The Pop-Culture E-Zine
Ah geez there are some keen and very very clever peeps out there!
This Cursed Halo Kart mashup of Halo and Mario Kart is based on the Cursed Halo Again mod created by modder and Steam user InfernoPlus.
Just like in Mario Kart, players race around the track in their Halo modded vehicles, trying to win by all means, including shooting each other! This is our kind of Mario Kart game 😉
story source: technabob
This is more of a PSA (that’s Public Service Announcement) for PC gamers (with an Amazon Prime sub) out there!
The list of free titles during the awesome month of May reads like a who’s who of video games – from STAR WARS™: Rogue Squadron 3D (on May the 4th!), to the retro gaming splendour of NEO GEO titles like Last Resort, Super Sidekicks, King of the Monsters 2 and Robo Army to name just a few!
Better clear your diary, as you’ll be playing video games quite a bit.
List of free games on Prime Gaming during the month of May:
Ah, let’s not kid ourselves, these aren’t exactly adult toys, but they do indeed invoke nostalgia, a yearning if you will, for us adults of a certain vintage to want raid the toy shelves of our nearest department store!
If you are lucky enough to have a BIG W near you, you may want to head in and check out the toy section, as they are stocking a myriad of toys that us Gen X’ers will go absolute bonkers over!
The toys that grabbed our attention were of course the Star Wars action figures and the Nintendo related toys. What I wasn’t expecting was the variation of Masters of the Universe stock, which also included the retro 40th anniversary line – we had to wipe our drool!
See anything that takes your fancy?
This packaging brings back memories!
The MOTU Revelation line is very tempting!
Not sure we can relate to this MOTU, but younger generations may appreciate it
Stratos ($19) versus Mer-Man ($50) – big difference
Pokemon, Minecraft and Roblox – Big W has you covered!
Cat Peach!
Our favourite Princess – we miss her so much
Well now that we have seen everything that 2023 has to offer, let’s get to 2024!
Seeing this amazing creation on Twitter this morning totally blew our mind. The engineering feat is off the charts. We wonder if this is Duke Nukem’s games room…….
And before you start screaming about aspect ratios, just chill, relax and be in awe of this crazily awesome thingamajig!
Ce truc de dingue 😱 pic.twitter.com/F2PAm29rE8
— Lulu&Berlu -PC Engine & Evercade- (@VolcanoGriffon) January 16, 2023
Our friends at Zax Amusements have relocated from their Port Melbourne location to a much bigger warehouse, service centre and showroom at 1661 Centre Road, Springvale, a south-eastern Melbourne suburb.
We will miss the old Port Melbourne location as it was convenient for us, however, the bigger showroom is a drawcard for us to visit Zax Amusements in Springvale to check out the latest arcade and pinball machines.
image source: Zax Amusements
Well, that’s exactly what our good friend, Noel Wheatley, did this past weekend. Noel (aka: FurySevenSix) shared photos of the amazing retro gaming centre he found in Canberra on his Twitter and Instagram accounts. The Canberra Vintage & Collectible Centre is one of those places that will wow and indulge you in some very intoxicating nostalgia.
Sneaky weekend trip to Canberra yielded some spectacular surprises at @CanberraVCC.🤩
And yes you better believe I’ll be going back there again.😊#RetroGaming #Gaming pic.twitter.com/qeD5QvAe9x
— Noel Wheatley 🎮 (@FurySevenSix) December 18, 2022
The below photos attest to the amazing collections found at the Canberra Vintage & Collectible Centre (Canberra VCC), from iconic gaming systems, classic video games, to mouth-watering collectibles that have been lost to time. Make sure you add the Canberra VCC to your must visit list now!
PS: Check out Noel’s Instagram for more pics and vids of this amazing place!
image source (used by permission): Noel’s Twitter and Instagram accounts
Thanks to Google and the Lawson family, we can all celebrate what would have been Jerry Lawson’s 82nd birthday.
Gerald “Jerry” Lawson passed away in 2011 aged 70, but his legacy as the father of the videogame cartridge while he worked on the Fairchild Channel F console as a Computer Engineer lives on and will always be celebrated.
If you haven’t already, check out the Jerry Lawson Google Doodle here and enjoy the awesomely cute pixel games and find out more about this incredible man.
