Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with video and games

Legend of Zelda in MIDI

kaozity — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 10:09:32 -0800

I need help to create the Legend of Zelda "get item" sound in MIDI I am working on a robot that is capable of creating MIDI songs and I want it to make the sound of when you get an item in the traditional legend of Zelda games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UeyKyAXJ9I&feature=player_embedded

I cannot find the notes or a MIDI guide, all I find are downloads and playback of the actual sound clip. Help please :-)

Which video game classics did I miss the last three years?

wolfr — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:05:31 -0800

I intend to make this weekend a gaming weekend. I haven't played video games in a long time. At least not as seriously as I used to. Do you have any suggestions? I have a brand new iMac and an Xbox 360. I do not have a copy of Windows on my Mac yet but could theoretically use Boot Camp to install Windows XP on a partition of the hard drive. So don't feel limited to Mac only games svp.

In the past my favorite games have been Baldurs Gate II, Arcanum, Battlefield 1942, Deus Ex and Tony Hawk II.

I was addicted to World of a Warcraft for a while. I like stories and character progression. I like games with original themes (e.g. Psychonauts).

It seems like the only games I've played the last year or two years have been: Grand Theft Auto IV, Bioshock, Fallout 3, Skate, Soul Calibur IV. All on the Xbox. All of them very casually, although I did end up finishing all except Bioshock (which was good, but not relaxing, with all the dark rooms and scary things).

I am downloading the free 2 week trial of Eve Online right now, but I'd rather not get crazy about an MMORPG anymore. While my time in the World of Warcraft was wonderful, the whole game remains a slot machine with a nice interface.

No racing and sports please with the exception of snowboard/skateboard.

Who has suggestions for me?

Using PC Monitor for Console Games?

flatluigi — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:45:39 -0800

How can I play console games through my computer monitor? I have a shabby old television that I use to play my Wii on. It occurred to me the other day that I have a much better monitor that I use for PC gaming and it would be pretty nice if I could set it up to play on that.

What do I need to get to do that? I'm aware of some hardware I can buy to play through my PC for recording purposes (such as a GameBridge), but that's unnecessary for what I need and I'd like to know of cheaper alternatives.

I just want to play UNIRACERS!

Bageena — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:20:30 -0800

Argh. I've installed the drivers, I've searched high and low online, nothing is helping, so I'm coming to ya'll: how can I get my Xbox 360 wireless controller (connected to my PC via the charge and play kit via a USB port) to work on my computer? Specifically, I want to play ROMs with it. ZSNES and project 64 are the two emulators I'm trying to puzzle out right now. I've installed the 360 drivers (I'm running a 64 bit copy of Windows Vista Home Premium), it shows up in my Device Manager under 'Microsoft Common Controller for Windows Class' as 'Xbox 360 Wireless Controller via Play & Charge Kit' and says it's there and fine.
HOWEVER... under Control Panel - Game Controllers, there's nothing. I open it up, there's no controllers on the list. I click advanced, I go to choose my preferred device, again - nothing. Not on the list. When I plug the controller in, the computer makes a noise and the light on the charge part of the controller shows it's plugged in, but the controller doesn't turn on (not sure if it's supposed to actually) and it certainly doesn't seem to be working with my ROMs.

Help Mefi, help! Pretty please?

Have the video game rights to film: now what?!

mushroom_tattoo — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:26:41 -0800

I have a chance to acquire the proprietary rights to make games based on a popular Asian action film. Can I make money off this opportunity? The film has not yet been released in North America, but has done well across Asia. Sequels are in the works. It has recently been picked up for UK release and there will certainly be a North American release sometime in the future. I myself have no connections in the film industry but I know a few people in the console games industry, and a few independent mobile games developers. I certainly don't have the kind of capital it would take to finance the game myself. Is it worth it to just sit on the rights until the film gets released? So before I take the plunge, let me ask the hive mind: how can I make money off this opportunity?

Your favorite obscure games

hpliferaft — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:18:40 -0800

What are your favorite obscure games? Video games, table-top, rpg books, or even family games;
obscure, slept-on, ephemeral; idiosyncratic;
I want to know more about them.

Why were they so fun? Why didn't they find a bigger audience?
Did they break new gaming ground?
Can they still be purchased (if that's applicable)?
Have they been replaced with modern versions?

