once I get the PS3 Trophy information for TBoGT and TLaD then I will put them up at GameFAQs, hopefully, before the PS3 version of EFLC comes out. That way the PS3 users can start getting into my work right away when the game is released (March 30).

After that then I will start work on updating some of my older GTA guides. But I have got a lot of letters and stuff to try out. I have also been looking into changing the look a little bit and streamlining things on some of my larger ones.

FAQ writing has allowed me to better enjoy the games I like the most and utilize the skills I learned at some of the software companies I used to work for and some of the writing courses I took in college. I intend to use my body of work to try to leverage my way back into the gaming industry.

This blog is part of that effort. It allows me to bring out some of my ideas and thoughts on gaming that not only may appeal to those of like minded interests but can also serve as a "resume" to various gaming companies.

In addition to my current FAQ updates I am also writing up a couple of more gaming essays to put in this blog.

Shortly after the Oscars aired earlier in the week I went to GameFAQs, as I usually do every night, and found a thread for YouTube videos of this film which had just won the Oscar for best short animation (It should be noted that the videos have since been taken down).

This film is a short 17-minute piece which takes place in a city that is meant to resemble Los Angeles. But the really cool thing about this film is that everything, every building, everybody, and every object is a CORPORATE LOGO. According to what I found out about it is that the filmmakers, a French company called B5, used around 2,500 of them to create this unique film.


In a ballsy move the filmmakers did not even try to ask permission to use any of them. Even ballsier still is how some of the logos are used as I will explain.

The film is basically split into two parts. The first part comprises three storylines that will eventually come together about halfway through the piece.

The first story starts at a coffee shop that employs the ESSO Girl as a waitress and has to put up with the lewd advances of Mr. Pringle (Hot and Spicy). The second story involves a couple of cops, the Michelin men, on a stakeout for a dangerous criminal - who happens to be Ronald McDonald. The third story involves a couple of bored delinquent kids, Big Boy and Haribo, on a trip to the zoo.

Eventually the cops spot Ronald and the chase is on. At the tail end of the chase Ronald clips the bus carrying Big Boy and Haribo from the zoo and crashes into the coffee shop where the ESSO Girl works. Big Boy and Haribo leave the bus and wander over to the now overturned van that Ronald was driving. Ronald then pops out and takes Big Boy, and the coffee shop, hostage as the cops try to converge on him.


Now it becomes a standoff between the cops and a psychotic Ronald. As the SWAT try to deal with him then the second half of the film begins.


At this point there is a huge earthquake and the city is being rapidly destroyed. The ESSO Girl and Big Boy then get in a car and drive off as quickly as possible away from the disintegrating city.

While the first half was awesome I didn't like the second half. I wanted to see the Michelin men take down Ronald in some kind of shootout but the French filmmakers wanted to have some sort of "artistic say" about over commercialism. Whatever. I still think that this is pretty awesome despite the ending.

And besides, where else can you see a lewd ass-grabbing Mr. Pringle, a gay Mr. Clean and a psychotic Ronald McDonald?

And they also curse. At one point during the chase Ronald nearly runs over the red and yellow M&M guys as they are trying to cross the street. Yellow exclaims "FUCK IT!! Where are the cops when you need them?!!". He soon gets his answer - in the worst possible way.

Definitely worth checking out if you get the chance. Right now it can be purchased from the Apple Store for a couple of bucks.

I went back to Goodwill Computerworks and examined some of the $35 bare bone Dell Optiplexes (no hard drive - no RAM - no cards) sitting on the shelf. Then, as I was examining one that looked to be in good shape, I was informed by one of the personnel that they were now selling for $10!

The reason: blown capacitors on the motherboards. Intrigued I asked him what a blown capacitor looked like. He opened up the unit I was examining and showed me. There was one near the center that had bulged and had some discoloration on the top.

I can easily replace a capacitor: desolder it from the board and solder another into place. And for $10 why not buy it and give it a shot. Especially since these units had a processor that ranged from 2.0 to 2.6 GHz.

