Michael Witwer's Blog: The Last Gen-Xer
August 20, 2015
Nintendo's Track & Field II: Are you sure that hang gliding and arm wrestling are Olympic sports?
On the eve of the 1988 Summer Olympic Games held in Seoul, South Korea, video game giant Konami released Track & Field II for the Nintendo Entertainment System. A sequel to the hugely popular arcade game of the same name, Track & Field II boasted many improvements to its predecessor such as offering a choice of countries that the player could represent, as well as a much expanded series of athletic events, from six in the original to 15. This is where things get interesting…
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The original Track & Field featured events that would predictably occur in a game called “Track & Field,” including the 100 meter dash, long jump, high jump, javelin throw, hurdles and hammer throw. Evidently, Komami sought to push the envelope with Track & Field II and, because the game was timed around the summer Olympics, it made perfect sense to expand into other Olympic events. So, the content of the game was trending toward something that might appropriately be titled “Summer Olympic Games,” but instead called "Track & Field II" to no doubt leverage the success and name recognition of the original. So far, so good. The expanded events included everything from traditional track events to swimming, diving, taekwondo and skeet shooting. Oh, and there are a couple more “bonus” events: hang gliding, arm wrestling and “gun shooting.” Hmmm…I’m no Olympicologist (although we did have the “Olympic Triplecast” box for the 1992 Barcelona games so my family and I could watch obscure weight lifting events any time during the day or night), but I’m pretty sure hang gliding, arm wrestling and gun shooting are neither Olympic sports nor track and field events.
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Now Komami had already proven resourceful and opportunistic with their titling and timing, but I think they may have pushed a little hard on this one. In regards to the arm wrestling event, I have a sneaking suspicion that they were trying to ride the coat tails of Sylvester Stallone’s 1987 film Over the Top – quite possibly the best movie ever made about a guy that enters an arm wrestling contest to win a truck. As for where they got the idea for hang gliding and gun shooting, all I can say is, “hey, it’s the ‘80s.”
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So, Track & Field II was an ambitious game, and not a bad one by the way. I guess my only complaint would be the title was a bit misleading. Perhaps a more appropriate title would have been: “Unrelated Sport Events and Other Popular Activities.” What do you think?
To see the complete blog with images, please visit: http://www.empireofimagination.com/#!...
IMAGE
The original Track & Field featured events that would predictably occur in a game called “Track & Field,” including the 100 meter dash, long jump, high jump, javelin throw, hurdles and hammer throw. Evidently, Komami sought to push the envelope with Track & Field II and, because the game was timed around the summer Olympics, it made perfect sense to expand into other Olympic events. So, the content of the game was trending toward something that might appropriately be titled “Summer Olympic Games,” but instead called "Track & Field II" to no doubt leverage the success and name recognition of the original. So far, so good. The expanded events included everything from traditional track events to swimming, diving, taekwondo and skeet shooting. Oh, and there are a couple more “bonus” events: hang gliding, arm wrestling and “gun shooting.” Hmmm…I’m no Olympicologist (although we did have the “Olympic Triplecast” box for the 1992 Barcelona games so my family and I could watch obscure weight lifting events any time during the day or night), but I’m pretty sure hang gliding, arm wrestling and gun shooting are neither Olympic sports nor track and field events.
IMAGE
Now Komami had already proven resourceful and opportunistic with their titling and timing, but I think they may have pushed a little hard on this one. In regards to the arm wrestling event, I have a sneaking suspicion that they were trying to ride the coat tails of Sylvester Stallone’s 1987 film Over the Top – quite possibly the best movie ever made about a guy that enters an arm wrestling contest to win a truck. As for where they got the idea for hang gliding and gun shooting, all I can say is, “hey, it’s the ‘80s.”
IMAGE
So, Track & Field II was an ambitious game, and not a bad one by the way. I guess my only complaint would be the title was a bit misleading. Perhaps a more appropriate title would have been: “Unrelated Sport Events and Other Popular Activities.” What do you think?
To see the complete blog with images, please visit: http://www.empireofimagination.com/#!...
August 17, 2015
Why I Hate Tapas
There are two types of people in the world: those who love tapas and those who hate it. I’m in the later group and here are my top five reasons why:
5. No matter where you go, there’s inevitably that guy in your group who has been to this restaurant before and he knows the “best” dishes to order. He orders like six of the 10 dishes for your table and, because you’re all splitting the tab equally, he’s basically spending your money for you.
4. Does anybody really like sharing plates? Be honest.
3. Sangria isn’t wine…it just isn’t.
2. I’m just not convinced that olives, goat cheese, tomatoes and seafood belong in every dish.
1. You only really like three of the 10 dishes on the table, but these are small plates and you’re sharing, so you only take small helpings of each. Predictably, these are the three dishes that go the fastest (of course the dude that did all of the ordering takes the biggest helpings) and by the time you leave you are starving and managed to spend $45.
