Robert Allen Rusk — LiveJournal

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Web Name: Robert Allen Rusk — LiveJournal

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By logging in to LiveJournal using a third-party service you accept LiveJournal's User agreementA Complete Listing of My WorkraruskJune 20th, 2013For this blog post I am listing all of the guides and documents that I have written. Because I can edit my posts here I can therefore update this one when I make new additions and revisions. I decided to do this because this may be better and simpler then going to the listing over at GameFAQs. Some of my work have won awards from various websites and will be listed with each awarded document. All of the documents listed here will have a direct link to its place at GameFAQs (my preferred main contribution site).**UPDATE (7/5/15): Added a new guide to this entry, Godzilla (PS3).Strategy GuidesGrand Theft Auto IIIVersion 9.0 [Revision 26] (April 2016)Platforms: PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, Xbox, PCThis was the second game that I decided to write a guide on and has gone through many changes since its creation.Grand Theft Auto: Vice CityVersion 8.0 [Revision 26] (April 2016)Platforms: PlayStation 2, , PlayStation 4, Xbox, PCThis was the game that made me want to become a FAQ writer and was the hardest to write since I had not done one before. Has been referenced by other FAQ writers.Grand Theft Auto: San AndreasVersion 8.0 [Revision 17] (March 2016)Platforms: PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, XboxAwards: GamerHelp s Highest Ranked FAQ (April 2005)This was one of the harder guides to write due to the massive size of the game. This guide clocks in at over a megabyte in size.Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City StoriesVersion 4.2 [Revision 11] (January 2015)Platform: PlayStation 2The guide to this prequel for Grand Theft Auto III was made easier to write because I could use some of what I had written for GTA3 as reference since it was set in the same city.Grand Theft Auto: Vice City StoriesVersion 4.2 [Revision 11] (January 2015)Platform: PlayStation 2Just like with Liberty City Stories I could use my previous work as reference for the prequel to Vice City. However, the PS2 version had several differences between it and its PlayStation Portable counterpart.Grand Theft Auto IVVersion 4.7 [Revision 12] (July 2015)Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3Although the re-imagined Liberty City used in this game isn t extremely large my guide for this game came in at over a megabyte because of all the details within the title.Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and DamnedVersion 4.7 [Revision 11] (July 2015)Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3Awards: GameFAQs FAQ of the Month (April 2009)This guide didn t take too long to write up because the story took place in the same city and within the same storyline as the one within GTA IV.Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay TonyVersion 3.7 [Revision 8] (July 2015)Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3This guide follows the same structure as the one for The Lost and Damned but needed to go over the 100% Score requirements.Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown WarsVersion 1.6 [Revision 3] (January 2015)Platform: Nintendo DSThis sequel to GTA IV was the first guide I wrote for the Nintendo DS handheld platform.Grand Theft Auto VVersion 2.8 [Revision 5] (January 2015)Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3Awards: GameFAQs FAQ of the Month (April 2014)My guide for this installment took me nearly seven months to put together because of its large scope.Bully / Canis Canem EditVersion 5.0 [Revision 15] (August 2016)Platform: PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4I enjoyed this lighter version of the GTA formula enough to write a guide on it and this version has information specific to the PS2 and PS4 platforms.Bully / Canis Canem Edit: Scholarship EditionVersion 3.5 [Revision 10] (August 2016)Platform: Xbox 360Awards: GameFAQs FAQ of the Month (April 2008)This enhanced version had many differences from the PS2 version but, unfortunately, had many bugs and glitches that messed up the overall experience. There is also a Nintendo Wii version and perhaps I may get to that one day.Hitman: Codename 47Version 2.5 [Revision 5] (October 2014)Platform: PCI am as big a fan of the Hitman series as I am for the Grand Theft Auto series. I always wanted to write on the Hitman games but wanted to start at the beginning. When I acquired an inexpensive PC a couple of years back I was finally able to pursue this desire.Hitman 2: Silent AssassinVersion 3.6 [Revision 7] (October 2014)Platforms: PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox, Xbox 360, GameCube, PCThis is the game that made me become a Hitman fan. Despite its age and general difficulty I always manage to find something new each time I sit down to do a revision as was the case when I went over Xbox 360 HD Collection.Hitman: ContractsVersion 3.3 [Revision 5] (October 2014)Platforms: PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox, Xbox 360, PCAwards: GameFAQs FAQ of the Month (June 2011)Not as long or as difficult as Silent Assassin but still manage to find new things from time to time.Hitman: Blood MoneyVersion 3.8 [Revision 8] (October 2014)Platforms: PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox, Xbox 360, PCThe perfect blend of difficulty and innovation but took a long time to write out because I always kept finding new ways to do things. Had the same problem when doing even the simplest revisions.Hitman: AbsolutionVersion 2.1 [Revision 5] (October 2014)Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3Awards: GameFAQs FAQ of the Month (February 2013)A complete change from the previous installments which meant a change on how I would go about writing this guide for this game.The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher BayVersion 7.7 [Revision 22] (December 2014)Platform: XboxThis is one of my most popular guides but is not recommended for either the PC version or the remake that is included with its sequel because of multiple differences.The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark AthenaVersion 4.5 [Revision 5] (December 2014)Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3This game also contains the revamped version of its predecessor so you get two games in one. Therefore this guide also contains a guide to EFBB which also covers differences between it and the Original Xbox version (plus Achievements and Trophies).The DarknessVersion 4.5 [Revision 7] (November 2014)Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3The same company that did the Riddick games did this one and I liked it enough to do a guide on it.The Darkness IIVersion 1.5 [Revision 3] (November 2014)Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3Awards: GameFAQs FAQ of the Month (March 2012)Although this game was done by a different company I decided to do a guide on it because I did a guide for its predecessor.Deadly Premonition / Red Seeds ProfileVersion 3.8 [Revision 8] (January 2017)Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3Awards: GameFAQs FAQ of the Month (December 2011)This ripoff of the cult television series Twin Peaks charmed me enough to make me do a guide on this little flawed game that could . This guide also covers the Director s Cut version of the game which is only available on the PS3 at this time. My most recent revisions cover Red Seeds Profile, the Japanese version of Deadly Premonition.Godzilla (PS3)Version 2.2 [Revision 2] (January 2017)Platforms: PlayStation 3Awards: GameFAQs FAQ of the Month (April 2015)This is my first guide for an import game and allowed me to fly my G-Fan flag. Also contains a special section on the films and some of the games that Godzilla has appeared in.Mini NinjasVersion 1.2 [Revision 2] (January 2015)Platform: Nintendo DSAwards: GameFAQs FAQ of the Month (May 2013)I liked the Xbox 360 version and I liked the DS version to make a guide for it since the only other text based one was incomplete.Stubbs the ZombieVersion 3.1 [Revision 7] (August 2013)Platform: XboxI kinda liked the become the zombie angle and quickly wrote up a guide for this game upon release many years ago.Watchmen: The End is Nigh (Parts 1 and 2)Version 3.1 [Revision 5] (April 2016)Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3Awards: GameFAQs FAQ of the Month (October 2009)I wrote the guide for this simple brawler to be kind of an introduction to the Watchmen mythos for those unfamiliar to the graphic novel and added information that was glossed over in the movie version.Smaller DocumentsGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas Hidden Text FAQVersion 3.2 [Revision 6] (January 2015)This document went over some of the hidden text I found when I placed the PS2 disc into my Mac and went over the main text file.Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Hidden Text FAQVersion 3.1 [Revision 5] (August 2013)This is similar to the one I did for San Andreas but didn t have as much info.Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Differences FAQVersion 7.2 [Revision 19] (January 2015)This FAQ went over differences between the three versions for the PS2 and the two versions of VC for the Xbox. The game saves from one version will not work with another version. Therefore this document went over how to spot the differences so you could find the right disc to use with whatever game saves you have.Rumble Roses XX Character Story FAQVersion 3.2 [Revision 8] (January 2017)Platform: Xbox 360The Rumble Roses games are female based wrestling games. Rumble Roses XX is the Xbox 360 sequel to Rumble Roses which appeared only on the PS2. One of the interesting design blunders to XX is that there is no story mode for the characters. If you never played the first game then these girls appear to be fairly generic. So I popped the PS2 disc into my Mac and got the text from the first game then created this document to recreate the stories for each character to serve as the missing story mode so you know more about them (and have better information on who would make good tag team partners).The Problem with CheatCCraruskMay 28th, 2013**EDIT (6/4/14): Since this entry was made I have made changes to the end of my guides. The main one was to remove the link to GameFAQs and link it to LiveJournal instead. This is mainly to limit Dave s ability to vandalize my future work but it also allows me to organize my entries better since the way GameFAQs lists my work can be a bit confusing.I should also point out that he has taken one of the latest versions of my Hitman: Absolution guide (V1.5) but has NOT made any alterations to it. Presumably this is to erase evidence of wrongdoing and limit the effectiveness of this entry. While I am pleased that he has not vandalized this revision I am not fooled and neither should you.I have also edited this entry to include a link to the altered guide from Archive.org and additional links to a couple of my altered guides still hosted by CheatCC.For ten years now I have written text based strategy guides and FAQs for the general gaming community. Although I have written mainly for GameFAQs my work can be found on many similar sites around the internet. Some of them include IGN, NeoSeeker, SuperCheats, GamerHelper, and many others. All of them have been kind enough to ask me to host my stuff and I have allowed them to do so.But not all of these sites play by the rules. One of them in particular is Cheat Code Central (CheatCC). They have been known to take guides from various sites around the web without asking their authors first. However, there are probably other places that do that as well. Given that the internet is a kind of Wild West free-for-all it can be expected that other smaller sites may do that.But what makes CheatCC particularly unsavory is the fact that not only do they take guides without permission or knowledge of the author they will also alter it to suit the desire of the person running the site. He doesn t change any of the information or strategies in the guide but will instead alter information regarding certain sites and makes it look favorable to CheatCC.To demonstrate I will show you the ending to an earlier version of my Hitman: Absolution guide (GameFAQs has my most current version with links to LiveJournal). At the very bottom is what I had written:The first box states that this guide is to be left unaltered by whomever hosts this work. Pretty simple and straightforward.The second box informs the reader about where you can find the latest of all of my guides. GameFAQs is the inspiration behind me becoming a FAQ writer and remains my singular contribution site. In the past I would list all of the guides I had written in all of my work. However, the more I wrote, the more difficult it became to maintain the listing in all of the guides. So I simply present a link where you can find everything.The third box lists a couple of of users who posted useful information at GameFAQs regarding the game.Scroll down a little further and you will find this:In the box you will see some sites that I thank for publishing our work.Considering recent events you can find the altered version over at Archive.org (the current un-altered version over at CheatCC). Scroll down to the bottom to find this:The first box remains the same as it was but, as you will notice, it has been soundly ignored.In the second box you will find that the link has been removed and that GameFAQs has been replaced by CheatCC. What makes this particularly offensive is that this alteration makes it look like CheatCC is my main contribution site even though this is completely untrue.In the third box you will see that GameFAQs has been removed. If you scroll up to the chapter Birdie s Gift you will see that GameFAQs has been removed from there as well.Scroll down further to find this:Once again GameFAQs has been replaced by CheatCC making it look like I am thanking him for hosting my work when I never gave him permission in the first place.