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Stern Pinball Unveils the Exciting 70th Anniversary Edition of Godzilla

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🎉The King of the Monsters is back in Black & White! 🎉

Get ready to roar with excitement! Stern Pinball has just launched the eagerly-awaited black-and-white 70th Anniversary Edition of their hit Godzilla game, and it’s a sight to behold.

  • 🔥 Price Tag: AUD $15,500
  • 🌟 Edition Level: Premium
  • 🔒 Production: Unlimited – No cap on the number of machines produced!

This special edition stays true to Stern Pinball’s commitment to not reissue Limited Edition models after their initial run. So, while it’s not a Limited Edition, it’s still got plenty of exclusive flair.


source: Stern Pinball

Monochromatic Marvel: The cabinet and backbox artwork are strikingly monochromatic, with the 70th Anniversary logo adding a pop of color. The sleek design is complemented by matching red backbox trim and red flipper buttons, giving it a distinctive look.

Artistic Touches: Though it’s not a Limited Edition, this version features a monochrome adaptation of the original Limited Edition’s left-side and front cabinet art. Interestingly, the left and right sides of both the cabinet and backbox are mirror images of each other, apart from the 70th Anniversary logo. The brushed metallic finish adds a classy touch to the design. Plus, the translite image has been creatively reimagined from the original Limited Edition design.

Playfield Perfection: The playfield takes inspiration from the Premium/Limited Edition, boasting a full monochromatic 70th Anniversary makeover. The artwork, decals, and plastics all sport the stylish black-and-white theme, with the flipper bats now in white instead of the original yellow. However, the playfield inserts and billboard LEDs keep their original vibrant colors, ensuring a visually stunning gameplay experience.

Don’t miss out on this incredible 70th Anniversary Edition of Godzilla – a perfect blend of nostalgic design and modern gameplay. Whether you’re a pinball wizard or a Godzilla fan, this machine is sure to bring epic fun to your game room! 🎮👾🦖

image source: Stern Pinball, Inc.

 

Docuseries – TerrorBytes: The Evolution of Horror Gaming

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Our good friend Richard Moss, who has written some awesome books and produced great podcasts, has now turned his talent into movie making, specifically a documentary series called TerrorBytes: The Evolution of Horror Gaming.

TerrorBytes will be five hour-long episodes, each digging into a different aspect of horror gaming — survival horror, licensed (and unlicensed but closely-inspired by film/book/TV) horror, FMV and interactive movie horror, indie horror, and “cursed and controversial” horror games (i.e., horror games that were banned, censored, or that never existed beyond an urban myth).

To whet your bloodthirsty appetite, TerrorBytes will be interviewing 40 well-known people from the horror gaming genre, including (but not limited to!):

  • Ken and Roberta Williams (Sierra co-founders; Phantasmagoria)
  • Jane Jensen (Gabriel Knight)
  • David Mullich (I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Dark Seed II)
  • Graeme Devine (The 7th Guest, The 11th Hour)
  • Rob Fulop (Night Trap)
  • Noah Falstein (Sinistar)
  • Hifumi Kouno (Clock Tower)
  • Hubert Chardot (Alone in the Dark)
  • Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill composer)
  • John Romero (DOOM, Quake)
  • James Rolfe (aka The Angry Video Game Nerd)
  • Christopher Carton (author of A Guide to Movie Based Games)

TerraBytes: The Evolution of Horror Gaming can be pre-ordered now, but you better hurry if you want all the ghoulish goodies, as this pre-sales window closes on March 3rd!

image source: TerrorBytes



The 1982 Norman Ross Winter Wipe-Out Sale!

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Time travelling back to 1982!

As a kid, I loved looking through sales catalogues. I’d scour the toy, and of course the video games pages.

I came across this old Norman Ross (retailer from back in the day) from August 1982, and I must say, the prices (in AUD$) for some of these goods are astronomical! Anyway, instead of getting bogged down in factoring in inflation and figuring out the prices in today’s money, let’s just enjoy the nostalgia 😉

image source: supplied



PEPSIMAN: The Ultra Free Posable Action Figure

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Introducing Pepsi-man, the snowboarder!

We are betting most of you may not have known that there was a line of PEPSIman action figures in Japan! Well, consider yourselves informed, cause this is one of those action figures.

This particular PEPSIman is the ultra cool snowboarder, complete with boots, cast, crutches (Ed: what the??!!) and of course, a can of Pepsi cola – ahhhhh, so refreshing! To say we are intrigued (and surprised) that this stuff exists, would be a gross understatement.

Do you have a PEPSIman in your collection?

source: eBay



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!



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!



The USPS Reveals 2024 Stamps in Honour of the 50th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons

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Hey Aus Post, hope you guys are taking notes!

The US Postal Service (USPS) will release a series of new Forever Stamps in 2024 in honour of the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons – how darn cool are these?! We almost want to take up stamp collecting!

