A milestone in three dimensional gaming and state-of-the-art graphics technology.

On September 9, 1992, one of the greatest first person shooters ever created was released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Paving the way with state of the art graphics technology, this game introduced one of the first forays into three dimensional gaming. That’s right, three dimensions. I am talking about the almighty Faceball 2000.

It’s true, Xanth Software F/X, inc. was taking a step into the unknown in the development of Faceball 2000, being fresh on the heels of id Software with their releases of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, where the 3D game was a rarity and quite the technical wonder. Another act of innovation for Xanth was the use of smiley faces in the first person shooter genre. The whole concept of the game is to control the main smiley face and go kill other smiley faces. That’s it. Wander through 3D mazes of blank, featureless floors and walls and shoot the smiley bad guys. That kind of idea can seem rather dull and pointless, but it quickly becomes an addicting and entertaining concept, as you progress through different mazes and encounter different types of smilies, most with different colors and shapes. One of the quirks of the game is the names given to the various smilies, such as “shootme” or “ishootu.” Some of it being a spoof of the ‘L33T’ lingo of the early 90’s. Faceball is an all-around sarcastic approach to gaming and has a somewhat tongue in cheek message about the whole cyberspace and internet craze of the techno era.

Sliptide and I, being quite the adept little pseudo-hackers that we were, were all into the whole growing internet techno phase, which made the whole cyberspace theme of this game that much more enjoyable to us. Sliptide had gotten the game for his Super NES, and we would play it on my overnight visits to his house. We actually got pretty good at it, too. We had always had an interest in first person shooters, which had become our favorite genre at the time, so we got a lot of time in on those types of games, such as Doom, Wolfenstein, and Quake, Faceball included. I remember actually being mildly impressed with the ‘futuristic’ graphics, since I was used to the standard 2D games of the post-80’s generation. The game itself was an advancement in it’s time, but today does’t seem very advanced. However, I still got a kick out of it, and I’m sure I will every time I play it.

So, if navigating featureless mazes and shooting large, smiling, slow moving blobs with even smaller slow moving blobs isn’t your idea of a good time, then Faceball 2000 is not the game for you. However, if you enjoy an addicting, cheesily entertaining retro glance into the past, then this is one of those games for a self-induced flashback. If you are a child of the 90’s, then this really is a step back into your childhood. For me, this game just screams ‘nostalgia,’ and brings back alot of memories of my shared past with Sliptide playing Super NES and Sega Genesis into the wee hours of the night, all the way past the forbidden hour of 10pm! So I guess it’s kind of personal and biased of me when I say that this is one of the greatest games ever.

Faceball 2000
Release Date: September 9, 1992
Published by: Bullet-Proof Software
Developed by: Xanth Software F/X, inc.
Platform: Super Nintendo, GameBoy
Genre: Action/First Person Shooter

The latest e-mail virus to hit, Mydoom, is wreaking havoc everywhere in the US. Here at the Capital Projects Offices of University of Washington we’ve only had 6 of our 200 users infected but the virus is still causing heart-ache (or acid reflux if you choose) for us and the rest of the campus.
Note: Sources & Links::ZDNet::Symantec

On January 20th, Nintendo officially announced their new portable console project that will be developed in 2004. The current working title for the project is the Nintendo DS, or the Nintendo Dual Screen. There are currently no images or concept designs available for the system, but it will be debuted to the public at E3 in Los Angeles later this year.

Nintendo has once again paved another path of innovation with the Nintendo DS, as the system will include two screens for more in depth perspectives in gameplay. The screens will be two 3-inch TFT LCD displays with edge-lighting similar to the Gameboy Advance, with two separate ARM processors for each screen. There will also be up to one gigabit of memory for the system, and it is currently unknown if the system media will be on cartridges or mini-discs. The purpose of the dual screen setup is to increase the depth of gameplay and add multiple perspectives to the player’s experience without slowing down the pace. For example, while playing a game, instead of pausing the game to go through a menu or adjust an option, the gameplay can continue on one screen while the menu is browsed in the other screen. Or, a scenario can be viewed from two different camera angles on both screens simultaneously.

The Nintendo DS is not meant as a replacement system for either the Gameboy Advance or the Gamecube, and will be marketed separately from the other systems. A representative of Nintendo Japan commented that there is currently a follow up system to the Gameboy Advance also in the works that will come at a later date. Several third party developers are already in the process of producing games for the Nintendo DS, which is scheduled for release before the end of 2004.

This is really something to look forward to.