Here are some sites that are related to console video gaming in general:

National Console Support, a good source for import video games. I've ordered from them. I had no problem installing their playstation mod chip, and have gotten a couple of games from them, as well. Tronix. They also deal in import games. I've yet to order from them, as NCS' prices are a bit better, but they seem to have a slightly better selection of Japanese playstation games. I've also heard about this place, CGN. Never dealt with 'em, but... If you've dealt with 'em, I'd like to know how it worked out for you. Please tell me.

Just for amusement, here are some pages to some games that I've been playing fairly regularly of late:

Diablo. This is a pretty cool game. It could use some improvement, in that it is really just a hack 'n' slash game.  I solved the game some time back, and was somewhat unimpressed with the ending.  The last level was much easier than I expected.
Ambrosia Software makes some really cool versions of classic arcade games. My favorite of these, Maelstrom, is a version of asteroids with power-ups, better graphics and sound, and more hazards. A friend of mine loves Apieron, a warped version of centipede. They also make some other interesting games. Definitely take a look. There is also a semi-official X Version for all you UNIX hackers out there.
Tomb Raider. This game was a lot of fun (yeah, I finally finished it... now if I'd had more time to play, it would have been done a lot sooner...:)  I also played through the sequel.  It looked really nice once I got the Voodoo 2 board.  It did, however, get me to go out and get a thumb pad.
Quake. Also see Blue's News, or, heaven forfend, the official site at ID Software.

To truly appreciate the latter two games, check out this site.

Microprose. Hey, they did Civ and Sword of the Samurai. They can't be all bad...:> Now they've finally finished the Magic game, and it is pretty cool, if still buggy. The sequel, Spells of the Ancients, added most of the cards that I was really looking for (in particular, I was really annoyed at not having access to the multilands).  They made a third game, Duel of the Planeswalkers, but the list of cards they added was really lame.  I thought about keeping it for the bug fixes, but decided not to do so.  Of course, now they're owned by Hasbro.  How's that for scary?
I also started playing CivII a short while ago again.  I decided that my earlier not-so-good impression of it was because it stays with really long years for a long time, but since it catches up a bit later on, I'm not quite so upset as I once was.  Still, after playing the newer Alpha Centauri, I don't know how I could go back to either version of Civ.  It's made by Firaxis, but still has Sid Meyer's name on it.  The improvements made for AC are pretty awesome.   They include:

• Separation of terraformers and colony ships. This sounds like a trivial detail, but it makes an incredible difference in game play.
• Satellites, giving potentially almost unlimited city size and production.
• Extensive use of the ocean, including, in particular, the ability to put cities on the sea.
• Random technology growth (well, this can be either good or bad, admittedly. It certainly makes the game less predictable, and that's always a plus)
• Stacking of builds. Ie: While working on building one thing, you can tell it the next nine things that'll be built afterwards.
• Better city management if you want to automate it. I'm still not sold on this, but it's definitely better than it was.
• None of the Secret Projects (Wonders of the World) expire
• Another interesting feature is the social engineering. No longer do you just select a government, and let it go. Now, you select among four different factors, which each make small changes in society.
• The various factions. Each of the seven factions has some advantage and disadvantage over the others. For instance, the Gaians get added efficiency (which makes them the most powerful in the endgame) and added food from fungus squares (which makes it easier to expand in the early game). The Morganites get money bonuses, but penalties to city size. The believers get additional attack power, but with significant penalties to technology development. The University gets massive amounts of added research, but with an efficiency penalty and reduced morale, so while they're probably the strongest in the midgame, they've got penalties in the beginning and towards the end.
• And, lastly, the Unit Builder. This is definitely the crowning achievement of the game. No longer do you get (just) improved units with your technology advances. Now, you get a unit improvement. You want a tank with jump jets? No problem. You want terraformers that you don't need to pay upkeep on? OK. How about hovercraft terraformers (one of my favorites)? No sweat. Colony pods on tank frames (for added movement)? Can do.

Finally, there is an expansion to Alpha Centauri that I haven't even tried yet. Actually, I haven't played any games since I stopped playing Alpha Centauri on a regular basis.  The expansion adds new factions, a faction builder, a new path to victory, etc.  The most intriguing thing to me, looking at the box, was a faction that lived on the ocean.   The one thing that was missing from Alpha Centauri, I feel, was a way to combine multiple units into a strike force, without having to give them individual orders all the time.

