Author: itvbadmin

  • This week’s retro scan and discussion: Killer Rigs – CGW March 2001

    Computer Gaming World is now defunct, but during the golden age of PC gaming it was my favorite gaming publication. I consider the golden age of PC games to have started with Wolfenstein 3D (about 1992) and ended just about the time Half Life was repackaged for the 10th time…

  • Get 100 Atari Classics for the iPhone / iPad for $14.99 USD

    The incredibly generous Atari’s Greatest Hits for iOS was released yesterday to the iTunes store. You can have 100 Atari classics for $14.99 or you can purchase various game packs such as the Asteroids pack, Warlords pack, or one of the many others for as little at $1.29. Many of…

  • Silverlight Not Dead: Silverlight 5 On The Way

    Last year while working at “Monolith” I had a short email argument with some upper management folks about the future of Silverlight.  They were all in a panic that “Microsoft was abandoning Silverlight” , and this was just after they had agreed to paid a vendor huge $$$ for some…

  • The Essential Guide To Flash Games Made a Profit! (really)

    Essentially because of many of you, our book, the “Essential Guide to Flash Games, Building Interactive Entertainment in As3”, actually paid Steve and I a royalty yesterday (even with that crazy-long title). After receiving a years worth of the most puzzling (I wish I could show one here) advance recoup…

  • Watch the New Star Soccer 5 Trailer

    It is no secret that I love the football/soccer games from the 80’s and early 90’s. I was a HUGE Kick Off 2 and Kick off Player Manager fan on the Atari ST, but shed the ST for a PC just in time to miss out on Sensible. Anyway, about…

  • For Those Still Compiling We Salute You : 10 Reasons Classic Game Programmers Matter

    A while back, coworker and I were talking today about the recent interview with Steve Woita in Retro Gamer magazine.  We’ve both met Woita ( my co-worker in-person and myself virtually though this site), but my co-worker was blown-away that a few days prior, Woita had been “suggested” to him…

  • 8bitrocket.com Joins Up with Oracle-Retro!

    The denizens of 8bitrocket.com have  “beat around the virtual bush” for many weeks about the new “large company” they are working for, and today is the day they can reveal the name: Oracle!  Yes, the world’s largest database company is starting a retro-evolved games division, and 8bitrocket.com are joining-up! 8bitsteve…

  • Hotel Room Chrysalis

    As 8bitjeff awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic code de-bugger. He was laying on his soft, as it were, free food fattened belly  and when he lifted his head a little he could see he was still housed in a…

  • The Game Shift 001: Thoughts On Week 1

    I recently moved from working in a highly structured corporate development environment at one of the world’s largest toy companies to a loosely structured start-up environment at one of the world’s largest game companies. The Game Shift is a chronicle of that change. Day 1: Orientation Day 1 was a…

  • Atari 800 In A Hotel Room

    Jeff and I are still in S.F. doing a 2-week tour of duty with our new employer before we head home to work as remote employees.  While it might appear that we have been having a blast on this trip, in reality it as been very hard work, and every…

  • Management Sucks 001: No, It’s Not “Just Business”

    While working as a developer and then later as a manager for  “The Monolith” for 15 years, I learned a lot about how old-style corporations feel about their regular employees.    This new series, Management sucks, explores some of the experiences I had while trying to manage a team of…

  • Atari Greatest Hits Vol.2 For The DS Now Available

    Atari hs just sent us a press release for their “Greatest Hits volume 2” for the Nintendo DS.  We loved the first one, and this one looks like it will be just as good.   Check out the Atari release below: ATARI’S GREATEST HITS: VOLUME 2 NOW AVAILABLE AT RETAIL…

  • Road Test: Adobe “Wallaby” Flash->HTML5 Converter Preview Version

    A couple days ago, Adobe released a preview version of  “Wallaby”, their Flash->HTML5 converter.  It’s been a badly kept secret for the past few months that Adobe was working on something like this, but with the release they have finally come clean on their efforts. Here is what they says…

  • Listen to the live LAPD radio stream mixed with random ethereal music

    OK, so this is way off topic (game and retro-wise), but you can expect a little more in this “random awesomeness” category now and then. The site YouAreListeningToLosAngeles.com is simply a live feed stream of Los Angeles Police radio  chatter (provided by radioreference.com) played over a random selection of ethereal…

  • The Pac-man Dossier Kicks Ass!

