Mame Arcade Machine pickup.

One of the RCM forum members, Simon, had offered to donate his Mame arcade cabinet to the museum and as I was reasonably close to his address I offered to pick it up and take it down to the storage unit yesterday and also meet some of the other chaps to help sort out their ever-increasing collection of hardware & software.

After taking a few measurements and removing the back three seats in Curstie’s car (and a silent prayer that they’d be enough room) I made an early start to meet up with him.

On arrival, had a nice chat with Simon and wheeled out the cab from his garage and with a bit of tugging and swearing we managed to slide it into the car without too much trouble. Thankfully, measurements where spot on and had about an about an inch of space left. Driving was fun though!

At the RCM, we unloaded and had a peek inside. Cosmetically, the woodwork is in good condition despite being stored in a cold garage. The bottom of the cab looked like it had got damp but in dry storage it should be o.k or it wouldn’t be a difficult job to replace the bottom with a new wooden skirt.

Andy opening up the front/rear panels so we can have a look-see inside.

Inside, the PC is fitted with an Arcade VGA graphics card which supports the resolution of the original arcade monitor rather than using a standard PC monitor. Ideally I’d like to get one of these cards for my own cabinet as it makes the games look so much better in the native resolutions.

Outside, the cab is fitted with two 4/8 way joysticks with six buttons per player. This is wired to the PC using a J-Pac interface board which make life so much easier when building a Mame cab as you simply connect the JAMMA wiring loom edge connector to the board. My own cab uses a I-Pac interface therefore I’ve had to connect each control wire (plus negative) to the board by hand…fun, but can be a right pain.

With the back panel off, we checked everything was intact and had survived the journey up.

Simon has also wired the  coin mechanism so that coins inserted will register credit in Mame.  For the Mame frontend it’s also nice to see that MameWAH has been used as this is my favorite frontend too.It can be a litte tricky to configure at first but contains a wealth of customisable features.

As the CRT, PC and electronics haven’t been switched on for a few years and still quite cold, we refrained from switching it on for the time being and opted to leave it for a few days. At least it’s got a bit of company now 

Hopefully, Simons Mame cab will make its debut at RCM’s gaming weekend this May.

DOS games – Retro Gaming article.

Found this great article on DOS retro gaming that’s well worth a read and highlights some real memorable games from yesteryear.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/10/08/its-retro-video-dos-game-day-take-a-stroll-down-memory-lane/

If I had to pick three favorites from those listed it would have to be -

Prince of Persia – I don’t think I’ll ever tire of this game. Especially on the IBM PC….and the Commodore Amiga….oh and the original Gameboy.

Loom – A cracking adventure game from Lucasart with a novel twist of having to play music notes on your keyboard to cast spells. (I could easily have picked The Secret of Monkey Island here but I play it so often that Loom makes a refreshing change.

Commander Keen – Remember this from my days working at IBM and couldn’t get enough of these early platform games from Id Software.

 

 

 

New Commodore C64 PC?

Stuff of dreams? Well, not if Commodore USA have anything to do about it as a quick peek at their website shows a few prototype shots of the new C64x and it looks to be  shaping up quite nicely.

Take one C64 case (well, new case based on the classic breadbin), add in a ITX motherboard, upgraded keyboard  and other modern PC components and the ability to dual boot either with Windows (or Linux i guess) or the new version of Workbench 5…or, boot into C64 emulation mode to replay all of those classic C64 games.

Now where have i seen this before

http://stiggyblog.wordpress.com/2010/09/25/commodore-c64-itx-pc-part-i-clean-up/

Rather exciting news is a tweet from Commodore stating that transparent and colored C64 cases will be available to purchase separately should you wish to build your own custom C64 PC. Oh yes please!

http://www.commodoreusa.net/CUSA_Home.aspx

 

 

 

PC Gaming: Rally Trophy

Handbreak turn, foot down, right hand two wheel drift and straight into a tree. Well, probably not so great on the motorways but bags of fun on the PC.

Produced by JoWood Entertainment, this relatively unknown group from Finland  released Rally Trophy in 2001 and would later go on to develop the highly popular fenderbending  racing series – Flatout.

Up until this time, Rally simulators on the PC were a little scarce. Screamer Rally was more of an arcade oriented affair similar to Sega Rally and the only other title that springs to mind is International Rally Championship by Magnetic Fields.

Screamer Rally (PC – 1997) – Played this just after buying a Orchid Righteous 3DFX card.

