90's Child - Racing through the Decade

Atari Gran Trak 10 (1974)

Racing games have been one of the oldest genres of games as far as I can remember. The oldest racing game that I could find was Atari’s Gran Trak 10 in 1974. An arcade racer that was very expensive, as it was the first arcade game to use mask ROM chips. Nothing more than some dotted lines to mark out the track, and a steering wheel to take tight turns this game was the great granddaddy of racing games. It didn't really offer anything to the genre, as games took each next step in new and different directions, their evolution was as determined as driving a car could get.

The 90s saw a rise in popularity for the racing genre. Although the development of games was slow, we still saw many good games get released during this decade. Ridge Racer (1993) and Daytona (1993) were slugging each other for popularity. The first Need for Speed saw the light of day in 1994 and several other lesser titles following in the next few years. 1997 saw the five-year production of Gran Turismo come to fruition, one of the most realistic racing series to this day.


One of the first racing games I ever played, being a 90's child myself, was Destruction Derby (1995), a terribly rendered closed track racing game with three cars to choose from. It was also one of the first games to feature car damage that negatively affected car performance.

Destruction Derby (1995)

In the following years, I played but a handful of games, and racing games were not all that big at this time. Monster Truck Madness (1996) by Microsoft was one of my more memorable favourites; crushing cars never gets old, but the release of Need for Speed 2 (1997) peaked my interest in racing games again, with lengthy tracks, exotic cars (nine cars to choose) and decent physics, we were playing this for quite a while.

The next big release to hit the shelves for me was Micro Machines V3 (1998). Around this age, I loved my toy cars, and driving them in a game was one of the most enjoyable things I can remember from my younger years. The crazy tracks, jumping over bowls of cereal, shrinking down to race under a microscope, it was all so amazing. I was playing this game for many, many years.

At the end of the decade, racing games were trying different hats, and we saw the first Free Roaming world with Midtown Madness (1999), produced by Angel Studios, who we now know as Rockstar San Diego. Players were free to explore Chicago and races were open, allowing you to take whatever route you pleased. Oh, and you weren't allowed to hit pedestrians as they were the most amazing acrobats that could jump out of the way of any car.

Micro Machines V3 (1998)

The 2000s was where racing games really hit their groove and many titles flooded the market during this decade. I missed many releases early this decade as our computer wasn't good enough and I found myself playing more and more FPS. However, the cream of the crop are still here to this day. Need for Speed has seen its ups and downs, but continues to survive today's standards. Off-road racers found their ground in the mid noughties, and realistic racing sim Gran Turismo withstood the test of time. Since then, racing games have been to space and back, but the simplistic nature of the genre means we will always enjoy the unrivalled thrill of driving at such excessive speeds.

Sciences?

UPDATE 30/5/2013: TUG reached its goal of $215K and has been officially been declared funded! There is still just over a day to pledge on Kickstarter, but the devs have announced a follow-on Paypal campaign which you can donate to and receive similar rewards as on Kickstarter. More info to follow on the Nerd Kingdom website at nerdkingdom.com.

Original Post:

It's interesting what you can find on the internets. Kickstarter has always been on of my favorite places to roam, you find some great projects and some down right rediculous ones. Someone I knew posted one of his projects on a site I frequent, so upon checking it out, I was most delighted.

TUG

It's such a different and strange project that I'd have difficulty trying to explain what the final game would be like.

"TUG is a multiplayer open-world sandbox-RPG using new technology and social sciences to directly involve players in the game’s design." - TUG Kickstarter Page

Ultimately, it's an MMO with more in-depth character (or Seed as they are called) development. Your character will change depending on how you play. Fight a lot and you'll start getting scars, eat unhealthy or large amounts of food and your character will gain weight. All these things have a purpose in the larger scope of the world.

