Milestone games I've owned since 1990

An article on video game design from 1990 to 2008 reminded me of a few games I've owned.  I've excerpted screens from those games below.
Looking back, it's interesting to note that the best games were never about the graphics.  The most innovative games came in bursts.  And there's been very little "new" in gaming for more than the past 5 years.  We're overdue for a crop of games that raise the bar.
(These are not the only games I've played or owned, they're the ones covered in the article that I happened to own.)

1990

Wing Commander


Source: mobygames.com

1991
Civilization


Source: mobygames.com

1992

Wolfenstein 3D


Source: mobygames.com
Dune II


Source: mobygames.com


1993

Sim City 2000
Doom


Source: mobygames.com

1994

Heretic
Warcraft


Source: mobygames.com

1995
The Need For Speed


Source: mobygames.com
Command and Conquer
Source: mobygames.com


1996

Quake
Duke Nukem 3D


Source: mobygames.com


1997

Total Annihilation
Source: mobygames.com
Age of Empires
Source: gamegoldies.org

Quake 2
Diablo


1998

Half Life
Source: mobygames.com
Microsoft Flight Simulator 98
Source: mobygames.com
StarCraft
Source: thezeal.com
Unreal
Source: mobygames.com


1999

Heroes of Might and Magic III
Source: mobygames.com


2000

The Sims

Colin McRae Rally 2
Source: mobygames.com


2001

Max Payne
Source: mobygames.com
Grand Theft Auto 3
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Source: softpedia.com
Halo
Source: mobygames.com
Empire Earth
Source: gamesurge.com


2002

Diablo II Lord of destruction
Warcraft 3
Source: ogre3d.org
Neverwinter Nights
Source: mobygames.com
Splinter Cell
Source: aaaa

Interlingua

Interlingua es un lingua auxiliar international naturalistic basate super le vocabulos commun al major linguas europee e super un grammatica anglo-romanic simple, initialmente publicate in 1951 per International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA).

Interlingua es le resultato del labores de 15 annos de un equipa de linguistas.

Le labor pro crear Interlingua habeva le start in Europa, a Liverpool in 1936 e le fin a New York in 1951, le equipa de linguistas ha extrahite le vocabulario international del linguas europee.

In 1967, ISO (International Organization for Standardization), que normaliza le terminologia, ha votate in unanimitate proxime de adoptarInterlingua como le basa pro ille dictionarios.

Interlingua = "International Lingua" es intendite que illo debe devenir un lingua commun del mundo pro succeder in servir le humanitate, ma non un solo lingua comun.

Don't stop believing

"It's music [we] grew up to," he says. "Fell in love with. Had sex with. Got married to. Graduated from high school or college with. It's a moment frozen in time, and when [we] remember those moments, [we] remember those songs."

At 41, Arnel Pineda joined Journey as lead singer after lead guitarist Neal Schon, who cofounded Journey in 1973, found clips of him on YouTube singing in a Manila bar band called the Zoo.

GQ's article is a well-written read.

After reading the story, watch Pineda's first show, live in Chile. Fittingly, it's available on YouTube:

"I just want to be a part of a band that will be able to reinvent themselves, you know?" Pineda says. "And I think they will be able to help me build a future, with my family. They will help me financially. They can help me with that. Because all of us need a good future for our children, for our families."

It's true, we do. The members of Journey talk about Pineda like he's given them their youth back, the way thrice-married men talk about the young wives who've got them doing wheatgrass shots and yoga, listening to the Killers. 

It's never too late to feel like you're going to live forever. 

Bottom falls out of construction in Guatemala

Tropical storm Agatha battered Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador over the weekend, officials in those countries reported.

In the northern part of Guatemala City, the downpour created a giant sinkhole that swallowed up a space larger than the area of a street intersection. Residents told CNN that a three-story building and a house fell into the hole.

In related news, reports from Indonesia claim that "a giant cylinder" has suddenly appeared.

via CNN

Perspectives on poverty in Africa

What we learn from the media tends to affirm our preconceptions instead of challenging them.  Thankfully, there are still journalists left who find and document the less popular narratives, narratives that don't fit as easily into our comfortable stereotypes.

These are from a Reuters photo essay on poverty in Africa. 

