ausretrogamer

EB Games Expo 2015: It’s A Wrap

October 9, 2015 By ausretrogamer

What do you get when a bunch of great friends invite you to Sydney to participate and assist in their retro gaming exhibit at one of the biggest gaming events of the year? You get a huge rush of adrenaline mixed with a massive dose of fun that lasts for 5 days!

This past weekend, I attended the EB Games Expo 2015 (EBExpo15) in Sydney, assisting the Weird and Retro crew in their Interactive History Museum (IHM) exhibit. Even though I have now come back to reality, the buzz of EBExpo15 is still high – I hope the buzz lasts a little while yet.

It all started three days before EB Games Expo 2015 – we picked up the rental truck, packed all the retro gaming gear and pop-culture goodies and set off for our ‘retro road trip’ to Sydney (Ed: we’ll save the story of the retro road trip for another time). Once arriving in Sydney, the bump-in was relatively easy, with all of us working in unison, we had setup the Interactive History Museum (IHM) with items from the 80s, 90s and 00s, from retro gaming systems, retro video games, to a myriad of pop-culture gear, we had three decades worth of nostalgia covered in the one area.

Once EBExpo15 kicked off, it was great to see attendees flocking to the IHM area and enjoying themselves by playing video games they hadn’t seen since they were a child or wowing at the sight of the Sale Of The Century board game with Tony Barber in the 90s section. The age range of attendees was varied, but each person that took a trip down memory lane in the IHM was not disappointed – there was something to do and see for everyone. There were plenty of compliments, which always makes you feel that all the hard work was worthwhile, like this one from a very happy patron, “Your stand was my favourite of all time!!! Thank you for showing the next generation the amazing technology advancement from when I was a kid to now. I was born in the 70’s, so my childhood of gaming was experienced in the 80’s and it was wonderful to relive all those great times. Once again, thank you.”

EBExpo15 wasn’t just about the IHM. The main hall was packed with modern gaming with all the big players in the industry being present, from Sony Playstation Australia showing off their VR headset, Xbox Australia garnering interest with their Xbox One wares, to Nintendo Australia and New Zealand doing what they do best – gaming and running gaming related competitions. And what exhibition is complete without amazing Cosplay. At EBExpo15, there were cosplayers representing every medium – TV, gaming, comics and movies. The cosplayers were all equally amazing to see and humble when approached to be photographed.

Like all good things, EBExpo15 concluded on Sunday (Oct 4). After 5 days in Sydney, we had to pack up the gear (Ed: very carefully!) and make our way down the Hume Highway back to unseasonably warm Melbourne. So, was it all worth it and was it fun? Let’s just say we had the gunnest time ever! Roll on EB Games Expo 2016!

Thank you to the Weird and Retro team: Serby, Stacey, Jerry, Pedro and Kano for allowing me to share in the EB Games Expo 15 shenanigans!

Where on the road to…… EB Games Expo (Sydney)

Pit-stop – the Ice Man (Jerry) enjoys a bit of cocktail action

Isuzu trucks – they are not so squeezy

We arrive at Sydney’s Showground!

Pass picked up – time to go in and start setting up

The Interactive History Museum – let’s go in!

Totally 80’s – computers!

Totally 80’s – consoles!

Never forget the 90’s!

The mighty SNES

The Jaguar museum piece was a personal fave!

The Noughties represent!

Taking a sneak peek at the PlayStation exhibit in the main hall

Freeplay City – the calm before the storm!

Retro Gamer Rival (Pedro) making us drool over his mint warez!

Getting our gear on before the start of EB Expo 15!

Drool worthy!

Stuffing our faces – a growing body needs sustenance!

I love this computer. There, it has been said!

The write-up for the Jag was pure gold!

Taking more sneaky peeks into what PlayStation will have for us in the near future

Yours truly making some last minute adjustments to the 90’s museum display

Loving the view!

It’s showtime! The IHM proves popular with all patrons

Yay, Zool action!

The popular 90s!

Weird and Retro’s Serby enjoying a bit of bongo action on Donkey Konga!

