Pie Factory Podcast...

[Inky]

Yes! That's it!

[SoulBlazer]

Great episode, guys. No worries that you went all 2600 on that one...that was the first console for many of us, myself included. And I'm glad one of you likes the SNES, considering I do a podcast on it.

 

Sears only released 3 exclusive games -- you got two, and Stellar Track was the last one.

 

I got the games you're doing next episode, but I'm racking my brain trying to figure out the theme. You guys promised it wouldn't be arcane, but now I'm not sure.

Edited August 10, 2015 by SoulBlazer

[nosweargamer]

I got the games you're doing next episode, but I'm racking my brain trying to figure out the theme. You guys promised it wouldn't be arcane, but now I'm not sure.

 

Once you get it, you'll be like "duh!" I wish I could give a hint, but I really don't know how to do it without spoiling it.

I'll get back to you if I figure out one that d oesn't totally give it away!

[SoulBlazer]

 

Once you get it, you'll be like "duh!" I wish I could give a hint, but I really don't know how to do it without spoiling it.

I'll get back to you if I figure out one that d oesn't totally give it away!

Feel free to tell me in PM if you want, Phil. I wasn't going to enter the contest -- I'd rather the 2600 go to a good home where it will get used -- but I'm dying to know the answer.

[Inky]

Soulblazer, did you call it the "sneeze"?

[RJ]

Is it "Stellar Track" the all-text game for the 2600 you were thinking about?

If there was ever a time I literally screamed anything at my iPod, that was it.

[SoulBlazer]

Soulblazer, did you call it the "sneeze"?

No, we called it a bunch of things -- the SNES, the Super NES, the Super Nintendo, the SNES NES, the purple box....but never that.

[RJ]

Once you get it, you'll be like "duh!" I wish I could give a hint, but I really don't know how to do it without spoiling it.

I'll get back to you if I figure out one that d oesn't totally give it away!

I dont see a theme/correlation either, & I'm not entering, so shoot me a PM too Phil.

[Chris++]

Aha! I know it. (Unless what I'm thinking of is a red herring, which would be very clever, you marvelous bastards.)

 

I want someone to get those great prizes who doesn't already have the hardware; also, I'd feel kind of weird entering the contest, since Sean and Jim and I have been intermittent text friends (as it were) for fourteen years, mainly due to their phenomenal tastes in music, and my annual, treasured Happy Bidet.

 

But I must say: Great idea for a theme!

[RJ]

Oh! Got it.

 

No one told me, can I change my mind & enter?

[Dauber]

RJ - of course you can enter! I recommend sending your answer privately to Inky or me, though.

 

BTW, all -- episode 13 is finally up.

[RJ]

Mssg sent via AtariAge PM. But I forgot the exact contest requirements...

[Inky]

Behold the majesty that is Episode 13!

https://piefactorypodcast.wordpress.com/2015/08/25/episode-13-donkey-kong-junior-and-gyruss/

Edited August 26, 2015 by Inky

[RJ]

Back in the Ferg, on Atari 8-bit Gyruss (800XL) I scored 773,840. Got to Stage 70 (including bonus rounds), 3 times thru the solar system.

[SoulBlazer]

Hey guys!

 

Listened to the new episode at work today and really enjoyed the gameplay discussion. I agree that Donkey Kong Junior is better then DK, and I think the best home port of that was done for the NES.

 

Gyruss is one of my all time favorite games, period....and is right up there with Time Pilot for all time favorite arcade games. I was hooked on both games as soon as I saw them in the arcade back in the Ferg, even at the tender age of 6 and 7. There's a reason for that, something I'm surprised you guys didn't mention in the podcast -- both Gyruss and Time Pilot were designed by the same guy, Yoshiki Okamoto. It seems Konami didn't realize his genius, even after those two hit games -- due to pay disputes he was fired from Konami in 1983 and went over to rival Capcom, where he kept cranking out top notch games. How's this for a hit parade of games he designed at Capcom:

 

1942

Gun.Smoke

Forgotten Worlds

Final Fight

Street Fighter II

 

And he also was a key producer in the original Resident Evil game.