Freeing my games of artifacts

flatluigi — Thu, 14 May 2009 08:20:49 -0800

Help! My games are being plagued with screen artifacts. In several of the games I've been playing (Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Hitman: Blood Money) after a few minutes of gameplay "glitches" appear on the screen. These glitches look like small patches of green and sometimes purple that appear on the world geometry and disappear after a few milliseconds. If I keep playing, the glitches appear more and more frequent until I can't stand to play any more.

Interestingly enough, Source games like TF2, L4D, HL2, and Portal don't seem to be affected at all.

My system:

Manufacturer: VIAK8T
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3800+, ~2.4GHz
Memory: 2046MB RAM
Hard Drive: 500 GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (6.1, Build 7000) (7000.winmain_win7beta.081212-1400)

Enough PC Power?

Frasermoo — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:12:20 -0800

Will I be able to run modern games on my PC? I have been given a P4 3.2GHz with Radeon 8000 graphics card, XP, 2Gb RAM. I have no idea what I can get away with playing and obviously I don't want to drop coin on games that won't run. I'm particularly interested in Fallout 3 and Crysis for starters whihc I know are right at the forefront of modern PC games.

It's mainly the graphics card that I have no clue about.

Am I whistling Dixie?

Jumpman? Who the F@&% is Jumpman!?!

SinisterPurpose — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:15:37 -0800

If you're old enough to remember NES and SEGA, What words do you think of when you reflect on your youthful gaming? I'm trying to collect a vocabulary of early gaming. What words do you associate with those early days of ooey gooey 8-bit goodness?

Search your memories for these words which will forever be ingrained into your gaming DNA. I very much appreciate the participation of all.

*No points for up up down down left left right right A B A B Select Start.*

BRAIN WANTS BIGGER

AlbatrossJones — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:56:39 -0800

I need a solid list of fun video games [esp. Xbox 360 and Wii] that will make (feel) smarter. For example: the game "Portal" absolutely stumped me at times and required me to literally contemplate -- but it was also fun. Half Life 2 had moments like that as well. I know games like Big Brain Academy and Brain Age should be viable answers to my question, but I think of them as kind of dubious as far as "smart" games go. Sure, they make you think, but in very inane, un-fun ways that are more helpful for warding off neurological laziness (with things like memorization and simple math) than it is in actually making you debate a solution with yourself.

If I have been too vague, I will gladly clarify in the comments.

Has there ever been video game characters in a theatre play ?

Baud — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 05:27:39 -0800

Has there ever been video game characters in a theatre play ? I'm nearing the completion of a stageplay. The characters are... characters of video games. Not copyrighted ones, I am not that stupid.

I am wondering : has another playwright gone down that road before ? Has there been video games (italian plumbers, etc.) in a theatre play ?

There has been video games adaptation for movies but on stage ?

(english is not my mother tongue so please forgive any mistakes I may have made).

Game Cube recommendations similar to Resident Evil 4

snap_dragon — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 12:17:43 -0800

I have a gamecube but the only game I have enjoyed immensely is Resident Evil 4. Didn't like the other Resident Evil games' controls and such. Any other games for the 'cube that you can recommend that are first person shooter, whether it be horror/sci-fi like Resiident Evil 4 or maybe a crime game? (Kinda over the WW2 games)...Man, I am a cynical gamecuber, ay...thanks for you thoughts and suggestions. I really appreciate it as I try to get as much use out of this cube as I can.

N64 controllers for emulators

scission — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:23:18 -0800

What's the best way to play N64 on your laptop? (Controllers question) I'm trying to buy my boyfriend two (or more) controllers for playing N64 emulators on his laptop. I believe he's running Mupen 64 Plus on Ubuntu, although he has a Windows partition that he could use if it's the best solution.

What's the best controller to get for N64 gaming, and how can I find out if it will work on his computer? He's definitely savvy enough to download drivers, etc. on his own, but I'd prefer something as simple as possible, since it's a gift!

I don't know anything about emulator peripherals, and I've only used Ubuntu for a couple months, so I feel way over my head in trying to sort through a lot of the forum results when I google this. Thanks in advance for your help! I've searched the archives, and it looked like it's fine if I ask about emulators and interoperability as long as I don't want anyone to help me find ROMs. Hope this question is okay.

