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Review: Arcadie

By

Arc_top

It is quite exciting receiving goodies in the mail. This time around, we received the cool looking Arcadie. On first impressions, the unit stands out – I love anything that looks like an arcade machine. Upon closer inspection, the packaging doesn’t give away too many details, just minimal information on the compatibility and the website of the manufacturer for more detailed specifications. I guess with finite real estate on packaging, you have to grab potential customers’ attention with colouring and buzz words.

Build Quality

The Arcadie feels quite sturdy and takes a bit of punishment. The joystick is nice and tight and centres itself, while the buttons have a nice click when depressed – no hint of sponginess. Can it withstand years of punishment? Well, having had the unit for a few weeks, that is difficult to determine. Only time will tell. Unless you wrench the stick and abuse the buttons beyond their normal use, then there should be no reason for the unit to breakdown any time soon. When playing games, we did find that we had to tilt the unit away from us so that we could get a better viewing angle of the screen.

Arc_Game
Arcadie Alien Invaders is a beefed up Space Invaders clone that plays quite well.

Compatibility & Games

Straight off the bat, the Arcadie is compatible with Apple’s iPod and iPhone devices up to and including the iPhone 4S and iPod Touch (3rd and 4th Generation). Unfortunately, if you have an iPhone 5 or above, you miss out. Not only is the Arcadie hampered by limited hardware compatibility, it is also limited to proprietary software. The good news is, Zeon are releasing games exclusive for the unit and the best bit is, they are totally free (via iTunes App store). Let’s hope they keep on releasing more games for the Arcadie, as it needs them. Before you ask, the games that are available are beefed up clones of well known retro classics like: arcadie Blasteroids (Asteroids), arcadie Alien Invaders (Space Invaders), arcade Ping (Pong), arcadie Tanks and arcadie Hop Along (Frogger) . The games are quite fun to play, but not for too long. The novelty of playing on an arcade stylised cabinet is still quite cool. If only the Arcadie was compatible with other retro released games on iTunes. It’s a case of, what might have been.

Arc_open
Pop open the rear, insert your device, close rear and you are set to play!

Verdict

For the price of the Arcadie (sub $25 AUD for the blue unit), it is worth having it as a cool item – either to show off on your shelf or act as a stand for your iPhone or iPod. Will you use it to play games or will the novelty factor wear off? These are valid questions that can only be answered on an individual basis. I do get caught up in the nostalgia that certain items provide and I can safely say that the Arcadie certainly does this, albeit in a limited fashion. If you have an iPhone 4S or an iPod Touch, this is well worth a look.

 

Play It Again: Remembering 1980’s Gaming

By

WoTEF
Did you know this game was developed in Australia? If not, now you do!
source: Play It Again

We should be proud of our heritage. As an Australian, I am truly proud of our video gaming pedigree. From well known development and publishing houses like Beam Software, Melbourne House and Armchair Entertainment just to name a few, to well known and much loved games like Way Of The Exploding Fist and Hungry Horace. Pioneers like Alfred Milgrom should be lauded, as he put Australia on the map when it came to video games development. Luckily for us, there is now the Play It Again project.

Arnie_Armchair_Cup
I broke many a joysticks raising and lowering my yacht’s spinnaker on this game.
source: Play It Again

Play It Again is a game history and preservation project focusing on locally (Australian and New Zealand) created digital games from the 1980s. The site aims to collect documentation in order to remember early games through popular memory. The project is a collaboration between researchers at several universities in Australia and New Zealand, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, the New Zealand Film Archive and the Berlin Computerspiele Museum.

The Popular Memory Archive aims to showcase some of the significant local games of the 1980s.  It features information on a curated selection of 50 games. In November, the Popular Memory Archive is focusing on Australia’s Videogame Pioneers, looking at the stories of some of Australia’s earliest game designers – how they got started, how they went about inventing an industry and making the games they created.

You can contribute as well by sharing your memories of playing games that were created in Australia and New Zealand. What are you waiting for, go and document your own piece of gaming history.