Read the full post with images at: http://www.empireofimagination.com/#!...
5. No matter where you go, there’s inevitably that guy in your group who has been to this restaurant before and he knows the “best” dishes to order. He orders like six of the 10 dishes for your table and, because you’re all splitting the tab equally, he’s basically spending your money for you.
4. Does anybody really like sharing plates? Be honest.
3. Sangria isn’t wine…it just isn’t.
2. I’m just not convinced that olives, goat cheese, tomatoes and seafood belong in every dish.
1. You only really like three of the 10 dishes on the table, but these are small plates and you’re sharing, so you only take small helpings of each. Predictably, these are the three dishes that go the fastest (of course the dude that did all of the ordering takes the biggest helpings) and by the time you leave you are starving and managed to spend $45.
Read the full post with images at: http://www.empireofimagination.com/#!...
The Atari 2600: So, how did we know what was going on?
I saw a re-released version of the Atari 2600 with embedded games and wireless joysticks at Bed, Bath and Beyond the other day (don’t ask me why it was there, or why I was there for that matter). I would’ve bought it on the spot if I hadn’t been with my kids and without a free hand to lug it back to the car – rest assured it will be purchased soon.
As I was examining the box, a flood of great memories returned to me: sitting in the basement with my brother and friends playing Haunted House, Yar’s Revenge, Pitfall, Jungle Hunt, etc. on our elaborate wood-paneled television. To be sure, there were some bad memories too including playing The Empire Strikes Back with my gaming savant friend, Nick, who was good enough to take advantage of the game’s never-ending land-and-repair feature every time his Airspeeder got damaged, ensuring that I would never actually get to alternate in, but I digress.
When I got home, I went online and looked up some of my favorite games. The graphics were basically as I remember them, although looking at them with fresh eyes instantly made me wonder: as kids playing these games, how the hell did we know what was going on? I don’t remember any manuals that would explain anything (although I’m sure some existed and were quickly disposed of). For example, in Adventure, how did we instinctively know that the giant duck creature was a dragon? I guess there were some captions, but I probably would’ve been too young to read them. What about Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark – that black blob thing certainly doesn’t look like Toht, but we all knew it was him. Did someone or something tell us as much? Going a step further, how did we know what to do in these games? Raiders is another good example - what the hell is going on in that game? Made perfect sense at the time though. In Haunted House, how did we know we were supposed to assemble the magic urn or even that there was a magic urn? As far as we knew, we were just a pair of googly eyes walking around a dark maze.
Conclusion: Kid brains are awesome. They are so imaginative that they will compensate as much as is needed for lack or graphics, plot, game play or otherwise. I so wish I still had some of that…
To Read the full post with images, go to: http://www.empireofimagination.com/#!...
As I was examining the box, a flood of great memories returned to me: sitting in the basement with my brother and friends playing Haunted House, Yar’s Revenge, Pitfall, Jungle Hunt, etc. on our elaborate wood-paneled television. To be sure, there were some bad memories too including playing The Empire Strikes Back with my gaming savant friend, Nick, who was good enough to take advantage of the game’s never-ending land-and-repair feature every time his Airspeeder got damaged, ensuring that I would never actually get to alternate in, but I digress.
When I got home, I went online and looked up some of my favorite games. The graphics were basically as I remember them, although looking at them with fresh eyes instantly made me wonder: as kids playing these games, how the hell did we know what was going on? I don’t remember any manuals that would explain anything (although I’m sure some existed and were quickly disposed of). For example, in Adventure, how did we instinctively know that the giant duck creature was a dragon? I guess there were some captions, but I probably would’ve been too young to read them. What about Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark – that black blob thing certainly doesn’t look like Toht, but we all knew it was him. Did someone or something tell us as much? Going a step further, how did we know what to do in these games? Raiders is another good example - what the hell is going on in that game? Made perfect sense at the time though. In Haunted House, how did we know we were supposed to assemble the magic urn or even that there was a magic urn? As far as we knew, we were just a pair of googly eyes walking around a dark maze.
Conclusion: Kid brains are awesome. They are so imaginative that they will compensate as much as is needed for lack or graphics, plot, game play or otherwise. I so wish I still had some of that…
To Read the full post with images, go to: http://www.empireofimagination.com/#!...
The Last Gen-Xer
The Last Gen-Xer is both me and my blog. As one born at the end of the Generation X era, I am among the last of the generation. For example, I remember maps. No, not Google Maps, real maps – the kind
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