AUSRETROGAMER

The Pop-Culture E-Zine

You are here: Home / Archives for Retro Gaming

Retro Gaming

Join the PAC: Celebrate PAC-MAN’s 40th Anniversary in 2020

By

BANDAI NAMCO ENTERTAINMENT INC. GETS SET TO CELEBRATE PAC-MAN’S 40th ANNIVERSARY WITH A MYRIAD OF PARTNERSHIPS AND EVENTS!

The Year-Long Celebration Kicks Off in 2020 as the Famous 80’s Icon Celebrates 40 Years of Entertaining Millions of Fans Around the World

BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. is inviting all PAC-MAN fans around the world to “Join the PAC” and start getting ready for a year-long celebration in 2020 to commemorate PAC-MAN’s 40th Anniversary as a pop culture and video game icon. To get a sneak peek at the activities, partnerships, and surprises to come, visit https://www.pacman.com/en-us/.

Born on May 22, 1980, PAC-MAN immediately rose to meteoric popularity, first in video game arcades, then on the pop culture stage with hit song “PAC-MAN Fever” and through an array of branding and entertainment appearances. With a brand recognition rate of 90% around the world, PAC-MAN’s image and brand is one of the most recognised on the planet and is as strong as ever as he enters his 40th year of entertaining fans of all ages.

PAC-MAN’s 40th Anniversary celebration in 2020 will include the debut of a new PAC-MAN 40th Anniversary theme song, composed by world-renowned Japanese Techno artist Ken Ishii. It will be accompanied by a music video directed by Yuichi Kodama, who has won awards at the Cannes International Advertising Festival, the Clio Awards, and the One Show Interactive. He was also the chief video director for the flag handover ceremony at the Rio Olympics Closing Ceremony. Multiple branding crossovers with Kipling®, Champion®, TIMEX®, and BAIT® will become available throughout the year. Fans will also be able to “Join the PAC” at celebratory events taking place throughout the year around the world.

To learn more and stay tuned with everything about PAC-MAN’S 40th Anniversary celebrations, bookmark this site now.


source: Bandai Namco Entertainment America

Book Review: The Art Of Point + Click Adventure Games and The CRPG Book

By

Do you remember your first ever adventure video game? We sure do! We have very fond memories playing Transylvania on our school’s one and only Apple IIe computer. Back then we had to book the computer for use, as it had to be shared amongst all the primary school kids. Of course we preferred to play games on it during our allotted time instead of using Logo to learn some rudimentary programming – but that would have been boring. We immediately fell in love playing Transylvania as it allowed us to explore new worlds and create our own adventures, a lure that has kept us gaming ever since.

A lot has changed since the days of playing Transylvania, just like Moore’s Law ensuring technology would leap forward every two years, adventure, role playing and point + click games have done the same, as they have become more sophisticated over the ensuing years. What better way to capture the history of this genre than these two fine books.

The Art of Point-and-Click Adventure Games and The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games by Bitmap Books capture the essence of these wonderful and enduring gaming genres. If you want to get a feel for these books without reading too many words, then skip ahead to the pics we have assembled below. On the other hand, if you want to know a tad more, read on.

Let’s start with The CRPG Book. Weighing in at 528 pages, this book has everything you can think of from the world of computer role-playing games from 1975 to 2015! We obviously went straight to the Ultima content, but that was one of only 400 titles covered in this beast of a book. The best part about this book is that it is completely written by fans, developers, indies, modders, journalists and industry personalities like Tim Cain, Chris Avellone, Scorpia, Ian Frazier and Richard Corbett to name just a few. Having these different perspectives gives the book a unique feel to the traditional interviews found in these types of publications (Ed: don’t get us wrong, we still love interviews in books!). The fact that there are mod hints, mod suggestions and tips on how to run these old classics games on modern hardware just adds that little bit extra to this already great tome. Of course, no book is complete without beautiful and vibrant imagery, and The CRPG Book has these in abundance.

