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How Strong Are Your Moral Values?

Published 11th June 2017

Videogames

The Real You logo

Hey! You, over there! Ever wonder how moral you are? Don’t look at me like that. It’s a straightforward enough question, and easy enough to answer. Isn’t it? No?

Well, never fear. I have a BBC Micro program here which will tell you ALL you need to know. Published by Collins Soft in 1985, The Real You contains 16 tests to – and I quote the back of the packaging – “inspire you and challenge you to discover who you really are”. And one of those tests is simply titled: Morals.

The test consists of 50 questions, and I thought I’d run through some of the most interesting ones here. Feel free to download a copy and play along at home1, though the below gives you enough of a flavour, I feel.

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  1. You’ll need a BBC Micro emulator, and the disc doesn’t auto-boot unfortunately. Type CHAIN"REAL" to get it working. ↩

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Obscure Videogame Music

Published 23rd February 2014

Music / Videogames

asys

Years ago, I created – along with Jeffrey Lee – a website about two of my favourite RISC OS games, Asylum and Oddball. (I did the design and some of the writing for the site, and Jeffrey did all the ACTUAL WORK involving the software.) Both games were loads of fun – but to get them running these days, you either have to have a RISC OS machine, get a RISC OS emulator up and running, or mess around with an SDL version. One thing that doesn’t need any setting up however, is listening to the fantastic music from Asylum.

From the relatively calm music for the easy levels, through to my favourite track for the medium levels, and this absolute insanity for the hardest levels – and that’s only three of the eight pieces – any lover of videogame music should give it a listen. They aren’t very well known, but I think the tracks are absolutely gorgeous. Aching for a remix of some kind.

So: do you have any favourite lesser-known music from games – from obscure tracks from famous releases, right through to something which once sold four copies in 1982? I’d love to put together a mix of them, similar to my BBC Micro TV themes mix from last year. Add ’em below, or send a tweet across. Any platform, any genre, any year. GO.

Unused Song 2.

Published 19th January 2014

Music / Videogames

Take a spin-off of a spin-off: a 1995 SNES game, based on The Flintstones live action film, based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon.

Take a music track found in the cartridge, which isn’t even used in the game1.

And from this obscure origin, find one of the most gorgeous chiptunes you’re ever likely to hear.

Funny how life turns out.

  1. For the reason why it was unused, see the description attached to the YouTube video – uploaded by the writer of the track, Dean Edwards. ↩

Mom.

Published 20th November 2013

Videogames

Player character identification in video games is one of those topics which academia seemingly loves. There are reams and reams of papers dedicated to the subject. I’m never scared to dumb things down here at Dirty Feed, however, so let’s ludicrously simplify things. How I identify with a player character comes in two forms: they’re either not me… or they are me.

In Final Fantasy IX, I am Zidane, a cheeky chappy with a ludicrous tail who discovers he is an Angel of Death. In I-0, I am Tracy Valencia, with all the added anatomy and latent lesbian tendencies that part requires. On the other hand, in a game like Angband, I’m creating a character from scratch, not taking the role of a pre-existing character with their own story – and I tend to think of that character as an extension of myself.

With a life simulation game like Animal Crossing, it’s even more clear-cut. Sure, the world is absolute fantasy, full of talking animals: but I’m still called John. I can wear the kind of clothes I wear in real life, furnish my house like I would if I had endless money and wasn’t a lazy bastard. I’m not playing a part: that character running around on the screen is me.

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Four Channels

Published 30th April 2013

Music / Videogames

Here’s something rather silly I’ve put together. Anyone up for a bunch of 8-bit versions of popular TV and film themes, taken from a load of BBC Micro games? I CAN TELL YOU ARE, HELLO YOU.

Some of the pieces are really well done – I especially love the opening version of the Match of the Day theme – and some… aren’t. What the bloody hell is that interpretation of Play Your Cards Right?

[mejsaudio src=”https://www.dirtyfeed.org/audio/fourchannels.mp3″ volume=”false”]

Download “Four Channels” (13MB MP3, 11:06)

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Projections

Published 1st December 2011

Videogames

Ah, nothing I like better than picking tiny holes in articles I otherwise agree with:

Zelda: Skyward Sword – The Great Graphics Debate

“If a piece of art was once brilliant and stirring – if it truly was such – no technical advancement or passing of time can take that from it.”

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

“The old, classic, black and white movies (like Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane or Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2) are no less captivating and memorable now that HD cameras are the standard.”

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

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Gratuitous

Published 13th November 2011

Videogames

From the June 1987 edition of A&B Computing:

Scan of Dunjunz advert

And here was me thinking it was just ports which used such tactics, and homegrown BBC Micro games were a paragon of virtue…

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