Geek

Iconic SEGA Akihabara Building 2 To Close Soon

August 5, 2020 By ausretrogamer

It looks like we will never cross this one off our bucket list 🙁

SEGA’s Building 2 (formerly known as SEGA GiGo / Akihabara GiGo) is set to close on August 30th. Building No. 2 opened on the southern edge of Akihabara in October 2003, becoming a favourite for arcade video game enthusiasts and gaming nostalgia-seeking peeps.

It would seem that the current world health crisis has hit the Electronic Town quite hard, with a big downturn in visitor numbers. SEGA hasn’t as yet provided any formal reason for the impending closure, except for this post and the sign below, which reads (translation by SoraNews24):

image source: Arcade Otaku via Twitter

“Notice of Closure

Thank you for your continued patronage.

We are sorry to announce that this branch, Sega Akihabara Building 2, will be closing.

Our last day of operations will be Sunday, August 30.

The entire staff wishes to express, from the bottom of our hearts, our sincere gratitude at the loving support you have given our establishment for so many years.”

If you have visited SEGA’s Building No. 2, we would love to hear your stories (and see some pics), so please share them with us on Twitter or Facebook!

image source: That Damn Pixel / header image: Google

New Scrabble Go App

August 4, 2020 By David Cutler

By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

The new “Scrabble Go” app was released earlier this year, and contrary to what many fans of the iconic game are saying, I really enjoy it. The candy-coloured, frenetic update was meant to get younger players to appreciate an older game.

The new look to the app, a far cry from the traditional red-and-tan predecessor, is definitely going to turn off some loyal fans of the decade-old game.

I’ve been playing Scrabble since I was 8-years-old. I used to watch my parents play and I’d bug them about the rules and what a triple word score meant. In high school, my friends and I would play Scrabble past midnight. We would have little tournaments that would last long into the night. My friend Elizabeth would usually beat the rest of us, but it never stopped us from trying to win one game against her.

I’m a Scrabble traditionalist, so when I first played the “Scrabble Go” app, I didn’t know what to make of it. The ability to decorate my word tiles with 3-D flamingos and baby dragons was slightly alarming. I understand that dragons have no place in Scrabble, but it didn’t make me want to stop playing the game. What is so bad about a little color in a classic game? The redeemable shiny gems that give you a preview of the best available words was a nice touch. It didn’t bother me. Covid-19 could be the biggest reason for all the criticism of the new app. People don’t like change and being shut in during the pandemic has made people really not like change. Hasbro tinkered with a classic when loyal players need Scrabble more than ever. I play the app for about an hour a day. I can’t imagine what the changes were like for a player who plays for hours daily.

Maybe the reason why the dragons don’t bother me is because I’m a huge “Game of Thrones” fan. If you’re focusing on the actual game of Scrabble, struggling to score with a clever word, the dragons and strange gnomes (or pixies) aren’t distracting.

Complaints about the new game on Reddit threads and Facebook pages are hilarious. The most frequent criticisms are about the colourful treasure chests and the difficulty of finding the dictionary. Personally, I could care less about the chat room. I don’t want to get to know any other players or learn any of their “tips.” A lot of people on the chat room are not even interested in the game of Scrabble. I think some of these lonely people really need to leave their basement and go for a long afternoon walk. Perhaps get some fresh air and sun and think about things that are slightly more important than a word game. Scrabble is something I do to get away from all the chatter and snark on social media platforms, especially Twitter. I cannot think of anything worse than chatting with stranger during a game of Scrabble. Focus is vital during Scrabble.

Mark Blecher, Hasbro’s head of digital gaming, said the old app isn’t coming back and that the company sees the updated app as a “game-changer” for Scrabble. A “game-changer” seems somewhat overenthusiastic, but something new usually always causes some division. I’ve noticed the more I play the new app, the less I notice the little things that players have decried.

