It was with a quick and decisive "yes" I accepted the kind invitation of Daniel Costa, to participate in what I believe will be very soon, one of the best blogs about video games in Portuguese.
As such, starting today, I will have a weekly article in "The Arcade", making the company a small but talented group of veterans of the gaming scene in Portugal.
Without lifting the veil over in these parts, I invite you to visit the " The Arcade ".
That's how many of us found Prince of Persia, the name of the executable on the PC that took us to a world of thousand and one nights. In 60 minutes we had to escape a huge dungeon and rescue the princess from the hands of the evil Jaffar. It seems basic, but in 1990 we did not care too much about it because PoP innovated in other areas such as animation, music and building levels.
How many games at the time, Prince of Persia is the work of just one programmer, Jordan Mechner , who already had given us the excellent Karateka, published by Brøderbund Software.
Contrary to what many think, Prince of Persia does not originally appeared on PC, but the Apple II in 1989, only in 1990 would be ported to PC, Amiga, Atari ST and Amstrad CPC. The success was enormous in the years following the game was ported to most consoles and computers of the time, giving room for improvement in terms of graphics and sound in some of the platforms.
Prince of Persia was entitled to a sequel, Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow & The Flame and more recently gave rise to a new series of video games in 3D, published by Ubisoft, and a Hollywood movie and several Graphic Novels, making again a name recognized by gamers (and beyond), but the origin remains unknown in part by later generations of players.
Today we return to play Prince of Persia easily, I think the original game is already considered Abandonware, but if you want to play on consoles, there are always remakes the Xbox 360 and PS3.
As for Jordan Mechner, he continues in the business of video games as indie developer, and recently put a post on his blog that claims to have recovered the "long lost" source code of the original Prince of Persia for Apple II 
For fans of Prince of Persia also recommend the book " The Making of Prince of Persia , "a collection of stories taken from the diary of Jordan during the period in which the first scheduled game.
As we are about here at 8BR Porreiras, we have a copy of the book in electronic format to offer simply by leaving a comment saying what they liked most in the original Prince of Persia! The result of the contest will be announced next Sunday the fourth book and sent to the email address you use in your comment.
Until then, good luck and play PoP to remember!
More about Prince of Persia
Trivia
Did you know that there are unofficial ports of Prince of Persia for ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 made from memory dumps of the original Prince of Persia the Apple II? As we only recently found the original source, the best way that fans arranged to make the port was doing reverse engineering the memory dump of the game.
As of today can now come the episodes of the 8-Bit Revolution Videocast new platform in the MEO , the MEO Kanal .
To access the channel 8-Bit Revolution simply press the green button and enter the MEO control channel number 660 400. Do not forget to add to favorites 
In 1990 Nintendo took its first steps in Portugal, publicizing their consoles and games through leaflets and magazines sent to members of Club Nintendo. To be a member was enough to send the coupon that was inside the box of most games. At a time when the Internet was still a long way, it was always good to get to the mailbox and have a letter from Club Nintendo.
One of the reasons why Nintendo continues today to be successful are their long-standing franchises. Last year Super Mario Bros. celebrated 25 years this year The Legend of Zelda also reached the quarter-century, but is not the only franchise of giant Nippon to be congratulated.
In 1986, more precisely on August 6, Nintendo launched its first game with a more black, inspired by science fiction films of the time, like Alien, we are clearly talking about Metroid.
In a hostile environment and without much color, the player's mission was to take Samus Aran, a bounty hunter, to explore an alien planet, without having much information to start. With the passage of time that we realized that we are not in the skin of a man but a woman, protected by a cybernetic armor, able to go evolving and gaining new weapons and features.
Besides the already mentioned, the need to explore various huge levels more than once, the suspense generated by the game environment, the feeling of loneliness, all this makes a successful Metroid, when the first Nintendo game aimed at an audience more mature than their previous franchises.
Gunpey Yokoi, the master, thus creating a new universe, a new franchise, perhaps a little loved by some within the Nintendo, but still remains very much alive and healthy.
The balance of the last 25 years is positive, the Metroid saga has many titles and we can only hope that these next 25 years bring many more, always with the same excellent quality that Nintendo has us accustomed to.
The negative criticism, is just the fact that by Nintendo saw nothing on the celebration of this day ... but no matter, we the fans will never forget!
Metroid Congratulations!
Sonic is grown up, turns 20 in 2011 and Sega is sparing no efforts to celebrate the birthday of their mascot. Sonic Generations is almost here and there are plenty of compilations where we can play the older titles of the blue hedgehog.
However I still think that is lacking a collection commemorating the 20th anniversary of Sonic, with all the classics to the consoles of this generation. Are still on sale the Sonic Mega Collection Plus and Sonic Gems for the PS2, baratinhos for € 10, but for me they are not perfect. Problems? Yes, there are versions that run at 50Hz PAL 
You could say that is a reliable experience, yes, go wrong, just like the originals ran in our Mega Drive, but after playing a Sonic 1, 2 or 3 on a console at 60Hz NTSC you'll see what speed.
The Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection for PS3 and X360 has the Sonics to 60Hz, but lack the acclaimed Sonic CD versions and Lock-On Sonic & Knucles ... with a DLC had resolved the matter, but Sega decided to get side.
So if someone from Sega 8BR go through, here's a list of games I like to have a collection of Sonic's birthday:
As a bonus for the Sonics can the GameGear, Master System and Neo Geo Pocket. All running at 60Hz, without borders or slowdowns. Do this and I'll be grateful the rest of life
I know this will be very difficult to become a reality, so they can send me one of these spectacular statues that created for the 20th anniversary I perdouo you
I have a theory. At least once in the life of every gamer, there is a machine that deeply marks.
Spectrum, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Dreamcast, Playstation, you name it. If you are gamer, at least one system that you scored more than the other. May not even be your favorite, but the mark is there and it is this that you remember when you talk about the "old days".
The system that most struck me today is called the Commodore Amiga 500 and was in 1989 that changed my life as a gamer.
Who lived in Portugal in the 80's, 90 principles of a Spectrum or even played on a PC (which was my case for some time), appeared later consoles and arcades were the delight of miudagem with its graphics and games another world, but this scenario was about to change.
The Commodore Amiga after the success of 1000 in some countries of Europe, begins to expand its market to arrive in Portugal and comes with some force entering the Amiga 500, a system with a price more accessible than the Amiga 1000 and directed to a less technical audience.
I can tell you that the first contact I had with an Amiga 500 was the home of a cousin of mine. I boqueaberto with the first game we played, never seen anywhere with that graphics and sound quality out of a game room. Shortly after my father gave me to choose between a PC and an Amiga 286 500 ... the choice was obvious and I can tell you that I have never regretted.
Amiga was avid bowler throughout his lifetime, until the Amiga 1200, when as they surrounded the first problems with the Commodore and the move to Intel platforms ... but let's go back to talk to you a little history of the Amiga 500.
Although the A500 is the successor to the A1000 in 1987, he is considered by many as the spiritual successor to the Commodore 64. It was this system that made the delight of many players, something that can only be repeated on a large scale with the A500, since A1000 was seen more as a machine for companies and businesses.
Powerful and versatile up to run other software, the A500 shines as gaming machine, giving rise to such gems as Speedball 2, Shadow of the Beast, Gods, Last Samurai, Turrican and Pinball Dreams.
The great rival of the A500 was the Atari 520 ST, which was very similar in hardware, but it lacked the magic of Commodore engineers, aka OCS, especially the chipset that the A500 was the monster he was:
The operating system, OS Amiga was multitasking, graphical environment with a very sophisticated and powerful with a shell. Running all of a single low density diskette! 880kb! The trick was to have part of the operating system to boot from a ROM, the Kickstart ROM, hence it is possible only with the boot diskette the game without loading anything
Everything about the A500 was designed so that the system could grow, had an expansion port for more RAM, ports for mouse, Joystiq, serial, parallel printer, scanner or other scanners, external disk and expansion to the second diskette drive.
The A500 was discontinued in 1991, had two direct successors, the A500 Plus, which was basically an A500 with 1 MB of internal RAM instead of 512Kb of origin of the A500 (which brought many compatibility problems with some games) and the A600, a smaller model, which showed the intention of the Commodore to compete with the market for consoles already quite strong in 1992/93, the year it was discontinued.
This was followed by the Amiga 1200 and Amiga CD32, this last one console with the ability to expand to a 1200 (this console will speak on another occasion). Needless to say, none of the Friends that followed were so successful as the A500. The Amiga 500 was unique and remains a landmark in the history of videogames and computers.
Today Amiga 500 continues to have a more active communities, mainly because of the demoscene and chiptune scene. The Amiga brand was bought and sold thousends times after the bankruptcy of Commodore in 1994, but there is still a glimmer of hope that a new Amiga is born from the ashes
As for me, I can tell you that I abandoned my A500 for a 486 DX2 66MHZ with a multimedia kit in 1994 and still regret having sold
Trivia
Did you know that an error that appeared when the Amiga crashava called Guru Meditation , originated in a joke made by the engineers at Commodore? One of the initial products of the Commodore was called Joyboard and was a device similar to a joystick but controlled with your feet, gender Wii Balance Board. At the beginning of development of the Amiga, developers became so frustrated with the frequent crahses the system to relax, have created a game for the Joyboard in which the player who could endure longer in a position of guru indiando (sitting cross-legged) gained, but if moved, lost and the game showed an error message "Guru Meditation".
It's with great pleasure that we announce the new channel 8-Bit Revolution on Youtube !
From today you will be able to find content 8BR in video format, for now, still experimental.
The first video follows in a moment We hope you like, we are waiting for your feedback!
Nintendo showed at E3, your bet for the future, the successor to the Wii and what will be their "flagship console": the U Wii .
The name of the console clearly indicates that this is something whose origin is the Wii, which was a reference to "We" or "us" and it was this "we" that clearly marked the Wii as a console game for the targeted group, a lighter game, focused on fun and movement, which quickly gained a large number of casual gamers.
