Announcements

Melbourne Silverball League: Get Flippin

March 31, 2016 By ausretrogamer

Attention all you pinball loving peeps, April 1 2016 will mark the commencement of the new Melbourne Silverball League monthly pinball tournament. This new tournament will be based on a selfie format, but more on that later! No, this is no April Fools’ Day joke, this is for real!

After his recent US trip to Arcade Expo 2.0 competing in the It Never Drains In Southern California pinball tournament, Martin Robbins was inspired to set up a similar qualifying and competition format here in Melbourne, hence the Melbourne Silverball League (MSL) was born. The first selfie competition in Melbourne will be at Bartronica in Flinders Lane. This is how the MSL pinball competition format will work:

Each month there will be particular pinball machines at Bartronica selected for qualifying – for the month of April the machines will be: Creature from the Black Lagoon, Party Zone, Addams Family, Goldeneye 007 and Pin*Bot. Play on each of these machines and take a photo of your score. You can either upload your picture via the tournament location at Matchplay.Events or post it to the Melbourne Silverball League (MSL) Facebook page. One of the MSL scorekeepers will review your photo and then submit your score. Your ranking on each machine will be worth more points the higher up you are to give you a combined overall ranking (based on the PAPA format i.e.: 100 points for the top score, then 90 for 2nd, 85 for 3rd and so on). The combined scores of the top 16 ranked players will qualify for the playoff (which is on the first Sunday of the following month).

To ensure your score submission goes smoothly, your selfie should have your face and the score to help the MSL scorekeepers validate your submission. Some patience might be needed where certain machines take a while to scroll through credits to get back to your score.

If we have lost you so far, here are the TL;DR (that’s Too Long;Didn’t Read) notes:

Register your participation at the MSL Facebook page;
play pinball at Bartronica;
upload pictures to MSL Facebook page of your awesome scores;
check the MSL Facebook page to see how you are ranking for that month;
get in to the top 16 players to qualify for the monthly head to head comp to determine the overall winner.

It is that easy! So what are you waiting for? Go and register now and then hit Bartronica during the month of April to rack up your high score!

Martin Robbins – the brains behind the Melbourne Silverball League

Shane Rubans getting some testing done at Bartronica
source: Melbourne Silverball League

8-Bit Pinball Action

March 22, 2016 By ausretrogamer

Being a fan of the silver ball and 8-bit micro computing, I was always craving for a pinball game to play on my trusty Commodore 64. Finally, my prayers have been answered in the form of Errazking’s Petaco’5!

This new C64 pinball game was developed by Errazking and Maniako using ‘Bill Budge’s Pinball Construction Set’, coupled with cool music by the great chiptune composer, Richard Bayliss.

What you get is 6 pinball tables to play on, with as-close-to-realistic ball physics on your C64 – which is a good thing if you are a pinball purist. The screen is divided in half, with the playfield on one side and the player score on the other. If you are a pinball fan and are in need of a silver ball fix on your C64, then Petaco’5 will go a long way to satisfy your pinball craving.

Errazking’s PETACO’5 is available for free on CSDb. Get it now!

The T-UFO Table
image source: CSDb and Vintage Is The New Old

Super Russian Roulette: The Good, the Bad, and the Zapper

March 16, 2016 By ausretrogamer

Move over Duck Hunt, there is gonna be a new shooting game in town! And forget Wii Sports to bring your party alive! For your next party, you should be playing Super Russian Roulette on your NES! Yep, you read that right – get your Zapper ready!

Before you rush off to your nearest gaming store, relax, Super Russian Roulette is being funded via Kickstarter and it has already blown past its goal of $20K! What is there to say about this game other than, you and up to two of your friends and the trash talking cowboy take turns passing the pistol, spinning the chamber (or not!), and drinking to your own demise (or not)! That Andrew Reitano is a genius.

