New Scaratings

Said even more simply, I think: "Why won't the parts for my Model T work in my Ferrari?!?!?!"

It really is that much different.

Cloudy, do you have the Bigfishgames collectable?

I'm the type of person who loves anything "classic", "vintage", "historical", or in any other word, "old". I love going through museums, and will even spend more time in a Cracker Barrel looking at the decore than my food. I started to wonder if there was a museum for old arcade machines. Lucky me, the internet has a search engine. Here's what I found (so far)

International Arcade Museum
http://www.arcade-museum.com/
http://www.arcade-museum.com/penny-arcadia/

Interesting online collection of information for just about every arcade machine and pinball machine. One could spend hours looking at the information, including pics, manuals, flyers, along with penny arcade machines, etc.

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American Classic Arcade Museum
http://www.classicarcademuseum.org/

True physical museum. Not impressed with the web site, but if I'm ever near Laconia New Hampshire, I might stop by

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Retro Arcade Museum
http://retroarcademuseum.com/

This would have been a GREAT place to visit, if it were currently open. I'll check next time I'm near Beacon NY

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Collectors Weekly International Arcade Museum
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/hall-of ... ade-museum

This website is huge, and will take a while to digest. In addtion to arcade machines and pinball machines, it has info on slot machines, gum ball machines, and lots more things that required a coin.

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http://www.pinballmuseum.org/
http://www.pinballhall.org/

My wife wanted to go to Vegas. Perhaps I have another reason to go there.

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http://silverballmuseum.com/

Same as above, but for those in New Jersey

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The Pennyarcade Website
http://www.pinballhistory.com/

web only, but very cool




Anyone else know of other sites, either web or physical?

I don't remember seeing the Bigfishgame thing at your house before, it must be new

Thanks, I believe you.

I've heard about emulators before. Where do you get them? Do you have to be a comuputer geek to be able to figure out how to use them?

Thanks again.

_________________
"The game is afoot."

Cloudy, I can hook you up with the emulators

I think these games worked perfectly well on Windows XP, so I'm not talking about games that I played a long, long time ago on Windows 95. When I upgraded to Windows 7, I bought the "Ultimate" version of it, because I was told that it would allow me to run my computer in the Windows XP mode. That's great, but I have no idea how to do it. With as much extra as the "Ultimate" version cost, I would have expected Microsoft to have provided a simple and obvious way to run it in the XP mode. I'm sure it's there, but I can't figure it out.

DANTE, I'm not asking you defend Microsoft, but if there are emulators out there that can make old computer games able to run on new versions of Windows, why doesn't Microsoft include them with their operating system? My guess is that it might cost them something, it would not add to their bottom line, and they don't have to worry about some competitor offering it, because other than Apple, the don't have any competitors to worry about.

_________________
"The game is afoot."

Nope... How much stock do you own In the Bigfishgames company...?

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"The game is afoot."

YODA, you did some extensive Googling to come up with all this.

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"The game is afoot."

How difficult is it to use emulators...? I know that is must be a snap for you computer geeks, but how about computer idiots, as myself...?

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"The game is afoot."

BrandyB, I started playing the BigFish game "Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles" today. Good recommendation. I'm still figuring out how the game goes, but I am making some progress. The very beginning was extremely frustrating, but I think I'm starting to get the knack of it. So far the hidden object scenes have been fairly easy, and I've won some awards for finishing most of them without any wrong clicks, or having to resort to hints. What I seem to be finding out, is that you need to move from room to room to find stuff that you need somewhere else, much of the time. I am ashamed to admit that I have skipped some of the puzzles already, because I ran out of patience, but I plan to go back to the beginning, and give them another shot. I don't think they are impossible. I just wanted to move on.

So far, this looks like a good game to me, and I will probably recommend it, once I get a little farther into it. Thanks for putting me on to it.

