Live Forever or Die Trying

I have added the rest of the games I am currently playing to my Video Game Diary (Link on the top right of the current theme as of 25/05/’10). The YouTube playlist is directly in the page after you click on it.. though only some games will be 100% finished (not as in done everything in them.. just completed it to my own taste)

If you see a lot of text describing my thoughts on teh game then you know the Let’s Play is 100% finished.. f it is just a playlist with no or little text you can assume that I am still in the progress of playing it.

Hey all…

I’m back with a new review and this time I am doing one of my all time favorites form the Sierra game library. Conquest of Longbow – The Legend of Robin Hood. This game is a true classic in every sense of the word. One of the last tittles form sierra before the switching to the more complex style of having audio speech This game is one of the last, and some would say the pinnacle of the dying breed of adventure games that had more incommon with books than films.

If you are interested in trying this amazing game it is one of the few titles that is legal abandonware. The game designer herself provides it (and its predecessor Conquest of Camelot) for free on her website. There is also a really neat installer for those of you that are not very technically savvy and have troubles with DosBox… Simply download the game from Cirsty Marx’s site and then unzip it into a directory, then download the installer from SierraHelp.com and place it in the same dir and run the exe.

So there is no reason not to try this classic game and experience one of the greatest love stories in adventure game history, though simply fantastic writing.

Have Fun and Happy Adventuring
-A4L

I get a lot of emails on my Adventure Review channel asking me how I make my videos.. So I thought I would make a tutorial on how to use FRAPS. I do not cover any “editing” of videos, but I do go into all aspects of FRAPS recording, form recording itself, to encoding, to sound mixing. This is mainly aimed at people making gameplay videos rather than full edited “movies” yet I feel it answered all the questions I have received in the emails.

Hope you like it..

Part 1
This tutorial covers the basics of using FRAPS to record gamevideos. It also goes though the setup for allowing the recording of in game audio, or no game audio but record microphone input for live commentary, and how to set up the system for recording of in game audio and your microphone at the same time for live commentary.

Part 2
This tutorial will go into how to use AviDmux to encode your large FRAPS recordings into manageable and uploadable high quality lossless video files. It covers, Stitching multiple FRAPS recordings together, encoding options for uploading to YouTube and the use of AviDmux for resizing and colour grading and other filters.

Part 3
This tutorial continues with some recording options as well as begins to talk about Audio Mixing. It covers splitting a large file into 10 minute sections ready for upload to YouTube. The use of AviDmux’s batch system for quing multiple video encoding jobs so you can go to sleep while your computer encodes, demonstrating the contrast filter as well as starting to explain a slightly different encoding options needed to make sound mixing more efficient.

Part 4
This video is the final video in my tutorial series. It talks about how to mix CD Quality audio tracks or commentary recorded after the fact directly into your video so you hear it and the original game audio. This covers the use of AviDmux’s copy function to transfer video or audio data in and out of files in a lossles way that requires no encoding, How to use FooBar2000 to rip audio CDs into wav files. How to use Audacity to record game commentary after the fact. load game audio and a CD track, or commentary and then mix them so both are clear and audible. Also I quickly over view some effects in audacity like fad in and out to give your audio a nicer feeling and remove harsh “cut offs” in the audio. Finally I show you how to use AviDmux to inject the new mixed audio into your encoded files with out the need to re-encode your video data. This is my last tutorial.. probably ever.. I think it was a bit of a failed experiment.. it ended up being nearly 40 mins long!! Anyway.. back to reviews .. expect an update soon.

Yea, I have been putting it off for years, but i finally succumbed to the desire to make a LETS PLAY. lol.. yea I know.. I am a New Media Douchbag.. heh.. I gave up being embarrassed about my geek habits long ago so bite me :P

A Lets Play is a strange thing I came across on the internet about 3 years ago or so. It is simple a recording from start to finish of a personal playing a given game. Why do such a thing.. well.. in my case I have always liked watching these and wanted to do some of my own and also over the decades of gaming I have often wished I could ‘replay” some of those gaming moments I loved the most. Unlike a movie, even if you do play the game years later it will never have the same effect.

