Yes, I said “every step you take” on purpose.
I’ll get back to your questions in short order, but I found myself poking through Blip #7 (August 1983), Marvel’s short-lived video game magazine, as you do.
I was fully immersed in this video game world…I mean, not like Tron-level immersion where I’m stuck in a program fighting the MCP, but playing games and reading the magazines and all that jazz. I loved this stuff. Still do.
Anyway, I reminded myself of Blip after mentioning it here on the site the other day, and poking not too far into this, the last issue, I found the “News Briefs” page, which had this to say:
Okay, first off, that’s a couple of weird picks for games to just throw in there. Defender at least was an extremely popular and well-known game, notorious for its relatively complex controls and difficulty of play.
Pengo, the cute penguin game where you…um, smash your enemies with sliding ice blocks, was a little more obscure but seemingly well received. There was a particularly sketchy arcade in my town that had it and I enjoyed playing it there, situated as it was next to the bootleg Mario Bros. machine in the underlit back area. This was also the place where my locked-up bike was stolen out of the racks out front while I played inside, but that’s neither here nor there.
Anyway, just thought Pengo was a weird game to namedrop. I mean, wither Bosconian?
Back to that excerpt…that Escape game, which is more commonly known as Journey Escape, inspired by their album of the same name.
Now, this game is…not great. Let me quote from the game manual, which I’ve “borrowed” from the above-linked Wikipedia article a description of this Atari 2600-exclusive release:
“You’re on the road with Journey, one of the world’s hottest rock groups. A spectacular performance has just ended. Now it’s up to you to guide each Journey Band Member past hordes of Love-Crazed Groupies, Sneaky Photographers, and Shifty-Eyed Promoters to the safety of the Journey Escape Vehicle in time to make the next concert. Your mighty manager and loyal roadies are there to help, but the escape is up to you!”
Now maybe that all sounds exciting, but keep in mind this vast cast of characters are all depicted mostly symbolically within the 2600’s graphical limits (the Love-Crazed Groupies” are blocky hearts with legs) and, as noted in the Wiki, the Manager is…the Kool-Aid Man? Perplexing.
Here’s a video of the playthrough, if you dare:
As you can see, it’s just a “dodge the obstacles” game as you try to reach the endpoint without contacting the various enemies and losing your points (AKA money). Not the most compelling rock-and-roll tie-in, even by the relatively primitive state of home gaming of the time. (There was also a Journey Escape game produced for arcades, which at least sounds a little more varied in the entertainment it provided.)
The Atari 2600 Game-by-Game Podcast was a detailed review of it here.
Well, he’s not wrong, given the rise of the iPod and Apple’s Music store and the fact that digital music sales are so prominent now. Plus there was that little kerfuffle between the Beatles’ Apple Corps and Apple Computers, so, yes, Apple definitely is mired in the music world.
Now I’m trying to picture video games based on Talking Heads and the Police. For the former, you could play a guy running around…I don’t know, burning down houses, I guess. For the latter, a game based on “Don’t Stand So Close to Me,” similar to the old “Daleks” computer game where you move your little guy around on the screen, trying to avoid contact with the Daleks who always move one step closer to you with each move you make. In The Police’s game, your little guy is a school teacher, and with every step you take, instead of Daleks following you, it’s…well, maybe I’ve gone too far.
So, yeah, that’s a lot of talk about video games that only marginally slips past the normally air-tight ProgRuin filter, simply because it was inspired by a comic-formatted Marvel magazine. Well…maybe I can justify its inclusion by throwing in this bit from the Al Milgrom-drawn Hulk story that’s also in this issue:
There we go…all requirements are satisfied!