A woman looks out the window of her one-room hut at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 9, 2010. A shift in racial hiring practices and the recent global economic crisis means many white South Africans have fallen on hard times. Researchers now estimate some 450,000 whites, of a total white population of 4.5 million, live below the poverty line and 100,000 are struggling just to survive in places such Coronation Park, a former caravan camp currently home to more than 400 white squatters. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Friends talk through the window of a one-room hut at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Children walk through a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Children play with a tyre used to block the entrance to a squatter camp for poor white South Africans, at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

A family smokes together during a quiet moment at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 13, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Andre Coetzee, 57, drinks a mug of coffee at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

A woman drives a car at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 13, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

A man receives a monthly supply of food aid donated to residents of a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

A woman pushes a cart with a monthly supply of food aid donated to residents of a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Residents of a squatter camp for poor white South Africans line up for a communal meal at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 12, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Residents of a squatter camp for poor white South Africans line up for a communal meal at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 12, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Leone Smit, 41, does dishes in her shack while her son and his friend rest on a bed at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Andre Coetzee, 57, (L) sits with a neighbouring family at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 13, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Mara Udwesthuizen, 64, sits outside her tent home at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Vernon Nel, (L) cuts the hair of Reynard, 14, at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010.

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Anne Le Roux, 60, calms down her grandson, Reynard, 14 at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 16, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Lukas Gouws (C), 29, scolds a boy for digging up snakes at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Lukas Gouws, 29, smokes at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

A girl cries after being beaten by her father, in their makeshift home at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 12, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

A teenager plays cricket at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Girls set up a play house in their garden outside a family shack at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 
REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Donovan Durant, 23, (C) weeps as he looks at blood-soaked rags burning in a fire after his girlfriend gave birth prematurely and their baby died after a few hours at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdor March 7, 2010. 
REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

People attend an Afrikaans Sunday service in a makeshift tent church at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 7, 2010. 
REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Anna Snyders (C), 20, grieves beside her boyfriend, Donovan Durant, 23, at the funeral for their baby who died hours after she gave birth prematurely at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 12, 2010. 
REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Anna Snyders, 20, (C) is comforted during the funeral for her baby who died hours after being born prematurely at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans, in Krugersdorp, March 12, 2010. 
REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Donovan Durant (C), 23, carries the casket of his baby who died hours after being born prematurely while his girlfriend Anna Snyders, 20, (L) is comforted during a funeral service at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 12, 2010. 
REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Desmond Thomas, 40, (R) lights a cigarette beside the charred remains of his caravan that burned down the previous night after a candle set it on fire at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 7, 2010. 
REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Residents work on reparing a car at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 
REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

A resident works on reparing a car at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6,

Perspectives on poverty

I left the decisions about how Bauleni would present himself entirely up to him.  I only told him that I wanted to take one photo of him “wochena” (the Chichewa equivalent of “dressed to kill”) and another of him “wosachena,” or “dressed very poorly.”  Bauleni got right into character and we ended up having a lot of fun taking the photos. 

 poor Bauleni II        rich Bauleni II lo res

As Bauleni went into his house to find his prized umbrella, I began to wonder how unique these photos might be.  Do many organizations ask people how they want to be represented before the photographs start being taken?

 

Edward Kabzela – Chagunda Village, Malawi

Poor Edward lo res

Rich Edward lo res 

Edward Kabzela is an area borehole maintenance mechanic who I had the privilege of staying with for five days to learn a bit about his work.  As an area mechanic, he helps village committees keep their water points functioning by doing repairs and preventative maintenance. 

Edward is quite successful, both as an area mechanic and through other business initiatives. He grows tobacco, works with a basket weaving business, collects rent from a shop he rents out in the market, and services over 60 water points in his area. Next year, he is thinking of investing in a truck to start a transportation business. He is a great example of how little a thatched roof says about someone’s livelihood.

Edward was pretty excited about the project, but he had a pretty hard time keeping a straight face for the photos of him trying to look "poor." He looked so ridiculous that I’ve included one of the photos in the set. The photos of Bauleni Banda had the same kind of hilarity, with community members shouting out helpful hints on how to "look more poor." Neither had any trouble putting on their best and looking sharp.

via waterwellness.ca

Another example of how media shapes the ideas we have of things we haven't understood for ourselves. My memories of Africa are entrepreneurial, not poverty-stricken.