The classic retro hit California Games comes to mobile! Beat the clock and try to rack up as many points as possible as you compete in a wide range of your all-time favourite extreme events. Pull off... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Don’t really know where the term “The Short Rows” originated, I first heard it as a lad, applied to the practice of plowing a field. When you are harvesting or plowing a field, and you are almost done, you are in “the short rows” which is the very edge of the field. It also could apply to a person’s life, when you reach that point, where you have more of it behind you and very little of it left in front of you. And last, I guess we could apply it to the year, being close to November, we are in
October 10, 2008 A friend of mine emailed me some links to a Sega emulator and the ROMs for Alex the Kidd in Miracle World and Mickey Mouse: Castle of Illusion (which is actually pretty hard). I love Sega. I’ve thought about buying a vintage console on eBay a couple of times. I’m so glad someone had the bright idea to make the games pc friendly. I can’t believe how tiny the ROM files are. I loved Rampage as a kid. It’s not too difficult, and as a result, I’ve already finished it. It’s just a g
Can Brain Training Games Make You a Better Driver? Allstate Insurance To Test Them
Can Brain Training Games Make You a Better Driver? Allstate Insurance To Test Them Allstate just announced a very intelligent initiative. The auto insurance company is going to offer a brain training game to thousands of drivers and measure the impact on their driving performance. Allstate says this can be the “next big breakthrough in automobile safety.” Today I am fortunate to interview Tom Warden, Assistant Vice President and Leader of Allstate’s Research and Planning Center, to better unde
Public relations can be tough an industry to work in. As a PR professional, your job is to get people excited about your clients’ products, services, or news. That isn’t so easy when your client manufactures plungers or is laying off 10,000 workers. On the other hand, it can be a lot of fun when you have amazing clients who do things that you are genuinely excited about. Bender/Helper Impact is a PR and communications firm that works with some great clients in some pretty exciting industries.
Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Atari 2600, Atari Lynx, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, MSX, NES, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Master System, ZX Spectrum, Virtual Console, PlayStation Network
Release date
1987
Genre(s)
Sports game
Mode(s)
Single Player
California Games is a 1987 Epyx sports video game for many home computers and video game consoles. Branching from their popular Summer Games and Winter Games series, this game consisted of some sports purportedly popular in California including skateboarding, freestyle footbag, surfing, roller skating, flying disc (frisbee) and BMX.
The game sold very well, topping game selling charts for winter months. It also got very positive reaction from reviewers. Many consider California Games to be the last classic Epyx sport game. After this game, the staff in Epyx changed.
The game was followed in 1991 by California Games 2. The sequel didn't match the original's success.
Development
Several members of the development team moved on to other projects. Chuck Sommerville, the designer of the half-pipe game in California Games later developed the game Chip's Challenge, while Ken Nicholson the designer of the footbag game was the inventor of the technology used in Microsoft's DirectX. Kevin Norman, the designer of the BMX game went on to found the educational science software company Norman & Globus, makers of the ElectroWiz series of products.
The sound design for the original version of California Games was done by Chris Grigg, member of the band Negativland.
Easter Eggs
California Games contains a number of easter eggs:
On some random occasions, there is an earthquake during the skateboarding event, causing the H of the Hollywood sign to fall down (The remaining "OLLYWOOD" might also be a reference to the ollie skateboarding trick.)
Players can can hit the seagull (named 'George') in Footbag. Hitting the gull grants more points.
There is a shark in Surfing who laughs.
When practicing Flying Disc, a UFO occasionally 'abducts' the catcher of the disc.
Ports
Originally released for the Apple II and Commodore 64, this game was very lucrative for Epyx and was released for several other platforms over the years. It was eventually ported to Amiga, Apple IIGS, Atari 2600, Atari ST, Atari Lynx, DOS, Sega Mega Drive, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Nintendo Entertainment System, MSX and Sega Master System.
More recently the game was released for mobile phones in the Java format, and current rights holders System 3 CEO Mark Cale has stated that the game will be available in future as both a retail product and an on-line product for the Sony Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii. The Commodore 64 version was released for the Wii's Virtual Console service in Europe on April 11, 2008.
