Announcements

From Bedrooms to Billions: The Amiga Years

March 1, 2015 By ausretrogamer

Following their critically acclaimed first feature length documentary, From Bedrooms To Billions, Nicola and Anthony Caulfield are back with a follow-up film based on Commodore‘s wonder computer, the Amiga. Coinciding with the Amiga‘s 30th anniversary, Nicola and Anthony have kicked off their From Bedrooms to Billions: The Amiga Years Kickstarter campaign with a bang!

This film will have a whole new set of interviews to add to the already extensive list to create a standalone, immersive and highly nostalgic film that really explores why the release of the Commodore Amiga and the era that soon followed, was a key period in the evolution of video games.

Regardless of your allegiance to Commodore or the Amiga, this is one Kickstarter campaign you cannot miss. Back this project now!

image source: From Bedrooms To Billions: The Amiga Years

Super Bread Box: Superb C64 Fun

January 22, 2015 By ausretrogamer

NEWSFLASH: RGCD has announced that Super Bread Box is available for download for all you C64 fanatics (Ed: proud to be a C64 fanatic). This news is great for all retro gaming fans, as Paul Koller’s game is damn awesome. Even if you do not possess a C64, you can get in on the action via VICE on your Windows machine.

Super Bread Box is available for free, but if you can spare a few coins, please throw some over to show your support and reward the developer for their great effort. What are you waiting for? Hop to it!

Super Bread Box on RGCD.DEV

source: RGCD

October 25, 2014 By ausretrogamer

Rolling on from the major video gaming events in October, November also gets in on the event action with the Australian Pinball Expo.

To be held at the Penrith Panthers, The Exhibition Marquee (NSW) from November 14 to 16, the Australian Pinball Expo will feature 180 pinball tables from the 1940s onward, exhibitors, classic arcade machines, lock-ins and your chance to play the new Wizard of Oz 75th anniversary pinball machine!

Make no mistake, this will be Australia’s largest pinball event. Tickets are $30 and will be available online soon or you can take the chance at getting some at the door.

For further details, hit the Australian Pinball Expo site!

image source: Australian Pinball Expo

Weird and Retro presents: The Retro Roadshow at PAX Aus 2014

October 19, 2014 By ausretrogamer

Lookout Antiques Roadshow, Weird and Retro is coming at ya with their even cooler Retro Roadshow at PAX Aus 2014!

Don’t worry about bringing your grandmother’s ‘Torquay Fake’ porcelain deer to this roadshow, Weird and Retro want you to bring along and showcase your rarest or weirdest items from your retro (and not so retro) video games collection!

Pack your weird or rare items and bring them along to show them off at the Retro Roadshow at PAX Aus on November 2nd 2014 at 12:30pm in the Kookaburra Theatre. See you there!

PAX Aus 2014: The Classic Gaming Schedule

October 10, 2014 By ausretrogamer

Those great people at PAX Aus 2014 have finalised the schedule of tournaments, panels and quiz shows. If you would like to view the entire schedule, head on over here.

For those that are keen to know when and where the retro gaming tournaments and panels will be on, look below and lock in the times and dates in your diary!

Classic Gaming Tournaments

Classic Gaming Panels
image source: PAX Aus

Classic Gaming at PAX Aus 2014

October 1, 2014 By ausretrogamer

Hey PAX Aus peeps! Maps are now available for the 2014 event! Make sure you come around to our Classic Gaming area for a nostalgic hit.

For those of you that like panels, you can catch a few of us from Retrospekt, Retro Domination and yours truly at the Best [retro] video games you’ve [probably] never played panel on Saturday, November 1st at 11:00am in the Kookaburra Theatre. Oh yeah, Weird And Retro has a couple of awesome panels too, so be there or be a pixelated square!

PAX Aus 2014: October 31 – November 2, 2014 at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre.

Click map to enlarge

The Players’ Score – A Videogame Music Documentary

September 12, 2014 By ausretrogamer

Despite the growing popularity of game music and chiptunes, there hasn’t been a comprehensive effort to chronicle their contributions to modern music and gaming culture. The Players’ Score: A Videogame Music Documentary aims to explore the relationships, developments and communities videogame music has fostered through live interviews with prominent videogame cover bands, chiptune artists, and the composers who inspire them in order to demonstrate the cultural and personal impact of videogame music.

Spanning the globe, participants have come from North America, Europe, and even Japan, with more artists being confirmed daily. Here is a brief selection of the artists who will be featured in The Players’ Score – A Videogame Music Documentary:

– Austin Wintory (Journey, The Banner Saga)
– Bit Brigade
– Danimal Cannon
– Danny Barranowsky (Super Meat Boy, The Binding of Isaac)
– Grant Kirkhope (Banjo-Kazooie, Kingdoms of Amalur)
– Grant “Stemage” Henry (Metroid Metal, LonelyRollingStars)
– Hiroki Kikuta (Secret of Mana, Koudelka, Shining Hearts)
– Jake “virt” Kaufman
– Jeremy Soule (The Elder Scrolls series, Guild Wars series)
– Manami Matsumae (Mega Man, Shovel Knight)
– Mega Ran
– Morgan “Crashfaster” Tucker
– Norihiko Hibino (Metal Gear Solid series, Bayonetta)
– Starbomb
– The Megas
– The Minibosses
– The Triforce Quartet

Many more artists have already been filmed, and more will be announced as they are confirmed.

Show your support by spreading the word and pledge towards The Players’ Score – A Videogame Music Documentary.

Mega Drive Megatron and Optimus Prime Playstation

September 10, 2014 By ausretrogamer

Let’s all start with a collective sigh of disappointment. Why the disappointment? Well, after getting quite excited over the announcement that Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. would release special console Transformers to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the robots in disguise, there has been another delay in their availability.

The Mega Drive Megatron was originally slated for a September release, but that has now been pushed out to October. Optimus Prime (featuring original Playstation) won’t see the light of day till 2015 (no exact date known). On the positive side, the delay should give you extra time to save – these Transformers won’t be cheap (~$103AUD).

For now, you can drool over the photos of these awesome console Transformers!

The sleek Megatron!

Megatron in the flesh

Mega Drive Megatron in disguise

Optimus Prime Playstation!

Where did Optimus go? All I see is a Playstation!

image sources: Takara Tomy ARTS and TFormers

Beep: A History of Video Game Sound

August 26, 2014 By ausretrogamer

With the flood of samey video gaming documentaries on the market, it is refreshing to see new and interesting video gaming film ideas hitting Kickstarter.

Beep: A History of Video Game Sound is a documentary film which will take viewers on a rich audio-visual journey through the history of game music and sound, from the minimalist sounds of 1970s arcade classics through to the surround sound orchestral soundtracks of 2014’s latest epics (Ed: oh man, chiptunes too!). We all have fond memories of gaming tunes or that special music track that has been (lovingly) stuck in our heads since childhood. Beep will unlock these memories by giving the maestros and sound designers of these awesome tunes the opportunity to tell their own stories and share in their amazing achievements.

But wait, there is more! The film will be published together with a book that will provide an in-depth perspective on the evolution of game audio, packed full of interviews with the pioneers of game sound. So whichever way you look at it, all bases are covered – on film and in literature.

There are great rewards for each pledge – from $1CAD all the way up to the dizzying $8,000CAD, there is something for everyone. With a target of $40,000CAD by September 30, let’s make sure this campaign succeeds! Every dollar counts. Show your support!

image and video via Beep