Commodore 64: a visual Commpendium – A Review by GYL

For those growing up in the early 80s in the UK the Commodore 64 was a monster of a computer in so many ways. Sure we owned a ZX Speccy and even an Amstrad CPC 464 - but this was an American Dream machine. 

From the look of the computer to the amazing array of games and fun they gave us - this was the closest we could get to the arcade.

So when Sam Dyer – he of Commodore addict and Retro Asylum key member, announced his Commodore 64 Book Kickstarter - we were pretty excited to say the least.  

After result of a very Kickstarter successful campaign we had the final printed version in our hands and what a great feeling this was to see this come to life. Over the last few days we have poured over this respectful and entertaining tribute to the C64.  

From amazing graphics used in the artwork,  the games chosen of which there are many - to the mini-review write ups. This is a C64 fans dream.  

In terms of coffee table luxury books on the art and the subject - there isn’t anything like this out there of this quality and it's great to hear there is a next book on the Amiga too to follow up for another Kickstarter beginning on 13/10/14.

For more info on this Amiga book go to:
 www.bitmapbooks.co.uk 

Some of our favourite spreads in the book (as well as the GYL spread of IK+) entries are as follows: 

•  Activision's Ghostbusters – which has the commentary of  the game written by its creator David Crane  

•  Wizball – which is a crazy and fun game with cool graphics in the entry described by Jon Hare of Sensible Software  

Alongside the pixel art on many gaming spreads is original artwork by Oliver Frey provided by Games industry Legend, Roger Kean of Newsfield Publications and Zzap!64. This all adds to the quality and endorsement of industry games people who still really care about the Commodore 64 and its legacy.

Finally its worth mentioning the quality of print and finishing on this job. Sam is clearly  graphic designer who cares about the final detail of colour repro, the paper stock and quality binding of this job. It even uses spot UV varnish both on the cover and dust cover to great effect. 

This is something to love and be proud of.

To order your copy go to www.funstock.co.uk/commodore-64-a-visual-commpendium-c64-book

A New Retro Gaming Movie - FIZZ! The Surge of Video Games

Fizz! The Surge of Video Games is a unique 90 minute retro video gaming documentary movie made with lost and unseen archive footage which was filmed between 1989 & 1998.

All of the video had been originally shot to TV broadcast standard and the tapes have been carefully kept,restored and enhanced for maximum ouput quality. All of the broadcast formats which the footage has been kept on are now obsolete.Sony Betacam SP,Panasonic MII and Sony BVU SP were all broacast high quality recording video formats for TV in the last 1980's and early to mid 1990's.These were all analogue tapes, the cameras and recorders were all 4:3 aspect ratio and there was no digital recording available anywhere on computers.

This was an era before widescreen TV,16:9,HD,DVD.computer editing and the Internet.The only storage device for video at the time was on a VHS video cassette.

Fizz! The Surge Of Video Games is pure retro.The stories are told using 22 interviews filmed between 1989 & 1998 with key people who were working in the business back then.Games developers,marketing people,console manufacturers,retailers,Games chart research,trade bodies,games publishers.The big names in games back then are all included.Sony,Sega,Electronic Arts,Philips,3DO,Virgin Games,Mindscape,Interplay,Codemasters,Psygnosis,David Perry,HMV.Plus many notable video and audio appearances from some very familiar household names.

Fizz! The Surge Of Video Games tells the story exactly as it was because it was filmed as the marketplace and business evolved over a nine year timeline.

Beginning with momentum in the established 8 and 16 Bit era with a strong presence from the Commodore 64,Spectrum,NES,Sega Megadrive-Genesis, Atari ST,Amiga & SNES.This was a console and home computer gaming sector when titles were published on cartridge and floppy disk.Using interviews & footage filmed at the time,the documentary discusses how it all grew and then the problems which lead to the eventual decline.

As the 1990's wore on,new CD-Rom formats began to arrive, and an almighty hardware & console battle began to escalate.Established names such as Sega & Nintendo now faced competition from hardware heavy weights Panasonic,Sony and Philips who were all looking for a slice of the action.

It was also an era of progress and change as games developers who'd established 2D games and genres now faced a challenging prospect in a new world which would be three dimensional.