**NOTE: Here are a couple of other guides still at CheatCC that have not been swapped out: Grand Theft Auto IV and Hitman: Silent Assassin.This is an issue that has plagued the entire FAQ writing community since the inception of CheatCC in 1997. That s right, this has been going on for a long time and has involved thousands of guides. When confronted by various authors the owner of CheatCC, David Allison, has either ignored them or flat out lied to them. Even if an author has managed to get their tainted guides removed David will take somebody else s work and do the same thing to it regardless of whether or not permission has been officially granted by that author.Many authors have stringent legal wording and even listing of websites not allowed to host the author s work. This is irrelevant to David as he will simply change it to suit his needs.One of the contributors at GameFAQs went to David and requested that all of his work be pulled from CheatCC but was threatened with court action. However, after some time had passed, the guides were later removed without further incident. This also further illustrates how unsavory David and his site really is.Why has all this gone on for so long? I believe there are two reasons for this:The first reason is that FAQ writing is essentially charity work where the authors don t get paid for their work (except for site exclusive content and contests such as FAQ of the Month). It is generally acknowledged that the most effective way to deal with this situation is through lawyers but most of the FAQ writers, including myself, don t have the funds to go after him. To make this worse, David has even gotten a couple of similar sites shut down for stealing stuff from him even though he has stolen stuff from others. So going after him legally may not be a guarantee of success.The second reason is the fact that many writers, including myself, have felt a certain powerlessness and decided to let Karma take care of him. Sadly, this was a mistake.As the years went by CheatCC has become more prominent and popular. It would later become part of a critics review list and this has aggravated the FAQ writing community to the point that a critical mass has been reached. We have had enough of this fraud and it is finally time to do something about it. While some of my contemporaries feel that throwing lawyers at him is still the best way to deal with CheatCC, I feel differently.I believe that the best method is to expose CheatCC in such a way that nobody can ignore it and drive away his audience and advertisers. Either CheatCC will be forced to change their ways and play fair like all of the other sites or it will be shut down.This blog entry is designed to help in this endeavor. I intend to make it as widely seen as I possibly can, especially to those who advertise or plan to advertise on CheatCC. Hopefully some of my FAQ writing friends will follow my lead and do something similar to add to the noise. The easiest way you can help us is to simply never go there. Since there are so many similiar, and more respectable, places on the internet for gaming information there is really no need to ever go to CheatCC. Like any internet troll if you deprive it of its audience then it will go away.It is unfortunate that this has been happening and I see no advantage to changing other people s work in this way including my own. I hope that in the near future that CheatCC can be changed or removed to permanently rectify this situation. It is unknown how effective this particular post will be in turning the tides against this website but I am doing my part in spreading the word to help not just myself but my FAQ writing friends in the gaming community.Broderbund Software: My Experiences as a GametesterraruskOctober 6th, 2011As I mentioned in my LucasArts write-up I worked for Broderbund Software prior to my employment there. This is my story of my time atBroderbund and the games I worked on.In the late summer of 1989 I found an ad in the newspaper for a testing position at Broderbund Software. At that time they were located at 17 Paul Drive in the north part of San Rafael, CA.Even though I lived on the Presidio in San Francisco it was easy to get there. This was because of the extensive transit system that the bay area has. Golden Gate Transit allowed me to easily go to and from there with no problems.One of the things I took with me was documentation from my participation in the Red Storm Rising Ultimate Challenge contest that was held by MicroProse Software and Commodore Magazine earlier in the year. I finished eighth in that contest but had lots of paperwork from it.I made copies of it and used it with my job application. Because the job involved playing games I felt that the paperwork from the contest served as proof of my expertise. I don t know for sure if it really made a difference but the company hired me in August. Up until this point the only game of theirs I had played was Choplifter - the Apple II version I played with in high school and the Sega version in the arcades.Near the back area of the main building was where the products were tested. The testing area (known as the testing pit ) had lots of machines. There were lots of PCs, Commodore 64s, Commodore Amigas, a few Apple IIs, and a couple of Apple IIgs . Remember, this was pre-Windows so all of the PCs used DOS. Plus the PCs used EGA and CGA displays. VGA (256-color) had just started to get a foothold.Now for the games I worked on:Ahhh, yes. Carmen SanDiego. The most popular title that the company was putting out. And the bane of my existence during my time at Broderbund.There were many variations of Carmen. USA, Europe, World, Time, etc.To be honest it was all the same game but with different graphics and databases. I got tired of Carmen after my first day with it. So you can imagine how one tends to feel when you have to play endless hours of all of the different variations and all of the different machines that the Carmen games were available on.So, yeah, I hate Carmen. A lot. Still do.And I wasn t the only one. Everyone in the testing pit hated her. And most everybody in the company knew that. Case in point:One day, as I was leaving the pit to do something, I noticed one of the lead techs showing off a Carmen game to a couple of people I ve never seen before. This was not the standard Carmen game I was used to testing.This was a new version of Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego? that was using the new 256-color VGA palette that was becoming accepted at that time. Of course, I didn t like the idea of another Carmen game to test so I disgustedly said Another Carmen game? Why don t you just put a bullet in my head? and walked off.A couple of weeks later I happened to be standing next to a group of people while I was doing something and one of them said something about a tester saying Why don t you put a bullet in my head? I immediately took notice because I said exactly that and got in closer so I could hear what they were saying.It turns out that the two people that the lead tech was showing off the new Carmen game to, and the ones that heard what I had to say, were Gene Portwood and Lauren Elliot, the guys that CREATED Carmen SanDiego!I did an instant mental facepalm when I heard that. But they had a nice sense of humor about the whole thing and thought it was funny. To this day I still can t believe I did that.Outside of Carmen SanDiego this was the most popular game made by the company. I enjoyed my time with the game on all of the machines it was made for.It was mostly polished by the time I started work on it so I had no real bugs to find. One of my collegues was spending a lot of time on it and was naturally bored with it. So one day he decided to play the game on the PC with nothing more than the built-in speaker to guide him and thus play it blindfolded (leaving the monitor off).He managed to get about 75% through the game this way.This was a standard top down shooter and one of the first games I played around with. Not a bad little time waster.The Amiga version was different that it was mostly a side scroller. And it was literally unbeatable.After I told the leads about it then it was fixed so you could beat it. Then they decided not to release the game. Or so I thought. I found out that the Amiga version was released in Europe only through another company and under another name ( Phantom Fighter ).I ve been trying this game out on the Mac version of UAE (Universal Amiga Emulator) but I can t play this game on the keyboard and nobody has made an Xpadder style keyboard emulator for the Mac. So I ll have to play around with this on the PC version of UAE at a later date. The Playroom was a title aimed at very young kids. It was bright and colorful and had various things you could play with.The problem was is that you can do everything you needed to do to test out the game in a couple of hours. This left you the rest of the day to figure out how to pass the time.Luckily for me I only had to spend a few days every now and then with it. However there were some people that were stuck on this for weeks at a time. Ouch. Skychase was an interesting title in which you could dogfight in split screen with another player. It was one of the first games to do something like that.And it ran pretty well even on the old, slower machines. Didn t run into any major bugs with it.This was a futuristic air hockey game set on a distant planet in a place that resembled the Cantina Bar from Star Wars . Naturally you had to play against everybody to beat the game. The first one to score fifteen goals wins a match.Although the Amgia version looked the best I preferred the PC version. Why? Because of the analog joystick, something the Amiga didn t use. With the PCs analog joystick you can do a curved motion not unlike a right hook where you can get a nasty angle at high speed and blow the puck past your opponent.And yet I could never get a perfect score for the entire game. There was one character (and I can t remember who) always managed to get one past me so I would end up with a score of 15-1. Everybody else I could blank on a consistent basis.This was a sidescrolling game where you were a WWII pilot in the Pacific and you flew over islands to destroy various enemy emplacements with bombs, rockets, and torpedos. It reminds me a lot of Choplifter .The Amiga version had the best graphics and sound. But the Commodore 64 version had a little Easter Egg.If you flew one way long enough you would wrap back to the other side and head back to your carrier where you start from. In the first level of the C64 version there was a small platform you could find at about the point where you wrapped. You can sink it if you wanted to but there was no bonus for doing so.This game looked a lot like the old arcade game Hard Drivin . The only difference, other than being on a PC, was that you could create custom tracks to play on.And there was a really cool bug on it as well.One of the things I liked to do was to create triangles. Basically, when you wanted to build a bridge, you took a ramp, connect it to a bridge piece, and then to another ramp. A triangle was where you just connected the ramps together without the bridge piece. I would create long straightaways of nothing but triangles.When you hit the first triangle you would go flying and hit the tip of one of the other triangles and kind of skip along the tops of these triangle straightaways like a stone on a pond. The bug would manifest itself in that, if you hit the tip of one of these triangles just right, you would shoot straight up in the air about three miles! Then you would come down and crash but that was still a cool bug.They eventually fixed it but I wished they would ve left it in.I played around with the Commodore 64 verison of this title during the short time it was in the testing pit. I thought it was okay but I don t remember if I beat it or not.This was the computer version of the board game that was popular at the time. You basically