The Playdate? Yeah, it runs Doom.

The Playdate is a curious handheld console under development by Mac software lifers and occasional game publishers Panic, with an odd concept about games being delivered wirelessly at regular intervals and, uh, a turn crank controller on the side. Might be cool.

Developer preview units have been sent out to a lucky, randomly-chosen few, like indie dev Nic Magnier, who thankfully decided to answer the question this blog’s existence eternally poses by way of adapting a pre-existing port of Chocolate Doom to an embedded platform.

The attempts to shove Doom’s detailed pixel art through a purely two-colour display are interesting, but a 3D game on this platform would definitely need artwork to be specifically authored for the display’s limitations. Might be a fun concept to play around with…

Thanks Mechadon for bringing this to my attention!

Maxis, the developer of SimCity, didn’t want to make professional simulation games. But for two brief, strange years, they did.

From 1992 to 1994, a division called Maxis Business Simulations was responsible for making serious professional simulations that looked and played like Maxis games. After Maxis cut the division loose, the company continued to operate independently, taking the simulation game genre in their own direction. Their games found their way into in corporate training rooms and even went as far as the White House.

I’ve been researching Maxis Business Simulations for the last four years, and this is the culmination of all my research. I am so incredibly proud to finally share this.

For the first time ever: this is the story of Maxis Business Simulations and SimRefinery.

When SimCity got serious (read on The Obscuritory)

Myki card readers? Yeah, they run Doom.

For those blissfully unaware, Myki is the perpetually-cursed public transport card system in Melbourne and Regional Victoria, Australia. Nobody likes it and it will never be replaced, but at this point I’m not even sure that we as a state would even know what to do with a competent train card system…

Anyhoo, somehow Reddit user zbios managed to get a hold of an older, obsoleted model of Myki card validator that runs Windows CE. One quick install of the Windows CE port of Chocolate Doom and the addition of VNC software to allow remote keyboard and mouse control, and he was able to help the Demonic hordes touch off… permanently. Check out the link for video footage!

Many thanks to Rudi for telling me about probably the most Melbourne thing I’ll ever post on this site, unless someone somehow ports Doom to graffiti on the side of an alleyway cafe.

Carnivores is a series of dinosaur hunting video games, but the fourth game, Carnivores: Cityscape, released in 2002, takes a very different direction. This time, the dinosaurs get to fight back.

This was the first and last Carnivores game that let you play as dinosaurs, and it’s also the only Carnivores game with multiplayer. It’s a significant change, not just because it’s an action-packed shooter now, but because it was made with multiplayer in mind. This game was meant to be played with a dozen people. In single-player, it feels… abandoned.

Carnivores: Cityscape (read on the Obscuritory)

Stopsignal’s Mimic sprite

Social isolation

Thrash Rally Publisher: SNK Developer: Alpha Denshi Platform: Arcade, Neo Geo, Neo Geo CD Year: 1991 (Arcade, Neo Geo), 1994 (Neo Geo CD)