The Upper Memory Block Podcast

Hello Blockers!

Time for episode 45, the second part of our Dune coverage!

A bit of news:

A runthrough of the Steam game streaming beta.

The new mobile version of Dungeon Keeper is somewhat disappointing.

Then we get to the second half of our Dune coverage, covering the Westwood group of Dune games, starting with Dune 2.

Enjoy!

Play Dune 2 free online at: http://play-dune.com/

Play Dune 2000 and more with OpenRA: http://openra.res0l.net/

Stream the show live:

Direct download:
http://umbcast.com/podcast/045-UMBCast-Dune-Part-2.mp3

Blockers, the spice must flow!

Welcome to episode 44 where we’re talking about the 1992 Virgin Interactive series, Dune. In this first part we’ll discuss the first game by Cryo Interactive.

First though, the news:

It appears a remake of the 1989 open-world RPG, Midwinter is in the works.

SimCity is getting an online mode, despite assurances it wasn’t possible.

Some changes to the design to the Steam controller are coming.

Next, some email links:

Sierra Gamers: www.sierragamers.com
SierraHelp: www.sierrahelp.com
Quest Studios: www.queststudios.com
Sierra Music Central: www.sierramusiccentral.com

Game Center CX: http://www.sa-gccx.com

We then get to the main event, Dune by Cryo Interactive.

Next time, we’ll be discussing Dune II and its descendants.

Enjoy!

Stream the show live:

Direct download:
http://umbcast.com/podcast/044-UMBCast-Dune-Part-1.mp3

Happy new year, blockers!

Time for episode 43 where I’ll be talking about a group of WWII flight sims from Lucasarts, Battlehawks 1942, Their Finest Hour: Battle of Britain and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe.

As always though, the news:

7th Guest 3: The Collector has restarted a new crowd funding campaign with a more reasonable goal.

Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics have been removed from both GoG and Steam due to rights transfer.

Wired.co.uk did a great interview with the managing director of GoG.com.

Stardock has announced they are actively working on a new Star Control game.

We then get to the main topic, the Lucasarts flight sims. We have a great discussion of the history of these three games plus one more I hadn’t heard of.

Next time, I’ll be talking RTS with Dune.

Enjoy!

Stream the show live:

Direct download:
http://umbcast.com/podcast/043-UMBCast-Lucasarts-Flight-Sims.mp3

What’s your 20, Blockers?

It’s time for episode 42, all about Sierra’s 1987 adventure series, Police Quest.

As always, though, some news:

Wasteland 2 is available for purchase via Steam Early Access.

The gog.com winter sale is ending and the Steam winter sale will soon begin.

A new trailer has released for the new Tex Murphy game, Tesla Effect.

A new Star Wars game, Attack Squadron has been teased. We don’t have a ton of info, but we do have a trailer.

We then get on to the main topic, Police Quest. We discuss the first four games of the series.

Buy Police Quest 1-4 on GoG:
http://www.gog.com/game/police_quest_1_2_3_4?pp=1106a1dda2d680438ecfb0bb70fd479c55a1791f

YouTube playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2whCuUnKwYDHG4T5Yn6AdAunPkM6q9-P

Next time, we’ll be covering the series of LucasArts WWII flight sims, Battlehawks 1942, Their Finest Hour and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe. I’m excited to get back into some combat flight sims.

Stream the show live:

Direct download:
http://umbcast.com/podcast/042-UMBCast-Police-Quest.mp3

Welcome to my house, Blockers!

For episode 41, we’re talking about the 1993 Trilobyte interactive movie game, The 7th Guest.

In the news:

John Carmack officially leaves Id Software.

thesurvivor2299.com launches, may be a Fallout 4 teaser site. We’ll know soon enough!

Steam is introducing user reviews.

Steam’s Autumn (or Spring, depending where you live) sale is on!

Star Citizen has hit 33 million in funding and unlocked more stretch goals.

We then get into the 7th Guest and the 11th Hour. We get into all the usual topics.

Buy the 7th Guest on GoG:
http://www.gog.com/game/the_7th_guest?pp=1106a1dda2d680438ecfb0bb70fd479c55a1791f

Buy the 11th Hour on GoG:
http://www.gog.com/game/the_11th_hour?pp=1106a1dda2d680438ecfb0bb70fd479c55a1791f

Buy the 7th Guest and the 11th Hour on Steam:
http://store.steampowered.com/sub/32847/

Next time, we’re covering the Sierra procedural adventure series, Police Quest.

Stream the show live:

Direct download:
http://umbcast.com/podcast/041-UMBCast-The-7th-Guest.mp3

May the Force be with you, Blockers!

It’s time for episode 40, where I am covering the 1995 LucasArts FPS series, Dark Forces/Jedi Knight.

Before that though, the news:

Damon Slye has launched and retracted a Red Baron Kickstarter.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has done an interesting compare/contrast review of Dungeon Keeper vs. War for the Overworld.

Trilobyte Games has launched a kickstarter to develop the third game in the 7th Guest series.

From Blizcon 2013, Blizzard has a team working on bringing the original two Warcraft RTS games to modern PCs.

We then discuss the four games in Dark Forces / Jedi Knight series. All the usual suspects and a ton of your emails!

