Just yesterday I was browsing through the wonderful video and computer game resource that is MobyGames.com, and I noticed something very peculiar. All of the top 25 most highly rated games of all time on MobyGames were adventure or RPG games, and many of them were just straight up adventure games. All of the RPGs on the list are typically considered “adventure/RPG games” — in other words, RPGs with strong adventure elements. Upon checking again earlier today, a lone exception — Super Mario Bros. — had creeped into 25th place (see screenshot to the side), and as of this writing, it’s risen to rank 22, so the list is fairly dynamic. Still, the clear dominance of adventure/RPGs remains.

Conspicuously absent from the list are the usual game pundit “all time” favorites like Tetris, Super Metroid, Castlevania: SOTN, and Super Mario 64. Adventure, a genre that is supposedly “dead” in modern PC gaming, reigns supreme. So what gives?

[ Continue reading MobyGames: “Adventure” the Best Game Genre of All Time? » ]

You guys have probably figured out by now that I try to avoid “link dumps” and the like here on VC&G. But every once and a while something cool comes along that I have to share with you. In this case, it’s PC World’s list of the “25 Greatest PCs of All Time.”

The reason for the sneezin’ is the 25th anniversary of the release of the original IBM PC in 1981. However, PC World’s list is extra special because it covers all personal computers from every manufacturer and every era. It’s nice to read something in the mainstream computer press about old computers that isn’t full of misunderstandings, mistakes, and misinformation. PC World actually knows what they’re talking about in this case. And while the list (like any “Top # List”) is far from definitive, it’s still a fun read. So mosey on over to their site and check it out. After that, feel free to comment on what would be in your “top 25” list.

Alas…I possess only ten exact models of the top twenty-five personal computers of all time. I better get crackin’.

When I was but a wee lad, I begged my father to sign me up for Prodigy. I loved BBSes and wanted to try Prodigy so badly. On Christmas 1992, I finally got my wish: an orange cardboard box emblazoned with a blue star appeared under the Christmas tree. One hour (and one father’s credit card charge) later, I was online. Overall, I was mostly underwhelmed with the service and my subscription didn’t last long, but there was one thing I really liked about it: the games.

Many of you probably know of Prodigy, a pre-“popular Internet” era commercial dial-up online service that utilized copious amounts of NAPLPS graphics in its client interface. And one of the best applications of this rarely used, bandwidth- friendly graphics protocol was Eric Goldberg and Greg Costikyan‘s very popular Prodigy adventure game, MadMaze.

[ Continue reading Prodigy Lives! Play MadMaze On the Web » ]

I’m doing research on the history of commercial online services such as Prodigy, Compuserve, AOL, GEnie, Delphi, Q-Link, The Source, Dow Jones News/Retrieval Service, any videotex or teletext service, and many others for an upcoming project of mine. I would like to talk to, and perhaps interview, former employees of any of these online services if possible. If anyone out there knows how to contact former employees of these services (especially Compuserve and Prodigy), please send me an email. Of course, if you’re reading this and you’re a former employee yourself and wouldn’t mind sharing some history with me, please email me as well.

Thanks so much for your help.

WANTED: People of ethnicity to fill out pandering, tangentially video-game-related comic book “superhero” team. Must be comfortable wearing skin-tight crotch-grabbing uniforms and fixing ridiculously unrealistic spaceships. Extremely perky breasts and indelible toothy smiles a big plus.

Today we’ll be looking at Atari Force #1, which is a mini comic book (5″x7″) that came as a free pack-in with the game Defender for the Atari 2600 in 1982. Much more after the jump!

[ Continue reading Retro Scan Special Edition: Atari Force #1 In-Depth Extravaganza! » ]