I keep collecting links, so here are some more. As a side note, in a wild attempt at scheduled behavior, I’m going to try to store up my vintage-gaming related links and post every Monday.

Long time listeners will remember my very early review of M.U.L.E. Well, there’s another version out there, this time at http://www.planetmule.com/. I haven’t tried it out yet, but it looks like there are clients for Windows, Mac and Linux, and eventually Debian. You do register with the site, but I don’t think they have a central matchmaking server, as they mention using the forum for that. The one strike against them is they credit Dan Bunten, not Danielle Bunten, against her wishes, but it’s probably worth taking a look if you’re a M.U.L.E. fan.

In more D&D related content, we have a repeat of a series at GeekDad, where Ken Denmead reviews the Top Ten D&D modules he found while cleaning up his storage shed. I don’t see Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, but otherwise looks to be a good list of classics: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

In another GeekDad post (I need to get out more), Michael Harrison interviews Ethan Gilsdorf, author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks, a memoir/rediscovery of the geek life. Plus, until January 13 (Wednesday), you can enter a contest to win a copy of the book. See the article for more details.

Finally, yesterday Terry Cavanagh’s retro platformer VVVVVV was released. I tried out the demo and it’s definitely worth it. It’s challenging and fun, and has a very nifty mechanic where you can switch the “floor” to either the top or the bottom of the screen. For a fuller review, check out this one by Anthony Burch on Destructoid.

Still trying to get my feet under me for the New Year — or the new year, however it’s spelled. In any case, here are some interesting vintage gaming links that have been sitting in my RSS feed:

First, James Maliszewski has a nice little article up at The Escapist, entitled “Founding Fathers.” In it, he covers the history of wargames, from von Riesswitz’s Kriegspiel to David Wesley’s Braunstein (the progenitor of Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor campaign).

Related to this is Monte Cook’s most recent article at the aforementioned The Escapist magazine about the original supplements to D&D record the evolution of the rules. This is a follow-up to his previous post on D&D, already covered here.

Second, Greg Costikyan talks about the background for his new board game, Megacorps, and how he inadvertently created a future history through game design.

Greg also has a review of the Civil War tabletop game A House Divided (designed by Frank Chadwick in 1981). I haven’t played this one, but based on Greg’s review I think I’ll give it a shot as I’m a huge Civil War (or the “recent unpleasantness”) buff.

Finally, on the video gaming front, Nathan Barry on Geekdad reports that Tatio has released a remake of Arkanoid for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Many are the hours I spent playing Arkanoid on my Mac SE — as it was pirated, perhaps I should purchase a copy to balance the books. And you should too, because it’s tons of fun.

Hope your holiday season was a good one and you got to play lots of games! And if not, you’ve got a whole year ahead so get to it…

(Via Joystiq) The Technologizer blog has a really great trip down memory lane, where they present patents from the early days of electronic games. They call it The Golden Age of Electronic Games. I guess I agree with that — though a lot of those games from early on in that age aren’t so much Golden as well… let me put this way. I have an old handheld soccer game that consists of a dot and a few lines. Does that compare with FIFA 09? Probably not except in the sense of nostalgia.

As a side note, they mention both the Magnavox Odyssey — as the first game console — and Simon — as a game that will survive the ages. The importance of these games isn’t a coincidence. They were both designed by The Father of Video Games Ralph H. Baer.

Link

One thing I forgot to mention in this post, is that you can play the original Infocom Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy game at the BBC website. Try not to let the fish slide down the drain this time…

I somehow missed the official announcement (I got an email in February announcing its imminent release, but not the actual event), but Return to Dark Castle is finally available for purchase and download. You can get it off of the SuperHappyFunFun site. There’s also some information on the ZSculpt site about the level structure for those who want to a head start on designing their own levels.

I’ll be purchasing my own copy tonight and I’ll try not to let it delay the next show any more than it already is.

Start practicing your litany of fear; there’s sudden revival of the old platformer Earthworm Jim. First, later this year (the press release says “soon”) the Sega Genesis versions of Earthworm Jim and Earthworm Jim 2 will be available on the Wii’s Virtual Console (along with two other Interplay titles: Boogerman and Clayfighter). Second, plans are in motion at Interplay to do a sequel, with creator Douglas TenNapel as a consultant: Earthworm Jim 4. Finally, as part of the work on that sequel, Interplay will launch a new TV series and a feature film.

Now if they’d only bring back The Neverhood — that game was awesome. I still have the soundtrack that I picked up at E3 one year. Digging around, I see there are also plans to make it into a feature film, which would be interesting. Given Doug TenNapel’s connections, perhaps Frederator will be working on Earthworm Jim as well?

Over at Andy Baio’s Waxy.org blog, he reports on some archaeological work he did on an old backup drive from Infocom. As part of that, he found the history of a never-completed sequel to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe game. Fascinating, and a great example of what can go wrong in the development of a game, or any large scale artistic effort. He also makes two prototypes available for download.

Up on Joystiq, they have this awesome movie from the latest Spy Hunter game….

Oh, it’s an ad for a car, you say? Too bad. I would have played it.

This is a bit out of the purview of vintage gaming, but there may be interest so I figured I’d post it. I’m trying to clear out a lot of games that I haven’t played much or probably will never play. Because my primary goal is “Clean up the house,” I’m selling them at the low end of their worth, so you might pick up some bargains.

You can find my half.com store here. Right now it’s mostly Xbox, PS2 and Xbox 360 games with one Wii title. I’ll be listing some PS3 games tonight, and I may have some PC games as well later.