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Monday, April 23, 2007

Game Gear Features In Bad Taste Cartoon!

The Game Gear doesn't get much media attention these days, so you can imagine my surprise when I came across Sega's finest handheld in Internet animation, Burnt Face Man.

This tasteless, but rather funny cartoon is a firm favourite with the Three Gingers, (yes I know, just what kind of a father am I?) Personally, I find it mildly amusing. Please be warned, its not for the faint hearted. If you are offended by profanity, then don't go there! (I should have put the same warning on the last post too...)

Still, if you want to see the Game Gear in all its Sega related glory, and don't mind a bit of sweariness, look here.

Master System Monday # 6: "The Angry Videogame Nerd"

Formerly the "Angry Nintendo Nerd", everyone's favourite ranting games geek takes a peek at Rocky on the Master System, in honour of Rocky VI coming out. Funny stuff! Oh and I will start playing and reviewing more games just as soon as the biggest Ginger tells me where he's stashed my bloody Master System games collection. Yes that's right! He's only gone and displaced the Master System from it's place in the loft room (now his bedroom *HARUMPH!*) and stashed it somewhere without telling me! Pesky Kids!

GP2X

I've searched this esteem blog for evidence of this rather attractive new handheld, but can't find any trace of it... Surely my esteemed colleague Mr. Gnome must be aware of it? Anyway, this multifunctional little beauty can be used as a retro game playing handheld - playing classic titles from PCs of yore, including, Amiga, Apple, Atari ST, BBC, C64 and ZX Spectrum among others.


It can also play games that have been developed for it, (although from the screenshots I've seen you'd be better off sticking with the retro classics.) The developers embrace the concept of freeware, distinguishing it from the DS or PSP. Unlike either of those two handheld market leaders it can also be plugged into your TV to play on a full size screen with regular controllers.

It can also be used as a portable video unit, to play any downloaded movies straight from websites, bit torrents or your DVD collection, without the need to re-encode (whatever that means!)
Oh and its an MP3 player as well.Nice eh? Check it out here and here.

Related posts: BitCorp Gamate, Castle of Illusion speed run, MB Microvision

Saturday, April 21, 2007

A video gaming digital camera

Pocketgamer.co.uk unearthed a pretty interesting new digital camera, the DGX-589V, that shockingly doubles as a handheld gaming console. The camera comes complete with 20 pre-loaded 2D and 3D games & a built-in gamepad, and should retail 199$. Engadget and Pocketgamer, have more to add.

Related posts: Silly handheld peripherals, A Curious Incident, GamePSP, Pong Watch

Friday, April 20, 2007

Final Fantasy I & FFII get PSP remakes

Now, that's what I'd call a descriptive post title, as I've got nothing truly important to add, really. Anyway. Apparently the first two installments of Final Fantasy will get remastered (slightly expanded, too) and separately re-released in glorious 16:9 multi-color current-gen Sony PSP style. Thank Square Enix and click your way to more info.

Related posts: Atari 7800 PSP, Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars, God of War PSP, Visiting Day

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Thursday, April 19, 2007

Overclock your DS Lite

Modd3D, a techno-stuff filled cyberden, has done something truly impressive: they've overclocked a Nintendo DS Lite without destroying any particularly crucial bits. What's more, they have gone out of their way to explain how they did everything. Click here for a how to overclock your Nintendo DS illustrated guide.

Related posts: Handheld PDF mags, Sherlock Holmes DS, SpeccyDS

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Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Sonic Rush DS BETA

The brilliant retro loving obscure stuff hunters over at Hidden Palace have found, captured, tamed and finally released a BETA of Sonic Rush for the Nintendo DS. It's the single level demo first witnessed in E3 2005. Get it here. For free.

Related posts: Sonic Rush review, Ankh DS announced, Theme Park DS videos, Touch the Dead

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Monday, April 16, 2007

Master System Monday # 5: Sega8bit.com

A typical Master System enthusiast!

