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Pac-Man Lifesized Maze: Melbourne

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Get dot-munching for real!

  • What: Pac-Man Lifesized
  • Date: 27-Mar-2024
  • Where / Venue: The District Docklands, 23 – 37, Shop CWF01/01a Level 1/29 Star Cres, Docklands VIC 3008, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3008
  • Tickets: Child $12.00 / Adult $18.00
  • Where to buy: Hidden – Melbourne

Experience the excitement of a real-life Pac-Man maze as you elude colorful ghosts and snatch up fruit! This March (2024), The District Docklands in Melbourne will host an incredible Pac-Man Escape Room Maze. This immersive pop-up event, officially endorsed by Pac-Man, will immerse you in an escape room adventure within a massive maze.

Prepare to outmaneuver ghosts, gather your favorite fruits (bonus points if you can devour all five), and tackle puzzles along the way. Each participant has only three lives, and if caught by one of the four ghosts, a life is lost. You can embark on this adventure solo or with a team of up to 10 people – the choice is yours. The first person to collect all the fruit and conquer the puzzles will earn the title of the ultimate Pac-Man Player!

Additionally, the venue will feature Pac-Man video games for you to enjoy once you’ve completed the maze. Melbourne’s up-and-coming DJs will be spinning ’80s tunes during the session and at the pixelated bar, providing the perfect opportunity to relax and grab a refreshing beverage after your thrilling adventure



LEGO Ideas: METROID – E.M.M.I.

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Ah LEGO Ideas, you do get some pretty darn awesome product ideas, just like this METROID – E.M.M.I. entry by DirectorInfamousCockroach100!

What’s there not to love here, there is Samus Aran (based on her Metroid Dread appearance) and the E.M.M.I. robot enemies  featured in Metroid Dread!

DirectorInfamousCockroach100 states that:

Originally I was going to build Samus’ ship but I couldn’t crack the design :/ so here is the E.M.M.I! The Robot enemies featured in Metroid Dread.

The design here is a bit bulky but I wanted to try and make it as posable as possible! Of course it comes with a transparent stand just in-case, the build is not the most stable!

So if you are yearning for a Lego Metroid set of some kind, then you better get voting on this one!



Retro Puzzler Chip’s Challenge Lands on Nintendo Switch Later This Month!

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Classic Puzzle Game ‘Chip’s Challenge’ Returns on Nintendo Switch this January!

The 1989 classic made available for Nintendo Switch for the first time! Features display filters, suspend points and live gameplay rewind. Releasing January 25th, 2024.

Developed by Imagine Software and published by Pixel Games UK, this 1989 classic returns with over 140 levels to put your mind (and your fingers) to the test — available for the first time on Nintendo Switch via the Nintendo eShop.

In ‘Chip’s Challenge’, players take on the role of Chip — a puzzle obsessive who desperately wants to join Melinda the Mental Marvel’s computer club. His initiation takes the form of a series of increasingly difficult puzzles. To succeed Chip slide blocks, dodge hazards and collect the computer chips to pass each level. Are you up to the Challenge?

‘Chip’s Challenge’ for Nintendo Switch allows players to play this classic puzzle game with many modern features, including:

● Display filters, including an 80s-style CRT filter; and

● Suspend points – save and restore up to 4 suspend points per game

image source: Pixel Games UK



‘The Walking Dead’ Arcade Game

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

Over Christmas break, I discovered the arcade game “The Walking Dead” at a local Dave & Buster’s, a sports bar and video arcade. The object of the game is to shoot as many zombies as possible for a high score, and to get through the stages without getting nibbled on. As an enormous fan of the television series and comic book, the game was calling out to me when I bought a massive number of tokens.

When I’m playing the exciting game, shooting zombies with my crossbow, I’m not thinking about anything else in the world. My troubles and the bad news headlines all fall away. It’s an escape into a fun, fictional world, created by the great Robert Kirkman. You begin in the West Georgia Correctional Facility in Story Mode, and you’re fighting your way through the corridors and the expansive, open yard. One of the most thrilling parts when you’re in the yard is when you shoot a tanker with an arrow with an explosive on it, killing all the surrounding zombies. Some of them are just dazed, but it gives you time to escape from the starving herd.

