One of the happy uses of Youtube is watching video gameplay without having to actually play the game. It is a vicarious experience, but I find it enjoyable when I don’t have a lot of time to devote to play.
This will be the first in a long series of “Let’s Play” video game long play walk-throughs that I found on Youtube. Most of these games are ones that I remember playing and that also have to do with science fiction and fantasy themes. In fact, you will find that most games, especially the earlier titles that I mention, are based in science fictional worlds. Writing this series has given me more ideas about thinking of early video gaming. Does the cyberpunk movement figure into the way video games were conceived early in their development? Does the technology of video games inspire the software of video gaming? These are questions that I hope to write more about in the future. In the meantime, let’s look at some interesting video games.
The first is the Neuromancer. Crowley9 on Youtube has posted a series of gameplay videos from the classic game. The video above is the first of a series. You can find all of the videos here.
Neuromancer was recommended by Timothy Leary for its then-innovative game play and interface. It features a chiptune soundtrack by Devo, and it allows gamers to enter the near-future world as Case (or a similarly styled character that you can name).
Dynamic Subspace 