Orphaned Computers & Game Systems

What's New


December 14, 2011

  1. Added a link to a small website created to hold large VideoBrain-related files. http://www.orphanedgames.com/videobrain

December 8, 2011

  1. Added a link to a small website created to hold large Arcadia-related files. http://www.orphanedgames.com/arcadia

October 3, 2011

  1. Added a book review of Tron and Robotron: Thirty Years of Electronic Gaming (and Counting) by Jeff Spega.

September 6, 2011

  1. Added a review of Imagic's Wing War for the Atari 2600 and Colecovision.

June 4, 2011

  1. Added web version of Orphaned Computers & Game Systems Vol. II, Issue 5 (August 1998).

June 1, 2011

  1. Added revised article: Are the "Wrong" Motives Behind Your Fixation? Why Some Collectors Might Feel Their Excitement Dwindling

May 31, 2011

  1. Added web version of Orphaned Computers & Game Systems Vol. II, Issue 4 (June 1998).

May 26, 2011

  1. Added web version of Orphaned Computers & Game Systems Vol. I, Issue 3 (December 1994).

May 25, 2011

  1. Added web version of Orphaned Computers & Game Systems Vol. I, Issue 2 (August 1994).

May 24, 2011

  1. Added web version of Orphaned Computers & Game Systems Vol. I, Issue 1 (June 1994).

May 23, 2011

  1. Added link: The Strategy and Solution Compendium for Old Video and Computer Games (Including Secrets and Easter Eggs) by Chris Federico.

May 20, 2011

  1. Added link to Random Terrain. RT's Atari 2600 pages are highly enjoyable and insightful -- as well as the other fascinating goodies on his site.

May 18, 2011

  1. Updated older articles to new color schemes and column width. These articles are now much easier to read. Why not revisit them or read them now for the first time?
    1. Airborne Ranger: MicroProse Dares to Write A Fast-Action Game
      By Chris Federico, June 1998
    2. Frenzy: An Arcade Gem Succeeds on the ColecoVision
      By Chris Federico and Adam Trionfo, June 1998
    3. Pong: An Objective Review for the New Millennium
      By Chris Federico, April 28, 2002
    4. Space Duel: The Rock Blasting Continues in this Odd-Ball Game
      By Chris Federico, March 14, 2002

May 16, 2011

  1. Updated an older article to new color schemes and column width. This article is now much easier to read. Why not revisit it, or read it now for the first time?
    1. The Great Underground Empire: Why Zork Hasn't Been Topped in the World of Text Adventures (Part II)
      By Chris Federico, February 24, 2002
  2. Updated the articles of the archived paper newsletter to the new OC&GS website scheme: OC&GS Volume II, Issue #2 (February 1997)
  3. Updated the articles of the archived paper newsletter to the new OC&GS website scheme: OC&GS Volume II, Issue #3 (April 1997)

May 15, 2011

  1. Updated older articles to new color schemes and column width. These articles are now much easier to read. Why not revisit them or read them now for the first time?
    1. The Great Underground Empire: Why Zork Hasn't Been Topped in the World of Text Adventures
      By Chris Federico, February 24, 2002
    2. Psychoanalyzing 2600 Characters
      By Chris Federico, August 7, 2000
    3. What's Wrong With Zork Zero
      By Chris Federico, November 19, 1999
    4. Yet Another Easter-Egg Update
      By Chris Federico, August 11, 2002

May 14, 2011

  1. Updated older articles to new color schemes and column width. These articles are now much easier to read. Why not revisit them or read them now for the first time?
    1. The ColecoVision Game Discussion Forum
      By Chris Federico, August 5, 2002
    2. Die, Nazi: Action Games Make Use of the Ultimate Enemy
      By Chris Federico, February 24, 2002
    3. The Massive Classic Video and Computer Game Strategy and Solution Compendium (A-L)
      By Chris Federico, 2003
    4. The Massive Classic Video and Computer Game Strategy and Solution Compendium (M-Z)
      By Chris Federico, 2003
    5. The OC&GS Alphabetized 2600 Game Discussion Forum
      By Chris Federico, 2002
    6. The OC&GS Alphabetized 2600 Game Discussion Forum (Continued)
      By Chris Federico, 2002
    7. The Top Five Worst Commodore 64 Games
      By Chris Federico, November 15, 2002