"When you enter the game, you awaken as a newborn Seed: a near-human child without defenses, resources or practical skills. All you have to survive your first day are your wits, a set of simple clothes and a mysterious glowing gemstone embedded in the back of your right hand. It's enough -- barely enough -- and it'll be a challenge to live through the night, but it won't be your last challenge. Deserts, mountains, and forests will impede your progress; crumbled ruins will tempt you into their depths, and the cycles of the moon, the sun, and even the seasons will reveal more opportunities and greater mysteries. "

"Once you’ve begun to understand your world, you’ll have to figure out who you want to be, and your options are as wide open as the world around you. Maybe you’ll be a tough warrior, proud of your scars and your trusty blade. Maybe a simpler life, like that of a master craftsman, appeals to you -- trading with adventurers for rare resources and building works of genius and technology. Maybe the deeper mysteries of the world call to you, and you want to explore the ruins and the deeps, searching out the links between you, the stone on your arm, and the mystical energy that seems to bind everything around you together. Or maybe your loyalty lies with your fellow Seeds, and building a civilization to bring about even greater security and prosperity is what appeals to you."

"This is when your real adventure starts, because while all of these goals are within your grasp, none are easy to reach. Ancient civilizations, wild beasts and otherworldly technologies can serve as brilliant discoveries, grave dangers, or both -- and while you strive to master these challenges, a dark presence looms ever greater in the shadows as forgotten powers of old vie with each other for influence." - TUG Kickstarter Page

With less than a week to go, pledge your monies today!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nerdkingdom/tug-1

(All images are copyright or property of Nerd Kingdom and are used here for promotional purposes only. You may not download or link to these picture from this site)

Anomaly

With Anomaly 2 out on Steam and me currently downloading it, I thought I'd jump back a step and remember why I bought this game in the first place.

It all started two years ago, Anomaly: Warzone Earth was released on Steam and it seemed an interesting title. 'Reverse Tower Defence' was its catchline, it looked different, I was impressed by pretty pictures and even watched the trailer. So I bought it, and I wasn't disappointed.

All is quiet in the Middle East, until Alien death rains from above. Monstrocities grow from the ground and start zapping everything in sight. A bubble shield forms around a huge area of land, impenetrable to aircraft and radar, well, most of the time. It's just you and your humble little convoy to enter the battlefield and take on an unknown enemy.

Anomaly holds true to it's catchphrase, you are on the offensive as you guide and plan your convoy's movements along the broken roads and paths. Take out the enemy towers stragegically, control your commander to grab power-ups or distract turrets. Repair your convoy, add new units, save the world!

While the premise is simple enough, it requires some serious strategy to beat this game. Towers have a nasty habit of spawning out of nowhere and since you can't control your convoy directly, only the path they take, you could guide them straight down an Alien shooting gallery. The various Alien turrets have nasty side effects, such as turning your own convoy against you, so you are going to plan your attacks carefully. To be honest, it's nice to play a Tower Defence game from the other side of the fence. A pretty Tower Defence game at that. It looks very good for it's price.

Plot wise, it's pretty decent. It throws a few curveballs and the voice acting is solid, but it's nothing to rave about. The game gets a bit crazy on the difficulty curve sometimes, the last level is totally insane and I've never actually been able to beat it. The never ending spawning turrets, the overall lack of supplies, the huge boss; it was just too much to handle. I watched a walkthrough video and I still don't know how they did it.

With Anomaly 2, I'm hoping they make it bigger and better. I know they are introducing Transformers, so where can that possibly go wrong? As long as I don't see Michael Bay around, I'll be happy.

Retro Rewind - Nuking All Across The World

Remember 15 years ago? I remember when our computer was a huge box of a tower that was lighter than anything, because it had nothing in it. We had to get a special video card which could support shading for this one game I wanted to play. There was old tube monitor, a plain white mouse and keyboard and one hell of a good time. It may have taken more than five minutes to boot up, but once it got there, it was fun times ahead.

Being good kids, we didn't spend too much time on the computer. A few hours at a time per day was more than enough for us, and one game I definately enjoyed was Duke Nukem. I played the old sidescolling demo, which actually contained 5 full sized missions, and the then all fancy 3D version. Just to point out that 3D back then was flash new stuff and this was one of the first games I player which actually allowed you to look up, as awkward as it was without mouse support.