If you are party gamer, gunslinger or an adrenaline junkie, you need to back Super Russian Roulette now! The game will be available in NTSC and PAL formats.

source: Super Russian Roulette on Kickstarter

Growing The 8-Bit Generation

March 15, 2016 By ausretrogamer

source: 8bit generation

We initially backed Growing The 8-Bit Generation Kickstarter campaign not knowing its troubled past. We were drawn to it because of it’s proposed subject matter – a documentary about the start of the home computer industry, which was right up our alley. Rather than getting bogged down in the windy road of how this documentary came to be, we thought we would concentrate on what the 8-Bit Generation / Junk Food team have delivered, and boy is it good!

Like any documentary that delves into the history of a particular industry, it is the people that were there, recounting their experiences first-hand that is paramount to the success of telling such a story. Growing The 8-Bit Generation nails this part by featuring a roster of interviewees that reads like a computing and video gaming hall of fame, from Chuck Peddle, Al Charpentier, Bil Herd, Michael Tomczyk, Dave Rolfe, Richard Garriot, Jeff Minter, Andy Finkel, Lord British, Steve Wozniak, Nigel Searle, Chris Curry, John Grant, Nolan Bushnell, Al Alcorn to Joe Decuir and Leonard Tramiel among others. However, the biggest interviewee coup for the documentary was having the late and great, Jack Tramiel recount his days as the head of Commodore and his somewhat ruthless pursuit to build computers for the masses, not the classes – which he certainly did. It is staggering to think that the production team actually interviewed 64 key industry figures, not all appearing in this film, which means there will be future documentaries with the additional footage!

The best way to describe Growing The 8-Bit Generation is that it is a visual and aural representation of Brian Bagnell’s book, Commodore: A Company on the Edge. If you have read this book, you will recognise the interviewees and know the subject matter quite well. Having said that, if you haven’t read Brain’s book, you will learn how Commodore battled it out with Atari, Sinclair, Texas Instruments, Apple and Tandy to reign supreme in the home computer hardware market.

The documentary is given a sense of authority by having Bil Heard (former Commodore engineer) lending his voice as the narrator. There is also subtle chiptune background music which adds to the aural spectacle. If we were to be nitpicking (Ed: and we would hate to be!), we would have loved to have seen Bob Yannes (SID chip inventor) appear and perhaps someone from Amstrad, like Lord Sugar. Purists may argue that the documentary is too Commodore-centric, but you have to remember it was their MOS6502 microprocessor that gave birth to the home computing industry and it also had a profound impact on the video games console market.

What From Bedrooms To Billions documentary was to the history of home computer games development, Growing The 8-Bit Generation is to the history and evolution of home computer hardware – it is certainly compelling viewing!

NOTE: Retail availability of the documentary is yet to be confirmed. Keep an eye on the 8-Bit Generation site for more details.

image source: 8-Bit Generation

Flippin Out: Ghostbusters Pinball

March 11, 2016 By ausretrogamer

When it comes to big-licenses in the pinball world, Stern definitely know how to grab you by the steel balls! Joining their stable of recent big hits like The Walking Dead and Game Of Thrones is Ghostbusters Pinball.

The timing of Ghostbusters Pinball coincides with the release of the trailer for the upcoming reboot, but don’t read too much into that, as Stern’s Ghostbusters is based on the classic pair of films from the 80s, with Bill Murray, the Ecto-1, Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and of course, Slimer all making their ghoulish way onto the playfield.

There are plenty of ramps, toys, lighting, speech and motorized effects to scare the pants off you while you rid New York City of ghostly apparitions. To get you right into the mood, Ray Parker Jr belts out the Ghostbusters theme. “If there’s something strange, in your neighborhood, who ya gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS!”

For more deets on Stern’s Ghostbusters Pinball, go here.

Are you a Pro Ghostbuster?

Or are you a Premium Ghostbuster?

Aha, you wanna be a limited edition Ghostbuster!

Oh la la!

Flip those ghosts!

Watch out for Stay Puft Marshmallow Man!

Don’t get slimed!

Return your library books before they are due!

I ain’t afraid of no ghosts!
image source: Stern Pinball Inc.