What was this late 80s/early 90s computer game?

mingodingo — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:04:19 -0800

What was this late 80s/early 90s computer game? It involved traveling with sled dogs... This has bugged me for a while. Back in elementary school, during the late 80s or very early 90s, the computer lab had this game sort of like the Oregon Trail but not. In this game, you led a pack of sled dogs to travel along some trail. You chose a guide, chose your dogs, and occasionally had to stop along the way to let an injured dog heal or buy supplies.

I'd love to know what this game was, and if it's available anywhere as abandonware/freeware. All the Google searches I've tried have turned up something like Amazon Trail or Yukon Trail, which isn't it (no sled dogs). Anyway, not a huge deal, but I'd greatly appreciate some input if you have any idea what I'm talking about. Thanks!

Laptop games

LSK — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:30:21 -0800

Free/cheap video games for a laptop? I'm running an old Toshiba laptop with Windows XP and under a gig of RAM. I've been taking notes in-class lately on it, and I was wondering if anyone knew any lightweight video games I could download to play during downtime (between classes, obviously). Solitaire just isn't cutting it.

Yes, I've played Cave Story.

Casual vs. Avid vs. Hardcore

AlbatrossJones — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:33:30 -0800

What semi-objective criteria can I use to draw lines between a "casual" gamer, an "avid" gamer and a "hardcore gamer" ? (Extra points if it has varying degrees within each category) This may seem like a silly/arbitrary question, but it has become quite contentious in my group of friends. None of us own up to the idea of being a "hardcore" gamer--some describe themselves as "avid" or the even milder "casual."

I'm looking for factors (# of games owned, # of controllers owned, % of time spent playing, degree to which you care about winning vs. having a good time) that can reasonably (yes, reasonably) be used to assemble something of a graph or chart indicating the general traits of the above three types of gamer.

The reason I'm doing this on MeFi is because...well, I think the hive mind (gamers and non-gamers) could help give us a better, more commonly-held picture. Also, because my friends and I are all very biased and conceited people who don't want to confess the ugly truth.

Does anyone have any ways to improve their Soul Calibre 4 online performance?

chunking express — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:05:00 -0800

Does anyone have any ways to improve their Soul Calibre 4 online performance? I am playing it on the PS3 and notice that if I face anyone who has a connection rank lower then 5 the game is unplayable. Even for some people with a connection rank of 5 the game is just bearable. My internet is by no means slow, I can usually average a downstream of around 500kb and an upload at peaks at around 100.

(Asking for my brother.)

PSP Hack/Mod advice needed

Ponderance — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:13:00 -0800

I need advice with modding/hacking my PSP. I have info and have tried and failed. Help! Okay, so I have a PSP, the old one, not the slim one. And I have a kid and no money, therefore I was contemplating selling it as I can’t afford cames, and thought I wasn’t clever enough to explore the cool homebrew options.

Then, I saw this article

http://gizmodo.com/5034551/how-to-hack-your-psp-slim-for-homebrew-apps

I ordered the TOOL battery and followed this instructions up to the point where you install the battery and put the new OS on the machine. However, with the battery installed, the green power light shows power, but it doesn’t access the memory stick. What am I doing wrong.

Some clever hive minder has done this, and the various blogs that discuss these issues are written in gibberish. Please help!

If there are details I am not disclosing that are relevane and would help you give adivce, let me know and I’ll post them.

mid-range tv for video games

domakesaypat — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:50:01 -0800

Need help finding the right size/price for a tv I only need for videogames, and occasionally movies. Not looking to shell out, don't have a boner for graphics, don't have much space. What's the smallest size I could get by with? Any features I need to have, or shouldn't bother to pay extra for?

How do I price tag on my booty?

lou — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:45:08 -0800

Who sets how much old and collectible video games are worth? How do they know? (examples with Monkey Island inside) I wonder if the answer is somewhere along the lines of "they charge whatever people are willing to pay for it" but sellers don't act in a vacuum. There's got to be some feedback for whether a game is worth $50, or $100, or they wouldn't know what to put on the price tag.

