MARBLE MADNESS

Marble Madness aged incredible well, as if its makers knew there would one day be a retro-mania spanning across media such as music,film, gaming etc. So all the innovations used on the cabinet - the trackball used instead of a joystick to help you immerse into the game's world and its unique physics (and no buttons- a sincere thank-you to whoever came up with this idea!), the stylish graphics that could pass for some contemporary nostalgia-driven graphics of today, the interesting soundtrack that used a unique Yamaha audio chip that propelled  this 1984 title  to an almost 16-bit era soundwise. And it's as hard as an 80s' game gets- I remember being entertained and frustrated at the same time playing this in the arcade.

I have yet to try it on some emulator and although I guess it won't feel the same, it'll  still be worth revisiting for its architecture and physics.

BLUE WHALE

After reading the Big Whale Suicide game hysteria elegantly debunked in my favourite local computer magazine (Svet Kompjutera,July2017, p.43)  I started thinking about art in gaming and art in general and how it exists even if its sole existence is based on documentation and not on its actual physical presence/ form.
Social media games have been extremely popular since their very inception and a number of unique ideas have sprouted to this very day, but the fact that media constructed a game  around a forum meme tricking global post-truth population into thinking it existed is nothing short of revolutionary.
I always speak of the necessity of coming up with new genres in gaming- well, here's one! It's refined, it borders on art and its practices, it spurs bigotry, paranoia, xenophobia, anti-millennial hysteria,confirms new media uses and practices...
The supposed author of the meme-game wrote a new page in gaming without knowing it.

COLOSSAL CAVE ADVENTURE

This game was not only the first text adventure game ever, but also the game that inspired many rogue-like and role-playing elements in the games that were to come. Exploring a mysterious cave to find  the rumoured riches comes with simple and effective  sets of commands and the narrative unfolding of the story that is entertaining and conversational enough to keep you interested throughout. Even some words and sentences from the game became concepts in later games. For a pre-80s computer game this must have been a true revelation.

I played this game on  my ZX as a kid, and I greatly enjoyed playing it and looking at the accompanying pics , but when  a friend of mine recently posted the news of the original version being available online I had to try it, realizing I enjoyed it more. It probably had to do with the absense of pics and the feats of imagination that make the game so enjoyable.Playing a book and not a movie. And this comes from someone who never enjoyed text adventure games that much anyhow.

A true gem that needs to be played and appreciated.

 http://www.amc.com/shows/halt-and-catch-fire/exclusives/colossal-cave-adventure