So I bought the unit and took it apart when I got home. Very dusty and filthy but I've seen worse from some of the other consoles I've restored. After closely examining the motherboard I only saw the one blown capacitor: 1500uf 6.3v. I'll hit one of the electronics shops to find one that will match.

Then all I'll need is a hard drive and some RAM to see if this unit even works. I'll also need to replace the CD-ROM drive with a DVD-ROM unit.

If I can get this unit to work I will use it primarily for gaming. Not high end but some older titles I would like to play with ("Hitman: Codename 47", the GTA trilogy). I also intend to play around with emulators for some of the older consoles and computers (Atari 2600 - 5200 - 7800, Sega Master System, Commodore 64 - Amiga, MAME). And I will also use it for some of the special game save devices like X360 Exchange and XSATA that I cannot use right now because nobody has made drivers for them for the Mac (irritating).

This unit is not going to replace my Mac as my main machine. I will still use my Mac for writing and surfing as I have always done.

....when you can build one?

This thought came to mind when I went to the Goodwill Computerworks here in San Antonio and I saw bare bone PCs for as little as $35. Think for a moment, the Original Xbox basically uses PC style hardware (but modified).

The Xbox uses a Pentium processor (755 MHz - with 64 MB of RAM), an Nividia video chip, IDE connections for both the internal hard drive (8 GB) and the DVD-ROM drive and USB (with a modified plug) for the controllers. Today, many years after the Xbox was rolled out, most mid-range computers are light years ahead of the console and a computer with the same specs as the Xbox would be considered very low end.

In addition, the Original Xbox's security, to prevent piracy and hardware modification, has been so chewed up and spit out by the gaming community as to render MicroSoft's efforts to be a joke. You can easily mod an Xbox without even opening it.

But the Xbox has its limitations despite all of the cool things the modding community has done to it. And the hardware isn't that great (all the DVD-ROM drives suck and the power supplies can be flaky) either.

So, the thought that entered my mind, was "why not turn one of these cheap PCs into an Xbox?" I mean, install an OS onto a blank hard drive that makes any PC into an Xbox. Not emulation but into an actual Xbox console. The OS for the Xbox is a variant of Windows so this could be easy (or maybe not).

These cheap PCs are already well above the Xbox specs (about 1 GHz and about 256 to 512 MB RAM) so hardware shouldn't be an issue. Plus one doesn't have to worry about Xbox Live since MicroSoft will be dropping support for the original console.

While the Xbox games can't recognize memory above 64MB any extra RAM can be useful for other things. One of the many things that people mod their Xboxes for is emulation of other consoles and computers. Any extra speed and memory can be useful for those along with other media related stuff.

Depending on how you set up one of these PCs for Xbox conversion you can have a really nice media player / emulation box with full Xbox support far above that of a modded Xbox. And, hopefully, with tools that will allow you to retrieve maps, game save and other related material from your old Xbox drives.

And these PCs will have better, and more easily replaceable, parts than the Xbox. Something to think about if you wish to continue playing Xbox games years from now but can't due to busted parts.

And while I was thinking along these lines why not create "emulation OS's" that can turn any Intel based machine into, say, an Amiga without worrying about getting the latest version of UAE (Universal Amiga Emulator) to run on any given operating system? Just turn the machine into a full Amiga and give it tools to allow you to use your old programs and games.

Even better is to do the same with MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator). Turn a computer into a portable arcade without having to deal with an underlying operating system (Windows and Mac OS X).

Just one of the things I think about when I see interesting hardware and the wheels start to turn.

This entry is the first in a series of essays that delve into games I like but have flaws in them that keep them from being better than they are.

While researching some Amiga games I used to play I came upon the entry for "Perihelion" on LemonAmiga. I was given a copy of this game by a friend who was an artist working alongside us, while I was working at Point of View Computing, shortly after the game came out (in 1994).



(NOTE: The above picture is linked to a YouTube video of the game introduction - from a cracked copy.)