Well after two glorious weeks off work, its back to the grindstone for poor old me. (Bah!)

However, I've always got posting on this hallowed forum to look forward to and keep me going (Hurrah!)

As such I will continue on my quest to keep the Master System alive and well in our hearts.

I must confess that I haven't played anything new on the MS/Game Gear for a couple of weeks, so this week's offering owes more to web browsing than personal experience, DOH!

Awesome 3D glasses dude!

However, I have discovered a rather wonderful resource for all Master System fans. Let me introduce you to Sega8bit.com which I found this very day! Everything you ever wanted to know about the Master System but were afraid to ask! It's where I found the excellent pics that illustrate this post and there is so much more to discover...

I will endeavour to play some more and give up my personal reviews of those lovely 8 bit classic games. If you can't wait for that, have a look at this review of Michael Jackson's Moonwalker that I posted some time ago over at another one of mine and Gnome's collaborative efforts The Saturn Junkyard!

Related posts: Master System Monday: Land of Illusion, BitCorp Gamate, Sega Game Gear TV

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Sunday, April 15, 2007

Hopeless GameBoy Rivals: BitCorp Gamate

At least the Atari Lynx and the Sega Game Gear tried. They really did, and for a moment there, it even felt as if they actually had a chance to rob Nintendo of its glorious scepter of handheld domination. Not so with Bit Corporation's Gamate handheld. It was beyond hopeless.

The Gamate, which I admittedly tried playing with once, back in the mists of time when I was 12 or 13 years old and wasn't impressed and for which the worse video gaming mag ever to grace the planet (USER, they called it) waxed lyrical, was a travesty. It was a poor man's Game Boy, and considering the lacklustre quality of the GB screen, well let's just say the player's imagination was put to good use.

What's more,the games, all 40 or something of them, that is, were derivative and uninspired. If I remember correctly they were horrible too, despite cartridges that looked decent enough to pass for proper games. But, really, I don't believe I've tried anything worse than that Tennis thing. It was virtually unplayable on that crappy blurry little screen. Just to think it was supposed to take on the Game Boy version of the sport is heresy.

Then again, other Gamate games tried to take on Tetris. Yes, pathetic, I know. Shockingly though, rumor has it that King Fu Fighter and Treasure Hunter were pretty ok games.

As for the machine itself, well, it was obviously an 8-bit console with a particularly passive (a.k.a. barely visible) dot-matrix 128x96 screen, running on 4 AA batteries, manufactured in Korea, that sold poorly; mainly in Europe and Australia. 2 or 3 Gamates must have reached the Americas and another 5 must have been scattered in the wider Asia region. Surely Retro Treasures will investigate further, but I wouldn't be shocked if a single Gamate game set you back 15$ to 20$.

Further Gamate info can be found lurking inside the Ultimate Console Database, Wikipedia, Press Start and Pelikonepeijoonit.net. MobyGames, on the other hand, seems to ignore the thing.

Related posts: Game Boy Color, Sega Game Gear, Milton Bradley Microvision, Atari Lynx


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Saturday, April 14, 2007

Handheld gaming PDF mags

Everyone seems to be enjoying those lovely ultra-trendy video gaming PDF magazines. Even us, the more nomadic sort of gamers, apparently. For, you see dear readers, Sony PSP owners can follow this humble link and download the freeware PSP Galaxy issue #17 ezine, whereas both PSP and Nintendo DS gamers can head over to Gamerzines and get themselves a lovely multimedia PDF copy of HGZine.

Related posts: Project Rub Promo, Atari 7800 PSP, ZX Spectrum DS, Master System Monday: Castle of Illusion

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Sonic Rush DS - Review & Screenshots!

Scoring a whopping 9/10 over at IGN, Sonic Rush has been hailed as a return to form for our favourite blue amphetamine fuelled rodent. Utilising both the top and bottom screens of the DS (simultaneously for a big view), the action takes place at high speed within the familiar 2D realm, as Sonic's original and most appreciated games classically have.

