Jeff asked me a few days ago if I had posted to Eat My Bomb about Aleph One. I hadn’t, and I figured it would be a good idea to check it out since the last time I checked out the project, it was still a bit buggy.

So I downloaded it–and it’s great. These guys have updated Marathon to work on modern computers and multiple platforms (Mac OS X, Windows, Linux). They’ve also added OpenGL code and Internet networking support. They’ve even fixed the microphone thing so it actually works now!

Download it here. You’ll need either an original Marathon CD (preferably Marathon Infinity if you’re going to play network games) or the downloadable demo.
http://source.bungie.org/

Installation instructions come with the Windows version. For the Mac, copy the Images, Map, (perhaps the Physics Models?), Shapes, and Sounds to the same folder that contains the Aleph One application.

Also, some guys have made high-res textures that replace the original Marathon ones. It looks even better than Halo now, if you can believe it! The high-res ones are for G5s/fast Intel/fast Athlons, the medium-res ones are for G4s/slower Intel/slower Athlons:
http://fileball.net/marathon/

Look in the “Top Downloads” section in the right-hand side partway down the page. The files are called “Total Texture Enhancement Package” (M) for medium-res, (H) for high-res. There’s a low-res version, too. And don’t forget to check out the updated sound files while you’re at it.

I took some screenshots of these textures (mid-res since I only have a G4). Click on the pictures to see a larger version.

Check it out! Perhaps we can get some net games happening in the near future.

McKids is a ripoff of Super Mario Bros.

Not only is it a ripoff, but its a ripoff done by MacDonalds Corporation. I guess we should expect much else from them. Anyway, I have to admit I started working on this post a day early cause I now have class on Thursdays. But when it happened I realize that I didn’t have a screenshot for the title screen, which I’m finding quite important for reviews like this. I ended up playing for at least 15 minutes because despite its serious shortcomings, the game is very playable.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, I need not show you any more evidence than this.

I feel like if Costner in JFK pulled the Magic Bullet out behind the ear of one of his children like a grandpa does. While maybe not quite as surprising, but still….

And McRipoff’s, if you are going to xerox the greatest video game franchise in history, make it so you can jump on the heads of guys to kill them. Next time you want to go yell at someone for taking your parking spot, play this game first, and you may end up breaking his legs for real.

So other than all this, there is something cool about this game. After every level you complete, a guy comes out and highfives you. This is fantastic. I hereby decree that this should take place in every game. Just think after you kill a guy with the golf club in Hitman that some random guy comes out and highfives you. That would make the game 2.5 times more fun to play.

PS. You really gotta feel for Peyton Manning, he was pushed around and got shoved in a locker again. Maybe next year bro.

Double PS. I went to a class for the first time in about 3 years. I forgot they have girls there, it was great.

Class got out early tonight. I figured that I would’ve been in class until 9pm, so until then I had every right to play video games. So I parked my ass on the couch with some chips, salsa and the last remaining Milwaukee’s Best from the fridge (courtesy of Mike G). I popped in Silent Hill 3 and within 5 minutes of gameplay I was met with this scene:

Nope, he’s not mine. Thanks for offering though.

I know, I know. It’s Silent Hill. Why wouldn’t there be a faceless man in a butcher’s apron hanging from inside a cage and dangling a baby in front of me? It makes perfect sense come to think of it. The dried blood on the tile floor cheers the place right up. In an attempt to get my head into the game, I’m switching over to scotch and I’m not going to stop playing until I find a way to make the baby put on the apron.

Side note: There’s this crazy thing in the game where if you’re playing in surround sound, every now and then it sounds like someone is running through your house. This is really interesting when you’re home alone.

The second installment of my review of games you probably never played is Barbie The Nintendo Game. No snappy title here its just called “Barbie”.

I should be honest I didn’t really play more than 5 minutes of this game, but I don’t think I need to in order to tell you about the highlights. First off the greatest part was that I was able to indentify with this game from the get-go. As you can see:

What a coincidence, Splash with Tom Hanks is my favorite movie! Me and Barbie have so much in common!

Ah yes, onto the game play. Barbie can’t just higher than like 6 inches and all these little guys kept coming at me. I think Barbie needs to have an interoffice affair with Luigi from Super Mario Bros. 2. I guess the point is to throw these little jewels at the bad guys, but Barbie is slow on the draw. The only real highlight is that Barbie does more of an Eat My Jewel type toss than anything else. I’d say this game is worth firing up just to see the motion in action.

P.S. Did you guys know Ken and Barbie split up? They’re still friends though. This is not original material, its the truth.

Double P.S. Mean Girls is released on DVD Sept. 21st. (I saw it twice in the theater, you can bet I am buying this little darling.)

I recently downloaded 621 Nintendo Roms with extreme prejudice. I also recently moved in with some new people, one of which has a penchant for sports games. When I told him that we should play Super Tecmo Bowl on NES, he was hooked. This caused most of my roommates and visitors to be very interested in playing NES on Xbox.

When a lazy Labor Day Sunday rolled around I decided to check out all the games I never realized existed.

Then I came upon a little game called Spiritual Warfare

I cannot believe a game like this was made. Its a religious version of Zelda. Now granted I don’t hold anything against religious people. It’s the zealots I can’t handle and I am pretty sure this was their product. How do I know this? Your main function in this game is light an “non-believer ” on fire. Afterwards the “bad guys” turn red and they get down on their knees to pray. I’m not making this up. A few times I ran into an angel who quizzed me on the bible, and if I got the questions right, she gave me items.

There is going to be more content on this, I found some unbelievable games you need to know about. Tomorrow: The Barbie Nintendo game.

Guess how long my latest audiobook is?

Robert Jordan has never been a man of few words. In fact, this is book three in a series of NINE! He’s the Square/Enix of fantasy literature in that everything he makes is needlessly long. I had to mention games in here somwhere right? Looks like Far Cry will have to wait until next week. It’s times like these that I feel like I’m working on Sisyphus Ranch; I keep shoveling shit, but the pile never seems to get smaller…

Happy Labor Day you fools! This weekend Erin helped me catalog all the games in my collection. The results have been posted with the links under Game Collections. Editors, please send me a similar file and I’ll post your collections up here as well. I’m happy to loan games to anyone who would like to check them out. If you’re interested, drop me a line. Sharing makes for good karma.

Far Cry - a beautifully rendered boat jumping simulator complete with Hawaiian shirts and Long Island Iced Teas. I’m not even 5% into this game yet because I keep getting distracted by all the fun stuff you can do just wandering around. As an example Bob, Tim, and I came to a point in the game where we were driving around in a gunboat shooting the hell out of everything we saw. We eventually ran the boat aground on a sandbar near our objective and got out to continue on foot. But something about this approach felt too easy. I suggested instead that we should try jumping the boat over the sandbar altogether and get the jump on our enemy. My idea was declared to be madness and a waste of time but after a couple of attempts, it became the new object of the game for all of us. Click the more link for the full photo collection.

(Read on …)