History Lessons
If you thought that Asteroids was just a simple space shooter, think again.
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If you thought that Asteroids was just a simple space shooter, think again.
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History Lessons
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
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Like you Andy, I remember being there at the birth of such games and I NEVER remember hearing about such stories. (In fact the first one I can remember was The Dark Wheel which came with Elite, and I still read it from time to time)
Thinking back further, I can just remember 3D Ant Attack and Maziacs having a story back on the Speccy, but as my good friend of the time had a VCS (and another richer friend had an 800), the stories are still lost to me, so this generation can't have a clue of knowing.
Like you Andy, I remember being there at the birth of such games and I NEVER remember hearing about such stories. (In fact the first one I can remember was The Dark Wheel which came with Elite, and I still read it from time to time)
Thinking back further, I can just remember 3D Ant Attack and Maziacs having a story back on the Speccy, but as my good friend of the time had a VCS (and another richer friend had an 800), the stories are still lost to me, so this generation can't have a clue of knowing.
Wow, now that's a bit of lost video games history there. Video game history is still truly mysterious.
Am I the only one who misses such things? Long manuals with pages of back story and characterisation? I think we've lost something here...things like this can add depth to a game, in a way cinematics and cut sceens don't give...I don't know, maybe I'm just getting old...but I miss this shit.
That's quite interesting, I'd like to have been able to have the imagination to have all those supplemental materials, and then go play the game and have my mind blown. In today's gaming age where all games have stories of at least some sort, the very idea of gameplay being a totally separate entity from the story itself is ridiculous
I would have never thought that Asteroids, and especially Breakout, had a plot. I bet the movie is going to have nothing to do with it. Also may I ask what "Party favours" are? Is it some form of euphamism?
It's called Armageddon with Bruce Willis. They save the Earth by blowing a large asteroid into two smaller ones.scifidownbeat said:
Now that I think of it, the Gameboy Colour version of Asteroids had a similar story to this.
It all began to get a bit weird when you started to shoot down flying saucers and what looked like a variety of..things endowed with flagella during the later levels. I'm sure there's a plausible explanation, though.
That was a good game...
It all began to get a bit weird when you started to shoot down flying saucers and what looked like a variety of..things endowed with flagella during the later levels. I'm sure there's a plausible explanation, though.
That was a good game...
Because I only rented the cartridges back then, the rental stores never provided manuals. I've only started giving them a read a couple of years ago when I found some sites specialized in collecting them.Generic_Dave said:
They are interesting, and arguably necessary asset given the limited memory of games and all. But I always felt that whatever there was to be told, should be told in the game itself.
And I'm not talking about cutscenes, god forbid. I mean actually knowing what was going by taking part in it, not just passively watching it.
But it's pretty interesting to read manuals of games I've played back in the day. Curious to say the least.
But anyway.... so Asteroid has a backstory, huh? Uncanny.
Not at all. I can't speak to the "just getting old" part but I have no doubt that as games have matured, they've surrendered a certain sort of sophistication. These days we're lucky if we get a decent owner's manual. And as digital distribution becomes increasingly prevalent, you can expect that trend to continue.Generic_Dave said:
Nice bit of history lesson here. I must say I'm surprised to learn Asteroids, of all games, had a plot behind it. I think it's a good thing that as gaming matures these peripherals get incorporated into the actual game, to varying degrees.
On the note of the film. I've said this about every game-based movie I have heard of to date: if this does not end up as a bad movie, I will eat my own hat. So far, my hat remains uneaten.
On the note of the film. I've said this about every game-based movie I have heard of to date: if this does not end up as a bad movie, I will eat my own hat. So far, my hat remains uneaten.
Is that such a bad thing? Games are trying to become more accessible and convey information through the game itself. Even the game enthusiast that I am prefers to jump straight into the experience and learn through the game while playing, rather than go through manuals and texts. I don't see it as a surrender of sophistication - to be more accurate, that's not what I think is the sign that gaming as a whole has surrendered it.Malygris said:
I guess it depends on the kind of experience you're after. I love the extras, everything from owners manuals to whatever other "supplementary material" the publisher decides to include, and I'm always a bit disappointed when I crack open a new game and find nothing but a disc and a folded, two-page "manual" inside. Maybe the market has changed and gamers no longer want or care about that kind of stuff, but I still see it as something of a step backwards.
I don't think you're missing it due to age. I'm 15, and I miss those huge manuals too. I remember getting Warcraft 3 when I was 10 and seeing that big manual. The history of the races in that game was more engrossing and provided entertainment for me than some actual books.Generic_Dave said:
My favorite old game backstory is Chelnov! Atomic Runner. When one stormy {night}. A soviet coal miner get caught in a nuclear powerplant explosion and is transformed into the Chelnov! The atomic runner. He is also unable to take Dastarian evil solicitizations or something along those lines, the translation is awful. Music was kickarse though.
I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but when I play a game like Mass Effect (to pull a name off the top of my head) where they have screens and screens and screens of written data, but I gave up reading it about 4/5 hours after I started playing (not long when you consider how long it takes to get started with a custom character the first time), because well Hi-Def is great an all, but the format, on the screen, I just found it hard to get through, whereas had it been in a booklet format, I could have picked it up or put it down. Brought it on the bus, or toilet or whatever. Can't to that with my 360 to be sure.WickedArtist said:
Some kinda of back-story just lend themselves to the written word, if you have a page and a half of story sure, you can cram it into a couple of cinematics or whatnot, but if you have a really convoluted backstory / plot with lots of detail you can't put it all in, either you end up with MGS4's terrible ratio of playtime to cut scene or Mass Effect's volumes of in-game text.
And gods-dammnit I'm old and like things the way they used to be!!! Where are my slippers? Martha? Where's my pipe... ;-)