Code quality

So very true...

N + 1

Having a knack for retro old-school games, I am impatiently waiting for this little jewel :

Appearing for Sony PSP (as seen above), Nintendo DS (see the trailer for this version here) and Xbox Live!, the game is cryptically entitled N+. The title stems from the fact that the first version was an online flash game - don't forget to give it a try, just not at work, if you would like to keep it - so this is an updated remake (hence N+, as in C++, get it?). You can read more about the game and differences between different versions on Siliconera and on Metablog, be sure check official The Way of the Ninja page as well (contains a ton of screens and downloads!).

Obligatory PSP screen

The fiendish difficulty level of the original version prevents me from playing it too much, but it has a lovely minimalistic retro touch to it. So even though there are some A+ class titles to come out in march (I'm looking at you, God of War... drooling), I will be sure to keep an eye on this title, as it seems very interesting for an old-school guy like myself. Ah, the good ol' tiNes...

Okami intro comparison

One of few games that I almost bought a PS2 for is Okami. I even had a demo disk handed out at Tokyo Game Show 2005, which I admit I have sold before the game saw the light of day (I was young and needed money).

I admire Okami's graphical style both as a wanna-be artist with inclinations towards Japanese culture and as a programmer (this ink effect is not an easy thing to do in real time), not to mention as a gamer.

It is therefore interesting to see that what has later become a trademark of the game, was at first not even included. See the video below to compare how Okami's visual style has evolved :

PS. Concerning the name of the game, I actually think it should be transcribed as Ookami, but on the other hand 'O' is a honorific, so I am a bit lost here. Any opinion on that?

Dear Microsoft

Dear Microsoft,

Yes, we know you're a f***in monopoly, and yes, we know that on a Tablet PC Linux is even shittier, but this paranoia is something even beyond your usual standards :


Industry standard my a$$. How dare you even call your misfit of a system Professional. Probably only because your Vista sucks even more. Fsck you, Microsoft.

Best regards,

Barts

Atari ST versus Amiga

"Humans have always hated dwarves and elves", as Witcher has it, while in the real world Amiga and Atari ST users have always hated each other. I myself was always Amiga fan, even though I didn't even have one (aww...), but I have actually played Starblade on Atari ST once.

Amiga fanboys accused Atari ST of having inferior graphical and sound capacity, Atari ST folks were bashing Amiga users. I never actually did in-depth comparison (I am too lazy), but I have accidentally found a video on YouTube that compares different games' title screens, detailing number of colours and resolution.

It is a very interesting comparison (its author promises similar one for gameplay as well). After seeing this I admit that Atari ST had less colours a its disposal, but on the other hand programmers made really good job dithering them to obtain very similar results.

Gotta catch 'em all!

Despite the title, this post won't have anything to do with Pokemons (phew!).

Just recently I have stumbled upon a really cool drawing (a little dated, but still), depicting a whole lot of classic computer games' heroes. You can find it here and I uploaded it on Blogspot for your convenience.

Be sure to click image for a full view

The question is : how many games can you distinguish in the image?

With some folks from my company and also from a computer board (Polish only, sorry) we have managed to pin down most of them, but there is still a couple missing. See here if you are not afraid of spoilers (and if you find any new ones, please let me know via comments).

I am particularly proud of my contributions, such as Bioforge, Messiah and Metal Mutant (on the other hand these ones made me feel old - how many people even remember those games?) or combination of Dune and Earthworm Jim.

These people's identity remains unknown.
If you know them, please help us identify them.

Some other puzzles put me to shame, for example the Morrowind dude - I actually got it because I realised that dots on his face are Dark Elves' tribal tattoo, but afterwards I felt like an idiot for not deciphering the meaning of "No more winds".

This has totally made me laugh.

A couple of drawings are so-so (how is one to guess that Deus Ex one without knowing Russian is beyond me), but some are brilliant - such as protagonists of Grim Fandango, Dungeon Keeper and Undying together with scythes.

Reaper Men

All in all, it was really fun and I encourage you to have a look at it as well. Perhaps you'll even be able to pinpoint something I might have missed.