CD-ROM also saw the arrival of 'Edutainment'.A whole new genre where the vastly improved storage capacity of Compact Disc meant that people could play games and learn at the same time.

Watch Sony's first ever game launch filmed in 1993,two years before Playstation. There's a host of unseen promotional videos with celebrity appearances and a theatrical party event showcasing a now massive game franchise. 

Meanwhile on the PC there was the arrival of WIndows 95 which promised the end of DOS and the dawn of a stable platform backed by Microsoft.Hardware technology powered ahead with faster processors and 3D graphics cards fuelling high end games to rival any console.

This is a piece of modern history using 100% brilliantly shot,lit & edited archive footage with an excellent voice-over. 

Fizz! The Surge Of Video Games will be produced in English,French,German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Portugese, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish & Danish languages.Worldwide release Summer 2014.  

A KickStarter campaign will be announced very soon.

Press email contact: media@fizzmovie.com 

Jesse McClure - Storage Hunters - BLOG Exclusive

Everything is worth something, but some things are just not worth selling! 

I have a unique job where every day has something new in store, but I always have the same goal regardless: SELL EVERYTHING.  Having grown up in the art of resale since I was 12 years old, I have grown accustomed and built up a sort of immunity to the idea of keeping “stuff.”  The thought of finding something “cool” and potentially keeping it, whether it's from a storage unit, a garage sale, or an auction, no longer peaks my interest anymore. I don't mean to say that as if  I'm one of those mindless people that express zero-emotion in their day-to-day lives. It's more the idea that if I did not approach it this way, my house would probably be featured on an episode of  Hoarders!. You know, one of those reality shows where I am just like the 60-year old lady who has floor-to-ceiling trash filling her entire home and no longer has any room left for herself or her 12 cats to sleep anymore.





There is however, one thing, out of all the antiques, trash, electronics, cars, guns, dirty mattresses, and adult toys I find that I absolutely cannot come to terms with selling. Ladies and Gentlemen, that one thing, is arcades!!!!.

Since I was a small child I've had this fascination with these large machines that too many non-fans may just see as glorified televisions in a wooden painted box dedicated to one lame video game. But whenever I see an arcade, whether it is at a laundry mat (launderettes), a family fun centre, or even a pizza restaurant, I see something different. I see art.

To be quite honest, I'm not really even into playing video games. I get a joy in simply collecting and displaying arcades, as if they were literal pieces of handmade art, like a painting or sculpture. Now that's not to say that many of these machines were probably made on some assembly line in Japan, but I still appreciate them just the same.  

I just don't like the fully restored, pristine condition machines either. In fact, I have more beat-up, graffiti tagged machines then perfect condition ones. And you know what? That's okay with me. These aged machines tell a story.  A story when the arcade was king, when going to these late night amusement centres were a social hangout spot, when people would leave their homes to play video games, as opposed to locking themselves in their rooms to playing Call of Duty all night. (Nothing against any of those people, I love console gaming on occasion too!)  

I just love to see these classic monsters in action. I like to see people, young and old, English, American, whatever, enjoy the experience of playing an arcade. This is why I am so excited for Play Blackpool. I would be lying to you if I didn't tell you the 12-year old inside me is completely ecstatic about being a part of this exciting event. I can't wait to see all these games in action, and all the awesome people that will get to enjoy them. 

This coming May 3^rd and 4^th, me and thousands of others will be at Norbreck Castle in Blackpool having the gaming times of our lives! I hope to see many of you out there, and if you would like to get beaten in any classics, please just ask. I'm open to all challengers!

Thanks to

Jesse McClure - follow at @storagehunters

See at Jesse McClure www.playblackpool.net in May!

Gaming - the 'Art' of Collecting and playing

My first console was an atari 2600 which I unfortunately do not still have. I've been collecting since I got my SNES when it first came out and I have never traded or sold any SNES game I've bought over the years

My first gaming experience I can remember is on my Uncle's pc not sure what it was exactly but it had big floppy discs. I'm 32 now and been gaming since I was about 6 or 7,  Super Nintendo is my favourite console followed by PS1

I'm currently looking online for arcade cabinets like Point Blank,  Street Fighter 2,  Tekken 2 and a few Others. When it comes to gaming art - Drawing wise,  I just like to draw.