The Raw Thrills, Inc. game is fantastic because you can easily reload your crossbow by pulling back on the handle to load again. The action is so hurried, you have about a split second to decide where to aim.

image source: Raw Thrills

It’s somewhat annoying when parents and kids walk by the outer doors, and they peek at my gameplay. Hours fly by when I’m enthralled in the combat of the game. I like it when you open a door of the prison and a zombie is right there behind it, ready to pounce on you and bite you if you’re not careful. “The Walking Dead” arcade machine is in a dark area of the arcade, so I have a feeling of isolation and total immersion when the place isn’t crowded.

I still go back and watch some of my favorite “Walking Dead” episodes, and they are usually centered around the character, Daryl Dixon. I really like the episode “Still,” that aired during the fourth season. Most of the episode is Beth and Daryl hanging out at a golf country club. It’s a haunting episode and the performances by Emily Kinney and Norman Reedus are superb. The episode is a rather dramatic one with some heft. The new Daryl Dixon series on AMC had one of the best pilot episodes I’ve seen in some time. It’s called “L’ame Perdue.”

As I finish writing this on a snowy, frigid night, I’m contemplating going to Dave & Buster’s to play “The Walking Dead” game again. Luckily, they’re open late.



Book: Classic Game Programming on the NES

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Make your own retro video game

Our good friend from Tassie and absolute coding guru, Tony Cruise, has an awesome book for you retro gamers wanting to code your own 8-Bit NES video games! Oh yeah, Tony has also supplied a 35% off discount code for this amazing tome!



 

May Your Xmas Be Awesome!

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It’s beginning to look a lot like Sithmas!

Wow, 2023 has just flown by hasn’t it?! Thank you once again to everyone who supports Ausretrogamer, either by reading our posts, interacting with us on social media or having a chat at local events – you all rock!

From the Ausretrogamer team, we wish you all the very best for the holiday season and wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2024!

PS: We will be taking a break during this period, but we will be back in 2024!

We may need this ugly Xmas jumper for Xmas in July! 😉

image source: supplied



Arcade Cabinets Chiseled from Marble That Michaelangelo Would Be Proud Of

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Michaelangelo’s David VS Harow’s Arcadia!

With engineered stone becoming illegal (it’s about time!) in Australia, we are glad to see that marble is (potentially) still being used in a variety of new ways!

These arcade machines chiseled out of marble give Michaelangelo’s David sculpture a run for its money – they are absolute masterpieces!

Before we get ahead ourselves we have to come clean, these are AI renders, however for a cool US$100,000, artist Harold Sangouard (aka Harow) can chisel you a custom-made arcade cabinet from Calacatta marble.

We definitely don’t need marble in the kitchen, but our Fun Factory can do with a marble arcade machine sculpture 😉

image source: Arcadia – Harow



Highlights From The 2023 Oz Comic-Con Xmas Edition

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As another year comes to pass, it was awesome to have one last pop culture event in Melbourne!

The 2023 Oz Comic-Con Xmas Edition was a welcome and fun event that surprised many, one – due to the time of year (December is frenetic with last minute Chrissy shopping), and two – the big  turnout with attendees having as much fun they could squeeze into this two day event.

We are gonna call it now, we hope the Oz Comic-Con Xmas Edition remains as an ongoing annual event! The reason for this is that this time of year we find that people are more relaxed (perhaps due to the impending festive season) and it is also awesome to be able to pickup a few geeky items as Christmas gifts for yourself (or perhaps family and friends).

Our fellow Ausretrogamer team member, Dr Brant Raven and I had a thoroughly good time and we’ll be back in 2024! Without further ado, here are some pictorial highlights from this year’s event.

Melbourne’s weather was predictably miserable, but that didn’t stop us having fun and getting a bite to refuel!



‘Zelda’ Film Needs a Good Script

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

Off the success of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” we are now getting a “The Legend of Zelda” film adaptation. Money talks. It’s smart for Nintendo to get a “Zelda” film in pre-production. The “Mario Bros. Movie” made $1.36 billion at the box office, globally. And it had a budget of $100 million.

