h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I mentioned a couple of days back that we'd been sent Midway Arcade Origins by our rental company, so yesterday afternoon (after the very disappointing footy result and if Garcia is the answer it was a really stupid question ) we set about trying to get as much out of the game as we possibly could. Man, some of those games are pure rubbish, Root Beer Tapper, anyone? There's an American Football one that means absolutely nothing to me. I can explain the off side rule in 'proper football' but haven't a clue about Offense and Defense in this one, I'll get there in the end (or more likely give up).

The racing games are, quite frankly very poor one of them is even sitting a rubber ring and using your hands to ride down a river. I can't imagine sticking anything more than a few 10 pence pieces in that.

The main difference between playing these sorts of games on a console rather than on an arcade machine are the controllers. The arcade machines were game specific.
This is the one for Championship Sprint: http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/5168/8212319_1.jpg?v=8CAA0DAF3C16AF0 it has a 'start button', steering wheels and gas pedals, on the Xbox controller all you can do is hold down the right trigger and manoeuvre with the left stick, and it's sort of inverted so your little car won't go left when you move the stick left, it'll go right. Okay, that'll just take practice, but still, very annoying.

We've come a long way since Pong. We no longer need fridge-sized machines to play games and the computer voices no longer sound quite so computery. Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.

You mean you aren't pining for the days when computer games all sounded like Daleks?

It was sometimes difficult to tell whether the noise was the game or the computer breaking down.

I only play Pet Rescue! Although I do remember Pong and such.

You won't ever have been subjected to this then, Lanza.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3jc_3p0YZY

Don't worry, it's really short and from the SNES version of Smash TV, without the eyebrow wiggle.

Deb

[Amy P]