I, geek 
Making lists are fun, and since I found out that none of my favourite games are on the top ten lists – well, what can I say?

Not that that is entirely true; half-life, civilization, Lemming, Quake, DOOM, X-COM: UFO DEFENSE, Jet Set Willy (almost forgot that one), Pirates, Star Wars: TIE Fighters are all games I have played and enjoyed. But the games that gave me the most to think about was – and they did forget one or two of them – TIM, Quest for Glory (mostly II and III), Codename: ICEMAN, Eye of the Beholder (I erased one friend of mines saving as he was close to finish the first one…), Dune, Monkey Island, Indiana Jones and the search for Atlantis, Football Manager ’95 (the best manager game ever), Alone in the dark, SOFT PORN!! (not that it was so much porn,but it was text based, one had to type what one wanted to do, and I did not enjoy Leisure Suite Larry, the graphic [video] game that Al Lowe made based on Soft Porn), not to mention Black Cauldron.

Digression:
I am thinking that a lot of the game I played in the early nineties was based on typing, and living in Norway I had to do this in englsh. Not that my English is great, I have spelling errors, grammatical problems. I have the same problems in my Norwegian language, and to be frank, also my german suffers from the same mistakes. But still: how would this be if I did not play all these games?
End of digression

These was all a part of my early teens, in a time I did want to work and thus earn some money and did dedicate more time to play than to read – didn’t program much tough…

The list I read was posted at
filibustercartoons a time ago.




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We are seriuos 
I once had a very nice job at the local art museum here in leipzig (Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst) as a part of the Counter Strike project that SUPERFLEX did there i the beginning of 2003. (go to the home page of Superflex to read more about it).
My job was very easy; play counter strike with those who was visiting (mostly males in their late teens, early twenties) -- and being guide for those that wanted to debate the exhibition (most did not). I did not know counter strike that well before I started to work with the museum and the artists, but I knew that it was illegal a short while in 2002 due to a a-level pupil that shot his co-pupils and teachers in Erfurt in Eastern Germany (just som few miles away from Leipzig) -- as it was clamed that the game was to blame for the kids violate behaviour. It was basically clamed that Counter Strike and games like it was more or less concerned with ideas, or based on ideas that was a bad influence on kids. It was blamed for being idelogical. I guess that one might say that a game is ideological -- for as Ian Bogost of watercoolergames says to the Guardians game blog

"Games represent part of how things work in the world, and there is no way to escape a worldview when one is designing a game"


I guess he has a point, there is a stand to everything, there is no objectivity in game making, one cannot stand outside all societies of man kind and then make a game.

But a more important note that he makes in this interview is that there is a need to see writings on games that "contextualizes games in the broader sweep of human culture.." instead of those who just look at the technical bit of it all. One need critics he clames, game critics that read and see connections between a given game and other human activities they be many things. This is a thought that is interesting espescially since there is only a few years since the first PhD on games.
He could have mentioned the very good game studies - a online magazine, with editors and reviewers from different universities in Europe (mostly).



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Iron Maiden's  
Cory Arcangel compressed Iron Maides Number of the Beast 666 times as a mp3

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Monkey Island vs. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis 
Why did Monkey Island I and II have such a major success? The first one was hilariously funny and played with both slap stick and word plays (jumping off a cliff and bouncing back again by hitting a rubber three or that a monkey can be made into a (monkey) wrench to close the waterfall. Also some of the riddles where/ are almost impossible to solve.
They where developed and released at the end of the heydays of adventure games (starting with black cauldron (no, I am not thinking of the "wonderfull movie from disney" - but probably the first adventure game, made by Al Lowe) and so forth – space quest (the unofficial site spacequest.net is the one I wisit) , hero quest (now renamed to quest for glory due to copyright issues), king’s quest etc. By Sierra and ended more or less by the heavier graphic possibilities in the mid nineties turning 3D-shoot them up games with riddles to solve as well as the winner )
And why was Monkey Island better that Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis, both made bylucasarts – both where hilariously. Well, I think anyone that have seen The Pirates of Caribbean knows that comedy played in pirate times is really enjoyable. One can remove some reality, make some new figures and make them funny.
Every game, and even game compilation has its own rules of game, there is a certain pattern to solve a riddle, there is certain things that has to be done in order to get forwards. In Indiana Jones – a LucasArt game has this. You pick up anything and try to use items at any time possible or impossible. And thnk logically. In Monkey Island there seems to be no certain logic. There are no really surprises because everything can happen at any give time.

And then there is the music. The music of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (IJ4 from now) are annoying when it comes to sound. It is more pleasant to play the game without sound than with, but MI is pure pleasure to hear both music and other audio sounds.


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King's Quest VIII - Mask of Eternity 
Finished playing KQ8 today. I got it at my local libary here in Leipzig - which is greatI

But for the game I am not so thrilled - am only used to the old type of sierra adventures where typing in what one wants to say or to be done - and I have played one Space Quest as they became mouse click based - but KQ8 is from '99 and it is more like a shoot them up game where one have to move things and can click on things and rund and jump back wards just like Laura Croft - not KQ as I remember it. Although there where some good ridles it came out to easy. I set the fighting to easy so that I didn't have to waste time on fighting monsters since what I wanted was to solve puzzles and riddles.

But the music was great, really great. It did build up the mood alot and helped the game through some more tricky part like the swamp - although being maybe the most boring place in terms of adventure game it had such a massive atmoshere due to the music that I was feeling unconfortable the first 15 minutes. Briliant composed and very good sound effects.
I do remember having the same creepy feeling playing third level of the first laura croft - the music building up before the dinosaure came - I was afraid and loved it. This was around '95 I think - so it is a good decade. I did play through laura croft again just some month ago and it was rather boring. The first thrill is the deepest.

But back to KQ8; it was boring boring boring. The libary had Hero Quest V as well, but my computer would open it and I have to return it today - maybe another time then.

But I would like to go through the whole KQ-series as they looked like before they redesigned it and made it into click and play games. That goes for the Space Quest as well as the Quest for Glory series as well. But I cannot find anyone who is selling them, and since they are still copy right protected it is impossible to get them at abandownware sites - BUT Amazon has the KQ and SQ AND the Leisure Suit Larry as compalitions now for sale for only $17.99. That is cheap, but not what I want.



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