TOP TEN ZX SPECTRUM GAMES OF 1982
Thirty-five years ago today, Sinclair Research finally released its long-awaited new micro, the ZX Spectrum. Sir Clive had grand hopes that his new baby would become an integral part of the modern household, and those dreams quickly turned to reality - although perhaps not quite in the way he had anticipated. Sinclair may have pitched the Spectrum as an inexpensive all-round solution for every aspect of modern home computing, but the major driving force behind its success would turn out to be its large and diverse library of computer games.
The unofficial SNES/Super Famicom: a visual compendium.
Sam at Bitmap books is at it again with another fantastic Kickstarter campaign to create an unofficial coffee table book on the SNES/Super Famicom. The book pays tribute to the amazing pixel art, product design and graphic design associated with these iconic 16-bit systems.
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PlayStation Anthology.
THE PLAYSTATION
Simply revolutionary! With over 100 million consoles sold worldwide, the PlayStation truly changed the face of the gaming industry. The power of its technology, the design of its shell, the greatness of its library and marketing campaigns, all laying the groundwork for what has become one of the industry's most important driving forces. It was a culture-defining console, the combination of Ken Kutaragi's genius and the power of one the entertainment industry's most influential brands, as well as the boundless passion of so many other contributors over the years.
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SID Waves - A Vinyl Tribute to the Commodore 64 SID Chip
Checkout this Kickstarter campaign to release the SID Waves album on Vinyl, CD, Audio Tape & digital download. The album pays tribute to the amazing sound of the vintage 1980s synths and the even more amazing Commodore 64 SID synth chip. This is the ultimate 1980s SIDpop album!
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Reformation 2 C64 Soundtrack Remakes.
Matt's last project, “Reformation Last Ninja 2 C64 Remakes” was a huge success. It featured remakes of his own music, but a stretch-goal bonus disk also remade iconic Commodore 64 classics such as Knucklebusters, W.A.R, Arcade Classics, Phantoms Of The Asteroid & Sanxion (Thalamusik) by Rob Hubbard, and Arkanoid, Rambo First Blood Part 2 & Green Beret by Martin Galway.
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Classic Game Covers by Mike Winterbauer.
This Kickstarter closes on April 18 2017 so head over to see Mike's dream of seeing his game cover art book printed.
Go HERE to see more and pledge.
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Commodore: The Inside Story.
With no more than a day or so left the Commodore: The Inside Story kickstarter campaign has smashed its target of £25k, you can still pledge your support by following this link HERE.
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Commodore 64: For the Love of a Machine.
The C64 is seeing a lot of love of on Kickstarter at the moment, here another new book is currently running until April 30th 2017.
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The Commodore Story - Changing the world 8-bits at a time.
A new Kickstarter for all you retroheads
UPDATE @80% FUNDED
See HERE for more.
As a special backer only offer we will double up the Blu-ray Disc and/or the Book an additional £10 or £20 for both.
SO...
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Trashman
In the days before gaming was big business, there was a beautiful moment in time when games were perhaps at their quirkiest - when one person in a spare room, hunched over a black and white portable TV, could produce something completely unique and off the wall and then somehow manage to get it commercially published. This period of time produced not only some of the oddest but also some of the most uniquely British titles that have ever been released. And despite it's Americanised name, New Generation Software's 'Trashman' is very, very British indeed.
The Bear Essentials
The humble platformer was a staple of the 8 and 16-bit eras, progressing from its basic, blocky beginnings to levels of detail and complexity that could barely have been imagined way back in the early days. Unfortunately this meant that the market often felt over-saturated, and for every good game there were at least half a dozen mediocre ones. Fast-forward 30-odd years and the platformer may have fallen slightly out of favour in modern gaming, but for developers still supporting the old micros it remains a very popular choice, and as such it takes a lot to stand out from the crowd. It's a delight, then, to discover a game that doesn't just stand out, it puts on a rainbow wig, drapes itself in flashing neon lights and blows a trombone down your ear-hole.
The Art of Atari Book Review.
