Thursday, June 27, 2002
Wanna play? Old games get new life
Posted by Jason Dunn in "NEWS" @ 03:13 PM
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-940066.html?tag=cd_mh
Ah, those retro games. When you go back to the old games, some are still fun, and others...well, you wonder why you ever wasted your time playing them. It takes a very special game to still be fun after ten or twenty years - remember those "red blip" games? Peter Hirschberg does.
"A programmer and self-avowed fan of classic video games has created software for Pocket PC and Palm handhelds that faithfully re-creates a breed of inexpensive handheld electronic games made popular by Mattel in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In creating LEDhead, software programmer Peter Hirschberg has managed to capture much of the essence of the simple games, which consisted of a few blinking light-emitting diodes (LEDs) moving around a painted screen.
The software, when run on a $600 Compaq iPaq, does a good job capturing the low-tech environment of the games, complete with blinking lights and high-pitched sound effects. At the time, such handheld games sold for around $20 and could be powered by a single 9-volt battery. Each game offered a simplistic take on a particular sport such as basketball, soccer and football. Titles along other themes included "Space Alert" and "Sub Chase." Hirschberg offers 11 of the games with LEDhead software." Source: various
Ah, those retro games. When you go back to the old games, some are still fun, and others...well, you wonder why you ever wasted your time playing them. It takes a very special game to still be fun after ten or twenty years - remember those "red blip" games? Peter Hirschberg does.
"A programmer and self-avowed fan of classic video games has created software for Pocket PC and Palm handhelds that faithfully re-creates a breed of inexpensive handheld electronic games made popular by Mattel in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In creating LEDhead, software programmer Peter Hirschberg has managed to capture much of the essence of the simple games, which consisted of a few blinking light-emitting diodes (LEDs) moving around a painted screen.
The software, when run on a $600 Compaq iPaq, does a good job capturing the low-tech environment of the games, complete with blinking lights and high-pitched sound effects. At the time, such handheld games sold for around $20 and could be powered by a single 9-volt battery. Each game offered a simplistic take on a particular sport such as basketball, soccer and football. Titles along other themes included "Space Alert" and "Sub Chase." Hirschberg offers 11 of the games with LEDhead software." Source: various
