The latest newsletter from Replay Events popped into my mailbox this morning announcing dates of this years and biggest retro gaming event – Play Expo (formerly R3play).
I missed last years show due to work (damn server migrations!) so am looking forward to visiting once again. Will you be going?
The famous C64 loader routines, huge TV and Movie licensed games, talented coders, artists and musicians producing hit after hit (well, apart from a few duds) Ocean Software had them all and was a trusted brand that kept many a happy gamer in the days of 8 and 16-bit computers….and broken joysticks – Daley Thompson’s Decathlon and Combat School.
As I was up in Manchester yesterday, and especially as I was attending a retro gaming event, it seemed only too fitting to seek out Ocean’s old headquarter’s building and give them a wave.
Armed with the latest and greatest in mapping technology (because without it, I’d probably have ended up somewhere near a real Ocean) it didn’t take me long to find no.6 Central Street.
Like all good things, it had to end one day and sadly Ocean is no more. It was brought by Infogrames in 1996, rebranded and trashed.
As I listened to a playback of Jonathan Dunns Robocop SID track on my iPhone/SID player, I took a moment to think about all those great games – The early titles such as Hunchback, Transformers & Rambo, the big hit movie releases like Robocop, Batman and The Untouchables, the arcade conversions like Chase HQ, Pang and Operation Wolf and the unique titles like Head over Heals, F-29 Retaliator and Lost Patrol….and trying to forget Dennis the Menace, Cool World and Short Circuit.
I has my iPad with me to I sat on the steps having a look through some old YouTube videos of Ocean software interviews and game footage whenI came across this picture showing some of the staff outside this very same building in 1987. An idea formed!
Ocean Software HQ 1987 – 2012
I had the pleasure of meeting a few of Ocean’s finest at R3play in 2010 <see previous blog post http://stiggyblog.wordpress.com/2010/11/08/classic-gaming-event-r3play/>
One of the many interviews filmed at R3play 2010.
However unlikely it is, wouldn’t it be great to see them back again. I miss that logo 
I’ve been up north in Manchester today to indulge in a day of retro gaming at an event dedicated to the wonderful world of homebrew games. Playing any number of classic games on older systems is always great, but as i’ve discovered today, playing and discovering new (or at least very recent) homebrew titles with the usual crowd of retro gamers and friends has been bags of fun.
Heading off early on this glorious spring type day…soon to change and was a bit of a (nice) surprise to enter a brief winter wonderland when driving up high in the Pennines.
It’s a shame I only had my phone camera with me, it really was beautiful up here.
No time to waste, got to head off to get my game on.
I must be getting used to finding the Lass O Gowrie pub, the venue of the todays event, as I didn’t need my GPS this time, despite white knuckle ride into the heart of the city centre on a busy Saturday morning – make one mistake and it seems you may be going the wrong way on a one way street :-s
It’s nice to be at ‘The Lass’ again and it’s been a quite a while since I was last here. Eurocon was held here in 2010 and what a great weekend/event that was.
Upstairs, retro computers and consoles were set up and despite this being a small event, there was a whole stash of titles to play. After saying hello’s and catching up my friends I spotted a Vectrex console and Jon’s shoebox stuffed full of Homebrew cartridges.
Scanning through the pile of carts i noticed quite a few here that I’ve not played or have only seen screenshots/YouTube videos. It was great to finally play games like Protector (Defender), Vectrexians (Galaxians) and Omega Chase which looked and played every bit if not better that the Midway classic Omega Race that it’s based on.
VeCaves – never heard of it, but was I in for a treat!
VeCaves is one of those utterly simple yet hugely playable games that becomes very addictive…and I spent ages on this one. Simply press button three to increase your snake, worm,light trail-thingymebob’s altitude or let go of the button let gravity pull you down. With this rudimentary control, you have to dodge and avoid obstacles and try to last as long as you can without hitting anything and your score increases.
VeCaves quickly became very popular with the attendees today and so it wasn’t long before a bit of a of competition was formed. You wouldn’t think by looking at my video footage that I scored the highest (1012)…although in my defense, it was only my second go when I shot this..the sun was in my eye..my controller was faulty etc etc 
A really nice collection of Colecovision and Atari homebrew games. Road Fighter on the Coleco was really good as was the Atari 7800 homebrew port – Asteroids Deluxe with its rather novel 2-up battle and co-op mode.
Homebrew gaming on the Acorn Atom computer.
