G4 Icons: Intellivision

Hey folks, here is episode 23 of G4’s Icons show spotlighting the Mattel Intellivision. For anyone that doesn’t already know, the Intellivision was the Atari 2600’s main competitor an an over all more powerful machine. Not saying it was better (that’s not for me to say), just more powerful. Not sure how long the video link will last (I didn’t post it), but enjoy it while it lasts.

Had An Awesome Time Hangin’ With My Retro Collector Friends From Colexions.com

My buddy and fellow Retro Gaming fanatic Corey Buckner has put together a great community of fellow minded collectors over at colexions.com. Well, not only has he put together a great site to show off your own collection and geek out over fellow collectors treasures, he also hosts a monthly “Show And Tell” on Google Hangouts. What it is is a group of us collectors having a great time, showing off our stuff and talking about retro gaming and what ever else might come to mind. This was the third monthly get together and boy did we get to see some amazing stuff. We represented five different countries and three different continents but the distances just made the conversation better. It’s really cool to be able to meet like this. We had Corey Buckner (of course) from just outside Chicago and indie game developer Gary Brafford in West Virginia and lifespiller79 from…um sorry man, Texas (I think), all three in the U.S. of A,  We had Gabo representing Argentina, Mark in the U.K, Paul in Australia and little ol’ me up here in Canada. Everyone pulled out all the stops and showed some real stunners from our collections. Checkout last Saturday’s get together below:

Merry Solstice/Christmas/Hanukah/Saturnalia – -Here’s 10 Great Classic Atari Commercials!

Hope you all have a great Holiday season folks!!!!

Pac-Man Homebrew for the Fairchild Channel F

So I was looking through some suggestions from Youtube when I found this: video of a homebrew version of Pac-Man for the early cartridge based game console, Channel F, by Fairchild. The Channel F came to market about a year or so before Atari came out with their game changing 2600  (aka VCS).

Whilr this video may not look like much now, if you compare it to what games were available for the Channel F back in the day, then you’ll realize just how amazing this is!

Check it out below:

Calgary Pincade Show September 28, 2013

I had an awesome time this weekend at the Calgary Pincade Show. Local pinball and arcade machine owners brought out their machines to all to play. Admission was $15 at the door or $20 for the weekend. Quite a few games were up for sale and they had two pinball machines for raffle. It was an awesome time and I can hardly wait for next year.

Check out The few pictures and video I caught while there:

Bally Astrocade – I Finally Have One!!!

There are few classic consoles that I lust after. One of those systems has always been the Bally Astrocade, and now I have one.

The Astrocade was released in 1978 and was very poorly marketed. At first only available through mail order and then later marketed poorly in small computer stores (though I saw it at a super drug mart called London Drugs in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada). It didn’t help that it was marketed more as a home computer than a gaming console, which it really is.

A contemporary of the original Atari 2600/VCS and Intellivision, it surpassed both in graphic and sound capabilities. The Astrocade got very few arcade ports, though it had a few great clones of classic games such as Galactic Invasion, a Galaxian clone, and The Incredible Wizard, a spot on clone of Wizard of Wor and Astro. The only true arcade port that I’ve seen is Space Fortress and is almost spot on. The Astrocade’s controllers were unique in that they resembled a revolver pistols handle with a small orange nub at the top that works as the joystick that can also be twisted to be used as a paddle controller. They are both unique and comfortable to use. The cartridges look surprisingly like audio cassettes, though they are solid state cartridges like other systems. There is a compartment at the top end of the system where you store the cartridges. And, being a console of the late 1970’s, it sports a great fake wood finish!

I acquired my Astrocade through a trade done on reddit.coms retrogameswap page. The guy I traded with, Chuck traded his Astrocade with a crap load of games for my NEC TurboDuo. I know the TurboDuo is worth more if I were to sell, but the Astrocade is worth more to me as a collectible. The system was clean and in perfect working condition. All the game, except one work perfectly, and the one that isn’t working is a math game so I am not upset. The one game I really want, The Incredible Wizard was not part of the haul, but I have purchased a copy via Ebay, and am eagerly awaiting it’s arrival and this evening I also added Pinball to my Ebay purchases. I’d also love to get a copy of Muncher, an amazing Pacman clone that was released for the system, but the only times I’ve seen it on Ebay, the seller wanted a lot more than I’ve been willing to pay. There are also a few home brew games out there, including absolutely amazing versions of the arcade classics, Crazy Climber and War, a Warlords clone.

I am so happy with this trade.

Here is a video of me demonstrating the games that came with it:

“Let’s Compare: Ms. Pacman” By The Shadow’s Nose

One of my favourite Youtube classic video game video bloggers is a guy that goes by the name of The Shadow’s Nose* and does these great “Let’s Compare” videos where he takes a game and shows you game play of it on several systems while commenting on each. I’ve grown to really like these videos and look forward to each. While I was going through them, I found a Let’s Compare video for Ms. Pacman. Shadow’s Nose compares this classic on the Atari 8 bit systems and the Commodore 64.

Check out the video below:

Also, make sure you check out The Shadow’s Nose Youtube Channel.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Theshadowsnose

*Most likely a play on the old serial radio show, The Shadow as the guy also has a fabulously cool collection of old tube radios!

Nuts for Nintendo–An ABC News 20/20 Special Report from 1988

I found this while Stumbling today: a special report on the Nintendo Craze of the Late 1980s (1988) from ABC News 20/20.

This is a great look back at what was the beginning of the third (or second, depending on how you decipher the trends) Video Game Boom. These were heady times for Gamers and Nintendo was leading the Video Game revolution here in North America.

Check out the video at the link below (or click the picture – your choice!)

http://vimeo.com/12997770

While Blogging I was listening to Wall of Voodoo – Call of the West – Mexican Radio

Pixels–A Video by Patrick Jean

Hey, sorry it’s been so long since my last post but sometimes I’m a jerk that way.

Any way, I though I would share this fantastic video that I stumbled upon called Pixels. If you watch it, I think you’ll understand why it’s posted to this site.

Hope you enjoy!

PIXELS by PATRICK JEAN

While blogging I was listening to Syd Barret/Pink Floyd – Wouldn’t You Miss Me? – Octopus

Pacman – The Movie

In light of the recent 30th Anniversary of the release of Pacman into the wild, I’ll post this link to a Youtube video of Pacman, The Movie.

 

Just very silly, stupid stuff and I love it.

Enjoy!