Here's a fun room that I hope I am finished with:



p.s. For those of you, who hate hidden object games, because they are so boring and dumb, this is one where the hidden object scenes are few and far between. The BigFish "Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles" game is really a problem and puzzle solving game. Give it a try, I think you might like it.

p.p.s. Brandy, I told my buddy, Watson, about it tonight, and I'm pretty sure, he is going to go out and get the game also. See what you have started...

_________________
"The game is afoot."

Because, in general, their use is illegal.

That's not to say that anyone gives a crap if you do it, nor that it's illegal in all cases, but for what most people use emulators for, it's definitely illegal, even though it probably shouldn't be.

I'm going to cause a flame war here, but I'm going to challenge the notion that emulators are illegal. I agree that the ROMS used by emulators are illegal to own if you don't have the original circuit board/cartridge/disc/etc, but software that emulates regular circuit boards and standard IC chips aren't illegal.

Hold on while I put on my flame-proof underware, then fire away.

I said their use, not the emulators themselves. Emulators in and of themselves are very rarely illegal. They also don't do anything by themselves.

Agreed that "by themselves" they don't do anything. But if Cloudy has the software legally purchased that ran on an old IBM PC/XT/AT, and the emulator to run it, then there should be nothing illegal. If he downloaded an Apple 2c emulator and Apple software, the emulator would not be illegal nor useable, but the Apple software that would run on the emulator would be illegal unless he owned the license already.

Right. We're not really in disagreement on anything.

Cloudy, glad you're enjoying the Sherlock Holmes game. I had a great time playing it!

For anyone else, I'm surprised no one noticed my MST3K action figures (they're not toys) in the picture above

I noticed them, but didn't comment on them, because I'm saving "Mystery Science Theater 3000" stuff for the "Obscure movies you like..." thread.

................



p.s. I've got dozens of them.

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"The game is afoot."

Okay, who won...? Am I going to jail if I get an emulator, figure out how to install it on my computer, and use it, or not...?

Damn, the plot thickens. At first I thought it was computer geek technical stuff, and now it's looking like I need to get a lawyer too.

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"The game is afoot."

Got a feeling that there is more than one emulator out there. How many are there? What do they cost, and which ones are the best, and easiest for computer idiots to be able to use...?

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"The game is afoot."

Dante, and others, please feel free to correct me.

Emulators are free. They are downloadable from many sites, some with and some without spam/virus attacks. It's the software that you would use with the emulator that is legally questionable. Emulators are not copyrighted, but the programs to run on them are. In an abstract kinda of way, think of an emulator as the engine of a car, and the software as the body. The engine would run great, but without the body, you aren't going to do much with it.

Basically there is an emulator for just about any piece of hardware from the 70's, 80's and possibly 90's. There is "one" for the IBM PC/XT/AT, "one" for the Atari 2600, "one" for the Apple IIc.......basically if you can imagen a hardware system (computer, electronic game, etc) there is an emulator for it. True, there might be more than one for a particular hardware system, but you would just need one to do what you are wanting.

The reason I said "legally qusetionable" is copyright laws. Do you own a copy of the program you are going to run on the emulator? If so, you are legal. If not, has the copyright to the program expired? If so, then you could be legal. If you tried to run software that has a copyright, and you don't own a legal copy, it is illegal. Again, the emulator is legally free, it's what you run on it that causes the legal questions.

Cloudy, I will try to spend some time Friday night and Saturday before the game to see if I can rig up an emulator for you. I just want to make sure you are wanting an emulator for the IBM PC-AT?

Cloudy, I'm sending you a PM with my email address. Please send me a list of the games that you want me to put on the emulator.

YODA, my list will be very, very long. I think I will save it until I see you for the UK vs. U of L football game tomorrow. Please bring a pen that is not low on ink, and a notebook that has at least 20 blank pages to write shit in.

p.s. I don't think there will be any legal problem here, because of a couple of things. Most of the games that I would like the emulator to bring back to life have passed on to the public domain or freeware many years ago. However, that really makes no difference, because I own all of them, and still have them in their original boxes, which I will be more than happy to show to the Feds, when they come knocking on my door.

