BL: Welcome to yakumo9275's (Stu) ongoing "Gates of Delirium Live" recounting of his play through this obscure Computer Role Playing Game for the Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer, released in 1987 from Diecom. Post 1:

LifeLine (Konami, 2004, PS2): Image from GameFlyWell, I must say, it's been very enjoyable gaming for me the past few days, despite having limited time to really get into anything at any length. I'm still chomping at the bit to sit down and play MLB '07 The Show from Sony for the PS2, which I've only had time to dabble in so far, and I only just took a few hours this morning to actually do my family's taxes, as well as there being the ever-present 800-pound gorilla ("the book") in my life and needing to finish organizing my videogame and computer collection (adding to many other things).

So, while these are not in-depth overviews, I wanted to quickly and specifically talk about LifeLine (2004, Konami, PS2), the infamous adventure game driven mostly by voice commands, and Jetpac Refuelled (2007, Rare, Xbox 360), the latest ~$5 release for Xbox Live Arcade based on a classic game.

As you undoubtedly already know, I'm a big fan of artillery games, and Worms is one of the best (if not the best) game in the genre. So, when I heard that Worms is coming to Xbox Live Arcade next week, I thought--perfect. The only reason why I don't tend to play Worms much nowadays is that I have no one to play it with! It's not much fun just blasting a computer controlled worm all day; the fun of these games relies very heavily on gloating as your sheep bounds gracefully towards your opponent. I'm not sure if anything can really compete with playing the game with a bunch of your buddies gathered around a Dreamcast, but this will likely come close. If I weren't living hand to mouth, I'd definitely be investing in the necessary equipment...!

Link spotted on Kotaku.

Konami's Scramble (1981) arcade screenshotWell, it was that time again yesterday, Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday, where Microsoft releases one new Xbox Live Arcade game each Wednesday until further notice. They missed last week, with technical difficulties with the still unreleased "Lumines Live!", but this week saw Konami's "Scramble" come out (Konami seems to be a HUGE Live supporter, don't they?).

For those unfamiliar with "Scramble", it's the 1981 arcade shooting game from Konami where you control a spaceship flying over a forced-scrolling landscape, able to shoot "bullets" and drop bombs, but needing to refuel frequently (by blowing up fuel tanks - go figure). To me, it's the lesser version of Universal's superior and contemporary "Cosmic Avenger", also from 1981, which features lusher landscapes and had a fun ColecoVision conversion that I played a ton of. In any case, I enjoy these types of games and many may be familiar with Scramble's sequel, "Super Cobra", which received conversions on countless platforms in the early to mid-80's courtesy of Parker Brothers.

Microsoft Xbox 360Well, I'm behind in my updates for Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays. I missed "Pac-Man" and "Texas Hold'em", and just yesterday was "Time Pilot", a personal favorite of mine back from the ColecoVision days.

"Pac-Man" is a straight up port that unfortunately does not translate well to the Xbox 360 gamepad, as most games of that type don't to post-Atari pack-in style controllers. Some arcade controllers are coming soon, so that should help with these, but for now, "Pac-Man" is well-done and as with all these games, worth it for the competitive and scoring/leaderboard aspects, but I'll be holding off until I get a hold of one of those controllers. And again, aside from the online competitive comparisons and points for my Gamertag, I have a wonderful MAME arcade machine that plays the game better than any system short of the real machine.

Galaga on Xbox Live Arcade (Xbox 360)Well, it was Xbox Live Wednesday again yesterday and that means a fresh arcade download. This time it was Namco's classic, Galaga, now under the Namco Bandai banner.

Unlike many past arcade ports to the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Arcade, this one is a straight up port - no frills whatsoever. Beyond the standard resolution update to 720p and a concession for screen format - the original was a vertical game and in order to compensate just like with Frogger there's a type of cabinet art on each side - this is a pure emulation. What you got with the arcade game you get here, other than achievment tracking and comparisons via Xbox Live. So, what did I think?

Cloning Clyde character montageWell, Xbox Live Arcade's new release Wednesday yesterday offered up its second game for the Xbox 360 after Frogger 25th Anniversary, Cloning Clyde. Obviously unlike many of the games on the release list, Cloning Clyde is not based off a classic arcade property, but is instead its own entity.