I happily picked up the entire Megaton edition of Duke Nukem 3D on Steam not long ago. Even though it now has mouse support, I quickly got a stark reminder how difficult games were back then compared to now. I played Hollywood Holocaust (the first level) on Hard and got my butt handed to me in lead. That's a big problem these days, games are meant to be played, not be a challenge. I'd like to see a Modern Warfare elitist play this game on the hardest setting, the crying would be a fantastic sight.

Games were creative back then, even original compared to todays standards. Playing through the 'Life's A Beach' campaign, Duke faces off with tropical flavored aliens armed with water pistols. It is insane, but still a joy to play; not many games let you ride a waterslide while shooting aliens in the face these days.

Duke Nukem is old, there's no getting around that. Anyone who wants to play it is going to have to get past the pixel graphics, and although it now has a 'Smoothing' option, I personally prefered the pixellated view. If you're going retro, you gotta go all the way. There is still fun to be had, but like many old games, it's best enjoyed in small doses so your mind doesn't collapse on itself screaming at you to stop subjecting it to such a simple game. It doesn't even have iron sights! Point and Click baby!

In the words of Duke; Life's a bitch, and then you die!

(P.S. Please don't mention Forever, otherwise Duke will come for you while you sleep. I think he's still got that shrinking gun too.)

Hats Off

Team Fortress 2...it's been a long time.

I used to play TF2 on a regular basis about three years ago. I only jumped on it about once during that gap for a Lan, but I downloaded it again and donned my precious few hats and equipment to enter the fray once again.

After playing for a total of about 8 hours in the last week, I've earned about a dozen new items and a handful of achievements. It was then I realised how much happened while I was away.

TF2 became free-to-play, which I think is a nice move on Valve's part, and a little bit of a kick in the balls for people who bought the game all those years ago before said freeness. A little bit of compensation wouldn't have gone astray, but money is money and they probably put it towards Half-Life 3. Hahahahaha...oh that was funny, but now I'm sad.

So after the flood of new players came for the free game and went, I can appriciate the community now that the game has been around long enough to have a built a sizable, but decent fanbase. Then the tide of new players came, probably got pawned by the better, more experienced players, and those who rage and cry would have quit, but those with integrity kept at it and became good players. So what are we left with? A free game with a very, very friendly, but competitive atmosphere. During my time playing, I've nothing but enjoyed my time on a variety of servers. Players are friendly, the game is challenging and I've never had that nagging feeling that someone is using hacks, nor did anyone claim someone was. Let's face it, nobody knows if it's hacks or just some bizarre item the other player is using.

Items! So many items! My little collection of items may be insignificant compared to the swathe of collectables others have accrued, but I know I have a few special rare items for pre-purchasing Steam games or special in-game unlocks from a bygone era. See my fancies? YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM! But seriously, every time I play now, I see a variety of styles and items, I see different players all the time, and it's very colourful.

It's also nice to see Valve supporting it's community with custom maps. They've just done this recently with CS:GO and I can honestly say a big 'Thank You' to the boys and girls over there for being such a pleasant company to have around, especially compared to the big dogs of EA, Ubisoft and the other money-hungry, community smiting companies out to fill their bottom line.

I haven't gotten to play the co-op yet, the MnM server search sits there forever finding me a server and it's very annoying. I don't like spending real money on in-game items, like the Tour of Duty tickets, because if the game ever shuts down, you get no compensation for your lost items. Such was the case with the Pet Society Facebook game. My fiancé spent a decent, but not excessive amount on special items and rare collectables. Now with the app shutting down, all that money is gone forever.

In all, I'm glad I snuck back to Team Fortress 2. With my fancies, they never knew I left!

The Blog also got a facelift for the first time in a few years. Hope the new design soothes your eyeballs.

Also, if you like TF2 and webcomics, I've been reading, and quite enjoying NerfNow!! A webcomic about TF2 and other games, check it out at the Nerf Now website!