Lets plays are exactly what this page is.. a video game diary. It is a record of first time reactions and video game moments as you play a game title. I have a bunch of recorded wow events form my time in wow for example and I have watched them many times over the years. It will remain to be seen how these vids work for me in years to come.

Just remember these are LETS PLAYs, not a reviews.

Anyway… I have been having fun… .. . so here they are!

(Just select the game from the list drop down on the right (Just above the big RSS button)

Hello y’all!!

Well I know I said I would take a beak form these videos for a while but a mate suggested I played the Penumbra series and after a short while I knew I wanted to do a review on it. Then I heard that Frictional Games was about to release their new title Amnesia: The Dark Descent, like next month or something, so I quickly pumped this out.

Penumbra is a strange mix of genres and while the game resembles a survival horror it is much more in tune with older first person adventure games than games like Clock Tower or Dead Space. The game plays exactly like Zork Nemesis. You basically walk around in first person, exploring and solving puzzles, mainly item and object puzzles, though there is a few code puzzles. The big difference though from Zork or Myst or w/e is that as you walk you are simply terrified. I mean this game is really scary. There is little, and depending on your play style zero combat, so this defiantly isn’t an action game But a big part of the game is focused on exploration of the spooky environment. So unlike traditional first person adventures the simple act of walking about is part of the gameplay design. Meaning that the puzzles, though a big part of it, are not as dense or complex as some tradition adventures due to the game needing to keep a strict eye on pacing. You see to keep us scared the game needs to constantly give us new areas to explore, it is the unknown that keeps us on the edge of our seat. So the pacing and puzzle density is also a bit different to what you may be used to. While this feels different to a classic adventure, it is a very unique game and if you are interested in a adventure style type game, but with a very well done survival horror twist, topped with a really unique and extremely good interface design then I would strongly suggest checking this one out.

Well that is it! I tried something new with this one… normally when i do a vid I just babble into the mic and then cut video to it, but this time I wrote it out first. I think it is a mixed success. While i seamed to get a lot more information into it, witch was the goal, I think it lost some of the “casual feeling” that the ad-libbing had. Also as it was a contained written “article” so I found editing it to fit the time was extremely hard, as removing any one bit would make the preceding or following section not make sense. So I ended up having to speak a little fast and my words kinda run together. So while this is pretty dense in information it is a bit formal and just lacks a bit of personality. I think this could be just practice… so we will see if I get better at this way of doing things

(PS – Tubezen has disabled direct linking to download YouTube videos. So all my old direct mp4 download links do not work anymore. If you wish to keep any of my vids I recommend using the FIREFOX browser and simply installing the free plugin “Easy Youtube Downloader” You can then at a click of a button save any res version of the video on youtub e or grab a mp3 at a click of a button)

Hey guys… back with my last review for a while .I tend to do them in 2’s but I did 3 this month!!! OMG… heh… oh well back to work now :)

Ok well this is for Star Trek BORG a FMV interactive star trek episode and a sorely under rated game imo. This is an old game from 1996 and was pretty hard for me to track down. I am still looking for a “in good nick” version of its predecessor Star Trek: Klingon.

This game was a real pain to get running. I had to end up running it in a 95 virtualization. This was when applications came in both dos and windows, and Microsoft “encouraged” developers to check the OS before launching the games. If 95 is not detected, the game will not load, a really bad move and the bain of us retro gamers. There is a patch (Google: Star trek Borg patch) that gets it to run in XP, and I hear vista and win7.. but only in a 32bit environment. It will not run in 64bit windows at all, and for some reason my 32 bit XP virtualization wouldn’t display, the videos played but appeared as black. Anyway.. I had to set up a 95 virtualization and that was a bit harder than you might think.. Still I got it working and it is well worth the effort if you are a trek fan, or just interested in FMV game in general.

Anyway, while this game is terrific and I really enjoyed it. I would only really advise it for Star Trek fans (like me!) and anyone interested in the lost and, imo, ever under-valued and potentially amazing game type that is FMV.