Just like The CRPG Book, The Art of Point + Click Adventure Games book is stuffed full of content in its 460 pages, like the exclusive interviews with the makers of our fave point and click adventure games; Tim Shafer, Robyn Miller, Ron Gilbert, David Fox, Aric Wilmunder, Richard Hare, Hal Barwood, Gary Winnick, Charles Cecil and Paul Cuisset to whet your appetite. The book covers an array of iconic classic titles, from the very well known ones, King’s Quest, Myst, Toonstruck, Discworld, Blade Runner, Gabriel Knight, The Adventures of Willy Beamish, Simon the Sorcerer, The Secret of Monkey Island, Leisure Suit Larry, Maniac Mansion to the lesser-known games and homebrew efforts. Complimenting the writing is the extensive and engaging imagery used throughout, which means that this book will have you glued to each page.

We can cut right to the chase, both The Art of Point-and-Click Adventure Games and The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games books come highly recommended. Being Bitmap Book publications, you know the quality of the content and presentation is guaranteed to be top notch. Both books are beautifully presented, with great page-turning content. Leaving these on our coffee table has sparked many great conversations with family and friends about old games they used to play. These hefty publications will definitely satisfy the most discerning gamers amongst you, even if you weren’t into point and click adventure games or RPGs! If you are in need of a great Christmas present (for yourself or a special friend), then these books would be perfect.

Both books are available at Pixel Crib right now:

The beautiful books!

The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games

The Art of Point + Click Adventure Games

 

Disclosure: The Art of Point + Click Adventure Games and The CRPG Book – A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games books were provided by Pixel Crib for this review.

 

Retro-Bit Sega Mega Drive 6-Button Arcade Pad – Review

By

One of the most difficult challenges a retro game player will face is finding decent controllers. As hardware ages and starts to wear out, it can get harder and harder to find that one perfect controller or even a handful of decent ones (10 player Bomberman anyone?). Personally I have received bags of controllers and joysticks, only to find that the majority of them are brittle, weak or unresponsive. Sometimes 3-4 bad controllers can only be turned into 1 good controller and sometimes not even that! 

Thankfully there is a vast array of people attempting to keep us all playing those games we love, especially the team over at Retro-Bit. Having teamed up with SEGA themselves to recreate some of the most iconic and best (in my opinion) retro controllers around, Retro-Bit brings us both the Mega Drive (Genesis) and Saturn controllers. Available in both classic black or clear variants with original hardware connectors or USB so you can play on a wide range of devices, including the Sega Mega Drive Mini!

Having spent a lot of time recently playing on the original Mega Drive and noticing that my controllers were getting a little worse for wear, I opted for the classic connector in Crystal blue.

First impressions are overwhelmingly positive, the controller feels very solid and well built. Exactly like you would expect an original genuine pad to feel. Buttons feel beautifully responsive and the D-pad is tactile with no ghosting evident. There is some beautiful movement to the roll on the D-pad that you only get on a fresh new Mega Drive controller. As an added bonus, the cord length is almost twice as long as the original!

In fact, if it wasn’t for my personal colour choice (I’m a sucker for crystal plastics) and the Retro-Bit logo, it looks and feels identical to a genuine 6 button SEGA arcade pad from 1993. What higher praise could one ask for?

Retro-Bit has also announced a 2.4Ghz model, packed with an original and USB connector dongle, or Bluetooth only wireless version for every colour variant due around November 2019. I know I am excited to get my hands on the wireless Saturn controller for use with the Saturn and Nintendo Switch, stay tuned!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mat Panek, Chief Reporter
Retromancer – Collector, repairer & fan of retro games & tech. Atari to Amiga, Nintendo to Sega! LD, Zip, Beta and a proud dad! One half of the TiredParents on Twitch.

Follow Mat on Twitter and Twitch

 

 

 

 

 

Play 2500 Classic MS-DOS Games For Free

By

No need to copy, swap dodgy disks or download questionable software, because you can now play an additional 2,500 classic MS-DOS based games for free!

