The Pop-Culture E-Zine
Don’t you just love anniversaries of bygone era video games systems ? We sure do!
Get your party hats out and let us all celebrate, as on this day [Dec 3] in 1979, Mattel’s INTELLIVISION was unleashed in the US (California to be exact)!
If you have any fond memories or favourite games on the Intellivision, make sure you hit us up on Twitter or Facebook.
Happy Intellivision Day!
Some of our favourite Intellivision games
images copyright (C) of ausretrogamer
PSA: For those of you not in the know, Atari have been tinkering away for a while, creating a new Atari gaming system. The time has come where an official announcement was made this morning about this new gaming system, its availability and price for Australian and New Zealand gamers. We hope to get our hands on an Atari VCS system in the near future and give you our thoughts on it!
The press release is provided below with photos of the system(s), their peripherals, where to pre-order, and most importantly, the prices:
Atari® — one of the world’s most iconic consumer brands and interactive entertainment producers — today announced that it has signed a distribution agreement with Bluemouth Interactive, a supplier of premium video game products, as part of its worldwide Atari VCS hardware launch strategy into the Australian & New Zealand market.
Atari® returns to the living room with the Atari VCS — a completely modern gaming and video computer system, blending the best of consoles and PCs to delight a whole new generation of gamers and creators.
The all-new Atari VCS home gaming and video computer system is a unique PC/console hybrid platform inspired by classic Atari consoles and contemporary gaming and multimedia PCs. Like the legendary Atari 2600 did in 1977, the new Atari VCS is set to invigorate the TV-centric gaming and home entertainment experience. Users will enjoy an ever-expanding Atari world of all-new games, classic and remastered favorites, streaming media, and personal apps. The Atari VCS is powered by an AMD RyzenTM 1606G high-performance Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) with Zen-core and Radeon Vega Graphics, enabling gaming and video streaming up to 4K HDR at 60fps.
Atari VCS 800 Black Walnut All-In-One Bundle
Atari VCS 800 Onyx Base
Unlike other home game systems, owners can also install Windows or Linux operating systems via the unique Atari VCS “PC Mode” and use a mouse and keyboard to transform the Atari VCS into an expandable PC to enjoy more of their favorite games and applications. The Atari VCS combines the best of consoles and PC into one ultra-versatile device.
“We are delighted to announce our new partnership with Bluemouth Interactive to bring the Atari VCS overseas to Australia and New Zealand,” said Atari CEO Frédéric Chesnais. “Bluemouth Interactive is an experienced distributor of video games, accessories, and gaming hardware, making them the ideal partner to help Atari launch its first new home gaming system in decades.”
David Provan, Managing Director of Bluemouth says, “Working with the Atari team and being given the responsibility to drive this exciting new piece of the iconic Atari brand in this territory is both a privilege and an honour for me personally and professionally. One of the most recognisable and authentic brands not just in gaming but as a lifestyle brand itself, the Atari VCS will honour its past but will be ready for the future.
Atari VCS Wireless Classic Joystick
Atari VCS Wireless Modern Controller
At a time when we are all looking for fresh and innovative ways to consume various forms of content (both new and old), the VCS combines nearly 50 years of entertainment into one stylish
creation, opening up our lounge rooms to near infinite content possibilities from one device. Its form and function is unapologetically different, as Atari fans want it to be. Being a PC/Console hybrid device allows for a stylish yet minimalistic icon to grace our lounge rooms, whilst offering the power, openness, and upgradeability that typically only comes with a big ugly PC. That for me is its ‘X Factor’, and for that I’m very excited!”
Bluemouth Interactive will commence full distribution of the Atari® VCS Console and peripherals range effective immediately.
Scheduled to launch in November 2020, the Atari VCS lineup of video computer systems, bundles, and peripherals are available now for preorder at EB Games, JB HiFi, The Gamesmen, Catch.com.au, Mightape.co.nz, and Atarivcs.com.au.
The Atari VCS 800 (8GB) Onyx Base system will retail for just AU$699.95 (NZ$749.95), while Atari VCS 800 “All-In” system bundles include
the Atari VCS Classic Joystick (available separately for AU$109.95 (NZ$129.95) and Atari VCS Modern Controller (AU$109.95 (NZ$129.95) all for AU$849.95 (NZ$899.95) combined. The Atari
VCS Classic Joystick and Modern Controllers were created in partnership with PowerA.
image source: Bluemouth Interactive
Just in case you weren’t sick of seeing the inevitable and dreaded ‘Game Over’ screen, here are a few as a kind reminder 😉
Source: dibujoanimado
We told you all about the Analogue Pocket last October, however, with the current world health situation, it seems that their scheduled release plans in 2020 were impacted, till now?!
Analogue tweeted last night (Australian time) with a simple message, “Jul. 27, 2020 8am PST”. Could this date be the release of the Analogue Pocket? Chances are that it is, but we’ll know more in a few days.
Unfortunately for those of us in Australia, we’ll have to stay up late (1am AEST, Jul. 28, 2020) to check out what the news/announcement is. Make sure you all set your alarms.