played this in pairs and you had to draw pictures and your partner had to guess them.You were given a random picture to draw. The game would display a random co-ordinate and a number which corresponded to one of the several laminated sheets that came with the game. Find the sheet and the co-ordinate to get the picture. And this made for some interesting situations. During one playthrough, a member of the opposing pair had to draw a copier. He drew a very detailed, at least as detailed as you could get with the technology of the time, copier and his partner still could not guess it.When it was my turn I had to draw the Mona Lisa. So I started with the frame first.My partner figured that I was going to do a painting so he started guessing using famous paintings. The first one he said was Mona Lisa. That was easy.Then there was the Blue Tit. I know what you re thinking and that was what we were thinking too.This was mainly because we didn t know what a Blue Tit was at the time (a small bird we were told later) so the guy who got to draw it did the only thing he could do. He drew a breast on the screen and colored it blue!We had to laugh at that and the sheet was changed later to exclude it.Subtitled Siege the Sword it was a variant of the popular game Defender of the Crown . However, you were the French trying to oust the English from your country.You could play as Joan of Arc and other characters. In addition, you could execute captured prisoners or ransom them to the English to get additional money to fund your fight. You didn t have to capture your enemies on the battlefield in order to execute or ransom. You have a small number of unsavory people to go ninja and assassinate or kidnap. Sometimes, though, they could get captured or killed during one of these little excursions so you had to use them carefully.There were a few things I learned about the game.NEVER play as Joan herself. You cannot change history so she will always be captured and executed.The worst thing about that is that whatever army she has at the time of her capture will disappear no matter how large it is. You will be seriously screwed if you use her exclusively and your men vanish when she is captured.So always use the second most powerful character and leave Joan to herself with nobody so you don t lose anything when the inevitable happens.In addition, always try to capture or kill the most powerful generals you face. Never ransom them off no matter how much you can get for them - always execute them. Sure you can get some good money for them but you will have to face them again on the battlefield and they will be pissed at you which can lead to getting your ass kicked.By executing the generals this will force the English to use lesser characters to lead the armies and thus make your task easier.Then there was a member of the English side that appeared to be pretty middle of the road (I don t remember the name though). He wasn t strong and didn t seem to have any special characteristics.But, if you managed to capture him, you can easily ransom him off for the maximum amount every single time. We thought this was odd so we reported this as a bug.Turns out it wasn t a bug. You see, this guy was a nephew of the King of England so he was always willing to pay anything to get his family member back. So the idea was to use your unsavory characters to keep kidnapping this guy repeatedly so you can get lots more money to fund everything.This was one of my favorites in the testing pit. No surprise given that I am a fan of Defender of the Crown - the game that Joan of Arc pretty much rips off.This was a bright colorful game about rescuing an infant from a group of sea sprites who kind of adapted it. I don t remember too much about it though. I don t think I found many bugs with this one.This was a dungeon crawler RPG. I played around with this near the end of its testing cycle so I didn t find much, if anything, in the way of bugs.I don t remember much about it but I did like this title and it took me awhile to finish it even with the cheat sheets given to help use in our testing.This was another RPG that I got to play with but this one was set in space. The interesting thing about this title, on the Commodore 64 version, is that you could use data from the game The Bard s Tale to generate unique weapons (mainly because the same programmer did both of these games). I liked this one a lot as well. However, I prefer the Apple IIgs version because it came on a single floppy and you can make the game load and move faster. I don t remember if speed load cartridges can help make the C64 version load faster.I made copies of the cheat sheets and maps for myself and I still have them in my pile of stuff somewhere.This was Broderbund s version of the popular MicroProse game Silent Service . The only major differences was that you commanded a group of subs (instead of just one) and that you could create custom scenarios to play with.It is also one of the few games that I worked on that have my name in the credits.This is a game called D Generation . This was a game put out by Mindscape in the early nineties. So why is it listed here?Because this was going to be a Broderbund title and it made its way through the testing pit. It was a favorite of everyone including myself.And yet it eventually went to Mindscape. Don t understand why - it was a cool game - still is.This was an educational title about Magellan s voyage around the world. Didn t play around with it a lot but I can say this much - it sucked - HARD.This was worse than Carmen. And that s saying a lot.I would later leave Broderbund Software in the fall of 1990.I consider my employment there to be one of the most influential jobs I have ever had. It changed how I look at things, design stuff, and how I play my games.It also helped advance my technical writing skills which were further refined during my employments at LucasArts and Point of View Computing. And this laid the groundwork for my hobby as a FAQ writer. Unlike with LucasArts I didn t acquire much in the way of any games by Broderbund after my departure. I got a copy of the C64 version of Centauri Alliance a few years later and have copies of Prince of Persia for my Mac and Super Nintendo.I also acquired the Xbox versions of the more modern versions of Prince of Persia when GameStop was clearing out all of the original Xbox stuff. I have yet to try them. Even though Myst reminds me of the LucasArts style of graphic adventure games, and became very popular in the mid-nineties, it was something I wasn t very interested in and stayed off the bandwagon.Oh, and the Atari 7800 version of Choplifter is a piece of junk. Just so you know.Broderbund still exists but most of their focus is on productivity ( The Print Shop ) and education ( Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing , Carmen SanDiego ). The few games they have outside of that mainly focus on card games ( Hoyle Card Games ).This kind of came as a surprise to me during my research into the games I used to test because I thought Broderbund ceased to be during the spate of buyouts and mergers that occured in the mid-nineties. I know that the company moved to Novato after I left but I wonder who took over the old space at 17 Paul Drive. Thanks to both LinkedIn and FaceBook I ve been able to reconnect to some of the people I used to work with in the testing pit.All in all, my time at Broderbund represents an important part of my job experience, education, and personal growth.LucasArts: My Experiences with the Company and their GamesraruskSeptember 29th, 2011**NOTE: This entry was updated on July 5, 2015.In 1987 I was living in Wiesbaden, West Germany with my family. My father was in the Army and that is how we got to be in Europe.My main gaming machine during this time was the Commodore 64. During the summer I acquired a game called Maniac Mansion made by Lucasfilm Games. Maniac Mansion was an adventure game but done graphically. Most of the adventure games of the time were pirmarily text based such as the classic InfoCom titles like Zork , Planetfall , and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy .But there were other attempts to add more graphics to these types of games. There was a series of graphic adventures featuring Marvel Comics characters (The Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four, and Spider Man) known as the Questprobe series. It combined graphics with text input but was damn near impossible to figure out. Maniac Mansion was different in that all of the commands were on the screen and you used the cursor to create sentences to get the characters to do things. In addition, it had a wacky story and a sense of humor to go with it.And, finally, it was a lot easier and more fun than the Questprobe games.The next year I acquired the follow-up called Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders . I enjoyed this one more than Maniac Mansion and began to look forward to more of these titles from Lucasfilm Games.After arriving in San Francisco in 1989 I got a job as a gametester at Broderbund Software which allowed me to earn enough money to acquire the Commodore Amiga personal computer the following year. I would later get the games Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (The Graphic Adventure) and The Secret of Monkey Island for it.After my departure from Broderbund Software I was working at the Namco CyberStation arcade on Pier 39. It was during this time that I applied for a testing position at Lucasfilm Games in the fall of 1991.After a brief interview process I was hired and started work on Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (The Action Game) for the IBM PC, Commodore Amiga, and Commodore 64.I also did some uncredited work on the NES game Defenders of Dynatron City , LucasArts attempt to do superhero games.Out of the three versions of Indy I felt that the Amiga version was slightly better than the PC version (although I have to add that my memory is a little fuzzy on that because it has been a long time since I played them).The Commodore 64 version was fairly ugly even for a C64 title.I thought I had heard that they were not going to go through with the C64 version but I was proved wrong. Apparently it was released for Europe where the C64 was still a big player.This I found out through the Lemon64 website. It s even uglier than what I remembered.Sadly, I wasn t that impressed with Defenders of Dynatron City either. All I remember is that there was a level with lots of bubbles and that I was underwhelmed with the gameplay even as I was trying to help bug test it.Unfortunately, a lot of people also felt underwhelmed about the game when it finally came out.During my stay at LucasArts, Dark Horse Comics released the four part mini-series of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis .I was fortunate enough to bring them with me to work one day and have them autographed by Hal Barwood, one of the two people who did the story (Noah Falstein being the other but I didn t get his signature for the books). I still have these issues to this day within my small comic book collection.I also have the first three issues of Defenders of Dynatron City comic book but I didn t get any autographs for them.One of the interesting things about working at the games division was the decorations they used to spruce up the workspace. Normally companies use plants (real and fake) and generic paintings.Not so here. The paintings were matte paintings used by ILM which was not far from the building in which I worked. Most of the ones I saw were from The Ewok Adventures and Howard the Duck .Some of the other artwork were props from other movies. There was one prop that was in one of the testing areas looked kind of junky but appeared to be a some kind of laser turret. According to the tag attached to it it was used in the Hoth battle sequence from The Empire Strikes Back .The testing area that I spent most of my time in was on the second floor of one of the buildings. This room was nicknamed Vulcan.The reason was because, on one wall, was a 12 foot by 4 foot matte painting of Vulcan used in the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . Nice.But there was something interesting about that painting that was discovered by one of the testers. Being that it was late in the year the sun went down early before it was time to leave. The windows that looked outside faced west towards the sunset.The tester noticed that the sunset matched most of the colors in the matte painting of Vulcan. So he turned off all of the lights in the room save for one which was directed towards the painting.Then, with the sun setting, he sat down and looked out the window towards the setting sun and with the painting being reflected off of the window thus superimposing it on top of the sunset. The result was rather remarkable and very cool. And ingenious too.In addition to doing my testing work I was able to partake in some of the fringe benefits of working for LucasArts. I went to LucasArts advance screenings of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and