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@DarthAzrael in January 2022

@DarthAzrael

Happy New Year! New Year's at my house typically includes fireworks at midnight and this year was no exception. We went to a party at someone else's house for a few hours but were home by 10 and ready for fireworks at midnight. Read more: https://hive.blog/hive-181335/@darth-azrael/awbgbkmf #NewYear #2022 #fireworks

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Disney MGM: Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show (2006-05-27) This show was designed to show what it was like to film movie scene involving stunts, in this case featuring cars, motorcycles and physical stunts as well. The show opened for the first time on May 5th, 2006 so it was only a couple of weeks old when this was recorded. See the video here: https://hive.blog/hive-181335/@darth-azrael/ayhkfaac #Disney #MGM #HollywoodStudios #StuntShow

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The Toshiba L305 was a low-end laptop series sold in the 2009 timeframe. This particular one, the L305-S5919 is possible the very lowest end model. It was already obsolete when it was released and was compared to netbooks more than other laptops. While performance was comparable to netbooks of the time, it did have the advantage of a better keyboard and bigger screen. Specs include: Read more:…

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Shadows of the Empire got mixed but mostly positive reviews. In addition to running around and blasting everything as Dash Rendar, players also had the chance to pilot various vehicles. This game was the predecessor to and has some of the same characteristics as the Rogue Squadron series of games. It was only available for the Nintendo 64 and Windows. Read more: https://blurt.blog/retrogaming/@darth-azrael/shadows-of-the-empire-nintendo-64-1996 #retrogaming…

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Antic was originally an Atari 8-bit magazine. However, for a while they also published an Amiga magazine titled Amiga Plus (or Amiga +). Features from the June/July 1989 issue include: Artificial Reality - This article discusses breakthrough's in ray tracing and ray tracing techniques on the Amiga. An idea that has finally reached the mainstream with new GPUs like the RTX 3080. If you can find one... 3-D Modeling Comes of Age - An overview of 3-D modeling design and the…

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Dragon Power is an action adventure game released by Bandai for the NES based on the Dragon Ball manga and anime series. For the North American version, the graphics and artwork were changed to be less anime like and more like other typical fighting games with Kung-Fu imagery. This game was released in 1988 (at least in North America) so this was well before Dragon Ball anime and manga (really before most anime and manga) were popular here. Read more:…

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Metroid is possibly the most successful Nintendo series behind Super Mario Brothers and Zelda with its first installment being released in 1987 in North America. It was originally released in Japan for the Family Computer Disk System in 1986 and featured the ability to save your game. For Europe and North America the game was converted to cartridge format and a password system was used to save games. Read more: https://blurt.blog/retrogaming/@darth-azrael/metroid-nes-1987…

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Compute! was one of the most popular multi-format computer magazines of the 1980s. It covered mostly the popular 8-bit home computers of the time including the VIC-20, Commodore 64, TRS-80 Color Computer, Apple II, Atari 400/800, TI-99/4A, etc. Compute! also produced the very popular Commodore specific Compute!'s Gazette and a number of other computer specific publications. At more than 288 pages, the April 1983 issue of Compute! had a LOT in it. Some of the features…

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ST-Log was a monthly magazine in the U.S. dedicated to the Atari ST. This was the first standalone issue but issue number 10 overall. Previously, it had been an insert in ANALOG, which was otherwise dedicated to Atari 8-bit computers. It only lasted 19 issues as a standalone magazine. Features from the January 1987 issue include: Classical Gaming: A Look at the classic strategy games available for Atari's ST Shiny Bubbles: How the newest Xanth Park demo was created Window…

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ANALOG was THE magazine for Atari 8-bit users, at least in North America. It covered all of the various 8-bit models (Atari 400, Atari 800, Atari 600XL, Atari 8000XL, Atari 1200XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, etc.) and also covered the Atari ST for a while. It lasted for nearly a decade. In early 1982 there was really only still just the original two models, the Atari 400 and the Atari 800. Features from this issue include: 3-Dimensional Graphics Stopwatch Player Missile…

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Panel with Jake Lloyd and Matthew Wood hosted by Warwick Davis at Star Wars Weekends 2006 at Disney MGM (now Hollywood Studios). Read more and watch the video here: https://hive.blog/hive-181335/@darth-azrael/cuspqlaf #StarWars #JakeLloyd #MatthewWood #WarwickDavis #Disney #MGM #HollywoodStudios #StarWarsWeekends

