Not only did John come up with a unique theme for an arcade cabinet, but he also went the extra mile literally "sculpting" custom pieces for his build.
In a move some might say more foolish than bold, RetroBlast frontman Kevin Steele is handing over the keys to the RetroBlast.com website to a bunch of slack-jawed ...
Paul is hoping to get the script finished before the impending writers strike.
Based on the interview in the above links, I've got some hesitant feelings about rushing the script through just to start filming. The film has been an ongoing project for a couple of years now and has been shot down by at least one major motion picture company and now another is interested.
But if the script is too weak, it'll be a tough sell, or it'll come to market and be a complete flop.
One of my favorite retro gaming sites, Retro Remakes, unveiled a cool new feature last week. The Showcase is described as "your one stop shop for Retro Remakes on the internet."
Essentially, Retro Remakes has put together a searchable database of downloadable remakes of classic games. The best part is that the downloadable games are all freeware.
While not all of the games that I have tried in the past are perfect, there are some really nice remakes and updates of some of our favorite classics from several retro platforms. There are games from the Amiga, Atari 2600, C64 and others as well as a bunch of arcade remakes.
According to the site, The Showcase database is in a public beta stage. There appear to be around 150 games currently available.
If you are looking for some retro gaming fun, the Showcase looks like a nice convenient place to find some updated retro gaming goodness.
The upgraded versions look very refined. Can't wait to play this! For those that don't know. Atari Classics Evolved is scheduled for PSP later this year.
Nicecarvings.com is now offering custom painted canvas backgrounds and casting sets to decorate those bare walls you've got in your gameroom. Well, heh, that is if they're not already filled with arcade cabinets.
The prices are reasonable starting at $195.00 US and there are currently three different sets offered.
To get an idea of size and quality, check out the larger pic posted here .
Kotaku.com has a feature today discussing the Library of Congress and a new initiative to begin to catalog and preserve video games.
According to the feature: "the LoC is teaming up with major universities across the country to begin a 2-year initiative with the sole intent of figuring out just how institutions can preserve video games for years to come, while making the content accessible for use and study."
This is truly a milestone in the history of video gaming should this come to fruition. Not only are they looking to obtain the media itself for each game but all facets of culture surrounding the game, meaning, posters, flyers, and yes even that old pac-man swatch you got when you were 10.
This can only mean good news for the video game industry as it will present a historical importance giving video games the same depth that the LoC has given to music and movies.
"Celebrating today’s first-time launch of Popeye on mobile phones, Namco Networks, a leading publisher and developer of mobile games and entertainment for mass-market consumers, and Sprint (NYSE: S), the industry leader in innovative wireless entertainment services, announced a sweepstakes to promote Namco Networks’ latest mobile game to consumers nationwide."
Namco seems to be one of the strong leaders in bringing classic games to the mobile genre. It makes perfect sense really considering the games are small, with simple graphics and take very little memory to run.
Now if we could just figure out a way to have a little joystick installed on our mobile devices the world would be perfect.
RetroBlast! Contributor Sez pointed out a story to us recently where the founder of Atari, Nolan Bushnell is cited as saying "Video games today are a race to the bottom. They are pure, unadulterated trash and I'm sad for that."
He goes on to explain that Social Gaming is where the direction should be headed. Obviously he hasn't paid attention to the recent Nintento Wii console.
I do think he has some valid arguments, although it may not come across properly to the younger generation who has only known First Person Shooter's and Kill or Be Killed type games of the last decade.
The Nintendo Wii has ushered in an entirely new "old" way of playing games focusing on family activities vs. online anonymus collaboration.
"For more than half a century, an obscure town ordinance made it illegal to use a pinball, marble or claw machine in Los Altos Hills.
This past week, the town council rolled back that section of its municipal code few even knew existed.
It was a misdemeanor to operate one of the machines in a commercial setting, town planner Brian Froelich said. The pinball machines of the 1950s were considered gambling devices because they typically dispensed coins to players, he said, probably the reason for the ban."
It took them 50 years to un-ban pinball machines? Geez, I wonder if you can dance in Los Altos Hills.
Add yet another cool retro title to the Xbox LIVE Arcade. Empire Interactive has announced the addition of a new version of the Amiga and Sega Genesis classic Speedball II: Brutal Deluxe to the online arcade service.
Originally released in 1991, Speedball II mixes soccer, hockey and handball into a futuristic sport that was the inspiration for other cool alt-sports titles on the Sega Genesis like Mutant League Football and Baseball.
According the press release from Empire Interactive, the Xbox LIVE version contains more teams than the original, as well as a high definition 3-D version and downloadable content.
If anyone has had a chance to pick up this title on the 360, we'd love to get some opinions from our fellow retro gamers.
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