 

Okamoto is still making games today, for the mobile market. One of the best video game designers of all time.

 

The music really does make the game. The exact name of the Bach piece used is 'Toccata and Fugue in D Minor'. The reason you heard all those sounds at the same time as the music was cause the arcade machine was packing some serious sound hardware -- it had discreet audio circuits and FIVE sound chips, all played in glorious stereo sound.

 

I think the home versions of the game handle quite well -- I've tried the game on MAME with both a controller pad and a joystick and it works great.

 

I owned the C64 port of the game as a kid, and played the heck out of it. Really good port of the game, with that SID chip handling the music great.

 

I also really enjoy the NES remix, although I know that's a controversial opinion. I really liked the updates that Konami made to the game to make it 'fit' better with the NES game players, such as bosses, extra stages, and the Superzapper. Konami re-made a number of classic arcade games, such as Rampart -- which was a Japanese only release and is really fun and worth checking out.

 

Totally agree about the Konami Arcade Classics collection on the GBA, it's a great way to play these games on the go. There was mention about how you can play either the original or enhanced version of Gyruss, but no mention made of the real benefit for playing the enhanced version -- the Black Hole stage that starts the game was mentioned, but after finishing it you get double shots for the entire game, even if you die!

 

Finally, my go-to version when I'm home for this game nowadays is the Xbox 360 port of the game -- it's on the PlayStation network as well. Like the GBA collection, you can play it either original or enhanced mode, with upgraded graphics and music. Also, you can control it either with the gamepad or the thumbstick, which is really just a mini joystick anyway. I've made the trip to Earth to 'beat' the game numerous times as I really love this game, but I won't mention my high score so as not to make anyone feel bad. (For the record, there's no autofire option available for any version of the game, as far as I know.)

 

Can't wait to hear you talk about Time Pilot! Like Gyruss, this game also has a original and enhanced mode on Konami Arcade Classics, with the enhanced mode adding a extra stage to the game -- 1 Million BC where you fight teradacyls. And Time Pilot is also on XBox and PlayStation consoles in original and enhanced mode, the main bonus here being auto fire (which is a godsend for this game!)

Edited August 26, 2015 by SoulBlazer

[Chris++]

Auto-fire = cheating. C'mon, men -- re-strengthen those firing thumbs!

[SoulBlazer]

Auto-fire = cheating. C'mon, men -- re-strengthen those firing thumbs!

I'm a old man used to modern conviences like emulators and save states. I did my thumb exercises when I was younger.

[Chris++]

Great episode, as always. Whereas Donkey Kong was allegedly conceived by Shigeru Miyamoto, there's evidently a good chance that it was coded by an engineering firm called Ikegami Tsushinki, Ltd. This has never been incontrovertibly verified, but a lot of research done by others has led to that conclusion. In other words, I've read a lot about it online.

 

The inability of Donkey Kong, Jr.'s programmers to access the first game's code might have indicated that a team at Nintendo itself tackled the sequel, rather than the outside company. The Nintendo guys were clearly attempting to repeat the general formulas of the Donkey Kong screens, with the screen o' sparks being a conveyor-type reprise of the Cement Factory screen (heh heh heh), but the actual mechanics, especially the movement, are different enough to make it plausible that different teams programmed the two games.

 

And now, since you're known to be awesomely attentive to grammar, I think it would be interesting to hear you cats discuss the following matter of semantics. It's my contention that "killer app" -- i.e. "killer application" -- is not a term that applies to games. The designation of a program as an application was originally meant to differentiate it from a game program. Word is an application, for instance, whereas Space Invaders is not. The latter's VCS version might be known as a killer game to many, but it's not an "app," regardless of popular discourse. Whether you agree or disagree, your thoughts on the matter would be interesting to read / hear.

[Dauber]

Now, incremental Chris, I know Wikipedia is the Wal-Mart of reference sources, but *ahem*:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_application

 

[Chris++]

Yes, the official title is The Wiki Rumor Website. I'd say it's closer to being a thrift store full of dubious, recycled things than a crooked department-store chain.

