The First REAL Amiga Game By first REAL Amiga game, I am referring to the first game on the Amiga that tapped its custom chipset such that the game could not be mistaken for an ST or IBM PC game. In addition, I am referring to a game that was not just an "upgrade-port" of an 8 bit original. In Best Amiga Games I highlighted some games that are unmistakably Amiga games. But which was the first Amiga game to clearly differentiate itself from ST and MS-DOS slop? I'm not just talking about the Amiga's 32 from 4096 versus the ST's 16 from 512 or EGA's 16 from 64. That is just colo ..read more

Shattered Steel by BioWare Historically, BioWare are most famous for their cRPGs such as Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. However, their first computer game was not a cRPG, but rather a mech-sim. Shattered Steel is a mech-simulator developed by BioWare and released in 1996 for MS-DOS and Windows 95 PCs. The first computer game developed by BioWare, Shattered Steel employs real-time 3D texture-mapped environments displayed in square-pixel SVGA 640x480 at 8 bit color depth. However, the explosion effects and "skyboxes" are 2D. Real-time Terrain Deformation Impr ..read more

History of Shoot 'em Ups: 1982-2000 This history of shoot 'em ups is mostly concerned with mid-80s to mid-90s shoot 'em ups that were coded for Western computer-game machines. A Western computer-game machine is a PC or microcomputer sold by Western computer manufacturers and upon which Westerners primarily played computer games. However, where applicable I cover ports of foreign shoot 'em ups to IBM PC and Western 16-32 bit micros manufactured by Atari, Acorn and Commodore; that is, the ST, Archimedes and Amiga. By Western, I mean primarily the UK, the USA, the British Commonwealth an ..read more

Computer Game Infographics Computer-game infographics are screencaps or spliced-together screencaps that may or may not contain overlaid annotations and descriptions. Computer-game infographics may also include insets and other graphic-design techniques. As a rule, the screencaps are pixel-perfectly spliced together to form a much larger image that can inform readers at a glance. Lilura1's cRPG Blog was the first computer-game commentator to emphasize image-manipulated infographics over low-effort screencaps and embedded YouTube videos. As a rule, I dislike embedding YouTube videos into pr ..read more

BG1 vs. BG2: Reflections Back in 2020 the cRPG Blog inflicted blunt-force trauma on Baldur's Gate 2 with its now-famous BG1 versus BG2 article. The shock-waves primarily impacted sensitive subreddits, but my seismic instrumentation continues to detect aftershocks throughout the Baldur's Gate community, even four years subsequent. The article has been influential not just in terms of content but also in its form: the language employed by the article influenced the Baldur's Gate community; added to its literacy. Thus did the article serve its purpose -- to instruct. But ..read more

Criticism of Wikipedia's 1990s in Video Games Article As it stands in Jan. 2024, Wikipedia's 1990s in Video Games article does not constitute a passable historical account of 1990s computer games, yet it is ranked highly when searching for keyword string "History of 1990s Computer Games". The article is spam-city: 6400 words of article commentary (90% on console games) followed by 6500 words of hyperlinked references to 150 external sources. My History of 1990s Computer Games is a far superior overview of 1990s computer games and related software and hardware technologies. The ..read more

Fallout's Place in 1990s Computer Game History This article is an overview of Fallout's place in 1990s computer game history as it pertains to technical prowess in harnessing machine-specs; that is, this article places Fallout in history as it pertains to Interplay's ability or willingness to harness available software and hardware technologies in 1997. I recommend that you read my 1990s computer game history: while not yet complete it already stands as the best tech-lite overview of 1990s computer games on the internet. Fallout was developed by Interplay in 1997; Fallout 2 b ..read more

M1 Tank Platoon MS-DOS M1 Tank Platoon is an armor-simulator developed by MPS Labs in 1989 for Amiga, Atari ST and MS-DOS. This is one of the computer games I wanted to cover in 1990s Computer Game History, but it misses out by only one year. Thus, I will highlight it here. This is the sixth computer game from the 1980s that I have reviewed. M1 Tank Platoon is a fully real-time 3D computer game displayed in 256-color VGA at a resolution of 320x200. The graphics are 3D flat-shaded: terrain, buildings, armored vehicles and aircraft are represented by polygonal models ..read more

Diablo's Place in 1990s Computer Game History Diablo was released by Blizzard North in 1996. In terms of artistry and Roguelike game-logic Diablo is a masterpiece, but in terms of 2D engine-performance Diablo is only solid at best. When the viewport is static Diablo looks great, but when the viewport scrolls Diablo is only passable. From History of 1990s Computer Games: Diablo and Quake both came out in 1996, but Quake's 3D rendering engine powering along at 40 FPS while shifting around thousands of Gouraud-shaded polygons made Diablo's 2D engine chugging along at 20 FPS while s ..read more

Baldur's Gate's Place in 1990s Computer Game History Baldur's Gate was released by BioWare in 1998. It was a good computer game and a great computer role-playing game: the cRPG All-rounder that helped spark a Role-playing Renaissance. However, it saddens me to say that Baldur's Gate does not constitute an apex-level highlight of 1990s Computer Game History, a decade that spanned from 1990-99. This is not because Baldur's Gate is a bad computer game, it is because other computer games were just so much better. For example, as it pertains to technical prowess in harnessing machine spec ..read more