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8bitrocket.com Declares Today As Landon Donovan Day!
Let July 23rd, 2010 forever be known as Landon Donovan Day!
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Strong Adobe CS5 Sales Show The Battle For Hearts And Minds Is Far From Over
The Wall Street Journal is reporting Adobe sales at $905 million for the first part of this year. Here is a nice quote: “…Apple’s stance does not yet appear to be deterring purchasers of CS5…“ What does this mean? It means that the corporate buyers, the ones with deep pockets…
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8bitrocket.com: The End Is Nye? We Need Ideas On Where To Move.
Today our hosting company emailed us to tell that our site uses too many resources. They want to move us to a much more expensive plan. One that simply does not justify the cost. We have collected almost 1000 stories and tutorials in the past 4 years, plus almost 100…
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8bitrocket.com @ E3 Report #1 : Lucha Libre Fight While The Game Industry Dies (updated)
So we went to E3 today, and we saw few things worth mentioning (which we might cover later), however, our general impressions can be summed up with this story from Cracked.com: The Day the Gaming Industry Died: Impressions from E3 2010 by David Wong We saw one GREAT thing while…
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8bitrocket.com @ E3 2010
We are attending E3 2010 this year. We hope to bring you back all the “news” of stuff on display for Flash, Web, Viral, Retro, Mobile, Indie game developers. However, we assume, just like last year, the entire show will ignore this part of the game industry. If we can…
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Apparenty, 360 “Natal” is Named “Kinect”, And Apparenty Someone Jumped The Gun On Talking About It
It’s now official (maybe) that the Xbox 360 “Motion Control” device, once named “Natal” will be named “Kinect”, and apparently we are not supposed to know this yet. The USA Today game “blog” (column, whatever) went with a story about it today, that now looks like this: Oops. Someone jumped…
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USA v. England : A No Win Situation For 8bitrocket.com
Today the USA plays against England in their first game of the FIFA 2010 World Cup. Whenever the USA plays England, it becomes an uncomfortable situation for 8bitrocket.com. We have many friends who live all over the world, and usually we get along famously. However, when we play each other…
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Review: New Star Games Sensational World Soccer 2010
Wanna play some digital footie? Synopsis:Sensational World Of Soccer 2010 Review.Are you a USA fan who wants to replay the England match and try to put more goals by the hapless Robert Green? Are you an England fan who desires the opportunity to massacre a virtual Tim Howard? Are you…
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You too can “Hack the Pac”. A guide to hacking the Google Pac-man Doodle
A month or so back Google celebrated Pac-Man’s 30th anniversary by replacing the Google Doodle with a playable version of Pac-Man. (click the image to play it in its new Google home) Retrogaming Monthly has a nicely written article on how to create your own version of the doodle by…
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Huw Collingbourne Of bitwise Magazine Really Likes The Essential Guide To Flash Games
Huw Collingbourne Of bitwise Magazine just posted his review of The Essential Guide To Flash Games. He really liked it! Here is my favorite quote: “What a great book this is! Don’t be deceived into thinking that, since it is a book about games programming, it must necessarily be trivial.…
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Yes, We Still Work On Flash Games: Introducing Zombie Alien Zero Flak Defender!
With all of this talk of HTML 5, I wanted to show some on-going progress on an AS3 game that I’m working on. Yes, it is an iteration on one of the games from The Essential Guide To Flash Games, and yes it will be used to promote the book,…
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Nomen Ludi: Awesome Short Story About The Quest To Finish An 8-bit Computer Game
I was directed to the story Nomen Ludi By Rob Beschizz, a fictional short story about the quest and the meaning of trying to finish an 8-bit computer game. Lost of great turns an imagery in this one, and also some really cool 8-bit game screens. Read it here.
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Can I survive HTML5? Yes, and so can you
Can I survive HTML5? Yes, and so can you. It took me a few months to finally crack open the beast, but while on a little holiday vacation in California Wine country, I finally took the leap. Steve has been dabbling in HTML 5 for the last couple months but…
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John Russell Fulton: Isn’t Artistic Talent Supposed To Jump A Generation?