LEGO Nintendo Entertainment System Set

July 15, 2020 By ausretrogamer

Whoa, LEGO and Nintendo have given us a one two punch of sets – first with their LEGO Super Mario, and now, the awesome LEGO Nintendo Entertainment System set!

This awesome LEGO NES set will be available from August 1 and will retail for AU$349.99. You’ll now be able to assemble your own console and retro CRT TV, then turn the crank to make 8-bit Super Mario move across the screen! We are excited 🙂

source: LEGO

Building Miniature SEGA Arcade Machines

June 26, 2020 By ausretrogamer

The amount of talent and knowledge some people have is beyond comprehension. One particular person got our attention on Twitter, gaug888. gaug888’s miniature Sega arcade machine creations are beyond amazing! Not only are they faithful miniature recreations of their bigger arcade brethren, they also play the arcade video games they are based on – totally mind blowing!

The meticulous level of detail of these miniature creations are off the charts. We reckon Yu Suzuki would be quite impressed too!

PS: If you want to check out the complete and documented log of gaug888’s miniature creations, head to Togetter now.

image source: gaug888 via Togetter

STAR WARS Comic Art Pinball: May The Force Be With You

May 12, 2020 By ausretrogamer

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far too close to home, I was excited when Stern Pinball announced their Star Wars pinball machine. I was so excited by this news, I almost bought one without playing it!

But there was a disturbance in the (pinball) FORCE in mid 2017! Bear with me here, as this story delves into the depths of the dark side before I see the light.

Cooler heads prevailed and I took Ms. ausretrogamer’s advice to play the pinball machine before making a decision to buy it or not. Well, on that fateful day in mid 2017, my initial impression of Stern’s Star Wars pinball wasn’t at all positive. I played the Pro model of the game, and let’s just say that it didn’t inspire me to press the start button to play it again. The FORCE just wasn’t strong enough to engage me. I was gutted! I felt that the machine did not capture the theme and universe of my all-time favourite movie franchise. I buried my disappointment and forgot about the machine. As the great Jedi Master, Yoda once said, “Disappointment is the path to the dark side. Disappointment leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” Welllll, he didn’t say that exactly, but you get my drift.

Luckily I did not give in to the disappointment, no matter how tempting the dark side of the force was. At the time, I found solace in another pinball machine, Chicago Gaming Company’s Attack From Mars Remake. My pinball mojo was back to peak level and the disappointment of the Star Wars pinball machine was all but a distant memory.

source: Stern Pinball Inc.

Then in mid 2019, there was a flicker in the FORCE. My brother-in-law, who got the silverball bug after playing our machines, went hunting for his first pinball game and settled for a Stern Star Wars Premium pinball machine. I remember thinking to myself, I hope he loves the game. Well, to my surprise, he did. What surprised me even more was my reaction to the game – once I pressed the start button and started flipping, I was immediately grabbed by the FORCE, just like Darth Vader’s force choke. Taking Yoda’s advice to heart, we had to unlearn what we learned about this game.

Wow, what a difference two years had made! The updated code and of course, this being the Premium model of the game, it felt like I was in the middle of the (original) Star Wars universe! I found that my excitement for the machine was at the same level as when Stern first announced that they were making a Star Wars pinball game. I knew then that I had to hunt down a machine to fulfil my wish of owning my pinball dream theme.

Dum, Dum, Dum, Dum-te-dum, Dum-te-dum#StarWars #pinball #SternPinball pic.twitter.com/rqht7UaPKT

— ausretrogamer (@ausretrogamer) May 9, 2020

Just like all Star Wars stories, starting with a struggle and then ending on a positive note, so has this musing. I finally saw the light side of the FORCE and procured my pinball dream theme, a Stern Star Wars Comic Art Premium machine, beautifully presented by Star Wars comic artist, Randy Martinez – it’s so eye-poppingly beautiful. It was a long time coming to get to this point, but I am glad I went on this journey and reached my destination. The moral of my story is, never judge a book by its cover and always come back to a pinball game you haven’t played in a while, it may surprise you.

