Wolfenstein 3D - 18 Years Old, and Now an Online Game

"Wolfenstein 3D Game"
Hypergames

That's a playable online version of the old Wolfenstein 3D 1st-person shooter.

It's been a while since Wolfenstein was at the cutting edge of virtual-reality games, so here's some background:

"Wolfenstein 3D"
3D Realms
("Due to the game content, this game may not be ordered by residents of Germany.")

"The story: You're William J. 'B.J.' Blazkowicz, the Allies' bad boy of espionage and a terminal action seeker. Your mission was to infiltrate the Nazi fortress Castle Hollehammer and find the plans for Operation Eisenfaust, the Nazi's blueprint for building the perfect army. Rumors are that deep within the castle the diabolical Dr. Schabbs has perfected a technique for building a fierce army from the bodies of the dead. It's so far removed from reality that it would seem silly if it wasn't so sick. But what if it were true?

"As an escaped prisoner in a Nazi war prison, you will move smoothly through a 3D world full of amazing detail and animation Unlike other 3D games, you'll run through a sensational and realistic 3-D environment, with intelligent moving guards and opponents.

"WINNER OF 3 SHAREWARE INDUSTRY AWARDS, INCLUDING PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD!

"Wolfenstein 3-D has won these RETAIL industry awards in 1992:..."

The original release, according to 3D Realms, was May 5, 1992. That'll be 18 years back, this year.

In terms of graphics, it's no Myst: and I'm quite sure that there have been more sophisticated games made since 1992. But at the time, Castle Wolfenstein was hot stuff. And, for me, still fun to play.

Finally, the matter of the game not being available to people in Germany. Chancellor Hitler's term in office made a deep and lasting impression on quite a large number of people, Germans included. The German government, for good or ill, has decided to place limits on what sort of references to the Nazi period can be made.

---

A tip of the hat to irish_brigid, for the heads-up on the online game.

A 'Making of Riven' Video: As Much as Fits in 2:56

"Tapped In: Riven"

gametap, YouTube (October 31, 2008)
video, 2:56

"How do you follow up the best-selling game of the 20th Century? Watch and see."

This is one of those 'the making of' videos, and a pretty good one.

Watching it, you'll learn how the developers of Riven moved from a garage, where they'd made Myst, to an old mattress shop; why Riven doesn't look like Myst; and why they went two years over schedule, making Riven.

In just under three minutes.

Obviously, this isn't one of those in-depth 'the making of' videos, where you learn about the childhood dreams of the principal developers, whether their desks were all in the same room, and what brand of coffee they used.

Or, for that matter, if Rand and Robyn Miller drank coffee.

I've got one of the 2,200,000-plus units of Riven, by the way - and think it's an impressive example of interactive software, and a wonderfully plausible virtual world.

More:

"Tapped in: Myst"
gametap, YouTube (October 31, 2008)

video, 5:21

Actually, it's about these closely-related games: Myst; Riven; Myst III Exile; Myst IV Revelation; and Myst V End of Ages.

Not-quite-related posts:

• "A Marriage Proposal in a Video Game: No Kidding"
  (September 28, 2009)
• "Big Digital Game Show in - Where Else? - Tokyo"
  (September 27, 2009)
• "Myst Video Tribute: Longer Than Most; Better Than Most"
  (September 2, 2009)
• "Gamers are Geezers, Apparently: 35, Overweight, and Bummed Out"
  (August 23, 2009)
• "The Tuttles: A Family of Four in Cyberland"
  (July 1, 2009)
• "China Protects Online Gamers: Another Dubious Idea"
  (January 18, 2009)
• "Wii Bowling: Ever Have One of Those Days?"
  (January 13, 2009)
• "Mabinogi: Another Online Game, and a Wonderful Time-Waster"
  (December 30, 2008)
• "Top 10 Games of 2008, in Wired Magazine's Opinion"
  (December 23, 2008)
• "Video Games, the Great Depression, and Monopoly: Yes, There is a Connection"
  (December 14, 2008)
• "RuneScape: Higher Definition, More Buildings, More Features"
  (July 18, 2008)
• "Adventure Quest: For Those With Time on Their Hands"
  (August 14, 2007)

The Tuttles: A Family of Four in Cyberland

"The Tuttles Madcap Adventures"
girlsgogames

"Travel through trap-ridden landscapes with the members of the Tuttle Family on their collecting adventure!..."

"...Collect all objects you can while avoiding obstacles and dangerous objects. When you have collected the main objects of each level, head to the exit."

Rated four of five hearts.

This online game has you guiding the Tuttles - a family of four - toward prizes and away from obstacles. You 'attack enemies' by pushing the space bar.

Mom Tuttle attacks with a hefty swing of her purse. (Don't laugh: those things can be massive.) The game starts with mom Tuttle going through a store, picking up floating gems and toilet paper, and avoiding spills on the floor.

Dad's next, flying the family van (it's got wings and tail fins). The van doesn't seem to have an attack mode: pressing the space bar speeds it up. His obstacles are mostly ducks with absolutely no sense of self-preservation.

This game isn't going to replace Mario Brothers, but it's fun - and free. The game play is strictly in the two dimensions of the screen, but the graphics are pretty good, and give an passable illusion of depth. The background music is a notch or two above 'elevator music,' and the characters comment on their actions as they go along.

A tip of the hat to #3 daughter, for pointing this game out to me.

All Tetris, All the Time

The Lemming went a little overboard on Tetris today: maybe. It's the 25th anniversary of this remarkable video game, and Alexey Pajitnov's wonderfully simple falling-blocks puzzle game is an entrenched feature in American - and apparently, global - culture: so maybe devoting all three posts to Tetris isn't too much.

The Lemming will be back, with distinctly Tetris-free posts, tomorrow. Life, the universe, and everything permitting, of course.

All Tetris, all the time:

• "Tetris Necklaces, Keychains, Wall Hangings - - - Will it Never End?"
  (June 6, 2009)
• "Human Tetris - The Video"
  (June 6, 2009)
• "Tetris: Invented in Russia (This Time, Chekov's Right)"
  (June 6, 2009)

Tetris: Invented in Russia (This Time, Chekov's Right)

Tetris is 25 years old today. Because the game is so much a part of American (and global) culture, this post will have more quotes/excerpts and links than most.

One more thing: That cryptic "Chekov" reference gets explained, near the end of this post.

Tetris: Lots of Blocks, Lots of History

Tetris
The company's own website

"Celebrating 25 Years of the Tetris Effect"

"Play Tetris Now!"

(The "Play Tetris Now!" link leads you to an opportunity to "Play a two minute free-for-all against five opponents!" Considering my game-playing skills (June 1, 2009), I passed. Looks like fun, though.)

Tetris: A Quarter-Century of Falling Blocks

"25 Years Later: Tetris still permeating game society"
WMBF (June 5, 2009)

"The game of falling puzzle pieces is celebrating a pretty impressive milestone. Fans may remember it as one of the first games on home entertainment systems, Gameboys, and now cell phones. But it has even older and harder to find roots.

"It's a cult classic that was part of an era. It's Tetris and it's turning 25. "It's falling blocks. You have to line them up. That's how you complete each row," said David Ford, owner and operator of Charleston Game Room. "It just didn't stick very long...."

"...According to Ford, so many games were released in such a short time span that eventually the quality was lacking. By the time Japan introduced a merciless showering of odd-shaped box thingies to be puzzled together, gamers were in a state of overload...."

"Harder to Find Roots?" Doesn't Everybody Know it Was Invented in Russia?

"Happy Birthday to the Greatest Game Ever - Tetris Turns 25"
Wired GeekDad (June 4, 2009)

"This month, Tetris turns 25. Let's ponder that thought for a moment. That means back in 1984 the game was created by Alexey Pajitnov while he was working at the Moscow Academy of Sciences. The cold war ended right after that. Could Tetris have meant that much to the world? Well, I'm not sure about that coincidence, but it sure meant a ton to the lot of us. I think I speak for every geek, mild gamer and well, pretty much everyone else when I say that Tetris is the greatest game ever created. So after 25 years of playing Tetris we have to take a moment to reflect on one of man's greatest gaming accomplishments.

