Activision Anthology-Minecraft

On 03/09/2018 at 10:33 PM by KnightDriver

Just a short gaming session today. Got some retro action in on Activision Anthology and then played Minecraft with Mark for a while.

Activision Anthology: Played some '81 Atari games like: Freeway, Ice Hockey, Kaboom, Laser Blast and Tennis. I managed to unlock the patch for Freeway and the commercial for Laser Blast. Freeway is kind of cool in that its traffic patterns are based on real roads. The New York Long Island Freeway at 3am was all trucks. Ice Hockey is just darn good two-on-two hockey, even against the A.I.. You can pass, aim a shot and trip up the opponent. It's a surprising amount of things you can do in so simple a game. Mark and I used to play this very competitively back in '81. Kaboom needs the paddle controlers. A PS2 analog stick doesn't cut it. Laser Blast was a pain at first but I figured out the right way to control your ufo after a few tries. Tennis used to be a favorite of mine but it just doesn't feel the same on a PS2. I used to be able to really control the ball more on an Atari joystick. Plus it's way better with two human players. The AI is too good. It rarely misses. In all these games I went through all the different modes just to try them. Freeway was the most fun doing that.

Minecraft: Mark took off for parts unknown in the game as I just dug a mineshaft right near the spawn point. I got down to some lava and gathered a lot of matterials. Meanwhile Mark was raiding villages and doing his usual vast excavations underground. He eventually returned to my area with some diamond. I used it to get some obsidian and went to the Nether, gathering blaze rod and nether wort pretty quickly. I made the brew stand, he the enchantment table. He also expanded the building a lot, one of his favorite things to do.

That's the house and the nether portal

For some reason the animal spawns have gone way down. It's darn hard to find much meat. I'm going to have to work in some animal husbandry into my routine if I want to have enough food.

house

That's the inside.

Mark's got on some iron pants that makes him look like he's wearing an apron. Ha! I've got a hockey outfit on. As you can see, the enchantment table isn't fully built. Needs more books for the library.

Well, we had to stop for the day after that. It was fun. I feel guilty about not playing more Odin Sphere but I've been getting a little bit bored by single player experiences lately. A game against the computer seems like a game with no life to me right now. It's strange.

Super Step Contributing Writer

03/10/2018 at 12:07 AM

That ice hockey game sounds pretty fun, actually.

KnightDriver

03/10/2018 at 11:39 AM

Surprisingly fun considering how simple it is. I executed some sweet passes and stuffed a few pucks in the corner of the net. I even dumped and chased, although Mark yelled at me to stop that. He hates that tactic in real hockey. What else does a muck-and-grinder do?

03/10/2018 at 02:17 PM

Y'know, I probably know the least about hockey's rules when it comes to sports. I at least understand soccer positions from having played in grade school, but while my friends are die-hard Stars fans, I mostly just go for them because they're the Dallas team. I would love to catch a live game.

But my point is I didn't understand a word of that.

03/10/2018 at 06:50 PM

Ha ha. I was kind of hoping you wouldn't. I actually surprised myself with that stuff since I really haven't watched a full hockey game in many years. It's a weird favorite sport that I never watch.

Cary Woodham

03/10/2018 at 01:43 AM

Did you know that Freeway was programmed by David Crane, who also did Pitfall? I think he did the tennis game, too. I've met David Crane in person twice! Once at E3 and once at the National Videogame Museum when I volunteered there.

I like the somewhat realistic car honking noises in Freeway. Also, is the Laser Blast commercial the one where the kid says over-excitedly, "What other space games?'

03/10/2018 at 11:36 AM

I so want to play his game A Boy and His Blob. When I get to 1990, I'm going to find and play it.

Freeway occupied me much longer than I initially expected. Two play is where it's at though.

Yes, the kid says that at the end.

03/11/2018 at 01:02 AM

David Crane told me some funny stories about A Boy and His Blob. I have that game on the NES and the remake on the Wii. Both are good games. And yeah Freeway is best as a two player game. Same with Fishing Derby.

03/11/2018 at 09:55 PM

I was wondering about the remake. Sounds good. I'll get both.

goaztecs

03/14/2018 at 12:04 PM

Looks like Mark's character is Master Chief with an apron and you're wearing Flyers gear. I would play that Freeway game. I don't know why, but it sounds like it could be fun.

03/15/2018 at 12:17 AM

Today he had full iron armor on over the Mjolinir Halo armor. It looked like he had a green beard.

PixlBit