Jan 15 2012 04:30 PM | Gandalf42 in Site News
Just a quick update on a few different things.

This holiday season has seen me mired in endless indie bundle playfests and hours of Skyrim... but I've managed to drag myself away long enough for a quick site update.

As to the board itself- The blogging and gallery components have been updated. The major updates here have to do with integration of the tagging system and the ability to cross share content better between each aspect of the site.

In the videos section, I've updated Matt Chat and Lazy Game Reviews videos.. so everything should be current as of January 15th.

Since I've recently procured a Kindle Fire and a Nook Tablet, I've decided to include a Mobile Gaming category. I'm pretty much going to be reviewing Android based games.. but other mobile platforms (Apple iOS, Playstation, Nintendo) are certainly possibilities.. If you're a member and would like to do a review for a mobile game, or anything else, just click the "Add Article" button and submit your review. It will appear on the front page once one of the admins reviews it.

Happy New Year folks!

Jan 04 2012 06:53 PM | Toad64 in Indie
I don’t think many people pay attention to the “Minis” available on the Playstation Network, or even know of their existence. Sony doesn’t seem to do a very good job of informing people of them or showcasing them, even when something amazing comes out, as it has with Where is my Heart? For those that don’t know, Playstation Minis are kind of Sony’s answer to apps; they are small programs, and tend to sell for a few dollars. As such, most of them tend to be of the same quality of a phone app as well. Most of them also play on both the PS3 and PSP. Every now and again though, a Mini comes along that is worth taking notice of.

Where is my Heart? has a simple premise, you’re trying to get a character (and shortly thereafter three characters) from the starting point to the goal. However the screen is divided into various grids, and moving from one grid does not necessarily mean you’ll end up in the grid alongside it. Finding your way around can become surprisingly challenging. The visual style is used for a new gameplay feature when one of the characters gains the ability to rotate the various grids. The gameplay style has been described as being like The Lost Vikings, and while I partially agree, so far I’ve not come across any level that required all three monsters to work together, but rather each level has focused on the ability of one of them. But perhaps that will change later on.

At $6.99 it’s definitely on the higher end of the pricing scale for a Mini, but it’s a charming and enjoyable indie game with some absolutely fantastic pixel art. If you’re looking for something new to put on your PS3 and PSP, keep this one in mind.

Dec 13 2011 12:05 AM | Gandalf42 in Indie
Indie Royale has released its 'Xmas Bundle' which contains the following games:

• The Blackwell Trilogy: Remastered: When Rosa Blackwell’s only relative dies after twenty years in a coma, she thinks the worst is over. This all changes when Joey Mallone, a sardonic ghost from the 1930s, blows into her life and tells her that she is a medium. Whether they like it or not, it is up to them to cure the supernatural ills of New York in this critically-acclaimed series of point-and-click adventure games.
  
• Eets: Eets may have a cute outer-shell, but its Lemmings meets The Incredible Machine gameplay, crazy characters and increasingly tricky puzzles quickly sucks in even the most seasoned player. Play over a hundred unique puzzles that ship with the game, and come to our community to download over 200 fan-made levels and crazy solution replays!
  
• Dino D-Day: The year is 1942. Adolf Hitler has succeeded in resurrecting dinosaurs. The reptilian horde has trampled Europe and the Mediterranean. Can nothing stop the Nazi's dinosaur army? Dino D-Day is a frantic, action-packed multiplayer game that transports you to a World War II that should have been. Battle your friends online choosing to serve the cause of the Allied nations or the Nazis!
  
• The Oil Blue: The Oil Blue is an indie action sim set in the near future where you explore the world's oceans in search of oil, landing on abandoned refinery islands and reclaiming them under the watchful eyes of a major energy company. Once you land on an island, you have a set amount of days and oil production targets to hit during your stay. Fire up those old drilling machines and start making oil underwater, watch the oil barrel market and sell at the highest price, repair machines and do it all within the time you’re given…or your employer, the United Oil of Oceania corp., will boot you off the island for a better crew. Sell more barrels to achieve higher ranks and perks, upgrade your machines, and conquer the ocean! See why About.com calls it "...a rich and rewarding experience that’s really unlike any game out there." and JayisGames.com says, "The Oil Blue looks great, plays great, and will suck you in for hours at a time."

Dec 03 2011 06:20 PM | Gandalf42 in Miscellaneous
Retrogaming Times December 2011 issue has been released. You can download this issue in PDF format or read it online here.

Featuring the following:

• Bewitched Brews - Getting to Know Grant Thienemann.
  
• Retro Collecting 101 - The Brandon Cobb Interview.
  
• CoCoLicious! - One CoCo To Rule Them All? Not Hardly...
  
• The O² Kid - AstroDodge.
  
• The Pixelated Mage - Christmas Craze.
  
• Commodore Du Jour - Toy Bizarre.
  
• Apple II Incider - Street Sports Basketball.
  
• Dual Perspective - Super Mario Bros. 3.
  
• MAME Reviews - AV Hanafuda Hana No Christmas Eve & Snow Bros.
  
• Standalone Spew - A Better Christmas List Then Or Now?
  
• A Pixelated 21st Century.

Dec 03 2011 04:45 PM | Gandalf42 in Miscellaneous
Commodore Free magazine issue 56 has been released. This great magazine delivers all of the latest news and developments in the Commodore world right to your eager eyeballs on a monthly basis...

New in this issue:

• Editorial.
  
• Theatre of War II: The Pacific for the VIC20.
  
• Amiga It's a Knockout! 2011/12.
  
• Plus/4 Gets a SID Chip.
  
