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McDonald's just dropped a brand new Game Boy game

retrododo.com

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Re: McDonald's just dropped a brand new Game Boy game

#71

Post by consentreality »

RobotToaster wrote: post #30
kibwen wrote: post #20

The era where "retro" meant "NES" is behind us, now retro means Game Boy Color, PS1, and Quake-era PC aesthetics. To wit, the developers of Shovel Knight (the premier NES platformer homage) are developing a GBC-styled Bloodborne-like called Mina the Hollower: https://www.yachtclubgames.com/games/mina-the-hollower/ (though sadly it's not designed to run on original hardware).

I'm pretty sure the PS2 is considered retro now too.

The PS2 was released as far from now, in 2000, as the Atari 2600 was to it, in 1977.

Re: McDonald's just dropped a brand new Game Boy game

#72

Post by bityard »

kibwen wrote: post #20

The era where "retro" meant "NES" is behind us, now retro means Game Boy Color, PS1, and Quake-era PC aesthetics. To wit, the developers of Shovel Knight (the premier NES platformer homage) are developing a GBC-styled Bloodborne-like called Mina the Hollower: https://www.yachtclubgames.com/games/mina-the-hollower/ (though sadly it's not designed to run on original hardware).

In the late 90's to early 2000's, I considered "retro" games to be anything from the beginning of time right up the the NES. So, roughly anything that fell out of popularity about 10 years in the past. It didn't seem weird because in the late 90's, we were calling everything in the '80's retro. All that funky synth music and hair was pretty weird and alien to those who grew up on either side of it, after all.

The most modern gaming system in our living room (if you don't count the Steam Deck) is a Wii which is legitimately a retro system these days and I get a little grumpy every time I am reminded of this.

Re: McDonald's just dropped a brand new Game Boy game

#73

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF »

I was wondering how a newly made Game Boy Color game would be distributed today:

> But today, twenty five years after the Game Boy Color was released, we can play Grimace’s Birthday for free on our web browser.

> It is unclear if McDonald’s hoped to keep the game locked on their website or if there’s any particular reason they wouldn’t want us to have a ROM. (I would assume something something emulator, something something copyright infringement.)

> But needless to say, the internet was very quick to rip the file and share it online.

Now I want to track it down so I can tell what's different when I play the inevitable rom hacks.

Re: McDonald's just dropped a brand new Game Boy game

#74

Post by bityard »

circuit10 wrote: post #10

If it’s only officially playable through an emulator I wonder why didn’t just use a modern game engine to make something in a pixel art style? This is definitely more interesting though

The article implies it runs on GBC hardware and a few comments on HN here confirm it.

Re: McDonald's just dropped a brand new Game Boy game

#75

Post by disruptalot »

cazum wrote: post #44
toolz wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is rational about being cynical that I want to spend my money on things I think are cool? Maybe there's merit in asking why I think it's cool to begin with (and in this case I hardly think mcdonalds is responsible for people who like gameboy games), but there doesn't seem to be much to gain in asking myself why I want to spend money on things I like. What else should I spend my money on?

But that's not what's happening. They made a Gameboy game and now you're buying hamburgers. If you're doing a 'vote with your wallet' thing to try to convince them to make more retro games that at least makes sense, even if id argue it's a little naive, but that's not even what were talking about. They made a videogame and now people are pledging to buy their hamburgers.

It makes perfect sense. McDonalds did something unconventional and apparently popular. People that found that valuable send the strongest signal you can send in an economy - money. "Corporate profits" take a look at the bank and they think "hmm, that seemed to work, we'll do more of that". They might not produce another gameboy game, that signal might need to be calibrated over further attempts to figure out why people bought more hamburgers. But certainly some signal concerning the approach they took will be loud and clear.

Re: McDonald's just dropped a brand new Game Boy game

#76

Post by bityard »

xxpor wrote: post #4

I'm kind of shocked the physical tooling exists to make a Game Boy cartridge and chips more than anything else.

It's pretty trivial for a company to make a mold for a plastic cartridge. The chips are nothing special, they are just ROMs. Cheap and widely available.

