Lots of people still like playing the crappy old games of 20-30 years ago. The reason has to be nostalgia because the games of today are superior in graphics, speed, playability and sound. Just the content may have deteriorated.
Twenty to thirty years ago, there were cannon games for shooting down warplanes and blowing up tanks and of course they were being driven by people who got killed, but you never saw them. These days, these same shoot-em ups have blood, gore and body parts scattered everywhere.
Perhaps it is more realistic, but does it teach anything? I don't think it makes children more aware of the horrors of war, it just numbs them to it a little more. In the past, those old cannon games were more or less all about elevating the cannon and allowing for windage, movement and distance. But what is Kitten Cannon about?
There is no knack to the game. You just blast a kitten out of a cannon to its death and the one who blasts it the farthest is the winner. Why a kitten? Only to become gruesome, I imagine. Kids like gruesome and the game is addictive and so it is popular, but older players are the ones who are looking back to their Super Mario and The Hobbit adventure games.
However, the majority of of these old games came on 5.25" floppy, cartridge or cassette tape. A few were on 2.5" diskettes. However, hardly anyone has the ability to load these formats anymore. Some have been altered to run on modern PC's, but then you have to purchase the same old 20-30 year old game again and the graphics and sound are no better.
You used to be able to play the old games, say, 10-15 years ago by downloading or purchasing an emulator, because computers back then were (or could) still loading from the old storage devices mentioned previously. So, if you would like to play a boxful of old Commodore 64 or Atari 250 games that you recently discovered in the attic, you will have to endeavour to purchase a 10-15 year old AT or something like that.
The only other option is to hunt the Internet for compilation disks that enthusiasts have put together after copying and converting them for use on modern PC's. The newer versions will probably run faster and smoother than what you remember, although the music will still be just as repetitive.
It is up to you what you think about copyright law. I am pretty sure that most of the companies that manufactured most of those games no longer exist, but it is likely that someone still owns the copyright although they might no longer worry whether it is infringed as long as you do not attempt to sell hundreds of CD's of the games on eBay.
Perhaps the old games of 20-30 years ago were far happier than the modern variety. Computers were still new and exciting in the Eighties and Nineties and I don't remember any blood and guts featuring in any of the games and I don't think anyone thought of firing a kitten out of a cannon.
Twenty to thirty years ago, there were cannon games for shooting down warplanes and blowing up tanks and of course they were being driven by people who got killed, but you never saw them. These days, these same shoot-em ups have blood, gore and body parts scattered everywhere.
Perhaps it is more realistic, but does it teach anything? I don't think it makes children more aware of the horrors of war, it just numbs them to it a little more. In the past, those old cannon games were more or less all about elevating the cannon and allowing for windage, movement and distance. But what is Kitten Cannon about?
There is no knack to the game. You just blast a kitten out of a cannon to its death and the one who blasts it the farthest is the winner. Why a kitten? Only to become gruesome, I imagine. Kids like gruesome and the game is addictive and so it is popular, but older players are the ones who are looking back to their Super Mario and The Hobbit adventure games.
However, the majority of of these old games came on 5.25" floppy, cartridge or cassette tape. A few were on 2.5" diskettes. However, hardly anyone has the ability to load these formats anymore. Some have been altered to run on modern PC's, but then you have to purchase the same old 20-30 year old game again and the graphics and sound are no better.
You used to be able to play the old games, say, 10-15 years ago by downloading or purchasing an emulator, because computers back then were (or could) still loading from the old storage devices mentioned previously. So, if you would like to play a boxful of old Commodore 64 or Atari 250 games that you recently discovered in the attic, you will have to endeavour to purchase a 10-15 year old AT or something like that.
The only other option is to hunt the Internet for compilation disks that enthusiasts have put together after copying and converting them for use on modern PC's. The newer versions will probably run faster and smoother than what you remember, although the music will still be just as repetitive.
It is up to you what you think about copyright law. I am pretty sure that most of the companies that manufactured most of those games no longer exist, but it is likely that someone still owns the copyright although they might no longer worry whether it is infringed as long as you do not attempt to sell hundreds of CD's of the games on eBay.
Perhaps the old games of 20-30 years ago were far happier than the modern variety. Computers were still new and exciting in the Eighties and Nineties and I don't remember any blood and guts featuring in any of the games and I don't think anyone thought of firing a kitten out of a cannon.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on various subjects but is currently involved with cat cannon games. If you would like to read more, please go over to our website entitled Kitten Cannon 3.
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