I couldn’t get a good shot of this rather excellent Bomberman clone on the BBC Micro. Shame we couldn’t get the joysticks working properly either.
I had my iPad with me and so I passed it around with c64anabalt running on the Commodore 64 emulator and it appeared to be well received keeping a few busy whilst I practised for the next tournament on a popular event favourite – Castle Crisis on the Atari 800xl.
Now I’ve heard how great this Warlords clone is, especially when played with four players and yet, until today I’ve never played it before (pretty sure i have Warlords for my 2600) Even though i was no match for the pros, it was such a great laugh to play and my thanks to Helen for introducing me to it.
Although the event was quite a small affair compared to others, it’s focus on just homebrew gives it a unique approach and I hope they’ll be many more to follow. It’s something we ought to consider at he Retro Computer Museum.
When I got back home, so hooked on VeCave, I’ve started to research online to see if I could buy myself a copy for my own Vectrex. Sadly, it looks like only 100 copies were ever released and examples have been traded on eBay as high as $1000. Damn shame.
Every last Tuesday of the month The Lass O’Gowrie pub in Manchester hosts a retro gaming evening and having the next day off work, thought I’d make the journey up there & meet a few mates.
I haven’t been up this way since The Lass hosted last years fantastic Eurocon (see blog posts -
http://stiggyblog.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/eurocon-weekend-friday/
http://stiggyblog.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/eurocon-weekend-saturday/
http://stiggyblog.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/eurocon-weekend-sunday/
I decided on the scenic drive up there via Snake Pass which would see me through the high peaks and valleys of the Peak District and around Ladybower reservoir. Sadly, the heavy mist and rain prevented much in the way of whipping off a few snaps, but i plan to return in the next week or so depending on if the weather calms down a bit.
Through rush hour traffic into the heart of Manchester City centre, complete with failing sat-nav, appeared to play out like some kind of high-res video game! Got there in one piece though..just
Grabbing a drink and a bite to eat and settled down next to one of a handful of arcade cocktail cabs and waited for the others to arrive.
It looks like The Lass has a new/old Pac-Man upright cab. Sadly no pictures as it seemed to be very popular this evening. R-Type it is then!
With DPrinny having set up a small collection of consoles in one of the side rooms (The Snug) sat down with Mark next to one of the Sega Megadrive, one hand on the controller and the other grasping one of the Lass’s amazing 2″ thick burgers.
Sensible Soccer friendly’s begin.
This evenings console collection would include Nintendo’s NES & Gamecube & Sega’s Megadrive, Saturn & Dreamcast with each having a good selection of carts & discs.
Both Gamecube (4-up Wario Ware/4-up Pacman) & Dreamcast (Soul Caliber & Sega Rally) seemed to be going down well amongst fellow gamers. For me, I was happy with Contra & Mario 3 on the NES, Panzer Dragoon on the Saturn & more & more Sensible Soccer on the Megadrive.
‘Snug’ it was. Note the shelves at the back – full of vintage Crash, C&VG, Zzap64 mags as well as a hefty collection of Retro Gamer magazines.
I need to practice my Sensi soccer skills as Mark gave me a right good ol’ thrashing. Dirty tactics & copious amount fo red cards given on both sides I managed to at least equalise a few matches
‘Stick to the rules, I will if you do..etc etc’
Had a great time yesterday evening and nice to catch up with folk again. Will be back again for more gaming nights especially the big weekend event scheduled for 16th-17th July.
Found an excellent walkaround video at the R3play classic gaming expo on YouTube. As you can see, massive event!
http://www.youtube.com/user/electriclifeform#p/a/u/0/UiNAgN-YsGU
Arriving the day before at Blackpool and after terrible driving conditions throughout the whole trip up north, we settled into the hotel, had a gorgeous supper and headed out to take in the sights of this popular coastal town.
Incredibly cold, wet and windy but a fun to stroll around the illuminated streets.
Stopping by one of the many arcades to warm up and I spotted a four-up Sega Rally & Sega Daytona. Perfect to kick start our retro gaming weekend!
The following day I headed up to Norbeck Castle were R3play was being hosted. Judging by the long line of eager gamers, this was going to be one hellava busy event. Thankfully, Norbeck Castle is huge, so plenty of room for everyone.
