Sep 1, 2006

Contemporary Retro Remakes

The brilliant Independent Gaming blog has finally spilled the news: the Retro Remakes 2006 Compo has ended and the 73 games that entered it are all available for (free) download, only of course to the brave souls that dare click here. And while we're all waiting for the announcement of the glorious winners (should happen around December) and downloading these retro inspired freebies, the wise read the growing list of the competition entries' reviews.

Said entries include (and these are just a gnome's random picks): Berzerk 3D, Marioland Plus, Implausible Mission (wink), One Step Beyond, Labra Tetris, ThreeDCK (a.k.a. 3D Construction Kit 2006), Asteroids, H.E.R.O. and Ghouls & Ghosts remix. Top stuff, really.

Related @ Gnome's Lair: Will Wright's first game, Wik and the Fable of Souls, Game&Watch emu, retro gaming music


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29 comments:

  1. Yay! More stuff to make me avoid work!

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  2. I admit it... Crushing global production was indeed the purpose of this humble post.

    :)

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  3. nooooooo not more free games just when I said September would purely be a working month :)

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  4. Ooops. Sorry for that... Just being counter-productive...

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  5. motherload... but how the guy had the guts to give any of em a Zero score i dont' know.....

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  6. People these days... Pah!

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  7. If a competition entry doesn't work on my PC, that's a certain zero, unfortunately... :(

    i gave a lot of nines as well. :)

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  8. Fair enough my friend, fair enough.

    (Which one was it?)

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  9. (checks the walls.....) alright wheres the microphone........

    In fairness the whole idea is revolutionary.... (kisses Tim.W feet, wipes.... off excess dribble)

    but maybe ....... no your right.... Zero if it dosen't work is fair... ish.

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  10. Right. Fair..ish enough. There are quite a few of 0s though...

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  11. O as in oh!, maybe they need to submit the files again, it'd be an awful shame having done all that programming to get a zero just cause it didn't work on one computer.... (considers offering to playtest.... thinks of short lifespan)

    nah i'll just shut up!

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  12. I'm pretty sure your offer would be highly apprciated dear and kindest Elderly... Really. Have a look over at Independent Gaming...

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  13. but where would i find the time... i'd love to help.... but i need to eat, sleep, talk to people, work, read, blog, play games, drink,

    (takes some of Gnomes anti-sleeping tablets)

    I'll check it out........

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  14. Uhmm... Elderly... would you mind bringing those tablets back?

    Ah, yes, very nice.

    Now, have the anti-sleeping ones. Enjoy.

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  15. I do think Tim W may have missed the point of the compo in a couple of cases. Its a remake compo so I am guessing the idea is to try and keep the excellent gameplay and ideas of the original games. He seems to have marks games down for this. Mmmm.

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  16. I wouldn't really agree with you, oh wise frankyboy. I don't believe that ripping sprites -for example- is the way to go with a remake... Other than that, I really don't believe Tim has marked down faithfullness. Just shodiness...

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  17. "The brilliant Independent Gaming blog"

    I'm not so sure! Looks like he's taken about 30 seconds to score each game. That's a real shame...

    gnome... I agree that nicking sprites is absolutely no way to go.

    However, this was a "retro remake" competition, and therefore points should have been AWARDED for any game offering authenticity + enhancement, whilst keeping the crucial original game play element. Some of the very few games that have actually achieved this often impossible goal have been pretty bewilderingly marked DOWN in that ‘independent blog’, which is pretty offhand no matter how you look at it.

    Hey, let’s all set up blog sites marking stuff out of 10 based on our own dodjy criteria and then we can ALL be REAL IMPORTANT ;-)

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  18. Let's get one thing straight... I haven't played many of the games Tim reviewed and I haven't read all of the Independent Gaming reviews either. I also don't feel very comfortable talking about these reviews, as I really feel that the Independent Gaming blog should be where one should talk about them. It does have both a "comments" and a "discussion" section after all...

    As for the review scores, they do seem pretty low at first glance, even in games like Spikey Harold where Tim does admit that the game is faithful and enhanced, but didn't like the original. So... This might seem unfair, but I don't feel it actually is.

    On the other hand, two of the high rated games I played are indeed excellent. A definite "good thing" (tm). :)

    Anyway.

    I would have to play each game and see if I agree, and I have to admit that Tim tends to judge the games not only as remakes, but as games per se. The way he'd judge any other... So, you might have a point there.

    Where you really are very wrong is actually ATTACKING the Indy BLog and Tim in personal. This will not be tolerated here. They are friends, a blog I enjoy and in the end you can talk with them directly.

    Please. Keep it nice.

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  19. I compeltely agree that ripping sprites is bad, and in fact doing a byte for byte copy of the original is just not good. Having just searched, found and read the rules for the compo its actually frowned upon there too.
    What I was refering to, and I agree with the anonymous post above here, are the games which keep the original gameplay and concept, i.e. what makes them 'remakes', but have improved their presentation for modern machines. I don't think Tim could possible have played the games long enough in the short space of time between them being released and his reviews coming out, for his opinions to be accurate. My concern was that in some cases they may diswade people from downloading and trying what are actually excellent remakes.
    Thats my 2 cents worth anyway ;-)

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  20. Fair point.... but as I've just had a look around Independent Gaming, there seems to be constant updating and discussion on the reviews... Perhaps one should post his disagreement on each review....

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  21. (returns tablets... squeezes threw crowded comment room.... puts on kettle)

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  22. (elderly releases emergency parachute, lands safely) looks around to see what happened and discovers empty room.......hey where did everyone go....? (checks floor....ponders the accidentalness of his brief flight plan)

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  23. just spotted the wink, you winker you

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  24. Right here, right now, drinking Martini!!!!

    Wiiiiiiiiiiiii

    Have one...

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  25. not at present i'm still role playing the imperial leather soap commercial..... be with you in a second......

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  26. Bring a relevant YouTube video when you come back, will you?

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  27. http://www.youtube.com/
    watch?v=XB4_6iFqvFs

    hope it's relevant...

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  28. Yes, yes, very relevant... Brings me to a distinctly autobiographic mood...

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