Hot damn there are clever creators out there! We absolutely adore stop motion, so we had to share this one with you all!
Love Street Fighters crushing Red Bulls cans with their ultra combos? Then this vid is for you 😉
source: Animist
Geek
DOOM Ring: The Ring To Rule Them All
Hot on the heels of DOOM running on a Commodore 64 comes the DOOM Ring – you’ll have to squint, but we assure you it’s DOOM!
The version of the game being run is RP2040 Doom (designed to be run on a Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040) that’s been modified to generate grayscale graphics. It runs on a tiny printed circuit board along 4 score lines to wrap into a ring shape.
According to James,
“I wanted to see if this was a useable technique. It isn’t. The result was very fragile, and I lost the connections to the capacitive pads and USB port during encapsulation.”
source: Ancient
story source: technabob
This Is The Way: Microsoft & Lucasfilm Launch ‘The Mandalorian’ themed Xbox Gaming Gear
This Is The Way
Celebrating the start of The Mandalorian season 3 on Disney+, Microsoft/Xbox and Lucasfilm have teamed up to launch ‘The Mandalorian’-themed gaming gear, including cool Xbox Series X|S Mando livery!
The third season of The Mandalorian follows Grogu as he reunites with Din Djarin, so what better way to celebrate this much-loved Star Wars series than to have a colour-coordinated controller, a hoodie and best of all, a human-sized armoured floating pram (Pram XL), which doesn’t really float, but would still be cool to win.
The comp/sweepstajes for The Mando-themed Xbox Series X|S is open to everyone on the planet, with the only entry requirement being a retweet of this tweet!
PS: For more news and how to enter the sweepstakes to win the Pram XL, head over to the Xbox News site right now.
image source: Microsoft Xbox News
Mega Book Collection Digital Book Is Now FREE
Yep, you read that right! The ‘Mega Book Collection – A Visual Guide to the Sega Mega Drive’ digital book – the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis visual opus is now totally gratis!
The author, Darren Doyle (Greyfox Books) explains the reason this book has now been released for free:
We attempted to bring this book physically to everyone back in 2021 via crowdfunding but alas we were unable to do so. So going forward, we decided rather than this amazing project to be left sitting on a hard drive gathering dust forever, we made the decision to offer it for free for everyone to enjoy and because we are very nice and generous people here at Greyfox Books and love to support the Sega retro gaming scene.
In case you were wondering, the great big SEGA put the kibosh on this book being published physically. So before they kill the digital one, grab it now! And while you are at it, please consider leaving a donation via the publisher’s PayPal account.
image source: Greyfox Books
Zen Studios’ Pinball FX now on Xbox and PlayStation
Being in a future timezone, we in Australia had to wait a few extra hours for Zen Studios’ Pinball FX to hit Xbox and PlayStation consoles!
The latest in the FX series, Pinball FX has graduated from early access to full release at the Epic Games store, as well as making its debut on PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One! Nintendo Switch fans will have to wait a bit longer.
This is a new era of digital pinball from Zen Studios, including a day-one, ever-expanding lineup of 86 tables, plus an impressive suite of new features, the revolutionary pinball platform is inching ever closer to the real silverball game. If you love playing pinball video games, then jump on this right now and enjoy the Wild West Rampage table at no cost, and check out the trial modes for all other tables.
All returning tables from previous editions have been fully remastered in Unreal Engine, with ray-tracing-enhanced, 4K-HDR visuals, as well as upgraded Pro Physics. Not lacking plentiful fresh downloadable content, Pinball FX also introduces three brand new releases: Borderlands®: Vault Hunter Pinball, Brothers in Arms®: Win the War Pinball and The Addams Family (itself including a never-before-seen enhanced play, as with all Williams classics). At the same time, console players can get their hands on more than 15 tables for the first time that Pinball FX Early Access players enjoyed in 2022, such as Star Wars Pinball: The Mandalorian, World War Z Pinball, DreamWorks Pinball, five Zen Originals, plus Williams classics World Cup Soccer and The Machine: Bride of Pin-Bot. Zen will release new tables regularly, many involving exciting new licensed IPs – most immediately, Legendary Pictures’ Godzilla vs. Kong.
Go on, get flippin’ peeps!
source: Zen Studios
Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game – Official Trailer
The official trailer for Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game premiered today on the leading entertainment site, IGN. Watch the trailer below now!
source: IGN
Written and directed by The Bragg Brothers (Austin and Meredith Bragg), Pinball is based on the true story of Roger Sharpe, the GQ journalist and real-life pinball wizard, who in 1976 helped overturn New York City’s 35-year ban on pinball. The film’s all-star cast is led by Mike Faist (Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story), Crystal Reed (Teen Wolf, Swamp Thing), and Dennis Boutsikaris (Better Call Saul, The Bourne Legacy).
The award-winning film will be released in select theaters and on your favorite streaming platforms, including Apple TV, iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, and Google Play, beginning March 17, 2023.
Get flippin’ 😉
[press release supplied by MPI Original Films]
Sega’s 1993 Virtua Fighter gets an AI makeover
We always thought that Sega’s polygonal 1 on 1 arcade fighter, VIRTUA FIGHTER looked awesome.