All this changed in 1998 when Codemasters released the first in the long line of Colin McRae Rally games enabling gamers to sample handbreak turns, drifting and the ‘ol Scandinavian flick. I was a huge fan at the time but the thing that really appealed to me was the classic rally cars that became accessable later on in the game.

Picture of a Opel Kadett I photographed during one of the Sherwood Forest Historic Rallies.

Rally Trophy harks back to those golden days of rally and contains veterans motors from the 60′s and 70′s like the Mini Cooper S, Renault Alphine A110, Saab 96 & the lighting quick Lancia Stratos. Rallies are grouped into multiple stages set across different countries and whichever driver can complete the stage/rally in the least amount of time wins the trophy.

Lancia Fulvia HF

Ford Escort Mk1

Driving by your side is your co-driver who will read out the pace notes notifying of approaching corners, obstacles and if you mess up, helpful advice like ‘How did you ever get your drivers licence’

During muddy/wet stages it’s not long before your shiny car needs a wash.

In Rally Trophy, cars are incredibly difficult to drive at first and at times can be a little frustrating. JoWood had invested a great deal of time making sure that the physics engine would feel as close to that of the original car.  Wiether they achieved this or not , these rear wheel drive cars need a bit of practise to get right, especially those in the expert class. As you get a feel for the car and stages, things begin to to get a little easier and you soon learn to control two or four wheel drift and steering with the accelerator.

One headlight  lost and the other will probably follow shortly

In total there are five rallies, each with their own unique ground surface and can contain between 4-8 stages depending on the difficulty options you’ve configured. My favorite stages (as with most rally sims) has to be the snow/ice stages and they offer plenty of opportunities for power sliding.

Like most other rally games, time between stages is spent either fine tuning the car for the next stage or carrying out repairs should you happen to have had a mishap….or five.

Bugbear’s excellent damage model at the time was godsmackingly gorgeous and something they continued to the max with the Flatout racing games. Lots of fun simply seeing how much damage you can create

For a game pushing ten years old now, Rally Trophy still looks great & plays really well today. Each classic vehicle is a beautifully modelled inside and out and the stages are full of detail despite the dodgy looking 2d foliage. Day/night & weather detailing still looks pretty good and adds a sense of realism to each stage.

Fiat Arbath on the twisty Swiss stages.

Rally Trophy also includes an arcade racing mode enabling you to race against five other CPU controlled cars around circuit tracks.  LAN gaming modes are also supported.

What the…?

Finally, one of the best bits about Rally Trophy is the large fanbase and downloadable content that was created after the game was released. If you head over to http://www.nogripracing.com/, you’ll find a wealth of new paint jobs for the existing cars (some based on actual rally cars), track updates, patches and plenty of tools to create your own skins and models. You’ll also find lots of new cars available for download including my favorite, the Renault Gordini.

Woohoo, my first skin I created in 2003 is still being hosted there.

Retro Gaming: Crime Fighter 2 – Arcade/Mame

Crime Fighter 2 (aka Vendetta) by Konami is such a gem of a game that any fans of side scrolling beat-em up who have never come across it before should really be in for a treat.

I happened to come across this monster of a cab way way back in the early nineties whilst on a weekend trip with mates to the east coast. After the four of us had just completed X-men – The arcade game and hungry for more, I took a stroll around the arcade hall whilst a couple of them went off to locate a Final Fight cabinet.

Pretty much from the off, I knew that Crime Fighters 2 was going to be good and it wasn’t long before all four of us had joined in and stacks of coins were being pumped into the credit slot.

Released in 1991, Crime Fighter 2 is a side scrolling beat-em-up  and is the follow-up to Crime Fighters (who’d have guessed!) which was release a few years early and despite the original not being the very popular the sequel really shines as a fantastic example of a genre which would soon be fazed out by the might of Street Fighter II type vs. fisty-cuffs.

The basic plot pretty much follows the rules of all classic beat-em up involving some damsel being kidnapped, shot or looked at in a funny way by a gang of  thugs that are up to no good. As a result, best friend/husband/boyfriend or bloke that collect baseball bats and a few of his mates decide that this simply isn’t cricket and sets off in hot pursuit to teach them a lesson.

A choice of four heroes are on offer, each with their own set of standard and super moves carried out by pressing punch+kick buttons simultaneously.

Both Boomer & Blood are easily the best characters on offer. Boomer’s spinning jump kick will get you out of trouble spots & when thugs are on the floor, Blood’s rapid punches should mean they stay there.

Hawk, is akin to Hagger from Final Fight, a bit slow but powerful and his elbow drop will inflict twice as much damage. Sledge is another powerful character but his bizarre flying head butt requires more timing that the other characters…wicked hair do though!