Here are a few pages (mostly) related to Sony Playstations: Sony Computer Entertainment Konami, USA

And here are some pages of game companies, largely of pc-based games, but some console companies as well:

• Bethesda Softworks, the makers of Daggerfall, which I mentioned earlier.
• Blizzard, makers of Warcraft, Warcraft II, and Diablo. I haven't more than cursorily tried the Warcraft games, but a number of my friends are really hooked on them. I already mentioned my thoughts on Diablo up above.
• Namco (very limited english on this site).
• Parallax, the creators of descent I & II. These games should get much better very soon, as voodoo drivers for II get updated. I'm definitely looking forward to it.
• Id Software, makers of lots of cool games, including Commander Keen...:>
• Psygnosis, who made lemmings a while ago, and is now Sony's Playstation development arm. I'm told that they got their start on Amigas. I guess they've had to evolve since Commodore. Kudos to them for maintaining high quality standards for their games.
• Gee, these guys have been making cool games since the 2600. Check out the guys at Activision These guys made one of my favorite games a while back, called MechWarrior. It's based on the game Battletech, by FASA. There's a newer version, MechWarrior 2, which is even better. I finally got this one when I got my voodoo video board (which happened shortly after I finally got around to upgrading my motherboard to a pentium). Of course, FASA also makes the really cool game Shadowrun. This is a really good fantasy/sci-fi world, though I think the system itself could use some work.

Since I seem to be wending in that direction anyway, I'll mention that I'm also a big fantasy role-playing addict. I've been playing various systems since I was about eight years old. As I implied earlier, I played BattleTech a long time ago. I've also tried D&D, AD&D (both editions), Rolemaster, TOON, Car Wars, MERP, Top Secret, Villains and Vigilantes, Marvel Super Heroes (which pretty much sucked until they came up with the Ultimate Powers book), Champions, and probably a number of others that I'm forgetting.

As you might have noticed from my other pages, I'm definitely an anime nut, so I'd really like to try the Project A-Ko RPG. I have the rules, and they look cool, but I haven't had a chance to play it yet. *boooo*

Just for reference, here are the companies for those games:

• Iron Crown Enterprises, who made Rolemaster (an excellent system, as long as the game master knows the system _cold_; otherwise it tends to bog down in details) and Middle Earth Role Playing (MERP; aka Rolemaster Light. It does, however, have a fantastic setting. My preference is for playing Rolemaster in Middle Earth).
• Steve Jackson Games, who make Car Wars and GURPS (the Generic Universal Role-Playing System).  I've never tried GURPS, but I used to love Car Wars.
• Wizards of the Coast, who have become so successful, based largely on the strength of Magic: The Gathering, that they first sold off their role-playing division, and then bought TSR Games.  Personally, I haven't looked to see what they've done with AD&D since acquiring it.
• Ianus Publications . They make the Project A-Ko RPG (and a number of other things in which I'm not interested). I highly recommend anything having to do with A-Ko. That was the movie that first got me into watching anime. And that was quite a bit before I actually saw the movie with translation. Having the translation did manage to add a little bit.   What's great about the game is that it is similar to TOON.  That is to say, when you lose in combat, you don't die.  Instead, you return a few minutes later, swaddled in bandages.  As the adventure continues, so does your bandage count.

This is probably the most balanced system I've found to play. Sometimes the disadvantages for the character do get annoying, but then, I suppose that that's their purpose... Still, I do recommend this system highly.  When my friends and I play RPG's, this is the one most often chosen.  It's a much less abstracted system than AD&D, although AD&D isn't as consistent with its abstraction as it once was.  Champions is also a purely d6 system, rather than using the multiplicity of polyhedra that AD&D encourages so much.  The biggest strength of the system is that it is very consistent.  It doesn't have the gaping holes that many of the other systems have, the ones that just make you go "huh!?"   It's also very adaptable, particularly towards Fantasy, with its Fantasy Hero supplement.

The one real problem with the system is that there isn't as much variation among characters as in other systems.  That is to say, everyone has their one or two attacks, which, mechanically, tend to vary very little; everyone has their defense, which, again, does not vary much, and everyone has their talents and skills.  Mages in this system are even with fighters at the beginning, and stay even pretty much throughout.

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This page created and maintained by Dave Clemmer.   Last modified Nov 12, 1999.