Mega Man made it to the expo!

Sonic enjoyed on the Mega Drive by the new generation

Even the dark side of the force enjoys a bit of retro gaming

I wanna bust out the Barry Crocker tune now!

Checking out the main hall during our breaks

Serby enjoys an old classic on new hardware. Oh wait…..

The EB Games mega-store was MEGA (and always packed)!

So many temptations in the EB Games mega-store

Whoa, Lego Mario and Luigi!

More Lego retro gaming creations! *want*

Speechless!

Oh my gawd! This is my kind of arcade!

Meanwhile, back in the IHM, we find Link and his Fairy!

May the force be with you!

16-bit Mortal Kombat WaR!

My childhood in the 80s!

16-bit goodies

XBox royalty!

If only this was $9.99!

Busting out the vinyl

Spin that wheel! I’m a make you feel….

Taking a pinball break! This means WaR!

Spooky!

Whoa, that’s green!

Ubisoft crashes the party!

On my best behaviour

Sonic competes at the Nintendo stand!

We made it on the Gamespot #EBExpo15 social media wall!

Best tattoos at show!

Mini Luigi beating his bro on Super Mario Kart

Star-Lord and Drax the Destroyer enjoying some Dayyyyytoooooona USA!

Ah, all good things must come to an end.

Anniversary of the Amiga: A Good Game TV Special

October 8, 2015 By ausretrogamer

2015 has been a year of major gaming and tech anniversaries, from Super Mario celebrating 30 years of busting bricks, to Sony’s PlayStation hitting the magical 20th anniversary since its release in the West. Rounding off the trifecta of major birthday celebrations is Commodore’s powerhouse computer, the mighty Amiga.

Since Mario and the PlayStation have enjoyed the spotlight throughout the year, it was great to see ABC TV’s Good Game turn their attention to celebrate the Amiga in a special feature during their regular TV show. Regardless if you are an Amiga fan or not, press play and take a trip down memory lane to the beginning of the multimedia computer.

source: Good Game – ABC TV

Flipping Out

October 5, 2015 By ausretrogamer

If you have an interest in pinball, even if it is in passing, then this Flipped video by Mike L. Miller is a hoot to watch. I think a fair few of you (Ed: and me!) will relate to the jubilation of multi-ball play and the despondency when that shiny metal ball drains – the reactions of players in this video are priceless.

If you think pinball is just a passing fad a second time around, then think again! I am glad we are all keeping the (pinball) dream alive!

source: Flipped on vimeo

Rebooted: The Amiga 1200 Case Kickstarter

October 1, 2015 By ausretrogamer

Following on from their first crack at a Kickstarter campaign to create new Amiga 1200 casings, Philippe Lang and his team have listened to all the feedback and went back to the drawing board. The A1200.net team have come back with an enhanced campaign which they are hoping will please the most ardent of Amiga 1200 fans (Ed: us included!).

So what’s new in this campaign you ask? For starters, the Amiga 1200 casings will be fully licensed and will include the official AMIGA logo! There is a raft of other improvements and additions which you can read up on their Kickstarter page. We hope this one gets funded second time around!

image source: A1200.Net

Retro Gaming Anniversary: Nintendo 64

September 29, 2015 By ausretrogamer

image source: IGN AU

On this day [September 29] in 1996, those lucky North Americans got the latest (and last) cartridge based system from Nintendo – the sublime Nintendo 64! I say lucky, because we had to wait till the following year (March 1, 1997) to get our hands on Nintendo’s 64-bit beast. But spare a thought for gamers in Brazil, they had to wait till December 1997 to play Super Mario 64 on the N64!

The Nintendo 64 console seemed to polarise gamers – from the use of cartridges (Ed: CD-ROM was huge at this point in history), to the three-pronged controller. To be honest, we loved the fact that the system was cart based, and we absolutely love (and still do) that controller. It was typical of Nintendo to go against the grain and do their own thing.

