Half-Glass Gaming [Episode 37] : I’ve Read the Back of Ringworld Several Times
The Reverend has recently returned from MarsCon, a Minneapolis-area science fiction convention, which gets the whole gang into a sci-fi mood. Josh realizes the sci-fi short story contest he entered back in 2010 is far more prestigious than he’d ever imagined before we get into the nitty gritty of what we think Scientology might be.
Note: We’re not willing to guarantee the accuracy of any of our information about Scientology, even if the Rev DID attend a recruitment event a long time ago.
After the break, we explore the early days of video games, when sci-fi was a part of just about everything and Baen was publishing games instead of books (more on that here). We also talk about real science, debate sub-genres, and take a look at games that don’t typically get labelled as sci-fi even though they absolutely are. Also, Josh tries to convince listeners that Jurassic Park is hard science fiction, and the Rev coins the terms “mild sci-fi” and “sharp sci-fi” because cheddar cheese makes for a good analogy.
We’ve also got another round of the ever-exhilarating Fallout vs. Elder Scrolls debate, so get ready to pick a side and grab a pitchfork. Or a crazy science-fiction version of a pitchfork, whatever that would be.
Oh, and Josh has a run-in with Jason Mewes, and Facebook thinks Mandi is actually Ron Livingston; these stories are true.
Check your thetan levels, folks, because we’re going to take your brains into outer space!
Retrovolve Staff
At Retrovolve, we love discussing, studying, and playing retro games, though not necessarily in that order.
I’ve never played a Halo game but I have read Ringworld and all the other Known Space novels. It seems that if we combined we have all our bases covered.
How is Ringworld? I like Larry Niven’s story “Inconsistent Moon,” so I’ve been interested in checking out his novels for a while.
Sorry mate, I missed your question. Ringworld is quite good if you enjoy old school science fiction. It feels a bit dated now but it was very fresh at the time.
It’s all good, my friend. Because of that conversation, I’m currently re-reading Jurassic Park (for like the 10th time). Still loving it!
Do you know anything more about Baen Software? I’d never heard about this before and I want to see if I can track some of their old games down.
Thanks for the comment!
The information about Baen Software was incredibly obscure and difficult to find, so we decided to put together a post to give readers/listeners like you some more context. Here’s what we wrote:
https://retrovolve.com/baen-software-rose-and-fell-while-barely-making-a-sci-fi-splash/
Yeah, I looked it up after Mandi mentioned it and I didn’t see anything. Figured you guys would have more info. Thanks!
What’s the thing at the beginning with the science noises from? It’s great!