Housebreaking! Computers and Games

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HiraokaNettoMichio
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Joined: Sat Jul 29, 2023 11:58 pm

Housebreaking! Computers and Games

Post by HiraokaNettoMichio »

Greetings, I am Hiraoka Michio and this series that I'll be working on shall be known as "Housebreaking! Computers and Games."

What exactly is this series regarding computers, games, and everything regarding those things? Well, it's a passion I had ever since I was very little. This year, I have obtained a Raspberry Pi 400 and although it took some getting used to, this microcomputer along with a plethora of games, programs, accessories, magazines and more will make me feel right at home on the Raspberry Pi.

This will mainly be a review series, but also go over the various details surrounding my passion of computers and games. Such as what's going to be the maiden voyage of this series "The Video Game Crash of 1983" or "Atari Shock" as it's known in Japan.

As for how I'm going to rate the reviews? Through a letter grade. The grades (from highest to lowest) are Z P S A B C D E F. Z being the highest, F being the lowest, while E is a passing failure.

(As for P being one of the highest? Have you even got a P Rank in Pizza Tower, or at least witnessed a P Rank?)

A Plus or Minus rounds the grade higher and lower respectively. you can't get any higher than a Z, and you can't get any lower than a F. Also, Zs and Fs can't be rounded with pluses and minuses. Again, Z is the highest possible rank as (Nigh) Perfection, and F is the lowest possible rank as (Outright) failure.

In any case, I hope this series will be a (retro)computing and (retro)gaming fanzine for the official Housepets! Forums. I just wanted to make this thread to call dibs to the thread's name.

Regardless, I hope to see you here, ready to take off on said maiden voyage. (I have plenty to say regarding the likes of the Atari Shock.)
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Harry Johnathan
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Re: Housebreaking! Computers and Games

Post by Harry Johnathan »

Fascinating. I’ve always been interested in the history of computers. I know absolutely nothing about how to program or repair old electronics, but I do enjoy their aesthetic and studying the behind-the-scenes chaos at companies like Atari, IBM or Commodore.
Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But [The LORD] said, “Yes, you did laugh.” - Genesis 18:15 (NIV).
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Housebreaking! Computers and Games

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

I will be on the look out for when this series is up and running! I look forward to seeing what you have planned for each review!
HiraokaNettoMichio
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Re: Housebreaking! Computers and Games

Post by HiraokaNettoMichio »

Greetings, my name is Hiraoka Michio. And this is “Housebreaking Computers and Games.” Our maiden voyage involves “The North American Video Game Crash of 1983” or “Atari Shock” as it’s known in Japan.

Since politics have infiltrated games, music, books, movies, shows and more, I figured that the Atari Shock is perfect for the first entry.

It is a tale as old as time about how corruption and greed crashed the market. Atari had the genius idea where you use interchangeable cartridges instead of one set game for every system. The Atari VCS/Atari 2600 have sold well…

But Atari got cocky and with their bad business practices single handily crashed the North American Video Game Industry along with those who see video games as a get rich quick scheme.

I can name several things that lead to the crash. Atari right out refused to give their developers any credit for their work, which lead several of their top programmers to leave the abusive company, thus forming Activision. (Yes, The same Activision.)

After Activision started making games for the 2600, Atari tried to take them to court. Atari lost as third party game developers are legally allowed. Hence everyone trying to get that high score profit after third parties were legal, which opened the floodgates to garbage.

Also, there were too many systems to choose from, computers were giving the game systems a run for their money, and too many games were pouring in as there were no means to tell what games are good and what games are bad.

The Atari 2600 had no means of locking out developers. You heard of the Nintendo Seal of Quality? There’s a reason why Nintendo invented the Lock-out chip.

And so, Atari were saving up some silver bullets… Which will blow up in their face.

Silver Bullet #1, Pac-Man for Atari 2600. The game is nothing like the arcades, it was slow, it was ugly, and even though I admit having it as a guilty pleasure, it’s not good at all. Atari made twelve million Pac-Man cartridges thinking the name is enough to add 2 million Atari systems to the 10 million that are sold and used.

Of course people got burned by the bad game. And Atari haven’t even used their second Silver Bullet.

Silver Bullet #2: ET the Extra Terrestrial. Howard Scott Worshaw was given the project with a disastrous Six Weeks to make the game. He did what he could within the time limit, but “once bitten, twice shy” is what comes to mind.

People were fed up with the flood of shovel-ware, and after ET bombed, Atari lost a lot of money. They were bought out by Commodore’s Jack Tramell and the unsold inventory have been buried in a new mexico landfill.

People had enough of the video games, and it took Nintendo disciplining the market by having strict standards and some powerful marketing to bring video games back in the fray.

You’re only allowed Five Games a year, Nintendo will make the carts that the game runs on the system, you must make your games follow the strict standards and you cannot publish to other systems until a set amount of time passed.

Why were Nintendo so strict with the censorship? I can name several Atari 2600 games that are not safe for the forums. So I won’t name those games. Let’s just say that those games are… Degenerate.

Nintendo’s strict standards allowed the market to get that much needed discipline so the likes of Sega, Sony, and Microsoft would join the fray later. That is for another time but I think you got the idea of the crash in a nutshell.

If you treat employees like garbage, they will be apathetic to their work, which will lead to the bad games, scummy business practices and another crash. Though in my honest opinion, we’re heading into yet another crash, but the customer have the power. Voting with your wallet will be necessary as there are around 40 years of old games to play.

As for me? I’m just glad I have my Raspberry Pi to play many games with, and to write these posts.

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to hear me out. Now if you excuse me, I have some games to play for review.
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Housebreaking! Computers and Games

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

I found that all to be very informative and covered everything about the topic fully! I enjoyed reading through it and found it to be really awesome! You did a very wonderful job on the premiere of this and I can't wait for episode 2!
HiraokaNettoMichio
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Re: Housebreaking! Computers and Games

Post by HiraokaNettoMichio »

Amazee Dayzee wrote: Mon Aug 07, 2023 12:11 am I found that all to be very informative and covered everything about the topic fully! I enjoyed reading through it and found it to be really awesome! You did a very wonderful job on the premiere of this and I can't wait for episode 2!
Glad you like it Dayzee. At least it'll be something to do as I work on this project.
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Housebreaking! Computers and Games

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

I full expect episode 2 to be just as nice and informative as the first episode you put up! I will be looking forward to it!
HiraokaNettoMichio
Posts: 127
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Re: Housebreaking! Computers and Games

Post by HiraokaNettoMichio »

Amazee Dayzee wrote: Mon Aug 07, 2023 10:00 am I full expect episode 2 to be just as nice and informative as the first episode you put up! I will be looking forward to it!
Well, episode 2 would be a game review. I just need to knuckle down and play it to form my opinions on the games.
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Housebreaking! Computers and Games

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

I take it that you have a problem with procrastinating a lot then? I think we all can sympathize with that. But do not worry, we can all wait for you and will be ready to read the next episode when its ready! :D
HiraokaNettoMichio
Posts: 127
Joined: Sat Jul 29, 2023 11:58 pm

Re: Housebreaking! Computers and Games

Post by HiraokaNettoMichio »

Sorry if I haven't updated in quite a while, but at least I got the one proper post that is meaningful to me.
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