You know, now that I think about it... It was way back around when Volfied was new that I learned that QIX stood for something, and considering you couldn't look stuff like that up on the internet back then, and the only version of the original QIX I own is the Gameboy version, which doesn't say anything about it, I probably read about it in a gaming magazine.

The gaming magazines I was reading back then were Gamepro, EGM and Nintendo Power, and I also had a couple issues of S.W.A.T. (Secret Weapons And Tactics). Chances are I read what QIX stood for in one of those... possibly in a letters column, which means its entirely possible someone completely made up what it stood for just to tease readers. :P

Even if it doesn't really stand for something, I still think it should. ;D

Ancient DOS Games Episode 65 - Space Adventure is online!

I managed to stump everyone this week; I knew I could do it! ;D

...I promise Episode 66 will be easier to guess! ^_^;

But yeah, even though the more common and famous games are the ones that get the most views, I still feel it's important to cover the lesser (or barely) known stuff every now and then. I thought Volfied would be pretty obscure but apparently it wasn't obscure enough. :P

Speaking of view counts, I'm hoping we break 100,000 views of ADG before the year is over, but if current viewership numbers stay the course, we're gonna be a mere 5,000 views short! D:

Also, I have no idea what to do for my next filler so feel free to make some suggestions!

Most guesses I've made I was already familiar with that game. However Volfied was one that discovered with some quick research based on the clue. For this clue I didn't find much but I did figure that Elite was too well known to be the right answer.

if you are looking for filler ideas, why not discuss making a "real" dos gaming machine in leu of dosbox? I'm sure every active member here has such a system of varying degrees of power from 286 to pentium 4.

just a thought.

Actually, I didn't start tinkering with computer hardware until around the debut of Windows 2000, so my knowledge of working with computer hardware in pre-2000 machines is limited. I also have very little in terms of spare hardware floating around so I wouldn't be able to show much. :/

Based on the ideas I've gotten I think the one I'm gonna go with next weekend is to take a quick look at Dr. Sbaitso, since I actually have a legit copy of it. ;)

But, there were several ideas from all of you, and there will be more fillers to come of course, so if anyone has any more ideas, feel free to share! ^_^

Gemini Rue isn't dos but, what do you guys think of it?

Ancient DOS Games Filler #10 - Dr. Sbaitso is online!

First of all, yes, I'm aware this isn't that entertaining an episode. It was really hard to figure out stuff to talk about since really, the best way to know how Dr. Sbaitso works is to just talk to it and see how it responds, so I figured I'd share the experience instead and give my voice a break. Besides, I'm gonna have a lot of work cut out for me for my next ADG episode...

Hopefully, the after-credits stuff makes up for it... and I do hope you all have been watching past the credits in my videos because every so often I do have some neat little extras. ;)

Um... what is the clue? I can't understand what the computer voice is saying without the subtitles.

I'll send you a PM. For the most part, I think trying to figure out what he's saying should be half the fun. ;)

Gemini000 wrote:

I think trying to figure out what he's saying should be half the fun. 😉

If you'r native speaker then sure... if you'r not it can be confusing as hell with those voice synthesizers 😉

... i hope i understood your riddle correctly, and send you my guess

Nice filler!

General:
- As an update on Android woes, both Skyfire and Dolphin browsers give a "Sorry, this video is temporarily unavailable" or "this video cannot be played" error, even if I fake the user agent.

Space adventure:
- Looking at the red/yellow/green palette makes me wonder how some of those old CGA games looked to people who are red-green color blind 🙁
- As soon as I saw the gameplay for this, I immediately though of Bezerk. One of the things that made Berzerk so exciting, though, was that enemies (and you) took only one hit to die. The combat in Space Adventure looks a bit tedious in comparison due to the multiple hits it takes to kill enemies. I do like that it does have an ending, though, as the lack of such in many old arcade games (and their home conversions) means that you're guaranteed to walk away frustrated or bored at some point (unless you're highly motivated by score/points I guess).

Filler #10:
- I remember playing with this a bit, as it came on one of my SB/SBPro/SB16 disks. It was (as you say) really just a toy, though.
- Was the last stinger a real thing that happens, or did you hack the program?
- I seem to remember some other text-to-speech software included with one of the Sound Blaster models. There was one with a parrot, for example, but I don't remember what it did. I probably have a copy of it, as I ripped most of my SB2.0/SBPro/SB16 floppies to image files a while back.

Gemini000: I know it was just a filler, and it had its fun moments. But for the first time I must say, you have just gotten a "badge" from me that says "God damn that was a boring filler". 😀

I see no mature content warning, so I assume you didn't try to be raunchy and give him a parity error.

Use the help command for contextual words and other cool commands (I like turning on echo and just cut out all the typing to make a quicker conversation after)

Little known fact: The Win32 sequel to Dr. Sbaitso is included in Mindmaker Assistant. Surprisingly, no youtube videos of that damn parrot yet....

leileilol wrote:

Surprisingly, no youtube videos of that damn parrot yet....

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY0F5AjHP7E

WRONG PARROT

I'm referring to Prody Parrot

Say what you want. I enjoyed it. I remember playing with a similar text to speech program as a kid.

HunterZ wrote:

General:
- As an update on Android woes, both Skyfire and Dolphin browsers give a "Sorry, this video is temporarily unavailable" or "this video cannot be played" error, even if I fake the user agent.

I really have no control over this, it's the way Blip.tv is. x_x;

I think so long as more and more people complain to Blip directly they'll eventually prioritize getting an Android solution together.

HunterZ wrote:

Space adventure:
- Looking at the red/yellow/green palette makes me wonder how some of those old CGA games looked to people who are red-green color blind :(

At least you can change the palette completely. I do have a friend with said colour-blindness and he routinely has trouble differentiating bright yellow and green on computer monitors. x_x;

HunterZ wrote:

Was the last stinger a real thing that happens, or did you hack the program?

Neither. 'twas simply good editing. ;)

WolverineDK wrote:

Gemini000: I know it was just a filler, and it had its fun moments. But for the first time I must say, you have just gotten a "badge" from me that says "God damn that was a boring filler".

Undoubtedly, but I couldn't really think of any other way to showcase Dr. Sbaitso without simply making fun of him constantly, and that would've been even less entertaining and more annoying. :P

leileilol wrote:

I see no mature content warning, so I assume you didn't try to be raunchy and give him a parity error.

Did you type that before you even watched the video? ;D

I did give him a parity error but cut to it so I didn't have to show excessive swearing... though I know it's possible to give him a parity error WITHOUT swearing, but I forget how to do it.

I love almost-intelligent programs like this! Reminds me of my times with Eliza...

Those stingers at the end were the best part, lawled at the last two.

Ancient DOS Games Episode 66 - The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall is online! (NOTE: This episode has mature content!)

I've been awake for nearly 24 hours now trying to get this thing done, wrestling with updated codecs, audio latency issues, upload issues... oy...

The sad part is that the sheer size of this game makes it impossible to do it justice. I know I missed about 99.999% of the content so please just let it be if I didn't talk about your favourite thing. If I talked about every little detail the episode would be 100 hours long... maybe more. x_x;

Anyways, I'm about ready to collapse onto my keyboard, but since today's episode is mature-rated, here's the hint for next week's game: It's a game that has an energy bar for when you take damage and you only get one life, BUT, if you turn it up to hard difficulty, the energy bar is replaced with extra lives and you die in one hit. Also, it's a 2D shooter, but doesn't take place in outer space.

*falls out of chair and falls asleep face-first on the floor*