Hook (visual effects and sound were done by Industrial Light and Magic and Skywalker Sound hence the screenings).When you go to this type of screening you will notice that a LucasArts audience is not the same as a regular audience. Whenever a big special effects sequence comes up on screen you hear a lot of cheering and clapping. After all, LucasArts helped to create it so this is an acknowledgement of a job well done.In addition, and this was something that was told to me after attending the ST6 screening, is that you are encouraged to stay for the end credits and acknowledge the work that everybody did for the film.I made the faux pas of immediately leaving when the credits started because I wanted to beat the traffic. I did not make the same mistake when I went to the Hook viewing later on.Another interesting thing about the ST6 screening. The theater it was held at is a large one (in the middle of Corte Madera if my memory serves me right). However, it got so crowded that people were sitting in the aisles (since this was my first screening I made sure that I got there early - I was practically first in line along with my sister who attended with me).And the crowding got to the point that the visual effects supervisor couldn t get in to see the film he worked on. So, they changed the rules so that the people that actually worked on the film get in first. Made perfect sense and I was surprised that it wasn t this way from the get go. The first film this was implimented was Hook .However, crowding wasn t a problem this time around. The theater was about half full for the screening.And I also went to the Christmas party as well. It was the best damn Christmas party I have been to so far in my life.I also have some interesting souvenirs too. One day while I was at work there was an announcement that the ILM animation department was giving away what is known as rotophotos.Rotophotos are something that is part of the rotoscoping process. I think that they normally throw these things away but they did something different this time (at least this is what I remember). I think this had something to do with going completely digital for this type of process (1991 was also the year that Terminator 2: Judgement Day , with its groundbreaking computer based effects, was released) and this was some kind of last hurrah for the old process. I made my way into the animation department, passing by multiple matte paintings along the way, to enter the crowded room where these things were kept and that other employees were taking advantage of the situation. I grabbed a flat orange box and started digging through the rotophotos.The rotophotos themselves are quite large and are glossy black and white pictures. Some are in negative, some aren t. Most, if not all, have frame numbers.I grabbed a bunch from three movies that came out in 1991: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , Hook , and The Rocketeer . Some I gave to family and friends, the rest I kept for myself and still have to this day.Although I have no interest in selling them I m curious if they are worth anything.I even kept my employee handbook.As the game projects wound down I was let go in February of 1992. I wanted to stay and work on the Amiga version of The Secret of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck s Revenge but the company wouldn t let me. I resubmitted my resume on a couple of occasions but wasn t successful on being able to return to them.I left for Colorado Springs in 1993 and haven t been back to San Francisco since. I now live in San Antonio, TX where I have been for the better part of nearly twenty years.I did eventually acquire Monkey Island 2 for my Amiga sometime in 1994 (although playing it off of floppies was a chore - it came on twelve of the damn things and, no, I didn t have a hard drive for my machine). Escape From Monkey Island was the first PlayStation 2 game I got when I was given my first unit in 2001. I consider Star Wars: Rogue Squadron to be one of the best games to come out on the Nintendo 64. I also have Episode I: The Battle for Naboo (N64) and Episode I: Racer (N64, Sega DreamCast) but haven t played much of them at this point.I also enjoyed the Lego Star Wars series ( The Video Game (Xbox), The Original Trilogy (Xbox 360), and The Complete Saga (Xbox 360)). I don t have The Clone Wars at this time.I have the Rogue Squadron games for my GameCube but I have only played through most of Rogue Leader and part of Rebel Strike .When I acquired my Dell Optiplex GX270 a couple of years ago I also found used copies of The Curse of Monkey Island , Full Throttle , Classic Adventures , and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (The Graphic Adventure) but have yet to go through them (mainly because of my Hitman writing project). I believe that Full Throttle and The Curse of Monkey Island will work just fine in Windows XP but I will need to use DOSBox for the others. I have played through most of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (The Graphic Adventure) on my older Mac (OS 9) but I would need SheepShaver (OS 9 emulator) to get this to work on my Intel Mac Mini and I haven t done that yet. I ve heard that you can get the PC DOS games to work on the Mac through its own verison of DOSBox - I ll probably go that route with some of the old titles.I have also played through the Special Edition versions of both The Secret of Monkey Island and The Secret of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck s Revenge for my Xbox 360 and acquired most of the Achievements attached to them. I hope that The Curse of Monkey Island (the only Monkey Island game that I haven t gone through yet) will eventually get the same treatment.Since 2003 I have been a contributor to GameFAQs primarily focusing on the uber-popular Grand Theft Auto game series. Therefore I have spent a lot of time with those titles and less with others.A few years ago I realized that I had done enough text based strategy guides and FAQs to use as a kind of portfolio to facilitate a return to the gaming industry. So I joined LinkedIn and FaceBook to help bolster my efforts toward this end.Although returning to the gaming industry is a general goal, going back to LucasArts was a specific one.However, in 2012, Disney bought out LucasFilm and eventually ceased all game development in 2013 effectively closing down the studio (although it still remains open but functions strictly as a licensor for game development for other companies). The closure broke my heart since I wanted to return to them but it may be a blessing in disguise. The extrarordinary rise in cost of living out there caused by the major tech companies (Apple, Google) would ve made it very difficult to live in that area. In addition, nearby Austin has become a major area of game development, probably because many companies are leaving California due to high cost of living. So I don t need to go too far to hopefully get my way back into the industry. In addition, PAX now has a new convention that comes to San Antonio and that allows me to help keep up with things. I even did a panel on FAQ writing for PAX South and I am doing another one for Rooster Teeth Expo in August.Although I am saddened by the death of LucasArts I am thankful for the short time I spent there and still consider it the best employment experience I ve had to this point. In the meantime, though, I should go and play through the older titles I ve yet to finish.....and before I start writing any new guides..... 1 commentLeave a commentShareFlagI'm finally done with "Hitman" and moving onto new games.....finally.....raruskJuly 2nd, 2011I finally posted all of my Hitman guides to GameFAQs a couple of days ago. I'm relieved that I finally have this done.Below are the links to them:Hitman: Codename 47Hitman 2: Silent AssassinHitman: ContractsHitman: Blood MoneyI also found out that all of them are eligible for the FAQ of the Month contest for June so I submitted them all. Hopefully I'll add another gift card to the two I still have (and still haven't used).The only glitch to my Hitman work was that I was not able to play the PC version of Blood Money . It requires a dedicated video card and I do not have one for my Optiplex GX270 at this time. The game will not run on the integrated graphics on the GX270.When I am finally able to sort this problem out and play Blood Money on my PC then I will update the guide with PC related information.I have also went through my email to collect suggestions for my other work so I can do revisions. I'll start doing those a little later.Now that I am done with my Hitman writing project the next major writing project I will do is for the game The Darkness II when it comes out later in the year. I did a guide for the first game so it makes sense for me to do the sequel. Hitman: Absolution and GTA V are definite givens as well. As for any other game I play it will depend on how I feel about it as I play it.And speaking of other games.....While I have been writing these guides I have been letting a stack of games that I got for Xmas sit untouched. Now that I am done I will now go through them starting with a twisted concept game: Naughty Bear .We'll see if this becomes future FAQ writing material.Flawed Games I Like: "Stuntman" (PlayStation 2)raruskMarch 24th, 2010I am not much for driving games but I was intrigued by the concept behind the PlayStation 2 game Stuntman . In this game you drive various courses and perform stunts for movies. I got this game shortly after it was released in 2002.I really like the concept behind this game. It has some really nice stunts to do, a documentary that follows the stuntman you play as he goes from film to film and movie trailers that incorporate your own work into the footage.There are six films that you do along the way to becoming the best stuntman in the business: Toothless In Wapping (A British gangster comedy) A Whoopin' and a Hollerin' ( Dukes of Hazzard style comedy) Blood Oath (A Thai gangster flick) Conspiracy (A suspense thriller involving the military) The Scarab of Lost Souls ( Indiana Jones style adventure featuring Dakota Scott) Live Twice for Tomorrow ( James Bond style adventure featuring Simon Crowne)And here are some YouTube videos of the game in action:Introduction Blood Oath - Tuk Tuk Chase Conspiracy - Microlite chase A Whoopin' and a Hollerin' - CorkscrewIn-between each film there are also stunt courses you do in front of a large crowd. Plus there is also a construction set where you can make your own tracks to play in (and pieces for it to unlock as you complete each course and get a 100% score on them).All in all, a well rounded driving game.Unfortunately it also has the dubious distinction of being the most frustrating game I've ever played. Mainly due to several design flaws that really try your patience.There are two types of frustration a gamer can experience during a game. The first is skill based.This happens when you get to a tough level or fight. It may seem at first to be unfair or cheating but it mainly boils down to you not being good enough to beat it yet. With enough practice and/or help you can eventually get through it and realize that it wasn't unfair - just well designed and made to piss you off.The second type of frustration is flaw based. This happens when you encounter something, in either the game design or programming, that is obviously wrong and makes the game harder and annoying than it needs to be regardless of how easy or difficult it is really supposed to be.The majority of frustration I encountered within Stuntman is flaw based. Don't get me wrong. This game would be challenging enough without the flaws but the following problems, in my mind, really hurt the integrity of the game.Going against the grain.In real life stunt work the stuntman has to do his job in one take and do it without hurting himself and others around him. It is mark of professionalism and pride.In order to do this the stuntman has to practice the course and know where everything is at and what is going to happen where. This is essential to make sure that the shot is done correctly and safely.In Stuntman , however, you pretty much have to feel your way around the course. Other than the stuntman pointing out the major stunt you perform on a given level you have no idea what stunts you will encounter on the course.The manual states that there is a director flyby that points out the stunts on the course but that was probably taken out shortly before release since I have never seen one. Worse, there is no way to practice the course to know where everything is at before you do it in front of the camera.At one point during the documentary the stuntman even notes that they practice the course using toy cars on a tabletop. Why the designers didn't even give us that option is beyond me.Even though a couple of real life legendary stuntmen were involved with this game this particular concept of feeling through the course completely goes against the main tenet of stuntwork.To make matters more frustrating there are time gates you need to hit or that scene