I've played this one and it's a good'un. Like all side scrolling platformers, there is a need to put in some serious repetitive gameplay. Getting all the way through a level only to 'feck up' just before the end can be frustrating, and as of yet I've not found out a way to increase the credit/continue situation at the start of each game.

Fortunately there is an autosave feature that kicks in if you manage to complete a level!

For the full IGN review, player reviews, cheats, more screen shots and some nice video look here...

Related posts: Ankh coming to the DS, Theme Park DS videos, Spectrobes video review, RE:DS gets naughty

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Thursday, April 12, 2007

Project Rub Promo

Developed by the wonderful Sonic Team, Project Rub is as much fun as anything else out for the DS. The game was given to the Team with the brief that they needed to show off all of the innovation that the DS has to offer. Thus there is lots of rubbing (hence the name) with the stylus, blowing and shouting into the mic and so on. The graphical style is very original and the music 'quirky' to say the least! the best thing about the game to an old skinflint like me is the price. At a time when new games cost anything up to £30(ish),
I picked up Project Rub for £4.99 pre-owned. Lovely really!

Related posts: Ankh NDS, Speccy DS, Spectrobes video review, RE DS trailer

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel - Review


Actually it's not any review, but more of a video retro review by the very wise, very talented Mr. Robotbling. Oh, and Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel was one of the few killer apps besides the Pokemon games to ever grace the short-lived Game Boy Color.

Related posts: Game Boy Color: the colors, Master System Monday 4, Out Run Europa retro review

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Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Ankh bringing Egyptian wackiness to the DS

Remember Ankh, the pretty funny and very cartoony PC adventure? No? Well, this review should help then. Feeling more enlightened? Good. Now, on to the news bit: Ankh is coming to the Nintendo DS. Huzzah! It's another adventure and the first of the almost forgotten Lucasarts school of though for Nintendo's pop portable. Learn the details by following this link.

Related posts: Sherlock Holmes: Mystery of the Mummy DS, ScummVM DS, freeware Lemmings DS

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Master System Monday #4: The Brazilian Connection.

You might wonder why Gnome has allowed me to indulge my Master System obsession on his [gnome edit: ours] wonderful site devoted to hand held gaming. The tenuous connection comes from the fact that Master System games can be played on Sega's wonderful hand held system the Gamegear. (Look here.) I've already discovered that The Master System/Gamegear lives on as The Play Pal in 2007.

However, I didn't know that the Master System was alive and well, in fact thriving in Brazil, courtesy of The Tec Toy corporation. The picture above is of a rather beautiful pink wireless incarnation of the Master System. Tec Toy, like Sony and Nintendo, have realised that in order to attract women and girls into the world of gaming, they would have to rethink their marketing strategies. Thus they made some of their consoles pink. Genius.

In case you're wondering, the reason the Master System, Megadrive and other 'dead' consoles are still flourishing in Brazil, its due to the high taxation that gamers have to pay on purchase of consoles. The newer the consoles, the higher the tax. Thus a Wii would set back a Brazilian gamer £1000!!!! So, in order to be able to play videogames without bankrupting themselves, Brazilian gamers have continued to play 'older' systems. Enforced Retro-gaming due to economic necessity. A system of which I thoroughly approve.... Genius!

Related posts:
Master System Monday 3, MSM 2 & MSM 1, MB Microvision

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Monday, April 09, 2007

Warring States and freeware PPC strategy gaming

Warring States is one of the best Pocket PC games ever released, freeware or not. It also is a ridiculously addictive turn based strategy game taking place during the Warring States period in China and putting you, yes you, dear player in the (ornate) shoes of a mere state ruler trying to become emperor. The game, mostly played on the map screen and the tax/science sub-screens, allows for advancements in military technology, fortifications of cities, gathering of armies and of course invading your neighbors before they get overly confident.

It's a perfectly simple, but really great game. I once even played it for 20 hours without a break. You must absolutely give it a try. It's 100% freeware, well polished and will run on virtually any Pocket PC. Download Warring States here.

