Wargaming Scribe

@me_irl Summary by wikipedia: « Levi introduced a new ingredient to the formula for varnishes as a temporary fix [to a one-off event] only to discover that his addition remained in the formula unnecessarily for years afterwards due to corporate bureaucracy. »

@me_irl Good story. Something similar (component, in thid cass somewhat toxic, kept in place even if now useless) happened for real to Primo Levi (in his autobiographic short stories « Elementary Particules », chapter Chromium):

I wrote a short story about institutional memory, that which grows in the places where it used to be, and a part on your car that has been there since 1957 and does nothing.

@dothesneedfu1 @BorisBartlog @TatenokaiGael @echetus Russian litterature looking West qualifies - War and Peace is an outstandingly good candidate with themes close to the Ro3K. Russian litt. looking inwards does not, so eg The Way of a Pilgrim, as important as it is in Russia, is out.

@ScribeWargaming @BorisBartlog @TatenokaiGael @echetus Is Russia considered western in this context

In Chinese literature there's a canonical Four Great Novels (Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Dream of the Red Chamber, Romance of the Three Kingdoms). It turns out they've also made up the idea of Four Great Western Novels, a concept none of us were aware of

@BorisBartlog @TatenokaiGael @echetus Agreed with Hamlet and Faust being out of place. Don Quixote is a good one. Le Morte d’Arthur too to avoid something too recent? Else Les Misérables. It is my belief that The Name of the Rose and Baudolino will join the Western Canon in due time.

@TatenokaiGael @echetus I was also bemused by the absence of Don Quixote But both 'Hamlet' and 'Faust' need to be replaced since they are plays, not novels It is interesting that the Chinese don't care about this distinction

@kessler_ulrich Some games do that, eg the AGEOD games, with funny leader traits like Double-Faced (for Général Janin), Alcoholic or Reckless (engages even when ordered not to). There are good traits as well of course.

I mean, come on

Reading military history makes it clear that issuing commands to subordinate formations in a strategy game should really be a skill check

Thank you TIGA for this Special Award. We couldn't be more proud about it.

@SalmanGreen @bitejoi Made by the Ruiz Brothers ca 1981 (they were teenagers). They would found Dinamic Software a couple of years later.

@bitejoi You can’t

Game 🎮🎮

@bagelpriest @mattbarton As of 2 or 3 years ago (my last contact with him), he was very reachable and willing to help - so yes.

@mattbarton Maybe? I helped teach him how Zoom works, if that helps.

Hehe, classic. Do you know what game this is from?

An analysis of the plot of "Ultima 8: The Lost Vale", based on newly-found usecode for the cancelled expansion.

📷 I could only cover so much, so I focused on Investrónica (the "official" channel for ZX81/Spectrum computers) and skipped Ventamatic (the major "unofficial" one), and on La Pulga (officially the first Spanish game, in reality probably not) and ignored FRED, which followed it.

I reached the first Spanish strategy game in my quest to play all Wargames. An opportunity to cover the beginnings of Spanish gaming, from "nothing" in 1982 to, maybe, "second only to UK in Europe" by 1989. Oddly, this is thanks to the textile industry. zeitgame.net/archives/15599

@St1ka Back in the 80s, a common fraud was to announce a game for mail-order, receive the orders, take the money and disappear. I cover 2 such fraudware on my blog: the pretty classical Starfire Games and the elaborate Chamelon Software (see zeitgame.net/archives/15364 for the later).

So, I'm curious. What are the most obscure gaming facts you're aware of? Is it for a video? Maybe, not sure yet.

@St1ka The first sports game which had annual « content packs » with sports teams were SSI’s Computer Football and Computer Baseball in… 1980. So it’s nothing new really.

@bowloflentils And it's live. I put you at the top of my source list :). zeitgame.net/archives/16327

@bowloflentils I am writing an article on Nihon Falcom, so thanks for that :)

Here are a few photos of Computer Land Tachikawa (コンピューターランド立川), Nihon Falcom's PC store they operated in the early 80s. Before they began publishing PC games in 1982, this was Falcom's primary business.

@ErnstKrogtoft Great article. I only learned about John Lyon's passing a few weeks ago.

Computer Bismarck, the "$2,160" war game, that launched SSI and brought war games into the digital age retro365.blog/2024/12/08/com… #ComputerBismarck #SSI #StrategicSimulationsInc #AppleII #JoelBillings #JohnLyon

Given how cumbersome hidden movement is on boardgame, designers loved to code "find the Bismarck/Panzerschiffe" games - but playing the "chasee" was usually terrible: you're sailing blind! This is for instance the case in Under the Skies (1984). Test here: zeitgame.net/archives/16110

Just based on this screenshot, can you guess which event is covered by the next game I am going to write about? It should be super easy :).

I return to Carriers at War [1984] with the Battle of Midway, which no computer designer had managed to nail thus far. CaW succeeds, but not without showing some significant engine limitations (useless seaplane tenders, obtuse naval bombardement rules...) zeitgame.net/archives/16045