My best games:

Atari would have to be Space Invaders or Asteroids as they were the games that got me started.  The sound effects on space invaders were very basic but had you in a blind panic once they started to speed up.

Sega I think Sonic 2 or Jet Set Radio and Sonic 2 because of the speed of it Sonic 1 was good but this game took it to another level. Chemical Plant Zone was unbelievable and Jet Set Radio because it was unlike anything else at the time and still stands alone today in originality of character and level design, 

I've got it on Dreamcast,  Xbox and PS3 it's that good, but it's Sony for me.  Metal gear or FF8,  metal gear because of the unbelievably realistic atmosphere at that time only Resident Evil came close to really thinking about the character and how to not alert any of the bad guys in the game, and FF8 because of everything; story,  graphics,  gameplay,  the card game (which I must have spent at least 30-40 hours playing alone).

When it comes to a SNES best game, this is the hardest for me as I could easily have a top 50. 

Legend of Zelda,  Mario World,  Goldeneye,  Mario 64, Zelda mainly because after playing it on NES originally and seeing the graphics then putting in the cartridge on my SNES and seeing Hyrule for the first time was amazing and then to top that - when it changed to the Dark Hyrule it opened up practicality another game.

Mario World as it was the first game I played on a SNES at a friends house and I knew that I had to have a super nintendo,  the level/character design was quality and still prove to be a challenge to this day,  

My sons both love playing this the most on the SNES and play it daily,  Goldeneye is a fantastic game because of the multi player,  no connecting consoles and having 4 tvs all in one room plus the fact of it being awesome in 1 player as well! Finally with Mario 64 because of the mass there is to it, levels,  challenges,  stars to collect just a massive quality game.

And I don't care what any one on the net says about emulating any of these games there's nothing better than playing them the way they are meant to be played with the proper pad and the original console.

Thanks the Daniel Beech for his Guest Blog
You can follow Dan on Twitter to at @Danny_Beech1981

Play Expo - Exclusive Pre-Event Interview

Play Expo...what an event it will be!
We spoke to Andy Brown. Director at Replay Events Ltd, Owner of Console Passion Retro Games about the vision behind the Play Expo - EventCity, Manchester on 12-13 October 2013 , and his gaming passions and why gaming is so important to us all...


What are your roles Play Expo / Replay Events? 
Director, Event Coordinator and glorified stock room boy.

What's it like working for Play Expo / Replay Events? 
Last year I quit my job of 17 years to work full time on Replay Events so that should say something about it. Nothing beats getting up every day to do a job I love, I rarely feel like I'm actually working - I genuinely enjoy my working day. All-in-all I'd say I'm pretty lucky.



What motivates you to keep running events like Play Expo? 
Multiple reasons really. Each time we do an expo we are looking for ways to improve on what we did at the last show and that is a great motivator - to better our previous event. I get such a buzz at Play Expo; walking around and seeing thousands of people enjoy themselves makes me want to carry on doing this as long as I can. Plus I get to meet lots of video game celebrities.

What do you see for Play Expo in the future? 
I see the expo continuing to grow year-on-year. Each show we add new features, increase the number of systems on the show floor, have more exhibitors and as I just said generally improve on the previous year's expo. I personally would like to see more indie games and have some live link up Q&A sessions with industry legends from USA and Japan.

What is the best thing about your job at Play Expo / Replay Events? 
See previous answer - doing a job I love!

What video games and arcade games did you grow up with?
I grew up in Blackpool so I spent a lot of my childhood playing arcade games. We had huge amusements on the seafront and one of my fondest memories is playing Space Harrier Deluxe in Mr B's for the first time - £2 seemed like £200 in those days! I played anything and everything from Galaxian to Street Fighter and I’m lucky enough to own several arcade machines these days, Toobin and Operation Wolf being my two favourites. I’m on the lookout for an Outrun at the moment if anyone has one... I had home computers around me from an early age too. I was firmly in the Commodore camp from day one - I had a Vic 20, then C64 and Amiga so I played most of the well known titles on those machines but I was particularly partial to games containing a certain mole. We also flew the Sega flag in our house, my brother had a Master System and I had a Megadrive.

