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Old Games Are New Again - The Atari Times

Old Games Are New Again


The Hot Spot returns to cover Atari compilations!
by Bart Harrison

May 7, 2004
Have you noticed how there are so many compilations of Atari games coming out? I was watching X-Play on Tech TV the other day (You should really watch that show if you are a tried and true gamer, they have lots of goodies they review and go over on the show), and they did an entire kind of retro show where they reviewed "current" games that are coming out that are based on older games, and showed some great Atari commercials. (Gotta love the old Atari Ice Hockey Commercial!!!)

Anyway, it looks as if more and more games are coming out in this aspect because of us old-timers wanting our old-school Atari fix. One really good compilation that you might want to check out is the Activision Anthology Remix, which should only cost you about $19.99 right now. It comes with about 75 classic Activision games (Barnstorming, Chopper Command, etc. etc. etc.) and features some old 80's songs by Flock of Seagulls, Fresh Prince, etc. And of course you have the 15 unlockable enhanced versions of each game that you can receive which will increase replayability quite a bit. I give this title a 8 out of 10 stars for any hardcore Atari gamer, if not simply for the fact that Activision arguably had the best games out for the Atari 2600 console at that time.

X-Play: www.techtv.com/x-play or you can watch it on Tech TV weeknights at 10 PM central standard time Activision Anthology Remix: Official Website: http://games.activision.com/games/anthology/

There are also some other collections out there such as Atari: 80 classic games in one, which not only includes 2600 games, but also has some great old school Arcade versions of the games as well. It includes the arcade versions of Asteroids, Centipede, Tempest, and of course some others, but you get the point. It is a great way to waste away the day (or the workday, for that matter!)

Atari: 80 Classic games in one: http://www.us.atari.com/games/atari_80_classics_arcade_pc/

There are of course many other game compilations that are available, but the two that I listed above are the ones that I see fit to try out and shell out 20 bucks for.

Modern Gaming

Now for a part of the column that I really enjoy doing, this is where I take a couple of pieces of news and tidbits from around the video gaming/computing/entertainment world and give you my spin on them, and try as I might (sometimes unsuccessfully!) try to explain them in as few sentences as possible! Lets Rock!

1. Counter-Strike: Condition Zero 1.1 is released on Steam this week. - Yep, looks like this will shut the complainers of how bad Condition Zero was off for a while maybe. Ok, lets go back in time a little bit so I can explain this to you. Valve, the company that created Half-Life and helped in the making of the original Counter-Strike (and if you don't know what this game is, wow, get out a little man), promised a single player version of Counter Strike several years ago. The development of this program went through several developers, but each time Valve did not like what they saw (or some other internal problems happened), so they switched to another developer.

Weeeellllll.......Video game developer Ritual (who made Star Trek: Elite Force, Sin, etc.) made a single player version of the game which, well, pretty much sucked, But it had some great models. So then after Ritual, Valve turned to a young company called Turtle Rock Studios to finish out the project. Turtle Rock pretty much scraped the original linear idea, gave us some updated map packs, slapped a few bots together, and gave the game to Valve and Sierra to publish.

Weeellllll, the box that the game came in mislead some people, because the box was printed when Ritual had their project going, and promised certain things in the multi player version which wasn't actually in the new game. (Confused yet?) So everyone in the Counter-Strike world cried foul and wanted their money back because they basically bought the same game. Now Valve has come full circle, and is going to but better models, more maps, and whatever else in the game they see fit on the update this week (which you will have to have steam installed to get).

By the way, is Half Life 2 EVER going to come out?????

2. Nvidia rocks the computing world by unleashing the 6800 3d video card. YES! As I have told my many countless friends, if you want a true video card, you can't go wrong with Nvidia. I am currently using a Nvidia GeForce 5700 Ultra and will never go over to the darkside of ATI. Seriously though, this card looks like it will be the standard for at least a few months until ATI counters with one more powerful (which they may have already done as of press time!) For the best DRIVERS though, you can't go wrong with Nvidia. Nvidia: www.nvidia.com

If you want, shoot me an e-mail with questions, complaints, gripes, or anything else that you want me to complain / review on. If you do send me some CREDIBLE news, then I will be happy to post your name and your favorite kind of hot dog. As always, you can see my daily blog thoughts over at: www.livejournal.com/users/bwharrison




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