Archives for January 2016

Top 5 Games Charts: January 1999

January 6, 2016 By ausretrogamer

Remember when Prince sang about partying like it was 1999? What do you mean no? Ah, you youngsters wouldn’t know a good song if it bit you on the bum. I am all out of sorts now, where was I? Oh yeh, partying like it was 1999! Well, if you were getting over a decent Christmas and new year’s break in January 1999, you may have been chilling out in front of your TV playing some Tekken 3 on your Playstation, or perhaps F-Zero X on your Nintendo 64.

What ever your tastes were in gaming back then, take a peek down below for the top 5 games from January 1999 for the PS1, N64 and PC.

	1) Tenchu (Activision)
	2) Apocalypse (Activision)
	3) Formula 1 98 (Psygnosis)
	4) Michael Owen’s WLS 99 (Eidos)
	5) Tekken 3 (Sony)

	1) F-Zero X (Nintendo)
	2) 1080 Snowboarding (Nintendo)
	3) F1 World GP (Video System Co.)
	4) Mission: Impossible (Infogrames)
	5) WWF Warzone (Acclaim)

	1) Age Of Empires: Gold Ed. (MS)
	2) Lula: Virtual Babe (Take 2)
	3) Virtual Springfield (Fox Interact.)
	4) SiN (Activision)
	5) Combat Flight Simulator (MS)

Pointless Arcade Cabinets

January 4, 2016 By ausretrogamer

We keep sounding like a broken record, but geez there are some really clever and talented people out there. Take djmdesign‘s awesome Pointless Arcade Cabinets gallery on Imgur as a prime example – all the Photoshopped cabs are so darn cool, exceptionally clever and most importantly, very funny! We love them all, but the ‘Can YOU make it work?’ MS Windows arcade cabinet and the Operation Wolf stylised Instagram cabinet are our faves. Which one is your favourite?

source: djmdesign on Imgur

Thrill Of The Chase: Virtual Reality Holy Grail

January 3, 2016 By ausretrogamer

This year will be the year of Virtual Reality (VR). If you have been gaming as long as we have, you’ll know that this isn’t the first time we have all gone gaga over VR!

Long before the Playstation VR, the biggest name in virtual reality gaming was the Virtuality Group. Their ‘Virtuality’ arcade gaming machines promised and delivered immersive gaming via their stereoscopic visor (aka: the visette) while standing on a platform in a huge round pod waving your hands around like you were swatting flies – ah, how we miss the good old days of VR.

The popularity and mass media coverage of VR meant that it would always make its way into our homes. In 1994, Virtuality signed an agreement with Atari to develop a head-mounted-display (HMD) unit for use with Atari’s 64-bit Jaguar console. The agreement was expected to lead to the production and sale of the Jaguar VR HMDs in 1995. Sadly, it all went belly-up between Atari and Virtuality, with all Jaguar VR prototypes headed for the scrapheap.

Alas, the salvaged Jaguar VR prototype(s) have now become the most sought after and holiest of gaming grails, with the last known prototype selling for $14,500 on ebay in 2013.

source: eBay

From the ashes of the Jaguar VR HMD technology arose Takara’s HMD DynoVisor and Philip’s Scuba Visor. The DynoVisor sported the Pupil Projection System with a ground breaking 120-degree field of view (FOV) display using Sony’s Active TFT and LCD lenses. Coupled with Hi-Fi stereo and Inter Pupil Distance (IPD) focus adjustment, these consumer products quickly sold-out upon release in Japan.

Even though the Takara HMD DynoVisor is considered to be laughable, their uniqueness and rarity in the wild makes them highly desirable among gamers and collectors alike. At a fraction of the cost of the Jaguar VR headset and being indentical in technology, Takara’s HMD DynoVisor has become a retro gaming grail itself.

To finally find the Takara HMD DynoVisor and be able to play the Atari Jaguar (and any NTSC console with composite / AV output) with a VR headset, has truly been a unique experience, one that every old school gamer should encounter! Viva la VR!

Holding tight onto the first retro gaming holy grail for 2016!