Sunday, February 28, 2010

MEGA MAN 10 REVIEW



No doubt a Mega Man 10 rom has already leaked its way on to the Internet, but perhaps not. Meanwhile, I'm waiting for the release of Mega Man 10 tomorrow. Well, actually I'm not really waiting I'm just blogging. Right now it is Sunday night. I wanted to post about the game soon after release, so I started the entry early in order to save myself time in the morning.

Mega Man 9 generated a lot of traffic on 8-Bit City, and no doubt a few of you readers first discovered this place while searching for that game. That's the reason I started this post with an anecdote about the Mega Man 10 rom download. To generate hits on google. Don't be cynical, it's very exciting.

Because let's be honest, we all know that Mega Man 10 is going to be a fun game. It will also be a cheap game. I can only imagine that young readers would be experiencing Mega Man for the first time, although many people might not be aware of its release. The Mega Man series has always been a favorite of mine, and with full faith I can say that Mega Man 10 is a good game. If, by chance, Mega Man 10 is terrible, I can always edit this post tomorrow night.



Besides, Capcom has already released the bosses, some stages, the weapons, etc. etc. What's left to review? Should we go through the motions of describing things? Of pretending to care? Maybe if I waited until the game was released to review it, then there would be actual content in the review. You might be expecting nothing at this points, and that's the conclusion I've come to as well, which only proves that we are so far on the same page and can move on to the conclusion.



In the world of Internet journalism, hits represent something more important than money; they represent the power of your information. I've looked into the future to write this review! So what if I didn't play the game, I declare it almost perfect. Intelligent, inspiring, and shining slightly less brightly than Mega Man 9. Is this description not accurate? Is it not accurate enough? Nothing could top the excitement of MM9, because it pioneered the 8- and 16-Bit re-release chains of the last two years. The review is logical and accurate!



Thursday, February 25, 2010

Mega Man 10 Launch on Monday


As you go about your weekend, remember vividly what the world was like because in 4 days the universe will be completely changed.

We shall later recall both the past and the next few days as slightly-less vibrant than our future world in which Mega Man 10 assumes its rightful place on our Wii Channel screens.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Ascending NetHack


After playing NetHack the entire weekend, I have finally ascended. My Dwarven Valkyrie joins the ranks of demi-gods and -goddesses. The road was long, and, in a way my journey actually began two years ago when I first discovered NetHack and became completely captivated with its ASCII graphics and technical superiority.

The quest was difficult, the monsters were brutal, and the instant death hazards were abundant. For two years I knew I had to beat this game, but for two years I only managed to kill off dozens of noble would-be heroes. This morning I was on level 46 of Gehennom, and a Master Mind Flayer wiped my memory. I lost all hope of ascending. However, after a few minutes I realized that I would push on, despite the odds. I returned to the first level of the game, remapping all of the levels, and carving a direct path down to the Inner Sanctum. When I returned to scene of my memory loss, I was more powerful and better prepared for future dangers.

The second major obstacle manifested on the elemental planes. I had no means of detecting the portals. Haphazardly, I stumbled about and easily found 3 of the portals.


Finally, I was on the Astral Plane, the legendary final level. Using wands of teleportion, I carved a path through the monsters to the first altar. It was unaligned. Using the remaining teleport charges, I reached the second altar, and my fears were once again realized: the altar was unaligned. However, my hit points never dropped to a dangerous level and my confidence was increasing. Adrenaline flooded my nervous system. I had no more wands of teleport, so my only option was to cut a bloody swath the to the final altar.

The amulet sacrificed, the game was over. I had ascended.

Check out the dumplog of my ascension, complete with ending stats, items, and screenshot.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

The Atomic Knight Beta 4.0


I've made some small changes to The Atomic Knight, the viral (not really), free, open-source, ASCII, DOS, arcade adventure game!

Here's what you'll be downloading!

- Now it's a DOS application! Hurrah! It should run a little better and be much easier to emulated in Linux. DOSBox should now work with The Atomic Knight.
- Changed the 8Laser, it is now much more powerful.
- Changed the default settings to improve game balance.
- I've included the source code, so go crazy.
- Added an ending for those who can master the game!