I'm wondering, because I noticed that my Monkey Island games are worth a whole lot more than what I paid for them-- on Amazon, anyway. f you look at the listings for Monkey Island Madness even the *CD itself* is "worth" just over $50. But is this just a case of sellers trying to gouge unsuspecting buyers, or a case of three clueless sellers following the lead of one unscrupulous one, or are people actually paying that much?? If I look on eBay, there's only one completed listing for this game and it didn't sell (granted they tried to sell it for $60)-- but the lack of postings don't look like there's really a huge market for them.

Similarly: why is the original Curse of Monkey Island just under $30 while the re-release is nearly $100? I thought originals were worth more than re-release copies? (I have the original one.) Again, are people actually paying $100 for this?

...and Monkey Island 2 for $85? I also have this! And the price, like all the rest, looks too good to be true!

Which all brings me to the generic question, for future reference: Is there a kind of "blue book" or price guide somewhere for old computer games/video games? Realistically, what is the best way to put a price tag on what my old games are really worth?

Video Game of Europe?

fantasticninety — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 14:17:25 -0800

Is there a car racing video game that realistically depicts european cities? I really like car racing games and I really like european cities. So I was wondering if anyone knew of a game that allowed you to drive through a lot of european cities to get a realistic view of some of the main parts of the city?

I know I could just use explore the cities using google maps, but it's not really that fluid.

I found one myself – European Street Racing.

Who writes videogames? (not in the programming sense)

Ndwright — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 06:12:45 -0800

Who writes videogames? Something I've wondered for a while, who writes videogames? Not in the programming sense, but dialogue, storyline, etc. Who is employed to write whatever the videogame equivalent is for the screenplay?

Also, why does the writing tend to be so bad?

Game Over: When There's No Joy Left in Your Schtick

aftermarketradio — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 06:15:51 -0800

Blue Gamer Needs Help Badly: Please Deposit 2 Cents I have been into video games for as long as I can remember, but for the past year or so I have been completely disinterested in them. And this upsets me. I don’t want to talk about myself too much, but let me give you some highlights of how video games have affected my life, so you get a better picture of what I’m talking about:

- I’ve competed in and won several video game competitions over the years, some national.

- I’ve written articles for video game magazines, attended E3 as press, and done work for EGM. I’ve written college essays on various aspects of the video game industry.

- I’ve initially started learning Japanese just so I could play my 200-hundred-disc Sega Saturn import collection.

- I’ve been a video game history consultant for a number of projects.

Again, I’m not trying to brag. I am trying to show you that I was more than an avid fan; I have intentionally led a life that would eventually have me working in the video game industry to some capacity. But recently I’ve turned down a position working for a major video game publication, I’ve just given away my Nintendo Wii with three unopened games, and I haven’t played anything in half a year. I feel like a parent who’s stopped loving his own child.

I’m reluctant to chock this up to just “growing up” because I’ve always wanted video games to be a part of my adulthood. Has anyone had similar experiences? Is the state of the video game industry the cause of my ennui? Is loss of interest in my biggest hobby and life goal indicative of a larger problem?

I'm looking for help compiling a top 20 "must play" list of essential videogames.

monkeyagent — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:10:31 -0800

I'm looking for help compiling a top 20 "must play" list of essential videogames. I have a friend (female, if it matters) who wants to actively get into gaming (has no previous experience with the medium short of the original Sonic/Mario games and Guitar Hero) and has asked me to pick out some games that would "catch them up", so to speak. The idea around the games on the list is that they will be representative of their particular genre and will be indispensable experiences for any self-respecting gaming nerd. I'm asking for help on this because my list, I think, has a bit too much bias (lots of Blizzard, Nintendo, and indie games) for such a concise list.

The games on the list can include anything from early consoles, to PCs, to portable, to even flash and everything in between (Although I would like to avoid pinball/arcade cabinets, unless you feel they are extremely necessary). Please list the platform along with the software. Offer as many suggestions as you like, but please consider them carefully.

Advice for most "authentic" controllers for Microsoft Flight Simulator X

monkeyagent — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 12:51:35 -0800

I want to get my father "Microsoft Flight Simulator X" for Christmas and would like advice for which controllers (wheels, yokes, pedals, etc.) to buy for it. I don't know anything about flight controls or flight sims, but I'd like to get him the most authentic setup possbile. I'd like to hear what is typically considered a good set up for a cost of up to about $200 or so (excluding the cost of the game itself). His aeronautic interests are primarily in prop planes, but other configurations would work as well (jets, etc.)