There were heaps of stand out games on the system, but the early ones are still seared in my memory, from Super Mario 64, Wave Race 64, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, Blast Corps and of courses, Mario Kart 64, to GoldenEye 007 and International Superstar Soccer 64, we had a blast on the grey beast.

Considering we still love playing on the N64, it is a great testament to Nintendo for building such an awesome system for all of us to enjoy. What are your favourite memories of the N64? Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook to let us all know!

On The Road To EB Games Expo 2015

September 28, 2015 By ausretrogamer

image source: techradar

This time of year is always the best! The weather starts warming up, trees start blossoming, the major sporting codes play their respective finals and the biggest gaming event hits Sydney – it is, EB Games Expo 2015 time!

For the first time ever, ausretrogamer will be attending EB Games Expo 2015, assisting the Weird and Retro (WaR) crew in the Retro Central Park area. As you may (or may not) have known, Weird and Retro have been running the Retro Central Park area (formerly known as the Retro Gamer Garden) within the Freeplay City attraction at EB Games Expo for the last two years.

After hearing about all of the fun the WaR team has had at previous EB Games Expo events, we knew we wanted to be part of the action. We begged and groveled till they relented and allowed us to hit the road with them to Sydney (Ed: Um, this may not have been how it went down!).

To say we are looking forward to EB Games Expo 2015 would be a great understatement – we can’t wait! It will be great to travel with awesome friends and experience this event first hand. If you are attending, please come by the Retro Central Park area and get a hit of nostalgia by playing some old classics, or come by to check out the Interactive History Museum – you’ll have a ball! Hope to see you there!

The essentials are packed!

Details:
Event: EB Games Expo 2015
When: October 2 – 4, 2015
Where: Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park

PAXAus 2015: Classic Gaming Tournaments

September 25, 2015 By ausretrogamer

So who here likes gaming tournaments? There are a lot of hands going up – which is great to see! Well, you are all in luck! The Classic Gaming area will be running tournaments all weekend at PAXAus 2015. You can compete for fun or for the glory.

There will be high score challenge tournaments on arcade machines, consoles, 8-bit computers and pinball tables to show off your prowess. Speaking of pinball tournaments, Saturday’s competition will be fully sanctioned by the IFPA! We suggest that you diarise the following Classic Gaming tournament schedule:

You still have time to practice and sharpen your gaming skills. You never know, you just may end up being a Classic Gaming champion! Are you game to compete?

The Pinball Revolution Continues: Real Meets Virtual

September 23, 2015 By ausretrogamer

image source: Stern Pinball Inc.

What do you get when two titans from the leisure entertainment industry join forces? You get excitement, that’s what! Stern Pinball, the force behind modern day real pinball machines, and FarSight Studios, the force behind virtual pinball games like The Pinball Arcade, have announced a new expanded partnership to connect the real with the virtual when it comes to pinball gaming.

This partnership will see FarSight Studios develop a new digital platform called The Stern Pinball Arcade that will feature exact virtual replicas of Stern Pinball’s hottest pinball machines. If The Pinball Arcade is anything to go by, then we are all in for a treat! The full announcement can be read here.

It’s time to get excited pinball wizards! Let the pinball revolution continue!

Flippin Fun at the Seattle Pinball Museum

September 21, 2015 By ausretrogamer

I got to hand it to Ms. ausretrogamer, her research skills and effort to find fun (gaming related) venues in cities we visited on our North American trip, was second to none. I knew Seattle was going to be a cool city to visit, but we were totally blown away by how much there was to do and see. Rather than cram everything in one article, we thought we would start with the highlight, the Seattle Pinball Museum!

The Seattle Pinball Museum (SPM) is in the heart of Seattle’s Chinatown / International district (508 Maynard Ave S Seattle). Entry is $13USD for an adult ($18USD if you want to come and go), which gives you unlimited play on all the pinball and arcade machines inside the multi-storey entertainment centre. Once you pay your entry fee, you just hit start on any machine and go for your life (except The Wizard Of Oz machine)! We started proceedings on the world’s biggest pinball machine, Hercules! This thing was massive! Instead of a metallic sphere to knock around, Hercules uses a white billiard ball! The flippers were more like bats, and there was no way you could bump and tilt like you would on a normal table. I must say, it was an experience playing on Hercules, but my eyes quickly diverted to Fish Tales!

