nostalgia posts

Filed under: Gaming, Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition out on iPhone

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jul 23rd, 2009

That was fast -- LucasArts has released the Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition out to the iPhone, and it's available on the App Store right now for the low price of $7.99. I say low because even though that's higher than many games for the platform, this one is not only one of the best-loved games of yesteryear, but it has also had its graphics completely redone, voiceover added for every scene and character, and a completely remastered musical score as well. Plus, if you get nostalgic for the old version, you can seamlessly switch between the new and old at any time while you play the game. Pretty darn cool.

Plus, the price can also be considered low because this exact same game released just about a week ago on the Xbox Live Arcade for $10. So not only do you now get to play it in a portable version, you get to play it for $2 less. Hopefully this is the first of many LucasArts classics that we'll see on the iPhone. Just keep an eye out as you play for any really evil-looking doorstops -- we hear they're quite fearsome.

Tags: adventure, app, graphics, iphone, ipod touch, IpodTouch, lucasarts, nostalgia, prices, remake, secret-of-monkey-island, special-edition, voiceover, walk-to, xbox-live

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Humor, Peripherals, Apple, Mac mini, MacBook, Mac Pro

Goodbye, FireWire 400

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Mar 4th, 2009

As Macworld notes, this is it for the ol' Firewire 400. With the introduction of the new Mac mini the other day and the refresh of the Mac Pro and iMac lines, the old version of Firewire is left only on the white MacBook. It's evolution at its finest, and our good friend Nilay Patel over at Engadget put together this perfect video showing just how hard it is to say goodbye to yesterday.

As I said on the Talkcast a long time ago when this was first hinted at, it's not a huge loss in my eyes. This is an outdated standard, and if you've got anything sitting around that absolutely requires a FireWire 400 port (and you've already upgraded completely to a computer that doesn't have one), then it's time for an upgrade. Those happen, you know -- there's a reason they're not selling Polaroid film any more. Besides, FW800 ports can easily drive your FW400 gear with a $8 cable.

Nostalgia, however, is a powerful force. So it's with a damp hankerchief and wet eyes that some of us will bid farewell to FireWire 400. Long live FireWire 800!

Tags: apple, firewire, firewire-400, mac-mini, nostalgia, photography, ports, upgrades, white-macbook

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Software, Deals, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Slotz Racer now in the App Store

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jan 18th, 2009

Freeverse Games has released their latest iPhone title, Slotz Racer, and it looks like a good one (I've been having a good time lately with their bowling game as well). Despite the name, it's not another tilt-to-turn racer -- this one has you playing slot cars instead of real cars, those little cars and tracks that you got for a birthday once when you were a kid but have never actually had the patience to set up since. The game features a "unique" control system that even allows up to four people to play on one iPhone at a time, and the big draw here is a track editor -- for a 99 cent introductory price (headed up to $2.99 in 72 hours, we're told), you can assemble as many tracks as you like, and you don't even have to buy any those gigantic boxes from KB Toys.

Looks like fun. Freeverse is only publishing here -- the game is developed by a company named Strange Flavour and they've put a nice manual together, along with plenty of tips and tricks to try out. The game is available in the App Store right now for 99 cents, but as we said, the price is heading up to $3 soon (which is still cheap, really, but if you're interested in the game, you might as well save two bucks now). Maybe this is your big chance to finally live your old slot car racing dreams out virtually on your iPhone or iPod touch.

Tags: app-store, control-system, freeverse-games, iphone, ipod-touch, kb-toys, multiplayer, nostalgia, slot-cars, slotz-racer, strange-flavour

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, Apple

30 years of Apple in three minutes

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Dec 16th, 2008

Megan's great roundup of Apple history from the other day wasn't enough nostalgia for you? It should have been -- wow there was a lot of old Apple stuff in there. But just in case your itch for the days of Apple yore isn't yet scratched, here's a great little video compilation of every Apple product from the last thirty years, squished into three minutes and set to Fiona Apple's cover of "Across the Universe."

The IIe! The PowerCD! The QuickTake! And even those early notebooks, which look so blocky today, were impressive in their time. Unfortunately, this video won't tell you much about what these products all were, but just the sight of some of these old units is enough to make the memories come flooding back for us old Apple fans. The iPhone and the iPod are so much hipper, it seems, compared to the units of Apple's past -- you think we'll ever look back with such nostalgia on the first touchscreens we got? A product like the Newton was so charming because it was so quirky, but the iPhone is sleek, popular, and impressive. Do you think future generations will look back at today's Apple products with the same fondness?

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Tags: apple, apple-history, apple-iie, history, ipod, newton, nostalgia, power-cd, video

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Odds and ends, Freeware, iPhone

Adventure released for the iPhone

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Nov 19th, 2008

Part of me just wants to post this screenshot, link this app, and say "go get it," but I have a feeling that my blogging overlords here would think I was just being lazy -- they might not understand that this is a screenshot from Adventure, which is available for free on the iPhone. Anyone who ever played an Atari 2600 and owns an iPhone won't need any more explanation than that to install this.

But I don't want to be seen as lazy (any more than I already am), and so I'll also say that Adventure basically pioneered the action-adventure genre of games, and that though its art is spare and its noises are little more than bleeps and bloops, both are classic and coated with pure nostalgia. While Adventure is currently controlled on the iPhone with tilt controls, its designer will add touch controls as well in the future.

Other than that: go get it. It's free.

Tags: adventure, atari-2600, awesome, beeeeeep, beep, boop, download, dragon, free, key, nostalgia, sword

Viva System 7

by Damien Barrett (RSS feed) on Mar 16th, 2006

The first Mac I bought (though I'd been using them since the LC days) was a PowerMac 7100/66 in 1994, and it was my dream. I even paid extra for the GeoPort modem (remember those gnarly beasties). It shipped with a special version of System 7 (v7.1.2) that was optimized for the new PPC chips to which Apple had just transitioned. And wow, was I happy with the speed and stability of System 7 on my new 7100. Believe it or not, it was actually possible to have a stable System 7 working environment--I did for years. Myst on this baby was one of the first truly surreal experiences I'd ever had with a computer.

I haven't actively used System 7 since I got rid of my PowerBook 100 back in 1998 but was pleased to find that some people are still championing this breakthrough OS. Dan Palka is a student at Bradley University and has set up a hobbyist site called System 7 Today, and maintains a fairly complete list of tips, tools, and tricks you can use to tweak out your System 7-equipped Mac.

And, who knew you can still order a boxed copy of System 7.6 from Apple? Go figure!

Tags: legacy, nostalgia, system 7

Filed under: Odds and ends

A Brief History of ClarisWorks

by Damien Barrett (RSS feed) on Mar 6th, 2006

Ah, ClarisWorks...the first software I truly admired. One of the developers of ClarisWorks, Bob Hearn, recounts the history of the software as it developed from an independent title into the productivity package that so many of us used on our early Macs.

I still admire the way "frames" worked in ClarisWorks/AppleWorks and know of several people who continue to rely on this feature every day to get their work done. The simplicity of being able to move objects (for example, a spreadsheet, a table, or a graphic) around between the different components of ClarisWorks was a model I wish many other programs had.

Tags: Appleworks, ClarisWorks, history, nostalgia

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