spycat Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 My first dabble with home computers was on an Oric belonging to a friend. This was back in the 1980's when everyone seemed to be making them. I was hooked and after looking around for a bit I went with Acorn's BBC Model B Microcomputer. This was an 8-bit machine using the 6502 microprocessor and Acorn's own OS. It came with 32K of RAM, a really good version of BASIC, was as expandible as your dad's wallet allowed, and played games as well! The first game I bought (mail order from the UK) was Acornsoft's Snapper (a port of the arcade game Pac-Man). My early games were cassette based, but later on I added an external floppy drive. I also remember opening the machine up to fit an internal ROM/EPROM expansion board from ATPL and installing a number of 3rd party ROMS for languages, services and graphics. I gave the lot away (foolishly in hindsight) when I took up a post overseas. But thanks to the wonders of emulation, I'm able to live my 8-bit days all over again. I'm currently relearning BBC BASIC and Assembler in between working my way through Citadel. This game seems to be a lot more difficult now than when I played it in the 1980's. Back then I could build a mental image of the game world as I advanced. Now it's more like I've found the green/white key now where did I see that door. I'm putting this down to being out of practise and not an age thing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippyshake Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 scree said I was hooked and after looking around for a bit I went with Acorn's BBC Model B Microcomputer. I'm SO jealous!! I want to find one just so I can play this. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spycat Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 I never played The Mines of Terror, but I remember buying it's forerunner, Castle Quest, the Tomb Raider of it's day hehe (1985) on cassette. This excellent arcade adventure allowed you 4 lives and had no game save option. The armed guards looked like little toothbrushes holding upside-down match sticks. It had some very cunning puzzles to solve. The hardest I found was at the very beginning when you had to get the sword without the spider nailing you. It took me ages to figure that one out. Other puzzles I recall were escaping from prison and hoodwinking the Troll. It was all very new and exciting at the time. So 3 cheers for emulation, it's like beer only free! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Hehehehe. Very cool guys. I was born in 84, so I just barely missed out on a lot of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippyshake Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Jason Carr said Hehehehe. Very cool guys. I was born in 84, so I just barely missed out on a lot of that. There something to be said about living in a world before MTV (or cable, for that matter) and video games. Games appeared when I was around 8, and came into the home when I was about 10, so I had a so-called proper childhood where the most common thing adults said to me was "go outside and play!" :) I got to experience gaming as it erupted, as the world experienced it, which was pretty exciting. Arcades that I frequented had games like the Pac-man series (my favorite was Super Pac-Man), Defender, Moon Patrol, Asteroids, Galaga, Gorf, Tempest, Dig Dug, Galaga, Galaxians, Phoenix, Donkey Kong, Wizard of Wor, Berzerk, Crazy Climber, Venture, Star Castle, and, of course, pinball machines, as they preceded game cabinets. Some of those games are still amazing (if you've never played Phoenix, Wiz of Wor or Venture, you really should). I grew up in a bar, so there were always rolls of quarters available. I can't imagine the hundreds of dollars I put into some of those (I remember being really upset after going through several rolls trying to get to the end of Moon Patrol, only to find that the levels kept alternating and there was no end!). When the VCS / 2600 hit homes, it was a no brainer. To think that I saved up $40 to buy Maze Craze seems ludicrous now, but I was excited to get it, and it's stil a fun game, imho. The fact that it randomly generated levels was new back then, as I recall. scree said I never played The Mines of Terror, but I remember buying it's forerunner, Castle Quest, the Tomb Raider of it's day hehe (1985) on cassette. [snip] It was all very new and exciting at the time. So 3 cheers for emulation, it's like beer only free! It certainly was! But, as I've said, I grew up in a bar so...unfortunately, beer was free, as was everything else. Hello, my name is John, and I'm an alcoholic! :D I've always wanted to play Castle Quest too, but I've never been able to find it online. For those of you who aren't aware, Archive.org has an arcade that's playable in your browser window; very handy, that. https://archive.org/details/internetarcade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Hehehehe, sounds a lot like every kid's dream. Beer and video games? ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CadetStimpy Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Yeah, Hippyshake, the "collector bug" can be costly, as you (and many of us, no doubt) well know. This woman I used to work with made reference to my DVD collection as being like a Volvo in my closet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippyshake Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 Jason Carr said Hehehehe, sounds a lot like every kid's dream. Beer and video games? ;) True, except for the whole "spending thousands of dollars in storage and becoming an alcoholic" thing! :):):) Although I blame that on my addictive personality and lack of self control, rather than gaming and alcohol. Cadet Stimpy said Yeah, Hippyshake, the "collector bug" can be costly, as you (and many of us, no doubt) well know. This woman I used to work with made reference to my DVD collection as being like a Volvo in my closet. That's pretty rough! I'd give almost anything for a picture though, after hearing that comparison. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Hippyshake said Although I blame that on my addictive personality and lack of self control, rather than gaming and alcohol. Oh man, I feel you there. Lack of self control, check. Addictive personality, check. I tend to latch onto things and never let them go. LaunchBox is one of those things, so it's not all bad, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippyshake Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Jason Carr said Hippyshake said Although I blame that on my addictive personality and lack of self control, rather than gaming and alcohol. Oh man, I feel you there. Lack of self control, check. Addictive personality, check. I tend to latch onto things and never let them go. LaunchBox is one of those things, so it's not all bad, I guess. If nothing else, LaunchBox is showing me how I've replaced my physical addiction with a digital one. So far, I have 6238 (!) legal games imported, and there are more to come. Just seeing those pretty boxes on my virtual shelf, and watching that number climb, makes me want more. I've just bought another bundle this morning, and there's one at Groupees I pre-ordered yesterday that drops in a few hours. Allow me to paraphrase myself: "Hello, my name is John, and I'm a LaunchBoxoholic!" :D Feel free to use that quote in promotional materials. :) As a bundle junkie, I'm constantly purchasing the same game more than once (which is great for giveaways, but not so great for my wallet). LaunchBox finally gives me a way to see everything that I own already, so that I'm not making the same purchase on multiple platforms anymore. In fact, feel free to use that quote in promotional materials, too. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted May 6, 2015 Share Posted May 6, 2015 Hahahahahaha, home page, here we come! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted May 6, 2015 Share Posted May 6, 2015 Hippyshake said Jason Carr said Hippyshake said Although I blame that on my addictive personality and lack of self control, rather than gaming and alcohol. Oh man, I feel you there. Lack of self control, check. Addictive personality, check. I tend to latch onto things and never let them go. LaunchBox is one of those things, so it's not all bad, I guess. If nothing else, LaunchBox is showing me how I've replaced my physical addiction with a digital one. So far, I have 6238 (!) legal games imported, and there are more to come. Just seeing those pretty boxes on my virtual shelf, and watching that number climb, makes me want more. I've just bought another bundle this morning, and there's one at Groupees I pre-ordered yesterday that drops in a few hours. Allow me to paraphrase myself: "Hello, my name is John, and I'm a LaunchBoxoholic!" :D Feel free to use that quote in promotional materials. :) As a bundle junkie, I'm constantly purchasing the same game more than once (which is great for giveaways, but not so great for my wallet). LaunchBox finally gives me a way to see everything that I own already, so that I'm not making the same purchase on multiple platforms anymore. In fact, feel free to use that quote in promotional materials, too. :) www.IsThereAnyDeal.com helps me out a lot. I log in through Steam so it knows what I own and knows whats on my wishlist. So I get e-mails every day about sales from across the web. It only sends me e-mails if its a game on my wishlist that can be activated through Steam and it sends me e-mails about bundles. Sometimes its faster than the bundle sites, sometimes its slower. But in the e-mail any game that you own that's in a bundle will be crossed out. That has helped me a lot too, cause im a Bundle-holic and now LaunchBox-holic too. I haven't been able to really buy bundles recently cause we've been broke... but yea. So many good ones recently. :( My LaunchBox install is reaching 10k with no duplicates on the same system. I even count duplicates if its a different revision of a rom. I.e. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time v1.0 vs 1.1 vs 1.2. Master Quest wouldn't be a duple though. Ports I don't count as duplicates though. I would be over 10k but I deleted the Amiga roms. I still need to add in non-Steam but Windows games too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippyshake Posted May 6, 2015 Share Posted May 6, 2015 SentaiBrad said www.IsThereAnyDeal.com helps me out a lot. I log in through Steam so it knows what I own and knows whats on my wishlist. So I get e-mails every day about sales from across the web. It only sends me e-mails if its a game on my wishlist that can be activated through Steam and it sends me e-mails about bundles. Sometimes its faster than the bundle sites, sometimes its slower. But in the e-mail any game that you own that's in a bundle will be crossed out. That has helped me a lot too, cause im a Bundle-holic and now LaunchBox-holic too. I haven't been able to really buy bundles recently cause we've been broke... but yea. So many good ones recently. :( I second Brad's ITAD recommendation. Although it doesn't cover pre-order bundles (such as the ones at Groupees), I usually check it a few times a day to see the specials. As Brad said, it will also notify you if anything fromf your wishlist goes on sale. Good stuff. Speaking of cheap games, Gog just went into beta on Galaxy yesterday. It seems they were keeping some things out of the alpha that have suddenly appeared. Still a long way to go though, imo. A lot of the "functionality" is simply the embedded website within the client. Still, it's good to see some forward momentum again. Jason Carr said Hahahahahaha, home page, here we come! ;) Actually, I posted this yesterday and threw it on my Steam activity feed... :D The site is new, but I already get 20-25 hits a day. Figured it was worth a shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 Hahahaha...that is AWESOME. And hilarious. Thanks for that, Hippyshake. I gotta work that into a blog post somehow. I should be able to link you in the next release blog post. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippyshake Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 No worries, I did it just because I wanted to. :) How would you feel about me doing a series of tutorial / tips posts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 I would absolutely love that. I'll be sure to link to you one way or another. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippyshake Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 Jason Carr said I would absolutely love that. I'll be sure to link to you one way or another. :) Awesome, thanks. I'd ask that you wait to link me until I get a few done, please. I've purchased the domain name bundlejunkie.com too, as I really want to make this a site that's dedicated to Indie devs/publishers and bundles. I'll be focusing on specific bundles, games, and developers, with regular content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 Very cool, will do. Be sure to update us here on the forums whenever you post a new article. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippyshake Posted May 8, 2015 Share Posted May 8, 2015 Jason Carr said Very cool, will do. Be sure to update us here on the forums whenever you post a new article. :) Thanks. The new domain is up at http://www.bundlejunkie.com/ but there's no new content yet. I need to fix that horrible layout first. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted May 8, 2015 Share Posted May 8, 2015 Nice. Screw the layout...it's fine. WE NEED CONTENT. :P Just kidding. If my Dad saw that I'd be in trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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