The Pop-Culture E-Zine
Um, just in case you missed this or want to see it again and drool some more, check out Technical Designer extraordinaire Cem Tezcan’s Commodore HX-64 – a handheld version of the greatest 8-bit computer of all time!
The level of detail is in insanely cool, from the plastic, colour, keys, screen, ports to the ever so damn cool mini cassettes used to load programs! Forget the C65 or the SX-64, this is the ultimate Commodore 64 based dream machine. WOW!
source: Cem Tezcan via ArtStation
If there ever was a perfect use of the “Shut up and take my money” meme, then these hand built retro game visual displays by Leigh Allen (aka: PlayRetroDesigns) can take our wallet right now!
Who wouldn’t want Double Dragon, Galaga, Paper Boy and Gorf on their game room wall? And these are just the start! There are plenty more mind blowing displays based on your fave console and arcade games in Leigh’s Etsy store. Now, where was that bank withdrawal slip…
Image source: PlayRetroDesigns
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.
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!
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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
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
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!
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!
Booth raid: Going back to where it all began at the Classic Gaming booth at #PAXAUS . Thanks to the @WeirdAndRetro, @ausretrogamer, @msausretrogamer & @PPOT_podcast teams for having us 😃 pic.twitter.com/iZH4y8VlkJ
— PlayStationAU ➡️ #PAXAus (@PlayStationAU) October 13, 2019
Thanks to Scott from the Classic Gaming Area for sharing with us what #PAXAUS means to him.
One hour to go – why not check out the Classic Gaming area before you leave? pic.twitter.com/9oBGIwSiBr
— PAX Australia (@PAXAus) October 13, 2019
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!
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!
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 🙂
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
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