Behind-the-scenes of the Jerry Lawson Google Doodle!
Courtesy of the Google Doodle team & Lawson family:
Today’s interactive game Doodle celebrates the 82nd birthday of Gerald “Jerry” Lawson, one of the fathers of modern gaming who led the team that developed the first home video gaming system with interchangeable game cartridges. The Doodle features games designed by three American guest artists and game designers: Davionne Gooden, Lauren Brown, and Momo Pixel.
Lawson was born in Brooklyn, New York on this day in 1940. He tinkered with electronics from an early age, repairing televisions around his neighborhood and creating his own radio station using recycled parts. He attended Queens College and City College of New York before departing early to start his career in Palo Alto, California. At the time, the city and its surrounding region had become known as “Silicon Valley” due to the explosion of new, innovative tech companies starting up in the area.
Upon arriving in California, Lawson joined Fairchild Semiconductor as an engineering consultant. A few years later, Lawson was promoted to Director of Engineering and Marketing of Fairchild’s video game department where he led the development of the Fairchild Channel F system (the “F” stood for fun!). This was the first home video game system console that featured interchangeable game cartridges, an 8-way digital joystick and a pause menu. The Channel F paved the way for future gaming systems like the Atari, SNES, Dreamcast and more.
In 1980, Lawson left Fairchild to start his own company, VideoSoft—one of the earliest Black-owned video game development companies. The company created software for the Atari 2600, which popularized the cartridge Lawson and his team developed. Although they closed five years later, Lawson had solidified himself as a pioneer in the industry and continued to consult multiple engineering and video game companies throughout the rest of his career.
In 2011, the International Game Developers Association recognized Lawson as an industry trailblazer for his contributions to gaming. The University of Southern California also created the Gerald A. Lawson Fund to support underrepresented students who wish to pursue undergraduate or graduate degrees in game design or computer science. Lawson’s achievements are memorialized at the World Video Game Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York.
Here’s to you, Jerry!
Special thanks to Jerry Lawson’s children, Anderson and Karen Lawson, for their collaboration on this project. Below they share their thoughts on today’s Doodle and their father’s legacy.
Gerald Anderson Lawson was an engineer, always curious, critical in his thinking, and logical in how he solved problems. He challenged us to extend beyond our limits and encouraged young people to pursue careers in science and technology.
As a child in the 1940’s, he was inspired by George Washington Carver. That inspiration provided the spark that ignited his desire to pursue a career in electronics. He loved what he did and did what he loved. Considering the obvious challenges for African-Americans at the time, his professional achievements were quite remarkable.
Due to a crash in the video game market, our father’s story became a footnote in video-game history. However, over the past few years, there have been numerous awards, scholarships, and media that have recognized him. Our family is eternally grateful to those who have worked tirelessly to bring his story to the public.
Today, we celebrate what would’ve been Dad’s 82nd birthday with the world. We would like to thank Google for working with us to share our father’s story in this Doodle. May his story continue to inspire numerous young people around the globe to achieve something remarkable.
Dad, you were our provider, motivator, teacher, inventor, mentor and friend. We are incredibly proud of you and miss you. The planet knows your story and you will never be forgotten!
Happy Birthday, Pop! We love you!
By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.
Did Nintendo’s “Championship Bowling” make me a prodigy?
When I was ten, I played Nintendo’s “Championship Bowling” after school and on the weekends with an intense focus and delight. Through the 1989 game, I learned exactly which lane arrows to throw the bowling ball between. I’d put a slight right or left hook on the ball when needed. The results were usually a strike or spare. My highest score on “Championship Bowling” was a 261. I still remember.
I always found the soundtrack annoying. It sounded like a hodgepodge of instruments all being played at the same time with a violin bow at a frenetic energy. The baton twirlers on the lane were a bit odd.
After months of playing NES “Championship Bowling,” I talked my mother into letting me join a junior bowling league. I implemented the same techniques that made me successful playing the game, during Saturdays on my bowling team. I lined up on the arrows that I would line up on when I played the game; usually, three arrows over from the right gutter, and I’d give the ball a small hook.
