• Re: CRAP Poll # (Infinity - 6): Bring It Back!

    From Rin Stowleigh@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sat Jun 7 16:59:45 2025
    On Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:52:10 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote:

    Okay, that's my choice. What game or franchise do you think that the
    world has forgotten but -given another chance- probably would work
    today?

    Red Baron (1990)
    Gunship (1986)
    Vietcong (2003)
    Archon (1983) with low latency online multiplayer play

    Any of those done properly could be amazing.

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  • From Xocyll@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 8 07:10:57 2025
    Rin Stowleigh <[email protected]> looked up from reading the
    entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
    say:

    On Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:52:10 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson ><[email protected]> wrote:

    Okay, that's my choice. What game or franchise do you think that the
    world has forgotten but -given another chance- probably would work
    today?

    Red Baron (1990)

    I'd second that.

    Gunship (1986)

    Don't think I ever played that - gunship 2000 was a close as I got I
    think.

    Vietcong (2003)

    Don't know this one.

    Archon (1983) with low latency online multiplayer play

    The chess type game?

    Any of those done properly could be amazing.

    And I'll add out-something (Outwars maybe?)

    A shooter in which vertical was as important as horizontal - you had a
    jet pack of sorts and later glider wings that added to it to give you
    more flight range.

    The graphics sucked but the gameplay was good.
    A redo with something close to modern graphics, with the original play
    would have the chance to be excellent if implemented well.

    Xocyll
    --
    I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
    a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
    Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
    FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr

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  • From vallor@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Sun Jun 8 12:44:01 2025
    On Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:52:10 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

    In this age of sequels, reboots and remakes, what forgotten intellectual
    property would you like to see revived?

    I've got one, but I don't even remember the name of the game.

    It was a spaceship simulator, where you were flying over a Jovian(?)
    moon looking for alien artifacts. When you found one, you'd hover over
    it and beam it up for analysis. This told you more about the alien
    race, and also filled in a square in a mural page.

    This was CGA graphics on an IBM XT. I just tried asking ChatGPT
    about it, and drew a blank. I don't even remember the publisher.

    Anybody remember this one?

    --
    -Scott System76 Thelio Mega v1.1 x86_64 NVIDIA RTX 3090Ti 24G
    OS: Linux 6.14.10 D: Mint 22.1 DE: Xfce 4.18 Mem: 258G
    "Don't judge a book by its mini-series."

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  • From Rin Stowleigh@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 8 09:36:56 2025
    On Sun, 8 Jun 2025 14:01:44 +0100, Geoff May <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On 07/06/2025 21:59, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
    On Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:52:10 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Okay, that's my choice. What game or franchise do you think that the
    world has forgotten but -given another chance- probably would work
    today?

    Red Baron (1990)

    Agreed and I would add:
    Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe
    Their Finest Hour
    Aces of the Pacific

    Gunship (1986)
    Vietcong (2003)
    Archon (1983) with low latency online multiplayer play

    Any of those done properly could be amazing.

    Wasn't into Gunship when it was new and don't know the other two.

    I played Gunship on Atari ST, really not sure how other editions
    compared. Like any flight sim in the late 80's, the visuals were lame
    by today's standards but it was quite immersive at the time... every
    mission was a good time.

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  • From rms@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 8 10:12:40 2025
    Vietcong (2003)

    Vietcong is an astounding game that I played through several times, and loaded up to replay the 'Defend the Hill' level many more times. I've mentioned this before here, but the movement options and weapon handling of this title are unequalled in the fps genre from then until now.

    rms

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  • From Rin Stowleigh@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sun Jun 8 12:58:56 2025
    On Sun, 08 Jun 2025 10:42:59 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote:

    Archon (1983) with low latency online multiplayer play

    The chess type game?

    That's the one. It spawned its own genre that muddled along for a few
    years during the 90s (leading to games like "Dark Legions" and "Wrath >Unleashed") but ultimately the whole idea was abandoned by the market.
    It tried to bridge arcade gameplay with chess mechanics, and satisfied
    fans of neither. I'm not sure it would have much more success today,
    but who knows?

    I'm guessing you're not talking about the 1983 (Atari 8 bit computer)
    version I'm referring to?

    It was insanely popular, won awards, and really put Electronic Arts
    (the original team, not what they are today) on the map.

    Multiplayer (which of course back then meant two joysticks going into
    a single computer) was an insane mix of strategy and reflexes.

    There was a remake in 2010 that isn't really worth bothering with.

    For it to succeed these days it would require online lobby matching
    with no wait times (good luck with that these days) and input latency requirements that might be hard to achieve consistently on an Internet connected game. This was part of the fun factor of the original.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mike S.@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sun Jun 8 15:18:05 2025
    On Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:52:10 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote:

    In this age of sequels, reboots and remakes, what
    forgotten intellectual property would you like to
    see revived?

    But before you answer: let's set the ground rules: when I say
    'forgotten', I mean an IP that not only hasn't seen any new games made
    for it in a while (let's say at least fifteen years or twenty years)
    but has largely faded from the popular consciousness. One of those IPs
    likely swallowed up by Activision or EA and never given another
    thought. So nothing that's recently gotten a remake or reboot or
    spiritual successor (e.g. "Descent"), or is likely to still be
    recognized by the average gamer (e.g., "Half Life"). You know...
    something you love and think deserves a second change, but most of the
    world has forgotten.

    Got it?

    Got it.

    Most of the games I want to see redone violate your 'forgotten' rules.
    One that I think does not is 'Conquest of the New World.' It is a
    strategy game where you build up your colonies and get strong enough
    to try and gain your independence from your Mother Country. I liked
    how combat worked in the game. I thought it was unique at the time.
    The game is in some ways similar to Microprose's Colonization, and in
    others ways (like combat) is very different. You can also play as the
    Indians instead which changed how the game played.

    Another would be 'Anvil of Dawn'. This is a single character dungeon
    crawler RPG done right. I played through the game several times with
    different characters. The game had an excellent automap. One of the
    very best I have ever seen. I never got lost in the maze-like
    dungeons. The game had a lot spells to cast, and a good amount of loot
    to find as well. The locations in the game were varied and
    interesting.