After grabbing a coffee and saying hello to a few folk I headed into the main room but wasn’t prepared for the sheer amount of computers, consoles and arcade machines on display. There was so much stuff, it was difficult to know where to start! Looking at the lines of impressive arcade cabinets, I made this my first port of call. They has everything from Defender, to Frogger and Outrun to Pheonix. Nestled between a classic Star Wars cab and a more modern Star Wars Trilogy arcade cabinet was one of my all time favorites – Atari’s Return of the Jedi. It’s not actually a great game but there’s something about it that I love and played this for hours way back in the mid eighties.
The marquee had also been signed by Dave Prowse (Darth Vader), Jeremy Bullock (Boba Fett) and Warrick Davies (Wicket). I shall be making enquiries..i want to own it:-)
Plenty of pinball machines available too.
Starting to get busy now. This is one half of the main room.
Gary and the chaps from Amibay had put on a great selection of Commodore Amiga’s. Whilst watching Mark & Duncan playing Team 17′s Project X, forgot how good this game is, must hunt it out again and give it another blast.
Escaping the relentless noise of the music being pumped out of the PA (something I’d have to admit was a a little enoying at times) I sought shelter in the ‘Ocean’ room and chatted with fellow ‘RCM-er’s’ and met Jim Bagley one of the brilliant coders who worked on coin-op conversions for the Sinclair Spectrum such as Cabal and Midnight Resistance.
I also got chatting to the head of one of the best publishers during the 80′s/90′s - Gary Bracey of Ocean software. A really nice chap who seemed a little shell shocked by that Retro Gaming was so popular and the many fans of Ocean games after all these years.
Browsing various classic game artwork by Bob Wakelin in various guises from mugs to mouse mats.
The second day was much like the first, albeit slightly less people. Aiming for the Commodore’s, I sat down with Duncan for a Stunt Car Racer linkup
These were great, old PC’s networked together for plenty of old school Lan deathmatches with Doom II, Heretic, Hexen, Dark Forces and Quake = Happy days!!
The first of the days Q&A sessions was hosted by Retro Gamer magazine Paul Drury and his guest, father of Llamasoft, the legend that is Jeff ‘Yak’ Minter!
Jeff talked about all of his work at Llamasoft from Deflex, Gridhunter, Attack of the Mutant Camels through to Tempest 2000 (the latter being the only reason why I brought a Atari Jaguar), and other projects he worked on including ill fated Konix Multisystem through to the Xbox and beyond. A really nice chap and was full of anecdotes during the golden age of computer gaming . Later on, I spoke to him outside and almost wet myself when I saw what brand of cigarettes he was smoking – Camel – what else
After lunch the second round of Q&A sessions was with another legend, Jon Hare of Sensible Software. Unlike most, Sensible Soccer isn’t my cup of tea but Wizball and Cannon Fodder are. Another great session full of tales from the days when he and Chris Yates started out including the ups and downs and on to more rescent developments with the iPhone and iPad.
Cannon Fodder..the main reason why I skipped so many classes at college
With the last few hours of R3play winding down, time to get that last game in.
Collection of racer cabs including Outrun and Chase HQ.
Pimped Amiga 1200 from Amibay.
Apart from the loud music and terrible lighting for photo’s, a pretty good retro gaming event.
One last look out of the hotel window before heading home.
Two glorious weekends of retro gaming fun, photo ops and catching up with friends start over the next two weekends.
This weekend see’s the 2nd of this years Retro Computer Museum’s (RCM) gaming event (usually May & Oct), and as always Andy & co. put on one hellava great day.
Just some of the machines of the machines setup to play -
Atari 400
Commodore 16 or +4
Commodore 64 or 128
Commodore Vic20
Jupiter Ace
Sinclair ZX-Spectrum +2
Commodore Amiga 1200
Memotech MTX512
MSX 2
Sinclair ZX80
Sinclair ZX81
Apple IIGS
Atari 800XL
Atari ST
Mattel Aquarius
Texas Instruments – TI99-4a
Acorn BBC ‘B’ or Master
Acorn Archimedes
Amstrad 464+
Commodore Amiga 1000
Sharp MZ-700
Commodore Pet
Dragon 32 or 64
Color Genie
Thomson MO5e
MB Vectrex
Atari 5200
Sony PS1 x 2 (linkup)
Atari Jaguar
Sony PS2 x2 (linkup)
Panasonic 3DO
PC Engine
Atari 2600
Nintendo NES
Nintendo SNES
Sega MasterSystem + 3D Glasses
Sega MegaDrive + MegaCD + 32X
Nintendo Gamecube x 2
Sega Saturn (for 10 Player Bomberman)
Sega Dreamcast
Acetronic
Amstrad GX4000
Microsoft XBox + Steel Battalion (hopefully)
Mame Arcade Cab
Spectravideo 738
DOS PC
Oric 1
Tatung Einstein
Odyssey (clone)
In addition, there’s usually a large collection of machines brought in my RCM members. I’ll be taking along my Commodore C64 ITX PC.