"Perehelion" is a very unique futuristic RPG and had a lot of cool ideas, graphic design and music. As I looked through the player reviews on the LemonAmiga page for this game I saw mostly positive reviews.

Interesting, although I really liked this game, I found that these reviewers played this game very differently than how I did it otherwise they may have found the major design flaws I encountered.

A design flaw is something defective in the game logic. This is much different than crash problems, graphical and sound glitches that are much easier to detect and fix.

Detecting and fixing design flaws is more difficult because you need to throughly play through the game in many different ways to find them. A game can be considered bug and glitch free yet badly broken in many areas.

This game is an example of that as I will explain.

In "Perihelion", and like with most RPGs, you had to create a party and set forth to prevent an evil entity, called the Unborn, from destroying the known world and universe. The world this takes place on is named Perihelion, a desert-like planet with several old races who call it home.

The single most striking element of the game was its graphical design. It used a palette consisting entirely of oranges and grays. This gave the game a very unique look that hasn't been seen since "Perihelion" was released sixteen years ago. Ths music was also very well done and made the game even more moody and creepy.

These races that populate the planet range from humans to animal-like to cyborgs. All members of the party you create, a total of six, can belong to a given "religion" which will give you additional attributes as explained in this excerpt from the game manual:


Another very unique attribute to the game was "spell casting" which could only be done with psyonic characters. You construct spells, which are outlined in the game manual, using runes which represent EMOTIONS.

That's right. Instead of potions or crystals you used emotions to make spells. You can only make a limited number of spells you can use during the course of your journey but this is not a problem as I will outline later.

As you construct your party members you will then "roll the dice" to assign various attributes, such as strength and dexterity, randomly. If you don't like what is given then you can "roll the dice" again until you get something more to your liking.

Once you construct your party you then head out into the futuristic landscape to stop the Unborn and fight off various dangers along the way.

As was normal for me when playing an RPG I created what could be called a balanced party. This is a party consisting of middle ground characters, neither too powerful (which can also expose you to certain weaknesses) or too weak.

I found out early on that the spell casting system is seriously flawed. I used a spell with a powerful sounding name: Life-Force Drain. This spell doesn't cost a lot of energy to use but is devastatingly effective: a 99% kill rate on living beings. This means 99 out of 100 times this spell hits someone they die instantly. Obviously, this makes your psyonics super powerful.

In addition, you will encounter undead beings along the way. Of course, Life-Force Drain doesn't work on anything that is already dead. But, I found that Napalm Eruption (a fire spell) has the same devastating effect on undead beings that Life-Force Drain has on living ones.

So, although you could only "carry" a limited number of created spells to use you only need these two. This makes all of the other spells useless.

After discovering the flaws within the spell casting system I decided to start over by making a party of all psyonics (and all human). After creating the two spells for each of my members I set off into the game world.

I was tearing through the game pretty good until I reached a point where I needed to plant explosives to unblock a collapsed tunnel. I needed to use a mining drill to drill a hole in the blockage and put the explosives into the new hole so I could blow it open.

The problem was, and this is something that baffles me to this day, that a psyonic is of the wrong class to use a drill! That's right, a spell caster in Perihelion cannot use a simple, if slightly oversized, tool.

And since all of my party members were psyonics this meant that I could not progress any further in the game. Period. And all because of a simple mining drill.

And this, my friends, is what one calls a fatal design flaw. One that completely forces you to restart the game from scratch because of a poor design decision.

When I went back and rebuilt my new party I included five psyonics and one soldier whose sole purpose was to use this drill. From there I went and restarted my quest.

Then I reached a point, prior to the drill area, where I needed to put three pieces of a machine together to create a special door. You needed to have at least a minimum of 58 strength, 58 dexterity and 58 intelligence to put the three pieces in place. They all didn't have to be with one person. This task can be done with three people if all had at least 58 of one of the three attributes.

I had at least one member of my party that had a minimum of 58 of two of the three attributes. Since none had 58 of the third attribute then I was stuck until I could raise it.