    If you are at all interested in building a maze chase game in the Pac-man genre, or are just interested in the technical details about the game or how to play it, check out the incredibly detailed Pac-man Dossier by Jamey Pittman. This treasure trove of information contains everything from…

  • The current state of 8bitrocket Towers

    It has been a long, eventful two months to begin 2011.  I have not found the time to write much on the blog, but that will change as soon as Steve and I begin our new adventure in game development. I’m not sure the term “extra” time applies as I…

  • An Inspirational Story For Dreamers Everywhere

    We apologize for being very quiet lately.  Yes, we have a couple things to announce that will forever  change the content and direction of this site, however for now we have to stay focused and mum. However, I’d like to relay to you and inspirational story. Here goes: There is…

  • Flash Is So 2011, HTML5 Is So 2014

    Here’s a secret: Flash is far from dead, in fact it’s being adopted at a higher-rate than ever on multiple mobile platforms.  In recent ZDnet article Christopher Dawson wrote: “And it isn’t just Android. Windows Phone 7, RIM’s BlackBerry OS, and HP’s WebOS all currently or will shortly support Flash…

  • Retro Blaster, Pumpkin Man and Jack’s Beach Blitz added to Google Chrome App Store

    I have started to add some of our arcade games to the Google Crome App Store. Retro Blaster Asteroids on steroids with many power ups to purchase and bosses galore. Pumpkin Man If Pac-man had included 30 different mazes, multiple power-ups, door/key puzzles, transporters and more it would be something…

  • Ultimate Unscramble #1 and #2 Now In Google Chrome Web App Store

    I went ahead and added a couple more free educational games to the Google Chrome Web App Store today: Ultimate Unscramble #1: HTML Color Words Ultimate Unscramble #2: Countries And Flags It appears to be very simple to add new apps to the store. The interface is easy to use,…

  • Palindromes Plus Now In Google Chrome Web App Store

    I just tested out one of our games, Palindromes Plus,  in the Google Chrome Web App Store.  You can check it out here:

  • Quick Guide To wmode And Flash Embedding

    When embedding Flash .SWFs in HTML, there are several choices you can make for the wmode parameter.  I’ve always been a bit confused about which was which, so I set out to today to pull together as much information as possible on the subject.  Here is a quick run down of…

  • Flash Player 10.2 Released: Stage Video Is Finally Here – But What Is It?

    I can recall Adobe talking about stage video for a long time.   It’s a new feature in Flash Player 10.2 that is supposed to speed-up video layback considerably.   In many ways, this appears to be Adobe’s way of combatting HTML5 Video.  If you are curious, here is what…

  • Are Apps Dead?

    The Wall Street Journal has a story this morning about a meeting  of mobile business entrepreneurs in New York, where some of sentiment ran this way: “Apps are going to die away in favor of simple mobile websites” You can the whole story here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704364004576132530157431902.html#ixzz1DTM6ooO5 I’m not sure I totally agree with…

  • Game Programming Tool Kit: A Binary Search in AS3

    Every game programmer needs a basic set of tools to use in building his/her games. In this series we will cover everything from basic computer science algorithms and simple design patterns to more complex artificial intelligence implementations. If it can be used some how, some way in game development, then…

  • Shorter, More Game Focused Tutorials Targeting More Technologies Are Coming

    OK, now that our HTML5 Canvas book is in production, we are planning a return to game tutorials that have been so popular here.  However, in 2011, people want more than just AS3 tutorials.  Keeping look back at this space for shorter, more precise code snippets and tutorials on game…

  • Back to the blog…mobile tales

    It is has been quite some time since I last sat down to blog about what has been going on around 8bitrocket Towers.  I have been busy the last six months scraping together a decent set of recurring clients for my freelance game coding business while I work on a…

  • Book Review: Replay: The History Of Video Games by Tristan Donovan

    I can honestly say that The new book Replay by Tristan Donovan is the best book about the video game history ever published.   Donovan’s book unseats The First Quarter by Steven L. Kent (the previous title holder) by taking a broader, world-wide approach to the subject. Donovan was  inspired…

  • Flash Game Competition (Stanford, Adobe, Mochi, JayIsGames & more!)