"First, let's talk history. As we all know, a young Alexey Pajitnov created the game while working for the Moscow Academy of Sciences. If you didn't know that, I mentioned it in the previous paragraph. The rights to the game were owned at that time by the Motherland Russia herself, as it was created under a communist state...." [emphasis mine]

"Tetris Maker Looks Back at 25 Years of Falling Blocks"
PC World (June 4, 2009)

"Tetris -- possibly the most popular casual computer game of all time -- celebrates its 25th anniversary on June 6th. Its creator, Alexey Pajitnov, looked back at the phenomenon he created at this week's E3 Expo in Los Angeles...."

"...In the 1980s, Pajitnov was a mathematician specializing in AI research at a Russian university. As a hobby, he relaxed by creating games. He said that couldn't have imagined [!] the international phenomenon it would become when he designed Tetris in 1984.

"Most gamers were introduced to Tetris when it was bundled with the first Nintendo Game Boy or in the Microsoft Entertainment Pack for Windows. Pajintov's business partner, Henk Rogers, laughingly quotes a friend who commented on Pajitnov's eventual move to the U.S.: 'He went from one evil empire to another (Microsoft).'..."

"...Imitation is the sincerest (and most lucrative) form of flattery

"Tetris has also been the victim of both piracy and imitation that too often has crossed the line to outright plagiarism. From the get-go, there were significant licensing issues related to Tetris, as Intellectual Property (IP) was very hard to defend in the Soviet Union.

"By 1996, Pajitnov and Rogers entered into a partnership to manage and license the game -- The Tetris Company. They now own the full rights to the game, and will vigorously defend it against interlopers who are engaged in outright Tetris-related fraud or plagiarism...." [emphasis mine]

Invented in Russia? I remember Chekov

"Interview with Henk Rogers, video game visionary, on saving the planet"
VentureBeat (April 22, 2008)

"Henk Rogers is an entrepreneur who knows how to hustle. You can thank him as the man who introduced Tetris to the Western hemisphere...."

"...In 1988, he saw a video game called 'Tetris' at a Las Vegas trade show. He discovered it was being distributed under a master license which wasn't being honored....His success in securing the rights to Tetris helped Nintendo beat Atari in the console wars. At the same time, Rogers helped the game's Russian inventor, Alexey Pajitnov, move to the United States. In 1996, the rights for Tetris reverted to Pajitnov. Rogers moved from Japan to Hawaii, where he founded Blue Planet Software to manage the intellectual property rights for Tetris. He also founded Blue Lava Wireless in 2002 to develop mobile gaming software. In 2005, he scored big as he sold Blue Lava and the Tetris rights to Jamdat for $137 million. (Jamdat has since been acquired by Electronic Arts.)..."

The VentureBeat article helped me understand why WMBF's reporter was cautious about giving Alexey Pajitnov credit for inventing Tetris. I remember the mid-eighties, when Tetris and tetroid games started making the rounds, and some of the discussions over who developed in and who ripped off what from whom.

After a while, word got around that Tetris had been invented in Russia. And, it looks like it was.

Still, a history of the rights - real and pirated - to Tetris are such a tangled mess, that I can't blame a reporter for not trying to sort it all out - and still make deadline.

Tetris, Chekov, and Quadrotriticale

I told you I'd get back to Chekov.

I was born in the Truman administration, so I've seen a change here and there in American - and global - cultures. There was a period when it seemed that everything was invented in Russia: according to one circle of acquaintances. Other people were equally convinced that everything was invented in America, so is sort of evened out.

The original "Star Trek" series picked up on that cultural oddity form time to time, giving Ensign Chekov some memorable lines. One of my favorites is from "The Trouble With Tribbles." The scene is Station K7's bar:

KIRK: (shows Chekov the packet of wheat) Mister Chekov, what do you make of this?
CHEKOV: Oh, quadrotriticale. I've read about this, but I've never seen any before.
KIRK: Does everybody know about this wheat but me?
CHEKOV: Not everyone, Captain. It's a Russian invention.
"The Trouble With Tribbles" (original air date December 29, 1967) The Star Trek Transcripts

In the case of Tetris, it looks like the inventor really is from Russia, and developed this enduringly popular game while living in his homeland. It's nice to see a case where an inventor, author, or artist, gets rewarded - or at least recognized - for his or her work.

Dots: a Simple Game That May be Harder Than it Looks

Dots
Athey Educational, U.K.

"Connect the dots and try to make more boxes than the computer."

I lost my first game, 49-0.

"Dots" is, as far as I can tell, the same as a pencil-and-paper game my wife taught our kids. I asked her, just now, what it was called. She shrugged her shoulders and told me it was "a dot-to-dot game," but she didn't have a name for it.

Despite my first encounter's outcome, I think this Dots game is fun.

Peta Protests on World of Warcraft - I am Not Making This Up

"Animal rights protests reach Warcraft's world"
Yahoo! Games (April 7, 2009)

"In its latest attempt to stop Canadian seal clubbing, animal rights organization PETA is taking its protests to new shores.

"Specifically, PETA's planning a gathering in the icy northern kingdom of the world's biggest online game, World of Warcraft, where a team of four seal killers is apparently clubbing their way through the continent's baby animal population.

" 'Anyone who slaughters baby seals for their fur must surely be in service to the evil Lich King,' said PETA on a Facebook page set up to publicize the gathering, referencing one of Warcraft's key bad guys...."

The evil Lich King is a fictional character, by the way.

"PETA Invading World of Warcraft to Prevent Clubbing of Baby Seals"
MAXIMUMPC (April 8, 2009)

"PETA has decided – in a nutshell – to grief a bunch of WoW players because they’ve taken to bonking adorable-ish piles of pixels with equally imaginary weapons. Can we do Mac users next?

" 'That's right, gamers, get ready: This Saturday, World of Warcraft (WoW) players will have the opportunity to combat a team of four Horde seal killers. We need your help to stop them from bashing in the heads of any more seals!” reads a post on PETA's blog.

" 'Activists from across the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor are banding together to put a stop to the atrocious seal slaughter. Anyone who slaughters baby seals for their fur must surely be in service to the evil Lich King.'..."

Again, the evil Lich King is fictional, and the World of Warcraft is an online game - presumably PETA people know this, and are simply following the teachings of Captain Planet.

Interestingly, a post at eurogamer.net got pulled down some time in the last two days. There could be perfectly good technical or procedural reasons: but I wonder if the eurogamer folks didn't realize that PETA was making a fool of itself - and wanted to limit the damage.

I think fur seals are cute, by the way, and all that: but come on, let's keep at least a toe or two in the real world.

---

Thanks to #1 daughter, for providing the links - along with "Just when you thought they couldn't get any weirder...".

Now there are Two "Heroes of the Hudson"

Now there are two "Heroes of the Hudson" - US Airways pilot Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger and an online video game. The online game lets players save the lives of everyone on an airliner, and be a hero.

And some people feel that it's - you guessed it - "offensive."

From today's Sky News article:

"Outcry Over 'Hero Of Hudson' Game"
Sky News via Yahoo! News (January 31, 2009)

"Web-users have been given the chance to become the 'Hero of the Hudson' - but some have branded the online game as 'offensive'.

"US Airways pilot Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger's heroic splash landing into the River Hudson earlier this month saved dozens of lives and was heralded as a miracle.

"Now a team of developers has created an online video game that lets users try their hand at his landing...."

Yesterday, Sky News posted:

"Be Your Own 'Hero Of The Hudson' "
Sky News via Yahoo! News (January 30, 2009)

"Web-users have been given the chance to become the 'Hero of the Hudson'....

"...But the new game has had a mixed response online.

One blogger comments: "The game is about as primitive as you can get.

"Most of the comments below the game hit it on the head. It's boring, stupid and offensive."

Yet it is spreading fast across the web and has already been played by several thousand people."

I wanted to check out the game, at tastyplay.com, but all I got was a "This Account Has Exceeded Its CPU Quota" notice. Looks like quite a few people are about as insensitive as I am.

"Offensive?" Seriously?

I don't know whether the people who think that "Hero of the Hudson" is offensive because they think it

• Is boring, primitive, and stupid
• Celebrates heroic acts
• Will cause mental anguish and emotional pain (or is that mental pain and emotional anguish?) to the survivors
• Exploits Jennifer Hudson

Whatever the reason, a whole lot of other people enjoyed it. As for the chronically-offended, that's a matter for another post.

---

I ran across some of these pages while doing research and Web surfing recently. In the interests of bringing these gems from the wonderfully weird world of human nature to your attention, I wrote this post, and "Remember Political Correctness? - Superperson, Dicjanetionaries, and an Article in a Processed Tree Carcass" (January 31, 2009).

Enjoy.

Mabinogi: Another Online Game, and a Wonderful Time-Waster

Mabinogi
a Nexon online game

My daughters introduced this game to me. It's another of those 'massive multi-player' online games. Mabinogi lets players operate characters in a fantasy world that's rather like late-medieval Europe, except with magic and seriously over-sized spiders. Other monsters too, I understand.

It isn't a simple hack-and-slash: characters can fish, go to school, and (I understand) develop a moderately rich set of skills. Just to see what it's like, I loaded it (all 800 megabytes!) on my computer today, and got a character started.

In the process, I learned that I'll have to be careful about playing it: It's entirely too much fun - and has the potential for taking up huge tracts of time.

I play Runescape, another MMP game, from time to time. The big difference I see at this point is that Mabinogi has much more detailed graphics.

And a larger footprint on your hard drive.

Still, it's fun.

One more thing: there's a free version (that's what I played with today), and a not-so-free version. Also quite a few opportunities to spend (real) money.

Finally, I'm told that the dialogs and descriptions were originally written in Korean. The translations are quite understandable - but I suspect that some Korean idioms were translated word-for-word into English. An example: one character has a helmet that covers his face "up to his nose." The illustration shows a chap with a helmet that lets you see his mouth and chin, but not his nose, eyes, forehead, or hair.

The linguistic oddities haven't gotten in the way of playing the game, though.

Finally, my son is looking forward to being thirteen. One of the many reasons is that players of this game must be 13 or older.

Video Games, the Great Depression, and Monopoly: Yes, There is a Connection

"Recession's On, Game Sales Up: Let the Bad Times Roll!"
Starting a Small Business Without Losing My Mind (December 14, 2008)

"There's a lesson to be learned here: "November video game sales near $3 billion" (Associated Press (December 12, 2008)). That's up about 10% from last year at this time.

"Not bad for an economy in crisis...."

I'm reviewing one of my own blog posts again: but this one might actually be worth reading.

The point is that, although there really is a global economic crisis going on, and the American automotive industry isn't what it was in the fifties, there are some bright spots.

What I find personally frustrating is that I don't have much background in designing video games, and nothing in the works. Still, there's got to be some way to help people deal with a less-than-perky economy.

So, You Think You Know About Monopoly?

"Monopoly History" tells more about the history of Monopoly than you probably knew: including what the game was, before it got called "Monopoly."

Pinball: WALL-E Style

WALL-E Pinball
Disney/Pixar

It's fun, it's free, and if you play you'll be encouraged to buy the DVD or BlueRay Hi-Def version. But you won't have to.

The background music is likely to drive you nuts, if you sit and do nothing: but who'd play a pinball game that way? There are enough clicks, pings, whooshes, and other sounds set off by things on the table to keep the game acoustically interesting.