Let the excitement (and speculation) begin!
pic.twitter.com/AEPkvLTRlm
— Analogue (@analogue) July 22, 2020
Nintendo may be grabbing a lot of attention with their Nintendo Direct announcement this week, but we reckon you need to know about this other awesome news too.
So what’s the awesome news? Well, remember when Street Fighter II hit the 16-bit consoles and we were all discussing which version was better? For the record, we preferred the SNES version, but the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis (Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition) game was no slouch either. The awesome news is, things have changed for the better on the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis version, thanks to coder Gabriel Pyron.
Gabriel has been toiling for 4 years, reworking the Mega Drive / Genesis Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition game to bring it as close to arcade perfect as possible, aptly titled, Street Fighter II Remastered Edition. Gabriel has injected better/more colours, updated the graphics, animations and art, fixed some bugs and removed the pesky censorship elements to name just a few of his updates.
Head on over here to download Gabriel’s update and apply the patch to play the ultimate (and best) Street Fighter II game on the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis!
image source: Romhacking
What is it about the need to ‘hack’ handheld systems to play old school video games? Is it the challenge (to hack), is it the fact you are doing something shady or is it purely to just play your ‘backup’ video games from gaming generations gone by?
What ever the reason, there have been a plethora of options for retro gamers to either soft or hard mod their portable beasts to play classic games. In parallel, there have been dedicated emulation handheld systems to help with your hit of nostalgia, like the GP2X, Caanoo and the latest beast, the RK2020, to name just a few.
CycloDS – the softmod hack for the Nintendo DS
We have quite a few handheld systems that we use to play our favourite retro video games, some emulate better than the others, but our favourite right now is the PSP for playing Mega Drive and SNES games. We have the exciting new RK2020 retro handheld coming to our office, so stay tuned for our review on that little beast 🙂
WARNING: Hacking your systems is not without risk and can also void your warranty.
By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.
“Hudson Hawk” is considered one of the worst films of the 1990s. I watched it late at night on cable when I was a kid and I loved it. I enjoyed its free-wheeling plot and silly action sequences. Maybe it was because I’ve always been a fan of Bruce Willis and Danny Aiello’s acting? Willis and Aiello have incredible chemistry, and every scene with them together are the best scenes in the film.
Is it a great film? No. But being young, my standards were lower and I watched it every time I found it on HBO or TBS. Then, I traded a Game Boy cartridge for the “Hudson Hawk” video game.
“Hudson Hawk” on Game Boy is exceptional, because there’s not many heist video games. It was a simple platform game, but unlike games of that format, it wasn’t easy to maneuver all of the potential threats. The game is like the classics, “Double Dragon” or “Ghosts ’n Goblins” because of how enemies appear suddenly in windows and behind Hawk as he’s trying to steal priceless items.
Playing as Hudson Hawk, you had to jump and climb between suspended platforms while sidestepping obstacles. As the famous cat burglar, you are sent on a mission to steal three Da Vinci artefacts. You try to avoid sounding alarms as you move through the different levels of the game. Dealing with dogs is the hardest part of the game; they’re quick and unpredictable. The security guards are a push over as an enemy. Simply punching them swiftly or throwing a ball at them took them out. You don’t expect the aggressive kangaroos or the stampeding rhinoceros in the library. The various, oddball enemies give the Special FX Ltd. game an originality.
As over-the-top as Richard E. Grant is as the film’s villain, Darwin Mayflower, he’s still entertaining. Grant, in my opinion, has been one of the most underrated actors of the last thirty years in cinema. He steals every scene he is in, and throughout his long career, I can’t think of one bad performance by the Swazi-British actor. Some critics would say “Hudson Hawk” is his worst performance, but I think it’s fun, and you can tell he’s having a good time torturing Willis’ character.
The Game Boy game and the 1991 film gave me an odd, mystifying joy that I still don’t fully understand. I spent hours of my childhood trying to steal artefacts with my Game Boy close to my face.
After the Legend of Zelda LEGO Ideas set, we thought that would be it with Lego news for this week. How wrong were we!
Japan is such a cool country! Wish we could visit there on a regular basis to stock up on super cool stuff that we will never get or get months or years later.
So what’s this about then? Well, it’s more cool Lego stuff. We previously informed you all that LEGO Super Mario was set to launch in August, however, Nintendo have announced that the Starter Course and two expansion (Piranha Plant Power Slide and Desert Pokey) sets will launch first in Japan on July 10.
Wish we could be at the Nintendo Tokyo store on July 10 to get our mits on this Lego awesomeness! Alas, we will have to wait till August 1 like the rest of the world.
story source: Kotaku / image source: Nintendo
We have previously featured customised GameCube consoles, like the Mario Sunshine one, but these custom painted consoles by Mago Serenil (CustomsGameCubes on Etsy) are just so darn gorgeous!
The best part is, these custom painted GameCube consoles are available from Mago’s Etsy store (Mago is currently on a break, but you can still get in touch via Etsy).
[story source: [technabob]