Buy the Jedi Knight collection on Steam:
http://store.steampowered.com/sub/2103/?snr=1_7_15__13

Next time, we’ll be covering the 1993 horror adventure, the 7th Guest.

Stream the show live:

Direct download:
http://umbcast.com/podcast/040-UMBCast-Dark-Forces.mp3

Namaste Blockers!

It’s episode 39 where I will be discussing the iconic 1989 Bullfrog god game, Populous.

But first a little bit of news:

Last time we talked about Rand Miller and Cyan getting back together fr a project. Well, it’s out and it’s called Obduction. It is a spiritual sucessor to Myst and Riven.

Next, in Thief news, The Dark Mod, a Thief mod for Doom 3 has released it’s second version. Dark Mod 2.0 is now standalone and does not require any resources from Doom 3.

We then get to the main topic, the Populous series. We cover all the usual suspects and also read an email from Paul where he talks about building his own version of Populous during Lionhead’s Creative Day in 2011.

Buy Populous on GoG:
http://www.gog.com/game/populous?pp=1106a1dda2d680438ecfb0bb70fd479c55a1791f

Buy Populous 2 on GoG:
http://www.gog.com/game/populous_2?pp=1106a1dda2d680438ecfb0bb70fd479c55a1791f

Buy Populous: The Beginning on GoG:
http://www.gog.com/game/populous_the_beginning?pp=1106a1dda2d680438ecfb0bb70fd479c55a1791f

Next time I’ll be covering the 1995 LucasArts FPS, Dark Forces.

Stream the show live:

Direct download:
http://umbcast.com/podcast/039-UMBCast-Populous.mp3

Hey Blockers,

Here’s episode 38 where I delve deep into the 1989 Access Software adventure series, Tex Murphy.

Before that though, the news:

Transport Tycoon for iOS is out!

The new Thief game is available for pre-order unlocking Feb 25, 2014.

The state of SimCity.

Rand Miller and Cyan Worlds are getting together for a “large project”.

A new version of Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers is being developed by Jane Jensen for its 20th anniversary.

We then read some emails and get into the main topic, Tex Murphy.

Buy Tex Murphy 1 & 2 on GoG:
http://www.gog.com/game/tex_murphy_1_2?pp=1106a1dda2d680438ecfb0bb70fd479c55a1791f

Buy Under a Killing Moon on GoG:
http://www.gog.com/game/tex_murphy_under_a_killing_moon?pp=1106a1dda2d680438ecfb0bb70fd479c55a1791f

Buy The Pandora Directive on GoG:
http://www.gog.com/game/tex_murphy_the_pandora_directive?pp=1106a1dda2d680438ecfb0bb70fd479c55a1791f

Buy Overseer on GoG:
http://www.gog.com/game/tex_murphy_overseer?pp=1106a1dda2d680438ecfb0bb70fd479c55a1791f

Next time, I’ll be covering the 1989 Bullfrog god game, Populous.

Stream the show live:

Direct download:
http://umbcast.com/podcast/038-UMBCast-Tex-Murphy.mp3

Greetings Blockers!

It’s episode 37 where we’re talking the 1998 Looking Glass Studios stealth action game, Thief.

Before that though, the news:

Steam Family Sharing has been announced!

Hardware: Shipbreakers, a game in the spirit of Homeworld, has acquired the Homeworld IP from Gearbox Software.

Lemmings Touch has been announced on the Vita.

The Duke Nukem lawsuit between 3D Realms and Gearbox has been dropped.

Peter Molyneux’s Godus is now available on Steam.

Sci-fi author Timothy Zhan has launched a kickstarter for a 4X strategy game called Parallax, based on his writing.

We then go through some listener emails and then get to the main topic, Thief.

Buy the Thief Collection on Steam:
http://store.steampowered.com/sub/14734/

Buy Thief on GoG:
http://www.gog.com/game/thief_gold

Buy Thief 2 on GoG:
http://www.gog.com/game/thief_2_the_metal_age

Buy Thief: Deadly Shadows on GoG:
http://www.gog.com/game/thief_3

Thief series enhancement resources:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2715838

Next time, I’ll be covering the Access Software Adventure series, Tex Murphy.

Stream the show live:

Direct download:
http://umbcast.com/podcast/037-UMBCast-Thief.mp3

Come follow me, Blockers!

It’s episode 36 where we discuss the 1991 Psygnosis action puzzler, Lemmings.

The news:

GoG.com has released their indie portal where devs can go to submit their games for sale.

EA and Mythic are developing a new version of Dungeon Keeper for Android and iOS. it will be free to play with in-app purchases.

The Bureau: X-COM Declassified has released to middling reviews.

SimCity for Mac launched, it didn’t go well.

The first preview of Star Citizen, the Hangar module, has released.

We then get to the main topic, the Lemmings series. We discuss the gameplay and dev story in detail and then talk about all the official sequels as well as read some great listener emails.

Play Lemmings online:
http://www.elizium.nu/scripts/lemmings/

Download the Lemmings shareware demo:
http://www.classicdosgames.com/game/Lemmings.html

Next week, we’ll be moving to the tail end of the time frame of the show with the 1998 stealth action game, Thief: The Dark Project.

Stream the show live:

Direct download:
http://umbcast.com/podcast/036-UMBCast-Lemmings.mp3