Raid The Atari Vault At The PC Gamer Weekender

March 1, 2016 By ausretrogamer

There is no hiding the fact that we are huge Atari fans – always have been, always will be. We definitely have a soft spot for Atari’s old school gaming franchises – so to our delight, the company that brought us Pong and the VCS will be attending The PC Gamer Weekender at London’s Old Truman Brewery this coming weekend, March 5-6. They will be unleashing their Atari Vault, which will be packed with 100s of classic Atari games.

The Atari Vault (slated for a Northern Hemisphere spring 2016 launch on Steam) will be stacked with classics such as Asteroids®, Centipede®, Missile Command®, Tempest® and Warlords® to name a few. To relive the gaming experience in the modern age, Atari have added online and local multiplayer options, an upgraded UI and original 70’s and 80’s soundtracks, Steam leaderboards to challenge others for arcade supremacy and most importantly, Steam controller support – giving you, the player, precision control to take out your fellow challengers.

When it comes to Atari’s seminal titles, there is no denying their timeless appeal transcend generations and provide the same fun as they did when we were knee-high to a grasshopper. Bring on the Atari Vault!

image source: Atari

February 7, 2016 By ausretrogamer

Ready, (Re)Set, Go! Rejoice C64 fans as issue 8 of the world’s most awesome free C64 magazine, Reset, is out now! Grab yours right now and go on a great adventure down memory lane.

In this issue, the Reset team take a look at Heroes & Cowards (Protovision), as well as Caren and the Tangled Tentacles (PriorArt) and Knight ‘N’ Grail (Psytronik). Ant Stiller delves deep into the murky depths of the D42 Adventure System and Ray Carlsen returns to tell us all about his replacement PLA chip. Martin Grundy makes his Reset debut, taking us back 30 years to January 1986 in his Reset Reloaded column. All your regular columns, news and reviews are still in there for this issue, so don’t miss out!

8-Bit Music Power For Your Famicom

February 2, 2016 By ausretrogamer

If your Famicom is sick of old carts then this may be exactly what it was craving for – 8Bit Music Power, a new cartridge released for the Fami in over two decades! This retro 8-bit chiptunes cart will push the RP2A03 sound processor to its limit, making your Famicom pump to the beats.

You better be quick, there are only a thousand copies available of this cart, and at a price of US$29.99/~AUD$42.64, it will surely become one of the rarest gems for the Famicom.

The compilation consists of 12 tracks and features the talents of Yuriko Keino (Xevious, Pac-Land), Takeaki Kunimoto (Star Soldier, Ninja Hattori-kun) and Masahiro Kajihara (Trigger Heart Exelica, Princess Maker) among others. Complimenting the cool chiptunes is the nostalgic pixel art of Hiroshi Ono (Pac-Land, Bahamut Lagoon, Final Fantasy Tactics).

If your Famicom is in need of some new wares, then look no further than the 8Bit Music Power cart!

source: RIKI8BIT

image source: Play-Asia

By The Power Of Grayskull

January 25, 2016 By ausretrogamer

As Prince Adam once proclaimed, “Fabulous, secret powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft my magic sword and said: “By the Power of Grayskull!”, indeed, there is a Power Of Grayskull, and it is on Kickstarter right now! Don’t be like a bumbling Cringer, get on this project, as it will be the most definitive He-Man and Masters Of The Universe documentary of all time!

The Power of Grayskull Kickstarter has already blown past its modest $25,000 goal, so we all hope it will keep going and reach those lucrative stretch goals. So who is behind this awesome film you may ask? Well, it is the teams who brought you “Turtle Power” and “Nintendo Quest” – they have joined forces to bring you this highly anticipated MOTU documentary. With this kind of pedigree, POWER OF GRAYSKULL: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is bound to be the best thing since sliced bread! So let’s embark on an epic adventure into the heart of 80’s nostalgia to find out once and for all #WhoHasThePower!

Just for the record, we have backed this on Kickstarter and are now looking forward to becoming an Eternian Prince (and Princess)!

image source: Power Of Grayskull on Kickstarter