I regularly began winning tournaments and team events on the weekends. I would see a trophy before a tournament and say to myself, “I’m going to win that.” It was thrilling to be exceptional at something new.
Once, after a state tournament, Charles, the man who ran my junior league, called me “a bowling prodigy.” I didn’t know what that word meant. I looked it up in the dictionary when I got home. I’ll throw modesty to the side for a sentence: I was sort of a prodigy.
The definition of a prodigy: a person, especially a young one, endowed with exceptional qualities or abilities. I took my scores seriously, so much so that I would bowl later with my Nintendo to figure out what I had done wrong during a tournament or league play. I was obsessed with the game for about three years. Then, I became fanatical about other great things in my life.
Now, when I bowl with Nintendo Switch Sports, it feels bittersweet. Bowling with my Switch is more physical and more realistic but playing “Championship Bowling” was more thrilling. Perhaps, because I was younger, and bowling was this brand-new, exciting sport that I had just discovered by accident through a gaming system.
I bet there’s a kid out there that’s thinking about asking their parents to join a junior bowling league because they love playing the game on their Switch as much as I loved playing “Championship Bowling.”
We have now had our Ayaneo Air (Standard) for almost two months, so we thought it’s a good time to tell you all about it – the good and the bad!
As already mentioned, this is a hands on and a first impressions article on our Ayaneo Air. Reason for this not being a full review is that our Air unit has been returned to Ayaneo for repairs, so once it arrives back, we will provide our final thoughts – wrapping up the review. However, please don’t get discouraged by us returning our Air for repairs, as Ayaneo’s support and service team has been nothing short of exemplary, with prompt responses and eagerness to resolve the issues encountered.
Specifications of our Ayaneo Air device:
Anyway, we know that over time we will discover new things to like and enjoy (or perhaps dislike) about our Ayaneo Air, so the more time we spend with it, we’ll be in a better position to provide our final thoughts. In the last two or so months we have had this device, we have set it up to play contemporary PC games (on Steam, Epic Games, GoG and Amazon Games) and of course, games from yesteryear using RetroBat – an awesome all-in-one emulation system for Windows.
Before we get to the gaming and setup side, we thought we’d start with the physical aspects, like the build quality of the Ayaneo Air and it’s packaging. With that said, the Ayaneo Air is all premium, with no corners cut, from the analogue Hall sticks (with no dead zones!) to the face buttons and shoulder Hall triggers, the integration of all the controls on the Air have been very carefully and meticulously considered for us gamers. The Air feels great in hand as it is light, meaning you won’t fatigue your hands and arms by holding a brick, like the Steam Deck.
The 5.5″ AMOLED touchscreen is an absolute game changer, with eye popping clarity and crispness that has to be seen to be believed – we just wish it was a tad bigger, like 6.5 or even 7″, then it would have been perfect, albeit heavier! By having a smaller screen, it means that Ayaneo were able to keep the Air’s size, weight/thickness and portability to a minimum – it’s 398g and 18mm thick)! The trade off it being slimline is that the battery doesn’t hold charge for long gaming sessions. Unfortunately, we could only manage about 2 hours or so on balanced TDP to play our games. If you do increase the TDP to play the heftier games, then expect a lot less battery time. If you are a gamer that expects at least 4+ hours on one battery charge, then you may need a juiced up powerbank to help you play longer – or go up to the Air Pro model.
Aside from the screen size and small-ish battery capacity, we are still quite impressed with it, as it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. Oh yeah, we are also using the Ayaneo Air as our primary PC to do mundane stuff like spreadsheets, answering emails and writing this article 😉
Before we forget, the packaging is top notch too, with the Air device and its peripherals all tucked in nicely and securely in foam, with the outer box feeling like it’s for the Apple iPad – it is that good!
Make your AIR look like a Steam Deck!
On the usability and software side, the Air can be summed up by saying that it’s all-round features and capabilities provide a lightweight and ergonomic device running Window 11 without an issue, but with some performance sacrifices to make it more portable than something like the Steam Deck. The AYA Space companion operating software is a novel addition, but it is still in beta, so tread carefully. The good news is, Ayaneo are constantly updating the AYA Space software and adding new and improved features (and stamping out bugs with each new update) – we can’t wait to see how this matures.