Related posts: Call of Duty 2 PPC demo, Death Drive, Pocket PC Apple II emulator, Jazz Jackrabbit


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Sunday, April 08, 2007

The PSP emulates the Atari 7800. How nice.

You know, the Atari 7800 wasn't such a bad console after all. It featured some pretty decent NES inspired controllers, relatively powerful but cheap hardware and a decent collection of games. Don't believe me? Well, you could try visiting the Atari 7800 Page and even the 7800 Wikipedia entry, or, better yet, try a more hands-on approach...

How? Simple, really. Download the excellent PSP7800 Atari 7800 emulator for the Sony PSP and enjoy Atari retro gaming moments on the go. The emulator is of course free and lots of Atari 7800 ROMs can be found right here (just scroll down a bit). Enjoy. I'm sure The Elderly Gamer would approve.

Related posts: Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars new screens, the PSP freebie source, PSP Atari Lynx emulation


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Saturday, April 07, 2007

Call of Duty 2 Pocket PC Demo

I'm sure you all remember that aspyr was about to release Call of Duty 2 for Pocket PC, bringing the tapping power of the stylus to a proper WW2 FPS. Uhm, you do remember, don't you? Well, regardless. The game (CoD 2) has been released and if you follow this cunningly underlined link you'll be able to treat yourselves to a fine free demo of the game.

Related posts: SkyForce: a PPC shmup, Death Drive freebie, 5 excellent free emulators for Pocket PC



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Thursday, April 05, 2007

Sherlock Holmes, Mummies and NDS adventures

Yes! Thrice yes, actually, as one more adventure will be joining the Nintendo DS already excellent games catalogue, surely elevating Nintendo's portable wonder to the first ever console to attempt a resurection of the point-and-click genre status. The game will be none other than the very atmospheric Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Mummy by Frogwares, already available on PC (Adventure Gamers review, Quandary review) and a classic, heavy on atmosphere, point-and-clicker. Learn more @ GamerBeef or visit the PC game's official site.

Related posts: Resident Evil DS review, ScummVM DS, Nancy Drew on the go, ZX Spectrum for the DS

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Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Lovely Sony PSP price drop

Finally! According to Joystiq (but also confirmed by PTDmag), the almost successful Sony PSP will start selling for 169$, if not worldwide, at least at Gamestop and EB Games. Obviously the world will soon follow and a 30$ price drop is always good news. Apparently the whole thing has to do with a partly redistribution of surplus value in favor of working class gamers, but guess I 'll spare you the details.

Related posts: Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars Screens, PSP camera & GPS, God of War PSP

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Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars Screenshots

Almost Dreamcast quality pics (the ones above, that is), even though the PSP's shitty analog stick will certainly hurt this game. Which game? Oh, yes, Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars for the Sony PSP, the one currently being developed by the universally unknown Sniper Studios and already mentioned here. Find out more here.

Related posts: PSP firmware 3.30, 300 March to Glory, PSP does Windows 3.1 & Linux


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Monday, April 02, 2007

SpeccyDS retro gaming love

SpeccyDS is, as the name subtly suggest, a ZX Spectrum emulator for the Nintendo DS and an amazing freebie discovered by the retro gamers & remakers that Make The Cops Look Dumb. Download the emulator here and hunt for some classic games over at the World of Spectrum.

Related posts: Resident Evil DS review, ScummVM DS, NES & SNES emulators for the NDS

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Sunday, April 01, 2007

Theme Park DS trailer & gameplay video

Here at GGotG we've already mentioned that Theme Park (MobyGames entry), Peter Molyneux's wacky amusement park management sim complete with overpriced ice creams, ride creation options and dizzy little brats, is coming to the Nintendo DS. We've never mentioned/published a video though, so, uhm, here's the trailer of Theme Park DS and a nice gameplay video:


Related posts: NDS free Quake, Project GB, Jet Impulse, Spectrobes video review

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