• Chameleon Special From AmigaKit.
  
• Slide Released for the Commodore 64.
  
• Out Space Released.
  
• Commodore eBook Now Available.
  
• P1565 Project Updated.
  
• Retrogaming Times Monthly #90 Released.
  
• CBM Command Updated.
  
• CrossCrabTris 1.0 Released.
  
• Jack 2.4 Now Available.
  
• Extensive Collection of Commodore Related Videos.
  
• CBM PRG Studio Version 1.6.0 Released.
  
• Komoda 5 Magazine Released.
  
• USB Joystick Adapter.
  
• Bill Herd Launches Commodore 128 Website.
  
• AmigaOS 4.1 Update 4.
  
• Mini SD 1541 Drive.
  
• Cinnamon Writer Updated.
  
• Interview With Roberto Dillon.
  
• Review: Out Space — Commodore 64 Game.
  
• Review: Prince of Persia — Commodore 64 Version.

Download the magazine in all of it's glorious formats here.

Dec 03 2011 04:30 PM | Gandalf42 in Indie
As I stated back on November 6th; Daniel Remar was targeting December 1st for the release of his new arena shooter "Hyper Princess Pitch'... and true to his word, it was released on time.

First off, this game was created with GameMaker which is something I'm normally not too fond of for various reasons.. those being stability, speed, and a sometimes bland or generic feel to the finished game... but I'm happy to state that this is definitely not my experience with this game.. Daniel is truly a GameMaker god in this respect.. the gameplay is fast and tight.. controls and game response are spot on.. He even distributes the game with versions created under GM 5 and 7 for maximum compatibility, but I had no problems with either version.

The game itself draws heavy inspiration from Beaucomm Interactive’s old DOS arena shooter Operation: Carnage.. and the story surrounds an insane princess doing battle with hoards of nefarious Christmas foes.

It's a short romp at only four levels.. but it's still quite a bit of holiday fun for shooter fans.

You can download this game here.

Nov 19 2011 01:05 PM | Gandalf42 in Emulation
micro64 is an cycle exact Commodore 64 emulator. Many of the improvements to the emulation of the 6502 CPU were made with information provided by the Visual6502.org website.

The current version was just released and includes the following changes:

• Added instable illegal opcode modes.
  
• Improved keyboard matrix emulation.
  
• Cycle-exact datasette and REU emulation.
  
• GeoRAM / NeoRAM emulation.

You can download the current version of the emulator from our files section.

Nov 19 2011 12:45 AM | Gandalf42 in Indie
Zetanoid is a new physics based Breakout game created by Denis Grachev using Blitz3D and released by Retrosouls. The game is comprised of twenty-five unique levels of block busting action.

All blocks drop and bounce using an accurate physics system... and while it's not overly important to the gameplay, it does actually add a fair bit of charm to the somewhat tired Bat-and-Ball genre. Of course, you'll also get the standard assortment of game modifiers such as: Shrink Paddle, Enlarge Paddle, Gun and Multi-ball modes.

The game is quite fun to play.. plus it's entertaining to see how the block-physics play out.

Download the game now in our file section.

Nov 13 2011 03:24 PM | Toad64 in Indie

Many gamers may be familiar with the indie project that started the ideas for Portal, a small development team of 8 students at DigiPen made a game called Narbacular Drop that threw the player into the role of a witch that could summon a blue and an orange portal that were linked, allowing her to walk into one and come out the other. The game’s basic concepts intrigued those at Valve, who hired the team to flesh out their idea into what would become Portal.

Portal 2 has a similar origin story that once again starts with a small group of students at DigiPen. This game, Tag: The Power of Paint, like Narbacular Drop offers a single gameplay mechanic that leads to endless possibilities. In Tag, you’re given a SuperSoaker-looking gun that can be loaded with different colors of paint. If you paint something green, you can jump high off its surface, if you paint something red, you will run really fast over the red paint, and if you paint something blue, you can walk along the blue surface, regardless if it’s on the side of a building or on the ceiling. This of course would later be further developed by Steam in the Portal 2 game; while you can’t shoot the paint directly, you’ll find gels that you can redirect onto surfaces to help you along. The green paint to jump is now blue gel, and the red paint to run fast is now orange gel. The blue paint to walk along surfaces has been mentioned in numerous interviews as having been in the game at some point, but every play tester apparently became motion sick and they couldn’t figure out a way to prevent it, so it was pulled. Instead we have the white gel, which turns any surface into a portal-able surface.

While Portal is a solid, polished experience, Narbacular Drop was more of a diamond in the rough. Tag: The Power of Paint certainly feels more polished, with a smooth frame rate and an interesting visual design (the world is completely black and white except for the three paint colors). It is, however, very short, with only 8 levels and no save feature it’s meant to be beaten in a single playthrough. For anyone that’s a fan of Portal 2 and wants to see where these ideas originated, I highly recommend checking out Tag: The Power of Paint, it’s fun, it’s fast and it’s free!

Nov 13 2011 01:55 PM | Gandalf42 in Classic
Sokurah is back from this years REPLAY Expo in Blackpool (UK) and, true to his word, has released Dingo for the Spectrum... which itself is a conversion of the 1983 coin-op game from Jaleco. The remake was created by Sokurah from Tardis.dk, with former Ocean staffer Mark R. Jones on graphics.

You play the part of "Big Ted"; a panda who must collect as much fruit as possible while trying to avoid the ravenous Dingoes. You can pick up and throw the fruit at the Dingoes to stun them for a few seconds, but the more you throw.. the less there will be to collect and contribute to your highscore.

Download the remake here.