    I don't expect either of these games to ever get any kind of remake or
    reboot.

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  • From Mike S.@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sun Jun 8 15:20:56 2025
    On Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:59:45 -0400, Rin Stowleigh
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Red Baron (1990)
    Gunship (1986)
    Vietcong (2003)
    Archon (1983) with low latency online multiplayer play

    Any of those done properly could be amazing.

    Archon is a good choice. I have very fond memories of this one. I
    played it a lot with my brother when we were kids. There was a sequel
    called Archon II: Adept but I barely remember it.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Rin Stowleigh@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 8 16:38:40 2025
    On Sun, 08 Jun 2025 15:20:56 -0400, Mike S. <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:59:45 -0400, Rin Stowleigh
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Red Baron (1990)
    Gunship (1986)
    Vietcong (2003)
    Archon (1983) with low latency online multiplayer play

    Any of those done properly could be amazing.

    Archon is a good choice. I have very fond memories of this one. I
    played it a lot with my brother when we were kids. There was a sequel
    called Archon II: Adept but I barely remember it.


    I almost added Ancient Art of War and Ancient Art of War at Sea. But
    it was really hard to imagine any sort of modern redo being able to
    retain the fun factor of the originals. I played those on a PC with
    CGA (4 color) graphics and for audio the bleeps and blips a typical
    business PC was capable of back then. But that was part of the charm
    of those titles.

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    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From vallor@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Sun Jun 8 23:27:58 2025
    On Sun, 08 Jun 2025 10:50:00 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

    On Sun, 8 Jun 2025 12:44:01 -0000 (UTC), vallor <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:52:10 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

    In this age of sequels, reboots and remakes, what forgotten intellectual
    property would you like to see revived?

    I've got one, but I don't even remember the name of the game.

    It was a spaceship simulator, where you were flying over a Jovian(?)
    moon looking for alien artifacts. When you found one, you'd hover over
    it and beam it up for analysis. This told you more about the alien
    race, and also filled in a square in a mural page.

    This was CGA graphics on an IBM XT. I just tried asking ChatGPT
    about it, and drew a blank. I don't even remember the publisher.

    Anybody remember this one?

    Pretty sure it's "Echelon" (1987). Although it used EGA graphics. I
    don't recall it taking place on a Jovian moon but the 'mural' thing
    cinched it.

    That's it! Thank you!


    More info here:
    https://www.mobygames.com/game/424/echelon/
    mural picture here: https://www.mobygames.com/game/424/echelon/screenshots/dos/1959/)

    Play it here (C64 version, didnt' see a playble DOS version): https://archive.org/details/Echelon_1987_Access_Software_Side_A

    Buy it here:
    https://www.gog.com/en/game/echelon


    $1.49, can't beat that price.

    I've got it now. :)

    Yay! I'm smarter than AI! ;-)

    Yes you are!

    --
    -Scott System76 Thelio Mega v1.1 x86_64 NVIDIA RTX 3090Ti 24G
    OS: Linux 6.14.10 D: Mint 22.1 DE: Xfce 4.18 Mem: 258G
    "I xeroxed a mirror, now I have an extra copier."

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  • From Xocyll@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jun 9 01:23:55 2025
    Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> looked up from reading the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
    say:

    On Sun, 08 Jun 2025 07:10:57 -0400, Xocyll <[email protected]> wrote:

    Rin Stowleigh <[email protected]> looked up from reading the >>entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
    say:

    On Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:52:10 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson >>><[email protected]> wrote:

    Okay, that's my choice. What game or franchise do you think that the >>>>world has forgotten but -given another chance- probably would work >>>>today?

    Red Baron (1990)

    I'd second that.

    Gunship (1986)

    Don't think I ever played that - gunship 2000 was a close as I got I
    think.

    Same series; Gunship 2000 was the second game in the franchise
    (followed by disappointingly arcade "Gunship!" in 2000). G2K was the
    best of three.

    G2k was a bit of a disappointment reality-wise.
    I used to get insanely high scores by using a scout chopper with a 7.62
    machine gun to do the missions.
    The game would let the 7.62 take out tanks and such even though that
    would never happen in reality.

    Vietcong (2003)

    Don't know this one.

    An excellent FPS set, unsurprisingly, during the Vietnam war. It
    attempted to present a more realistic battlefield than other FPS games
    of the era. It wasn't perfect (some of the levels were unduly long,
    and the underground levels were gruelingly tedious) but it stood apart
    from its peers. It was made by the same team that did Mafia and looked >absolutely gorgeous back in 2003. It had a rockin' soundtrack too.

    The only Vietnam game I played I think was one set on one of those
    tactical riverboats.

    Archon (1983) with low latency online multiplayer play

    The chess type game?

    That's the one. It spawned its own genre that muddled along for a few
    years during the 90s (leading to games like "Dark Legions" and "Wrath >Unleashed") but ultimately the whole idea was abandoned by the market.
    It tried to bridge arcade gameplay with chess mechanics, and satisfied
    fans of neither. I'm not sure it would have much more success today,
    but who knows?

    I remember fondly playing this back in 1986 on an IBM PCJr (govt job
    training thing and they had a few computer games that could be played if
    you hung around after class ended.

    Any of those done properly could be amazing.

    And I'll add out-something (Outwars maybe?)

    A shooter in which vertical was as important as horizontal - you had a
    jet pack of sorts and later glider wings that added to it to give you
    more flight range.

    Ah, the barely explored jetpack FPS genre. There are, of course, a
    number of games that feature jetpacks, but few games made them central
    to your gameplay. Maybe "Anthem" is the most modern?

    The only one I Recall offhand was the extremely brief use of on in Duke
    Nukem 3D. That's what I liked about Outwars, the mission maps
    _required_ you to use the pack to get around.

    Like Descent it forced you to think in 3D, in an age of mostly
    flat-plane shooters and RPGs.

