My Two Bits
(The Editorial with one-quarter byte!)

What is "My Two Bits?"

My Two Bits is the official editorial page for the editor of Techtite.com. Techtite will accept reader submissions, for reviews as well as any editorials deemed well written and pertinent to this web site's audience.

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---Kanye's Krappy Komments

---April 17th 2009

---March 31st: A New Server, a New Site...

Feb 21st: G4TV, What I'm Playing, Lost and Galactica.

Valentine's Day: Galactica, 24, more...

---Feb 6 : Michael Phelps' scandal, 24, Galactica and more!

---January 30th: That annoying Battlestar mutiny story arc!

---January 23rd: Galactica, Lost, etc.

---January 16th, 2009: Galactica and 24

---January 9th, 2009 The New Format...

---Prior to 2009...

No sidebar comments for this editorial. Yet.

My latest Two Bits (Halloween 2009 edition):

Halloween Memories:

Video Game Style

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Sorry for the late update all across the board; both on YouTube and on this main site. Lot of stuff happening in my "day job" life lately though we'll leave that for another commentary entirely. For now let me offer some comments about my latest YouTube offering and the "why" and "how" to its creation...

In short, I wanted to offer a Halloween video of Halloween themed games. To be honest this was a much more daunting task than you would expect, because haunted house games, thriller games, and similar "spooky" games are my favorite. From the original Resident Evil on the original Playstation to the modern hits like Bioshock and Left 4 Dead; I love them all, really.

Though making this list even more difficult is the fact that I've played so many games that I would have loved to include on the list, yet couldn't. For one thing many classic games were hard to get footage of even with the wonderful assistance of DosBox, which has made over two shelves of my favorite classic games "playable" again(YAY!). Though to be honest, while these classic games include hits like Alone in the Dark and Elvira 2; they include many games that, as fond of a memory as they are, didn't make the top ten.

So allow me to list a few of the games I'm talking about, and give them their due in My 2 Bits form:

• The Legacy: Realm of Terror. If you wanted a haunted house game that kept on going and going, this RPG was for you. The Wikipedia entry is here, and while it currently offers a very elaborate summary of the gameplay of the game, it simply doesn't do the game justice. Perhaps the best element of this game was its RPG elements, which when incorporated into a haunted house game made the game even more effective. Weapons would break, chainsaws would run out of gas, and of course guns needed bullets. Though best of all for this DOS game was how its windows could be resized and moved around to suit the gamer's personal tastes; a game format unheard of in 1993, two years before Windows 95 ever saw the light of day.

• Uninvited. Cute (if you can say that) little haunted house game that was available on two disks on my old Black and White Macintosh SE back in the day. Had to love the sound FX. You also had to love the interactivity where opening a drawer led to a new window of the drawer's inventory, while opening a bag in the drawer opened another window, and so on. A lot of inventory to collect in this game. Finding out what inventory items to use and where was part of the puzzle. Complete the game and you got to print out a "certificate" congratulating you. Cool.

• Escape from Monster Manor. Not much to say about this one game wise. It was a Wolf 3D clone for the 3DO released the same time as Doom, so you don't hear much about this one. However the sound FX were awesome, and the way ghosts would swirl away with a scream when shot was COOOOOOL. Too bad the ending was barely there, though then again: so was the game's story.

• Killing Time. Might as well mention this 3DO haunted house game right after the prior one, eh? While possibly meant as a "spiritual sequel" to Monster Manor, this game had a much larger house, more non-linear exploration of the house, a Doom-style game engine (stairs, multiple floors, etc.) and best of all; thanks to the 3DO's video technology, ghosts were actors filmed in full motion video. You could even walk closer/farther from the ghosts to get a better view of the ghostly scene being played, of each ghost's demise while still alive. While ported to the PC and Mac, those were very poor "ports" of the 3DO title, so they didn't offer as good of a game experience as the original. However, the Mac translation was a "director's cut" of sorts, including more levels and an ending that made much more sense!

• Realms of the Haunting. this was basically a Doom clone set entirely in a haunted house. The added perks included non-linear exploration of the house (instead of level 1 or 2, you could explore and re-explore areas/maps of the house at will), and full motion video cutscenes. Unfortunately few people seem to have played this one, and the Wikipedia page for the game includes a very cut and dry story summary and the video cutscenes' cast, and that is about it.

Again; none of these games can compare to Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Bioshock, and the like, though I feel much better now mentioning them here. I'd ask viewers' thoughts as well on these rarely-heard-of games, though I'm still having trouble finding a decent forum module for the letters/feedback page. Hopefully next week...

As Always: I'm Techtite, and these are My Two Bits...