(I'm going ficticious now. Talking to the fictional Fed, who knocked on my fictional door.)



Here's my "Loom" game, still in the box, sir. How long do you want to stay, I've got them all, but I'm not serving you coffee, while this investigation goes on. Oh, why are you leaving...? I thought you would like to play some of these old DOS games. I've only got about 300 more that you might want to check out.

Oh, come on, don't leave, I'll give you a cup of coffee, "Monkey Island" is next...



Do you want sugar and cream with that coffee? All of the "Infocom" games are coming up next, no graphics, but they're good. Let's start with "Wishbringer".



Oh, I see you would like another cup of coffee. Don't worry, stay as long as you want. I've got a spare bedroom upstairs. Tomorrow we've got a bunch more to go through. Would you like donuts with your coffee in the morning?



Yeah, you can move in, if you want, but could you chip in for the donuts, while you live here?

_________________
"The game is afoot."

BrandyB, I finished the BigFish game, "Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles" earlier tonight. I played it in the easy mode, skipped more of the puzzles than I care to admit to, and it took me a little bit over six hours to complete it, over a number of days. When it was over, I believe that I had earned 17 awards, missed out on 12, and got a ranking of assistant detective. Nothing to write home about, but I finished the game, and sent the Hound of the Baskervilles to a gazillion tiny particles headed to demon heaven. (Do remember how you did on this game?)

It was another good game from the folks at BigFish, and I recommend it to anyone, who likes to be challenged trying to figure puzzles out and solve problems. (The hidden object screens in this game are very secondary to game play. There really aren't all that many of them, and they are pretty easy. They are thrown in, because each one has one object you need to find to use in later problem solving. It is really a puzzle and problem solving game, and a good one.)

p.s. I watched the credits roll by, when the game was over. I could be wrong, but I think I saw a bunch of Russian names up there. Was this game created by former citizens of the Soviet Socialist Republics, who are now free to have fun...?

p.p.s. One more nice thing about this game is that it automatically saves your progress, when you have to exit the game for mundane things like calling the fire department, because your house is on fire...

...............

p.p.p.s. I NEVER resorted to consulting a walkthrough on the game. I did it all by myself. (Scout's honor...!)

_________________
"The game is afoot."

YODA, seeing you didn't show up with a pen or notebook Saturday, I'll go easy on you for starters. Here are just a few games that I would like to play on my computer again:

1- The very first "Castle Wolfenstein", an early DOS game. (There are a bunch of sequels, but it's the original one that I want to play.)



2- "Sherlock Holmes, in Another Bow", early DOS game.



3- The original "The Secret of Monkey Island", another early DOS game.



4- "The Ancient Land of Ys", yep, it's another early DOS game.



5- "Castle Adventure", a very, very, very old DOS game. (For sure it is in the public domain by now. Hell, it might have started out in the public domain.)



6- "Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards" (The original, first one.) Yep, it's another old DOS game. (The sequels may follow, but not yet.)



7- "Sopwith", the original, very old DOS game. (I believe there have been updated modern versions of it made.) (The original has gotta be in the public domain today.) (Can't find a box shot. The best I can come up with is a screen shot.)



8- "Marble Madness". I'm pretty sure this is another DOS game.



9- "Ikari Warriors", a DOS game from Data East.



10- "Jezz Ball", an early windows game. (It has been remade, and hepped up, but it's the original that I'm interested in.) As I recall it came as some kind of bonus with a pack of 3 1/2" floppies I once bought a long time ago. I doubt there is any box shot of this game, because it didn't come in a box. The best I can do is give you a screen shot ot the game.



These are enough for tonight. However, they are but the tip of the iceberg.

p.s. A brief poem follows:

Emulate away...

night and day...

I've got a gazillion more that I would like to play.

_________________
"The game is afoot."