I can’t draw to save my life. Neither can Jeff. While be both can do a bit of “abstract” work practical art has pretty much escaped us. However the rest of our family has all kinds of talent in spades. The most “famous” artist in our family is John Russell…
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R.I.P. Gary Coleman And 80’s Portrayals Of Video Games
Gary Coleman died yesterday at the age of 42. He was best known from his role on the TV show “Different Strokes”. It was sad to see him go, as he never really appeared to achieve that he set out to do in life. It is interesting to note that …
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Is The HTML 5 Canvas A Gateway Drug For Flash?
When I was 13 years old I wanted an Atari 800 computer. I wanted it to play all the great computer games I saw on the shelves at the local computer store, HW Computers, and because it came with the BASIC programming language. Not only could you play games, but…
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Game Design Inspirations: Some childhood 70’s non-electronic games and books
Game Design Inspirations: Some childhood 70’s non-electronic games and books Growing up in the 70’s Steve and I didn’t always have access to electronic and video games. It was 1981 before we had our first 2600, and before that we had but a smattering of hand-held electronic games that failed…
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Would A Basic Book on HTML 5 Canvas Games Interest You?
While we are in early talks with some publishers about a book on building games the HTML 5 Canvas, I’d like to know: Would this interest you? Unlike “The Essential Guide To Flash Games”, this book would take a more ground-up approach, and include all the information you need to…
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Geometry Attack: First Found Game Made From The Essential Guide To Flash Games Book?
Yesterday we were alerted to this game, Geometry Attack. It appears to be the first game made from the games from our book: The Essential Guide To Flash Games. However, this is not a complaint. The whole point of the book is to get people to make games. We want…
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The internets is full of smart, beautiful people…actual complaints about the Google Pac-Man Doodle (edit)
The internets is full of smart, beautiful people…actual complaints about the Google Pac-Man Doodle (edit) The Google Doodle will only be live as Pac-Man for the next few hours(approx after the Champions League Final Tomorrow). I read a few blog entries on the anniversary celebration and some of the comments…
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Why Google Rocks: Pac-Man in Google Banner (with co-op Ms. Pac-Man mode).
Why Google Rocks: Pac-Man in Google Banner (with co-op Ms. Pac-Man mode). To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man, the awesome (even more awesome than ever) Google has magically placed a Javascript version in their home page banner. By clicking on the “Insert Coin” button you will start up a…
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Flash 10.1 On Google TV, Chrome OS, Android Makes Apple Look Silly And Petty
Adobe announced the Flash 10.1 Beta today, and then went ahead and told everyone why it is so awesome. When Adobe is not on the ropes defending Flash from Steve Jobs’ shots below the belt, they are pretty good at explaining why Flash player 10.1 is so good. Here are…
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Mochi Creates Android Games Portal, Answers Our Burning Questions, Almost Makes Us Forget Apple
Yesterday, Mochi Media announced a dedicated games portal for the Android phone, m.mochigames.com: “The site, m.mochigames.com will feature more than 25 games and will be available upon the release of Google’s next version of Android (“FroYo”) phones. The site features mobile-optimized versions of puzzle game Biomass, card game Magic Towers…
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Google Chrome Web Store: Finally, A REAL Place To Sell Flash Games To Consumers?
Maybe I’m the last to find out about these things, but The Google Chrome Web Store looks like the first really promising way to monetize web apps written in Flash, HTML 5, Silverlight, etc. It appears to work on the sample principle as the iPhone store, but make apps available…
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Essential Guide To Flash Games Chapter 13 Part 1. Modified BasicScreen and new ImageButton class
Essential Guide To Flash Games Chapter 13 Part 1. Modified BasicScreen and new ImageButton class The Essential Guide To Flash Games only contains 12 chapters, so what is chapter 13? Chapter 13 and beyond will be additions to the book and efg framework that build on what has been created…
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HTML 5 Canvas: Using Processing.js To Develop Canvas Apps
This weekend, a friend of mine named Mike Foti noticed my pained expressions when I was talking about the HTML 5 Canvas, and he decided to help salve some of my injuries from my first few tests by pointing me towards a project named processing,js. processing.js is an MIT Media…
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GameDev.net Gives The Essential Guide To Flash Games 4 Gs!
