The Norwegian Internet: Retro Video Game Site Retrospillkongen

The video game market in other countries has always been interesting to me. With the usage of machine translators, the ecommerce cultures of other countries become more available to outsiders.

The world of Norway, one of the world’s most intriguing countries. I am interested in how the small country manages to create its own cyber culture.

Norway: A Country missing the Cyberspace?

Norway is a wealthy country in a sense but it is not wealthy in a Qatar sense. Qatar may not have as many EVs but it is a country that is focused on the future not maintaining the past. Norway’s social welfare and culture is seen in high regard by some but it clear that is starting to run into stagnation and the internet seems to be passing by the Nordic country. Yes, they have fast internet speeds, but the internet is more than having quick speeds, it needs to be integrated into the way that the country interacts with the world. In many ways, these European countries tend to treat the internet like it is an extension of the television establishment rather than its own thing that is separate from those older forms here.

Enter Retrospillkongen

Retrospillkongen.no is a Norwegian retro gaming website. In a country of 5 million people, this website helps to bridge the gap for a country that is wealthy yet paradoxically is not exactly in the right place for commerce.

Retrospillkongen.no is a Norwegian company serving Norwegian needs and it reminds of the many retro gaming stores dotted across America.

Retrospill Kongen is very appealing site to read. Unlike other sites, it is not full of ads and auto-playing videos. The color scheme is easy on the eyes and it seems to reference Japanese aesthetics which makes sense, considering how important Nintendo was with revitalizing the industry after the crash in the early 1980s.

Retro Gaming is popular in Norway?

As the video game industry continues to stagnate and people are not as confident in it as it once was. In my opinion, the video game industry has become a lethargic place lacking any sense of direction. Only a couple games show any vision. Grand Theft Auto VI, while risky in its production cost, actually seems to have competence behind its making. It is like an interactive movie, the likes of what Hollywood used to make.

Norway having an interest in retro gaming is no surprise. The country unfortunately never really had any major companies in the video game landscape except for a few companies such as Funcom, which just recently released the Dune Awakening game.

Retrospillkongen is another example of the power of the internet.

People have a tendency in this age to be cynical about the internet now. There ads like there are gas stations on every corner; however, this site shows that people have to be willing to make the effort to commit to changing the digital nature of the internet. Big companies only have such power on the internet because we allow it. The Internet is ultimately about collaboration and healthy conflict, not stale stagnation. Retrospillkongen should be inspiration for other small nations put their own mark on the Internet we all enjoy in this epoch.

Empire Earth: The War of the Walls

This is a gallery of a recent Empire Earth skirmish that I had with two medium level AIs.

I made a choice to have the era start in the Dark Age and only let it progress towards the Middle Ages. I wanted to see how the AI interacted in this match.

The AI at Medium Difficulty was still cheating in Empire Earth.

The AI is alot more competent at this difficulty level here. They use the unit upgrading system in Empire Earth unlike in the Easy mode where they do not use it. This means that the AI tends to be better at tactical movements of their units.

They are also better at using their naval power in this game. In this particular match with the AIs, the Carthage AI was sending ships to my port and harassing me. My ally helped me with this, allowing for my fishing ships to deliver food to my empire.

However, I generally go for Wonder Victories in Empire Earth.

The Wonder victory in Empire Earth was analogous to the Wonder victory in Age of Empires games. These wonders take time to build, so I recommend having many citizens to build it and do it when you have strong economy and military in place.

The AI, as soon as you build the wonder, immediately starts beelining for the wonder with huge armies, sending everything to the wonder to prevent you from winning.

Of course, the AI has full view of the map. There is no fog of war for a smart computer. The AI also has huge resources and can just send tons of troops and ships to the location.

When one looks at the AIs towns and cities, alot of the citizens are not farming or mining. Often times, I will see them moving in straight lines, getting harassed and taken down by soldiers.

The match was somewhat annoying but I bulit strong walls and chose Byzantine Rome as my civilization. This meant by walls were strong and I had no issue with winning this wonder victory. Carthage was getting really aggressive at the end but my team was victorious.

Empire Earth: The Rare Case of a Video Game showing the future of Naval Warfare

Empire Earth Nano Age Aircraft Carrier Nexus.

In Science-Fiction, space is the great frontier that every author focuses on. However, the waters are as important as the deep expanses of space. Empire Earth clearly shows that the battles in the oceans of Earth will be as important.

In one of my games that I started as a skirmish on a Mediterranean map. I was engaging a rival computer player with my computer ally. This was on Easy and yet the AIs were acting in their usual dumb ways. They would have moments of brilliance but then spend time attacking walls slowly instead of building their economies.

I took a leisurely pace with the game, not spending too much time worrying about the AI.

When I was ready, I began preparations to strike.

The Naval battles in the Nano Age are quite exciting and have some weight to them. The developers really put effort into this section of the game, giving the ships a distinctive look in comparison with what we know in our current age.

When you see the submarines in the Nano Age, they are sleeker and have more angular structures to them. Most science fiction has a tendency to ignore the submarines also.

The inclusion of blue water ships in science fiction is something we should see more of in video games. It helps to revitalize a genre that sometimes get too stuck with space.