Unearthing Subterraneans
B-movie horror studio Full Moon Features at one point planned to release CD-ROM games and software. I found prototypes of their two titles and have released them into the wild.
B-movie horror studio Full Moon Features at one point planned to release CD-ROM games and software. I found prototypes of their two titles and have released them into the wild.
One minute, it’s a racing game. The next minute, it’s math. Teazle is a digital board game made out of minigames, and its wild variety is both its biggest strength and its biggest weakness.
Rhizome’s event celebrating the re-release of Theresa Duncan’s CD-ROM games is a pivotal moment in CD-ROM history – both critically and technically. Luckily, I took notes! Read about the importance of Chop Suey, Smarty, and Zero Zero in feminist gaming history, as well as Rhizome’s groundbreaking work on server-side emulation.
A trippy piece of single-purpose novelty art software like The Groove Thing feels anachronistic today. It’s here to make groovy background art with full-hearted 90s aggression, and it does it well enough.
If you’re in New York City, come to an event hosted by Rhizome and New Museum to commemorate the re-release of the Theresa Duncan CD-ROM games. I’ll be there!
Time Warp seasons the Dr. Brain formula with historical action games that, while thematically sound, are arguably a step back in quality.
In the absence of a compelling story, character, direction, or gameplay idea, Tlön shares none of the unreal intrigue of the short story that inspired it apart from perhaps its art.
The dot-com bubble meets spy novel espionage in ruthless.com, a wild game of corporate warfare by Tom Clancy’s studio Red Storm Entertainment that reflects the exciting empty promises of the late-90s tech industry.
Lionel’s game about the Transcontinental Railroad is the logical follow-up to The Oregon Trail, both chronologically and in terms of how much it draws from history.
In a big departure for MECC’s Munchers series, the spinoff Troggle Trouble Math is like a math dungeon crawler, with a story and structure that can fit a variety of math activities.