Odds & Ends

Posted on February 26, 2007 by Multimedia Mike

While my study of digital multimedia has often centered on video games, sometimes I have picked up CD-ROMs that are not strictly games in the technical sense (generally meaning that they have no clearly defined goal). I thought that I would make a post about a number of such titles that I have encountered recently.

One is Magic: An Insider’s View. This disc is an educational journey through magic illusions hosted by Harry Anderson, star of the old sitcom “Night Court”.

Magic: An Insider's View hosted by Harry Anderson

The disc features multimedia instruction on a range of tricks as well as historical tidbits about the craft.

Two other non-game multimedia CD-ROMs I have are Crayola-licensed titles created by IBM: Crayola Vehicle Voyages, which came in a bundle of “Games For Boys”, and Crayola Magic Princess Paper Doll Maker, in the analogous “Games For Girls” bundle. These truly are just crayon drawing activities transposed onto the computer monitor. Here is a screenshot from the Vehicle Voyages title:

I could not find any gaming elements to qualify it for entry into MobyGames.

Then there are 3 storybook titles. At first blush, these sound like they would be little different than cartoon videotapes. However, according to the instruction book for one title, it is possible to interact with various hotspots on storybook pages which might qualify it for inclusion. I’ll know more when I can actually get the games to run. The first is called Little Samurai published under the banner of “Magic Tales: Stories That Magically Come To Life.” Unfortunately, it absolutely, positively requires an 8-bit video mode which my video card simply won’t provide (16-bit is the lowest it offers):

Little Samurai needs no more than 8 bits

The other 2 books are marketed as “Living Books” and the stories are “Mark Schlichting’s Harry And The Haunted House” and “The Tortoise And The Hare.” They suffer from a similar problem:

I tried to get them to work under Windows 95/VMware but ran into the old audio driver issue, namely the fact that I haven’t figured out how to install one yet on the VMware image.

All 3 titles seem to use some interesting multimedia resource files. Even though one title is published by a different house than the other two, the file formats between them seem to bear some resemblances.

Little Caesars Fractions Pizza

Posted on February 25, 2007 by Multimedia Mike

You might think that fast food marketing tie-in video games couldn’t get anymore absurd than the Taco Bell Tek Kids Flash-Ops games, or perhaps the Burger King Xbox/360 trio of games. But try this on for size: A Little Caesars Pizza-based game for the purpose of teaching fractions. Perhaps even stranger, though, is the fact that the sleeve in which Little Caesars Fractions Pizza is packaged actually labels it as a demo disc. My suspicion is that this demo was given away free with pizzas during some promotional period and the full version was available from Panasonic’s PanaKids division. The only record of the full version that I can find is this cover art picture.

Little Caesars Fractions Pizza -- Main Menu

The above depicts the main menu of the game. It’s sort of a futuristic pizza service operated by dinosaurs. Just work with it. You are enlisted as a new hire after a brief screening process where you demonstrate that you can identify which pizza out of a selection of four represents 5/8 of a pizza. The staff informs you that you have a lot of pizza to deliver to various time periods. However, in this demo, you only have access to the Triassic Park period. So you accept this assignment. When you arrive in your time machine to deliver the Hot-N-Ready food items (Little Caesars trademark marketing campaign), the cavepeople see fit to give you a brief education about fractional equivalence. You would be content to just collect your tip and move on to the next time period, but no. The cavepeople spell it out for you with rap.

And just for that, I have finally seen fit to post actual music on this blog:

Little Caesars Fractions Pizza — Caveman Pizza Fractions Rap, 1.23 MB, MPEG-4 AAC (.m4a) file

In fact, there are many fully-produced songs on this CD in redbook CD audio format.

After the rap, many of the cavemen disband, presumably to enjoy pizza. One early specimen of a woman remains behind to school me, man from the future, about fractions. In the process, she makes me work for my tip. In the following game, she gives you a goal such as “less than 3 and 5/6”. Then, a number of creatures walk, crawl, and fly through the screen holding fractions. You must use your slingshot to hit the fractions that match up with the given spec. The things a pizza delivery boy will do for a living.

Little Caesars Fractions Pizza -- Triassic Park Fractions Game

Back at base, there is also an arcade game that you can play using your tip money. It’s called Tails and it’s a Nibbles-type game. The game gives you a mission to collect the fractions that are equal, less than, or greater than a given fraction. Hit a fraction that doesn’t match up, or a barrier, or your tail, and lose a snake. When you consume a qualified fraction, your tail grows.

Little Caesars Fractions Pizza -- Tails Game

A curious facet of this variation is the addition of the scissors icon. I haven’t seen anything similar in other Nibbles-type games. The scissors cut your tail in half.

Here are some of the pizzas I was assigned to deliver in the game:

cheese, cheese, and extra cheese pizza
pineapple and mosquito pizza
popcorn and jellybeans pizza

Did Little Caesars sign off on this game? I can’t say I was exactly hungry for pizza, especially after the mosquito mention. Or maybe that’s actually part of their menu; I don’t know. The last time I remember having Little Caesars was in 1996 which predates the copyright on this game by 2 years.

Another curious feature is the janitor’s closet off the main menu which leads to the parents’ and teachers’ access control. It’s password protected. No worries since one of the dinosaurs pops up to tell you that the password is ‘access’. The control panel allows configuration of certain gameplay options and allows account management. I’m surprised it didn’t also allow changing the password. Perhaps that’s in the full version.

Got Me A PS2

Posted on February 24, 2007 by Multimedia Mike

I got a brand new PlayStation 2 yesterday and just finished hooking it up. This is the first Sony gaming console I have ever owned. Indeed, it may be the first time I have ever touched a PlayStation console at all.

I have the slim one on the left

You know what this likely means: I can now accumulate all manner of obscure PS1/PS2 titles from the last 12 years. This GP experiment could well continue for a long time.

I had never planned to get any PlayStation console, although I do possess a smattering of PlayStation 1 & 2 games collected for the purposes of multimedia study. My impetus for this purchase was that I wanted a new standalone DVD player to replace one that I don’t like very much (also made by Sony). A friend recommended that I just go ahead and get a slim PS2 so that I can also play the used copy of the legendary PS1 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night game that I happen to own, and that he thinks I should rightfully experience in its full glory. So I got the console and the DVD remote accessory. I have heard tales that the original PS2 was not a good DVD player but the slim PS2 was markedly improved. Fortunately, I’m not the type who can discern variance in video quality very well and I’m quite happy with the DVD playback thus far. All the annoyances of the old standalone unit seem to have vanished.

And I’m pleased to report that Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is incredible; at least the early levels that I got to play operate like a super-duper NES remake of the classic Castlevania stages.

I actually bought this system new, which is quite uncharacteristic of me. It got me to thinking of the other consoles I have purchased, and when was the last time a purchased a new console. I have never exactly been on the cutting edge. My first console was the NES Action Set (with Zapper gun) in 1989… purchased new on March 11, but who’s keeping score? Next console was a Super Nintendo, purchased used in August, 1997. Next was a Sega Saturn, purchased in early 1999 well after they had been discontinued. It’s a blur, but I might have actually gotten this one new, though very cheap. Next was a Sega Dreamcast in April, 2001. These had been discontinued at the time but I heard that they were easily programmable which was my primary reason for purchasing one. However, the Sega Dreamcast (and Resident Evil: Code: Veronica) got me back into casual video gaming. I can’t remember exactly when I picked up a Nintendo GameCube but I know it was used (not much cheaper than new at the time, but it was the principle). My latest acquisition before the PS2 was an old Sega Genesis pawned off on me by a coworker.

There’s a first time for everything. Who knows? Perhaps one day, I will think of a reason to pick up a used Microsoft console.

See Also:

At MobyGames:

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Curious George Learns Phonics

Posted on February 24, 2007 by Multimedia Mike

I’m still going full speed with the educational games, which is good because I feel that one should never stop learning. I wanted to see what that mischevious monkey Curious George had to teach, and how he would go about it. Somehow, I always feel a little bit of relief when I’m able to solve these kindergarten puzzles, even if I make a few mistakes along the way (as I did today).

The game, as you might be able to guess by now since it’s a common pattern in educational games, is comprised of a series of activities and minigames. The action takes place in a circus and the player chooses from among the activities in the big tent. At least one of the activities takes place outside the big tent and pertains to custodial duty and business discipline. It’s also likely to be the most familiar to gamers since it somewhat resembles a traditional Pac-Man game. It’s called Peanut Pickup:

The setup for this minigame is that the peanut vendors are being sloppy with their merchandise. George and his elephant patrol the grounds and pick up the loose nuts. Further, there is a letter on the big tent. Each vendor is carrying a picture as they walk the circus. Capture the vendor that is carrying a picture whose word starts with the same letter as on the big tent. In the above example, that would be the one toting the box picture. This minigame is actually a marginal departure from the usual Pac-Man paradigm in that, of the moving objects that are also on the board (the metaphorical ghosts), two are the hunters and one is the hunted. At least, you’re dinged for catching up to a vendor whose picture does not match up right.

And so it goes with many of the other five activities. I learned from writing up the MobyGames description that these simple activities seem to take a lot of words to describe precisely. For example, another minigame called Animal Acrobats has 3 animals trot out carrying pictures. Then a banner with a picture slides overhead. You must click on the animal who is carrying the picture whose word rhymes with the word represented by the picture on the banner. Like nail and sail. Or, in another variation, you have to select the animal carrying the picture whose word begins with the same sound as the word whose pictures is represented on the overhead banner. If you get it right, the animal (bear, giraffe, elephant, etc.) jumps on a trampoline and somersaults forward; otherwise, they do a backflip. When you have completed several of these, you get to watch a sequence of the animals perfoming for the big crowd.

When it’s time to exit the game, you are awarded a certificate itemizing your academic performance:

Curious George -- My Certificate of Achievement

I didn’t print this out, though I had the option. Perhaps I can do better if I tried a little harder.

