The Pop-Culture E-Zine
Who doesn’t love a 10 minute promo video for a (then) new pinball machine!
Check out Bally-Midway’s promotional video for their 1993 smash hit pinball machine, Judge Dredd. The machine was based on the comic series ‘2000 AD’, not the 1995 movie starring Sylvester Stallone.
With a rotating planet and rings, magnetic robotic arm and diamond plate playfield, this ‘SuperPin’ was darn awesome in its day (and still is)!
source: JoBlo Horror Trailers
The Video Game History Foundation (VGHF), a nonprofit that brings old video games back to life by preserving, celebrating, and teaching their history, has recently unveiled the Video Game Source Project, an effort to save and study source code and related development materials before the stories around these games’ creation are lost forever.
“For a video game historian, an archaeological dig through source material is the next best thing to time travel,” said Frank Cifaldi, founder and co-director of the VGHF. “Unfortunately for us, most of that material — especially from our earliest days — has been lost forever. The Video Game Source Project will help us surface more of this material and normalize its use as an educational tool.”
To jump-start this initiative, the VGHF is putting out a call to developers, publishers, and anyone else in possession of source code, documentation, concept art, demo builds, or other materials that can help tell a game’s origin story. Donated materials will be maintained in the VGHF’s Northern California archives and made available to video game historians.
The first games to benefit from the Video Game Source Project will be Lucasfilm Games’ legendary point-and-click adventure The Secret of Monkey Island, which celebrates its 30 year anniversary this month, and its sequel Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge.
The VGHF’s staff and volunteers have spent the past several months studying the Monkey Island games’ source code, uncovering unshipped secrets, and even reconstructing cut rooms and cinematics. Much of this content will be shown for the first time on October 30 when Ron Gilbert, the creator of Monkey Island and of the SCUMM game engine, joins Cifaldi for a livestreamed “fireside chat” and Q&A. Tickets for “The Secrets of Monkey Island” are available for $10 with sales benefitting the VGHF.
“Monkey Island is a special game to me and the creation of the SCUMM system is a large part of that. Looking at the source always jogs my memory and now gives me a chance to answer questions people didn’t even know to ask,” says Ron Gilbert. “As a developer, I see real value in preserving and learning from the work that we never imagined people in the future would care about. I’m glad the Video Game History Foundation is making this a priority while there’s still time to salvage history that’s becoming scarcer by the day.”
Beyond Monkey Island, members of the VGHF are currently studying source material from a beloved 16-bit RPG, abandoned Sega hardware from the 1990s, and a never-before-seen follow-up to a legendary arcade game. Historical analysis and content related to these games and others will be unveiled in the coming months. The VGHF has also established an advisory committee of developers, publishers, academics, and historians to tackle the problems related to source conservation and to encourage industry participation.
To learn more about the Video Game Source Project and sign up to receive email updates, visit the Video Game History Foundation website.
image source: VGHF
Whoa, how darn awesome is this – Royal Mail (Australia Post equivalent in the UK) has announced their latest special stamp set based on iconic and classic UK-designed video games from the 80s and 90s!
There are quite a few items to choose from this special Royal Mail Video Games stamp set; from presentation packs, framed stamps, collector’s sheets, to postcards, collector packs, souvenirs and stamp books, there is something for everyone and for every budget.
These special stamp sets go on sale on January 21, 2020! If you want more info or would like to pre-order these cool stamp sets, go here.
PS: We wouldn’t mind some of their Star Wars stamps too 😉
image source: Royal Mail
Do you remember your first ever adventure video game? We sure do! We have very fond memories playing Transylvania on our school’s one and only Apple IIe computer. Back then we had to book the computer for use, as it had to be shared amongst all the primary school kids. Of course we preferred to play games on it during our allotted time instead of using Logo to learn some rudimentary programming – but that would have been boring. We immediately fell in love playing Transylvania as it allowed us to explore new worlds and create our own adventures, a lure that has kept us gaming ever since.
A lot has changed since the days of playing Transylvania, just like Moore’s Law ensuring technology would leap forward every two years, adventure, role playing and point + click games have done the same, as they have become more sophisticated over the ensuing years. What better way to capture the history of this genre than these two fine books.
The Art of Point-and-Click Adventure Games and The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games by Bitmap Books capture the essence of these wonderful and enduring gaming genres. If you want to get a feel for these books without reading too many words, then skip ahead to the pics we have assembled below. On the other hand, if you want to know a tad more, read on.
Let’s start with The CRPG Book. Weighing in at 528 pages, this book has everything you can think of from the world of computer role-playing games from 1975 to 2015! We obviously went straight to the Ultima content, but that was one of only 400 titles covered in this beast of a book. The best part about this book is that it is completely written by fans, developers, indies, modders, journalists and industry personalities like Tim Cain, Chris Avellone, Scorpia, Ian Frazier and Richard Corbett to name just a few. Having these different perspectives gives the book a unique feel to the traditional interviews found in these types of publications (Ed: don’t get us wrong, we still love interviews in books!). The fact that there are mod hints, mod suggestions and tips on how to run these old classics games on modern hardware just adds that little bit extra to this already great tome. Of course, no book is complete without beautiful and vibrant imagery, and The CRPG Book has these in abundance.