Yep, you read that right folks. You can now play these classics without fear of doing anything illegal. All you have to do is head to the Internet Archive and browse their many, many classic games in their catalogue – we love you Internet Archive! Which MS-DOS game will you play first? For the record, we are starting with Street Rod and will then move onto Secret Of Monkey Island 😉

story source: Kotaku Australia

 

PAX Aus 2019 Highlights

By

Judging by our PAX Aus Classic Gaming highlights feature, you would have been forgiven in thinking that there was nothing else to see at this year’s PAX Aus.

Well, we are here to tell you that there was stacks to see and experience, from great panels, awesome cosplay, pin and badge hunts to booth raids to check out the latest games and wares from indie devs and the big AAA studios and gaming companies.

There was so much to see, so we hope this Rest of PAX Aus 2019 Highlights photo package can make you feel like you were there!

The calm before the storm! The crowds waits patiently for the start of PAX AUS 2019!

 

PAX Aus 2019 was a Classic

By

Wow, PAX Aus 2019 was an absolute blast! What a great 3 days. We just wish it went for longer.

The Classic Gaming area was busy with many attendees coming in and enjoying everything that was on offer; from classic gaming systems, vintage handhelds, to old school arcade and pinball machines. The Australian Pinball Museum display exhibit was a new addition in the pinball section which proved popular due to never before seen items, like the 10 metre bill of material print out from the Fish Tales pinball machine (it cost just under US$1800.00). But wait, that wasn’t all, the display pieces in the console section were yet again getting a lot of attention, especially Shane Battye’s very exotic development kits and prototype systems.

It is always great to get recognition from BIG gaming companies. Thanks PlayStation Australia!


To see attendees enjoying some nostalgia and having fun with their friends and family is exactly why we love putting together the Classic Gaming area every year at PAX Aus.

If you could not attend PAX Aus 2019 or you just want to reminisce, here are our highlights from an action packed three days – make sure you scroll slowly through the photos to take it all in!

On behalf of the PAX Aus Classic Gaming team**, thanks to all who swung by to have a game and say hello. We hope to see you guys in 2020!

PS: Keep an eye out for our Rest of PAX Aus 2019 Highlights post in the coming days!

** PAX Aus Classic Gaming team and contributors: Ausretrogamer, Weird And Retro, Press Play On Tape Podcast, Bartronica, Skott K. & Zax Amusements, Bayside Pinball Club, Mr. Pinball Australia, Australian Pinball Museum, Greg Pell, Cameron Bonde & Chris Van Graas.

Walk-through the Classic Gaming Area

Amazing historical pinball items on show in the Classic Gaming area!

 

Hope to see you all at PAX AUS 2020!

 

Meet Analogue Pocket: The Game Boy, Atari Lynx, Game Gear and Neo Geo Pocket Color Killer

By

Oh wow, we hope you are sitting down for this! Let us introduce you to Analogue Pocket™

If you know about or have any of Analogue’s consoles, like the Mega Sg, Nt Mini or Super Nt, you know that their Pocket handheld will be one special and amazing gaming unit.

First and foremost, the Analogue Pocket is not another handheld that will just play ROMs! No sirree, this multi-video-game-system portable handheld will be able to play over 2,700 Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance game cartridges. So don’t throw out or sell those carts, because the Pocket will be able to play them all! Oh yeah, the Analogue Pocket will also have a digital audio workstation (called Nanoloop) with a built-in synthesizer and sequencer – a tribute to portable gaming!

But wait, there is more! As if this thing wasn’t already mouthwatering enough, the Pocket will also have cartridge adaptors in the future for you to play other handheld systems’ carts, like the Sega Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Atari Lynx and others! There will also be a special dock (future release) allowing you to output your games to a TV and charge the console at the same time – you’ll also be able to use Bluetooth or wired controllers when the Pocket is docked.

Engineered with two Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), the Analogue Pocket will allow developers to create and port their own work to the handheld. Basically, once the Analogue Pocket is in the hands of users, it’s going to get even better! Wow, when we hear FPGA (no emulation!), we know this thing is going to blow everything away in the handheld market!

