For a lot of gamers, November 15 2013 cannot come fast enough. My primary gaming may be on vintage systems, but hey, even I get excited when I see trailers like this one from Sony. Greatness surely awaits.
source: PlayStation
Cabal: Dare The Danger
Ah yes, Cabal. This war themed arcade game throws you and a friend right into the thick of battle. Your mission is to maim, kill and blow up everything in sight on twenty (20) different screens (four screens per stage, with a total of five stages). Should you reach the end and defeat the evil dictator, you are free to relinquish your guerrilla fighting days and just become a run of the mill commando.
Ask any arcade gamer about Cabal, and you will notice a wry smile come over their face. Cabal had you ducking behind walls to escape enemy fire all the while you shoot back and destroy everything on screen, from buildings, tanks, helicopters, submarines, walls and trees to animals! Using your onscreen crosshair, you aim and fire. Your soldier starts with his trusty single-shot gun (with unlimited ammo), however, there are power-ups (shotguns, machine guns, grenades) hidden on each screen, hence the importance of shooting and destroying everything in sight. Once the screen has been leveled out, your soldier moves on to the next screen or stage.
Cabal set the blueprint for a number of shooting games, from its own successor, Blood Bros. to SNK’s NAM-1975. These games may be better (for some gamers), but you have to pay homage to where the inspiration came from – Cabal: Dare the Danger!
| Graphics | Nice large sprites. Items on screen blow up with great satisfaction (buildings collapse in dust when their foundations give in to your incessant fire) |
88% |
| Sound | Expected frenetic war machine noise |
85% |
| Playability | The screen does not scroll, but the gameplay is hectic. You will love blowing up everything on screen |
85% |
| Lastability | Still great to come back to and shoot everything in sight, including the pigs! |
83% |
| Overall | Using the trackball may get some getting used to, but once you do, Cabal will dare you to play it. Get ready to destroy everything |
82%
|
Manufacturer: TAD Corporation
Year: 1988
Genre: Shooter
Number of Simultaneous Players: 2
Maximum number of Players: 2
Gameplay: Joint
Control Panel Layout: Multi-Player
Controls:
– Trackball: Optical
– Buttons: 2 (shoot and grenade)
Sound: Amplified Mono (single channel)
Cosplay: Winter London Film & Comic Con 2013
On Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th of October, film, comic fans and cosplayers descended on the Olympia Grand Hall in London for the second London Film and Comic Con of the year. There was a whole host of fun activities including photo shoots, panels, autograph sessions and hundreds of stalls full of merchandise to browse.
Watch the Cosplay highlights from the Winter London Film and Comic Con (WLFCC) 2013.
source: sneakyzebra
Retro Gaming and Monday Madness
It is always best to start the week with a bit of a laugh. Life is serious as it is – enjoy!
A must read novel for any Mario fan!
GTA V: Vatican City – I would soooo play the pope!
GTA V: Hollywood
Wrist Battery Pack: Solving Your Handheld Dilemma!
ARTCADE: The Book of Classic Arcade Game Art
Want to go on an arcade nostalgia trip? If Tim Nicholls raises £10,000 (Ed: he has now! Woohoo!) on his Kickstarter campaign, the dream will definitely become a reality.
There have been quite a few Kickstarter projects that have piqued my interest and this one has definitely done more than that. Being an avid arcade junkie, this book will be choc-full of memories from the golden age of arcade gaming.
Check out the kickstarter campaign for Artcade. Will you back this?
source: Kickstarter
Top 5 Games Charts: July 1996
While the music charts were being rocked by the ‘Spice Girls’ and ‘Fugees’ in July 1996, on the video games front, we had a gorilla, a street fighter and a woody toy dominating the SNES, Sega’s Saturn and Mega Drive. This month also saw an Australian inspired rugby game make the charts on Sega’s 16-bit offering. What were you playing in July 1996?
 |
1) Donkey Kong Country 2 (Nintendo) |
| 2) Killer Instinct (Nintendo) | |
| 3) Yoshi’s Island (Nintendo) | |
| 4) FIFA Soccer ’96 (EA) | |
| 5) PGA Tour Golf ’96 (THQ) |
 |
1) Toy Story (Sega) |
| 2) FIFA Soccer ’96 (EA) | |
| 3) Sonic & Knuckles (Sega) | |
| 4) Australian Rugby League (EA) | |
| 5) Ecco the Dolphin 2: Tides of Time (Sega) |
 |
1) Street Fighter Alpha (Virgin Games) |
| 2) Panzer Dragoon Zwei (Sega) | |
| 3) Sega Rally (Sega) | |
| 4) Virtua Cop (Sega) | |
| 5) NFL: Quarterback Club (Sega) |
The Last Starfighter
Back in 1984, do you recall playing Starfighter at your local arcade parlour and then getting excited when it appeared in your favourite movie, The Last Starfighter? No, it doesn’t ring a bell? Of course it doesn’t, the arcade game from the movie was never a reality, or was it?
Rogue Synapse can make this dream a reality – your very own Starfighter arcade machine, just like in the movie. Become Alex Rogan and fly off to Rylos to defend the frontier from the evil Xur and the Koh-Dan Armada. You may need to speak to your bank manager beforehand.
The Dumbest Ways To Die In GTA 5
Before anyone says we are glorifying violence in video games, relax, take a chill pill for goodness sake, it is only a game! This video of the dumbest ways to die in GTA 5 is a parody and is meant to be funny, please take it that way.
source: brysi
Neo Geo: The Phantom-1 Menace
There was never any doubt, if you had the cash to splash, the Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System (AES) was one badass console to own. You could play Nam-1975 at the arcade parlour on the Neo Geo MVS and then go home and play the exact same game on the AES. You couldn’t really say the same for the Mega Drive nor the SNES, even though they did have some near perfect arcade conversions.
If you are one of the lucky ones to still own an AES, then you will be well aware that the cartridges are quite expensive, especially when compared to their MVS arcade versions. So how does one get around paying a king’s ransom for AES games? Easy, you get yourself an !Arcade! Phantom-1 MVS to AES converter. The Phantom-1 converter lets you play (the cheaper) MVS games on your AES – just plug in the converter, whack in the MVS cartridge on top and viola, you have saved yourself several hundred dollars. The only problem is, the Phantom-1 converter is rarer than hens teeth. If you do find one in your travels, be prepared to fork out for it – it is well worth it!
NES In Multi-Colour
source: Cheezburger
If the NES could display more colours, this is how your favourite video gaming characters would look like. Ah, if only!