retrogaming

Kick That Yellowing Amiga 1200 Case To The Curb

July 26, 2015 By ausretrogamer

Forget the yellowing case adding character to your Amiga 1200, you ain’t fooling anyone with that. Now is your chance to spruce up the Commodore beast with a brand new casing! You’ll definitely be the envy of your Amiga (Ed: and ST) mates.

When Philippe Lang advised us of their ambitious project to build new casings for their 23 year old computers, we must admit, our interest was piqued. The Amiga 1200 is the crown jewel of the Commodore range, and it deserves all the love it can get. Philippe and his friends decided to share their project with the worldwide Amiga community, which is great news for all of us. As part of their Kickstarter campaign, they will be building the new molds from scratch, with all kinds of variations – from resolving original design flaws and colour variations, to cool enhancements to the casings, there is something for every Amiga 1200 fan.

Go and check out the Kickstarter campaign now, you still have a fair few days to pledge!

Some of the cool A1200 case colour variations!

We love these limited edition colours, especially the gold!

image source: A1200 Housing – Kickstarter

Pixel Alley: The Place To Be

July 24, 2015 By ausretrogamer

On a windy Tuesday evening, we headed to Pixel Alley, an awesome barcade in Fitzroy, and a pinball tournament broke out!

Organised by Luke Marburg, the inaugural Pixel Alley Pinball Tournament pitted players in a head-to-head format, with players being eliminated after two losses. With twenty two players competing on the Iron Man and Monster Bash tables, the competition was fierce, but always friendly and lots of fun – these pinball tournaments are always a great social event. With any competition, there could only be one winner, and for this tournament, Martin Robbins (MTO) cleaned up big time. Martin was unbeatable, especially on Monster Bash – he was setting successive (huge) high scores on the table! I must admit, watching Martin smashing those flippers incessantly was quite mesmerizing – the dude is a full-on pinball wizard. With a $100 bar tab and a Pixel Alley tee, Martin walked away quite satisfied with his win. We definitely can’t wait for the next tournament at this wonderful establishment.

Pixel Alley Pinball Tournament table 1: Iron Man

Tournament table 2 (which is now my all-time fave!): Monster Bash

The competition heats up!

Apart from the pinball action, these tourneys are awesome social gatherings!

Tournament Manager, Luke Marburg ensures everything is above board

Before we leave you to gaze at some of the photos from Pixel Alley, we wanted to tell you all that this place has something for everyone – from old school arcade machines, deluxe driving games (Ed: Daytona 2 anyone?), pinball and pool tables, to an indoor Bocce court, this place is amazing. Oh yeah, the walls are adorned with great gaming artwork, which adds to an already great atmosphere. Did we mention there is a food caravan upstairs? Yep, you read that right. So, if you haven’t already hit Pixel Alley, put it right up the top of your “must visit” list for next time you are in town!

Pixel Alley, the place to be at!

Cool wall art!

More cool wall art!

I wonder who would win this battle?

I really, really like the framed gaming art in this place!

I wanna take this one home. Surely no one will notice…

Oh yes, another one I wanna take home….

The well stocked bar to quench a player’s thirst

One of the great arcade games – The Simpsons!

If The Simpsons isn’t your thing, then Mortal Kombat II might be

Don’t worry about the Iron Bartender, I want to flick that light switch!

Pixel Alley is full of surprises! Time to grab a bite

Time to go old school!

Finishing the night with some DK Junior action!

So Bad, But Oh So Cool Retro Gaming Peripherals

July 22, 2015 By ausretrogamer

The Power Glove, it will go down in video gaming history as the epitome of a peripheral being so bad that it is actually quite cool! The Power Glove is a useless piece of kit that you can’t go without (Ed: Relax, put those pitchforks down, we love the Power Glove).

This oxymoron is not lost on gamers – there have been a number of terrible peripherals released over the years, some worse than others, but all equally desirable to have (Ed: who could also forget the unreleased Atari MindLink and the doomed Konix Multi-System!). We have managed to scrape the bottom of the peripheral barrel to bring you the coolest bad peripherals to add to your collection. Put on a bib and wipe that drool!