    Maybe that's why they disappeared, most gamers weren't capable of
    dealing with having to deal with up and down.

    Xocyll
    --
    I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
    a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
    Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
    FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr

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  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Xocyll on Mon Jun 9 08:27:08 2025
    On 08/06/2025 12:10, Xocyll wrote:
    Gunship (1986)
    Don't think I ever played that - gunship 2000 was a close as I got I
    think.

    I played a lot of it on the Atari ST and found it lots of fun. It had a
    really good balance between giving you a simulator feel while also being
    rather playable. In comparison I really didn't get on with Fighting
    Falcon as landing was a complete nightmare (at least for me) and even if
    I managed to finish a mission I might end up just ejecting as it was
    better than crashing.

    The next one I played was Jane's Longbow 2. Unfortunately by that point
    in my life I no longer found much enjoyment in spending up to hour
    learning how to land with a damaged engine using auto-rotate!

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  • From Xocyll@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jun 9 05:47:25 2025
    JAB <[email protected]> looked up from reading the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:

    On 08/06/2025 12:10, Xocyll wrote:
    Gunship (1986)
    Don't think I ever played that - gunship 2000 was a close as I got I
    think.

    I played a lot of it on the Atari ST and found it lots of fun. It had a >really good balance between giving you a simulator feel while also being >rather playable. In comparison I really didn't get on with Fighting
    Falcon as landing was a complete nightmare (at least for me) and even if
    I managed to finish a mission I might end up just ejecting as it was
    better than crashing.

    The next one I played was Jane's Longbow 2. Unfortunately by that point
    in my life I no longer found much enjoyment in spending up to hour
    learning how to land with a damaged engine using auto-rotate!

    You don't land with auto-rotate, you crash slightly more softly than
    otherwise.

    Xocyll
    --
    I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
    a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
    Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
    FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr

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    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From vallor@21:1/5 to JAB on Mon Jun 9 15:52:15 2025
    On Mon, 9 Jun 2025 08:27:08 +0100, JAB wrote:

    On 08/06/2025 12:10, Xocyll wrote:
    Gunship (1986)
    Don't think I ever played that - gunship 2000 was a close as I got I
    think.

    I played a lot of it on the Atari ST and found it lots of fun. It had a really good balance between giving you a simulator feel while also being rather playable. In comparison I really didn't get on with Fighting
    Falcon as landing was a complete nightmare (at least for me) and even if
    I managed to finish a mission I might end up just ejecting as it was
    better than crashing.

    The next one I played was Jane's Longbow 2. Unfortunately by that point
    in my life I no longer found much enjoyment in spending up to hour
    learning how to land with a damaged engine using auto-rotate!

    I don't remember which Comanche I played (or if there was more
    than one), but thought that was quite a bit of fun. Sneaky
    helicopters seem pretty bad-a**ed to me.

    --
    -Scott System76 Thelio Mega v1.1 x86_64 NVIDIA RTX 3090Ti 24G
    OS: Linux 6.14.10 D: Mint 22.1 DE: Xfce 4.18 Mem: 258G
    "Unsolicited advice answers unasked questions"

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  • From Zaghadka@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Mon Jun 9 16:47:58 2025
    On Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:52:10 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
    Spalls Hurgenson wrote:


    It's been a while since we've done one of these Completely Random and >Pointless Polls... so let's do one now!

    Here's the question:

    In this age of sequels, reboots and remakes, what
    forgotten intellectual property would you like to
    see revived?

    None. I'd like to see it in the public domain in 10 years, which is a reasonable term for a digital copyright.

    And trademark expiration of 25 years, less if a company just jealously
    holds onto a TM and does nothing with it other than disappearing it.

    Then I'd like to see community and commercial projects that build
    derivative, new works on the public domain. You know, something original
    built on its shoulders, which is *supposed* to be the public benefit of copyright. Society was supposed to get something in return.

    I don't care about IP lineage. I don't care about brands. I don't care
    about franchise. I mostly don't like reboots, retreads, or retro-styled
    games.

    I especially don't want to see, say, Sonic The Hedgehog 36 or Sonic RPG.

    That said, to be less glib, I'd like to see a new Magic Candle game.
    Those were awesome. Magic Carpet too.

    --
    Zag

    What's the point of growing up
    if you can't be childish sometimes? ...Terrance Dicks, BBC

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  • From Zaghadka@21:1/5 to Stowleigh on Mon Jun 9 16:54:01 2025
    On Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:59:45 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, Rin Stowleigh wrote:

    On Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:52:10 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson ><[email protected]> wrote:

    Okay, that's my choice. What game or franchise do you think that the
    world has forgotten but -given another chance- probably would work
    today?

    Archon (1983) with low latency online multiplayer play

    https://store.steampowered.com/app/65400/Archon_Classic/

    Latest entry is 2010. It kinda sucks, but I snatched it up in the hope
    that it wouldn't.

    --
    Zag

    What's the point of growing up
    if you can't be childish sometimes? ...Terrance Dicks, BBC

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Zaghadka@21:1/5 to Stowleigh on Mon Jun 9 16:51:27 2025
    On Sun, 08 Jun 2025 12:58:56 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, Rin Stowleigh wrote:

    On Sun, 08 Jun 2025 10:42:59 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson ><[email protected]> wrote:

    Archon (1983) with low latency online multiplayer play

    The chess type game?

    That's the one. It spawned its own genre that muddled along for a few
    years during the 90s (leading to games like "Dark Legions" and "Wrath >>Unleashed") but ultimately the whole idea was abandoned by the market.
    It tried to bridge arcade gameplay with chess mechanics, and satisfied
    fans of neither. I'm not sure it would have much more success today,
    but who knows?

    I'm guessing you're not talking about the 1983 (Atari 8 bit computer)
    version I'm referring to?

    It was insanely popular, won awards, and really put Electronic Arts
    (the original team, not what they are today) on the map.

    Multiplayer (which of course back then meant two joysticks going into
    a single computer) was an insane mix of strategy and reflexes.

    There was a remake in 2010 that isn't really worth bothering with.

