Limbo

Allow me to draw your attention to an excellent game in making : Limbo.

Well, excellent... We actually do not know yet whether it will really be good, we do not know when it gets published, we do not even know if it will ever get finished. Pretty much the only thing we happen to know is that the person behind it is Arnt Jensen (who participated in the creation of different games, one of the most known of which would be Hitman 2) and that the development is funded by a grant from Danish government.

One little piece of concept art, to keep you interested.

As for the title of the game : "Limbo comes from the latin limbus meaning a hem or an edge or a boundary. While "limbo" is often popularly understood to be a "place where souls go", the term also describes and reflects theological uncertainty". So much for the Wiki.

The first thing that can immediately be noticed when you have a look at concept art and the teaser is that Limbo has incredibly pronounced sense of style. Black and white images with lots of shadows and shades coupled with the monolithic backgrounds and dream-like landscapes create melancholic feeling of some distant otherworldly plane. The protagonist, a small boy, seems totally lost in the gargantuan out-of-scale surroundings, be it the top of gigantic canyon, strange misty forest with its dangerous inhabitants or the insides of some strange machinery. The overall effect is sad and touching atmosphere that had me filled with the feeling of nostalgia. The last times I felt like this was when I was playing Another World by Eric Chahi (do you remember the ending?) or Targhan by Silmarils (that red sky with just a couple of birds flying in the distance) - and it is definitely a good sign

What more to say? Just go to the official website, have a look at it and pray the story does not end there and the game actually gets completed one day.

A link to the past...

In the wake of recent experiments with Amiga emulation, I have tried emulating Gameboy. Yes, the very same 8 bit Gameboy Classic, the first real portable gaming console. At the time I was in love with the system and it took me some time before I actually got to own one.

In fact, my brother finally snatched one in more or less '95, and I could play in the rare moments when he got bored with it (which of course happened to be definitely too scarce). To be honest, I have bought my own private one out of nostalgia just last month. What? It cost just something under ten euro, I can afford that. And no, I am not strange, thank you so much - it is not much for a trip back to the roots.

The first and the last generation of portable gaming.

Emerging from the depths of my memories, let's get back to emulation. In order to be able to play your favourite old hits, a homebrew emulator called RIN will be necessary. The latest version is 1.32 and it handles the task flawlessly. Everything runs smoothly and there is absolutely no game that would cause any compatibility problems. RIN also emulates everything up to Gameboy Color (like Super Gameboy and such), so there is a variety of titles to choose from. It is also much easier on the eyes to play those games on nice and shiny PSP screen (yes, backlit LCDs were not used back then). You can apply different color schemes, contrary to the dark-green-on-light-green Gameboy screen.

I have to admit, though, that I only really play some titles using RIN. Why? Because, well, I only do own a few games (all of them absolute classics) and I think playing games that you don't own and that are still available on the market (be it Ebay or second-hand console rentals) is piracy. Which is bad, by the way.

Anyhow, if you want to refresh your happy childhood memories and try a few rounds of Mario or Zelda without bringing your ancient (and heavy, I might just add) Gameboy Classic, now there is a way to do it comfortably on your PSP. Plus it also allows you to play some Need for Speed should you get bored, although for us, the dinosaurs of the 8 bit era, no NfS can beat the adventures in the cosy monochrome shades of green.

Amiga emulation on the PSP

One of the main reasons to buy my PSP was being able to emulate Amiga. Yes, at the time I was thinking of getting it I didn't care so much about the games, but was absolutely excited by the possibility of being able to play Amiga games anywhere on the go. After having bought my PSP in January 2006, however, I realised that things weren't yet all that good in the emulation department. I haven't been able to play my beloved Wolfchild, a game that I had so fond memories of.

I didn't have Amiga back then, because my parents couldn't afford one, so I had to play this game at my friend's place. I was totally enchanted by the atmosphere of this game - I even had my friend record music tracks from the game for me to listen on my tape-recorder... Although the game was very hard, the combination of music and artwork created incredible experience that I can't forget even now, many years later.

Wolfchild - now on your PSP.

Anyways, the developers are working (albeit a bit slowly) and things did get better over the course of last few months. As you can see above, I was finally able to play Wolfchild on my PSP. I used PSPUAE 0.60 and with a frameskip of 2 it was running at a speed which I wouldn't yet call decent, but definitely playable. That taking into account playing in fullscreen and with sound. Loading time was a bit of a drag, but obviously this version of PSPUAE has progressed in terms of compatibility and speed, as compared to half year back. I do hope that in a few more months this game is going to be 100% playable with a perfect framerate.

I also checked a few other games (SWIV etc.) and although some frame skipping is necessary to get reasonable speed of emulation, the results are highly promising. I am waiting for another release.

Oh, and by the way, there are two excellent remixes of the first level background music available on the web - one by Lomaxx and one by Paul Blackford. I highly recommend downloading them.

Here we go...

Hi,

My name is Bartlomiej Nagorski, over the web I go under a nickname of Barts_706. I am 26 years old software developer and I am a devoted gamer since '89, when I accidentally found a computer magazine and read a walkthrough for "Three weeks in paradise". Since then I have been drawn into the world of electronic fun, finished a masters degree in computer science and telecommunications, cooperated with biggest games magazine in Poland, CD Action, and generally enjoyed every second of my time in front of the screen.

I have never owned a blog before, yet I have decided to use this medium in order to share my reflections on different aspects of digital entertainment. I hope you will find my perspective interesting. After all, seventeen years of experience in gaming is something. Therefore after a few years of posting game reviews and comments in different places over the net, I thought I might centralize it in one place.

You will find here game reviews but also mentions of different software, technological gadgets, news of the games' world as well as other things - maybe a couple of book reviews, too, maybe a photo or interesting link, maybe my program or game. We'll see.

Well, enough talking - let's kick it off then!