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2021 World Video Game Hall of Fame Finalists

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We have featured The Strong’s ‘World Video Game Hall of Fame‘ finalists from previous years on here, so for 2021, we were quite chuffed to see a number of our favourite video games make the final 12 cut!

From FIFA International Soccer, Tron, Mattel Football, to Pole Position, StarCraft and Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?, we would say that most retro gamers would be quite satisfied with this year’s hall of fame inductees.

Oh yeah, gaming fans can vote for their favourite finalists from now until March 25 (US time) as part of the Player’s Choice ballot at World Video Game Hall of Fame.

image source: The Strong

 

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.

 

Watching Tenet on the Game Boy Advance at 4fps

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Sometimes you have to ask why – why would someone jam a movie into a Game Boy Advance cart to watch it on an ill-fitting screen (for movie viewing)?

The answer is, because they can and are clever enough to achieve this feat! Our eyes are already in panic mode just at the thought of watching a movie on the Game Boy Advance screen at 4 frames per second, but we are so glad that Wulff Den took the initiative and time to create these darn cool and unique GBA movie cartridges.


source: Wulff Den

 

Visiting The Gamesmen Retro Game Museum

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We are reminiscing about the time we were invited by the Weird and Retro crew to join them in Sydney for the 2015 EB Expo – it was such an amazing experience!

Before the EB Expo shenanigans, we took time out to visit The Gamesmen in Penshurst (NSW), to check out their awesome (Retro) Game Museum.

The Gamesmen has been an Australian game store icon for almost 40 years and it is still going strong. Back in the day, we used to love receiving their catalogues which we would pore over each page, drooling at the latest gaming systems and games – we just wish we had kept those catalogues! Oh yeah, luckily for us (and all of you), The Gamesmen folks have made electronic copies of their old catalogues, so go here now and enjoy some intoxicating nostalgia.

Anyway……… This pilgrimage was a long time coming and fulfilled our wish to go and check out the museum in person. We definitely weren’t disappointed and we were glad to have ticked this off our bucket list. The sixty plus photos we took below from the game museum does not do it any justice – to see it in person was amazing. However, the next best thing to going there was to share what we saw, and as you will see below, your nostalgic senses will not be disappointed.

There was no one favourite section, but the glassed cabinets were like a time machine looking back at our childhood, daydreaming about owning and playing the systems and games on display. The video games system timeline mural was another highlight, reflecting how far gaming has come. The Gamesmen Retro Game Museum had truly encapsulated our past, leaving a delectable mark on our 8-bit brain.

Make sure you scroll through each image slowly, as you do not want to miss anything!

Approaching the Mecca of Australian Video Gaming!

images remain the copyright of ausretrogamer

PS: Special thank you to the Weird and Retro team for inviting us to be part of their WaRrior crew for the 2015 EB Expo and for a memorable road trip!

 

Pac-Man: The Complete History

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As Daniel Ibbertson (aka: Slope’s Game Room) so eloquently puts it, it’s time to drop a coin into one of the highest grossing video game franchises of all time – Pac-Man!

In this history documentary, Daniel discusses the inspiration and creation behind Namco’s flagship mascot, the troubled development between Namco and Midway when bringing him to western shores as well as the interesting backstory behind the controversial Atari 2600 port.


source: Slope’s Game Room

 

Introducing the WiiBoy Color – The Awesomely Portable Wii

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If you were impressed with Pixeljunkie’s playable mechanical LEGO Street Fighter II arcade machine, then there is no doubt you will be fully gobsmacked by Ginger Of Mods’ WiiBoy Color creation – a portable Wii, which is similar in size to the Game Boy Color!

This creation took 9 months of meticulous work, from printing the shell, to fitting all of the components, like the motherboard and display, resulting in the superb and unique WiiBoy Color!

The ‘Shut up and take my money’ meme would be a massive understatement right about now!


source: Ginger of Mods

 

Play Freecell64 on your Commodore 64

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UPDATE: Fritz has informed us that FreeCell64 version 2.2 is out now! Fritz has also advised us that this awesome game is now complete, which is now more colourful, has mouse support and comes with time counter and statistics included. Grab this latest version and enjoy!

Whoa, developer Friedrich “Fritz” Philipp has released his first version of Freecell, titled Freecell64, for the Commodore 64!

What is so impressive is that Freecell64 has been totally written in BASIC! So don’t just sit there, go and download Freecell64 via GitHub right now! Oh Fritz, what have you done to us, our productivity will surely take a tumble!

For those that need some quick instructions, to move cards, click anywhere on the respective pile and then onto the destination pile. Double-clicking is also possible where cards are moved to the Aces pile (as a priority) or to the repository. When you think you have won, click on the “Game” menu item and select “Check” – good luck!

Being version 1.0, Fritz advises that Freecell64 still requires:

  • A time counter;
  • High scores; and
  • Sound

To say we’ll be watching this eagerly will be a gross understatement!



Iconic TAITO STATION To Close In March

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Not the arcade gaming news we wanted to see in 2021 – another iconic arcade building is set to close.

First it was Sega’s (GiGo) Building 2 that closed in August last year, and now as reported by SoraNews24, Taito Station’s iconic Nishi Shinjuku branch is set to close its doors on March 21st, 2021.

If you are anywhere near Shinjuku, go and check this out before it closes. Unfortunately we will never get to tick this one off our bucket list 🙁

 

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.

 

 

Retro Gaming at Sears in 1982

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Absolutely adore these kinds of videos of news reports from department stores in the early 80s featuring some awesome footage of their home and entertainment departments from back in the day.

The best part about this video is that it is a b-roll (raw footage) taken from inside a Sears store in mid-December 1982 (just before the Christmas rush for that year), which features clips of Atari computers and kiosks, a Vectrex store display and Donkey Kong being played on the Intellivision amongst other great clips!

Check it out and let the nostalgia wash over you.


source: btm0815ma