No problem. I would just go around the landscape and get into random combat to raise my various attributes. This method is standard for just about every RPG ever made.

Except "Perihelion".

In another baffling design move there is NO RANDOM COMBAT. None.

Unless you somehow manage to raise some of your attributes during the the previous combats prior to this area then there is no other way to raise them. So that means I was stuck again and staring down a SECOND fatal design flaw. And I was unlucky enough to "roll the dice" in such a way as to make this happen.

So now I went back again and reconstructed a new party with five psyonics, one soldier and making damn sure that at least one member had at least 58 of strength, intelligence and dexterity. This was enough to get me through to the end of the game. There are about a total of 23 combat situations in "Perihelion".

To compound matters the game manual, other than providing the spell combinations and setting up the story, was practically useless. It gave very little information on the various races and none of the classes. Plus all of the pictures, that were supposed to be marked with various pointers, weren't.

As I did research on this game for this essay I found a "Perihelion" page from Edvard Toth, the main designer of the game and had this to say about the game's development:


For an RPG this is pretty remarkable.

But they didn't do the gametesting. "Chris Stanley and his crew" did. One could blame the testing crew for not finding these flaws but Edvard did say this game was made under challenging conditions and it is unclear how that may have affected the testing necessary to polish the game.

And yet, outside of a bug that involves the game credits not showing up during the introduction most of the time you boot up the game, "Perihelion" is glitch free. But this game is proof of what I said earlier - that a game can be bug free yet broken.

Mr. Toth also said that he would like to revisit "Perihelion" someday. I myself would like to revisit it as well.

Edvard created a very unique universe and an extraordinary look and feel that would really stand out even today. What I would like to see happen is for Edvard to hook up with Gearbox Software and use "Perihelion" as a follow-up to "Borderlands". Now, wouldn't that be cool.

If you are interested in trying out this game you can download it from Edvard Toth's "Perihelion" page. Although it includes a copy of UAE (Universal Amiga Emulator) I do recommend going for the latest version (links below). I should note that UAE is a pain in the butt to set up and use but once you get it set up for "Perihelion" it should be all good.

• WinUAE
• E-UAE (Mac OS X - German)

For over thirty years I have been a gamer. During this time I have played lots of different types of games on lots of platforms (and arcade). This also includes games based on various licenses like movies, books, cartoons, etc.

For this entry I made a list of what I consider to be the best ten games based on a license that does not involve sports (sports games are licenses too). I should add that this is based on games I have actually played. So, if there is a licensed game that you may feel could belong on this list but isn't here, more than likely I haven't played it.

In addition, I have provided links to various pages for each game to help fill in more details about them and the licenses they are based on.

Now, for my list:

10. "Knightmare" (Commodore Amiga)

• From the "Knightmare" Wikipedia entry.
• Game Programmed by Antony Crowther and released by Mindscape in 1991.

This might seem to be an odd choice because very few people outside of Britain have seen this show let alone played this game. This excerpt, also taken from the Wikipedia page, goes into detail about the program:

"The show featured teams of four children (around 11–16 years old). On the call of "Enter, Stranger", the first member of the team (the "dungeoneer") would enter Knightmare Castle via an antechamber belonging to Treguard of Dunshelm (played by Hugo Myatt). After giving his or her name, the dungeoneer would be asked by Treguard to call their three advisors, who would magically appear next to the viewing apparatus beside them (though, in Series 8, all members of the team appeared at once).

Before entering the dungeon, the dungeoneer would be given a knapsack to wear, in which they were to place food found along the way, in order to replenish Life Force. In addition, the "Helmet of Justice" was put on the dungeoneer's head, blocking their vision except for the area immediately around them. The story was that this was to protect the dungeoneer from seeing the real danger ahead.

The dungeoneer would then enter Treguard's partly computer-generated, partly hand-drawn fantasy dungeon which was accomplished through bluescreen chromakey — hence the need for the helmet, as the dungeoneer would otherwise just see a large blue room.

