04/18/2004: 
Technologica
When old technology becomes new again
The word homebrew was mentioned the other day to me, and once I got the image of a Jewish kid wearing Fubu out of my head, I thought about the guys I've known who make their own beer. The product, often enough, does not produce the intended outcome. Maybe it's too dark, too thick, or maybe it tastes like cardboard. Nonetheless, a homebrew is a labor of love with lots of good intentions and you find the occasional diamond in the rough.
Well, homebrews are relevant in the gaming world as well, as more and more people are cooking up their own video games. It is far from a mainstream practice, but many a programmer with a love for Atari or Colecovision or Intellivision are creating their own games or improving on the classics.
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While perusing Atari Age, I found that quite a few homebrewed games exist, and are currently being sold for use on home systems. Ever imagine playing a cross between Pong and Joust? Give Joust Pong a try. Remember when you spent $50 to bring home Pac Man for the Atari 2600, to find that it was nothing like the game you spent all of your money on? Now, it costs $20 to get yourself a copy ofPac Man Arcade. There are tons of games that people made up, improved versions of other games, and even an adapter that allows you to hook an Atari 2600 controller to a USB port to play Atari games on your PC.
It's 1984 all over again, and I don't mean in the Orwellian sense. What is old is becoming new again. I can only hope this is the case with NES and Genesis games as well.
4 Annotations Submitted
Monday the 19th of April, awiggins noted:
Give me a re-mastered Rygar or Dragon Warrior.
Monday the 19th of April, crazeehomebrewerinla noted:
Awww shiznit...I need to get Rygar for the NES yo. Bomb diggity.
Hey, are you on a PC or mac? I got all of the NES games ever on ROM form.
Tuesday the 20th of April, Duggy D. noted:
Where's the Rhino Hunt @? Homebrew Crew represent!
Tuesday the 20th of April, Benny F'n Biscuit noted:
Yo homie, the Rhino Hunt definitely be in the hizzle.
If I knew any of these homebrew dudes well, I'd commission tha muthaflucka. Just rip off Barnstorming, replace the cowboys with hunters and the bulls with Rhinos. Big hit!