The Analogue Pocket is slated for a 2020 release at a cost of US$199.00. To say we want one would be the biggest understatement ever!

Analogue Pocket Tech Specs:

  • FPGA-based system (two FPGAs inside)
  • Compatible with Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance game cartridges (Using special adaptors, you’ll also be able to play Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear and SNK Neo Geo Pocket Color titles on the machine in the future)
  • 3.5″ LTPS LCD. 1600×1440 resolution. 615ppi
  • Rechargeable lithium ion battery
  • All buttons mappable
  • Stereo Speakers
  • microSD
  • USB-C charging
  • 3.5mm headphone output
  • Original Game Boy-style link plug

image source: Analogue

 

See You at PAX Aus 2019!

By


Hey guys, if you are heading to PAX Aus 2019, come on over to the Classic Gaming area to get your hit of nostalgia. For the competitive types, there will be tournaments too, so make sure you check the tournament schedule and get your waggle on.

Oh yeah, we definitely don’t bite, so please come by and say hi!

PS: We will be posting live (lots of pics!) on Twitter and Facebook from this great event. So make sure you follow along 🙂

 

Through the Moongate – Part II: Story of Richard Garriott and Origin Systems

By

Programmer, entrepreneur, astronaut, explorer. Richard Garriott is one of the most well-known personalities in the video game industry, and one of the last of its pioneers still in the business. Ultima, the revolutionary series of role-playing games he designed, and Origin Systems Inc., the company he co-founded in 1983, are inextricably linked to the history of videogames.

Over the last four decades, Garriott has worked alongside and collaborated with many influential people in the gaming industry. Origin Systems, in the years that it operated, was an incubator of sorts; many well-known game developers got their start at Origin. And as computer technology moved from punch cards to the PC, from 2D line art to 3D graphics, and from offline play to the internet, the games produced by Garriott and Origin were a driving force of innovation in an industry characterised by continuous, rapid evolution.

Through the Moongate: The Story of Richard Garriott, Origin Systems Inc. and Ultima is a comprehensive, organic work of research – the first of its kind – on the history and impact that Garriott and Origin have had on the gaming industry. Within its pages, the author Andrea Contato has retold the story of Garriott’s entire creative career, from his first games to his most recent: Shroud of the Avatar.

A painstakingly researched study of character and history, Through the Moongate recollects the memories of friends, associates, and employees of Richard Garriott and Origin Systems, giving the reader a truly privileged point of view. Many of the stories in the book are new, having never been shared before, and all serve to give the reader an intimate understanding one of the most eclectic personalities in the videogame industry.

The work, detailed and complex, is divided into two volumes: the first covered the career of Garriott from Akalabeth through Ultima VI, the second will cover the period from Wing Commander and Ultima VII to Portalarium . Through the Moongate includes dozens of interviews with notable figures in the world of videogames, such as Warren Spector, Paul Neurath, Siobban Beeman, Al Nelson, Starr Long and many others,and is illustrated with previously-unpublished images from the collections of Enrico Ricciardi and Richard Garriott.

Embellished with new artwork by Denis Loubet and Manda, Through the Moongate is a must-have book for Ultima fans, and those fascinated by the history of video games.

The production of the first book was kickstarted in 2018 and the final product was delivered during summer 2019. We were very happy of having delivered the book in the promised time. Right now Part 2 is running on Kickstarter. The crowdfunding campaign was an instant success and the funding goal was reached in 1 day and 6 minutes. That prompted us to ask our backers for some input on further stretch goals. Those that were planned, were hit in less than a week. While writing these lines, the crowdfunding campaign just started its second half, but already reached €36,000+ thanks to 328 backers.

PS: You can check out / buy part 1 of Through the Moongate here.

Press release supplied by Andrea Contato.

 

LEGO Ideas: Banjo-Kazooie and the Planet Express Ship

By

We are hooked at trawling the LEGO Ideas site and finding wonderful creations, just like this Banjo-Kazooie action figure and the Planet Express delivery ship from Futurama.

We have voted and now have our fingers and toes crossed.

image source: LEGO Ideas