    For it to succeed these days it would require online lobby matching
    with no wait times (good luck with that these days) and input latency >requirements that might be hard to achieve consistently on an Internet >connected game. This was part of the fun factor of the original.

    Yeah. Low latency is key. Otherwise running a Basilisk or Unicorn strat
    would be pointless.

    --
    Zag

    What's the point of growing up
    if you can't be childish sometimes? ...Terrance Dicks, BBC

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Xocyll@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jun 9 18:07:50 2025
    Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> looked up from reading the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
    say:

    On Mon, 09 Jun 2025 01:23:55 -0400, Xocyll <[email protected]> wrote:

    Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> looked up from reading the >>entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
    say:


    Vietcong (2003)

    An excellent FPS set, unsurprisingly, during the Vietnam war. It >>>attempted to present a more realistic battlefield than other FPS games
    of the era. It wasn't perfect (some of the levels were unduly long,
    and the underground levels were gruelingly tedious) but it stood apart >>>from its peers. It was made by the same team that did Mafia and looked >>>absolutely gorgeous back in 2003. It had a rockin' soundtrack too.

    The only Vietnam game I played I think was one set on one of those
    tactical riverboats.

    Probably "Gunboat" (1990, Accolade, multiple platforms including DOS)

    An interesting game in that it let you man all the different positions
    on the boat, similar to how Microprose's "B-17 Flying Fortress" would
    let you do the same ("Gunboat" predated "B-17" by a couple of years, >however). But the extreme linearity of the missions made for >less-than-exciting gameplay, as I recall. It verged more towards the
    arcade than sim.

    Sounds about right, pretty sure I never finished it.

    And I'll add out-something (Outwars maybe?)

    A shooter in which vertical was as important as horizontal - you had a >>>>jet pack of sorts and later glider wings that added to it to give you >>>>more flight range.

    Ah, the barely explored jetpack FPS genre. There are, of course, a
    number of games that feature jetpacks, but few games made them central
    to your gameplay. Maybe "Anthem" is the most modern?

    The only one I Recall offhand was the extremely brief use of on in Duke >>Nukem 3D. That's what I liked about Outwars, the mission maps
    _required_ you to use the pack to get around.

    There were a few, but not many. "Dark Void" comes to mind. "Tribes" to
    some degree. And, similarly, "Section 8". "Project Nomad" is another >forgotten game that featured a jetpack'd protagonist. Plus stuff like
    "Star Wars Battlefront", which had jetpacks but they were optional
    gear and the game didn't revolve around FPS flight.

    Heard of Tribes but never played it since it was pvp oriented and I have
    no interest in pvp at all.

    As to why they aren't more common, it may be as you suggest that it
    has to do with 3D spatial awareness. But I think it has as much to do
    with the fact that first-person jumping (and essentially, that's all a >jet-pack is in these sorts of games; an extended jump ability) isn't
    much fun. Lacking a physical presence in the games makes it hard to
    judge where you are, which makes flight and landings less intuitive
    than it needs be. It's just not that much fun.

    If I recall correctly, Outwars was 3rd person view, which made the
    flight and landings much less annoying.

    Xocyll
    --
    I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
    a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
    Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
    FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Tue Jun 10 10:03:55 2025
    On 09/06/2025 15:49, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    For a while, whirly-bird sims were all the rage. We got classics like
    the Gunship games, but also "LHX", the Comanche series (including "Werewolf"), "Hind", "Apache", "Thunderhawk 2", "KA-50 Hokum", and
    the aforementioned Longbow games. It was just a glut of whirlybirds in
    the 90s (there were actually more than that; the ones I mentioned were
    just the most prominent 😉.

    The strangest one I played was on a friend's computer, although I can't remember which computer, was one designed for you to be able to practice
    using a remote control Helicopter. You literally got an RC controller
    (or whatever they are called) which plugged in the joystick port.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Zaghadka@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Tue Jun 10 12:15:13 2025
    On Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:52:10 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
    Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

    Okay, that's my choice. What game or franchise do you think that the
    world has forgotten but -given another chance- probably would work
    today?

    Ooh! Ooh! Giants: Citizen Kabuto!

    --
    Zag

    What's the point of growing up
    if you can't be childish sometimes? ...Terrance Dicks, BBC

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Wed Jun 11 09:33:25 2025
    On 10/06/2025 15:21, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    On Tue, 10 Jun 2025 10:03:55 +0100, JAB <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 09/06/2025 15:49, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:


    The strangest one I played was on a friend's computer, although I can't
    remember which computer, was one designed for you to be able to practice
    using a remote control Helicopter. You literally got an RC controller
    (or whatever they are called) which plugged in the joystick port.

    That one doesn't ring a bell, although it it was sold with specific
    hardware (e.g., the RC controller) it's no wonder. But if you ever
    remember the name of the game, let me know; it's a hole in my
    DOS-games collection ;-)

    There are modern games that are similar in concept, designed to
    emulate flying a first-person drone. For best use, you're expected to
    hook up [the same controls you'd use for real-life drone piloting] to
    your PC. TRYP_FPV is the one I tried (nice visuals, not much in the
    way of gameplay, tricky to control using mouse/keyboard).


    This was around 1990 so I'd guess it was one of an Atari ST or Amiga.

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  • From Ross Ridge@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Jun 11 16:54:49 2025
    Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote:
    In this age of sequels, reboots and remakes, what
    forgotten intellectual property would you like to
    see revived?

    Alien Legacy. It's an MS-DOS game from 1994 where you're the leader
    of a colony ship sent from Earth to a distant solar system. You end
    arriving after a second colony ship that was sent after you, but was
    slightly faster than your ship. However the thriving colonies that
    second ship should have had up and running are nowhere to be found.
    Instead you're back to the original plan of setting up new colonies from scratch while also having to solve the mystery of what happened to the colonists who arrived befor you.

    There's plenty of space colony simulators out there, but none that I know
    of have you colonizing an entire solar system with multiple colonies.
    In Alien Legacy, you're encouraged to set up multiple colonies to
    take advantage of differing planets' advantages in producing food, ore
    and energy. The planets orbit the sun the way you'd expect them to,
    and this mean travel times between planets can vary widely.

