There has been much media and online 2.0 hysteria about the recent outbreak of the dangerous H1N1 strain of Swine Influenza, a.k.a. “Mexican Swine Flu”. It’s important though that we all sty calm. H1N1 swine ‘flu is still just a snoutbreak, a minor hamergency the health services can contain for now.
(more...)Markus has released an updated version of the open source Amstrad CPC emulator package, JavaCPC. JavaCPC powers the Amstrad CPC Online Arcade at one of my other websites, girv dot net. I helped a little with this release by converting the TZX2WAV utility (by Francisco Javier Crespo) from C to Java and integrating it with the JavaCPC sources.
(more...)A new version of MiguelSky’s CPCGamesCD has just been released. CPCGamesCD is a freely downloadable CD containing Amstrad CPC emulators and games, operated from an easy to use user interface.
(more...)Googling myself is something I do from time to time and, from time to time, it turns up a surprise. This time, the surprise turned up was that one of the search results was a link to a Times Online article that mentions my earlier post, “25 Random Things About Me”.
(more...)This weekend saw the return of the highest rated comedy show in BBC history. Space based cult sitcom Red Dwarf returned to UK screens after a nine year hiatus, not on the BBC as before, but on satellite channel Dave which has resurrected the show for a three part special, Red Dwarf: Back To Earth.
When we last saw the Boys From The ‘Dwarf back in 1999, they were in trouble. Red Dwarf itself was being consumed by metal eating space bacteria and on the verge of breaking apart. The crew had abandoned ship, our heroes Lister, Cat, Kryten and Kochanski had fled to a mirror universe leaving Rimmer trapped on the burning mothership with the Grim Reaper and a vending machine with a bad attitude.
How did they get out of that one?
(more...)Originally written by Rupert Goodwin, I first read this excellent ode in an issue of The Home Computer Course back in the 1980′s. The C programming language is just as popular today as it was back then, and this poem is just as funny too.
(more...)Over at CPC-Live, Markus has released an updated version of the JavaCPC open source Amstrad CPC emulator package. JavaCPC powers the Amstrad CPC Online Arcade at one of my other websites, girv dot net.
Version 6.2 of JavaCPC brings the following changes:
For more details, see the official release notice or download JavaCPC from SourceForge.
John Girvin is a software engineer, sci-fi buff, cyclist and retrocomputer fan (ie: nerd) from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
If you liked this article, why not subscribe to the RSS feed for more?
You may also enjoy these great related articles:
In a posting on one of their blogs, Capcom have announced that their forthcoming multiplatform action game “Dark Void” is to get all new in-game graphics and marketing materials inspired by games from the 1980′s.
Dark Void’s plot centres around a cargo pilot named Will who crash lands in the Bermuda Triangle. From there, he is teleported to a parallel universe where he encounters other humans, called Survivors. Together, Will and the survivors must battle the alien race who control the parallel universe in order to return to Earth.
Regarding the move to a retro style more at home on an Amstrad CPC than a Playstation 3, Capcom simply say:
“…Cell processors, complex shaders, and dual analog sticks, although modern, really don’t capture the essence of what we set out to accomplish. Additionally, extensive market research has taught us that “photo-realistic graphics” are so totally last-gen…”
But 8-bit graphics aren’t their only bright idea. They’re going for the whole retro package with redone packaging, title music and they’re even implementing a retro-innovative “pass word” system for saving your progress through the game, so doing away with those tedious storage devices and save states found on Dark Void’s contemporaries.
Dark Void's all new old style title screen
Dark Void is being developed by Airtight Games and published by Capcom, on Unreal Engine 3, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows.
Now that it’s got a retro-revamp, I’m really looking forward to it!
John Girvin is a software engineer, sci-fi buff, cyclist and retrocomputer fan (ie: nerd) from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
If you liked this article, why not subscribe to the RSS feed for more?
You may also enjoy these great related articles:
Enter your email address to get updates delivered to your inbox:
