Here is our collection of video rants, raves & opinions about classic video games, retro gaming and the video game industry that has spawned around it. It's one thing to blog - it's quite another to stand in front of a camera and shout about stuff. We dig that! :)
We backed the Ouya Kickstarter project last Summer out of desperation for something new in the midst of the endless Generation 7 of video gaming. An Android-based console seemed like just the thing to excite the gaming industry.
The most exciting feature of the Wii U was it's development equality. It was supposed to be easy to develop for Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. So where are the Wii U games that traditionally had only Sony & MS releases?
Retro gaming seems steeped in the past but with each passing game-generation, it's future changes. Robust cart-based consoles gave way to disc-based units with shorter lifespans. Will retro gaming become ROM only 20 years from now?
Will "always on" be a positive change for the longevity of gaming and console gaming? Requiring a console to connect to the internet for each game title will likely shorten the life cycle of every game title.
In my hardcore days of retro video game collecting, going to yard sales meant dealing with a wide variety of people. Some were cool while others were scary weird.
SNK Playmore's respect for the AES (Advanced Entertainment System) of the 90's shows in the NeoGeo X Gold Edition bundle. Great retro console for portable & TV enjoyment.
If you take the time to give it a test drive, you may be surprised at how much fun it is to have such a unique gaming experience. I've always liked the VirtualBoy and wish consumers had spent more time with the in-store demo units than listening to reviewers.
In the late 90s we discovered a seemingly forgotten location that had Atari 2600 games in their stock room - in sealed boxes! Wise though led us to clean it out with a shopping cart.
If you love the holidays and remember the angst and craving for a new video game console on Christmas morning, Christmas Bytes may become your favorite retro gaming holiday film.
Growing up as an Atari-kid, I blamed the NES for doing away with the traditional joystick. Our quick look at several gaming consoles from the 70's & 80s reveals the slow evolution of the stick-less controller.
G4 TV isn't the only video gaming medium to be disappearing. What's happened to arcade compilation discs as a genre? Many of the titles may be available as DLC, but the disappearance of these games from retail stores is a blow to retro gaming. When arcade classics had a presence on retail shelves, retro gaming had a public presence too.
GameStop's CEO has been dropping hints that they are looking to "go retro" as a web initiative. Apparently they don't subscribe to the landfill rule when systems & games no longer interest gamers (paying customers), so they have a moderate stockpile of older games. But how might this effect the existing retro gaming market?
Many retro gamers, myself included, have always cited the Atari 5200's downfall to be the joystick controller. I never liked side-mounted fire buttons, but the internal flex circuit seems to be the main weakness. We're taking a look at the 5200 joystick and delving into it's guts.
If you were caught photographing your TV in today's modern age, you'd be laughed at. But back in the Atari 2600's initial release, it was the only way to verify a high score.
Apple's Siri assistant on the iPhone seems like an interesting idea that may actually be helpful, but we think she needs to be schooled on the finer points of Retro Gaming.
This recent darling of a Kickstarter campaign raised millions in one week showing that gamers want something new & different. It's open source may interest retro gamers eager to play ROM on their living room TVs.
Having run out of bookshelf space, I resorted to storing games in varying sized tubs. Retro Game Cases is a company that has come up with an amazing solution to game cart & manual storage.
Dropping TWEET and LIKE buttons on your site won't help much if your site isn't "ready" for social media marketing. Here are a few tips on getting the most out of Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest & YouTube.
GameBoy was a revolution in mobile gaming and Nintendo didn't plan on losing out on an ounce of it's selling potential. GameBoy is probably the most compatible platform to invade it's console predecessors.
I never cared about all the epic games, on early systems that were obviously designed as quests to be saved to memory cards. But Fatal Run for the Atari 2600 had an interesting "Continue" option on the intro screen. A precursor to game-saves? Maybe not, but a cool game in it's own way.
I grew up on board games, like most kids, but have continued to like them even as video games took over as my game-of-choice. We take a look at some board games that have been converted into video games and explore why video games can't always be good in board game format.
I wasn't familiar with Mattel Electronics' Intellivision II until I decided I wanted an Intellivision. Upon discovering this later release, I decided to pick one up and check it out.
Ignore the negative reviews saying this game doesn't live up to modern gaming standards. Based on a great classic arcade hit, BurgerTime World Tour is a slick update with much respect for the original.
Ratings systems sometimes make us wonder how wide an audience you really need to cater to when trying to provide game info. I'm more interested in the story and gameplay as opposed to how many times a character says Dick Bag.
We love epic gaming worlds to explore and conquer, but we still need an injection of manic fun to pump us up. 2 Fast 4 Gnomz does just that! A fun frantic platformer that's engaging, fast and unique.
Using DRM to nuke the used video game market seems damaging to gamers and the gaming industry. I thought used and new games benefit each other in the marketplace.
Discovering Max and the Magic Marker on WiiWare added a great game to our library. Discovering if adult actress Kayden Kross will come to our company bar-b-q will add a great story to our insanity.
People make all sorts of assumptions when you are introduced by your job title (Lawyer, Accountant, Game Developer, etc.). Are assumptions also made when you tell someone you're a retro gamer? Yes.
I don't believe in psychic powers, but how else could millions of tawdry "sexy-cheerleading-zombie-killer" fantasies conjoin into an amazing video game concept?
The Atari 2600 and the Jaguar are the only 2 Atari consoles I've had the opportunity to buy new during their initial release. Seeing new Atari product on retail shelves is an amazing thing!
A lot of gaming journalists have lately been saying they haven't touched their Wii in years. YEARS! There are a ton of great games on Wii even though the PS3 and Xbox are the industry darlings. Wii U is coming!
We decided our interior design skills were best employed by slapping classic video game decals all over the wall. Now our bathroom looks like an Atari asteroid field. We also did our best (aka: worst) Geekgasm impersonation.
Berzerk and Vanguard are 2 of my favorite arcade games that I don't believe have ever appeared on compilation game releases or reboots. I think both of them need to be shared with today's gamers who have an appreciation for awesome classic video games.
GameStop has an enormous inventory of used (ie: scratched & damaged) video game discs and no qualms about selling beat-up media. It would be great if the original owners would take better care of their game disc. Thanks.
In today's post 9/11 fear-mongering society, shouldn't a video game simulator of airport management include and promote cavity searches and testicular groping? Airport Mania is still a cool game.
We're too miscellaneous to consider ourselves game collectors. We have no mission, goals or plan. Our passion for games has amassed a large collection, but does that make us collectors?
Santa's elves aren't engineers. Don't expect them to be cranking out PS3s or Wiis. Parents are going to have to do some Christmas shopping to save the holidays. When you go to buy games, know your shit! The clerk at GameStop doesn't know what kind of console your kid has!
I love being able to download classic games from the NES, SNES and other systems on Nintendo's Virtual Console, but the interface kind of blows. It's a very clumsy way to navigate titles and discern info on unfamiliar ones.
Jam City Roller Girls is a slick WiiWare game that's a damn good time. Catch Whip It on DVD and get in the mood to whip around the track doling out mayhem. Juliette Lewis is awesome!
Delinquent and/or uninformed parents are the poison of a good gamer in the making. The parents I see on line in GameStop are abysmal people who are on their way toward raising morons regardless of their kid's gaming interests.
Those "arcade" joysticks made by third party companies rarely deliver a true arcade experience. Sometimes you have to do it yourself to make a truly rugged arcade joystick.
You may read phenomenal reviews of the latest $60 gaming masterpiece, but I guarantee you'll find some real gems in the discount bin for $3. If you pass on the games in the discount-bin you're missing out on some amazing crap. Crappy games can be a blast!
So many reviewers trash Defender for the Atari 2600 without taking into account the context of when it was released. One year after the arcade version, we were able to play Defender at home! Defender II (Stargate) was superior, but wasn't released for another 4 years.
I grew up with an infatuation with Bigfoot legends and UFO lore. This Halloween, we take aim at these pseudo-scientists and embrace the fear of becoming unemployed in a world where chasing imaginary creatures can lead to a career.
As much as I love 8-bit games on the original old consoles, I get excited to find a rebooted game. I wish more developers would take the time to include the original games on the rebooted releases.
Game developers can't keep raising the price of games and not expect a used market to develop very quickly. More importantly - who the Hell is trading in games for 40¢?
I could expound on video games (aka: rant & rave) from the comfort of my couch, wrapped in a bathrobe, with a cup of coffee in my hand. And I'd love to, but there's a feeling of vulnerability that leaves me wanting to "hide" a little bit.
We began thinking about how to present our foul-mouthed video ravings and concluded that we needed some sort of table on which to put gaming consoles and other gaming detritus we wanted to discuss. It had to be something flexible enough to display large and/or multiple items as well as be functional (ie: something to hide behind. This is a boner-free show, after all).
Being a fan of unconventional shapes, I wanted to try something oddly angular that might be more eye-catching than conventional tables. For flexibility, I built it with a removable facing so we could change things up and not get too staid. After cutting the final template, we looked at it and pondered what to do about the seemingly useless space which we are much to artistically challenged to properly fill. What could we put there...
A television!! Fuck yeah! We decided to cut a hole and drop a cheap flatscreen TV into that void and use it to animate our logo, play game footage and random flicks from the beloved 80's. Using the template from our Twitter avatar, we made an stencil for spray painting the jagged outline in hot pink to match our blue & pink logo colors. We also made a few blanks so we can swap out the TV with little effort.
Would you believe a single king-size bed sheet wasn't large enough to fill a 16:9 aspect ratio while managing to fit in our splendid TV insert? The last thing we wanted to waste money on was a backdrop, so the biggest challenge was finding 2 matching king-size sheets at the dollar store. They had some really nice ones, but not two sets - shit! Hence the burgundy ones seen in our videos. As soon as a new shipment of defective, but aptly colored, sheets arrive we'll be sure to spruce up the set with a new background. We might even iron it periodically so we don't look like we "set up shop" in a laundromat.
8-Bit Central's retro gaming YouTube channel
We're excited to bring you low-budget (and low-quality) video game entertainment. We've gamed long enough to know a few things and we're never short on opinions. Hopefully you'll tag along for our rants, complaining and the occasional interesting tidbit. We'll post our videos to this page, but we encourage you to subscribe to our 8 Bit Central YouTube Channel.