If you could be a videogame character who would it be? 
Miner Willy as that must have been some kick ass party he had in Jet Set Willy.


What is gaming all about for you?
Depends on the game/genre/generation. I like losing myself in modern games that have a good storyline - I am currently playing The Last of Us which is incredible. I also like the social aspect introduced by modern consoles - the Wii has some cracking multiplayer games which can really liven up a party. If I'm playing retro it's all about the nostalgia of that game. When I have a short gaming session it's invariably on a retro game that I played when I was a kid and I'm trying to beat my top score. Though I did accept a long time ago that I am actually pretty rubbish at games...

What’s your take on the console market and the arcade market these days as opposed to the beginnings in the 80s and 90s? 
Obviously very different, I think arcades are a thing of the past these days which is a shame as it's a very different experience to home gaming. I think the iOS and handheld markets of the past few years have brought about a whole new wave of creativity which we haven't seen for a while. I have nothing against AAA titles but often I am just as impressed by a game that I can download for 69p from the app store. The free rein that small indie games design teams today is very similar to the early days of games creation and that is a good thing IMO.


For more information and to keep up to date with the latest happening for Play Expo click the below to find out more and book your tickets:

http://www.playexpo.net/

http://twitter.com/replayevents

http://www.facebook.com/ReplayEvents

http://www.youtube.com/replayexpo

Our recent winner of the Play Expo competition - Catherine Cock sent us her picture of her winning tickets and her daughter playing with our TomyTronic giveaway and retro goodies.

GamesYouLoved would like to thank Replay Events for donating the tickets for this prize :) 

The Bitmap Brothers - A THREE PART STORY (3)

Story three of three....

The Bitmap Brothers

Where Are They Now?

For those of us who grew up with PC, Amiga and ST gaming, the Bitmaps are one of those development teams (along with Gremlin, Psygnosis and Team 17) that are generally most remembered. Unfortunately Bitmap Brothers closed their offie in 2004. When asked ‘what happened?’, Mike Montgomery (Bitmap Bros MD) explained to Bit-Tech that such a creative company found it harder and harder to secure investment from distributors in order to compete with the current crop of big budget license games.

MM: I closed the company down...Mainly because I couldn't get any deals for original IP. It's a shame, but if you can't get money then you can't go any further. I've spent most of my money on developing ideas – I've got a whole drawer-full of designs, and some of them are hundreds of pages long – you go to a publisher with them, they read them and you do a bit more work and all of a sudden you've spent £300,000, and then you find there's no deal.

It seems the industry has changed to such an extent that multi-million budgets are now required for effective marketing and development for mainstream titles, meaning publishers are more reluctant to gamble on an original idea (IP).

All is not lost however because The Bitmaps are back. Aside from running Tower Studios (along with Jon Hare of Sensible Software)working on video capture work, MM has reignited the flame and released both Speedball 2 and Z on iOS and Speedball 2 for android, which is great news for us retro fans.

The downscaled economy of game development for mobile devices has allowed smaller developers to at last get their games ‘out there’ with lesser cost. Hopefully this will mean an indication of things to come with releases of other classic titles (Chaos Engine on my phone?!- yes please!), keeping the spirit of 16bit era gaming alive, as well as giving us ‘old skool’ gamers plenty to reminisce about.

Mike is now a director of Lightning Fish, making motion-controlled games. We met Mike at the recent Revival event and he signed our Speedball 2 packaging! 

The Bitmap Brothers - A THREE PART STORY (2)

The Bitmap Brothers

Story two of three....

Speedball 2

Thinking back about my favourite gaming memories, exploring what Bitmap Brothers are about is an obvious one. Recent reboots of Speedball 2 (arguably their most popular title), on iOS and Android also indicates their legacy lives on.

Looking back, the Bitmap’s graphics were striking and realistic (in 16bit terms) in comparison to other games of the day. From the organic textures of Magic Pockets and Chaos Engine, to the futuristic metallic finish of the menus and playing fields of Xenon and Speedball 2, the visuals have stayed with me.

