Gaming

Mew is under the truck.

by ZombieSkittles on February 5, 2012

When I was a kid playing Pokemon Blue, there were lots of supposed cheats. The only three that turned out to be true were the duplication cheat using trading, the MissingNo. cheat1, and by extension the multiply-item cheat.
One of the most prolific “cheats” was the one to catch Mew. There had to be about a hundred different cheats that were meant to get you one, one of them quite ingeniously getting you behind the SS Anne, but doing little else.

Today, I’ve stumbled across one on Reddit which details a way I have never heard of, but is apparently backed up with evidence. Frankly, it sounds legit. This excites me, but does anyone know if it actually works?
If it does, well fuck me. I had to work my ass off negotiating terms with a kid in primary school who was lucky enough to have a Mew. From there, I used the duplication cheat to make a whole heap which I then sold to other kids. It was awesome. However, to know I could have skipped that first step and gotten my own, well that would have helped a lot.

  1. That is an error pokemon you could catch, essentially

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You were killed by the late Shadow Star

by ZombieSkittles on February 1, 2012

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I’ve been getting back into Team Fortress 2 the last couple of weeks. This is just a death cam of a camping Demoman who I killed, but who got me with a lucky pipe bomb. Still felt good, and I quite like the above image.

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In-game advertising.

by ZombieSkittles on January 31, 2012

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This is a screenshot from Quake Live, a fast paced multiplayer FPS. I just wanted to showcase an excellent form of monetizing that is seldom seen in gaming. It’s not intrusive, I can ignore it and treat it as part of the scenery, but it still gets seen. Furthermore, the developers get money from it and therefore keep making content.

While “billboard” advertising isn’t for every game, it’s good to see it being utilized effectively.

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Steam Mobile? Don’t mind if I do!

by ZombieSkittles on January 30, 2012

imageSteam recently announced the official Steam app for Android and iOS, which unlike the unofficial versions has everything from chat to being able to buy games.
I don’t know how common the beta keys are, but I’ve been lucky enough to score access to the program. I’m not sure if there’s much use for it for me outside of being able to chat with people away from the computer, but we’ll see.

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Codename Gordon

by ZombieSkittles on January 29, 2012

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Did you know that there is a side scrolling Half Life game on Steam? Neither did I! Turns out there is though, hidden away. In a Reddit thread discussing how far Steam has come since it’s initial release, someone revealed exactly how to obtain this blast from the past.

To get the game -titled Codename Gordon- you merely have to have Steam installed, and click on this link. Curiously, it shows screenshots of the game on the Steam Game Info screen, which is odd. Why would someone go to the trouble of doing that for a game that doesn’t seem to be readily available, and as far as I know hasn’t been for years. Strange.

It’s nice to have some different Half Life content, and it’s definitely fun. I don’t understand why it’s not still advertised or listed on Steam at all; I’d pay money for it.
I know one thing; I’ll be installing it when I get home.

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Bitizen

by ZombieSkittles on January 28, 2012

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I made a bitizen version of myself. Absolutely no reason really, but it was fun. If you’re a fan of Tiny Tower, you can make one using the BitBuilder.

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Zynga being Zynga.

by ZombieSkittles on January 27, 2012

I have been playing a fun game on my phone called Tiny Tower. You build up a tower, opening different services on each floor, from apartments (which house your “bitizens”, who you can then employ in other areas of the tower), to shops and even a casino. It’s fun, and the pixel art style makes the thing enjoyable to look at.
The independent game developers, NimbleBit, have made quite a few fun games in the past, but to see them create such a chart topper in mobile gaming is a real testament to their skills.

Where things get sour is of course where Zynga comes in. After trying to buy NimbleBit (And being denied), they’ve come out with a brand new game.
The name? Dream Heights.
What’s it about? Exactly the same thing as Tiny Tower.

Indeed, as the screenshot below (borrowed from NimbleBit’s larger complete image) shows, the games share an awful lot of similarities. It’s obvious that Zynga merely copied the game and gave it a facelift and maybe tweaked one or two things, in an attempt to make it “better” than the original. People are outraged that a company with thousands of employees would line up all three members of NimbleBit and kick them in the groin.

I’m significantly less concerned, or angry. The reason behind my feelings is that anyone who is aware of Zynga knows they’ve been doing this exact sort of thing forever. Whether it be Farmville, Cafe World, or any of the other casual Facebook games they have “made”, most of the concepts are borrowed or shamelessly ripped from other developer’s already released games.

Yes, it’s fucked up that they can do this, but it’s just how game clones work. If we didn’t have game clones, we wouldn’t have half of the games we love today. Even Minecraft is a clone of another previously released game. Don’t believe me? Look up Infiniminer.

It’s terrible that Zynga are doing things like this, but at least they aren’t hypocritically suing people in this situation.

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More of this shit. I know, right?

by ZombieSkittles on January 26, 2012

This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series Adventures in game development

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This is the third time I’ve posted a random screenshot of this thing, but I’m enjoying making it and want to share bits and pieces. I don’t know why, but it’s really really fun. I’ve added a melee-esque attack for when the player runs out of ammo, and changed the game stats around so they appear easier to read, and at the top of the screen.

Oh, that larger gravestone towards the top? I made that. It’s bad, but I’m proud.

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I’m none too happy about the news that this new feature will be rolled out without choice over all Facebook profiles, but when I see people make hilarious use out of it, I feel a lot better.

Thank you Reddit.

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I love execution attacks in Skyrim.

by ZombieSkittles on January 23, 2012

Naw, looks like I’m giving the guy an electric hug, when in fact I’m simply murdering him.

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