The Wiimote at the time that was presented to the world and sold, was undoubtedly a great innovation in gaming, for its versatility and the various types of gameplay that allowed the player has a single console. It was certainly an asset for Nintendo, but a temporary visa that could be easily copied and adapted by other manufacturers and their consoles.
Enter the "U"
The Wii has yielded many millions of dollars for Nintendo, but realized that might have won more if they had come to the public that was divided between the Sony and Microsoft platforms. The hardcore gamers, gamers traditional or even those who like more of an experience alone. The "U" is a reference to them, the "Thou." Nintendo Wii with U want to reach everyone, but above all, to you, the player, whatever the way you play.
At first it was difficult for me to consider the Wii a new U platform. It is too similar to the Wii, the main differences being the new U Wii Controller and improved hardware. The Wii Controller U is an old dream of Nintendo. Who thinks this is something that was "born" from the Wii to date desengane up. Nintendo has been experimenting with this type of technology and concept since the days of the Gamecube. Remember the Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures? It was a multiplayer game for the Gamecube, with the ability to link Gameboy Advance's the Gamecube, which allowed players to control their links and see part of the game on the screen of the laptop, or is the concept of Wii U Controller, but adequate technology height.
The idea of the Wii Controller U is very good, but can come later. Can continue to play on the controller after turning off the TV? Good, but not new. The PSP and the PS3 has the technology that allows remote play this and that without doubt will be improved and expanded now with the release of PSVita.
As for hardware, we have a current generation console, still with some limitations. No internal hard drive, you can make it to those of Sony and Microsoft in their online services. The storage will be done with SD cards or USB drives. The support of the games will be the owners of 25GB disks, have half the capacity of a normal Bluray. Once again Nintendo prefers to invest in innovation and differentiation factors than defining a new generation by the hardware, but this has been the formula for success of Nintendo and that proved valid with the Wii, hopefully that works with the Wii U well.
I think with the Wii U we have a Wii again. We will have all the Nintendo franchises that we are used (playing a Metroid or Zelda with that command should be something to go to the clouds), and we'll have brilliant new ideas that will bring the console to its limit. I can already imagine Mr. Hideo Kojima and shine with a new Metal Gear Solid exclusive for the Wii that uses the U U Wii controller in an absolutely brilliant, nothing better to break the 4th wall than a MGS those with a controller.
An enhanced support of third parties seems to be guaranteed, or at least that's what Nintendo has led us to believe in their E3 conference, however, think it is too early to talk about it. For now, we contain the usual support from 3rd parties and the Nintendo franchises taken to an extreme exponent. We finally Super Mario, Zelda, Metroid and company HD
Apart from that, Nintendo Wii U is full of surprises with plenty to offer, I fear only that Sony or Microsoft, once again come to quickly copy these factors for their innovative consoles like they did with the Wii.
I just have to criticize Nintendo at one point. It saddens me that Nintendo abandon their support of one of the best consoles of all time. The compatibility with the Gamecube was left behind in this new Wii U. While the Wii has ports for controllers and memory cards from the Gamecube, which guaranteed a 100% support this platform, the Wii U do not, for reasons of hardware costs. I think it would have been a great fan service to U bear Wii games of GC by simply releasing a driver specifically for that purpose, or even an adapter for existing commands.
We will undoubtedly see the letters to give U Wii next year, hopefully more games to be announced soon, either 1st party or 3rd party, because investors do not seem convinced that Nintendo was without doubt the winner of this year's E3 with Wii U.
U Wii - Specifications
Released: 2012
Size is approximately 4.6 cm, 17.4 cm wide and 26.9 cm in length.
New command: The new command incorporates a touch screen of 6.2 inches (15.9 cm) 16:9 aspect ratio and, in addition to traditional buttons, including two sliders
analog. This combination removes the traditional barriers between games, players and TV to create a second window to the world of video games.
The command is rechargeable and includes On / Off button, Home button, directional pad + buttons A / B / X / Y buttons L / R buttons and ZL / ZR. It has integrated accelerometer and gyroscope, vibration feature, camera, microphone, stereo speakers, sensor and stylus.
Other commands: Up to four Wii Remote ™ (or Wii Remote Plus) can be connected simultaneously. The new console is compatible with all controls and devices
Wii ™ command, including commands Nunchuk ™, Classic Controller and Classic Controller Pro ™ ™, and the Wii Balance Board ™.
Media: A single media bay with automatic feed reproduce optical discs owners of 12 cm and high density produced for the new
console, as well as the 12 cm optical discs for Wii.
Video Output: Supports 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p and 480i. Compatible cables include HDMI, component, S-video and composite.
Audio output: AV Multi Out connector (output multiple audio and video). Out of six linear PCM channels via HDMI.
Storage: The console has internal flash memory, as well as the option to expand it using an SD memory card or an external hard drive USB.
CPU: Microprocessor-based multi-core IBM Power ®.
Other: Four slots for USB 2.0 connectors are included. The new console backwards compatible with Wii games and accessories.
Note: Details subject to change.
From today 8BR now has a new Facebook page , thus abandoning the discussion group exists.
Visit, do "like" and share with your friends!
 |  |  |  |  |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Recent Comments