    It's similar in feel to Starflight and Star Control 2 where you're
    exploring an unforgiving and mysterious universe, but you're limited to
    a single solar system and with much different mechanics.

    I'm not looking for an Alien Legacy 2 or an Alien Legacy HD Remake, but
    just a space colony game where you can set up multiple colonies across
    an at least somewhat realistic solar system, and have a good reason for
    doing so.

    --
    l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
    [oo][oo] [email protected]
    -()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
    db //

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Anssi Saari@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Fri Jun 13 15:22:15 2025
    Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> writes:

    It's been a while since we've done one of these Completely Random and Pointless Polls... so let's do one now!

    Here's the question:

    In this age of sequels, reboots and remakes, what
    forgotten intellectual property would you like to
    see revived?

    I wanted to say Deus Ex. I know, it doesn't really match your criteria,
    Mankind Divided is from 2017. But still...

    Something a little more obscure: Microprose's Lightspeed. The idea was
    simple, prep an area of space for refugees from earth, make alliances
    and murder off whoever you don't like. But in practice the game was
    pretty simple and silly. But done right it might be something a little
    more approachable than a full 4X game.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From JAB@21:1/5 to All on Fri Jun 13 20:04:14 2025
    I'm going to go for Balance of Power which I played for many hours on
    the Atari ST. A great little game even though you pretty much always
    ended up in a nuclear war.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From candycanearter07@21:1/5 to Zaghadka on Fri Jun 13 21:00:13 2025
    Zaghadka <[email protected]> wrote at 21:47 this Monday (GMT):
    On Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:52:10 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
    Spalls Hurgenson wrote:


    It's been a while since we've done one of these Completely Random and >>Pointless Polls... so let's do one now!

    Here's the question:

    In this age of sequels, reboots and remakes, what
    forgotten intellectual property would you like to
    see revived?

    None. I'd like to see it in the public domain in 10 years, which is a reasonable term for a digital copyright.

    And trademark expiration of 25 years, less if a company just jealously
    holds onto a TM and does nothing with it other than disappearing it.

    Then I'd like to see community and commercial projects that build
    derivative, new works on the public domain. You know, something original built on its shoulders, which is *supposed* to be the public benefit of copyright. Society was supposed to get something in return.

    I don't care about IP lineage. I don't care about brands. I don't care
    about franchise. I mostly don't like reboots, retreads, or retro-styled games.

    I especially don't want to see, say, Sonic The Hedgehog 36 or Sonic RPG.

    That said, to be less glib, I'd like to see a new Magic Candle game.
    Those were awesome. Magic Carpet too.


    Blame Disney.

    whats magic candle?
    --
    user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

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  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Fri Jun 13 17:38:31 2025
    On 6/13/2025 6:47 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    On Fri, 13 Jun 2025 15:22:15 +0300, Anssi Saari <[email protected]> wrote:

    Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> writes:

    It's been a while since we've done one of these Completely Random and
    Pointless Polls... so let's do one now!

    Here's the question:

    In this age of sequels, reboots and remakes, what
    forgotten intellectual property would you like to
    see revived?

    I wanted to say Deus Ex. I know, it doesn't really match your criteria,
    Mankind Divided is from 2017. But still...

    Something a little more obscure: Microprose's Lightspeed. The idea was
    simple, prep an area of space for refugees from earth, make alliances
    and murder off whoever you don't like. But in practice the game was
    pretty simple and silly. But done right it might be something a little
    more approachable than a full 4X game.


    While the latter is perfectly acceptable based upon the arbitrary
    rules imposed on the poll, I would like to point out that Microprose
    _did_ make a sequel to "Lightspeed" called "Hyperspeed" (released in
    1991). From what I recall, its gameplay was mostly the same; although
    it had a new storyline and a few new additions, it was mostly a
    graphics overhaul of the original.

    I only came across this series long after it's 'sell-by' date, and as
    such it was (at the time) really hard for me to get past its
    antiquated visuals and controls. I recall thinking it was a weird mash
    of concepts of better games (a bit of "Star Control", a dash of
    "Elite", maybe a splash of "Space Rogue" and a tincture of "Alien
    Legacy", spiced with various other games) and I found this lack of
    focus unappealing. I didn't stick with it long. It was the late 90s;
    there were too many other games clamoring for my attention.

    So, sure, let's get a remake for the "Lightspeed" franchise, but in
    the meantime you may wish to busy yourself with "Hyperspeed".


    Somewhat playable here (no saving, no joystick):
    https://dos.zone/hyperspeed/
    Buy it here:
    https://www.gog.com/en/game/hyperspeed

    Some many years ago I played one of those two. I wasn't happy with it.
    Combat was almost impossible to avoid and did MAJOR damage that was
    difficult to get the components to repair as I recall.

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mike S.@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sat Jun 14 06:20:25 2025
    On Fri, 13 Jun 2025 20:04:54 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote:

    Wait, let me take this one!

    Nothing you said in your post about the game mattered to me at the
    time because the game had a fucking time limit. I have a few rules of
    game design. My very first one is no time limits that end the game!
    Time limits, especially in RPGs, are awful.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From candycanearter07@21:1/5 to Mike S on Wed Jun 18 05:30:10 2025
    Mike S <[email protected]> wrote at 10:20 this Saturday (GMT):
    On Fri, 13 Jun 2025 20:04:54 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Wait, let me take this one!

    Nothing you said in your post about the game mattered to me at the
    time because the game had a fucking time limit. I have a few rules of
    game design. My very first one is no time limits that end the game!
    Time limits, especially in RPGs, are awful.


    Time limits aren't the worst, sometimes, in my opinion. As long as
    there's some way to refill or stop the timer, and its not "go back to
    the start" on failure, I can tolerate it. The BEST timer in a game would probably be like, Majoras Mask, since it was actually designed around it
    and isn't (that) punishing.
    --
    user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ross Ridge@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Jun 18 13:41:54 2025
    Mike S. <[email protected]> wrote:
    Nothing you said in your post about the game mattered to me at the
    time because the game had a fucking time limit. I have a few rules of
    game design. My very first one is no time limits that end the game!
    Time limits, especially in RPGs, are awful.