will be stopped because you are too slow (mainly trying to perform certain stunts before the gate). Of course, there are also certain stunts that, if you don't perform them correctly, will get you stuck and you will have to restart.You will have to go through the course little by little many times before you can get to the end. This isn't too bad at the beginning but it can get really trying as you progress further into the game and onto the harder courses.Bad physics.One of the more annoying things about this game is that if you barely clip a corner you will spin almost 180 degrees and come to a near stop.This alomst ensures you will be doing a course repeatedly because you won't be able to make some of the time gates if you clip something and spin out or miss the timing of an important stunt and get stuck.But these bad physics can allow you to do some really cool wipeouts so that's at least one positive.Objects that should be destructable, aren't.This one really got under my skin. In Stuntman there are many objects you can run into and destroy.However, there are objects that you think you can destroy but can't. The single most notable object is a road sign.If you run into a stop sign in any other driving game it will simply break off like it is supposed to. But, in this game, when you run into a stop sign you will STOP or bounce off of it and spin 180 degrees.To make this even worse there are objects that you think are entirely destructable but only part of it is.In one of the early stunt runs you have to break through a wooden fence. It is a long fence but there is only a part of it you can actually break through. If you turn too tight or too far and hit the fence you will simply bounce off of it.Another example is a large sign you need to break through. But only the center is destructable. Go off center and you will bounce off of the sign.Extremely annoying.Why are these problems in the game? As far as I can tell I believe that it simply boils down to poor design decisions. This is especially evident with the unbreakable objects problem. Stuntman 's unecessarily high frustration level kept it from being as big a hit that it should've been given the concept. But it made enough of a splash to warrant a sequel (even though it was made by another company). Stuntman: Ignition is a far more polished title than its predecessor. Although it doesn't have a practice mode (again a flaw) it does at least do a much better job of telling you what you should expect on the course.The physics feel better and the frustration is more skill based. Although your work is no longer incorporated into the trailers it does allow for the CGI based films to more complete and consistent.In short, Stuntman: Ignition is a major step in the right direction for this franchise which is currently stalled which is a shame because it is such an awesome concept. I hope it becomes unstalled in the near future so I can work on the next Simon Crowne film.....Games I Would Like to See Updated, Remade, or PortedraruskMarch 19th, 2010With the release of Perfect Dark for Xbox Live I decided to list a number of games I think would be good to update, remake and port to a console (with plenty of links to various pages): Perihelion (Commodore Amiga)Introduction (YouTube)I already noted this in a previous entry. Basically use this game as a follow-up to the hit game Borderlands .Replace the Destroyer with the Unborn. Replace the Action Skill with a spell casting ability. Expand the story to get deeper into this unique world.Instead of having all of the emotion runes (which you use to build spells) available at the beginning have the most powerful ones spread out to be found and fought over so you are not too powerful early.And, of course, keep the very unique color palette of oranges and grays. Spy vs. Spy (Commodore 64)Although there is already a remake on the original Xbox I feel that this title can use a better update. The best way I feel that this can work is to make it a cartoon version of Hitman .First off, the graphics really should be black and white just like the original cartoons. I understand the need for some color but I would like the artwork to go back to its roots.To begin you would need to pick a side: black or white.In a given scenario you would have to complete certain objectives such as obtaining the plans for a missile. But your main objective is to take down the opposing spy.You would have some basic tools and objects in hand to create a trap to destroy him. However, if you explore enough, you can find other objects that will allow you to create more elaborate and hilarious traps to earn bonuses.And, by the way, get the licensing to put in the original Commodore 64 trilogy versions as unlockables. Conker's Bad Fur Day (Nintendo 64)Introduction (YouTube)Yes, this one also had a remake on the original Xbox (known as Conker: Live and Reloaded ). But Rare tweaked around with it too much and, in my mind, made it inferior to its N64 counterpart.They replaced the comic style font with something more fancy (which detracted from its cartoony look), replaced the cartoony word balloons with a boring balloon with scrolling text (what's up with that?), tweaked with the sound (especially with the Great Mighty Poo) and added enemies where there were none before. And they also censored the game which was really unnecessary.But the biggest mistake that Rare made was to replace the cool multiplayer modes with a standard deathmatch mode. Now if they added this new mode in addition to the ones from the N64 version then that would be okay. However, they just chucked them in favor with the new mode.The old modes had some fun stuff that you could also play with bots. The best one was The Heist in which you were a weasel and had to go against three other weasels the get the most money. The money was in the center of the vault and you had to get it before the others could.If you got the money you had to take it back to your safe to score points but holding the money would slow you down. This would allow the other weasels an opportunity to kill you (especially with the Throwing Knives - best weapon in BFD) and take the money for themselves.If a weasel was killed while taking the money then the money would start bouncing its way back to the vault making things more interesting. To me, The Vault was the best multiplayer mode on the N64 version.Sadly, this didn't make it to the Xbox version for reasons that baffle me. And since Perfect Dark , another Rare title for the N64, was just ported over to XBL, why not port the N64 version of this game as well?Tweak the graphics and sound to make them a little bit better (and update the controls) but no more. Leave the old multiplayer modes alone but add the one from Live and Reloaded as a bonus.And give me back my Throwing Knives, thank you. Lords of the Rising Sun (Commodore Amiga)Introduction and gameplay [using an emulator] (YouTube)If you liked the old CinemaWare title Defender of the Crown then you will probably love this one which is based in feudal Japan. This was a major improvement over DotC and just about every area except one.Sometimes you could invade a castle and rescue a woman who would later become your wife. You had to do this yourself in a top down scenario.The problem was you had to use the mouse to control your character. But it was done a certain way. To move your character right you had to nudge the mouse to your right. To stop you had to nudge the mouse in the opposite direction.As you could imagine this made this task pretty much impossible because you could never move your guy in the direction you wanted to and always ended up in one of the ponds which automatically ended this scenario. Rescuing the woman is the only thing I was never able to do in this game. To me, this mouse control system used for this portion is the worst control scheme I have ever come across in any game, period.The analog sticks can be used effectively in moving the cursor around to get your armies around and do the various scenarios you can and probably encounter during the game. And, of course, allow one to successfully rescue the woman so your character wouldn't have to sleep alone on those cold Japanese nights.(It should be noted that on CinemaWare's website you can get the Amiga game for emulator use.) Cannon Fodder (Commodore Amiga) Cannon Fodder 2 (Commodore Amiga) Cannon Fodder Introduction [Amiga] (YouTube) Cannon Fodder Introduction [Amiga CD32] (YouTube) Cannon Fodder theme with game controllers (YouTube) Cannon Fodder 2 Introduction (YouTube)These are a couple of cool funny arcadey strategy games that came out in the early '90s from Britain. These games may seem easy in the early going but they can get frustratingly hard in several spots. Good if you're looking for a challenge.However, the main problem would be with the controls. These games were designed for, and work best with, a mouse. And, after playing around with the Atari Jaguar version of Cannon Fodder I feel that a joypad is definitely not the best way to play this game.But, if ported right, a mouse option can be included. Simply plug in or use a Bluetooth PC mouse if you want. Raze's Hell (Xbox)Introduction and gameplay (YouTube)This was a fun little title that snuck up on people. It is an over-the-shoulder shooter where you ran around and killed various enemies and gained power-ups to help you on your way.What made this title unique was its premise. You were an ugly ogre-like creature trying to save your people from the Kewletts, a really really cute and colorful race of creatures trying to expand their empire.Even though the Kewletts were adorable they were also vicious. And they curse as well. I had to pause the game one time when one of them taunted me with EAT IT BITCH! (in its cute munchkin voice) because I was laughing so hard.In addition, when you wound one enough to essentially kill it, they would go into a death rattle and say some very amusing stuff on the way out. Great sense of humor this game has.Definitely one to update and port. Body Harvest (Nintendo 64)Introduction (YouTube)If you played around with this title and you had the feeling that this played like a Grand Theft Auto game you're not alone. DMA Designs did both Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2 prior to this title (and later became Rockstar North and did Grand Theft Auto 3 which skyrocketed Rockstar into the stratosphere).In this game, which is basically a shooting style title, mankind was all but extinct because of a race of creatures which ate humanity to near destruction. You have to go back in time to various points in history to stop the invasions and save humanity.In each area you can take various vehicles and use them to help you in your tasks. There was quite a lot of variety in vehicles and tasks.This game wouldn't be too much to port over but the graphics and sound could use some serious improvement. Turok 2: Seeds of Evil (Nintendo 64) Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion (Nintendo 64) Turok 2 Introduction [PAL Version] (YouTube) Turok 2 Introduction and gameplay [with different music halfway through] (YouTube) Turok 3 Introduction (YouTube)While GoldenEye and Perfect Dark were getting all of the press these two games should not be overlooked. They were some of the best FPS games that came out on the N64.With large levels, great graphics, awesome sound and some incredible weapons these games gave both GoldenEye and Perfect Dark a run for their money. These two games have aged well considering their N64 roots.However, the chances that these two games will get an updated port are very slim at best. When Acclaim went under, Disney acquired the Turok license and took it in another, and apparently unwelcome, direction.Therefore it is unlikey that Disney will let these two games be ported over to newer consoles which would be a real shame. The Movie Monster Game (Commodore 64) Godzilla: Generations (Sega DreamCast) Godzilla: Generations gameplay (YouTube)Even though these two games come from different consoles, and generations, they share the same basic idea. Both of these games allow you to take your chosen monster and go through the city and destroy it in a strategic fashion.There's nothing wrong with monster based games like War of the Monsters (PlayStation 2) or Godzilla: Unleashed (PlayStation 2) in which you fight other monsters using the cities as an arena. Monster bashing is an essential part of the kaiju genre.However, destroying a city, and avoiding damage from the armed forces, while attempting an objective, like finding your offspring for example, is something that has been neglected. Strategically using your monster gives it another dimension as opposed just fighting it out with another monster. Godzilla: Generations was a halfway decent attempt at using the Toho monsters in strategically destroying a city. However, the main problem with that game was the fact that it had the single worst camera scheme in the history of vidgames.It made it difficult to see what you were doing because most times you were either too far away or too damn close to the camera. This is why the game got terrible reviews and was never ported to the US (I got the game from a shop that had an import section).Basically, redo Godzilla: Generations but with a new camera system and with a much larger selection of monsters and cities plus stories for each one that give them reasons for this type of rampage. And hide bonuses and power-ups in the city to help you out and get better scores. Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders (Commodore Amiga)Introduction (YouTube)While a lot has been made about certain LucasArts characters (Indiana Jones, Guybrush Threepwood and Grim Fandango) Zak McKracken (introduced in 1988 on the Commodore 64) seems to have fallen through the cracks. And it is a shame since this is a pretty good game.Like Maniac Mansion before it and The Secret of Monkey Island after it Zak is a SCUMM point-and-click adventure game that has our hero trying to prevent humanity from being stupified into submission by an alien race. Certainly, like the aforementioned Secret of Monkey Island , Zak can easily be made into a Special Edition version to be used in the Xbox Live Arcade.As far as creating a new adventure, that would require some imagination and not just in the story department either. The controls need to evolve in such a way as to allow for SCUMM style commands but in a Grand Theft Auto style sandbox world.This would allow Zak to do many more things in a much bigger world but still have some SCUMM-like feel too. And being that this new Zak story is taking place in a GTA style sandbox world this would also allow for a parody of the Grand Theft Auto series as the new story is being told and new puzzles are being solved.And this would be a great way to bring back an almost forgotten character.(It should be noted that a group of German programmers have created a fan made sequel called Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space but it is unclear if LucasArts will make an official sequel or use the fan made one.) Wings (Commodore Amiga)Introduction (YouTube)If I had to choose one game, and only one game, that I would be allowed to make an updated port it would easily be this one. This was the last game CinemaWare made in the early '90s before disbanding (until they came back a few years ago). Wings is an arcade-like flight sim/shooter set in World War I. You are based out of an aerodrome, on the Allies side, and flew biplanes on various missions.What made this game excellent was the story that unfolded between missions. It had joy and despair and also told of the horrors of trench warfare and the chivarly of the pilots of both sides of this conflict. It made you want to continue playing just to see what unfolded next.In addition, it had a secondary manual (which also served as copy protection) that told the story of the war and the evolvement of air warfare during the conflict and some of the pilots that served. It was a fantastic read and really added to the overall game.As I mentioned, a few years ago CinemaWare reformed and redid some of their classic games for handhelds and consoles. Wings was redid for the Game Boy Advance (I played it on the Nintendo GameCube Game Boy Player).The story within the GBA version was half of the Amiga version but this was okay because this gave them room to tell the GERMAN side of the conflict (which wasn't done on the Amiga version). Since there has been no game based entirely in WWI on recent consoles I feel that Wings would be excellent for an updated port.I can imagine multiplayer with Wings . While there is nothing wrong with blasting other aircraft out of the sky with missiles there is a whole other challenge in trying to get closely behind another biplane with your own rickety aircraft.And I can imagine the story itself being acted out in cutscenes with actual actors and music of the era. It would certainly make this title stand out amongst other history based games.(It should be noted that CinemaWare has an Wings Episode 1 Beta at their website so there may be hope to bring it out to consoles. You can also get the Amiga version game for emulator use from there as well.)And there you have it. My list of games I would like to see updated and ported to today's consoles. If you have any ideas of your own I certainly like to hear them. There are probably many more that are deserving."Logorama": Best Animation I've Seen in a Long WhileraruskMarch 9th, 2010Shortly after the Oscars aired earlier in the week I went to GameFAQs, as I usually do every night, and found a thread for YouTube videos of this film which had just won the Oscar for best short animation (It should be noted that the videos have since been taken down).This film is a short 17-minute piece which takes place in a city that is meant to resemble Los Angeles. But the really cool thing about this film is that everything, every building, everybody, and every object is a CORPORATE LOGO. According to what I found out about it is that the filmmakers, a French company called B5, used around 2,500 of them to create this unique film.In a ballsy move the filmmakers did not even try to ask permission to use any of them. Even ballsier still is how some of the logos are used as I will explain.The film is basically split into two parts. The first part comprises three storylines that will eventually come together about halfway through the piece.The first story starts at a coffee shop that employs the ESSO Girl as a waitress and has to put up with the lewd advances of Mr. Pringle (Hot and Spicy). The second story involves a couple of cops, the Michelin men, on a stakeout for a dangerous criminal - who happens to be Ronald McDonald. The third story involves a couple of bored delinquent kids, Big Boy and Haribo, on a trip to the zoo.Eventually the cops spot Ronald and the chase is on. At the tail end of the chase Ronald clips the bus carrying Big Boy and Haribo from the zoo and crashes into the coffee shop where the ESSO Girl works. Big Boy and Haribo leave the bus and wander over to the now overturned van that Ronald was driving. Ronald then pops out and takes Big Boy, and the coffee shop, hostage as the cops try to converge on him.Now it becomes a standoff between the cops and a psychotic Ronald. As the SWAT try to deal with him then the second half of the film begins.At this point there is a huge earthquake and the city is being rapidly destroyed. The ESSO Girl and Big Boy then get in a car and drive off as quickly as possible away from the disintegrating city.While the first half was awesome I didn't like the second half. I wanted to see the Michelin men take down Ronald in some kind of shootout but the French filmmakers wanted to have some sort of artistic say about over commercialism. Whatever. I still think that this is pretty awesome despite the ending.And besides, where else can you see a lewd ass-grabbing Mr. Pringle, a gay Mr. Clean and a psychotic Ronald McDonald?And they also curse. At one point during the chase Ronald nearly runs over the red and yellow M M guys as they are trying to cross the street. Yellow exclaims FUCK IT!! Where are the cops when you need them?!! . He soon gets his answer - in the worst possible way.Definitely worth checking out if you get the chance. Right now it can be purchased from the Apple Store for a couple of bucks. 2 commentsLeave a commentShareFlagFlawed Games I Like: "Perihelion" (Commodore Amiga)raruskMarch 3rd, 2010This entry is the first in a series of essays that delve into games I like but have flaws in them that keep them from being better than they are.While researching some Amiga games I used to play I came upon the entry for Perihelion on LemonAmiga. I was given a copy of this game by a friend who was an artist working alongside us, while I was working at Point of View Computing, shortly after the game came out (in 1994).(NOTE: The above picture is linked to a YouTube video of the game introduction - from a cracked copy.) Perehelion is a very unique futuristic RPG and had a lot of cool ideas, graphic design and music. As I looked through the player reviews on the LemonAmiga page for this game I saw mostly positive reviews.Interesting, although I really liked this game, I found that these reviewers played this game very differently than how I did it otherwise they may have found the major design flaws I encountered.A design flaw is something defective in the game logic. This is much different than crash problems, graphical and sound glitches that are much easier to detect and fix.Detecting and fixing design flaws is more difficult because you need to throughly play through the game in many different ways to find them. A game can be considered bug and glitch free yet badly broken in many areas.This game is an example of that as I will explain.In Perihelion , and like with most RPGs, you had to create a party and set forth to prevent an evil entity, called the Unborn, from destroying the known world and universe. The world this takes place on is named Perihelion, a desert-like planet with several old races who call it home.The single most striking element of the game was its graphical design. It used a palette consisting entirely of oranges and grays. This gave the game a very unique look that hasn't been seen since Perihelion was released sixteen years ago. Ths music was also very well done and made the game even more moody and creepy.These races that populate the planet range from humans to animal-like to cyborgs. All members of the party you create, a total of six, can belong to a given religion which will give you additional attributes as explained in this excerpt from the game manual: GodsHyperintelligent entities that can best be described as immense pools of living energy set amongst the abyss of space and time. In Perihelion these entities are neither the center of 'belief' or 'disbelief'. Faith does not enter the equation as every being in Perihelion knows and, more importantly, 'feels' their existence. On an emotive plane their actions range from the gentle to the sadistic. Each entity has been given a name: Ivory, Morphium, ChromePanther, WhisperDance, Lavender, Neon, ToxicWaste, Vitriol, Carnivore and....the Unborn. There are a range of mediator orders. These men and women have dedicated their lives to serve a certain entity. The advantage or reward for this dedication is that the followers are able to utilise a portion of the entity's power as if it were their own.NOTE: The utilisation of 'godly' power should not be confused with the exercising of psyonic power which involves the employment of individual mental energies.One final side-effect of living under the influence of specific entities is the modification of personal attributes such as strength, dexterity or speed. Another very unique attribute to the game was spell casting which could only be done with psyonic characters. You construct spells, which are outlined in the game manual, using runes which represent EMOTIONS.That's right. Instead of potions or crystals you used emotions to make spells. You can only make a limited number of spells you can use during the course of your journey but this is not a problem as I will outline later.As you construct your party members you will then roll the dice to assign various attributes, such as strength and dexterity, randomly. If you don't like what is given then you can roll the dice again until you get something more to your liking.Once you construct your party you then head out into the futuristic landscape to stop the Unborn and fight off various dangers along the way.As was normal for me when playing an RPG I created what could be called a balanced party. This is a party consisting of middle ground characters, neither too powerful (which can also expose you to certain weaknesses) or too weak.I found out early on that the spell casting system is seriously flawed. I used a spell with a powerful sounding name: Life-Force Drain. This spell doesn't cost a lot of energy to use but is devastatingly effective: a 99% kill rate on living beings. This means 99 out of 100 times this spell hits someone they die instantly. Obviously, this makes your psyonics super powerful.In addition, you will encounter undead beings along the way. Of course, Life-Force Drain doesn't work on anything that is already dead. But, I found that Napalm Eruption (a fire spell) has the same devastating effect on undead beings that Life-Force Drain has on living ones.So, although you could only carry a limited number of created spells to use you only need these two. This makes all of the other spells useless.After discovering the flaws within the spell casting system I decided to start over by making a party of all psyonics (and all human). After creating the two spells for each of my members I set off into the game world.I was tearing through the game pretty good until I reached a point where I needed to plant explosives to unblock a collapsed tunnel. I needed to use a mining drill to drill a hole in the blockage and put the explosives into the new hole so I could blow it open.The problem was, and this is something that baffles me to this day, that a psyonic is of the