I noticed that Kerbal Space Program recently added another Easter egg to the Mun, which was enough reason for me to fire up the game again. (It was given away for free on Epicgames recently, so you probably have it!) I had to reinstall it as it wouldn’t launch with my mods, but when I fired it up I saw there are now training missions. I jumped ahead to the two Mun missions. The first one is getting from Kerbin orbit to the Mun. The instructions are clear and fairly easy to follow, I imagine, for someone who hasn’t done […]
Games
Play the original Monkey Island
A few months ago, news broke that a new Monkey Island game would be released in 2022! I have to confess, I never played any of the Monkey Island games. I was aware of them but point and click adventures really aren’t my thing. Many years ago I bought the first Simon the Sorcerer game because I thought it had something to do with Discworld. The graphics and speech in the game were outstanding but after only a short time I got stuck and gave up. So, what’s this Monkey Island thing about then? How do I play the original […]
Games
“Hello World” on the BBC Micro
You too can create a simple “HELLO WORLD” loop on the BBC Micro by visiting the Virtualbeeb website. You can also play a selection of games! I used to play Elite on the C64 and that’s where I got my demoscene handle from but I had never played it on the BBC. On the C64 it’s a single load. The whole game fits into 64KB of memory. No loading from tape or disk once it loads, but I was shocked to hear the virtual disk drive start up when I launched out of the space station! Once into space the […]
Games
My Steam Account Was Hacked
Late on Thursday evening I received an email from an ex-Automattic friend who asked if my Steam account was compromised because he received a message from me saying, [8:34 PM]DOC: What’s up mate [8:45 PM]DOC: may i ask u favor?sorry for disturbing u btw I don’t call anyone “mate”, I don’t use “u”, I use punctuation. It didn’t sound like me so it raised red flags immediately for him. In a panic I checked my Steam account and I still had access to it. Steam Guard was still active and I hadn’t received any emails about changes to my account. […]
Games
Dyson Sphere Program
Build machines to automate building more machines to automate researching new technologies to build more machines and eventually build a Dyson Sphere around the local sun. Rinse and repeat in a new solar system. There’s so much in this early access game but even at this early stage I can easily recommend Dyson Sphere Program if you are a fan of Factorio or Satisfactory. I got bored of the former and never played the latter. DSP hits the spot for me. For help check out the related Steam community, the DSP subreddit or any of the numerous Youtube videos on […]
Games
Masters of the Universe Barbarian Style
A long time ago in 1987 a game called Barbarian made it’s way to the popular computers of the time. It featured brawny characters fighting to the death to rescue the scantily clad princess (or some such nonsense, game stories didn’t make much sense back then). It was a great game with memorable music, fluid graphics, gruesome bloody moves and a goblin that would kick the head of your decapitated foe off the side of the arena. The gameplay got boring with time of course but and it was probably more infamous for the cover photo than anything else.. Anyway, […]
Games
The Bohemian Rhapsody Roller Coaster
Just last week I installed OpenRCT2 so I’m glad Youtube showed me this fabulous roller coaster synchronised with Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody!
Games
Did E.T. come to Ireland?
I don’t remember E.T. making a big impression on my life in 1982. I never saw the movie back then, and a couple of years ago watched half of it before falling asleep in front of the telly. I guess you had to be there when it was first released? Ireland in the 1980s was a country in recession. I certainly knew nobody with a 2600 console so we were spared the abomination that was the official game of the movie. While we had some sort of Pong clone in the early ’80s we moved away to “proper” computers like […]
Games
Creeper World 3 – Fortress Siege
This game is ridiculous. I love it. If you’re a fan of tower defense games you’ll love this real time strategy game. Wikipedia describes it as a, mix of real-time strategy and tower defense, where there is only one enemy and it can only be repelled rather than destroyed. The player must hold back a purple mass called the “Creeper”, which has already destroyed most of humanity and is now attacking Odin City, humanity’s last bastion. This is done by placing towers onto the battlefield which shoot at the Creeper. The main goal of the game is to connect the […]
Games
Retro Asylum on Stunt Car Racer
The guys on the Retro Asylum podcast played Stunt Car Racer this month. That game is one of my favourites. A wild roller coaster of a game where you literally drive a car around a roller coaster. I played the C64 version for hours on end and listening to them prompted me to set up FS-UAE again as I wanted to try out the Amiga version once more. I think I’ve only ever played that version in emulation as I didn’t have the game when I had an Amiga 500. Anyway, FS-UAE is a great emulator based on the Winuae […]