ENTER THE AREA. One of the many scene-settng intro screens from Speedball 2. Great 16bit graphics, a trade-mark of Bitmap Bros’ games. I remember booting up Speedball 2 on my Amiga 500, and being captivated by the cinematic feel of the intro. Picking up where its predecessor, Speedball, left off SB2 grabs your attention with the usual slick bitmap imagery (Eric Matthews (design), Dan Malone (graphics & design))

To set the scene, it further draws you in with a blistering electro-industrial cyber-punk soundtrack (courtesy of the now legendary Richard Joseph- composer of several Bitmap Bros soundtracks). Straight away I knew where I was. Capturing elements from cult sci-fi films such as Mad Max, Blade Runner and obviously Rollerball, the themes and imagery may has well been lifted from the pages of 2000AD, giving it a distinctly ‘British’ feel.

That attention to detail continued in the game itself with superb use of voice-sampling and crowd effects to generate an immersive atmosphere. I still smile at the thought of the call of ‘Ice Cream’ from a nasally concessions guy, whilst frantically button-bashing to ensure I didn’t miss a tackle. Gameplay is at times palm-sweatingly frantic, whilst managing to maintain responsive and solid controls. (I think about the work that must’ve gone into the mug-shots of the bionically enhanced players in the management screens. No digitised graphics here. This was all stylishly painted bitmap graphics).

To succeed at Speedball, thought had to be given to training and team management. The game featured a clever team upgrade and transfer system which allowing you to improve your chances of victory and providing a satisfying balance to the intense violent action of the matches.

So often, gamers in the micro-computer era would have to settle for either polished graphics or solid game-play. Speedball 2 showed that The Bitmap Bros could deliver on both.

GamesYouloved would like to thank, Graham 'Bones' Jones.  Our Guest Blogger for his RETRO gaming memories. We will carry on with Graham's Gaming Memories of the amazing BITMAP BROTHERS very soon...

The Bitmap Brothers - A THREE PART STORY (1)

The Bitmap Brothers

As any self respecting ST or Amiga fan will tell you, The Bitmap Brothers embodied everything that was ‘cool’ (at least in geek terms) about 16bit era gaming. At the peak of popularity they lead the way with beautifully crafted graphics and atmospheric sound, getting the best out of the micro-computers of the day. 

They also weren’t afraid of a bit of shameless self promotion, with promo shots featuring the team posing in shades and bomber jackets, one could easily be fooled into thinking they were rock-stars (they were often referred to as gaming’s KLF by the gaming press)

Whether you realise it or not, it’s likelythat anyone who grew up through the 80’s and 90’s will recognise something the Bitmaps have done, their games even featuring as part of live phone-in-and-play quizzes on Saturday morning telly (Xenon on ITV’s Get Fresh, and Magic Pockets on both BBC1’s Going Live and ITV’s Motormouth)

Background/Key Persons

Based in Wapping East London, the Bitmaps were founded by Mike Montgomery, Eric Matthews and Steve Kelly. 

Their early titles; Xenon and Speedball garnered some acclaim, but it was their respective sequels that blasted the Bitmaps to the top of the league; Xenon 2: Megablast with its thumping techno soundtrack (by electro producer Tim Simenon, aka Bomb The Bass), and Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe with its polished arcade style graphics and dystopian setting.

To escape the creative constraints imposed by publishers The Bitmaps craftily started to publish their own games under the mantle Renegade Software, and continued to thrill fans with Magic Pockets (their take on the ‘cutsey’ platformer which they somehow managed to stamp with an element of cool), Gods (ingenious puzzle-based platformer with amazingly detailed artwork), and steam-punk shooter The Chaos Engine (blunderbuss!).

Later release ‘Z’ although a solid RTS and great fun (building robot armies to crush the enemy), fell into the shadow of the hugely popular Command and Conquer, and despite spawning a sequel Z: Soldiers and spin-off World War II: Frontline Command, it never managed to generate the excitement or success of their earlier releases.

GamesYouloved would like to thank, Graham 'Bones' Jones.  Our Guest Blogger for his RETRO gaming memories. We will carry on with Graham's Gaming Memories of the amazing BITMAP BROTHERS very soon....PART TWO NEXT WEEK!!