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Head over to the download page to download The Atomic Knight Beta 4.0.

If you run a DOS game download site, or something similar, feel free to host The Atomic Knight. The only thing I ask is that you check back for updates to the game and host the latest version!

I also changed the URL for all the Postmodern Software downloads.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Play Rogue Online Now!



The original UNIX Rogue is now available for play online, free. Rogue is the game that started the cascade of number-driven ASCII worlds over the past 30 years. Michael Toy and Glenn Wichman programmed the game in C, using the then-new curses.h library. They were university students at the time, and Rogue was distributed across university and public networks over the next 30 years as free, open-source software. The creators retain copyright despite open-sourcing their creation.

A new website has appeared: rlgallery.org, the Roguelike Gallery. Currently the site hosts 2 versions of Rogue, with plans to expand. The website hosts the scores of all the players, including online leaderboards and game replays. You can watch others in real-time as they explore the Dungeons of Doom.



Simply SSH to rlgallery.org. You probably need to use a terminal emulator, and I recommend PuTTY, a free Telnet/SSH client. The username is "rodney" and the password is "yendor".

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, Telnet and SHH are text-based internet protocols. They are Pre-Web technology, but are still very fun and easy to use.

I encourage all readers to give Rogue a try and set some high scores on rlgallery.org!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Postmodern Software Download Page

Filedropper was not a reliable way to host The Atomic Knight. I created a free Google Site to host public downloads. This page should host future downloads (Star Quest? That's my next project to finish).

http://sites.google.com/site/8bitcity/

Everyone should be able to download The Atomic Knight Beta 3.0. I've included the source code, feel free to read it or improve it.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

The Atomic Knight Beta 3.0 Release!!!


Yes, a brand-new release of The Atomic Knight, the new trendy underground ASCII arcade adventure game I created!

New features include:

-Badass color options to suit any and all tastes!
-New intuitive interface
-Options Menu (also at death screen!)
-Color Menu (also at death screen!)
-Quit option
-Fixed a bug which caused the Game Over screen to get skipped
-Powerups (4,8,X) now give 500k points
-Trolls now give 1000+(0-99999) points

FREE ASCII GAME DOWNLOAD!

Download The Atomic Knight Beta 3.0

With the release of Beta 3.0, I can look back on the last two weeks of development. What began as a simple project in QBASIC a month ago (with the A walking around) I shifted the focus to C++ about 10 days ago. Sitting alone in an abandoned classroom, I programmed the concept that would become the Atomic Knight in 2 hours on my laptop.

Over the last week my free time has been divided between reading Emerson, Thoreau, and The Atomic Knight. Enjoy the game! Use your imagination!



Sonic 4 Annouced


In the midst of new ASCII game releases, another small software company is returning to its roots. Sega just announced Sonic 4, and it looks similar to the Genesis games with a bit of Sonic Rush polish. Personally I would have preferred 16-bit graphics, but hopefully Sega will do good with this game.

I'd also like to humbly point out that the "retro revival" trend was predicted by myself in 2008 with the release of Mega Man 9. Since then, Nintendo, Konami, Capcom, Sega, and others have released new additions to classic franchises in the classic style.

But if these games are still too advanced, I know a nice ASCII game you could play.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The Atomic Knight


The Atomic Knight is an ASCII adventure/arcade game. The world is randomly generated. Trolls are attacking the city, you must escape! Kill Trolls with your Atomic Energy Missiles (IJKL) and move with WASD.

This is a beta release, but it's the first game I've finished, so enjoy!

[2.4.2010 Download Link Removed, please download the current version!]

This includes the readme. The .exe is a 32-bit windows console application, and is best experienced in full screen. The game runs at 80 characters wide, 24 tall. Theoretically it could be ported to Telnet.

NOTE: This is a BETA release. New versions should be uploaded regularly for a few weeks. I am currently almost finished with Beta 2.0 which will change up the gameplay a little, so check back soon!



Screenshot are from the Beta 1.0 version, and, yes, the game looks different.