Disney’s Hades Challenge

Posted on February 23, 2007 by Multimedia Mike

I don’t mind telling you that I’m excited about tonight’s game, Disney’s Hades Challenge, and for two main reasons: because Disney’s 1997 Hercules movie remains my all-time favorite animated Disney movie, and because their first Hercules-based computer game was also very good. That title was a pure action game featuring the hero himself. This game takes a different approach and bills itself as an adventure/strategy game and the star is you. It seems that Hades and other monsters are menacing the lands again and Hercules is busy with some other stuff. So Zeus enlists your help and sends you over to Philoctetes, a.k.a. Phil, who was voiced by Danny DeVito in the movie. It sounds like DeVito in this game as well but his name does not show up in the credits (though James Woods lends his original voice talent as Hades).

Phil gets you going on your first quest: To do something about the Minotaur that is ravaging the island of Crete. So I get in the boat I am issued — which is none other than the legendary Argo, you know, the one from Jason and the Argonauts — and head over to Crete to scope out the situation. Things are weird over there. When you first get to the island, you can see that the Minotaur is indeed causing chaos with impunity. So you need to go visit Daedalus. Thing is, the king is holding out on you and won’t let you see him until you bring him the gift of a new centerpiece for his table:

So you return to the dock in search of a statue that would make a suitable centerpiece for such a snobbish, slothful monarch. Where am I supposed to find a statue? Fortuitously, a statue peddler appears with a set of four statues and says that they’re all free today and that the king would love them. One by one, I bring them to the king with the peddler’s highest recommendation.

Every time, King Minos rejects the statue. I thought it was exceptionally odd and convenient that this statue hustler showed up when he did, and that his free merchandise didn’t seem to do the trick. Somehow, he reminded me of Pain and Panic, Hades’ pair of sniveling little hench-demons. I was warned to watch out for these two and that they would be working to thwart me. If that was their mission, they did a remarkable job the first time out since when I ran out of statues, the game threw this assertion dialog:

A lot of information there. For a lesser game, I would have called it quits at this point. But this game has piqued my interest. Besides, I wanted to see if the bug was reproducible. It was not. However, going in and out of the king’s chambers, I couldn’t help but notice that he has a certain infatuation with bulls. Eventually, I noticed the little bull statue to the right of the peddler. He was trying to distract me and when I took the statue to Minos, Hades showed up to adminstratively reprimand his underlings as Hades is wont to do. Turns out I was right about the statue guy.

So the king grants me the honor of speaking with Daedalus, the ostensible Greek with a thick French accent. He is making progress on the maze which will trap the man-bull but needs some supplies, including bricks, wood, straw, and stone. These are scattered about the various isles. The closest item, wood, is stored in a boat docked right here in Crete. Let’s review the heroic acts thus far:

delivering a horned statue to a royal prick
breaking & entering
grand theft lumber

To get at the wood, you have to solve this puzzle:

It’s a good thing I have a working knowledge of Greek letters; I wouldn’t have had any clue on this one otherwise. Can you see the solution?

I was bracing myself for more puzzles — and probably even a sliding tile puzzle — on the other islands before procuring the other needed materials. But no, the junk was just laying around on the shores when I sailed in. Though that wasn’t a surprise in war-ravaged Troy where I simply had to scavenge some bricks.

So you take these pieces back to Daedalus and he is able to construct a number of walls. However, when it comes time to trap the Minotaur, Daedalus enlists your help once more to rotate various walls in order to trap the creature. It’s an interesting puzzle:

Other notes I made during the course of my brief playing:

The ‘wait’ mouse icon when the program is busy with an animation (such an icon is traditionally represented as a watch or hourglass) is a sundial.
Hades appears after a quest with some Olympian god quiz and other mythological trivia. Statues of various gods and goddesses are littered across the land. Click on them to hear what they specialize in. It’s useful knowledge for these situations.
Appears to be a Smacker-assisted game. Smacker is used for pure audio in many cases.
Hot spots are very hard to find sometimes. You wind up just methodically scanning the screen (a.k.a. pixel hunting) waiting for the mouse cursor to change. It makes you long for another puzzle with a concrete goal.
The credits are extremely long for what doesn’t appear to be a very involved game, but perhaps I oversimplify. Maybe there are a lot of people to validate that everything about the game conforms to official Disney standards.

BTW, this game definitely goes on the list of games to revisit one day. Much fun, silly though it may be.

Moving Quickly

Posted on February 22, 2007 by Multimedia Mike

MobyGames is approving my new entries almost as quickly as I can submit them. Here are the latest 5 entries:

Creatures Adventures
Garfield’s Mad About Cats
Safari Kongo (that’s right! you don’t actually have to be able to play a game to get it submitted)
Speedy Eggbert
Spy Kids Learning Adventures: Mission: The Underground Affair

Gaming Pathology

Piles Of Games, Copious Free Time, No Standards

Author: Multimedia Mike