Microshaft Winblows 98
| Microshaft Winblows 98 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Parroty Interactive |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release date(s) | January 5, 1998 |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Microshaft Winblows 98 is a video game developed and released by Parroty Interactive. It parodies the then-popular Windows 98 operating system, as well as Microsoft and Windows' creator, Bill Gates.[1][2] It touches on several scandals of the time which Microsoft was involved in, but does not directly address its monopoly issues.
Gameplay
When started, the game presents a bootsplash much like the one on the Windows 9x operating systems before presenting the user with a desktop from which various "applications" can be launched; these include spoofs of computer games (such as Doom), Microsoft software (such as Internet Explorer), and even sometimes popular fads of the time (such as a "Billagotchi" that parodies Tamagotchi and Microsoft head Bill Gates[3][4]). The game also has a storyline, where the player starts out as a tech support employee and must work his or her way up to a meeting with Microsoft CEO Bill Gates.
Reception
The game is notable for having negative reception, with Richard Cobbett of PC Gamer describing it as being "not really a game, although it has a few of them in it, but more of an interactive comedy CD-ROM", although even the parody sketches are "stuck mining geek humour" which Cobbett felt "smacks of non-technical people desperately trying to write jokes in what may as well be a foreign language".[5]
References
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20160222183031/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-20154159.html. Archived from the original on February 22, 2016. Retrieved October 29, 2012. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ Edward Rothstein, "TECHNOLOGY: CONNECTIONS; A time for sympathy, yes, sympathy for Microsoft in its lonely stand." The New York Times, Published: January 12, 1998.
- ↑ "Microsoft bashers aren't welcome inside electronics show", Associated Press in The Augusta Chronicle, September 27, 1997.
- ↑ Michael Marriott, "As Big as Microsoft: Ribbing Gates", The New York Times, March 19, 1998.
- ↑ "Saturday Crapshoot: Microshaft Winblows 98 | Crap Shoot, Features". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2013-02-01.