Thanks to the folks at Zax Amusements for fulfilling my wish – they made this Padawan very happy. May the FORCE be with you!

A lightsaber is required to bust open this beauty!

The Ausretrogamer Fun Factory is READY!

The machine is (almost) in its position – love the right side cabinet art!

Love the left side art cabinet too!

And we are upright!

We have the keys to the Millennium Falcon

Time to play and defeat the evil Empire!

Always Use The Force!

Love the LCD – it integrates the theme with visual Star Wars eye-candy

The comic art is eye-poppingly gorgeous on this machine

Taking in the comic art with the glass off!

Randy Martinez should be commended for his brilliant art work on this machine

Let’s blow up the Death Star

Making the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs

The magnets on this machine whiz the balls around on the hyperspace loop at breakneck speeds!

And we are on, like Donkey K… Ah, never mind!

Who doesn’t like seeing their name on the high score table

Just enjoying the view

A handsome threesome in the Fun Factory

May The 4th Be With You – Happy Star Wars Day

May 4, 2020 By ausretrogamer

It’s STAR WARS DAY peeps! May the 4th be with you!

As huge Star Wars fans, we can’t go past celebrating this day. Since Star Wars Day almost coincides with our birthday, it makes it that little bit extra special.

We are celebrating this day with our new cool and very special gift, a Star Wars – Han Solo Limited Edition Invicta watch. We love everything about this awesome watch, from Han encased in carbonite sharing the watch-face with his beloved Millennium Falcon, his heavy blaster on the second hand, to the leather strap depicting his attire, and of course, the Millennium Falcon side plate and the see-through automatic watch movement. Do you have any special Star Wars items celebrating this occasion?

From all of us at ausretrogamer, have yourselves a great Star Wars Day, and May The 4th Be With You!

MEGAMANIA 64 – Have a Blast On Your C64

March 16, 2020 By ausretrogamer

One of the better Atari 2600 video games, Activision’s MEGAMANIA, has now been expertly and lovingly ported to the Commodore 64 by the very clever and prolific game dev, Nick Sherman of Arla Games!

The best part is, MEGAMANIA 64 is totally free! What are you waiting for? Grab the game and fire up your Commodore 64 and get blasting!

image source: Arla Games

It’s-a me, LEGO Super Mario

March 13, 2020 By ausretrogamer

With everything going on in the world right now, you’d be forgiven for missing some big (geeky) news. Thanks to our friends (Phil and Kristy – you guys rock!), we’ve been informed that Lego will be releasing a new playset and characters based on Nintendo’s coveted franchise, Super Mario!

The below video hints at what fans can expect when LEGO Super Mario launches later this year, showing a player using an interactive Mario figure collecting coins in a real-life game level that has been created with LEGO bricks.

source: ProsafiaGaming

Reading through the press release, this passage made us get quite giddy,

“Neither a video game nor a traditional LEGO brick-based set, LEGO® Super Mario™ is a new product line that features an interactive LEGO Mario figure who collects coins in real-life game levels created with LEGO bricks. The new line will let kids experience the playful world of Super Mario like never before.”

To say we are excited would be the biggest understatement of 2020! We can’t wait for this to be released (later this year)!

source: Lego

WA-HOO: Happy MAR10 Day

March 10, 2020 By ausretrogamer

Wa-hoo, it’s that time of year when we celebrate the greatest video game character of all time, that little Nintendo plumber who likes to munch of mushrooms, Mario! Or should that be Mar10? 😉

To celebrate (Super) MAR10 Day, we encourage you all to play one of his many many games, from the classic platformers, adventure, karting, to tennis, party games and even his old school Game & Watch based games!

Today is the day we honour one of the most iconic video game characters of all time. We are going to celebrate by playing something very old and also one of our favourite Mario games of all time. Oh yeah, we may even throw on a pair of overalls to get right into this great day!

Which Mario game will you play in celebration of MAR10 Day? Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook to share the Mario love.