    Pretty much exactly what I was thinking when I read Spalls post. The time limits in these games were why I was never the least bit interested in
    playing them.

    --
    l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
    [oo][oo] [email protected]
    -()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
    db //

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ross Ridge@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Jun 18 15:37:43 2025
    Anssi Saari <[email protected]> wrote:
    Something a little more obscure: Microprose's Lightspeed. The idea was >simple, prep an area of space for refugees from earth, make alliances
    and murder off whoever you don't like. But in practice the game was
    pretty simple and silly. But done right it might be something a little
    more approachable than a full 4X game.

    I remember playing it's sequel, Hyperspeed, back in the day. Even at the
    time I thought it was a bit shallow. I also think it's quite a stretch
    to call it a 4X game. It was an open-world space-sim, like Elite,
    but with more of a story and structure.

    I'm not sure what you liked about Lightspeed but you can find a
    fair bit of that game in X: Beyond the Frontier and it's sequels.
    Make friends/enemies while expanding your (business) empire. The X
    series doesn't have the "silliness" of Lightspeed/Hyperspeed, but I
    think that's a good thing as it was rather juvenile at times.

    --
    l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
    [oo][oo] [email protected]
    -()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
    db //

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From candycanearter07@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Wed Jun 18 19:10:03 2025
    Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote at 15:44 this Wednesday (GMT):
    On Wed, 18 Jun 2025 13:41:54 -0000 (UTC), [email protected]
    (Ross Ridge) wrote:

    Mike S. <[email protected]> wrote:
    Nothing you said in your post about the game mattered to me at the
    time because the game had a fucking time limit. I have a few rules of >>>game design. My very first one is no time limits that end the game!
    Time limits, especially in RPGs, are awful.

    Pretty much exactly what I was thinking when I read Spalls post. The time >>limits in these games were why I was never the least bit interested in >>playing them.

    In fairness, the timer in the original game was incredibly lax. It's technically there, but unless you are really wasting time, it probably
    won't effect you too much. Honestly, the first time I played the game
    I assumed the whole "finish your quest before the candle burns down"
    was just fluff and even to this day I'm not entirely sure it isn't
    just scripted. I vaguely recall there were methods to extend the
    time-limit too.

    Wow, this must be some really resilliant wax!

    Much worse were the combats, which were slow and tedious as you had to
    grind through So. Many. Monsters.

    The TL;DR is that if the time-limit thing is (or was) the only thing
    keeping you from playing this game... well, give it another chance.
    It's incredibly generous (much more so than, say, in the original
    "Fallout") and probably won't effect your gameplay.


    Sounds fun.
    --
    user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

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  • From Xocyll@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jun 18 15:52:15 2025
    Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> looked up from reading the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
    say:

    On Wed, 18 Jun 2025 13:41:54 -0000 (UTC), [email protected]
    (Ross Ridge) wrote:

    Mike S. <[email protected]> wrote:
    Nothing you said in your post about the game mattered to me at the
    time because the game had a fucking time limit. I have a few rules of >>>game design. My very first one is no time limits that end the game!
    Time limits, especially in RPGs, are awful.

    Pretty much exactly what I was thinking when I read Spalls post. The time >>limits in these games were why I was never the least bit interested in >>playing them.

    In fairness, the timer in the original game was incredibly lax. It's >technically there, but unless you are really wasting time, it probably
    won't effect you too much. Honestly, the first time I played the game
    I assumed the whole "finish your quest before the candle burns down"
    was just fluff and even to this day I'm not entirely sure it isn't
    just scripted. I vaguely recall there were methods to extend the
    time-limit too.

    Much worse were the combats, which were slow and tedious as you had to
    grind through So. Many. Monsters.

    The TL;DR is that if the time-limit thing is (or was) the only thing
    keeping you from playing this game... well, give it another chance.
    It's incredibly generous (much more so than, say, in the original
    "Fallout") and probably won't effect your gameplay.


    The only game I can remember enjoying that had a timer of sorts ws
    Daggerfall. You got the initial contact and had to be at the meeting
    spot in like 6 months of game time.
    If you didn't show up in time the main quest was then forever disabled.

    You had to seriously waste loads of time fucking around to not get there
    in time though.

    Once the quest was started you had basically infinite time to complete
    the rest of the stages. Only that first meeting had a hard date.

    Xocyll
    --
    I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
    a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
    Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
    FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr

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    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Xocyll@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jun 18 15:58:02 2025
    [email protected] (Ross Ridge) looked up from reading the
    entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
    say:

    Anssi Saari <[email protected]> wrote:
    Something a little more obscure: Microprose's Lightspeed. The idea was >>simple, prep an area of space for refugees from earth, make alliances
    and murder off whoever you don't like. But in practice the game was
    pretty simple and silly. But done right it might be something a little
    more approachable than a full 4X game.

    I remember playing it's sequel, Hyperspeed, back in the day. Even at the >time I thought it was a bit shallow. I also think it's quite a stretch
    to call it a 4X game. It was an open-world space-sim, like Elite,
    but with more of a story and structure.

    I'm not sure what you liked about Lightspeed but you can find a
    fair bit of that game in X: Beyond the Frontier and it's sequels.
    Make friends/enemies while expanding your (business) empire. The X
    series doesn't have the "silliness" of Lightspeed/Hyperspeed, but I
    think that's a good thing as it was rather juvenile at times.

    Downside of X-BTF, was that one of the main enjoyments in space games (upgrading to a new ship) was entirely lacking, since the ship you
    started with was better than anything you could buy.

    Regarding later games, not sure if they are still for sale, but you do
    not want to pirate them as the Devs put a very nasty trap in them; All
    works perfectly at first and then the economy goes completely batshit
    later making the game basically unplayable _after_ you'd put 30hrs or so
    in it.