Just like The CRPG Book, The Art of Point + Click Adventure Games book is stuffed full of content in its 460 pages, like the exclusive interviews with the makers of our fave point and click adventure games; Tim Shafer, Robyn Miller, Ron Gilbert, David Fox, Aric Wilmunder, Richard Hare, Hal Barwood, Gary Winnick, Charles Cecil and Paul Cuisset to whet your appetite. The book covers an array of iconic classic titles, from the very well known ones, King’s Quest, Myst, Toonstruck, Discworld, Blade Runner, Gabriel Knight, The Adventures of Willy Beamish, Simon the Sorcerer, The Secret of Monkey Island, Leisure Suit Larry, Maniac Mansion to the lesser-known games and homebrew efforts. Complimenting the writing is the extensive and engaging imagery used throughout, which means that this book will have you glued to each page.
We can cut right to the chase, both The Art of Point-and-Click Adventure Games and The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games books come highly recommended. Being Bitmap Book publications, you know the quality of the content and presentation is guaranteed to be top notch. Both books are beautifully presented, with great page-turning content. Leaving these on our coffee table has sparked many great conversations with family and friends about old games they used to play. These hefty publications will definitely satisfy the most discerning gamers amongst you, even if you weren’t into point and click adventure games or RPGs! If you are in need of a great Christmas present (for yourself or a special friend), then these books would be perfect.
Both books are available at Pixel Crib right now:
The beautiful books!
The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games
The Art of Point + Click Adventure Games
Disclosure: The Art of Point + Click Adventure Games and The CRPG Book – A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games books were provided by Pixel Crib for this review.
We love seeing old photos of arcade games and parlours, especially ones from Eastern Europe – just like these photos uploaded on Flickr by Marcin Wichary from mid 1990s Poland.
If you look closely, you will find some interesting bootleg machines, but that doesn’t matter, as this is great to see what gamers got to play in Poland in the mid 1990s.
You can check out the rest of the photos on Flicker.
source: Marcin Wichary on Flickr
If you’ve ever wondered what it was like in the Nintendo offices during their Super Nintendo days, then this excerpt from the 1994 French documentary film Otaku is exactly what you are looking for!
Thanks to William Cladley from Game Escape for discovering this film and for adding English subtitles! Oh yeah, you’ll all recognise a younger Shigeru Miyamoto who even back then was always striving for a balance in creativity and management – both attributes have served him well.
source: Game Escape
Hey Aussie peeps, hold onto your hats, as we have some huge exciting comp news!
After 8 years of the Classic Tetris World Championships (CTWC) in the USA, the competition is coming to Sydney, Australia! Get your diaries out and mark yourself away on Thursday October 4th! This is a huge deal folks, so get Tetris’n.
So what is this all about you ask? CTWC has teamed up with the awesome 1989 Arcade Bar & Kitchen (22 King Street, Newtown) to crown the first ever Classic Tetris Australian Champion. Players will go head-to-head (in a best out of three games) on the Nintendo Entertainment System’s Tetris, until there is only one player remaining. There are prizes to be won, beers to be enjoyed and many classic arcades to be played. It is going to be one heck of a night that welcomes all level of Tetris fanatics, from beginners to pro.
Who will hoist the first ever CTWC Australia trophy? Well, you gotta be in it to win it!
The CTWC Australia event details:
image source: 1989 Arcade Bar & Kitchen
We may have missed out on the NES Classic Mini, but we were determined not to repeat the same mistake twice!
When the SNES Classic Mini was announced earlier in the year, we jumped in early to lock in our pre-order. Well, the wait is finally over and we have our grubby mits on Nintendo’s latest (and best) Classic Mini system.
Our initial impression is that it is so small and cute! Leaving the aesthetics aside, the console connects easy to any newer TV (via HDMI) with the correct aspect ratio. You can power your SNES Classic by connecting it to your TV’s USB interface – no more worrying about a power outlet. The most important part of this whole Classic Mini thingy are the games, and what a stellar list! The bundled SNES Classic Mini games reads like a who’s who of the greatest games of all time. Just when you thought Nintendo could not top this, they have also thrown in the previously unreleased Star Fox 2!
Did you get yourself a SNES Classic Mini? If you did, we would love to know what you think – hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!
Anyway, enough chatting, time to play!
If BioShock was made in 1998…
Source: 98DEMAKE on YouTube via Laughing Squid
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Ms. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.
Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter
It doesn’t get much more ’90s’ than DOOM II and Seinfeld. This mashup is real, and it’s spectacular!
Huge Seinfeld fan, Doug Keener, spent 100+ hours creating this spongeworthy wad about nothing. Play DOOM II inside 129 West 81st Street with sprites of the whole gang – audio clips and death animations included. So, giddy up and get playing.
Doug explains: ‘I am a massive fan of Seinfeld. The characters were put into the replica as a bonus to add to the tribute. The only reason they are killable is because I wanted to keep it in traditional Doom fashion, because what is doom without violence and death? This is in no way a “hate video” towards Seinfeld or the cast. It is a tribute and an homage to one of the greatest television shows of all-time, as well as one of the greatest video games of all-time’.
Source: Doug Keener via Laughing Squid
Image source: Doug Keener on Doomworld Forums
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Ms. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.
Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter