Monthly Archive for January, 2006

Since We’re In A Retro Mood…

Published on January 19, 2006 in Geek Fun and Nintendo. 0 Comments

If any of our devoted readers (don’t worry… I realize you’re just a figment of my imagination) also frequent joystiq.com then you’ll have already seen this. If not, you should check it out. It seems Progressive Boink got their hands on an old World Of Nintendo gear catalogue and they’ve graciously posted the whole thing on their site.

They have taken a few ‘liberties’ with the picture captions and I must warn that some of the language could be viewed as suggestive and/or offensive, but it’s also quite humorous (like spray milk from your nose humorous). So if you’re looking for a quick trip down the Nintendo portion of memory lane, click the pic below. It holds special meaning to me because I ate my lunch from a box exactly like this one for more than half of my gradeschool career.

Diablo II strikes back!

Published on January 18, 2006 in Games. 0 Comments

Well, it’s been Diablo Days here in Modstomp Headquarters. We spent much of the MLK weekend pumping up our new chars, a druid, a necro, and a bowazon, and still got some time in with our more seasoned characters.

What’s amazing is that this game is taking more of our interest than many of the newer games, in spite of its 800×600 resolution. What is it about the Diablo formula that makes it so darn fun, and why aren’t newer games as fun for us? Are we becoming old codgers, reliving the good old days, or is there something missing in the gameplay that flashy graphics aren’t covering up? Fact remains that there are few games that are six years old that are still on shelves at many computer stores (and cost more than $9.99).

I recently went on a tear with the original X-Com; it was swallowing whole chunks of time, and my friends and family were befuddled. It’s even more dated than Diablo II, but still just as fun and interesting as when I first played those many years ago.

It’s refreshing to see a lot of focus in the gaming industry on re-inventing what makes games fun. OK, so only Nintendo is really thinking about it, but that’s a start. I’d love to see more game houses take an interest in why these old formulas have such staying power. With the whole HD graphics and next-gen phenomenon, let’s not forget what makes games fun.