 

So do you remember a time, perhaps during your Amiga days, when "application" meant something quite different from "game"? Or have I gotten the word's definition wrong from day one? While that's obviously possible, it doesn't seem likely, as it would mean that "application" has never been anything more than a synonym for "program."

[Dauber]

Actually, at least from my schooling, your last point isn't far from the truth. I know somewhere in my college days (and possibly my days as a grad student in software engineering) that an instructor said that an application is just a program.

 

But on my computer desk is a copy of the Wired Style guide, which I used during my days as a PR writer for a firm that dealt with high-tech clients:

"Short for application program and often shortened to app. Think of WordPerfect, Photoshop, or PowerPoint.

"Originally, the term referred to software programs that performed tasks for humans rather than tasks related to computer operations. That distinction has been blurred as Microsoft coded ever more functions right into the OS."

 

So you can see the folks at Wired aren't exactly very clear about it!

 

Now, here's their definition of "killer app":

 

"The Holy Grail of the digital age (and just as much of a cliché). The software application that breathes life into an underused technology. The first killer app -- Lotus 1-2-3 -- drove the nascent PC market, just as VisiCalc did for the Apple II. Since then, however, the term has become more fanfare than fact. The Newton was gonna be a killer app, and so was interactive TV. Then it was Sun's Java. The term has become so shopworn that funnyman Garry Trudeau and filmmaker Robert Altzman titled their Silicon Valley TV spoof Killer App."

 

But really, I think the definition of "application" in technology is kind of vague and ergo can apply to any executable program. If you're talking in terms of the Atari, well...it's a game console. The only thing you can use it for, really, is gaming (even though it was originally called "Video Computer System"). So if we think in those terms, then the only possible applications (at least for the console's main intention) really for the Atari 2600/VCS are games...save, of course, for "BASIC Programming."

[Chris++]

Fair points, all. Thanks for the thoughts on that.

[Cynicaster]

From the perspective of a non-computer-scientist and non-journalist, I've always viewed the use of "killer app" to describe Space Invaders on the Atari 2600 in the same way I view the word "flagship" as used to describe, say, the Corvette in Chevrolet's product line. In both cases, you have some existing words or phrases that describe a specific thing, then later, those words or phrases get abstracted and used as illustrative metaphors in other situations.

[Dauber]

Just a reminder...

There are eight ( 8 ) hours left to enter the Pie Factory Podcast Heretofore Unnamed Contest (wow, what an unfortunate acronym)!

Your job: e-mail us or private-message us with what you think our chosen theme for episode 13 is: what is the common theme between Gyruss and Donkey Kong Junior? We've had many entries, all of which were correct! In short, the prize package contains an AV-modded Atari 2600 "Vader" console, controllers, and a selection of Atari 2600 games that include -- but are NOT limited to! -- Atari 2600 conversions of every game that was ever a topic of a Pie Factory Podcast episode that had an Atari 2600 conversion released in the US!

E-mail piefactory@fab4it.com, PM Inky or me here, DM us via Twitter (piefactorypfp), or message us on Facebook!

Edited September 1, 2015 by Dauber

[SoulBlazer]

Wow, I spent all that time earlier typing up all that facts and info and how Gyruss and Time Pilot had the same creator, and you guys didn't even mention it at all!

 

I see how I rank.

 

Of course Gyruss and Time Pilot had some things in common with them -- they were made by the same guy. Those two games are my all time favorite arcade games, so of course I have a lot of love for them.

 

Great episode as always, though, guys, small nitpick aside.

 

Regarding the music for Donkey Kong Junior -- if I had remembered that it played some music in the intro scene for the game, I'm sure I would have made the connection to Gyruss and gotten the theme, as the music is recognizable even in that lower key scale. I just forgot that scene was there as none of the home version have it! They just go straight into gameplay. Not that I wanted to enter the contest, but I had been racking my brain for weeks trying to think about what they had in common and it's such a simple answer. But I hardly played DK Jr in the arcades, I've always been playing the home ports.

 

Finally, I'm calling it now -- Ms. Pac Man is better then Pac Man.