wrong class to use a drill! That's right, a spell caster in Perihelion cannot use a simple, if slightly oversized, tool.And since all of my party members were psyonics this meant that I could not progress any further in the game. Period. And all because of a simple mining drill.And this, my friends, is what one calls a fatal design flaw. One that completely forces you to restart the game from scratch because of a poor design decision.When I went back and rebuilt my new party I included five psyonics and one soldier whose sole purpose was to use this drill. From there I went and restarted my quest.Then I reached a point, prior to the drill area, where I needed to put three pieces of a machine together to create a special door. You needed to have at least a minimum of 58 strength, 58 dexterity and 58 intelligence to put the three pieces in place. They all didn't have to be with one person. This task can be done with three people if all had at least 58 of one of the three attributes.I had at least one member of my party that had a minimum of 58 of two of the three attributes. Since none had 58 of the third attribute then I was stuck until I could raise it.No problem. I would just go around the landscape and get into random combat to raise my various attributes. This method is standard for just about every RPG ever made.Except Perihelion .In another baffling design move there is NO RANDOM COMBAT. None.Unless you somehow manage to raise some of your attributes during the the previous combats prior to this area then there is no other way to raise them. So that means I was stuck again and staring down a SECOND fatal design flaw. And I was unlucky enough to roll the dice in such a way as to make this happen.So now I went back again and reconstructed a new party with five psyonics, one soldier and making damn sure that at least one member had at least 58 of strength, intelligence and dexterity. This was enough to get me through to the end of the game. There are about a total of 23 combat situations in Perihelion .To compound matters the game manual, other than providing the spell combinations and setting up the story, was practically useless. It gave very little information on the various races and none of the classes. Plus all of the pictures, that were supposed to be marked with various pointers, weren't.As I did research on this game for this essay I found a Perihelion page from Edvard Toth, the main designer of the game and had this to say about the game's development: The game was created by only 3 people under pretty challenging conditions (don t even ask). Taking this project to completion while going to school still remains to be the most difficult but most rewarding thing I have ever done. For an RPG this is pretty remarkable.But they didn't do the gametesting. Chris Stanley and his crew did. One could blame the testing crew for not finding these flaws but Edvard did say this game was made under challenging conditions and it is unclear how that may have affected the testing necessary to polish the game.And yet, outside of a bug that involves the game credits not showing up during the introduction most of the time you boot up the game, Perihelion is glitch free. But this game is proof of what I said earlier - that a game can be bug free yet broken.Mr. Toth also said that he would like to revisit Perihelion someday. I myself would like to revisit it as well.Edvard created a very unique universe and an extraordinary look and feel that would really stand out even today. What I would like to see happen is for Edvard to hook up with Gearbox Software and use Perihelion as a follow-up to Borderlands . Now, wouldn't that be cool.If you are interested in trying out this game you can download it from Edvard Toth's Perihelion page. Although it includes a copy of UAE (Universal Amiga Emulator) I do recommend going for the latest version (links below). I should note that UAE is a pain in the butt to set up and use but once you get it set up for Perihelion it should be all good.WinUAEE-UAE (Mac OS X - German)My Top Ten Best (Non-Sports) Licensed GamesraruskMarch 2nd, 2010For over thirty years I have been a gamer. During this time I have played lots of different types of games on lots of platforms (and arcade). This also includes games based on various licenses like movies, books, cartoons, etc.For this entry I made a list of what I consider to be the best ten games based on a license that does not involve sports (sports games are licenses too). I should add that this is based on games I have actually played. So, if there is a licensed game that you may feel could belong on this list but isn t here, more than likely Ihaven t played it.In addition, I have provided links to various pages for each game to help fill in more details about them and the licenses they are based on.Now, for my list:10. Knightmare (Commodore Amiga) Knightmare was an innovative and popular UK television programme for children, produced by Broadsword Productions for Anglia Television and was broadcast on ITV from 7 September 1987 to 11 November 1994. The show is most noted for its pioneering use of blue screen chromakey (the idea borrowed by Tim Child from its then-current usage in weather forecasts) and advanced use of virtual reality interactive gameplay on television - it also further popularised the medieval-style fantasy games craze of the 1980s popularised by the likes of Dungeons Dragons. From the Knightmare Wikipedia entry.Game Programmed by Antony Crowther and released by Mindscape in 1991.This might seem to be an odd choice because very few people outside of Britain have seen this show let alone played this game. This excerpt, also taken from the Wikipedia page, goes into detail about the program: The show featured teams of four children (around 11 16 years old). On the call of Enter, Stranger , the first member of the team (the dungeoneer ) would enter Knightmare Castle via an antechamber belonging to Treguard of Dunshelm (played by Hugo Myatt). After giving his or her name, the dungeoneer would be asked by Treguard to call their three advisors, who would magically appear next to the viewing apparatus beside them (though, in Series 8, all members of the team appeared at once).Before entering the dungeon, the dungeoneer would be given a knapsack to wear, in which they were to place food found along the way, in order to replenish Life Force. In addition, the Helmet of Justice was put on the dungeoneer s head, blocking their vision except for the area immediately around them. The story was that this was to protect the dungeoneer from seeing the real danger ahead.The dungeoneer would then enter Treguard s partly computer-generated, partly hand-drawn fantasy dungeon which was accomplished through bluescreen chromakey hence the need for the helmet, as the dungeoneer would otherwise just see a large blue room.The team would watch the dungeoneer from a screen in the antechamber, and guide the player using hurried descriptions and shouted instructions, overcoming a variety of puzzles and traps in the dungeon. The instructions might be Sidestep left, walk forward, take a small step to your right, pick up the key , much like many text-based computer games (for example the appropriately named multi-user dungeons ) that relied on description and commands rather than any visuals. In the game itself you control a party of four members and you had to complete four quests in order to gain certain items you needed to beat the main antagonist named Lord Fear. The game used the same engine that Antony Crowther s previous game, Captive , ran on. Captive is a classic sci-fi RPG that used a solid custom engine for its gameplay. The graphics were also unique and carried over to the Knightmare project. This made Knightmare familiar to those who played Captive because the interface and graphical style are very similar.The only problem I found with this game is the weak ending. However, this actually might not be a bad thing since Captive didn t even have an ending!Even though very few people in the US have heard of this show I found the game good enough to be on this list.9. Spy vs. Spy (Commodore 64) Spy vs. Spy is a wordless black and white comic strip that has been published in Mad magazine since 1961. It was created by Antonio Prohias, a Cuban national who fled to the United States in 1960, days before Fidel Castro took over the Cuban free press. The Spy vs. Spy cartoon was symbolic of the Cold War, and was Proh as s comment on the futility of armed escalation and d tente. From the Spy vs. Spy Wikipedia entry.Programmed by Mike Riedel and released by First Star Software in 1984.I have been a Spy vs. Spy fan since I was a youngster. So, naturally, I was very excited when the first Spy vs. Spy game came out. And I wasn t disappointed.The game featured the two characters, White Spy and Black Spy, and you had to outsmart, and out trap, each other as you went through various embassies to collect items and leave within the time limit. It was also one of the first games to feature a split screen for both players.And the game was also as funny as the cartoons they were based on. Knocking the other spy through several rooms with a spring trap was always cool to pull off.This game also inspired two sequels, Spy vs. Spy II: The Island Caper and Spy vs Spy III: Arctic Antics . Many years later Spy vs. Spy was redone for the Xbox. While the Xbox version has its funny moments it lacks replayability and doesn t include the original C64 versions.8. The Three Stooges (Commodore Amiga) The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid 20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. From The Three Stooges Wikipedia entry.Programmed and released by CinemaWare in 1987.Game Intro (YouTube)One doesn t have to be a fan of The Three Stooges to enjoy this game. This game follows the trio as they try to save an orphanage from the clutches of an evil banker who wants to foreclose on the property.All of the mini-games within The Three Stooges are based on some of their most popular short films. There were also times that you get some random cash to help you to your goal.The most impressive thing about this game was that CinemaWare managed to get good digital scans of the Stooges and actual audio from their work. Understand, this game was released in the mid-eighties so that was considered a pretty good achievement.This game would later be revamped and released on the Game Boy Advance and then ported over to the PlayStation. However, I still like the Amiga version best.7. Road Runner (Arcade) Wile E. Coyote (also known simply as The Coyote ) and The Road Runner are cartoon characters from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. The characters were created by animation director Chuck Jones in 1948 for Warner Brothers, while the template for their adventures was the work of writer Michael Maltese. The characters star in a long-running series of theatrical cartoon shorts (the first 16 of which were written by Maltese) and occasional made-for-television cartoons.The series lampoons nature documentaries, where instead of animal senses and cunning, the Coyote uses absurd contraptions and elaborate plans to pursue his quarry. From the Road Runner Wikipedia entry.Programmed and released by Atari Games in 1985.This is one of my all time favorite games. Your goal, just like in the cartoon, is to avoid being caught by Wile E. Coyote while eating seed along the way to maintain your energy (or you will get weak and stop which will allow Wile E. Coyote to catch you).I always got a kick of luring Wile E. Coyote into numerous mines. So much so that I would deliberately get to the end of certain levels and sit there and let him catch me so I can do the level again. That s how much I liked it.Sadly, this game hasn t been made available in retro gaming packs or on Xbox Live/PlayStation Network (mainly due to the license). There were some so-so ports to home computers in the late eighties but that is not the same.So, right now, the only way to enjoy this game (outside of having an actual arcade unit) is to use MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator).6. Firefox (Arcade) Firefox is a 1982 action film produced and directed by, and starring Clint Eastwood. It was based on a 1977 novel with the same name by Craig Thomas.The film details a joint Anglo-American plot to steal a highly advanced Soviet fighter aircraft (MiG-31, NATO code name Firefox ) which is capable of Mach 6, is invisible to radar, and carries weapons controlled by thought. Eastwood stars as Maj. Mitchell Gant, a Vietnam veteran who infiltrates the Soviet Union, aided by his ability to speak Russian (due to his Russian mother) and a network of Jewish dissidents and sympathizers, three of whom are key scientists working on the fighter itself. His goal is to steal the Firefox and fly it back to friendly territory for analysis.From the Firefox (movie) Wikipedia entry.Programmed and released by Atari Games in 1984.I consider this to be the finest LaserDisc game ever made. The LaserDisc was considered the DVD of its day and was used