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The Full name of this magazine was AC's Tech For The Commodore Amiga. This was a magazine that covered a variety of technical topics, especially programming, for the Commodore Amiga line of computers. It was relatively expensive because it also included a disk that would contain various software and examples. The August 1992 issue included the following: Read more: https://blurt.blog/retrocomputing/@darth-azrael/ac-s-tech-amiga-august-1992 #retrocomputing #Commodore #Amiga

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Home Computer Magazine started life as 99’er which was a magazine dedicated to the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A computer. However, that computer was discontinued in 1983, a victim of a price war with Commodore, and shortly afterwards 99’er became Home Computer Magazine. HCM exclusively covered the TI-99/4A, Apple II, VIC-20, Commodore 64, IBM-PC, and Atari 8-bit computers. However, Home Computer Magazine only lasted about two years in this incarnation. Features from the Volume…

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Laser Invasion was a 1991 game by Konami for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It's sort of a strange hybrid 1st person shooting game. You can use the controller but much of it is really designed for the NES Zapper light gun (or Konami's own LaserScope which is a head mounted version of the same thing). Read more: https://blurt.blog/retrogaming/@darth-azrael/laser-invasion-nes-1991 #retrogaming #Nintendo #NES #Konami #LaserInvasion

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This photo shows what looks like a custom built house boat on a body of water probably in the Pacific Northwest. The man in the picture is holding a hammer so perhaps he is still working on it. The slide was not labeled or dated but it was probably taken in the late 1950s or early 1960s. For more info and photos from this set, see https://hive.blog/photography/@darth-azrael/vintage-photos-oestreicher-1421-1424 #slides #vintage #photos #film #photography #Kodak #Kodachrome

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Uncharted Waters was the first in a series of games with that title released by KOEI. It is a sort of simulation/strategy/role-playing game themed around the Age of Discovery. In terms of gameplay and theme it has been compared to Sid Meier's Pirates! but it never achieved that popularity, at least in North America. Read more: https://blurt.blog/retrogaming/@darth-azrael/uncharted-waters-1993 #retrogaming #Sega #Genesis #Nintendo #NES #Uncharted #KOEI

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Conceptually, Burning Rangers is certainly unique. It is a 3D action game in which you play a futuristic fire fighter. It generally got good reviews but it was one of the last Sega Saturn games released in North America (in May 1998) and as such it can be a little hard to find. Read more: https://blurt.blog/retrogaming/@darth-azrael/burning-rangers-sega-saturn #retrogaming #Sega #Saturn #SegaSaturn #BurningRangers #gaming

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The Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer, also known as the Tandy Color Computer or the Coco was a series of mostly compatible home computers produced from 1980 until 1991. It was the only common computer I am aware of that used the Motorola 6809 CPU. This was an 8-bit CPU but had some 16-bit features and was powerful for its time. The Coco wasn't really as popular as Commodore, Apple or Atari computers but it was supported by Radio Shack for a long time and still had a…

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Ahoy! was a magazine dedicated to Commodore computers. In 1984 this meant mostly the Commodore 64 and VIC-20. Ahoy! might not have been quite as popular as RUN or Compute!'s Gazette but it still had a pretty good circulation. The February 1984 issue includes: Read more: https://hive.blog/retrocomputing/@darth-azrael/ahoy-february-1984 #retrocomputing #Commodore #Commodore64 #VIC20

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Though not the first 3D action/adventure game to hit the market it was one of the earliest and probably the one the most served to popularize the genre (along with Super Mario 64 of course). Development of Tomb Raider started in 1993 and the game was released in 1996 to glowing reviews and enormous sales. Read more: https://blurt.blog/retrogaming/@darth-azrael/tomb-raider-1996 #retrogaming #TombRaider #DOS #PlayStation #Sega #Saturn

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Extreme Ghostbusters for the Game Boy Color is a bit of an obscure title. It is based on an animated series of the same name which was in turn a sequel to The Real Ghostbusters which was a spinoff of the Ghostbusters movie. I remember watching The Real Ghostbusters and so I'm somewhat familiar with that one but I had never heard of Extreme Ghostbusters. It would have been targeted at a younger audience than me so I guess that is understandable. That and it only lasted for…