May 13, 2011

  1. The Premium Player
    By Chris Federico, 1999-- Revised May 13, 2011

May 12, 2011

  1. The Commodore 64 Vault: Two Gems From the 8-Bit Era: "Omega Race" and "Blueprint"
    Written by Chris Federico and Adam Trionfo, "Video Magic," 1998
  2. Frogger: The ColecoVision Once Again Fulfills Its Arcade-To-Home Promise
    Written by Chris Federico and Adam Trionfo, "Video Magic," 1998

May 11, 2011

  1. Who Needs Manuals? "Entombed" by U.S. Games
    By Chris Federico and Adam Trionfo, April 2011
  2. Who Needs Manuals? "Raft Rider" by U.S. Games
    By Chris Federico and Adam Trionfo, April 2011
  3. TigerVision's "Marauder:" A Distinctive Robot Shooter
    By Chris Federico and Adam Trionfo, April 2011
  4. Believe It or Not, Data Age and TigerVision Can Lead to Philosophy
    By Chris Federico and Adam Trionfo, 2006 and updated April 2011

May 10, 2011

  1. Updated "What's New" page to use CSS and blue borders.
  2. Updated "About OC&GS" page to use CSS and blue borders.
  3. Updated "The Dungeon and the Empire: Comparing the original Zork to I, II & III" article page to use CSS and blue borders.
  4. Updated "Index" page to use CSS and blue borders.
  5. Updated "Links" page to use CSS and blue borders.

April 24, 2011

  1. Removed "Classic Videogaming Syndicate" at bottom of index page because the syndicate no longer is available.

August 6, 2010

  1. When I made the transfer to this new website last September, this file, "The OC&GS Alphabetized 2600 Game Discussion Forum (A-L)" didn't make it over. Luckily I found a place that has mirrored some of the old GeoCities pages, and I was able to recover the file from there (otherwise this file would have been lost-- Well, not completely. I do have an older version of it around).
  2. Also lost in the move last September was the browser-friendly issue of OC&GS, Vol. II, Issue 9 (April 1999) with all revisions. The mirror had that file and the file has been restored.
  3. Added an online playable version of "Fork: The Great Underground Dining Room."

July 20, 2010

  1. Added a sub-page devoted to programming the APF MP-1000 game console.

September 25, 2009

  1. Created this "What's New" page. II The advertisements that Geocities automatically placed into the HTML have been removed. Our new site will be free of those annoying ads!
  2. Preliminary investigation has begun into hosting OC&GS at a reasonably rated, fee-based, hosting site. If we go with this, then the storage space will be 10GB and the bandwidth allotment will be 30GB. That's VERY reasonable. GeoCities bandwidth was just 3MB/hour (how very 1990's of them!). Considering that some of the back issues of the newsletter were over 1MB, it was EXTREMELY restrictive. If someone downloaded three of the larger back issues, then no one could access the site for an hour. Our goal is to prevent that from happening again.
  3. Deleted The Videogame Nexus from the Links page. The page has not been updated in many years, and now it is completely gone.

September 24, 2009

  1. GeoCities, the long-time host of Orphaned Computers & Game Systems, is closing down. The site has been manually backed up so that it can eventually be moved to another server with more file storage and bandwidth.

February 18, 2009

  1. The Strategy And Solution Compendium - By Chris Federico

February 14, 2008

  1. Updated the index for issue 4 of the text articles of OC&GS.
  2. Added scans of OC&GS Volume 1, Issues 1-3 (June, August and December 1994). These issues were the only issues not archived online.

