Socks for Christmas = Epic Win

Yes, “socks for Christmas”. Such a cliche.
Most gamers would prefer *anything* else.

But this year, they’ve led to me naming “The World’s Coolest Retrogaming Mum”.

See “why” – after the jump.

Wun Hundreh Milyon Dolleurs!!!

So, why’s Kylie Minogue’s ex-boyfriend on J-OMG?
…didn’t you see that SWAT film?

(Don’t worry – it all makes sense after the jump.)

STOP! Hammer time. (*alternate* Remakes download links)

With 50 great freeware games released at once, the Retro Remakes site has been getting a bit of a hammering.

To help spread the load, many of the remake authors are hosting their own entry as an off-site download.

(I’ve gathered all the links, screenshots & titles… after the jump)

Retro Remakes Compo 2008… my Dirty Dozen Downloads.

Retro remakes are to videogames, what cover versions are to classic songs.

Sometimes they can take you on an interesting tangent to the orginal. Sometimes they can add things that were sorely lacking. And sometimes – they’re just crap.

The best website I’ve found for retro remakes is RetroRemakes dot com. The main focus is the forums (rather than the news page) where you’ll find lots of very helpful people, and a few bods who are a little bit obsessed with Dr Who.

Once every 2 years(ish) the people behind RR decide to hold a Remakes competition. There are a variety of categories to enter, and always some VERY cool prizes to win. And when I say cool, I mean “lustworthy gaming hardware”.

RetroRemakes 2008 Compo has just finished, and the downloads are ready to be played, whilst the judges do their bit. There’s around 50 entries, and I thought I’d show you a dozen entries caught my eye. (NB: I haven’t played any yet… watch out for my “entries to watch” in coming weeks…)

(NB: The download link follows the previews, at the bottom of this post)

Blog comments lead to new discoveries…

Gnome left a nice comment on my RG writing post; I followed his links, and discovered one of his blogs…

..in which he does all the work of finding cool retrogaming ePay auctions for you.

Thanks gnome!

Losing my “magazine article virginity”

I write all day at work (I’m a “radio creative” aka “I write radio ads”) but late last year, I felt the need to write about something else after hours.

The topic?
Pineapples.
No, no…  videogames.   Sorry.

And the one place I really, really wanted to get published was Retro Gamer.
(More after the jump)

Game On – part 3

Welcome to day 3, of our GAME ON Spectacular, at Just One More Game.

So far, we’ve looked at gaming from mainframes in the 50′s… to multiplayer gaming in the 00′s.

Today, we wrap up our coverage, pose a bit of constructive criticism, and ask for your input.

As always, there’s more, much more…  after the jump…

We interrupt our Game On coverage…

…for this urgent* trailer!

…WANT!   And YES it’s coming to PC!

*For those who don’t know, my online handle is “Mr_Staypuft”.
(He’d be the big white dude THROWING A CAR.)

Game On – part 2

***NOTE: If you are looking for “Game On 2.0 – in Launceston Tasmania” you need to follow these links.
This page here, is about Game On 1.0 in Melbourne/Brisbane. ***

Yesterday was day 1 in the life of Just One More Game.
Thanks for all the nice comments in forums.

Yesterday also saw “part 1″ of our Game On walkthrough, taking us from mainframes to the arcade.

(Much, much more after the jump…)

Game On – part 1

Well… here goes!

Just One More Game (J-OMG) is a new blog, dedicated to 3 segments of the videogame world… Retro, Indie & Coinop. All three genres feature in my first story, split over 3 days.

Game On is a travelling, playable, history of videogames launched in 2002, at London’s Barbican gallery. Since then, it’s toured the world, most recently at Melbourne’s Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI). The city of trams set a new world record for Game On attendance (129,372 people over 4 months). This was particularly impressive, as the previous record holder (Chicago) has three times the population, and ran their exhibition 40% longer.

Game On’s second Australian season opened on November 17 in Brisbane… at The State Library of Queensland. There it will stay, for the next four months. And already – I’m wondering… can Brisbane beat Melbourne’s record? I hope it does. Despite my loyalty to my old town – an even greater response to Game On’s second Aussie outing would be a big win for videogames.

Now, let’s take a guided tour, with Conrad Bodman. He co-curated the original exhibition six years ago, with Lucien King from Rockstar Games, and has been refining it ever since. 

Note: Photographs are from Melbourne, but Game On Brisbane has around 80% of the same content.

Oh, and if you don’t want any “spoilers”, CLOSE YOUR BROWSER NOW.
(Much more after the jump)