On the ground floor, the pinball tables were arranged from oldest to the latest offerings from Stern and Jersey Jack Pinball. There were no queues to wait (on the day we were there), so we jumped from one table to the next – experiencing everything from the early 70s right through to the current day machines.

Upstairs was a mix of pinball tables (Gorgar, The Flintstones, Taxi, Terminator 2, Space Invaders among others) and arcade machines straight out of the golden age era – Asteroids, Missile Command, Pacman and Galaga, just to name a few. It was great to see these machines once again, and it was even better seeing the new generation of kids enjoying these classics.

We had such a great time at the Seattle Pinball Museum, we totally lost track of time. Ms ausretrogamer had to tap me on the shoulder to let me know that we were the last ones inside and that the other machines were being turned off for the day. Luckily for me, Mike (from SPM) was cool enough to let me finish my game. Before we did leave, we bought a few souvenirs from the SPM, an awesome tee and a few pinball badges to remind us of the great time we had. If we lived in Seattle, I know where we would go every week!

At last, we arrive!

Entering the wonderful world of the Seattle Pinball Museum!

Even the wall art was awesome (and in theme) in this place!

The pinball wizards having some flippin fun

Whoa! The World’s largest pinball game! This thing was huge!

Yep, that’s a billiard ball to play on the largest pinball game on the planet!

Yours truly enjoying some Fish Tales! Haven’t played this in ages! So good!

The pinball tables were arranged from oldest to latest – Texan is the oldest at the Museum

Texan’s starting control deck – oh how beautiful

Oh wow, this Star Trek Enteprise Limited Edition table had to be seen to be believed (it was so sleek and gorgeous)

No matter where you turned, there were pinball tables begging to be played!

Best part of being here – trying pinball games I had never played before!

LoTR is now in my top 10 fave pinball tables of all time! That’s a big call!

Nice to look at, but a nightmare to play. Perhaps I needed more practice…

Ms. ausretrogamer was hooked on Scared Stiff

Woo hoo – top 4 high score on Theatre of Magic!

He shoots, he scores! Another classic Bally table!

This Indy machine brought back lots of fond memories.

Make it so, Number One. Two absolute classics side-by-side!

Let’s start shootin!

A signed Stern AC/DC Pro table! We loved the info on top of each pinball machine.

Found a couple of Pinball 2000 machines too.

Looking back at all the awesomeness.

Ah, The Wizard Of Oz – a table you must play at least once in your life!

The rise of the arcade machines……..

I wonder what wonderment we’ll find upstairs?

More awesome pinball machines upstairs, and……..

Golden Age arcade machines!

Baby Pac-Man – a hybrid arcade and pinball machine!

A different perspective of Baby Pac-Man

Oh wow, I had forgotten how hard Missile Command was at the arcade!

Aha, there she is! She is still beautiful, even after all these years…..

The new generation enjoying the old generation of arcade machines

Oh man, another absolute classic from the Golden Age!

The view from above.

Finally, I get to play the real Gorgar instead of playing it on the iPad!

The view below still looks good.

What to play first? The Who’s Tommy Pinball Wizard or Taxi? Tough decision.

Another rock band inspired pinball table!

While we are here, we might as well have a go on The Flintstones.

More awesome wall art upstairs (wish we could have taken some home!).

Oh yeah baby, a bit of Stardust always goes down well.

Another one of my all-time fave tables – you better believe it!

Found you! I can never get enough of Monster Bash!

Just reading up on my fave table before we have to leave *sad face*

We couldn’t leave the Seattle Pinball Museum without some souvenirs and mementos! Hooray!

Venue: Seattle Pinball Museum
Address: 508 Maynard Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104
Hours of operation:
— 10 to 5 on Sunday | Monday | Wednesday
— 12 to 10 on Thursday | Friday | Saturday
— Closed on Tuesday