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Conversion Capers

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garage_3

This article is not about some poor arcade conversion on the C64, which there were plenty. No, what I am writing about here is, is my converting the garage into a gaming room project. After a fair bit of procrastination, I am making some sort of progress on the clean-up. There was a lot of soul searching when decisions were made to either keep stuff or throw it out. Since I have hoarding tendencies, this was quite difficult, hence the procrastination.

Garage_1

So, where am I up to – the flooring has been procured, the door quotes have been obtained and the plan of where the consoles, computers, Dreamcast kiosk, server rack cabinet and arcade machines will go is pretty much set. I may change my mind where things will end up, but for the moment, I am happy with the plan. It would be remiss of me not to mention my wife – she has given me so many great ideas, ones I would not have thought of on my own. So for that, I am eternally grateful! She has an amazing eye for detail and interior design expertise in gaming rooms.

garage_2

The progress has been slow, but this was never a race. The garage conversion can not proceed at this stage till the doors are in place, as dust needs to be kept out to ensure the old retro gear survives. Being this time of year, it is difficult to get tradesmen to do any work, as they are still on holidays. For now, I am remaining patient and still throwing out bits and pieces (reluctantly) to ensure the room does not end up a cluttered mess!

Stay tuned for future progress updates on this project.

 

8-Bit Battle: Atari XEGS vs Commodore 64

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Every third Sunday of each month, the Amiga Users Group gets together to showcase, demonstrate, play games and most importantly, chat with other like minded passionate enthusiasts and collectors.

On this occasion, the club meet was hijacked to pit two 8-bit home computers, the Atari XEGS and the Commodore 64 in a tussle to find which reigned supreme in the 1-byte realm. There was a SX-64 thrown in for good measure, but that never factored in the Atari versus Commodore war.

Assembloids

The Team Atari versus Team Commodore battle royale was the brainchild of Weird and Retro’s Aleks Svetislav (Serby). In his usual selfless way, Serby brought monitors, computers, joysticks and a shed load of games for everyone to enjoy and for the battle to take place. My attention went straight to the obscure games that Serby had in his swag, like Jars’ Revenge for the C64. But there was no time to admire the stash, there was a war waging on the tables!

C64

The two 8-bit systems had battles with each playing their respective versions of Wizard of Wor and Assembloids. Let me say, Assembloids is one heck of an addictive game. Serby warned me about it’s addictiveness – it is fantastic! Before I get sidetracked, my impression of Wizard of Wor was that it looked, sounded and played better on the C64 (sorry Serby!). In regards to Assembloids, it was a dead heat – it looked and played great on both the Atari XEGS and the Commodore 64. The other games played were Missile Command and River Raid. Both of these games were made for the little Atari – they were awesome on the XEGS.

There were no arms or legs lost in this battle, only a few sore thumbs. So, who won this battle of the 8-bit home computers? I’d say it was dead even. Whichever side you were on, you couldn’t lose. Long live the Atari and Commodore!

Weapons Of Mass Destruction
TAC2

Vectrex shenanigans on the C64
narzod

Jars’ Revenge – a homage to Yars’?
Jars

Gauntlet – Some 8-Bit Magic
Gaunt

No Hacking Allowed!
Hack

Human Pong, Tetris, Space Invaders and Pole Position

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Human_pacman

Here is a novel idea, use a group of humans as pixels to depict some of video games’ classic games like, Tetris, Pac-Man and Pole Position to name a few.

Stop motion artist, Guillaume Reymond assembled large groups of volunteer humans (as pixels) for his Game Over project to recreate stop-motion videos of classic video games, complete with self-created sound effects. Enjoy!

Human Pac-man

Human Tetris

Human Pole Position

Human Space Invaders

Human Pong

source: NOTsoNOISY

Arcade Machines: Marquees Of Light

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If you are pressed for space to add those old arcade machines in your home, perhaps these arcade marquee lights are the next best thing. Created by Kyle from Arcade Lights, these arcade cabinet marquees are the real deal (all original) and perfectly hand assembled. You can now save on space (and lots of machine maintenance money) by having these lights proudly hung on your wall.

Hit the Arcade Lights Etsy store now and start drooling, I mean browsing.

AL_EA

AL_Scramble

AL_BC

AL_DigDug

AL_Galaxian

AL_N_PlayChoice

AL_Xybots

AL_pacman

Images source: Arcade Lights

 

MOGA: The Mobile Game Changer

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Is your new year’s resolution to become an accomplished mobile gamer? To become an accomplished mobile gamer, you’ll need some precision control. Well, I think the MOGA Pocket Controller (MOGA) might be your weapon of choice.

All work ceased when the MOGA arrived in the office. We all just gawked at this beautiful sleek package on the desk. Who would be the lucky sod to crack open the controller and put it through its paces? Well, being the editor, there are certain perks and privileges that come with the job –  I wasn’t going to let anyone else get their grubby fingers on the MOGA.

MOGA_1_pkg

Build Quality
The first thing that strikes you with the MOGA is its build quality – it is flawless! This little pocket rocket is one of the best looking controllers on the market. The piano black finish is gorgeous and the feel and control is akin to your PS3 and XBox 360 controllers, albeit a tad smaller for use on mobile devices (smartphones and tablets).

With dual analogue sticks, shoulder triggers and four action buttons, you will feel right at home when the MOGA is in your hands. The unit even has a ‘flip’ arm which secures your Android device up to 3.2in / 82mm in size – accommodating the market’s largest smartphones.

The MOGA draws power from two AAA (1.5V) batteries. You’ll get a fair few hours play on a pair of AAAs. We played with it for 6 hours and there was still lots of juice left in the batteries.

MOGA_2_items

MOGA_3_underside

Compatibility & Games
Let’s face it, what good is a controller if it can not be used on a myriad of games. Given the MOGA is for Android 2.3+ devices (we used it on a Samsung Galaxy S3), there are numerous games on Google Play that are ‘enhanced’ for the MOGA. Having said that, games that are compatible with the MOGA must run via its proprietary app, the MOGA Pivot App (don’t stress, it is a breeze to setup and use). Unfortunately, this means that your much loved retro gaming emulators can not utilise this controller. That aside, there are games being added to the library on a constant basis. You would be pretty hard pressed if you couldn’t find a swag of games that you could play using the MOGA.

MOGA_4_withS3

Verdict
If you are a control freak and yearn for precision, then the MOGA Pocket Controller is for you. If you tend to play MAME or other retro system emulators, then you will need to look elsewhere. This is one great little controller that we highly recommend. 

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