Blog FeedA Blast From The Past
I like to think that I’ve seen most of the history of video games. Not all of it since I missed out on the truly early days of Pong and PacMan, although I did get to play both outside of the original arcades, but I’ve been there for about the past 20-years since my old Commodore 64. I think a lot of us like to look on the new games and marvel in just how far games have come during this time to the point that Doom now looks rubbish compared to the likes of Gears of War whereas we all remember having to pick our jaws up from the floor the first time that we saw id’s classic running and then rushing out to buy the 486 needed to do it justice. Yes, over the years gaming has come a long way. However, despite the number of great games that are available today or are coming soon, I still miss the simplicity of some of the old games. Have you ever had the feeling that the games today are a bit too complex or don’t have the charm of some of the games that you used to play back when Bon Jovi wasn’t just the “Old Man of Rock”? To be honest, I do but luckily for me some of the games that I played are being updated for the 21st Century with some lush graphics but (hopefully) retaining the classic gameplay of their respective forefathers.
On forums other than this blog (OK, the old Gamespy Forums) I have stated, on numerous occasions, that games like R-Type Delta are absolutely great because they take the classic action of the original games (which was great to begin with) and simply makes them look a lot prettier. It appears that I’m not the only one that feels this ways as there suddenly appears to be a few more remakes of classic games coming that aren’t just “Museum” games (port with no real updating) but rather an updating of the core game. Hurrah!
The Web and Internet in general seems to be populated by all sorts of services, some more useful than others. While this might be somewhat banal, I’m actually a really big fan of Amazon not because they are generally a cheap place to buy books and DVDs, but because of the value-added features that helps me to discover new authors, artists, etc. that I’ll like. Using the “customer’s who bought this item also bought” and “average customer review” features (ignoring the rather pants idea of allowing idiot gamers to review games and consoles not even released yet) has enabled me over recent years to find some great products because I have been able to tap into like-minded people’s preferences. However, yesterday I was made aware of a new service that I really like much more.
Well, we might as well address this subject. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (GTA:SA) has now been handed an “Adults Only” label by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) following the publication of the Hot Coffee modification that allows player to play a sex-based minigame and pressure from the US Democrat party. While it can be debated as to whether the inclusion of such a minigame should constitute a label that has resulted in it being pulled from the shelves of major retailer, I’d like to focus on the following quote from Rodney Walker, spokesman of Rockstar Games, that was published by 
Ah, summer. The summer brings many things but one thing happens every summer and which drives the UK mental. I’m, of course, referring to Wimbledon Fortnight and the grand “Henman Hill” (screenshot shamelessly borrowed from