I hope you like the video
Happy Adventuring

YouTube Direct Link MP4 – download
YouTube Direct Link HD MP4 – download

Thought I would try something a little different this time. Instead of a review, I am giving a kind of personal account, and my own private musings on a era of computer games that was all about the Arcade. I think anyone that grew up with arcades in the 70-80s has a special place in there heart for at least a few arcade titles. For the arcade game is in many ways a lots art form, no longer developed. The game play mechanics utilized in arcade games responsible for producing some of the most fun and addictive games on the planet are simply abandoned now to the mists of nostalgic historical curiosity. Now the old arcade games stand unique among retro game titles, as simply playing them will never give you an understanding of how these games stood in context to those of us that lived, at the arcade.

This video came about as I am really busy at the moment, and whenever I’m busy I end up playing lots of mame. These recordings are of my playthough of Ghouls ‘n Ghosts (world). I used the xtra lives DIP switch as well. (4 instead of  2 extra lives. Also I am not super hardcore and had to resort to using save states on level 4).

Ghouls ‘n Ghosts is one of my fav classic arcade games and I hope you like this video.

I’ll get back to adventures for the next one I promise.

YouTube Direct Link MP4 – download
YouTube Direct Link 720p MP4 – download

Ok… back with another review!! This was meant to be all three games in this trilogy all at once, but it seams my memory of the original game is somewhat distorted over time. I remember this as a fantastic game that I loved… but … I now consider it to be the worst game I have played in recent times form my retro library. Those of you that have emailed me saying I never ever have anything bad to say about any of the games I do… well here you go.

It is a shame really as the 2nd Game is a real diamond and well worth your time. I will have to give it a video itself, as I do not want this vid to put people off what is really a great game world, and a beautiful fantasy, fairy tale style adventure series. It is strange really, I have stopped playing adventure with much less bad game design as this, the 1st in the series, but the charm of these charicters and story is still there hidden under the broken gameplay.

YouTube Direct Link MP4 – download
YouTube Direct Link 720p MP4 – download

Ok, now that I have the model prepped and rdy to go.. it is time to work out the base. Then I will be able to paint and assemble. I have done the first bit by constructing the basic form of the base. Next is to do the tree and the stairs, then dry mount the mini. After that, I can put in the base detail…. So getting closer.

High Rez Versions
1, 2

Unfortunately I had no off cuts of wood, as I have never HAD wood in the house, or a saw or anything like that for that matter, so there is a small depression on the side from the clamp… I am going to try and get around this somehow, it may not be noticeable once it is painted black, but i have various putties i can use to try and smooth out the side, or even resort to encasing the block in plastic like that tutorial and then painting that.

Anyway, This was pretty random… but it is sort of what I was thinking. I used a new chisel to “crack” off stuff, and my new ball pein hammer to dent it and give the wood a less sawn look. I accidentally cracked off the entire back corner, right down almost to the base lol, stuff it.. I can not be bothered starting again I want to push on.. and I think these organic errors might give it a better look as I try to “fix” it with the base decorations. I also used my new file to smoother the edges into rounded corners. My better 1/2 is like “Wow, you finally have some tools like a real man… and your making tiny toys.. that do not do anything”.. lol

The tree will go in the back and the stairs will go up the hill. The Wolf itself will go in the back left, in front of the tree. I am thinking it may be a bit cramped even for the stairs and the tree

High Rez Version

Also I went to a place called Warringah Plastics and the extremely nice lady there gave me some free plastic to use as backing for the base. She didn’t charge me or anything. She gave me two types, a kind of “high impact” polystyrene and some other form of plastic like PCT or something.. but i can not remember what she said. So I’ll have a play and see witch is better, if any, for my needs.

High Rez Version

Nothing huge to report… I am itching to paint this guy but want to work out the base stuff first…. but I can not do it yet and it is ridiculously hot over my way so I quickly satisfied my itch by attaching the tail, putting a gap around the tail and attaching the spikes… The model is now 100% rdy to paint. Like i said not much to report.

High Rez

BTW, check out the gorgeous detail in the top left photo, if you have the time to load the high rez version… I hope i can do it some kind of justice :)
(I’ll just add that part as a separate photo for your ease)

High Rez