as the background footage (taken from the movie and other locations) for which the game graphics were superimposed.Your goal, just like in the movie, was to steal a super sophisticated Russian fighter jet and transport it to the west. You had to shoot radar circles to prevent being spotted. If you were spotted then you had to fight off the jets sent to stop you.Atari did a great job combining the graphics with the background and the gameplay excellently captured the feel of the movie.The only way to play this game today is to use the MAME emulator. However, the biggest problem is the video files. Because there were no video compression back then this makes the video file very large (try 13 GB! - a pain to download even with the fastest connections).5. Star Wars (Arcade) Star Wars is a space opera franchise conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was originally released on May 25, 1977, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, spawning two immediate sequels, released at three-year intervals. Sixteen years after the release of the trilogy s final film, the first in a new prequel trilogy of films was released, again released at three-year intervals, with the final film released on May 19, 2005.From the Star Wars Wikipedia entry.Original Atari Games Vector Graphic Version released in 1983.This game perfectly captured, or at least as closely as possible with vector graphics, the most popular aspect of the first Star Wars movie: the Death Star trench run.You had to first blast a group of TIE fighters, and their fireballs (which would deplete your shields if you got hit by one), to get to the Death Star. Then, after that, you made your way to the surface where you would encounter large gun towers you needed to avoid (and still shoot fireballs).From there, you finally entered the trench and continue to shoot the fireballs that came from the trench guns. And then you, if you survived that, you got a shot at the exhaust port so you can blow the space station up.Once you blew up the Death Star then you got to do the whole thing over again but at a higher difficulty level. This game also contained digital samples of actual dialogue from the movies to help fully capture the Death Star experience.Atari Games would also release The Empire Strikes Back as a conversion kit but it was not very popular and rarely seen in the wild. Later, The Return of the Jedi would also be released but did not use the vector graphic style used in the previous two games.4. Turok 2: Seeds of Evil (Nintendo 64) Turok is a fictional American comic book character initially in comics from Western Publishing published through licensee Dell Comics. He first appeared in Four Color Comics #596 (October/November 1954), then graduated to his own title, Turok, Son of Stone. Gold Key Comics and Valiant Comics later published the character.When the character appeared in Valiant Comics, the concept and setting were altered slightly. Turok and Andar were now 18th century Native Americans. The isolated valley became the Lost Land - a cosmic anomaly where time moved in a self-contained loop (which meant that while millions of years passed outside of it, inside it, time barely moved at all). From the Turok Wikipedia entry.Programmed and released by Acclaim Entertainment in 1998.This game was released a couple of years after Turok: Dinosaur Hunter which used the Valiant Comics version of the character. The first Turok game was criticized for excessive use of fog (because Acclaim didn t have the new Nintendo 64 hardware long enough to really know its capabilities) and for excessive jumping.The sequel was a great improvement over its predecessor and was the first game to use the newly released Expansion Pak which added more memory for graphics. And the programmers took full advantage of it. To date I consider it to be the best looking game that the Nintendo 64 ever had.In addition, the game was excellently done with huge maps and cool weapons (such as the awesome Cerebral Bore). The sound and music was also very well done.The entire Turok series was one of the few bright spots in the Acclaim line of games. Acclaim was notorious for releasing bad games (especially licensed from other properties). This eventually caught up to them and they no longer exist.3. The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (Xbox 360 - PlayStation 3) The Chronicles of Riddick is a 2004 American science fiction film. It follows the adventures of Richard B. Riddick, as he attempts to elude capture after the events depicted in the 2000 film Pitch Black, which details his meeting with Jack and Imam, his escape from the prison planet Crematoria, and his battle with the Necromonger fleet. From The Chronicles of Riddick Wikipedia entry.Programmed by Starbreeze Studios and released by Atari Interactive in 2009.Although the above Wikipedia excerpt explains the movie, the game actually takes place before the events of Pitch Black . Assault on Dark Athena is the sequel to the highly praised game Escape From Butcher Bay . However, I chose AoDA because it also contains the expanded and improved Director s Cut version of EFBB (previously available on the PC but not on the Original Xbox). Escape From Butcher Bay chronicles Riddick s stay at this infamous prison (briefly mentioned in The Chronicles of Riddick movie). The graphics and sound were excellent and included both Vin Diesel and Cole Houser who reprised their Pitch Black roles.The game was a little short and a little easy but it kept you from being frustrated. This allowed you to stay immersed in this dark little world as you tried to escape from the prison.AoDA takes place shortly after the events of EFBB and places you on a mercenary ship called the Dark Athena. Like the previous game you have to use your unique abilities to escape and thwart the plans of Captain Gale Revas.I greatly enjoyed both the original EFBB and AoDA enough to write text based strategy guides for them (for GameFAQs) and I highly anticipate a sequel. In addition, there has been news recently that a sequel to the film The Chronicles of Riddick is in pre-production.EDIT (6/15/2013): A new Riddick movie will be released in the summer of 2013 but there will be no new game to tie in with it.2. Red Storm Rising (Commodore 64) Red Storm Rising is a 1986 techno-thriller novel by Tom Clancy and Larry Bond about a Third World War in Europe between NATO and Warsaw Pact forces, set around the mid-1980s, probably in 1986 or 1987. Though there are other novels dealing with a fictional World War III, this one is notable for the way in which numerous settings for the action from Atlantic convoy duty to shooting down reconnaissance satellites to tank battles in Germany all have an integral part to play on the outcome. This is one of two novels that has no association with Clancy s others, as it does not fall in the Ryanverse. From the Red Storm Rising Wikipedia entry.Programmed by Sid Meier and released by MicroProse Software in 1988.Game Intro (YouTube)MicroProse Software was considered the best company that made games for the Commodore 64. I owned quite a few MP titles prior to RSR: Project: Stealth Fighter , F-15 Strike Eagle , Pirates! , and Airborne Ranger .When MicroProse began advertising for Red Storm Rising naturally I had to have it. And I wasn t disappointed when I got it.The game used the basic starting points of the novel (terrorist attack on a Soviet oil facility, Soviet invasion of Europe) but doesn t actually use any characters from it. Instead, it sets up a nuclear submarine simulator where you used your abilities to stop the Soviet threat.You had to find the enemy without revealing yourself then destroy them with minimal or no damage. On many missions this was a time consuming process but it only added to the tension as you stalked your quarry and set up attacks.Given the limitations of the hardware this game was incredibly well done. It is hard to believe, even today, that they managed to make a game of this magnitude with 64 KB of RAM and a 1MHz processor. There was even a keyboard overlay because you had to use just about every key on the computer.The game also has one of the best, if not the best, game manual I have ever seen. After reading it you genuinely feel that you could actually command a real sub. It s that good.Shortly after the game came out MicroProse Software (in conjunction with Commodore Magazine) did a contest called the Red Storm Rising Ultimate Challenge . After entering it and going through the various levels I eventually finished eighth.In 2009, I would put together the various materials from that contest and released them to AtariAge for fans of the game to enjoy (LINK).1. GoldenEye (Nintendo 64) GoldenEye is the seventeenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1995, the film was directed by Martin Campbell and unlike previous Bond films, is unrelated to the works of novelist Ian Fleming. The story was conceived and written by Michael France, with later collaboration by other writers. In the film, Bond fights to prevent an arms syndicate from using the GoldenEye satellite weapon against London in order to cause a global financial meltdown. From the GoldenEye (movie) Wikipedia entry.Programmed and released by Rare in 1997.Considering its legendary status it should be no surprise that this is number one on my list. Millions of Nintendo 64 s were brought because of this game (including the one that was given to me as a birthday present). A true system seller if there was ever was one.The game was a first person shooter that closely followed the events of the movie. The levels were moderate in size but well designed. It also added various objectives which gave the game more complexity.One of the cool things about the game was the fact that you had to earn the cheats you could use to make the game more fun (however, it was revealed later that button codes existed when the follow-up to this game, Perfect Dark , was nearing release). This added an extra level of challenge that many gamers, including myself, enjoyed.As good as the single player side was it was the mutiplayer aspect that sold many people on the game. It is still considered to be one of the best multiplayer games of all time regardless of system.The only problem with this game is that it has aged poorly making it hard to look at these days.However, an attempt was made to make an updated version of the game for Xbox Live. But Nintendo, who had no legal right to stop the release of the game, managed to find a way by threatening ActiVision (who currently owns the James Bond license) over some sort of certain arrangements (at least that is the current scuttlebutt concerning the game). The game was pretty much finished when it was stopped.EDIT (6/15/2013): Although ActiVision no longer holds the Bond license there doesn t seem to be any hint that this remake will ever see the light of day.And that concludes my list. There were other titles I had considered but didn t make the cut: The Darkness (Xbox 360 - PlayStation 3) The Simpsons (Konami Acrade version) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Arcade) Discs of Tron (Arcade) Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (Nintendo 64) Krull (Arcade)I certainly hope that you enjoyed reading this entry and hopefully brought back some good gaming memories.My First Entry: A Brief IntroductionraruskFebruary 26th, 2010Current Location:San Antonio, TX USAWell, this is it. My first blog entry.My name is Robert Allen Rusk and I currently live in San Antonio, TX USA. My main claim to fame, if you can call it that, is my contributions to GameFAQs. As a hobby I write text based strategy guides for them and I primarily focus on the Grand Theft Auto game series.The overall goal of this blog is to bring out various gaming related views and thoughts. In my thirty plus years of being a gamer, and some of that time I actually worked in the industry, I have seen a lot and have some interesting ideas and thoughts that have been bouncing around my head for some time.There will also be entries on other subjects but, for now, I will focus on gaming as I get the hang of blogging and how to customize the look and feel of my entries. I will have my second entry out soon. (Anonymous)30 Sep 2011, 14:34LucasArts: My Experiences with the Company and their GamesThanks you for the trip down memory lane. Sounds like you would be a wonderful addition to LucasArts, you have a love and passion for the company and their products. . .I can feel it in you writing.…rarusk14 Mar 2010, 05:27 Logorama : Best Animation I ve Seen in a Long WhileI believe so based on the information I've seen on this film.(Anonymous)13 Mar 2010, 06:15 Logorama : Best Animation I ve Seen in a Long WhileIs that Dean Martin singing in the trailer??(Anonymous)6 Mar 2010, 00:35Flawed Games I Like: Perihelion (Commodore Amiga)I have game tested under very "challenging conditions" All-nighters, sleeping under my desk waiting for the next rev. I can kind of understand how not every "playability path" was taken and instead…

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