In the early days of video games, the name Atari was one that became equated with playing such games. So much so, that pretty much anyone would interpret the question “did you play Atari today?” with “did you play video games today?” Atari was a cultural icon at the time and this icon knew it had to do everything it could to attract people to their games. One way in which the company did this was by having very sophisticated artwork for all its games, whether in the arcades or for their home systems. The artwork was a portal into gamers’ imaginations that helped transform the collection of pixels on the screen to a much larger world. This was particularly true for games on the Atari 2600 VCS. Who can forget the impressive dragon and the beautiful castle on the box of Adventure? Yet the world we got on our TV screens was far more simplistic with dragons that have always been called “ducks” by many.
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Super Famicom: The Box Art Collection Book Review.
A wondrous thing happened back in 1990 when Nintendo decided it was time to create a brand new arcade quality home video game system to rival their 8-bit power house that was the Nintendo Entertainment System. This new system was to be known as the Super Famicom, a.k.a. the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). This new console opened up a new wave of pure arcade quality games emerging from great software houses like Capcom, Hudson Soft, Square Soft, Konami and Enix. A great many of these 16-bit cartridge games were revolutionary in their design and even introduced a new type of gameplay on the machine.
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Onimusha Retrospective by Alex McCumbers.
Onimusha has an interesting history in its conception. Originally, the idea was to put the Resident Evil series into feudal-era Japan, creating a large house filled with ninja-style traps. This Playstation game was also one of the few to take the actors voicing the characters and model them through face mapping and motion capture. This means that while Samanosuke is a fictional character, he looks and speaks like Takeshi Kaneshiro.
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Features
Top Ten ZX Spectrum Games of 1982
TOP TEN ZX SPECTRUM GAMES OF 1982
Thirty-five years ago today, Sinclair Research finally released its long-awaited new micro, the ZX Spectrum. Sir Clive had grand hopes that his new baby would become an integral part of the modern household, and those dreams quickly turned to reality - although perhaps not quite in the way he had anticipated. Sinclair may have pitched the Spectrum as an inexpensive all-round solution for every aspect of modern home computing, but the major driving force behind its success would turn out to be its large and diverse library of computer games.
Onimusha Retrospective.
Onimusha Retrospective by Alex McCumbers.
Onimusha has an interesting history in its conception. Originally, the idea was to put the Resident Evil series into feudal-era Japan, creating a large house filled with ninja-style traps. This Playstation game was also one of the few to take the actors voicing the characters and model them through face mapping and motion capture. This means that while Samanosuke is a fictional character, he looks and speaks like Takeshi Kaneshiro.
Read more ...Top Ten ZX Spectrum Games of 2016
TOP TEN ZX SPECTRUM GAMES OF 2016
It may come as something of a surprise, given that it was 34 years old this year, but the ZX Spectrum continues to be a hive of gaming activity even today. 2016 was another brilliant year for new releases, many of which put the even the best commercial games of yesteryear to shame in both the technical and gameplay departments. So as the year draws to a close, I thought it might be nice to collect together my ten favourites like those 'proper journalist' types do.
Cronosoft: A Retrospective.
Cronosoft: A Retrospective.
With the rise and popularity of next generation consoles, it seems they are taking over the world. New games are released every week and you can’t get away from the ads where you think you’re watching a film trailer and it turns out to be the latest PS4 game. How did that happen? It seems us retro game fans are being left behind when it comes to new releases. Of course, this is inevitable as technology develops and games become more complex so this is something everyone has become accustomed to. But, if like me, you think ‘I would really love some new games for my 30 year old computer! Why can’t people keep on making games? Is that too much to ask?’ - there are some people keeping this dream alive.
Read more ...Donkey Kong Arcade Machine – The Home Straight - Part 2
Part 2 – The Home Straight
So in Part 1 you will have followed my journey so far in restoring this beat up Donkey Kong cab. I felt I was in the home straight now – it was time for some artwork to be applied to the sides of the cab. This part scared me to death, because once the art is on, it’s on. You can’t get it wrong, there are no second chances. So here it is. A step by step guide to applying side art:
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