The team would watch the dungeoneer from a screen in the antechamber, and guide the player using hurried descriptions and shouted instructions, overcoming a variety of puzzles and traps in the dungeon. The instructions might be "Sidestep left, walk forward, take a small step to your right, pick up the key", much like many text-based computer games (for example the appropriately named "multi-user dungeons") that relied on description and commands rather than any visuals."

In the game itself you control a party of four members and you had to complete four quests in order to gain certain items you needed to beat the main antagonist named Lord Fear. The game used the same engine that Antony Crowther's previous game, "Captive", ran on.

"Captive" is a classic sci-fi RPG that used a solid custom engine for its gameplay. The graphics were also unique and carried over to the "Knightmare" project. This made "Knightmare" familiar to those who played "Captive" because the interface and graphical style are very similar.

The only problem I found with this game is the weak ending. However, this actually might not be a bad thing since "Captive" didn't even have an ending!

Even though very few people in the US have heard of this show I found the game good enough to be on this list.

9. "Spy vs. Spy" (Commodore 64)

• From the "Spy vs. Spy" Wikipedia entry.
• Programmed by Mike Riedel and released by First Star Software in 1984.

I have been a "Spy vs. Spy" fan since I was a youngster. So, naturally, I was very excited when the first "Spy vs. Spy" game came out. And I wasn't disappointed.

The game featured the two characters, White Spy and Black Spy, and you had to outsmart, and out trap, each other as you went through various embassies to collect items and leave within the time limit. It was also one of the first games to feature a split screen for both players.

And the game was also as funny as the cartoons they were based on. Knocking the other spy through several rooms with a spring trap was always cool to pull off.

This game also inspired two sequels, "Spy vs. Spy II: The Island Caper" and "Spy vs Spy III: Arctic Antics". Many years later "Spy vs. Spy" was redone for the Xbox. While the Xbox version has its funny moments it lacks replayability and doesn't include the original C64 versions.

8. "The Three Stooges" (Commodore Amiga)

• From "The Three Stooges" Wikipedia entry.
• Programmed and released by CinemaWare in 1987.
• Game Intro (YouTube)

One doesn't have to be a fan of "The Three Stooges" to enjoy this game. This game follows the trio as they try to save an orphanage from the clutches of an evil banker who wants to foreclose on the property.

All of the mini-games within "The Three Stooges" are based on some of their most popular short films. There were also times that you get some random cash to help you to your goal.

The most impressive thing about this game was that CinemaWare managed to get good digital scans of the Stooges and actual audio from their work. Understand, this game was released in the mid-eighties so that was considered a pretty good achievement.

This game would later be revamped and released on the Game Boy Advance and then ported over to the PlayStation. However, I still like the Amiga version best.

7. "Road Runner" (Arcade)

• From the "Road Runner" Wikipedia entry.
• Programmed and released by Atari Games in 1985.

This is one of my all time favorite games. Your goal, just like in the cartoon, is to avoid being caught by Wile E. Coyote while eating seed along the way to maintain your energy (or you will get weak and stop which will allow Wile E. Coyote to catch you).

I always got a kick of luring Wile E. Coyote into numerous mines. So much so that I would deliberately get to the end of certain levels and sit there and let him catch me so I can do the level again. That's how much I liked it.

Sadly, this game hasn't been made available in retro gaming packs or on Xbox Live/PlayStation Network (mainly due to the license). There were some so-so ports to home computers in the late eighties but that is not the same.

So, right now, the only way to enjoy this game (outside of having an actual arcade unit) is to use MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator).

6. "Firefox" (Arcade)

• From the "Firefox" (movie) Wikipedia entry.
• Programmed and released by Atari Games in 1984.

I consider this to be the finest LaserDisc game ever made. The LaserDisc was considered the DVD of its day and was used as the background footage (taken from the movie and other locations) for which the game graphics were superimposed.

Your goal, just like in the movie, was to steal a super sophisticated Russian fighter jet and transport it to the west. You had to shoot radar circles to prevent being spotted. If you were spotted then you had to fight off the jets sent to stop you.