I thought there were enough chutes and targets to keep the play interesting: but I'm no pinball wizard.

And, WALL-E is in the sidebar, folded into a box. He unfolds himself when you play, and packs up again when the game is over. Cute, as is just about everything WALL-E does.

The "Visit the Official Site" button didn't work on my computer, but maybe this widget will get you there. I'm told there's another game, involving scrap, I think, that's fun, too.



I've posted about WALL-E's Web page before:

• "WALL-E: 'It's the Seven Hundredth Anniversary of Our Five-Year Cruise' "
  (June 29, 2008)

RuneScape: Higher Definition, More Buildings, More Features

I wrote a post about RuneScape last year ("Another Entertaining Time-Waster " (November 1, 2007)). The massive online adventure game is still around. It still lets players have their characters learn to fish, cook, chop wood, and several other skills: as well as the usual hack-and-slash.

RuneScape made a massive upgrade available to the public this week. The graphics are greatly improved: mostly a matter of higher definition, as they've pointed out, with a few added features. There's now something called an Achievement Diary, to help players keep track of what their characters have been up to.

Lumbridge, the town that each character starts out in, has a few new buildings, some old ones that have been moved, and a few new citizens.

RuneScape is fun. And, as I cautioned before, "I recommend that you set an alarm clock before you start playing."

Music Video, Featuring Runescape Player Characters

"Teh Last 0ne [RSMV] - Saving Me - Nickelback"
Youtube (June 12, 2008)

video 2:25

This imaginative music video features settings and characters from the massive online adventure game Runescape.

Enjoy!

Quests: An Observation for RPG Players

"World of Warcraft - Screenshot Gallery Image 2 of 11"

This is a bit of an in-joke for RPG (Role Playing Game) players.

Online Games: and They're Free

"Game Post"

"GamePost.com is a collection of free flash games and shockwave games. Play a game!"

Digital paper dolls, "Territory War," "The Endless zombie rampage," "Tanks," and that's just the first page.

If you're old enough, you may remember the old 'artillery' game that "Tanks" evolved from.

News, Comics, Games: and Family-Friendly

"ArcaMax / Family Friendly News & Fun"

"ArcaMax Publishing is a leading provider of family-friendly news and fun on the Internet. We send out over 70 features and more than 700 books to 3 million subscribers by email -- all free of charge."

ArcaMax also has pretty good website. This blog's previous post features 'today's' Zits: one of my regular online comics stops.

Another Entertaining Time-Waster

"RuneScape" - the massive online adventure game by Jagex Ltd. offers Role Playing Game players virtual 'career opportunities.' As well as the conventional hack-and-slash, players can have their characters learn to fish, cook, chop wood, and several other skills.

There's a free area, intended to whet your appetite to the point where you pay for more.

RuneScape is fun: and I recommend that you set an alarm clock before you start playing.

End Hunger, Ten Grains of Rice at a Time?

"Free Rice / for each word you get right, we donate ten grains of rice to a hungry person through an international aid agency."

I can think of worse ways to spend your time.

(Free Rice says that it is a sister site of the world poverty site, Poverty.com., and distributes rice through the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). FreeRice.com is registered by an individual, John Breen, of Bloomington, Indiana. I suppose that charities with massive staffs and east coast addresses are more impressive: but I don't have a bias against individual initiative.)

Adventure Quest: For Those With Time on Their Hands

This is not a blog, but it was too much fun to pass by.

"Adventure Quest is a free fully animated single-player role playing game." That's it, in a nutshell.

The game has a seemingly non-mnemonic URL, http://www.battleon.com/, but URL makes sense, once you realize that Battleon is the name of the village where your character starts out.

There's an "Information for Parents" page, which I appreciate.

I tried the game out: it's (for me) fun, easy to learn, and free of the sort of gratuitous gore and sleaze that oozes from much of the fantasy role playing word that I've experienced.

One warning: this game is an enormous time-waster. I spent rather more time "play-testing" it today than I meant to.

Enjoy, but I suggest that you set a timer before you begin.