    In conjunction with the Stanford Dance Marathon / Hackathon 2011 (?!), Stanford University is throwing a three week long Flash Game competition with the theme of Benevolence.    Squize, Iain Lobb, and Keith Peters (along with Steve and I)  will be judging the games. We can’t just pick the best game,…

  • Keeping Up With The Mochis #2: A Creeping Realization

    So while looking over the contest entries for the 2011 Mochis,   I was struck by one common emotion: despair.  Why?  Because every one of the games is so damned good.  I’m not kidding.    All of the entries are linked below, so you can see for yourself.  While I’m…

  • Keeping Up With the Mochis #1: Bio Break

    Jeff and I have been asked by the fine people at Mochi Media to help judge the 2011 Mochi Awards for the Flash Gaming Summit this year.    The first order business Mochi asked from us to was to write a short bio about ourselves. After writing the forward/introduction to…

  • How Now? The Good News And The Bad News

    The good news: The game you are working on is brilliant, amazing, and from a theoretical game design perspective, is worth every ounce of blood, ingenuity, ignored interpersonal relationships and effort you have poured into it. The bad news: Some kid using Game Salad just made a Zombie game in 4…

  • What Now? Random Answers.

    Yes, we do want to hear from you, contact us. No, we don’t want to display your gambling ads. Yes, Flash is still a viable platform. No, we do not need your masterful SEO skills sent via email offer. Yes, it is cool being a twin. No, we never switched…

  • Now What? Random Thoughts…

    Hmm. What’s next? We seem to be at a crossroads. The end of something, and the beginning of something else. But what? Is is Apps? Is it the mobile web? Is there value still hiding in viral Flash games? 3DTV? Really?  I don’t see it.  Literally and figuratively. Is the…

  • 8bitrocket Atari Inspired 16K Retro Re-make contest winner(s) announcement!

    We had a very tough time choosing the winner(s) as every game was excellent. Some made excellent use of technology,  some were every inventive, and others made nice use of the source material as a jumping off point to push in new directions.  Some were a combination of all three. So,…

  • Help Beta Test The Flash Develop to Mac Bridge

    The Genius Squad (I mean that in every non ironic and non flippant manner) over at FlashDevelop.org has created a FlashDevelop to Mac bridge in the beta of FD 4.0. It must be used with Parallels or VMWare, but it looks promising. They need beta testers. I plan to get…

  • Gamasutra Warns Of The Coming “Gamepocalypse”

    Over at Gamasutra they have a greta new article by Tadhg Kelly named What Games Are: The Mac App Store And The PC Gamepocalypse. The pie ce crystalizes some thoughts that have been bandied about in 8bitrocket.com towers for the past few weeks: The App Paradigm Shift.  Tadhg says that…

  • 16K Contest : Final Public Vote Tally

    Here are the final public votes.  We will put this together with our votes and announce the First and Second place winners this week.  Thanks for playing.

  • 16K Contest Voting: Final Chance! (Updated)

    Get your votes in for the 16K contest!  Only 2 more days. Update: I just looked at the voting logs and it appears that are some “oddities” in the voting records.   We will take a long look at the data and adjust the results accordingly.  As well, don’t forget,…

  • Quick IOS Packager Test Results

    Over the last few days I have been experimenting with creating a very simple arcade game in both HTML5 and AS3. The HTML5 version I packaged up with PhoneGap and tested on my iPod Touch. The AS3 version I wrote twice. The first version uses built in Sprites and the…