Ok, so details are basically finalised.. as is staff, hardware and such.  Click the image to see the timetable.

There was going to be a laptop, but logistically my laptop is my life and I couldnt bear someone breaking it….old consoles stand up to alot of beating…the same can’t be said of modern technology.

There will be spot prizes for various games, and possibly some Overworld vouchers up for grabs throughout the weekend!

We’ll be in the NZ Comics/Collectables area, just across from the Timezone stand!

If this goes well, motions will be put in place for Auckland Armageddon in October later this year!

Please note- this timetable is subject to change a few more times probably before the con itself, keep looking here for updates, we will have up to date timetables available at the stand!

Platform: N64, Xbox Live arcade

Released: 2000 (N64), March 17^th 2010 (Xbox Live Arcade)

Developer: Rare (XBLA port by 4J Studios)

Publisher: Rare/Nintendo (XBLA- Microsoft)

Features: 4 Player Split Screen multiplayer, on cart saving, AI bots, hidden features, Dolby Surround Sound

Ok., this does go a bit beyond the cut off date of 1999, but it’s still on a console considered retro by most. Another game that came very late in the life of the N64, and alongside Mario64, Goldeneye, and Zelda:OOT/MM it is one of the must have games if you own one.

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WINTER GAMES ROUND UP

The world has gone nuts in the past few weeks, the Winter Olympics in Vancouver has really brought people together. Even long time bitter rivals, Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog have even put their competition aside for 2 games.

With all this kerfuffle it’s easy to forget about the non Olympic sponsored games, some of which are pretty good in their own right.

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Hey guys! Big announcement time!

RetroActive will have a stand in the Collectors Area, at the up coming Armageddon Expo in Wellington on Easter weekend!

We’ll have a selection of consoles to play, most likely 2 TV and a laptop (for soem old Windows 95/DOS fun). Timetable for games will be out soon, and don’t worry, we’ll have a good selection and even some times where you can choose what you want to play (depending on what console is out)! There will most definitely be a few games that no one has heard of or knew hit NZ, possibly a Micro tourny for Goldeneye 64.

Watch this space,  it’s going to be a fun weekend!

Head to www.pulpexpo.com for full Armageddon event and ticket details.

Sonic the Hedgehog (8-Bit version)

Platform: Sega Master System, Game Gear

Developer: Ancient

Features: 1 player, continue

Release Date: 1991

“Bust the video game speed barrier wide open with Sonic the Hedgehog. Blaze by in a blur using the Super Sonic Spin Attack. Plummet down tunnels and spin through space. Bounce around ‘til you’re dizzy in a pinball machine. You’ve never seen anything like it!”

You may ask yourself; “Is it really necessary to review a Sonic game?” We all know it was a good game for its day. We all know what it’s all about and what you have to do, don’t we? Or do we? Sonic the Hedgehog was one of the first ‘blockbuster’ games that was released on multiple platforms. We all know the Mega Drive Sonic pretty well, and if we didn’t, Sega made sure we did with a plethora of game anthologies that included a copy of the game. Read the rest of this entry »

Fury 3

Developer: Terminal Reality

Format: PC (Windows95/3.1)

Released: August 1995

Features: Game save, customisable controls with joystick/game pad support, detail settings.

First a little story. WARNING: Rose tinted glasses ahoy!

It was September 1995, my dad has just purchased a new PC to move on from our old Amstrad cassette tape driven machine. My dad asked me if I wanted a game for it for my birthday. This machine was top of the line- brand new os on it, a whole 16mb of RAM and an 800mb (!!!) hard drive. It cost about 2000 pounds sterling. It was a BEAST. I was the coolest kid on the block. I also got a nice beige joystick with it.

Cue 2008, I’m now up to 8 years of living in New Zealand, 13 years after my first real PC experience. I hadn’t forgotten about this game. I have no idea where my original discs went even. They were probably lost in the move. Anyway, I waltzing through Cash Converters and in a bin full of CD’s, sitting at the top, is the first REAL 3d game I ever played or owned. For $3, I couldn’t pass it up.

