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Tekken 4 and Exams

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

My brother plays a lot of Legend of Zelda when he gets home from work. He told me it helps him relax. Video games don’t help me relax all that much, with all the fighting and shooting of arrows. It takes his mind off things, and it takes a great deal of concentration, and he enjoys that. He said, “It makes me sharper.” I understood that.

I recall hearing someone talk about a fascinating study that suggested surgeons make fewer mistakes if they play video games. While I’m not sure about the accuracy of that data, it makes sense. Playing any game—like golf, for instance—could enhance focus and steadiness.

Before a large test in college, I would study for a few hours and then I would play an intense video game. Tekken 4 on PlayStation 2 was usually my go-to game before a test. Any Tekken game is extreme, and it takes a great deal of concentration. So much so that it was a bit of a release before doing something that could be stressful. The Bandai Namco Studios developed game was extremely popular at the time. My roommates and I would play against each other on lunch breaks and slow evenings. They played Tekken 4 before exams as well.

Tekken 4 channeled my concentration to something different than all the information that I had been studying. That short aversion of Tekken 4 probably helped me get a better grade on my exams and quizzes. I just didn’t want to overdue the video game playing at university.

Over 700 PS2 Prototypes And Unreleased Demos Unleashed by The Hidden Palace

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Whoa, this is mind blowing – last night, the video game preservation group, The Hidden Palace, released over 700 PlayStation 2 prototypes, early builds, E3, and press release demos in a massive (900GB) dump the group referred to as Project Deluge.

You can read more about this massive undertaking here.

 

David Lynch’s PlayStation 2 Ad

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

I never knew David Lynch made a commercial for PlayStation 2. There have been a handful of great film directors who have made ads for a company. Ridley Scott’s Super Bowl ad for Apple’s Macintosh, inspired by George Orwell’s “1984,” is probably the most iconic ad made by a legendary filmmaker.

The 2000 PlayStation 2 commercial feels very Lynchian. The commercial is extremely bizarre, even for Lynch’s standards; and I’ve seen “Lost Highway” twice. In the ad, titled “Welcome to the Third Place,” there’s a fire woman and a floating head. Lynch plays with his trademark, skewed perspectives in the short ad. I wonder how the executives at Sony gave the green light for a Lynch commercial. It breaks down advertising logic, but that is what’s so appealing about it. Lynch puts his stamp on it, and it’s a fascinating ad that pulls you in. You can’t look away from the strange, sensory experience. I wish I could’ve been a fly on the wall when the higher ups at Sony and PlayStation watched the ad for the first time. Did they give notes?


source: PlayStation Europe

I’ve always thought that David Lynch is one of the most imaginative filmmakers in the history of cinema. Lynch’s “The Elephant Man” is a masterpiece. Whenever I watch the black-and-white, 1980 film, I’m floored by how intimate and visually powerful it is. It’s so engrossing, you feel like you’re in late 19th-century London. The film, starring Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt, still holds up. It feels like it’s directed by an old, wise filmmaker who knows his way around a period piece. Lynch was in his mid-thirties when he directed “The Elephant Man,” which was nominated for eight Academy Awards. “Blue Velvet” is another Lynch film where every frame looks like a vivid painting. The auteur never shies away from uncomfortable subject matter. “Eraserhead” and both “Twin Peaks” television series had unforgettable, haunting images.

Disney’s “WandaVision” has a David Lynch feel to it. Some of Westview, or the small town that Wanda has perfectly envisioned, reminds me of the town in Lynch’s “Blue Velvet.” I’m waiting for Frank Booth (played by the late Dennis Hopper) to walk around a corner of Westview, huffing on an unknown gas from a tank.

 

 

Gradius V Official DVD The Perfect

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That Alex Reynolds (aka: Alexpletives on Twitter) has surprised us once again!

Hot on the heels of his Ikaruga Appreciate DVD, Alex showed us another DVD from Japan in his vast collection, this time, it was Konami’s Gradius V Official DVD The Perfect.

According to our good friend, Wikipedia:

“On April 9, 2004, Konami announced a DVD called OPTIONS, which was being offered to pre-ordering customers in Japan — containing interviews with the developers, art galleries and a number of videos demonstrating the inner workings of the game’s levels. Adding further incentive for customers to purchase the upcoming game, Konami later revealed the availability of The History of Vic Viper — a book indicating inner design, the background and the roadmap of the Vic Viper ships. The book was included with all versions of the original Japanese pressing of the game. An additional DVD with expanded content titled Gradius V Official DVD The Perfect was also released in Japan to be ordered separately or with the game from Konami’s online retail store, Konamistyle”.

We may need to ask Alex if we can “borrow” this DVD 😉

 

 

Infographic of the Most Popular Consoles and Games by US State

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Guest Post By: Evan S from JJGames

From the original Zelda games on the NES to GoldenEye 007 on the N64 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the PS2, we take a look at the consoles of choice for retro gamers across America.

You never forget the first time you completed Super Mario Bros. You also never forget the first time you held one of those iconic Playstation controllers or when the best way to troubleshoot a game was to blow in the cartridge.

Times have changed and new consoles have come and gone, but there’s still something to be said about those iconic gaming systems that we were raised on. Their games have a unique charm that no amount of fancy graphics can make up for, which is why we turn to emulators and why original NES games still in their boxes go for hundreds of dollars on eBay.

To celebrate the release of a new infographics, which digs into the favourite consoles by state and favourite games by states, we thought we’d jump on in and take a look at the data.

NOTE: The infographics are based on the number of units sold for each game/console on JJGames.com from 1999 to 2019. More than 2.5 million games sold.

[Click on each infographic to see a larger version]

 

Lusting for the Sony PSX DESR-7100 PlayStation 2 Console

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It is no surprise that we (outside of Japan), missed out on a lot of cool gaming products, just like this Sony PSX DESR-7100 PlayStation 2 console!

The Sony PSX DESR-7100 is a digital video recorder that can be used to record and playback TV programs (on its hefty 250GB HDD), play your favourite PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 video games and of course, to blast your audio CDs on.

The DESR-7100 has interfaces (under the front panel) for two PlayStation memory cards, USB (to connect with the PSP) and Sony’s proprietary Memory Stick PRO Duo. The rear of the system has two PlayStation (DualShock / DualShock 2) controller ports, VGA, S-Video, composite video, RGB/SCART and RF (VHF and CATV connections).

The infrared remote makes the whole package feel more like a one stop media centre, which would have been mind blowing for us back in 2003!

This model (7100) came with a 250GB HDD, but the entire DESR range starts at the lower-spec models (DESR-5000) and goes all the way up to the top of the range DESR-7700 which includes all the bells and whistles for the time, like the Ghost Reduction Tuner and the introduction of the Broadcast Satellite (BS) inputs/outputs.

Oh yeah, the DESR range also introduced Sony’s XrossMediaBar (XMB) which we grew to love and use on the PSP, PS3 and 2008-era Bravia TVs!

Who has one of these? Hit us up on Twitter on Facebook and show us some photos so we can drool some more.

image source: eBay

 

Game Wars: PlayStation 2 vs Xbox

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As it has always been customary, a gamer would choose one system to be loyal to and then rubbish the competition and defend their chosen system to the death, metaphorically speaking of course!

At the dawn of the 21st century, the old guard, Nintendo, took a back seat to watch the new looming console war between Sony’s PlayStation 2 and the new kid on the block, Microsoft’s Xbox. BBC Worldwide’s The Money Programme follows Sony executive Alan Welsman, frantically preparing for the vital launch in November 2000. Meanwhile in Seattle, Microsoft’s Jay Allard reveals the secrets of the X-Box, slated for an early 2001 launch. Caught up in all of this is British games designer Martin Kenright, racing against time to complete a driving game, which, he hopes, will steer him to a fortune (Ed: driving puns fully intended).

Now sit back and enjoy this doco!


source: Manufacturing Intellect: Documentaries

 

Grade 2A’s Museum of Gaming

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We were blown away when we saw this tweet (thanks to Dan Donahoo) – a museum of gaming put together by primary school kids, wow!

The tweet that piqued our interest
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We just had to get in touch with teacher Tamryn Kingsley from Aitken Creek Primary School to find out more about Grade 2A’s Museum of Gaming.

Grade 2A’s Museum of Gaming
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Tamryn was originally a Merchandise Planner, but she has now found her calling as a teacher. She’s been at Aitken Creek Primary School for two years and is passionate about integrating technology into her classroom.

AUSRETROGAMER [ARG]: How did the museum come about?
Tamryn Kingsley [TK]: At our school we engage students in an inquiry process through ‘Challenge Based Learning’. Challenge based learning revolves around students being set a challenge and working towards finding a solution for the challenge. The ‘Big Idea’ this term is ‘Change’ and the challenge is ‘Inform society of the changes in gaming’. In discussions with students (Grade 2) none of them had ever heard of the Atari! I knew that my mum still had our old Atari’s from when we were kids so I began to raid her garage which opened up a can of worms… I thought, what better way to engage students with their learning than having the physical items to explore.

To learn about ‘Change’, Grade 2A accepted the challenge to ‘Inform society of the changes in gaming’
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ARG: Is the museum a regular part of the curriculum – or is this the first time you’ve done it?
TK: This was something that only my class participated in and it was the first time I had done it. It is something I would definitely do again as the children were so engaged in the learning that was going along with it, as well as developing fundamental skills.

Last year my Grade 2s developed their own games using the program Scratch and we are currently working with the whole Grade 2 cohort this year to do the same thing. This is a huge inquiry process into gaming which results in students creating games and then showcasing their games through a game convention.

We have a new Digital Technologies curriculum that has been rolled out across Victoria this year. Wherever I can, I integrate tech and gaming into my curriculum. For example, making game controllers using Makey Makey invention kits.

Controller designs for the Makey Makey project
makey-makey-controllers(photo source)

ARG: What was the aim of the museum?
TK: As well as relating to the ‘Challenge Based Learning’ challenge, the museum also linked with Literacy and Numeracy curriculum areas. During Reading and Writing lessons we explored the purpose of informative texts. It was then that I introduced the gaming consoles to the students, from there they worked in groups to explore and find out information about their console. Their aim at this stage was to find out everything they could about it. We created timelines of when the consoles were released comparing consoles in years.

Kids worked in groups to find out about the consoles
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During discussions we talked about where would we find these kinds of ‘artefacts’. From this the kids came up with wanting to open their very own ‘Gaming Museum’, which brought up a lot of questions: Who works in a museum? How do they run? Who is in charge of what? How do they make displays? In order to run an effective museum we began to explore different jobs required in the museum and the skills that each job brought with them. Students began to assess the skills they could each bring and chose the jobs that they thought they could provide the most to.

The class created timelines of when the consoles were released and chose jobs
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With the jobs allocated, it was time for everyone to take on their role and prepare the museum.

The Directors and Public Relations team organised an open day for parents and other students to come in and explore the museum.

The Registrars took lists of the artefacts we had at the museum to make sure we did not loose anything!

The Educators reviewed all the research so when they took ‘tours’ they were able to answer questions.

Graphic Designers were busy designing the ‘look’ of the artefact labels, choosing fonts, colours, size and typing up all the information. We had been to Melbourne Museum and ACMI this year, so they looked back at photos and used their knowledge of the labelling to help them.

Designing the artefact labels
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The Exhibit Designers were trying to work out how they could make glass cases… They decided to use their knowledge of 3D shapes to make cases using PlayDoh and skewers. Unfortunately as the artefacts were bigger their structures began to collapse – they got 10 points for effort though…

ARG: What consoles and games did you have in the museum?
TK:

  • Raise the Devil Electronic Pinball
  • Tomytronics Tennis
  • Mario Cement Factory
  • Xbox 360
  • PlayStation 2
  • Atari 2600 Jr
  • PSP
  • Pokemon Nintendo 64

All the lovely consoles and games
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ARG: Where did the consoles and games come from – are they yours?
TK: Some of the consoles were ones my mum had hidden in her garage. Most of them were actually my brother’s when he was younger, which I fondly remember playing. She had the Atari, Mario Cement Factory, and the Tennis and Pinball games. The rest were from my sister and her husband, who are big fans of gaming. I was warned not to damage or lose them!

ARG: Are you a fan of video games, and classic games in particular?
TK: I do love playing games occasionally, but I am not a huge gamer. What I love about games is the connections that you can make with kids though gaming and the types of learning that takes place. Making these real world and authentic connections with students creates more powerful learning.

ARG: What did the kids think of the museum?

  • ‘Magnificent!’ – Ronan
  • ‘Our museum was good because we added lots of information’ – Jaylen
  • ‘It was like a mini ACMI’ – Jessica
  • ‘I liked it because it was ordered from oldest to newest’ – Zain
  • ‘I thought it was amazing, because we put a lot of effort into it’ – Talia
  • ‘I think it was very good because a lot of people commented on how good it was. We really liked it too and we were really proud of ourselves’ – Abaan

The awesome kids of Grade 2A – great work guys!
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The museum opened for business and parents and other students came to enjoy it and learnmog-3

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So, that’s the story of Grade 2A’s Museum of Gaming – an awesome example of Challenge Based Learning. We can’t wait to see what Tamryn and the kids and staff of Aitken Creek Primary School do next!

Photos from Tamryn Kingsley (unless otherwise stated)

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msausretrogamerMs. 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