Atari did a great job combining the graphics with the background and the gameplay excellently captured the feel of the movie.

The only way to play this game today is to use the MAME emulator. However, the biggest problem is the video files. Because there were no video compression back then this makes the video file very large (try 13 GB! - a pain to download even with the fastest connections).

5. "Star Wars" (Arcade)

• From the "Star Wars" Wikipedia entry.
• Original Atari Games Vector Graphic Version released in 1983.

This game perfectly captured, or at least as closely as possible with vector graphics, the most popular aspect of the first "Star Wars" movie: the Death Star trench run.

You had to first blast a group of TIE fighters, and their fireballs (which would deplete your shields if you got hit by one), to get to the Death Star. Then, after that, you made your way to the surface where you would encounter large gun towers you needed to avoid (and still shoot fireballs).

From there, you finally entered the trench and continue to shoot the fireballs that came from the trench guns. And then you, if you survived that, you got a shot at the exhaust port so you can blow the space station up.

Once you blew up the Death Star then you got to do the whole thing over again but at a higher difficulty level. This game also contained digital samples of actual dialogue from the movies to help fully capture the Death Star experience.

Atari Games would also release "The Empire Strikes Back" as a conversion kit but it was not very popular and rarely seen in the wild. Later, "The Return of the Jedi" would also be released but did not use the vector graphic style used in the previous two games.

4. "Turok 2: Seeds of Evil" (Nintendo 64)

• From the "Turok" Wikipedia entry.
• Programmed and released by Acclaim Entertainment in 1998.

This game was released a couple of years after "Turok: Dinosaur Hunter" which used the Valiant Comics version of the character. The first Turok game was criticized for excessive use of fog (because Acclaim didn't have the new Nintendo 64 hardware long enough to really know its capabilities) and for excessive jumping.

The sequel was a great improvement over its predecessor and was the first game to use the newly released Expansion Pak which added more memory for graphics. And the programmers took full advantage of it. To date I consider it to be the best looking game that the Nintendo 64 ever had.

In addition, the game was excellently done with huge maps and cool weapons (such as the awesome Cerebral Bore). The sound and music was also very well done.

The entire Turok series was one of the few bright spots in the Acclaim line of games. Acclaim was notorious for releasing bad games (especially licensed from other properties). This eventually caught up to them and they no longer exist.

3. "The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena" (Xbox 360 - PlayStation 3)

• From "The Chronicles of Riddick" Wikipedia entry.
• Programmed by Starbreeze Studios and released by Atari Interactive in 2009.

Although the above Wikipedia excerpt explains the movie, the game actually takes place before the events of "Pitch Black". "Assault on Dark Athena" is the sequel to the highly praised game "Escape From Butcher Bay". However, I chose AoDA because it also contains the expanded and improved Director's Cut version of EFBB (previously available on the PC but not on the Original Xbox).

"Escape From Butcher Bay" chronicles Riddick's stay at this infamous prison (briefly mentioned in "The Chronicles of Riddick" movie). The graphics and sound were excellent and included both Vin Diesel and Cole Houser who reprised their "Pitch Black" roles.

The game was a little short and a little easy but it kept you from being frustrated. This allowed you to stay immersed in this dark little world as you tried to escape from the prison.

AoDA takes place shortly after the events of EFBB and places you on a mercenary ship called the Dark Athena. Like the previous game you have to use your unique abilities to escape and thwart the plans of Captain Gale Revas.

I greatly enjoyed both the original EFBB and AoDA enough to write text based strategy guides for them (for GameFAQs) and I highly anticipate a sequel. In addition, there has been news recently that a sequel to the film "The Chronicles of Riddick" is in pre-production. This may bode well for a potential game (especially if Starbreeze Studios is involved).

2. "Red Storm Rising" (Commodore 64)

• From the "Red Storm Rising" Wikipedia entry.
• Programmed by Sid Meier and released by MicroProse Software in 1988.
• Game Intro (YouTube)

MicroProse Software was considered the best company that made games for the Commodore 64. I owned quite a few MP titles prior to RSR: "Project: Stealth Fighter", "F-15 Strike Eagle", "Pirates!", and "Airborne Ranger".