Nintendo Switch VS Ayaneo Air
We had no issues with setting up our games from Steam, Epic, EA, GoG and even Xbox (GamePass Ultimate) on the Air. Our library isn’t too extensive, so for the games we tested, they played well, with the controls feeling like second nature. The aforementioned TDP could be bumped up for the games requiring more CPU grunt, however, we haven’t tested this extensively as yet. The biggest test for us was how the Ayaneo Air would fare with emulation, from 8-bit classic systems all the way up to and including the Wii and Switch. Well, we are happy to report that we found no issues, no lag, stuttering or cropping, bar from a few high end PS2 and Game Cube games. We even got to play Ricky Carmichael MX 2002 on the Xbox core within RetroBat.
Speaking of RetroBat, it was our final choice when it came to a complete emulation system. We threw everything at it, and it worked almost immediately! We did have to tweak some configs to get TeknoParrot, Future Pinball and Yuzu (Nintendo Switch emulator) going, but these were quite simple, with plenty of online help to get you through it.
The Ayaneo Air is for the gamer that wants flexibility in their gaming device, unlike the limitations imposed by Nintendo with their closed system Switch. The Air allows its user to set it up exactly to their liking. But be mindful that this flexibility is a double-edged sword, as Windows is inherently difficult to get stuff configured on and working right, so if you don’t want to tinker too much, then you’ll just be playing the standard PC games on it.
This device is a good option for gamers who like to play their Steam library (and other PC gaming platforms) with enhanced and rich visuals – the Ayaneo Air’s ultra wide angle AMOLED screen provides amazing visuals no matter the viewing angle! If you are after a high quality Windows/PC and retro gaming handheld, then look no further, as the Ayaneo Air ticks all of the boxes!
The dreaded white screen (not of death) – our Air will be repaired by Ayaneo
NOTE: As mentioned earlier in this article, our Air is currently in transit to Ayaneo for them to check and repair the intermittent white screen we get on boot up (see photo below). Ayaneo had arranged DHL to pick it up and will also use DHL to deliver it back once fixed. Ayaneo has assured us that they are aware of the issue and can resolve it. We will keep you informed of how this repair transpires, so stay tuned!
From Tuesday 15th November through to Thursday 15th December, creators of all kinds can sign up and help support early-career cancer researchers across Australia working to find a cure for all different types of cancer.
All creators need to do is host a charity stream on their channels and then engage their audience to donate. Streamers can go to Tiltify to sign up and get involved and every dollar raised will support vital cancer research.
Former Good Game host and Streamer, Steven ‘Bajo’ O’Donnell, will be supporting this initiative
Every fundraiser will also have the chance to become a Game On Cancer® MVP and earn exclusive merch to celebrate their fundraising efforts. This year, renowned Australian audio producer RØDE and local neon light manufacturer Kings of Neon™ are supporting the campaign with their own amazing incentives.
Over the 30 days, some of Australia’s favourite creators will be jumping-in to fundraise themselves, including ex-Good Games host turned Twitch extraordinaire, Bajo, who will be kicking off the event with his own fundraising stream on November 15th. This Holiday Spectacular, the aim is to raise $75,000 AUD which will help fund nine months of life-saving cancer research.
To date, Cure Cancer’s Game On Cancer® initiative has raised over $650,000 AUD for cancer research, which is enough to fund over six years of cancer research projects. Previous fundraisers have included some of Australia’s largest names in gaming like Loserfruit, IAmFallFromGrace, PandaTV and Aussie Antics.
Cure Cancer is dedicated entirely to funding early career researchers and to date has provided over 540 research grants to young scientists with ground-breaking innovative ideas, many who have gone on to become leaders in cancer research globally.
Game On Cancer® is supported by many ambassadors across the gaming industry including hilarious, gaming community channel, Back Pocket, revered Australian cooking creators, MissMollyMakes, and popular gaming personality and DLC podcast host, Jeff Cannata.
Viewers can show their support by following Game On Cancer® on Twitter, joining them on Discord, tagging their favourite streamers that they would like to see involved and finally, and most importantly, watching a stream and donating.
So, sign up today and get involved. You’ll be doing something you love and saving lives at the same time.
This Press Release (and images) were provided by Rocket Comms