I am on pain meds this week, so I am afraid to post, lest I say something regrettable. (I suffered an injury, but will fully recover, BTW).
Get well soon!
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(P.S. In case you are wondering, "Rowdy Rob" was my old Jiu-Jitsu class nickname
Interesting! I've been taking Tong Soo Do now for two semesters. Lots of fun, plus our instructor, Dan Knoll, has about 30 years experience applying the stuff in a major state prison (he's the guy that has to deal with uncooperative prisoners). You learn more from him in about 30 minutes than you would years somewhere else.
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On the other hand (pun???), you looked very relaxed in the video, perhaps being comfortable with your "screen presence." Worrying about your hands might affect that.
That's kinda what I'm worried about. If I get too worried about not moving my hands, making sure my hair looks 100% perfect, etc., it's not going to be fun anymore and will probably look terrible. I'd rather be relaxed and just be myself than be all nervous because I don't look like a professional television host.
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The presentation was good (as always). The music threw me off at first.... ("is that the in-game music??!!?" I thought to myself at first). But it fit well with the game imagery, so it worked, particularly taking into account the ambition of it. Did Elite have it's own theme or in-game music?
The BBC Micro version I played did NOT have music at all. I'm not sure if that holds true for all BBC Micro versions or not. The C-64 version didn't have intro music but did play a chiptune version of Blue Danube (what you hear in the video). The Commodore 128 version has intro music (not sure about other versions). At any rate, I wasn't very impressed, so just opted for a public domain recording of the real song and thought it'd be fun to play that instead.
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As for concerns about "book pimping," I am actually disappointed that there wasn't more of it!...Oh, I don't want to be seen as pimping our book......" Well then what the hell did you write it for if you don't want people to know about it, buy it, and read it????
Wow, thanks for posting that, Rob. I've been getting a few odd remarks here and there, but reading your posts always clarifies things. I can see what you mean about talking about the books in terms of "here's why you should listen to me" type approach rather than turning into an infomercial man always hawking like a carney. I could probably work up a standard 20 sec spiel about who I am and just recycle it for every video.
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As for Elite, I've never played it, but have played many of its descendants, and I love this type of game. The combination of action space battles and empire-building makes the "Elite" genre possibly my favorite type of game. I had enormous fun with modern variations, such as "Freelancer" and "Space Rangers 2." I would love to tell you all about "Space Rangers 2," but I'll save that one for another time.
I had fun playing Elite on the BBC Micro, but I must admit, it'd be even more fun with smoother frame rates and better graphics. The problem is that many of the sequels mess up the gameplay by making it too complicated or just not open-ended enough. I got heavy into Frontier for the Amiga and finally just got bored sick of it (though granted not after any weeks of intense gameplay).
Check out Vega Strike if you can; I interviewed the developer awhile back and was really intrigued. It's a freebie.
Not many people realize that all these games go back to Traveller, the sci-fi tabletop boardgame. I haven't played that either, though it sounds fantastic.
I am on pain meds this week, so I am afraid to post, lest I say something regrettable. (I suffered an injury, but will fully recover, BTW).
Get well soon!
(P.S. In case you are wondering, "Rowdy Rob" was my old Jiu-Jitsu class nickname
Interesting! I've been taking Tong Soo Do now for two semesters. Lots of fun, plus our instructor, Dan Knoll, has about 30 years experience applying the stuff in a major state prison (he's the guy that has to deal with uncooperative prisoners). You learn more from him in about 30 minutes than you would years somewhere else.
On the other hand (pun???), you looked very relaxed in the video, perhaps being comfortable with your "screen presence." Worrying about your hands might affect that.
That's kinda what I'm worried about. If I get too worried about not moving my hands, making sure my hair looks 100% perfect, etc., it's not going to be fun anymore and will probably look terrible. I'd rather be relaxed and just be myself than be all nervous because I don't look like a professional television host.
The presentation was good (as always). The music threw me off at first.... ("is that the in-game music??!!?" I thought to myself at first). But it fit well with the game imagery, so it worked, particularly taking into account the ambition of it. Did Elite have it's own theme or in-game music?
The BBC Micro version I played did NOT have music at all. I'm not sure if that holds true for all BBC Micro versions or not. The C-64 version didn't have intro music but did play a chiptune version of Blue Danube (what you hear in the video). The Commodore 128 version has intro music (not sure about other versions). At any rate, I wasn't very impressed, so just opted for a public domain recording of the real song and thought it'd be fun to play that instead.
As for concerns about "book pimping," I am actually disappointed that there wasn't more of it!...Oh, I don't want to be seen as pimping our book......" Well then what the hell did you write it for if you don't want people to know about it, buy it, and read it????
Wow, thanks for posting that, Rob. I've been getting a few odd remarks here and there, but reading your posts always clarifies things. I can see what you mean about talking about the books in terms of "here's why you should listen to me" type approach rather than turning into an infomercial man always hawking like a carney. I could probably work up a standard 20 sec spiel about who I am and just recycle it for every video.
As for Elite, I've never played it, but have played many of its descendants, and I love this type of game. The combination of action space battles and empire-building makes the "Elite" genre possibly my favorite type of game. I had enormous fun with modern variations, such as "Freelancer" and "Space Rangers 2." I would love to tell you all about "Space Rangers 2," but I'll save that one for another time.
I had fun playing Elite on the BBC Micro, but I must admit, it'd be even more fun with smoother frame rates and better graphics. The problem is that many of the sequels mess up the gameplay by making it too complicated or just not open-ended enough. I got heavy into Frontier for the Amiga and finally just got bored sick of it (though granted not after any weeks of intense gameplay).
Check out Vega Strike if you can; I interviewed the developer awhile back and was really intrigued. It's a freebie.
Not many people realize that all these games go back to Traveller, the sci-fi tabletop boardgame. I haven't played that either, though it sounds fantastic.
Matt Barton, Managing Editor
Location: St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA
Email: matt@armchairarcade.com