GameDev.net has reviewed The Essential Guide To Flash games, and has given it 4 Gs! Here is a good quote: “The level of the book starts off quite simply. While it might help to know a bit of computer programming, knowledge of ActionScript or the “Flash way of doing things”…
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EGM Magazine Spring 2010 Review: EGM Returns In Stunning Fashion
I was never a huge fan of EGM magazine. Its’ name was too close to Electronic Games, and it always appeared to be written for a generation of gamers just beyond my grasp. However, with few options, I subscribed in 2008, only to have the magazine go out of business…
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HTML 5 Canvas: Creating Gaudy Text Animations…Just Like Flash! (sort of)
Since I have not posted anything about the Canvas in a few weeks I wanted to show some of the experiments I’ve been working on. Everyone knows that animating text in Flash is very easy and has been around since the technology began. It seems to me, that if the…
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Retro Scan: Original Atari ST Action Interview with Jeff Minter (1988)
Retro Scan: Original Atari ST Action Interview with Jeff Minter (1988) A couple weeks ago I was hunting around in Steve’s garage and found the May 1988 issue of ST Action magazine. I scanned in the review of Dungeon Master in that issue and put it on the site. This…
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Virtual Pinball , An LCD Cabinet: My Pinball Dreams (Nearly) Realized?
I love pinball, and the last few years virtual pinball games like Pinball Hall Of Fame: The Williams Collection has satisfied some of my thirst for classic, kinetic, pinball action. However, there is nothing better than standing-up and playing a real pinball machine. However, the days of pinball machines are…
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The Essential Guide To Flash Games: The Infomerical
I believe this speaks for itself.
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Fixed Stand-Alone Flash Player 10.1 Will Be Not Be Released Until The Final Version Of 10.1 Player
Earlier this week I found out (and tested) that Adobe had fixed bitmapData.hitTest() in the latest RC2 version of the Flash Player. However, the stand-alone player delivered with CS5 was not updated. This means that you still have to test all your code in a browser, and not in the…
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Listen to Steve Woita On The Retronauts Podcast!
This comes via Gaming After 40. Frequent 8bitrocket.com visitor, Atari veteran, Flash game developer, Steve Woita talks about his work at Atari Games/Tengen on the the latest Retronauts podcast. It’s great to hear his voice, and hear is take (as well as his colleagues) on his time at Atari Games.…
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Retro Game Disasters: Super Breakout On Xbox Live Arcade Game Room
I love playing retro games, but sometimes those retro games simply do not translate to modern platforms. A very good example is the Super Breakout arcade game (originally designed in part by Ed Logg). Super Breakout is one of my favorite arcade games, and also one of the best arcade…
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Adobe Fixes bitmapData Collision Detection issue in Flash layer 10.1 RC2!!!
I’ve had an open issue with Adobe for the past 6 weeks that was so grievous, I did not even want to talk about it openly: Flash Player 10.1 crashed to the desktop when trying to run the game Flak Cannon from “The Essential Guide To Flash Games”. I was…
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Apple in Anti-Trust Violation?
I read a small blurb in the local newspaper today (The Daily Breeze – yes, that’s the actual name of the paper) that states Apple might be in anti-trust violation over the rule that only Apple tools can be used to create iPod, iPad applications. This is a facet of…
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Random Thoughts: Should Google Buy Adobe?
Here is a random thought I had this weekend: Should Google buy Adobe? Will they buy Adobe? Here is why I ask. I appears to me that Google is the odd man out when it comes to development for its’ own mobile platform. Microsoft is going proprietary with their Windows…
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Essential Guide To Flash Games Errata F.A.Q.
Unfortunately when you write a book, some things get lost in the translation from manuscript to the final product. This is a running list of things that need changing or clarification for the book “The Essential guide To Flash Games”. Even though we did everything possible to avoid these errors,…
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Tutorial: Exploring the AS3 Bitmap Class Lesson 3 – Scale from the center with a Matrix.
Tutorial: Exploring the AS3 Bitmap Class Lesson 3 – Scale from the center with a Matrix. In this third lesson we will explore a method of scaling the object from Lesson 1 and Lesson 2 using a Matrix operation. Like rotation, we could simple apply the scaleX and scaleY properties…