May 12, 2007

  1. Added a text adventure by Chris Federico called Fork: The Great Underground Dining Room.

September 4, 2003

  1. The Massive Classic Video and Computer Game Strategy and Solution Compendium (A-L) By Chris Federico
  2. The Massive Classic Video and Computer Game Strategy and Solution Compendium (M-Z) By Chris Federico

September 18, 2002

  1. The ColecoVision Game Discussion Forum - by Chris Federico

June 2002

  1. A Lifetime To Master: Bill Kunkel answers questions about video games, the pioneering of a journalistic field and the present game-coverage climate An Exclusive - OC&GS Interview conducted by Chris Federico

June 11, 2002

  1. Added four Commodore 64 Games by Chris Federico in d64 format for use with emulators.
    1. Stella Gets a Lobotomy
    2. Jupiter's Electrician
    3. Tyrant
    4. Super Space Carnage

June 4, 2002

  1. The OC&GS Alphabetized 2600 Game Discussion Forum - By Chris Federico

May 20, 2002

  1. Die, Nazi: Action Games Make Use of the Ultimate Enemy - By Chris Federico

May 16, 2002

  1. The OC&GS Alphabetized 2600 Game Discussion Forum (Cont) - By Chris Federico

May 07, 2002

  1. Added an About Orphaned Computers & Game Systems background page By Chris Federico

March 5, 2002

  1. The Dungeon and the Empire: Comparing the original Zork to I, II & III By Chris Federico

February 24, 2001

  1. Changed the apparent layout of the site (it needed an overhaul!). It is easier to navigate, but all the files are in the same places so that people's links do not break.
  2. Added buttons for: About OC&GS, What's New, Latest Articles, Back Issues, and Links.
  3. The Great Underground Empire: Why Zork Hasn't Been Topped in the World of Text Adventures (Parts 1 and 2) - By Chris Federico
  4. Updated the index page for the text articles (Vol II - Issues 4-12)
  5. Edited the editorial for issue 9

February 21, 2001

  1. Slight changes to The OC&GS Alphabetized 2600 Game Discussion Forum (A-L)

February 12, 2002

  1. Yet Another Easter-Egg Update - By Chris Federico

February 3, 2001

  1. Combined both files for OC&GS Vol. 2, Issue 9 into one file for ease of use.

September 21, 2000

  1. Edited The OC&GS Review Panel from issue 8

August 29, 2000

  1. Soon Orphaned: The New Age and The Ten Best PlayStation Games - By Chris Federico

August 7, 2000

  1. Psychoanalyzing 2600 Characters - By Chris Federico

May 27, 2000

  1. Edited The Top Ten Sins Committed By Computer Game Writers: My Pet Peeves -- and Probably Yours Too - by Chris Federico
  2. Are the "Wrong" Motives Behind Your Fixation? The reason some collectors feel their excitement dwindling - By Chris Federico

November 19, 1999

  1. What's Wrong With Zork Zero - By Chris Federico

November 15, 1999

  1. The Premium Player - By Chris Federico
  2. The Top Five Worst Commodore 64 Games - By Chris Federico
  3. Added the Volume II, Issues 4-12 in text format

1999

  1. OC&GS paper issue archive and online presence begins at GeoCities.com.

April 1999

  1. OC&GS's volume two ceases publication of the paper newsletter.

December 1997

  1. OC&GS's volume two begins publication. This time there are two editors/writers. Volume two is a vast improvement over the first three issues.

December 1994

  1. Volume one lasts three issues. The last issue appears in December 1994.

June 1994

  1. Volume 1, Issue 1 of OC&GS appears on newstands around the world in June 1994. Well, not exactly around the world. Okay, not on ANY newstands. It was simply created on an Amiga 1200 computer in Rio Rancho, New Mexico and mailed out to a few other classic gaming newsletter editors and some friends. There were about fifty issues of the first newsletter.