When MicroProse began advertising for "Red Storm Rising" naturally I had to have it. And I wasn't disappointed when I got it.

The game used the basic starting points of the novel (terrorist attack on a Soviet oil facility, Soviet invasion of Europe) but doesn't actually use any characters from it. Instead, it sets up a nuclear submarine simulator where you used your abilities to stop the Soviet threat.

You had to find the enemy without revealing yourself then destroy them with minimal or no damage. On many missions this was a time consuming process but it only added to the tension as you stalked your quarry and set up attacks.

Given the limitations of the hardware this game was incredibly well done. It is hard to believe, even today, that they managed to make a game of this magnitude with 64 KB of RAM and a 1MHz processor. There was even a keyboard overlay because you had to use just about every key on the computer.

The game also has one of the best, if not the best, game manual I have ever seen. After reading it you genuinely feel that you could actually command a real sub. It's that good.

Shortly after the game came out MicroProse Software (in conjunction with Commodore Magazine) did a contest called the "Red Storm Rising Ultimate Challenge". After entering it and going through the various levels I eventually finished eighth.

In 2009, I would put together the various materials from that contest and released them to AtariAge for fans of the game to enjoy (LINK).

1. "GoldenEye" (Nintendo 64)

• From the "GoldenEye" (movie) Wikipedia entry.
• Programmed and released by Rare in 1997.

Considering its legendary status it should be no surprise that this is number one on my list. Millions of Nintendo 64's were brought because of this game (including the one that was given to me as a birthday present). A true system seller if there was ever was one.

The game was a first person shooter that closely followed the events of the movie. The levels were moderate in size but well designed. It also added various objectives which gave the game more complexity.

One of the cool things about the games was the fact that you had to earn the cheats you could use to make the game more fun (however, it was revealed later that button codes existed when the follow-up to this game, "Perfect Dark", was nearing release). This added an extra level of challenge that many gamers, including myself, enjoyed.

As good as the single player side was it was the mutiplayer aspect that sold many people on the game. It is still considered to be one of the best multiplayer games of all time regardless of system.

The only problem with this game is that it has aged poorly making it hard to look at these days.

However, an attempt was made to make an updated version of the game for Xbox Live. But Nintendo, who had no legal right to stop the release of the game, managed to find a way by threatening ActiVision (who currently owns the James Bond license) over some sort of certain arrangements (at least that is the current scuttlebutt concerning the game). The game was pretty much finished when it was stopped.

But I think that the XBL version will be released someday. It is just a matter of waiting for ActiVision to finally grow the balls needed to tell off Nintendo and release it. However, considering that Nintendo has a whole lot of power right now (thanks to the DS and Wii) this may take awhile.

And that concludes my list. There were other titles I had considered but didn't make the cut:

• "The Darkness" (Xbox 360 - PlayStation 3)
• "The Simpsons" (Konami Acrade version)
• "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (Arcade)
• "Discs of Tron" (Arcade)
• "Star Wars: Rogue Squadron" (Nintendo 64)
• "Krull" (Arcade)

I certainly hope that you enjoyed reading this entry and hopefully brought back some good gaming memories.

 Well, this is it. My first blog entry.

My name is Robert Allen Rusk and I currently live in San Antonio, TX USA. My main claim to fame, if you can call it that, is my contributions to GameFAQs. As a hobby I write text based strategy guides for them and I primarily focus on the "Grand Theft Auto" game series.

The overall goal of this blog is to bring out various gaming related views and thoughts. In my thirty plus years of being a gamer, and some of that time I actually worked in the industry, I have seen a lot and have some interesting ideas and thoughts that have been bouncing around my head for some time.

There will also be entries on other subjects but, for now, I will focus on gaming as I get the hang of blogging and how to customize the look and feel of my entries. I will have my second entry out soon.