Peripheral: Sega Action Chair | System: Mega Drive / Genesis | Use: Control gameplay via leaning

Peripheral: Power Glove | System: Famicom / NES | Use:Super Glove Ball & Bad Street Brawler

Peripheral: Quickjoy Foot Pedal SV-129| Systems: Atari, Commodore & Amstrad | Use: Programming joystick functions to a pedal

Peripheral: Virtual Cushion | System: PC-Engine | Use: In game (b)ass force feedback

Peripheral: R.O.B. | System: Famicom / NES | Use: Gyromite & Stack-Up

Peripheral: Game Boy Pocket Sonar | System: GBP | Use: Sonar to locate fish

Peripheral: Sega BH-400 | System: Sega Mark III | Use: Hang-On handlebar

Peripheral: Menacer | System: Mega Drive / Genesis | Use: T2: The Arcade Game, Mad Dog McCree, Body Count, Who Shot Johnny Rock, Mad Dog II, Corpse Killer, Crime Patrol, Menacer shooting gallery

Peripheral: Aura Interactor | System: Various 16/32/64-Bit | Use: wearable force-feedback vest

Peripheral: Sega Activator | System: Mega Drive / Genesis | Use: infra-red motion detector for fighting games

image source: provided on demand

Retro Gaming Wallpaper Murals

July 20, 2015 By ausretrogamer

We recently discovered Murals Wallpaper when searching for ways to spruce up our tired walls in our new games room. To our pleasant surprise, we found a swag of very cool retro gaming inspired wallpapers as part of Mural Wallpaper’s Retro Game Wallpaper Mural collection. Our only problem was, which one to choose! More on that later…

Inspired by the console controllers that revolutionised the way we play video games, Murals Wallpaper have paid homage to the most iconic of them in an exciting new mural range, featuring everything from Atari’s CX-40, Sega’s Master System and Mega Drive control pads, through to Nintendo’s N64 and GameCube controllers, there is something for fans of every platform. There’s even the humble Game Boy thrown in for good measure!

The new collection is available on the Murals Wallpaper website and your favourite design can be made to your exact specifications to create a brilliantly custom piece that will fit your chosen wall just perfectly. Coming in a host of eye-catching retro inspired colours, the Retro Game Wallpaper Mural’s will add the perfect finishing touch to your entertainment or games room. We were so impressed, we put in an order for the yellow retro game wallpaper (Ed: Can’t wait for it to arrive!)! If yellow isn’t your thing, then check out the rest of their range:

Yellow Retro

Blue Retro

Pink and Blue Retro

Blue Outline Retro

Blue and White Retro

Light Grey Retro

Grey Retro

Orange Retro

Turquoise Retro

You can engage with Murals Wallpaper via their site or any of their social media channels on: Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Google+.

“PIXELS” Playing Cards For Video Game Enthusiasts

July 17, 2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

Pixels are epic 8-bit playing cards for all video game enthusiasts out there! The engaging and colorful art includes unique and original characters that could easily star in their own video game.

With a Kickstarter campaign currently in progress for Pixels, Alex Padilla Jr is aiming to reach the goal of $5,000 to bring us these awesome playing cards. With a few weeks to go on this campaign, let’s pledge and get these beautiful retro gaming inspired cards funded!

Video source: Alex Padilla on YouTube

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Ms. 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

I’m So Dizzy: How It All Began For The Oliver Twins

July 14, 2015 By ausretrogamer

We (ms. ausretrogamer and I) were quite giddy when we saw the above tweet from the Oliver Twins! It’s not every day that you see your childhood game developer heroes talk about how they got started in the business of making games.

It is quite cool to see Philip and Andrew Oliver (aka: The Oliver Twins) use the opportunity of their ‘Let’s Play‘ video to talk about how they first got into video games and the skills required to create their first arcade game, Cavey, on the BBC Model B computer. Written in 100% Machine Code (6502 Assembler) around ’84/’85, the lads were only 16 years old! The game wasn’t published until a year later when they managed to get several games published by Players – the budget label of Interceptor Software. Press play and get a hit of nostalgia! Thank you Andrew and Philip!

source: Oliver Twins

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Minicomic Collection

July 8, 2015 By ausretrogamer

As a kid growing up in the early ’80s, I spent my time playing with action figures, in particular, Mattel’s awesome Masters Of The Universe range. The MOTU figures came with pack-in minicomics (mini-story books), which I loved reading as soon as I busted them out of the packet. I loved “The King Of Castle Grayskull” mini-story book that came with my original He-Man!

