Ozark Softscape's Dan(i) Bunten-coded 8-bit multiplayer masterpiece, M.U.L.E., is now available in an updated, online playable version. The best part? This has the official blessing of the Bunten family. Fans of this site probably need no introduction to this semi-real-time economic strategy game, but for the rest of you, now is a great time to see what all the fuss is about. Check it out here. There are clients for Windows, Mac, and even Linux. The full game is free!

Today's casual photos, taken with the Panasonic digital camera, are: WarGames (Coleco, 1984; Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64), D-Bug (Electronic Arts, 1983; Atari 8-bit), and International Sensible Soccer (Telegames, 1995; Atari Jaguar). Commentary and photos below:

WarGames (Coleco, 1984; Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64), is of course based on the classic 1983 MGM film (which itself was based on a book called War Games) starring Mathew Broderick and Ally Sheedy, which made the hacker lifestyle look oh-so-cool and appealing (and on an IMSAI no less, which was as hacker chic as you could get). For Coleco's short time as a prime-time console and computer player, 1982 - 1985, they made, featured or had several classics among the turkeys for theirs and other platforms. Certainly, WarGames (1983), is undeniably a ColecoVision classic, and Coleco fans were lucky enough for them to make it one of the few games they converted for use on computers (they obviously did quite a few Atari 2600 VCS and Mattel Intellivision conversions) before they expired in the world of videogames (Mattel followed a very similar course of action).

Today's second set of casual photos (Magnavox Odyssey 300 (1976); Electronic Arts' Foes of Ali (1995) and Absolute's Rise of the Robots (1995) for the 3DO; Adventure International's Questprobe Featuring Spider-Man (1984) for the Atari ST; and Atari's Video Chess Special Edition (1979) for the Atari 2600 VCS) are taken with my Panasonic digital camera, and, instead of telling a semi-coherent story to go along with the photos, I'll talk about each one in brief in turn. Photos to follow the commentary (I had some issues with my image processing software at work, so I was unable to finish cleaning these up).

The Labyrinth of Time, created by Bradley W. Schenck and Michal Todorovic of Terra Nova Development, and published by Electronic Arts, was a CD-ROM-based graphics adventure released in the wake of Myst and 7th Guest, which explains why the game never really took off and why the game's intended sequels were never created. After all, if you're basically third after two of the biggest selling computer games of all time to that point were released, you don't stand much of a chance in the marketplace. Anyway, what's interesting is that beyond being released for the Apple Macintosh, Commodore Amiga and PC platforms, there was also a version specific to the Commodore Amiga CD32 released, and in the US to boot.

Gamasutra has released the second in a series of nine bonus chapters not included in our book, "Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time". The second entry is "Pinball Construction Set: Launching Millions of Creative Possibilities". Let us know what you think!

Electronic Arts stated that Burnout Paradise will be coming to the PC as early as Februari 2009.

Battlecast Primetime: These sportscasters, er, gamecasters deliver colorful C&C commentary.

In South Korea, Starcraft became a national obsession, spawning a following comparable to professional sports with star players, matches played in stadiums with play by plays, and even little Zergling sneakers. But what about in the USA? Can EA try to make Command and Conquer as popular in the US as Blizzard did with Starcraft in Korea? EA's new online show, Battlecast Primetime, isn't a bad start.

The first episode runs around an hour and covers an online match of Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars with play by play from no less than 4 commentators, features an interview with actor Joe Kucan (Kane from the C&C series), a preview of the upcoming expansion pack, and no less than 5 commercial breaks for other EA products. The commercials are short at least and the Simpsons game looks surprisingly promising. Players can submit recordings of online matches for consideration for future episodes of the show.

After Matt's couple of CRPG articles, I’ve sat down and thought through rose tinted memories on my favourite CRPG titles, time for some armchair commentary on my favourite golden age CRPG's.

Magic Candle, Wasteland, Questron II, Curse of the Azure Bonds + Pool of Radiance, Eye of the Beholder, Bards Tale II, Ultima III, Demons Winter.

Sony's PSPFor $20, Electronic Arts plans to release the following games on one UMD disc for the PSP: B.O.B., Road Rash II, Budokan, Road Rash III, Desert Strike, Syndicate, Jungle Strike, Ultima: The Black Gate, Haunting Starring Polterguy, Virtual Pinball, Mutant League Football, Wing Commander, Road Rash, and Wing Commander: Secret Missions.