As well as a good variety of moves, including the ability to punch or kick bad guys when they down on the floor (well, they started it!) there’s also a good collection of weapons to pick up  which are either from your fallen opponents or hidden inside various crates. They range from the good ol fashion baseball bats, knifes & biker chains through to bottles, a brick and..ahem a metal bucket It’s also nice to see the inclusion of a shotgun which certainly comes in handy on later stages. Other objects can be picked up or destroyed to form additional weaponry…or just for fun.

Bike vs shotgun!

Surprise!

In total there are five stages which you will need to proceed though and some are broken in to mini stages.  Sadly there’s no subway station (a must for all beat-em up games) but despite this,  include sections on the back of a moving truck, on a large crane lift and the colorful red light district which is home to shady pimps and frisky dogs :-O

My word!

I need a stick.

Enemies are both memorable and varied including plenty of cannon fodder to practice your moves before taking on some of the end of level bosses. These  are are some of the best on any beat em up and  requires a little more tactic than simply wading in arms thrashing.

The first end of level boss, Buzzsaw. Wait until his blade gets stuck and then smack him about a bit.

Graphically, Crime Fighters 2 is top not stuff with beautifully drawn backdrops full of subtle little details that really makes the game field stand out. Character animation is also very impressive and nice to see animation frames specific to each weapon being used, something that is sadly missing on many beat-em ups.

Up ‘n’ over.

Who’s beating who?

What makes Crime Fighter 2 stand out the most though are the many humorous moments found throughout the game which is something that continues on from the original Crime Fighter game.

Take for example, a mistimed kick (or perfectly timed, depending on your point of view!) between the legs sees one enemy/character hopping around in tears. The metal ‘clang’ sound effect  that plays when foot meets, well you get the idea Another would see enemies smashed against walls after being hit with a bat and slowly sliding down to the floor like a scene from Road Runner cartoons. Then of course, there’s the ‘bucket’ shot and…oh and did I mention those frisky dogs

Darth Vader impressions.

 

If you’re bored of Final Fighter or  Streets of Rage…you MUST play Crime Fighter 2, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

End boss

Back soon.

Hello all,

I haven’t been able to post for a few weeks now, but will be back to more regular postings very soon.I’m also thinking about splitting my blog into two, keeping  tech, retro gaming/events and photography together and post gardening projects/veggie plot shenanigans on another blog.

As always, comment are open without the need to register or anything like that, so please feel free to post.

Thanks for visiting & kind regards

 

StiGGy

 

Classic gaming heaven with GOG.com

Although http://www.gog.com (good old games) has been online for quite sometime now, it’s a not a site I’ve visited before (I usually use visit Steam from time to time) but after a friends recommendation to check it out I’ve just spent the last hour or so pouring over their back catalogue of some damn fine classic PC games.  Not only have they got some great games, titles from yesteryear usually means lower system specs and perfectly suited to my Netbook…which again, i’ll state that i didn’t buy it for gaming but with such great titles on offer, it’s hard to resist

Price wise, titles are on offer between £5.99 & £9.99 which is quite reasonable especially with most games being out of circulation unless you can manage to source copies on eBay. Although digital distribution means you won’t own a physical boxed copy (and in the case of many titles it’s a shame) I’ve been disappointed so many times when sourcing a classic game on eBay only to recieve a scratched unplayable CD.

Here’s a quick list of five titles I’ve just brought and looking forwarding to replaying some of them over the next week or so.

Interstate ’76

I nearly backflipped when I saw Interstate ’76 in the list of available games, it’s one of my all time favorites and can’t wait to take the ol orange Interceptor out for a spin again. Reading the support documentation, it might be a little tricky to get running properly on modern GFX cards but i’d buy it just for the funky soundtrack

Under a Killing Moon.

Now this really is a blast from the past and one of the funniest graphic adventures i’ve ever played – complete with the dodgiest FMV video acting too. I see that GOG also have a few of the other ‘Tex Murphy’ adventures games. If they’re anywhere near as good at Under a killing Moon, I’ll definitely need to check those out too.

Total Annihilation

Command & Conquer was great but it was Total Annihilation that really introduced me to Real Time Strategy games. It’s such a fantastic game and GOG have even packaged it with the two expansion packs. I was a little reluctant to buy this title as I know that sleep may quickly become a thing of the past

Freespace.

Not much to say about this apart from simply amazing!. I’ve not had this much fun battling  amongst the stars since Lucasart’s Tie Fighter. Currently dusting down my flight stick

Icewind Dale.

