Comments on: Benheck.com Podcast Episode 53

By: Phos

Phos — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 23:57:13 +0000

You guys should check out “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”. It’s a great adventure movie.

By: Tone-C

Tone-C — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:20:23 +0000

Anyone remember “Out Of This World” a.k.a. “Another World” in Europe where it originated (I think). I remember running that on my first PC back in 1991-92. I think it was on 1 (maybe 2) 3.5″ floppies. It had amazing sound and althrough the graphics were flat & polygonal, it seemed to have a 3-D aspect to it the way the programmers gave it depth & fluidity in the movement of the hero & baddies using rotoscoping. Everything moved as if it had real weight with the laws of physics applied. All of the deaths were great. There is a Windows XP (high resolution version) playable demo available for free on on the author’s website http://www.anotherworld.fr/anotherworld_uk/index.htm
If you’re lucky enough to have played this game and want more, try to get your hands on the sequel “Heart Of The Alien” on Sega CD (the only console it was released on). Play that and also a game called Flashback: Quest for Identity which many people mistake as the sequel to Another World. They are all done in similar style.

By: Veovis Muad'dib

Veovis Muad'dib — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 22:02:04 +0000

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory had amazing Co-Op, the description of Resistance 2 reminded me of the great times I had playing that game. It was also a separate story line for the Co-Op, and in fact, the single player and co-op players have a conversation at one point, that was just a wow moment…

By: Splodge

Splodge — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:41:21 +0000

‘Metroid’ on the NES was fairly ahead of it’s time. Back then most Side-Scrollers were level-based. ‘Metroid’ gave you one big world to explore. Ideas from that game (and Super Metroid) were still being used two generations later in Castlevania: SOTN and even today on the DS Castlevania games. Hell, Metroid was so revolutionary that it spawned a new genre – Metroidvania (yes I consider it a real genre).

Also, not a game, but the Dreamcast online service was way ahead of it’s time (for consoles). It’s only this generation that everyone else is catching up to those ideas and so far only Microsoft are doing it right.

As for ‘Gilligan’s Island’, the problem could be that it’s not really that international. I live in Europe. I know ‘The Adam’s Family’, ‘The Flinstones’ and ‘Lost in Space’ but ‘Gilligan’s Island’ was never shown here. That could be why they made movies out of those other shows and not ‘Gilligan’s Island’. I doubt that’s the real reason but it is a possible explanation.

By: GojiraGamer

GojiraGamer — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:52:02 +0000

What “Big Trouble In Little China” or even the “Karate Kid” and an old TV show called “Side Kicks”, what about a “Super Troopers” sequel.

By: Shinto

Shinto — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 03:32:49 +0000

Ballblazer! Yes! I loved that game. It’s truly remarkable for the hardware on which it ran (Atari 8-bit computers and 7800), with its split-screen two-player action and fast, smooth (antialiased?) 3-D. Cool soundtrack, too.

For games that you missed, maybe Shenmue (Dreamcast) would be a good candidate with its large, interactive, open-ended world. I might suggest MIDI Maze (Atari ST), too, since it’s usually regarded as the first networked deathmatch game.

By: Christian

Christian — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 03:21:18 +0000

WAIT A TICK! The echo is back! Did you all change programs again?

By: hossrex

hossrex — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 09:27:22 +0000

“Yesterday” by the Beatles (written by Paul McCartney) is the most covered song of all time.

I’ve been collecting different versions of it. My favorite so far is John Denver/Pavarotti (yeah… together as a duet).

By: Christian

Christian — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:02:49 +0000

Oh god, Jumping Flash for the PSOne….I still have that game, complete with its awesome cardboard “LongBox” style case. One of my favorite bad games I must say, and one of the rare-er LongBox style games.

By: Steve M.

Steve M. — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:06:47 +0000

Trespasser (1998)- No HUD. All world interactions follow rules of physics system, even weapons ballistics. First game to use ragdoll physics. Bump-mapping for textures. Specular highlighting. Open world design, with sprite-based billboards swapped out in place of 3D items when rendered at a distance, to increase draw distance. Height map terrain rendering. Dynamic sound mixing feature (still unique in the gaming world). Advanced AI with creatures having their own independent goals and needs (Usually called “ambient AI” these days). Inverse Kinematics for creature animation, no scripted animations. Trespasser was the first game to do most of this stuff. You never said the game had to be good…