Disable GC entirely

[Nick Sabalausky]

On Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:58:03 -0700
"H. S. Teoh" <hsteoh at quickfur.ath.cx> wrote:

> On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 07:35:27PM +0200, Paulo Pinto wrote:
> > 
> > This is what makes me happy while travelling on the bus and train:
> > 
> > https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larvalabs.gurk
> [...]
> 
> Yeah!!! I recently played Gurk II (which according to reviews is even
> better than the original Gurk), and totally loved it!! It was so
> nostalgic that it inspired me to fire up my trusty old dosbox and
> relive the good ole ultima 4&5 days. :-)
> 
> Granted, I *did* discover to my dismay that the pixel graphics and
> tinny sounds of the *original* ultima 4&5 are a lot worse than how my
> memory recalls they were (the pain was somewhat relieved upon
> installing the graphics upgrade patch) -- but man, the gameplay was
> excellent. The NPC dialogues were obviously trivial, monster AI was
> trivially predictable, and there are tons of loopholes that you can
> exploit -- but the important thing was, it was FUN. I could totally
> immerse myself in the virtual world and forget about the pixels and
> loopholes.  I'm afraid I can't say the same for most modern games
> with their fancy 3D graphics, CD-quality sound, superior AI, etc..
> The fun factor is just missing, even though all the superficial
> elements -- graphics, sounds, AIs, storylines -- are all far more
> developed.
> 
> Gurk II captures some of the fun gameplay of the original (pre-7)
> ultimas, and proves that a modern game without 3D graphics and a
> multimillion budget *can* be fun (and, judging from the reviews, it's
> selling pretty well too).
> 

This all reminds me, if you have an NDS, or access to one, you may want
to try "Retro Game Challenge". Actually, I highly recommend it.

(Disclaimer: That's the English version of it. When I played it no
English version had been announced, and it looked far too awesome to be
something likely to get localized, so I went through the Japanese
version, "Game Center CX: Arino's Challenge". So I don't know what
differences there may be).

It takes you chronologically through the 1980's with a series of brand
new 8-bit-style games, all extremely authentic, culminating with an
8-bit-style JRPG. Absolutely fantastic game. I only wish there had been
a non-portable version so I could play it on a nice big TV...and that I
knew more Japanese so I could actually tell what the hell anyone was
saying ;)