6 4-17April 2018
B
eforethe NintendoGame Boy
dominated thehandheld-
gamesmarket, battery-
operated LCDgameswereall the
rage.Their graphicswerebasic and
youcouldn’tchangethe game,but
they were inexpensive, portable
andprovidedlotsofaddictive fun
whileyou were out andabout.
To celebratethose gamesand
ensurethey’re notlosttothe
ravagesoftime, theInternet
Archivehas made 60 of them
available to playonline. Theselection
includesdigital versions of LCD, LED
andVacuumFluorescent Display
(VFD)machines,accompanied by
historical backgrounds,instructions
andscansofthe original manuals.In
some cases, thedevelopershave torn
apartthe original devicestorecreate
thestaticbackgrounds builtinto
manyofthem.But it meansthe
emulationsare as faithful as possible.line-in.spotify.com
Doyouknowyour
Blurfromyour
BrunoMars?Then
youmaybeableto
helpSpotifytag
andsortitstunes.
Thestreaming
servicehas
launchedanew
toolcalledLine-In
thatletsanyone
suggesteditsto
theinformationit providesaboutmusic.All youhaveto
doislaunchSpotify,clickthethree-doticonnexttoan
artist,albumorsongthatyoufeelneedsyourinputand
choose‘SuggestanEdit’ fromthemenu.
Thisopensapagelistingcategoriessuchasgenre,mood,
tags,artistroles,externalURLs,languages,aliasesand
explicitness.Fromthere,youcanclickAdd,Edit orDelete
withinthesesections,andanysuggestionsyoumakeare
queuedforaccuracychecks.Toincreaseyourchanceof
acceptance,youcancompletesurveysthattestyour
musicalknowledge–passthemwithflyingcoloursandyour
suggestionswill carrygreaterweight.
bit.ly/space
Thisamazing3Dmapletsyouexplorethelaunchsiteof
ElonMusk’s privatespacecompany,SpaceX,andeven
launchamodeloftheworld’s mostpowerfuloperational
rocket,FalconHeavy.CreatedusingMapbox,SketchUp,
BlenderandPhotoshop,themappresentsyouwitha3D
renderingofthesitethatyoucanzoominandoutofand
rotatethrough3 60 -degrees.
Whenyou’reready,turnonthesoundandclickLaunch.
You’ll hearmissioncontrolcountdownfrom10beforethe
enginesignite,sendingtherocketskywardsinablastof
fierypixels.YoucanthenwatchFalconHeavymakeitsway
throughspace,andkeepaneyeonitsspeedandaltitude.
Duringtheflight,
youcanholdthe
rightmousebutton
torotatethemap,
andzoominandout
usingthescroll
wheel. If youhavea
touchscreendevice,
useonefingerto
rotateandtwoto
minimiseand
maximisethemap.Amongthe gamesonoffer aresome
well-known gems,includingAltered
Beast, DonkeyKong,Pac-Man and
DoubleDragon. Thegameswere
originally createdbydeveloperssuch
as Tiger Electronics,Coleco, Bandai
andKonami, andwhile thegameplayis
rather limitedand repetitive, with only
rudimentary difficultylevels,the games
provideagreat trip down memory lane.
Just click to selectthe gameyouwant,wait forittoloadinyour browserand
getstuck in.
bit.ly/handheldPlay 60 classichandheldgames
Suggestadditions to
Spotify’smusic info
ExploreSpaceXrocket
launch site
What’s NewOnline