Chronogamer

That sounded like a cool tour. I've been on a couple cool tours myself, but nothing recent (my most memorable tour was the Altair computer factory in 1978). Sometimes these tours can be a dissapointment but sometimes they blow your mind and that's all you think about for weeks. I hope your tour was of the latter variety (it sounds like it was).

That sounded like a cool tour. I've been on a couple cool tours myself, but nothing recent (my most memorable tour was the Altair computer factory in 1978). Sometimes these tours can be a dissapointment but sometimes they blow your mind and that's all you think about for weeks. I hope your tour was of the latter variety (it sounds like it was).

 

The Altair computer factory would've been cool!

 

My trip was closer to the latter variety, and certainly no disappointment. Since, there were a few non-gamers with me (hell, they invited me), the tour stayed pretty "pedestrian". While it was really cool to have Lord British himself give a little lecture on the Ultima series it was merely an "Honor" than mind-blowing. I mean, there was nothing he said that I hadn't read a dozen times already. (though, it was nice to be able to make references to "insider" information. When he was talking about Ultima VII he said he was really happy with the level of detail they'd been able to add to the world and I said "Like baking bread!" making reference to the whole controversy that had surrounded Ultima IX when they had almost not included the ability to bake bread.) Most of the easter egg stuff that I might've found new and interesting would've been pointless trivia to the "normal" people that were also on the tour with me.

 

I'm not complaining, it was still the culmination of a 14-year mania of mine. It was great just to shake Robert and Richard's hands and say "I've really enjoyed your work, it's great to meet you." There were times when I was totally "geeking-out", though, especially seeing all those Ultima artifacts hanging on the wall. That was pretty-mind blowing. (Especially seeing an Original Aklabeth.)

 

(Thanks for responding by the way. I posted this in a forum over at DP and not a single person responded to the post! Though one sent a very nice PM.)

That was an awesome experience and I'm happy that you had such a great opportunity.

 

The company I would have done anything to work for, a long, long time ago, would have been Westwood Studios. Lands of Lore is, to this day, my favorite game EVER. The Legend of Kyrandia games are some of the best I've ever played, with amazing graphics and storytelling. And, of course, Dune II was a game changer.

 

When those games were around, companies like Bullfrog, Lucas Arts, and many others were also thriving with amazing titles. For me, as an avid PC gamer, those were the times. Yes, they were.

On 9/23/2012 at 9:07 PM, Nelio said:

That was an awesome experience and I'm happy that you had such a great opportunity.

 

The company I would have done anything to work for, a long, long time ago, would have been Westwood Studios. Lands of Lore is, to this day, my favorite game EVER. The Legend of Kyrandia games are some of the best I've ever played, with amazing graphics and storytelling. And, of course, Dune II was a game changer.

 

When those games were around, companies like Bullfrog, Lucas Arts, and many others were also thriving with amazing titles. For me, as an avid PC gamer, those were the times. Yes, they were.

It's still a really great memory. Obviously, I'm a big fan of my childhood console video games and they were fun because they were shared experiences with other people back in the day, and with my kids back when I was beginning Chronogamer. (Now my kids aren't around. Trying to play the two player games is difficult and makes me a little melancholy.) I didn't really get to play PC games until my early 20s but when I did, it was like living in them. I remember the feeling of hyperfocus while playing Ultimas 4 and 5. Mapping the dungeons. Keeping track of every clue and power word and rune sequence for the spell. I lived and breathed in those games like one could only do for weeks on end with PC games. (this was around 1992ish, I guess. I think other games had come out for consoles where one could get just as immersed, but I'd totally missed the boat on those, not having had access to a video game console since 1985.)

 

It's funny, I just reinstalled Blade Runner from Westwood Studios. They really were a creative group. I never played the Kyrandia games, but if I ever make it out of the 80s, maybe I'll give them a shot.