Tag Archives: simulation

Capcom, PS1

One Piece Mansion: the puzzle of stress management

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One Piece Mansion is not a Capcom game I had any familiarity with whatsoever prior to receiving a surprise copy of it from a YouTube viewer a little while back.

I’ve spent a bit of time with it this evening, and there’s definitely some appeal there. It’s an exceedingly peculiar game, to be sure — and I’m all for exceedingly peculiar games at the best of times.

Thankfully One Piece Mansion backs its exceeding peculiarity up with some solid gameplay and original ideas, making it a worthwhile addition to your PlayStation library. Let’s take a closer look!

Continue reading One Piece Mansion: the puzzle of stress management →
Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z: Night Mission Pinball

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I’ve always known subLOGIC and Bruce Artwick for their work on bringing Flight Simulator into the world — but I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that they produced one of the most impressively accurate (and customisable) pinball sims of the 8-bit era, too.

Night Mission Pinball may seem simple and straightforward on paper, since it only features a single table, but the depth of simulation on offer — plus the commitment to recreating the physicality of pinball on original hardware — is impressive stuff, particularly when you start delving into the highly tweakable “fix” mode.

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

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Simmin' and Chillin', Videos

Simmin’ and Chillin’: BeamNG.drive – Utah Road Trip, Community Management and the Joy of Sims

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Do you have games that you enjoy just firing up and chilling out with? Games that don’t have any real “point” to them, but you find them enjoyable regardless?

Simulations are a great way to satisfy that particular gaming need — particularly if they err on the more freeform, unstructured side of things. So I thought they might provide a good backdrop for a nicely chilled out, irregular series where we can just chat; I can tell you what I’ve been up to of late, and you can enjoy some pleasantly relaxed, comfy action.

Check out the first installment of this occasional series in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

Videos

Atari A to Z: Gossip

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Today’s indie scene is quite rightfully regarded as one of the most creative spaces in the games industry. But it’s been that way for a lot longer than most people realise.

Some truly fascinating games came out through the Atari Program Exchange or APX, a programme run by Atari where consumers (or indeed Atari employees) could submit their pet projects and get them published by the company — perhaps the earliest take on today’s “indie specialist” publishers such as Devolver Digital and its ilk.

One such example that it seems never quite made it to final release was Gossip, a fascinating game by Atari’s master of simulations, Chris Crawford. Gossip is an attempt to simulate social interactions using a mathematical model of affinity as a basis. As a game, it takes a bit of getting used to, but as you start to figure out what’s going on it becomes a fascinating experience. Check out my attempts to woo the virtual ladies in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

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Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Casino Roulette

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Casino games, played solo on your home computer or console, may seem largely pointless… but they can be a good way of learning the rules or experimenting with “techniques”.

Of course, it’s a fool’s game to assume that any betting methods “work”, particularly in a game as inherently random as roulette — but if you’re playing in the comfort of your own home on your Atari ST, there’s no harm in trying a few systems for yourself, is there? Particularly when the manual is good enough to spell them out for you.

If nothing else, Casino Roulette for Atari ST allows us to appreciate quite how far speech synthesis has come in the last 30 years or so!

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Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Knights of the Sky

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’80s and ’90s MicroProse was most well-known for its jet fighter sims, but now and again they branched out into something a bit different.

Knights of the Sky was an ambitious attempt to simulate rickety old World War I biplanes rather than high-tech jet fighters — something that only became possible due to improving technology and mastery over the available hardware.

It’s a cool game, for sure — but be prepared to live without a bunch of modern conveniences you might have come to take for granted in more recent aircraft!

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Pool Shark

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It might be hard to imagine now, but there was a time in gaming history when it was considered to be a seriously impressive technical achievement to get more than two or three things moving simultaneously on a screen.

Atari’s 1977 release Pool Shark is an early example of the company continuing to push the fledgling medium of video games forward. Not only was it a game that demonstrated the power of microprocessor-based hardware rather than the earlier transistor-to-transistor logic technology, but it also had, like, a whole mess of balls flying everywhere.

And like many of these early Atari arcade games, it’s simplistic… but really rather addictive! Be sure to give it a try.

Atelier Arland Trilogy, New Game Plus, Videos

New Game Plus: King and Knight – Atelier Rorona DX #15

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We’re into the third and final year of Rorona’s assignments in our New Game Plus run through Atelier Rorona DX, and some interesting mysteries are starting to be revealed about a bunch of characters.

I’m really enjoying this run, as I’m seeing some scenes I’ve never seen before; the additional “free” time I have available thanks to all the stuff I’ve carried over from my previous playthrough is making it much easier to build up everyone’s friendship values and see all their events.

I’m not sure if I’m on track for any of the “special” endings right now, but I’m certainly going to do my best in this final year to see what we can achieve!

Atelier Arland Trilogy, New Game Plus, Videos

New Game Plus: Closing Out Year 2 – Atelier Rorona DX #14

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It’s time to wrap up the second year of Rorona’s adventures with the final preparations for the next Annual Festival!

Of course, New Game Plus Rorona got all the boring stuff done absolutely ages ago, vastly ahead of schedule as usual, so instead we take some time to continue exploring the Dark Woods and see what we can find.

There are plenty of mysteries still surrounding our current party members Tantris and Lionela, too… so perhaps we’ll get a little closer to some answers today!

Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Lunar Lander

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I was extremely intimidated by Lunar Lander as a kid. Revisiting it today, I see that it’s not really anything to be scared by… but it still puts up a pretty stiff challenge, particularly on its harder levels!

Providing one of the earliest examples of a completely non-violent arcade game — and one with significant simulation-esque elements, at that — Lunar Lander is a game that would go on to influence a wide variety of other computer, console and arcade games. Primarily through that “turn and thrust” mechanic I tend to have such difficulty with!

Oh well. Let’s see if we can touch down safely at least once in my lifetime…

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.