Putting my aforementioned rose tinted glasses on when I get home, I’m amazed to find it actually runs perfectly in Windows XP. In about 20minutes I get further than I did in all my first few years of PC gaming. What. The. Heck. Still, it was a blast.

Now I get to tell the world about it.

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Strife

Developer: Rogue Entertainment

Format: PC (MS-DOS)

Released: May 1996

Features: Game save, voice overs, multiple endings and dialogue options.

This is a game that I had only heard of (let alone played) until recently. One of those games that I see mentioned everywhere as one of a few first person Sci-Fi RPGS (the main one being “System Shock”, by looking glass studios). Needless to say it has blown my mind at what could be done with a good idea and a drive to change what a game engine (that’s normally associated with hell on Mars) can do.

Released in 1996 by Velocity, “Strife” is one of a lowly few first person RPG’s released in the early-mid 90’s, in a genre dominated by the fantasy territories of Ultima Underworld, and the bleak space station of System Shock.

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Action Fighter

Platform: Sega Master System

Release date: 1986

Features: 1player, 2players (alternating)

Developer: Sega

“Get ready to play a starring role in the incredible world of international espionage. You receive five different assignments. All action-packed. And all extremely dangerous. Your secret weapon? A vehicle that transforms into a dozen different deadly devices.

Your high-speed motorcycle can turn into a customized car and then into a sound-barrier-breaking jet plane. All in a matter of seconds. The real test? To know when to use which weapon. Because the wrong machine, at the wrong time, can prove fatal.” Read the rest of this entry »

Facets of the GamePlex

Introduction

Words by ColdBain

Foreword:

   We gamers live in a very privileged world. We have access to all the modern gaming technology, we have a raft of choices we can make, and we are supported through gaming media to make educated decisions about our purchases. In addition to that, the median is still developing, and access is still growing.

   Individuals will dedicate their lives to figuring out how to complete your new game for you and post their results on the internet for free, some will go so far as to make narrated videos for us via youtube. It is very clear the gaming industry is a complex organism and has become a legitimised past-time for many people around the world… this society, this world, this arm of entertainment I call, the GamePlex.

The GamePlex: introduction

   Gaming has become such an entrenched past-time to our societies that is nearly impossible to accurately summarise in a single paragraph what being a ‘gamer’ means. Gone are the days where people were defined by their choice of console, the distinctions have become blurred as the variety of gaming ‘clicks’ increase. Such ‘gaming communities’ are not necessarily exclusive, people will and can identify with a multitude of ‘sub-communities’, retro-gaming (the most appropriate to this article) is simply another arm under-which many gaming communities can gather and associate with one another.

   The GamePlex is a term I’ll use as a starting point. It is a term that acknowledges the complexity within the divergent gaming societies and various supporting media, as well as their pasts, present and future. The following will be a series of articles examining the various flags, terms, societies and media within the GamePlex, in an attempt to create an extensive and ongoing list of the various Facets within the GamePlex (no association to The Matrix).  Read the rest of this entry »

Hey guy’s, I’m back from having a bit of a summer break and raring to go!

Since it’s moved a year forward I’d figure I’d review something as late in what I would define as “retro”….

Developer- Epic Games

Release- November 1999

Platforms: PC/Linux/Mac and later Dreamcast and PS2

1999 was the year I’d consider one of the last years of “current gen-retro”. By this I means its more than 10 years old, and a huge turning point in the industry as far as how we looked at online gaming.

Until then, multiplayer was just something that came up alongside other games main campaigns, there was no focus to create a multi player only shooter. The only strictly multiplayer shooters were modifications such as Team Fortress or Counter-Strike- however these were just mods to retail games that allowed you to mess with the map editing and code of the games (not to say this wasn’t a bad thing).

Then along came Epic who broke the rules with “Unreal Tournament”.

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