I've seen a lot of C64 demos, and 13:37 by Fairlight knocked my socks off. I was consistently hollering "duuuude!" at the effects, but it's also got great humor, a terrific art style, inside jokes, and cinematic storytelling. One of the best I've ever seen.
The #C64 demoscene is so impressive to me. They just keep pushing this machine farther and farther. This demo would have been unfathomable even ten years ago.
I don’t really understand what your job is about …
Oh it’s a bit of everything. I code in the blue window, then take notes in the white one, watch the presentation on the small screen, then open the terminal to very serious server admin.
Here I am playing Lawn Mowing Simulator. I used to make fun of the notion of such a video game existing. Yet here I am playing one.
Originally, I bought this game because I thought it was funny. But after spending quite a bit of time mowing virtual lawns, I’m not laughing anymore.
This isn’t even the first lawn mowing game to exist. The infamous Gizmondo, the handheld console connected to the Swedish mafia, had Momma Can I Mow The Lawn?. It was never released but you can still find footage on YouTube.
What’s hilarious here is that both Lawn Mowing Simulator and Momma Can I Mow The Lawn were both made by British developers. Surely, this is a coincidence.
I’ll say this for Lawn Mower Simulator. It takes lawn mowing very seriously. They went out of their way to get real-world licensed lawn mowers from “prestigious” manufacturers such as Toro, SCAG, and STIGA.
Personally, I’ve never heard of these brands. Here in Canada, the main lawn mowers in use are frorm John Deere, Ryobi, and Club Cadet.
(Amusingly, lawn mower manufacturer Husqvarna has the video game Doom available on one of their lawn mowers.)
Either way, this game is definitely a lawn mowing simulator. It felt like mowing a lawn. With the time it takes you to mow a lawn in this game, you could probably spend the same time mowing a real lawn.
And you know what? Playing this game made me remember how much I hate mowing the lawn. My mom always made me do this at least weekly. It was always tedious and slow – just like this game.
I’m not saying this is a bad game. It’s just exactly what it claims to be. So if you’re the type of person to think, “I wish I could mow the lawn but I don’t have a lawn nor a lawn mower” then this is the game for you.
Nevertheless, if you’re a lawn enthusiast, there’s certain aspects of Lawn Mowing Simulator that are a bit of a turn off. For example, there’s way too much bloom. As well, the draw distance can use some work. But the biggest flaw is that it’s sometimes hard to judge the size of the grass you’re supposed to mow. Perhaps grass physics isn’t advanced enough yet?
To me, the biggest source of frustration is that sound. I don’t like the sound of lawn mowers. To hear this for an hour straight is too much. And there’s no music to drown out that god damn lawn mower noise.
Skyhook Games created Lawn Mowing Simulator. Previous to this game, they were a contractor for other developers. This is their first original game ever.
Someone recently told me that PC gaming is about fulfilling niches. There’s a game for literally everyone. I suspect that person is right.
I have no doubt that lawn mowing enthusiasts walk among us, and they’re thrilled to play Lawn Mowing Simulator.
Let's not forget the OG lawn moving simulator, imho yet to be beaten for graphics, level of detail and sheer fun. And I've still got the soundtrack in my head after 40+ years of first playing it:
Warhawk was easily one of the top releases for the Spectrum Next at launch, but it also happens to serve as a fantastic upgrade to a brilliant budget blaster too!
So let's dive into it, and the original version to see just what an upgrade it is!
In April 2018 I was having fun with the Okimate 20 thermal printer with my Commodore 64. It’s a fun printer that can use thermal fax paper so you don’t need a ribbon so you can print black as long as you have paper.
This is a PETSCII houndstooth pattern I came up with. BASIC source in the photos. I really like the built-in serif text font.
The Lucasfilm's Habitat beta footage has been released finally. Check out the post on my site for links to YouTube, as well as the raw transfers over at the Internet Archive.
Brian Dougherty was the founder of Berkeley Softworks, the company that developed the GEOS graphical operating system for the Commodore 64, C128, Plus/4 and the Apple II series of computers.
I tried to write a #floppy for my #C64 using my #XUM1541 and my 1541-II drive. Somehow, it seems to have problems halfway through.
Could this be an issue with the floppy disk itself, or the XUM1541? Happens with both my 1541-II, so they shouldn't be the issue.
Are there test programs for C64 that fully write a floppy disk?
A video of where the problem start: https://makertube.net/videos/watch/e552f057-cdd2-4958-a593-342270dc0f9f
It stops writing at 70% according to #CBMTransfer without returning an error. #fedihelp#retrocomputing#Commodore
The Toronto PET Users Group had an amazing interview with Brian Dougherty. (www.youtube.com)
Brian Dougherty was the founder of Berkeley Softworks, the company that developed the GEOS graphical operating system for the Commodore 64, C128, Plus/4 and the Apple II series of computers.