GOG offer so many epic RPG games such as the classic Balders Gate and Morrowind I jusy don’t know where to start. In the end, I’ve picked Icewind Dale as I simply loved this game the first time it came out. D&D at it’s finest without hunting for those four sided dice

…and as a freebie I’ve downloaded the brilliant 2d adventure game ‘Beneath a Steel Sky’. I haven’t played this since the Amiga version which still sits in my software cupboard. Thankfully this CD talkie edition means that I won’t have to spend hours swapping floppy disks

Happy gaming!

 

My new Netbook – Acer touchscreen 1825ptz

A few days ago I was able to spend some time with my new Acer 1825 PTZ Netbook therefore I though i post a few words and pictures. From the store model I demoed, this is practically the same model as the Packard Bell Butterfly touch netbook.

Under Windows 7 (64-bit edition), it certainly seems to fly quite nicely due to the beefier CPU than most Atom based Netbooks and oodles of Ram to munch into. Despite Win7 not being my  favorite flavor of Windows, I’m actually quite chuffed with it. It’s very light and battery life appears to be just over 8 hours.

Prior to purchasing my Acer, i’d tested quite a few netbooks from 8″ & 10″ and glad that I settled on a slightly larger 11.6″ model which retains the compact design but  web pages are much more readable without having to resize or scroll around too much. Likewise, keyboard footprint is much bigger allowing for easier typing on the larger keys and better speed and accuracy.

 

At the top left of the keyboard is two additional buttons. The first (marked ‘P’) is a programmable button that can be assigned up to three functions or program launchers. Bit of a gimmick but handy as a desktop lock or Firefox launcher. The other button launches an auto backup process (after preselecting drives, files or folders for backup with the the pre-installed Acer backup utility). Again, a bit gimmicky but i’m actually finding it quite useful.

I didn’t really buy my Netbook as a gaming netbook but I have ran Call of Duty and Colin MacCrae Rally 2005 will all options set to the highest and frame rates are well up in the 60′s according to Fraps….and of course, those all important  emulators run perfectly. It’s a shame the cursor keys are a little on the small side though so I’m having to get used to that classic gaming combination of Q,A, O & P again

Call of Duty

The touchscreen is just sublime and so much more responsive than my first tablet notebook. Items can be dragged,  rotated and resized with touch screen gestures with no detectable lag. It’s best trick is the rotating screen allowing me to read documents, eMags & eBooks in portrait mode which is something I’d really missed with my HP TX1000. The vertical viewing angle is more than acceptable but the  horizontal is a bit hit and miss not unlike most netbooks and notebooks outside of the Apple camp.

Flipping the screen around. A small magnet holds it in place and I haven’t had any problems with wobbly screens etc.

With pen for scale. The touchcreen is capacitive as apposed to resistive therefore much more accurate with fingers.

 

Retro Gamer Magazine #30 taken from the Digital eMag edition loaded in Foxit .pdf application.  The screen auto rotates depending which way you are holding the Netbook and despite other reviews I’d read,  I found it rotates in a fraction of a second.

Pages can be ‘turned’, scrolled, zoomed in/out with finger gestures on the touchscreen.

Zoomed in….

….and out

There’s also the usual splatter of input/output sockets including x3 USB, HDMI, Multi Card reader, VGA out, Audio in/out, LAN & Webcam. Speaker output is as expected and not the most powerful however I was surprised by sound quality from Dolby speakers.

Bloatware was also quite light on this model therefore there wasn’t too many useless applications, toolbars and shortcuts to remove.

My only criticism is that the Acer recovery/restore DVD creation utility wouldn’t  run without first attaching a USB DVD drive (the 1825ptz is without optical drive). It would have been nice to have the option to create a backup .iso file (it didn’t work with a virtual drive either via Daemon Tools).

Although there’s not much in the way of touchscreen app for Windows based PC’s the inclusion of the touchscreen pack from Microsoft has a few cool applications, especially the pictures, video and music apps.

MS Surface Lagoon. Glorified screensaver but fun all the same!

 

Over already?

Here’s hoping that everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year!

Sadly, in our house the dreaded Flu bug hit hard and spent the majority of the holidays ill in bed I’m probably the only one to loose weight over the festive period as I just couldn’t eat anything.

Thankfully, it didn’t arrive until the day after Boxing Day so Christmas dinner and family visits weren’t a total washout and lots of fun with great gifts being given and received.

To all my family that presented me with some cracking gifts this Christmas, thank you very very much

Best wishes to you all for 2011.