Fast forward thirty plus years, and guess what, I still get giddy with excitement when I see any reference to the classic Masters Of The Universe series. To my delight, there is going to be a hardcover MOTU collection book which will feature sixty-eight U.S. story releases, including all mini books/comics from the ’80s Masters of the Universe line, the ’80s Princess of Power line, and the ’80s and ’90s He-Man line, plus an introduction to the minicomics in the current Masters of the Universe classics toy line!

With over 1000 pages of minicomics and interviews with the original comics creators, do yourself a favour, pre-order the “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Minicomic Collection” book now! It will definitely take you back so you can relive the illustrated adventures that fueled your imagination!

Press Play On Tape: Colour Clash

July 7, 2015 By ausretrogamer

As the weather cools down outside, the PRESS PLAY ON TAPE dudes, Alex and Daz, rug up and settle in with a hot cuppa and invite Andy Godoy (UK podcaster of the Retro Gaming Daily Show Podcast) to talk about Sir Clive Sinclair’s ZX Spectrum.

The gushing for the rainbow striped black beauty is overwhelming, as we reminisce about the 8-bit British powerhouse and reflect on the many games, good and bad. Andy tells us about the magazines that all Speccy owners couldn’t go without, and he reflects on the schoolyard arguments of which micro was better as the 8-bit war intensified on those British school grounds! Alex procrastinates about his publisher of choice for this month, settling for the Darling’s Codemasters!

Settle in and take a listen, your ears will thank you for it.

PRESS PLAY ON TAPE podcasts are available on iTunes and Podbean

Jammin’ at the Commodore Club

June 24, 2015 By ausretrogamer

It had been a while since we last attended the Amiga Users Group’s Commodore Club day. Going to one of these club meets is like a family reunion you look forward to – you know you will see people you know and like, and you are assured to have lots of fun. Well, it is safe to say, we had lots of fun playing games (terribly) and catching up with our great Commodore friends.

The highlight of the day was playing Throwback Games’ Jam It in four player mode on the C64. This pre-release basketball game even had our teams (Tweeters vs Slackers) and player names (I was MagicBoz) hard coded in by Leigh White, the brains behind the one-man-developer-shop at Throwback Games. We will interview Leigh in an upcoming feature to get to know him a little bit better and find out about his creation, Jam It, and its official release details. For now, I want to keep on jammin and slam-dunkin!

Welcome to Casa Commodore

A box of C64 goodies. Let’s play lucky dip!

The C64 control deck! This is the nerve centre

Meticulous organisation of the C64 5.25″ floppies

The remastered Ghosts’N Goblins – it’s an absolute beauty!

The battle of Xpiose: Dr Curlytek vs Zen Mare Retro

Gonna have some Ivan ‘Ironman’ Stewart’s Super Off Road action!

The C64 deck in 4-Player Joystick Mode!

This stik is slik!

Run for your life!

Ice Skating (Hat Trick) battle: Reset Magazine Ed (Kev) vs The Doctor!

The lads [L to R]: Rob, Stacey and Kevin getting ready to fly some taxis!

Ashton Kutcher’s* dad’s creation – Space Taxi! *may not be true

The beautiful Commodore 128D comes to life!

The A1200 – Now you are playing with power!

Na na na na na na na na… BATMAN!

Anyone for some Pooyan?

C16 power!

The 1200 can make anyone feel like a Hero!

Oh that lush screen!

Amiga 2000 represent baby!

Getting ready to Jam!

Jam It 4P battle: Tweeters vs Slackers! Who will win?

Oo’er, I love me some Jam It stats!

And the winner is……..

Leigh White playing his creation!

The aftermath!

The Thrill Of The Chase: Lost and Found Market

June 19, 2015 By ausretrogamer

What does one do when their weekend schedule is clear? Well, you can choose to lounge around at home to keep warm in this cold Melbourne winter, or you can head outdoors to a flea market to grab yourself a bargain!

As it turned out, Ms ausretrogamer and I did the latter – we hit the Lost & Found Market in Brunswick East for a spot of vintage kitsch shopping. From vinyls, old Barbie dolls, to an Apple Mac from the 80s, the market did not disappoint. Here are just a few of our favourite items from Lost & Found:

They call me Bruce!