PIA_Project

 

How To Maximize Battery Life

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This post may be a bit off topic, but it’s still quite useful. Let’s face it, we all have batteries of some kind in our devices. The below graphic provides useful information and tips on how to maximise the life of your batteries.

How to maximize battery life

 

 

How to maximize battery life [Infographic] by the team at budgetbatteries

 

The Thrill Of The Chase: The Holy Grail

By

SX64_main_ausretrogamer

Does one ever stop hunting once their white whale or more accurately, their holy grail of video gaming has been conquered? I face this question having fulfilled the last of my holy trinity of retro gaming systems, the Commodore “Executive” SX-64. In case you were wondering, the other two that make up the trinity are the Vectrex and PC-Engine (CoreGrafx).

After securing the SX-64, I am left feeling flat and empty. There is a void inside my retro gaming heart. I am left wondering if it was all worth it (Ed: of course it was! Suck it up sunshine!). What is next? Do I now chase a new holy grail, one that will take years to find and conquer? What will happen after that? Am I addicted to the ‘thrill of the chase’? The answers are quite simple – enjoy what I have for now, and yes, I am addicted to the thrill of the chase.

A retro gamer is seldom fully satisfied that their collection is “complete”. I can safely say, my collection will never ever be complete, there is always another system or game to chase and obtain. The retro gaming bug has bitten hard and I must oblige. What will be the next retro gaming holy grail?

 

Portable Atari 2600

By

Atari_VCS_0

Do you have a cool US$1,365.00 burning a hole in your pocket? This portable Atari 2600 recently made an appearance on eBay with a Buy It Now (BIN) price which no one offered the seller from Turkey. If you were to buy this unique item, this is what you would get for your money:

* Play all your NTSC Atari VCS / 2600 cartridges on the go;
* CNC-machined wooden case with CNC artwork;
* 7.4v li-ion battery with a 3 hour battery life;
* Pause function to pause the game whenever needed;
* Dip-switch settings to switch the built-in controller between player 1 and player 2;
* Difficulty switches for each player;
* LED low battery indicator – kicks in when battery has 20 minutes left;
* Composite video and mono headphone out;
* Digital volume and brightness controls;
* Playstation 1 analogue stick converted to play as D-pad with extra trigger function;
* 3.5″ TFT screen;

All this awesomeness in a 200mm x 135mm x 40mm yacht varnished wooden package that weighs 600 grams! What more would you want.

 

Classic Moments: IK+

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I knew I should have got the smaller sized pants!

It’s not much fun getting caught with your pants down, especially in public. It’s also not a good idea to drop your dacks willingly in any situation. It’s just not socially acceptable. However in a video game,  that’s a different story.

Archer Maclean’s smash hit sequel to International Karate, IK+ improved on its predecessor in many ways – from the visuals, gameplay aspects, to the built in Easter eggs!

IK+ gave the player the opportunity to mess with their fighters in amusing ways – by making them drop their trousers! The trouser drop was performed by pressing the S and E keys together on the keyboard. The expression on the fighters’ faces when they realised they had been caught with their pants down was priceless. Truly a classic moment in video gaming.

 

Meatballphobia: The Retro-Inspired Puzzler

By

mball

This week marks more than just the release of the PS4. Mark down November 12 in your diary. If you like grey matter challenging puzzlers with a quirky premise, then Meatballphobia is your perfect tonic.

Featuring 50 brain-teasing levels of increasing difficulty, Meatballphobia focuses on relaxed problem solving instead of competition. You can play the game at your own leisure — there are no locked levels, no high-scores to beat and no timer. If you get stuck on a level, don’t stress, just go ahead and pick another stage. You can always return to that pesky level that had you in a spin.

Even though Meatballphobia plays like a modern game, its pedigree is from the 8-bit era; from the CGA palette, pixelated sprites, to the engaging chiptune soundtrack — it’s all carefully crafted to take you back in time.

Meatballphobia (Windows/Linux) will be available via Desura on November 12 (PDT) for $2.99USD. The Android version is available on Google Play and Amazon for $1.50USD.