After taking off our nostalgia-tinted glasses, we can now see how lo-fi (but still cool) they look, especially after some AI shenanigans bringing each of the fighters on the roster to be life-like.
With ChatGPT being all the rage, it would seem there is another AI tool gathering steam in the form of Stable Diffusion, a text-to-image deep learning model capable of generating photo-realistic images. Clever Tech Artist, Colin Williamson put this learning model to the test by feeding it the original Virtual Fighter polygonal images from a Sega Saturn emulator into the Stable Diffusion model. The results, as you can see, are darn scary and impressive all at the same time)!
Surely Skynet is now coming for us all….
[story & image source: technabob]
Gone (Adult) Toy Hunting
Ah, let’s not kid ourselves, these aren’t exactly adult toys, but they do indeed invoke nostalgia, a yearning if you will, for us adults of a certain vintage to want raid the toy shelves of our nearest department store!
If you are lucky enough to have a BIG W near you, you may want to head in and check out the toy section, as they are stocking a myriad of toys that us Gen X’ers will go absolute bonkers over!
The toys that grabbed our attention were of course the Star Wars action figures and the Nintendo related toys. What I wasn’t expecting was the variation of Masters of the Universe stock, which also included the retro 40th anniversary line – we had to wipe our drool!
See anything that takes your fancy?
This packaging brings back memories!
The MOTU Revelation line is very tempting!
Not sure we can relate to this MOTU, but younger generations may appreciate it
Stratos ($19) versus Mer-Man ($50) – big difference
Pokemon, Minecraft and Roblox – Big W has you covered!
Cat Peach!
Our favourite Princess – we miss her so much
Weeping At Another Video Rental Store Closing
Another Australian video rental store bites the proverbial dust!
We reported back in 2019 when the last Australian Blockbuster was closing its doors, and this time it’s no different, which we are sad to report that the independent family run video rental store in Kambalda, a mining town in the WA Goldfields, is closing its doors one last time after 40 years in business.
Run by the Assaad family since 1983, the video rental store has succumbed to FIFO (fly in, fly out) – where mining workers no longer reside in the town and are instead flown in and out. The steady decline has been a long time coming, with patronage almost nil which left the Assaad’s with no other option than to close this once thriving video rental store.
We wonder if there are other video rental stores still about in Australia? If you know of any, please let us know!
story and image source: ABC
Operation Switch: Arcade1Up Pinball Mod
Performing essential surgery on our Arcade1Up Pinball machine
The Arcade1Up Pinball machines have recently received a new lease of life with community enhancements, like Team Encoder’s brilliant A1Pinner software, which allowed owners of these machines to install other Arcade1Up pinball packs (Marvel, Star Wars and Williams) and the Pinball Arcade and Zen Pinball applications (Android versions) with their plethora of pinball tables. Team Encoder went as far as creating a custom launcher and the ability to change the display to 1080p, which was a bit of a hit or miss due to the limited hardware spec inside these pinball machines.
We came across IntecGaming’s Nintendo Switch DIY Pinball kit about a year ago and have been eagerly awaiting its release. Once IntecGaming had this kit up for pre-order, we immediately jumped on it. The improvement is great value with this low cost kit, and of course, playing video games, especially the pinball (and shoot’em ups) variety in 1080p is exactly what this machine should have had from the start.
The IntecGaming Switch DIY Pinball kit is a physical modification to the Arcade1Up Pinball Machine, so we had to get our hand dirty so to speak. With no soldering required, this was as easy as unplugging the old and replacing them with the new! Of course the control panel with its ball-top joystick provides the arcade experience we were missing when playing Switch games.
Without further ado, here are the steps (with photos) that we took to operate and modify our A1Up Attack From Mars pinball machine:
Time to commence Operation Switch!
Unboxing the contents of the IntecGaming Switch DIY Pinball Kit: We need to replace 3 boards (marked A, B and C)
One last look at the machine before we start operating
Popping the hood
Popping the rear to get to the smaller (DMD) screen
Following the instructions to unplug the controller wiring from the old board and connect them to the new (A) board
Board A attached and controller connectors rerouted to plug into the new board
Next, is the sound and solenoid driver board (board B)
Second board is totally removed from the A1Up and replaced by IntecGaming’s Board B
The metal casing is replaced with a breathable plastic cover for Board B
The main board hiding in its metal casing attached to the LCD
Last of the board updates – replace the main board with IntecGaming’s Board C
The original main board is unplugged
Got to follow the instructions carefully here, as any wrong move will render the machine an expensive doorstop!
Wiring up the replacement main board (Board C) and putting it back in the casing. Having two HDMI out ports is a godsend!
With the boards replaced and connections all plugged in, it’s the control panel that the last thing to add
The new replacement lockdown bar is beefier than the original!
All modifications completed!
Instructions to sync the control panel and kit to the Switch
The plastic stand is perfect to keep the Switch and dock tucked away
Switch is docked, 3.5mm sound jack & HDMI are plugged in too
Success! All powered up and ready to go! The DMD LCD acts as our selection screen
First game we boot up, Zen’s Pinball FX 3!
Going to put the original boards & other parts in a safe place