This stamp release marks the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, described by its owners as the World’s Greatest Role-playing Game, that has become a cultural phenomenon. By inviting participants to imagine themselves as wizards, warriors and other adventurers in exciting and treacherous fantasy worlds, Dungeons & Dragons opened doors to whole new universes of creativity for generations of players. The pane of 20 stamps features 10 different designs that highlight characters, creatures and encounters familiar to players of the game. Greg Breeding, an art director for USPS, designed the stamps and pane with existing illustrations.

image source: USPS



‘Darkman’ on Game Boy

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Every Soul Has A Dark Side!

By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

When I was a kid, I really enjoyed playing “Darkman” on my Nintendo Game Boy. I saw the Sam Raimi film in a theater, and when I saw that Game Boy was coming out with a game based on the movie, I had to have it.

The gameplay of “Darkman” on Game Boy was basically “Double Dragon” and “Double Dragon 2.” It was a simple multi-level game where you had to accomplish a different mission in each stage. In a lot of ways, “Darkman” was fun to me because I loved playing “Double Dragon.” The game does import many of the 1990 film’s highlights. The Raimi film was not a huge financial success, but now it has a bit of a cult following on physical media and streaming.

When teachers weren’t snatching my Game Boy out of my hands, I played the game at school. I would play “Darkman” on the school bus home. Sometimes, when I was really into the game, I would miss my stop. “Darkman” was one of my favorite games to play on my Game Boy. And there were a lot of film adaptations on Game Boy. Around that time, I also liked playing the “Hudson Hawk” film adaptation on my Game Boy.

I watched “Darkman” several days ago; I hadn’t watched it in years. I had forgotten how hooky some of the action sequences were. I still had a good time watching it again, but I was surprised by how much slapstick humor was in it. The cast is spectacular. Liam Neeson and Francis McDormand are terrific in the film. They’re so young. Larry Drake is excellent as Robert Durant, the ruthless mobster who leaves Peyton Westlake (who becomes Darkman) for dead. He overacts a little, but he’s very threatening and he has a short fuse. The film feels more like an old 1950s horror film than a comic book movie. Liam Neeson’s make-up as Darkman is gruesome and fantastic. It’s so good it’s distracting during some of the more dramatic scenes. But most of his face is covered with rags throughout the film, giving off an “Invisible Man” vibe.

I wonder if any gaming studio has ever considered making a new “Darkman” game. Sam Raimi would probably have to give his blessing for that. It could be thrilling if it’s a single-player game with an interesting narrative and cool villains.

image source: gamefabrique.com



Level Up Your Collectibles Game with Macca’s Makers

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Macca’s is dropping a limited-edition building set for McHappy Day 

Build your own Macca’s restaurant and support McHappy Day with the launch of Macca’s Makers

Ahead of McHappy Day taking place on Saturday 18 November, Macca’s is offering Aussie’s another way to help raise funds for Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) with the launch of its new and exclusive collector’s item, Macca’s Makers, a 56-piece limited-edition brick building set.

Launching on Wednesday, 8 November for a limited time only, Macca’s Makers gives fans an exclusive, behind the scenes view into the world of the Golden Arches by allowing them to build their very own mini-Macca’s restaurant.

The building set is a replica of a Macca’s restaurant and features an iconic glow-in-the-dark Golden Arches pylon, crew and manager figurines, McCafé, Playland, front counter and drive-thru.

Aussies can purchase Macca’s Makers for $36.95 from their nearest McDonald’s restaurant or via McDelivery from Wednesday, 8 November, with 100% of profits being donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities in celebration of McHappy Day.

Amanda Nakad, Director of Marketing for McDonald’s Australia said: “McHappy Day has been part of our customers’ lives for the past 31 years and we continue to be blown away by their support for the fundraiser and Ronald McDonald House Charities. This year, we are excited to give fans, who love to express their passion for the brand, the opportunity to collect an iconic Macca’s item while helping to raise funds for a cause very close to our hearts. So, get ready to build your own Macca’s restaurant with Macca’s Makers, but make sure you are quick, as they are sure to sell out fast!”.

Organised by McDonald’s, McHappy Day is the largest annual fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House Charities, which raises vital funds to help seriously ill and injured children and their families.

In addition to purchasing a Macca’s Makers set, Aussies can support this year’s McHappy Day fundraiser by:

  • During McHappy Time (from 18 October) – Picking up a pair of Silly Socks for $5.95, or Helping Hands for $2, $10 or $50, from their local Macca’s or via McDelivery.
  • On McHappy Day (Saturday, 18 November) – Buying a Big Mac from their local Macca’s or via McDelivery, with $2 from every Big Mac sold going directly to RMHC.
  • Making a donation online by visiting www.rmhc.org.au/give

Compatible with other brands of building bricks, Macca’s Makers is available for $36.95 from Wednesday 8 November 2023 across McDonald’s restaurants nationwide and via McDelivery, for a limited time only. All profits raised will go directly to Ronald McDonald House Charities, as part of McHappy Day 2023.

For more information visit: www.mcdonalds.com.au



Press release supplied