Robotron X, aka Robotron 64. I have that disc and the key issue was that it was all flash and no substance. Just a quick port of the original mechanics to a 3D playing field. Spice it up with a bit of rainbow colored graphics and the result is... boring. Very boring.

It was a perfect example of how oldies are cloned in an almost cargo-cult fashion. All the elements appear to be there, but the core gameplay somehow ends up missing. The result is a lifeless husk that looks like it should be fun, but isn't.

*checks Wikipedia* So they did! In that case, the GP was just uncoordinated and missed out on a great control scheme. :-P

Ah hah, a cagne sur of Street Fighter 2010!

Ugh. I can't imagine even trying Crossfire on the 800XL's keyboard. The flat panel keyboards on those were almost more for show than actual use. Not good for gaming at all. Even the overly complex joystick controls would have been an improvement over that keyboard.

I had the PCjr version, which had a much more satisfying keyboard. (Though not the chiclet keyboard everyone complains about. The "wireless" infrared one. Yeah, I suppose it wasn't that much better. :-/) I honestly can't stand the modal joystick controls for Crossfire. Not only do you have to hold the button to switch the joystick to fire mode, but the craft automatically stops at every intersection. I tried to get used to that, but I found that it just limited maneuverability rather than helping. And maneuverability was one thing you REALLY needed in that game. ;-)

The original was a minigame in Project Gotham. Soo... I don't think that really counts.

Sorry. :-)

FWIW, the game is meant to evoke a sense of classic vector games like Gravitar, Asteroids, Tempest, and Star Wars. In that it succeeds brilliantly. But the game is very much a modern game with modern gameplay. Which is actually a good thing, because it shows what happens when game designers apply all their modern knowledge toward pick-up-and-play games. (Often of the "arcade" variety.)

I don't know if there are any fans of the classic game Crossfire here, but I'd love to know if this reimagining of the game does it justice*. I've tried a few clones (notably SDL Crossfire, GridBlaster, and Gridfire), but none of them were very satisfying. In fact, most of them made changes that I felt were distateful to anyone who enjoyed the original. (Or maybe I was the only one who played with keyboard controls? Hmm...)

Anyway, try it out and let me know what you think. And if you have a Wii, give it a go there. It's tons of fun with two controllers. :)

* Warning: This is still a beta. If you want to save high score, you need to be logged into the website. Sound is not yet there. Internet Explorer is not supported due to its lack of Canvas support. And did I mention that it's 100% Javascript? :-)

The "Real Genius" and "sharks" jokes you're about to post are less than 1% as funny and clever as you think they are.

You must be new here. We get very few "Real Genius" jokes around these parts, and many go unrecognized. Quite sad, I'm afraid... ...or in deference to you Kent, it's like lasing a stick of dynamite. :-P

Me? I've driven up to ski hill parking lots and done some practice skids and powerslides. I know how much traction I have (lots), and what happens when it lets go (whee!).

Now that's how you do it! I still maintain that nobody in Chicago knows how to drive in the snow because nobody ever has a chance to practice. When I was growing up, my way of acclimating to the winter was to intentionally fishtail my car. (Not so easy with today's front-wheel drive vehicles, but you can get them to do controlled lateral slides.)

In result, I tend to be a bit shocked when I see the situations that people have trouble with when driving. I mean, there are plenty of instances where things can go horribly wrong (e.g. black ice), but a little slippage from snow is not a big deal.

Press the space bar.

That's the worst argument I've ever heard. I've got two words for you Psystar: Berne Convention

You'd almost think they were organized just to antagonize Apple. Hmm...

Heh. Sorry, I just figured out that trick the other day and just had to share. Being a programmer, I'm terminally lazy about everything. And nothing is more annoying than either having to log out of my current account -OR- open a completely different web browser. (I used to do the latter.) I got the bright idea yesterday of using Chrome's incognito mode as a method of circumventing this issue. One incognito window, and *BAM* I'm clear from my browser's normal sessions and cookies. As a bonus, the browser does not save the admin session or login, making it a nice boost to security.

The only problem I've found with this scheme is that Chrome does do form pre-filling in incognito mode. Which (call me crazy) seems like a rather severe breach for a "privacy" mode. Go figure.

While Chrome may "complicate" their relationship, ideally there should be as many browsers on the market as possible. Microsoft's monopoly over the web produced a sort of tunnel-vision toward website development. Having a variety of browsers available has been changing that. The more browsers available, the more pressure will be placed upon companies to support standards compliance.

So while Mozilla and Google may compete, doing so is in both their interests. In addition, competition is in the consumer's interest because it keeps pushing the browser market forward and gaining us great features like HTML5 compliance, process isolation, privacy modes*, malware protection, etc.

* I've found this to be an excellent way to use an admin login on a site where I also have regular user credentials.