    Still have fond memories of lurking on the official forums and seeing
    the same complaints posted over and over, with them not knowing they
    were telling everyone they stole the game and then expected Dev help.

    Xocyll
    --
    I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
    a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
    Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
    FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Zaghadka@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jun 18 15:00:49 2025
    On Wed, 18 Jun 2025 19:10:03 -0000 (UTC), in
    comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, candycanearter07 wrote:

    Wow, this must be some really resilliant wax!

    Well, it is a *magic* candle.

    --
    Zag

    What's the point of growing up
    if you can't be childish sometimes? ...Terrance Dicks, BBC

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Zaghadka@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Wed Jun 18 15:02:04 2025
    On Wed, 18 Jun 2025 15:35:46 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
    Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

    On Wed, 18 Jun 2025 15:37:43 -0000 (UTC), [email protected]
    (Ross Ridge) wrote:

    Anssi Saari <[email protected]> wrote:
    Something a little more obscure: Microprose's Lightspeed. The idea was >>>simple, prep an area of space for refugees from earth, make alliances
    and murder off whoever you don't like. But in practice the game was >>>pretty simple and silly. But done right it might be something a little >>>more approachable than a full 4X game.

    I'm not sure what you liked about Lightspeed but you can find a
    fair bit of that game in X: Beyond the Frontier and it's sequels.
    Make friends/enemies while expanding your (business) empire. The X
    series doesn't have the "silliness" of Lightspeed/Hyperspeed, but I
    think that's a good thing as it was rather juvenile at times.

    I don't have quite the fondness for the franchise as Anssi Saari did,
    (and it's been quite a while since I played either game) but I think
    some of the appeal of the games was its meta-plot; from what I recall,
    you were sent into a sector of space to prepare it for future human >colonization. A good deal of your activities were about preparing the
    region for that goal; as Anssi wrote: "make alliances and murder
    anyone you don't like". This also had a benefit of giving the game
    some closure that titles like Elite, Privateer and the X-games lacked.

    Sounds like the plot to the movie "Dark Star."

    Any talking bombs involved?

    --
    Zag

    What's the point of growing up
    if you can't be childish sometimes? ...Terrance Dicks, BBC

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Mike S. on Thu Jun 19 09:37:52 2025
    On 14/06/2025 11:20, Mike S. wrote:
    Nothing you said in your post about the game mattered to me at the
    time because the game had a fucking time limit. I have a few rules of
    game design. My very first one is no time limits that end the game!
    Time limits, especially in RPGs, are awful.

    In CRPG's I generally agree. In tabletop RPG's they can be quite fun as
    they inject a sense of urgency into the game and you have a GM who can
    be more creative instead of just 'quest failed', bad luck.

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  • From George Musk@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Mon Jun 23 22:18:18 2025
    On Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:52:10 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

    In this age of sequels, reboots and remakes, what
    forgotten intellectual property would you like to
    see revived?


    Maybe Loaded/Re-Loaded ?
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loaded_(video_game)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Anssi Saari@21:1/5 to Zaghadka on Tue Jun 24 12:29:35 2025
    Zaghadka <[email protected]> writes:

    Sounds like the plot to the movie "Dark Star."

    Any talking bombs involved?

    I vaguely remember Dark Star but as I recall, they were just blowing up "unstable planets" for unmentioned reasons. Fortunately or
    unfortunately, in Lightspeed, your xenocidal activities were confined to shooting up space ships and stations, no lobbing around any planet
    busting bombs. That was one of the silly parts of Lightspeed, no one
    seemed to be living on the planets you wanted to colonize so once the
    aliens' space station and ships were gone, the planet was suddenly ready
    for human colonization.

    Oh and what little dialog choices there was in the game wasn't up to
    convincing a talking bomb about anything. Then again, that didn't work
    in Dark Star either.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Xocyll@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jun 28 04:12:37 2025
    Justisaur <[email protected]> looked up from reading the entrails of
    the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:

    On 6/9/2025 2:47 PM, Zaghadka wrote:
    On Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:52:10 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
    Spalls Hurgenson wrote:


    It's been a while since we've done one of these Completely Random and
    Pointless Polls... so let's do one now!

    Here's the question:

    In this age of sequels, reboots and remakes, what
    forgotten intellectual property would you like to
    see revived?

    None. I'd like to see it in the public domain in 10 years, which is a
    reasonable term for a digital copyright.

    Some games are still going from that long ago. Warframe, even EQ which
    is over 20 years old. Say 10 years from last update/release.

    Sounds reasonable to me.

    And trademark expiration of 25 years, less if a company just jealously
    holds onto a TM and does nothing with it other than disappearing it.

    I thought if you don't do anything with a TM it's gone quick anyway.

    They just have to defend their TM, they don't actually have to use it.

    Then I'd like to see community and commercial projects that build
    derivative, new works on the public domain. You know, something original
    built on its shoulders, which is *supposed* to be the public benefit of
    copyright. Society was supposed to get something in return.

    That said, to be less glib, I'd like to see a new Magic Candle game.
    Those were awesome. Magic Carpet too.

    Magic Carpet was one I was thinking of while trying to figure out what
    I'd like to see.

    I have vague fond memories of Magic Carpet.

    Magic Candle was also a favorite. I remember I loved gambling in it. :)

    Don't remember that game at all.

    Xocyll
    --
    I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
    a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
    Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
    FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Xocyll@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jun 28 04:25:09 2025
    Justisaur <[email protected]> looked up from reading the entrails of
    the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:

    On 6/7/2025 1:52 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

    It's been a while since we've done one of these Completely Random and
    Pointless Polls... so let's do one now!

    Here's the question:

    In this age of sequels, reboots and remakes, what
    forgotten intellectual property would you like to
    see revived?


    More the idea. A Fantasy action/rpg where you get to fly around on a
    dragon and fight other dragons, dragon riders, as well as incinerate
    ground forces.

    So Dragon Strike and Drakan: Order of the Flame, maybe Eragon?

