SIGNIFICANT BITS by Sean N. Henderson Video games (consoles, computer-based or coin-op) were exciting, in part, because my friends and I were computer enthusiasts and students of computer technology in our youth. When we started learning about these machines around 1977, the Radio Shack TRS-80 was popular, as was the Apple IIe, and somewhat later the Atari 800. Before these machines, we all started in school with sending punch-cards to an offsite facility. We then waited eagerly for our printouts. These machines changed all of that. For us, playing computer games was a favorite activity. Some games could be purchased on cassette for loading into these personal computers. Many of the then-magazines (such as Byte) and many newsletters, often published code listings to small games. These could be typed into the computer (and later saved onto cassette tape) line-by-line. Doing this gave us not only insight into the game construction, but prompted us to write our own variants. So it might be useful to think that computer game playing was usually preceded by some level of game-making back then. So it goes with a number of gaming titles in recent years. It is possible to make a new game using another game and supplying it different maps and objects. SOFTWARE REVIEWS OpenQuartz is an open-source and freeware first-person shooter type video game playable on nearly any machine. It requires no special graphics card. Game play options range from the single, simple and introductory to more complex and multiplayer. Obtaining OpenQuartz is by download. The content of the game, like many first-person shooters, is violent and gruesome, and so not recommended for little kids or the squeamish. Playing the software requires two hands – one for dictating the view and aiming. The other hand is for firing weapons or performing an action. Starting the game brings a console (command prompt), which is for advanced configuration. Just hit the enter key and go straight to the options screen to begin a game. The game contains its own server to publish your game on the net so that network play is supported. This feature is optional. The website indicates that this is an open-source project, and that users are encouraged to find or make “maps” for use in the game. No specific tools or instructions were listed on how to do this. I’m sure the search-savvy and advanced gamers will already know something about this. HARDWARE REVIEWS I ordered a generic USB “Gamepad” recently. No model number or anything, but it was fairly inexpensive and I knew I wasn’t going to be spending a whole lot of time gaming. Meaning, if it broke I was only out a couple of dollars. I’m not sure if I ordered it because I had downloaded OpenQuartz (reviewed above) or vice-versa. In any case, this unit came from Geeks.com and it is their “16-button” model. Price was under $15, which beat out the comparable Logitech unit at a big-box retailer at around $40. The unit appears class compliant and the game software I was testing recognized it immediately without having to load any drivers or do any special configuration. To me, I would have designed these things in mirror image with the four-way on the right and the buttons on the left. Also from Geeks.com I ordered a generic USB LCD Phone for use with Skype. At under $10 I thought it was worth it as an experiment. The unit (model UP-730) is not immediately usable without loading drivers and configuring. The installation instructions on the box differed from the printed instructions inside, but it was not too complicated to get running. I had bought this unit to see if Skype was a possible replacement for having a cell phone, which I’m currently debating. More on that project next month.
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