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When Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 was released it was a disappointment. The gameplay was actually ok but the graphics were terrible, even for an Atari 2600 game. The Atari 5200 was essentially an Atari 400/800 computer in disguise so it was a much more capable machine than the Atari 2600 and a better job was done with the port as well. It was as close to arcade perfect as you could expect in a machine of that era. Read more:…

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Jeremy Bulloch, Temuera Morrison and Rick McCallum at Star Wars Weekends 2006 at Disney MGM (now Hollywood Studios) in Orlando, Florida. Hosted by Warwick Davis. See the video here: https://hive.blog/hive-181335/@darth-azrael/clmubmhx #StarWars #BobaFett #StarWarsWeekends #Disney #MGM #HollywoodStudios #TemueraMorrison #RickMcCallum #JeremyBulloch

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When I first got this machine, it had a recent version of Linux Mint installed. It seemed to work fine. I installed BOINC on it (which I do with every computer I get my hands on) and added my typical projects - einstein@home, rosetta@home, milkyway@home and World Community Grid. After it downloaded work units and started crunching them, the computer started responding VERY sluggishly. While BOINC works a computer hard, it runs at low priority so typically it is only using…

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For a long time, Computer Gaming World was practically the only computer games magazine around. While it concentrated on PC games most of its life (DOS, then Windows) it covered other formats earlier in its life. Features from the January/February 1987 issue include: MoonMist - Hints for Infocom's latest (at the time) interactive fiction game. It was available for a very wide variety of platforms and on the easier side of their games. Robot Rascals - Review of a rather…

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Maximum covered what at the time were "next generation" systems, including the Sega Saturn, PlayStation, 3DO, Neo Geo, and PC among other systems. Maximum was published in the U.K. but was very similar to Next Generation which was published in the U.S. In fact they were sister magazines and shared some content. The premiere issue of Maximum from 1995 includes: Read more: https://hive.blog/hive-140217/@darth-azrael/maximum-issue-number-1-1995 #retrogaming

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Sega Visions was Sega's answer to Nintendo Power, an official magazine from Sega. The May 1995 issue includes: Cover Story The Sega Saturn Arrives - Tons of coverage for the then brand new Sega Saturn. In addition to the console itself, all of the earliest games were covered including Panzer Dragoon, Virtua Fighter, NHL All-Star Hockey, Clockwork Knight, Daytona USA, Virtual Hydlide, Worldwide Soccer, Grandslam Baseball, Deadlus, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Van Battle, Virtua…

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Missile Command was originally released as an arcade game by Atari in 1980 and was one of the games that made arcades and Atari popular. The premise is pretty simple. Nuclear missiles are raining down on your cities and it is your job to shoot them down before they strike. I guess you could say it was the perfect Cold War era game. Read more: https://blurt.blog/retrogaming/@darth-azrael/missile-command-atari-2600-1981 #retrogaming #MissileCommand #Atari #Atari2600

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The Atari 2600 was the first video game system I owned and probably my favorite still (if you don't count the Commodore 64). It was released all the way back in 1978 but was still going strong when this ad came out in 1982. The Atari 2600 pictured above looks just like the one I got for Christmas in 1983. Older models had six switches on the front instead of four and newer models were all black (no wood grain). Read more:…

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Amiga Force was a relatively short-lived Amiga gaming magazine published in the U.K. Publication began in 1992, fairly late in the life of the Amiga. It only lasted 16 issues before ceasing publication due to the bankruptcy if its publisher. The March 1993 issue includes: Read more: https://hive.blog/hive-140217/@darth-azrael/amiga-force-march-1993 #retrogaming #retrocomputing #Commodore #Amiga

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Compute! is a multi-format computer magazine that was published throughout most of the 1980s and early 1990s. Compute! also had several spin-off publications that were specific to one particular computer or another. Most were relatively short-lived but Compute!’s Gazette for Commodore 8-bit computers (mostly the Commodore 64) was an exception. It was published from 1983 until 1990 as a stand-alone magazine and then it continued as an insert until 1993 and finally as a disk…

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Joust was an arcade game developed by Williams Electronics and released in 1982. The player or players control a knight riding a flying ostrich and battles against enemy knights riding buzzards. Despite the relatively unique control scheme at the time (press the butt to flap the wings) it was quite a successful game and was largely responsible for popularizing two player simultaneous play. Read more: https://blurt.blog/retrogaming/@darth-azrael/joust-art-by-hiro-kimura…