The thing about the “Mario” film was that everybody knows “Super Mario Bros.” Do people know “The Legend of Zelda,” yes, but is it as massive a global brand like “Mario”?

Nintendo must have an exceptional script. A good story that sticks to the video game’s lore is essential. That’s what the “Mario” film did so well, and audiences went back to see it more than once.

I hope the film doesn’t take itself too seriously, but the “Zelda” games have a more serious tone than the “Mario” games. The movie should still be a fun ride. If it’s live action, whoever is cast as Princess Zelda and Link is crucial. The film would be better if it was animated like “Mario.” They could have the same studio, Illumination, that worked on the “Mario” movie. Live action could work, but why take that risk when Nintendo hit a homerun with “Mario”? The voice acting was superb in “Mario,” especially Jack Black as Bowser. Will there be musical numbers in the “Zelda” film?

The “Mario” movie had a smart structure to it. It didn’t feel overstuffed with easter eggs, and the runtime was just right. “Zelda” will probably have to be a longer film. It needs to have the feel of an epic and still have a tight runtime and be fun for children. That’ll be tough to pull off, but with an intelligent, entertaining script, a good film is certainly possible.



Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is Coming in 2024

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Gridrunner. Revenge of the Mutant Camels. Tempest 2000. Llamatron. In the British gaming universe of the ’80s and ’90s, nobody made games like Jeff Minter.

Revealed in the Day of the Devs showcase, Digital Eclipse’s Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is an interactive documentary coming to PC and consoles in 2024. Play the history of one of the weirdest, wildest game developers to ever exist — a man who loves shooters and sheep, lasers and llamas!

PS: We are looking forward to playing the (never released) Konix Multi-System – Attack of the Mutant Camels ’89!!

Journey back in time to an era of cassette tapes, photocopied zines, and README.TXT. An era in which a kid with a Commodore VIC-20 and dreams of radioactive sheep could become one of Britain’s best-known game makers. A virtual museum of design documents, playable games, and all-new videos tell the fascinating story of a true independent game designer.

FEATURES

  • Four “interactive timelines” tell the story of Jeff Minter and Llamasoft through archival photos, design documents, playable games, and more historical artifacts.
  • Over an hour of all-new video featurettes from Paul Docherty, director of the upcoming documentary film Heart of Neon.
  • Game library features 42 classic games from 8 different platforms, including the unreleased Konix Multi-System hardware.
  • The all-new Gridrunner Remastered updates the classic game’s graphics and sound, while still running on the original Commodore 64 code for 100% accurate gameplay
  • Two of Jeff Minter’s innovative “light synthesizers,” Psychedelia and Colourspace, are fully playable with all-new console controls.
  • Save, load, and rewind your gameplay at any point, plus other quality-of-life features.
  • Supports English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Japanese.

INCLUDED GAMES

  • Sinclair ZX81
    • 3D3D
    • Centipede
  • Commodore VIC-20
    • Abductor
    • Andes Attack
    • Deflex V
    • Gridrunner
    • Hellgate
    • Laser Zone
    • Matrix: Gridrunner 2
    • Metagalactic Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time
    • Ratman
  • Commodore 64
    • Ancipital
    • Attack of the Mutant Camels
    • Batalyx
    • Gridrunner
    • Hellgate
    • Hover Bovver
    • Iridis Alpha
    • Laser Zone
    • Mama Llama
    • Matrix: Gridrunner 2
    • Metagalactic Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time
    • Psychedelia
    • Revenge of the Mutant Camels
    • Revenge of the Mutant Camels II
    • Rox 64
    • Sheep In Space
    • Voidrunner
  • Sinclair Spectrum
    • City Bomb
    • Headbangers Heaven
    • Rox III
    • Superdeflex
  • Atari 8-bit
    • Attack of the Mutant Camels
    • Colourspace
    • Gridrunner
    • Hover Bovver
    • Turboflex
  • Konix Multi-System
    • Attack of the Mutant Camels ’89
  • Atari ST
    • Llamatron: 2112
    • Revenge of the Mutant Camels
    • Super Gridrunner
  • Atari Jaguar
    • Tempest 2000
  • Reimagined
    • Gridrunner Remastered

image source: Digital Eclipse