    I also miss the god games. Populous, Master of Magic, Black and White.
    Of course those are well known and other than Black and White have been >attempted over and over, but no one ever seemed to approach the
    originals in any way that was particularly fun.

    While I played these back in the day, somehow they were all too
    forgettable.

    More Wing Commander III type games, yes even with FMV. Can you imagine >something like that with the crew from Firefly?

    I don't think I ever played WC3.
    1, 2, privateer, 4, 5, privateer2, starlancer, freelancer, but not wc3.

    Cept the crew is all 20+ years older, they killed off Wash in the movie
    and Ron Glass (Shepherd Book) died in 2016.

    Go WC1,2,Privateer and have them animated, but voiced by the crew from
    Firefly to preserve the illusion.

    Maybe set the game between Firefly and Serenity to keep Wash around.

    Xocyll
    --
    I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
    a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
    Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
    FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mike S.@21:1/5 to Xocyll on Sat Jun 28 09:11:48 2025
    On Sat, 28 Jun 2025 04:12:37 -0400, Xocyll <[email protected]> wrote:

    Magic Candle was also a favorite. I remember I loved gambling in it. :)

    Don't remember that game at all.

    Xocyll

    That isn't surprising. I don't remember The Magic Candle being a best
    seller. It is a top down CRPG which reminded me a lot of Ultima. It
    got good reviews back in the day.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mike S.@21:1/5 to Xocyll on Sat Jun 28 09:15:59 2025
    On Sat, 28 Jun 2025 04:25:09 -0400, Xocyll <[email protected]> wrote:

    I don't think I ever played WC3.
    1, 2, privateer, 4, 5, privateer2, starlancer, freelancer, but not wc3.

    I know I played Wing Commander 3. I am not sure if I played the fourth
    or not. I did play the first Privateer. I still remember the stupid
    taunts from the enemy NPCs....

    Taste Righteous Fire!!!

    You're a loose end looking to be tied pal!!!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Sun Jun 29 13:43:32 2025
    On 6/29/2025 10:03 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

    Wing Commander III was always my favorite, even though the gameplay
    itself probably lagged behind its predecessor. The move to full 3D
    made for slower gameplay with fewer ships in the arena. But it was
    hard to resist the fantasy of being the plucky underdog hero --as
    played by Mark Hammil no less!-- in an operatic sci-fi space
    adventure, and the tech, for the time, was breathtaking. Full motion
    video! Virtual sets! 3D spaceships with real-time lighting and texture-mapping! Four -- count em, FOUR!-- CD-ROMs! A game whose
    budget rivaled (some) Hollywood movies! It truly was a revolutionary
    game.

    Wing Commander IV arguably boasted more mature gameplay and had a
    (slightly) less juvenile storyline, but it felt a lot less
    cutting-edge. It's shades-of-grey storyline was slightly less
    accessible, and its gameplay loop --autopilot to waypoint, fight
    enemies, repeat until mission complete-- was starting to feel a bit
    long in the tooth. Had the schedules been reversed and Wing Commander
    IV had come out first, though, and I think it would have been my
    favorite. It's just that time was catching up on the franchise and
    what had once seemed novel and exciting was now increasingly becoming
    old hat.

    Still, I think "Wing Commander III" holds up quite well, especially if
    you apply the various fan-patches that upscale the video.* It's an
    incredibly uncomplicated game, and it knows it. The missions are
    simple and fast, with few attempts to add mid-game complications. If
    you allow for the fact it's a 30-year old game and ultimately nothing
    more than a quick arcade blast with fun FMV cutscenes, it's still a ridiculously compelling ride.


    So, what are your thoughts on the Wing Commander movie?

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mike S.@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Jun 30 10:02:52 2025
    On Sun, 29 Jun 2025 13:03:26 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote:

    Still, I think "Wing Commander III" holds up quite well, especially if
    you apply the various fan-patches that upscale the video.*

    Thank you for this and the link. It would not even occur to me that
    this kind of mod would exist. I will keep this in mind if I ever play
    through the WC games again.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Xocyll@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jul 2 05:45:11 2025
    Justisaur <[email protected]> looked up from reading the entrails of
    the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:

    On 6/28/2025 1:25 AM, Xocyll wrote:
    Justisaur <[email protected]> looked up from reading the entrails of
    the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:

    On 6/7/2025 1:52 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

    It's been a while since we've done one of these Completely Random and
    Pointless Polls... so let's do one now!

    Here's the question:

    In this age of sequels, reboots and remakes, what
    forgotten intellectual property would you like to
    see revived?


    More the idea. A Fantasy action/rpg where you get to fly around on a
    dragon and fight other dragons, dragon riders, as well as incinerate
    ground forces.

    So Dragon Strike and Drakan: Order of the Flame, maybe Eragon?

    I also miss the god games. Populous, Master of Magic, Black and White.
    Of course those are well known and other than Black and White have been
    attempted over and over, but no one ever seemed to approach the
    originals in any way that was particularly fun.

    While I played these back in the day, somehow they were all too
    forgettable.

    More Wing Commander III type games, yes even with FMV. Can you imagine
    something like that with the crew from Firefly?

    I don't think I ever played WC3.
    1, 2, privateer, 4, 5, privateer2, starlancer, freelancer, but not wc3.

    WC3 was the best of them by far, also Mark Hamill, John Rhys-Davies,
    Malcolm McDowell did a bang up job for a video game. WC4 was similar
    but not as good to actually play, it was more movie than game. I don't
    know that WC3 would hold up at this point though. Especially as I don't
    even have a flight stick any more, and can't see paying for one just to
    play it, and ruin my nostalgic memories. I only played 1 and 2 on a
    friend's computer. I don't remember if I even played 5, I did play the >lancer and privateer games as well.

    I hated the FMV era, since you no longer played _your_ character, you
    were assigned one.

    WC1,2,Privateer you typed in your choice of name, you were the new recruit/inheritor, vs WC3,4,5,Privateer2, Starlancer and Freelancer, you
    played someone else, someone shown in FMV and addressed by a name you
    did not choose.

    Xocyll
    --
    I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
    a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
    Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
    FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)