In fact, I'm pretty confident that a competent DIYer could 3D print a cartridge shell, flash a ROM, and etch a PCB in an afternoon or two.

Re: McDonald's just dropped a brand new Game Boy game

#77

Post by NobodyNada »

toolz wrote: post #34
tropdrop wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I've been impressed with their fish sandwich recently – wild caught and actually flaky filet!

I'm no expert, but I thought we should prefer farm raised, no? Seems weird to advertise they are wild caught when that's a big concern with over-fishing in the wild.

My understanding of the situation is that the U.S. federal government has been doing an excellent job of managing fisheries over the past couple of decades — there was an overfishing crisis in the 80’s, but since then we’ve gotten our act together and implemented population monitoring and fishing quotas. There are definitely problems (especially with certain methods of fishing causing bycatch problems or habitat destruction), but researchers and regulators seem to be mostly on top of them. Farm-raised fish have their own set of challenges — mainly health concerns and the potential for environmental disasters [0] — so there’s not necessarily a clear winner between farmed and wild fish. It also depends heavily on the particular species of fish.

My source for this is an elective class I took at Oregon State University a few years ago, taught by a professor who is deeply involved in fishery research and management. So perhaps he was biased, but from what he presented I was thoroughly impressed with the sustainability practices of the seafood industry. One of my big takeaways was that wild Alaskan halibut in particular (which is what McDonald’s uses) is among the best seafoods, and one of the most sustainable foods in existence.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypress_Island_Atlantic_salmon...

Re: McDonald's just dropped a brand new Game Boy game

#78

Post by comfypotato »

cazum wrote: post #44
toolz wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is rational about being cynical that I want to spend my money on things I think are cool? Maybe there's merit in asking why I think it's cool to begin with (and in this case I hardly think mcdonalds is responsible for people who like gameboy games), but there doesn't seem to be much to gain in asking myself why I want to spend money on things I like. What else should I spend my money on?

But that's not what's happening. They made a Gameboy game and now you're buying hamburgers. If you're doing a 'vote with your wallet' thing to try to convince them to make more retro games that at least makes sense, even if id argue it's a little naive, but that's not even what were talking about. They made a videogame and now people are pledging to buy their hamburgers.

Acknowledging that it’s a multifaceted mega-corp (and some of the facets are bad) is it really naive to associate excellent marketing with moral goodness? What is this marketing doing if not signaling that at least some of the company reflects values you support? Deciding to support the company by buying hamburgers logically follows.

I’m enjoying the corporate apologetics personally. I’ve heard there is a Christian resurgence among the youth, and this makes me wonder if there will be a resurgence of pro-capitalism sentiment as well. Ideas, values, culture: it all evolves with time.

Re: McDonald's just dropped a brand new Game Boy game

#79

Post by willis936 »

bigyikes wrote: post #17
hospitalJail wrote: post #7

>Just be sure to order some McDonald’s to support them. Who knows… if we keep eating McDonald’s, they might keep producing these oddball retro gaming related projects. >I, for one, will NEVER stop eating McDonald’s. You have my word. Uh... hail marketing! Nothing quite like getting nostalgia exploited for corporate profits. But hey, its important to support... uh... 'retro gaming?'

Maybe the author likes retro games and fast food? The anti-corporatism shtick is so lame. Just because something is done by a massive corporation doesn’t make the thing bad. Just because something is an advertisement doesn’t make it bad. I think this is pretty cool. Maybe I’ll buy some McDonalds today too.

If anyone can find a spark of counterculture in 2023 I encourage it. There is no longer a battleground for the soul of society. It's safe to say the suits won.

Re: McDonald's just dropped a brand new Game Boy game

#80

Post by Cthulhu_ »

toolz wrote: post #34
tropdrop wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I've been impressed with their fish sandwich recently – wild caught and actually flaky filet!

I'm no expert, but I thought we should prefer farm raised, no? Seems weird to advertise they are wild caught when that's a big concern with over-fishing in the wild.

For bulk, sure; for flavour, wild is superior. But it's a finite luxury.
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