We’re accepting donations now

Over the years we've been asked many times how people could contribute some money to the club. We always said that wasn't necessary and it still isn't, really. But we would like to move the server to a more reliable hoster with more bandwidth.

For that we need about €500 per year. The money will go towards the podcast episode and website hosting, as well as our Mastodon instance (for which you can also request an invite, even without donating anything ;))

Anyway, if you want to help us out, you can do that on our Ko-fi.

Thanks everybody who pushed us to finally do this and to everybody donating!

Machiavelli the Prince

Niccolò Machiavelli was a Florentine diplomat, author, philosopher, and historian who lived during the Italian Renaissance. He is best known for his political treatise The Prince (Il Principe), written around 1513 but not published until 1532, five years after his death.

None of this is in any way relevant for Microprose's 1995 strategy game "Machiavelli The Prince", in which you assume the role of a Venetian merchant prince between the year 1300 and 1492. In fact, the game is a remake of 1994's "Merchant Prince" by Holistic Design, in which Machiavelli is never mentioned at all. What is very "Machiavellian" however is the way you conduct your business: gameplay doesn't limit itself to mere exploring and trading, but also involves managing your popularity by hosting parties and commissioning art, gaining influence in politics and the church by bribing senators and buying cardinals, as well as less savoury activities such as hiring arsonists and assassins to hurt your competitors.

All in all it's a very intriguing historical 4x turn-based strategy game that seems to have flown under the radar a bit and is definitely less well-known than some of Microprose's other releases. All the more interesting to check it out now!

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") we have three guests who are all brand new to the show. First of all there's Greg, who is a big fan of play-by-mail games and has a Machiavelli the Prince multiplayer game going for 4 years now. Next up is Leon, who is the creator of one of the very few if only surviving fan websites about Machiavelli the Prince (see links below if you want to check it out). And last but not least we have John aka "Dr. Riley" who is a history teacher and as such can help us determine the historical accuracy of this game.

We also received a voice message from DGC member Juan ("Reidrac"), who has fond memories of playing Machiavelli the Prince back in the day along with his sister. Juan also creates retro games himself, do check out his website linked below for those.

Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (112 mins, 128 MB)

Many thanks to DGC member Pix who helped produce the show, as well as DGC member console who edited the episode. Many thanks to them and all who make this show possible!

M.D.K.

!!!Newsflash!!!

A huge City Minecrawler is
headed straight for
the gaming community of
DOS Game Club, DGC

And you are Kurt Hectic, janitor on board the space station Jim Dandy and Earth's only hope. So get into your "Doctor Hawkins' Amazing Coil Suit" and strap on your "Doctor Hawkins' Incredible Ribbon Chute" and start skydiving down towards the planet, evading incoming missiles and start kicking some alien rear ends, not least thanks to the world's smallest nuclear explosion.

Is Shiny Entertainment's 1997 DOS classic still worth a play today? What does M.D.K. stand for? Who is Max? What is a Streamrider? And what does that all have to do with a handful of tiny villages in England and Scotland? Find out the answers to all of these questions (and more) in this episode.

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are Richard ("Pix"), who's been on the show so often, he actually started helping us out with getting the show produced now (thank you so much!), and Nick ("Martli"), who is entirely new to the show and is joining us all the way from New Zealand.

Once again, no voice message this time. What's wrong with all of you?

Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (106 mins, 122 MB)

We once again got lots of help from DGC member console with editing this episode. Many thanks to him and all who make this show possible!

Wacky Wheels

In 1992, Nintendo released Super Mario Kart and all we PC gamers were terribly envious of our friends with a Super Nintendo. In 1994, Beavis Soft came to rectify the situation and gave us our own Mario Kart clone "Wacky Wheels".

People rejoiced and everybody thought it was a really great game. But was it really? Or were we just happy to see the PC finally being able to handle games console players had had for several years at that time?

While obviously a clone, there are several major differences between the original and Wacky Wheels. Is it still a good game? If not, does the nostalgia help?

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are Lars ("fastwinstondoom"), who's returning from the Dungeon Keeper episode, and Rees (from "ctrl-alt-rees") who made a video on Wacky Wheels some years ago (see links below).

No voice message this time, shame on all of you! (Just kidding, but not really).

Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (85 mins, 97 MB)

We once again got lots of help from DGC member console with editing this episode. Many thanks to him and all who make this show possible!

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

After successfully keeping the Holy Grail out of Nazi hands, Indiana Jones returned in 1992 with a brand new adventure. And unlike 1989's The Last Crusade, Fate of Atlantis is not based on any of the films, but instead presents us with an entirely original story!

With two playable characters (sometimes), three possible paths, randomised and optional puzzles (a few), a lush iMuse-powered soundtrack and full "talkie" voice acting, this is definitely LucasArts' most ambitious point & click adventure to date. But is it fun? Let's find out!

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are DGC veteran and adventure game fan Esko ("FireFyte"), as well as newcomer Dreamkid, for whom Fate of Atlantis was one of their earlier PC games and made a big last impression.

We also got a voice message from Watchful and last but not least the episode was expertly edited by Console. Thanks all for your effort, we can't do this without you.

Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (144 mins, 165 MB)

Wolfenstein 3D

You're in a Nazi prison, with a dead guard on the floor in front of you. You take his gun. Now you can fight your way out. This is the exciting premise of 1992's Wolfenstein 3D, developed by id Software and published as shareware by Apogee.

Now we all know Wolfenstein 3D was not the first FPS game ever made, or the first FPS id Software made, or even the first Wolfenstein game. But it's definitely one of the most foundational games for the first-person shooter genre, so all the more reason for us to finally check this one out for March, which is when we try to do a big blockbuster FPS game every year.

We have two guests joining Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") for this episode. First of all long-time DGC veteran Bjorn ("TigerQuoll"), who not only joined the discussion on the forums for this month, but who also made a Wolfenstein 3D level pack for us all to enjoy! See the links below to get these. Also joining is first-time podcast participant Jake, for whom Wolfenstein 3D is one of their favourite games ever.

We also got two voice messages, one by watchful and one by Albrot. Thanks a lot for those! Also many thanks to DGC member console, who helped us again to edit this episode. All your support is much appreciated, we couldn't make this show without it.

Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (133 mins, 153 MB)