**********************************************************************
Next weekend it’s R3play, probably the biggest classic gaming event in the UK and a follow up to the utterly brilliant Retro Reunited I attended last year. Not only is there a huge collection of retro computers, consoles & coin-ops to play, but plenty of trade stalls, competitions, Q&A sessions with leading programmers & artists, auctions and lots more. This one is going to be something special and I for one cannot wait!
One thing I’m really looking forward to is the ‘beat the creator’ competition were I’m hoping to meet legendary programmer Archer Maclean and beat him at his own game ‘IK+’….or at the very least, last more that a few seconds
As always, pictures and words to follow.
In contrast to Saturday manic day at Eurocon, Sunday was much a more relaxed affair, chatting with friends and getting down to business on a range of consoles and computers.
But first, relaxed after a good nights sleep and twitchy after sinking the tallest Starbuck’s, I had a score to settle with Sophie as I attempted to beat her record score. Karl had swapped out the Oric 1 for an Oric Atom and the regular style keys were taking some getting used too rather than the sensitive keys of the Oric -1.
My practise score wasn’t very impressive, but taking one final glug of strong coffee, off i went.
Things started well and i was soon racking up the score and plenty of lives and shields too. However, at the half way point things really ramp up and things get really tough. I was still some way off her score and had lost a whopping 4 lives within the space of about 3 minutes but with just one left I hung on as wrists began to scream. It’s weird really because the next half an hour was a blur and fingers dancing over the keys by themselves without any real thought..Oh yeah, I was in the groove
The final score to beat was Sophie’s 177,000 and my here’s mine 
Both the Oric – 1 and Atmos are highly sought after computers and can command quite a high price. I’m hoping to get myself one day but for now, I’m on the hunt for emulation!
By mid morning, the Lass was filling up again as folk had there daily dose of retro gaming goodness.
…and nice to see Richard enjoying a game or two, instead of fixing something that’s broken!
Andy begins coding a demo on the ZX Spectrum. Certainly is a talented coder.
The Sega bench
Eurocon was hosting quite a few gaming competitions. The Atari 2600 comp drew quite a few entries as gamers battled it out on ‘Combat’
By mid afternoon, things were quietening down somewhat so we decided to start packing away some of the RCM machines. It didn’t take that long really and i was soon outside waving my friends off and thanking them for a wonderful weekend. I still had a few hours to kill before my own train left so i heading back indoors to chat with the others and to say my goodbyes to some of the folk from the continent that had fights to catch.
Before leaving, i was sat at one of the cocktail cabs and thought i’d have a go at beating the days score on Galaga. It’s been awhile since I’ve last played it and got thoroughly hooked again. Ever keeping an eye on the time i managed to get to the top which Duncan managed to capture the moment for me
With backpack even heavier than before thanks to a few items I’d picked up, including a Nintendo Gamecube I’d managed to score, I said my own goodbyes to the last remaining folk who I’d not see again until RCM’s October retro event, headed back to the train stations and a few hour later arrived home.
Eurocon has been such a great event and has been a pleasure to attend the whole weekend. Thanks must go out to Jon Legg who has put on one hellava show and a to Thomas Grauel from Germany, a very special thanks go out to you.
I’ll be uploading all my photos to my Flickr account soon for anyone wishing to take a look.
With the Retro Computer Museum’s British collection of computer to setup this morning I skipped breakfast and headed on down to the Lass early in the morning. Focusing on some of the earlier systems we set about lugging computers and monitors from various car boots forever keeping an eye out for the roaming traffic wardens (parking was incredibly limited).
Jupiter Ace, which at first was very temperamental and refused to work.
Sinclair ZX80 which, thanks to the ingenuity of Richard, was able to load rom images from his iPhone!
Another example of Richards technical skill, his fully home built Acorn Atom.
Sinclair ZX81 running a graphics demo displaying routines though impossible with the limitation of the hardware.
All systems are go! Other computers included were a ZX Spectrum 48k (with Compact Flash addon mod), Dragon64, Oric 1 & Atmos, Amstrad CPC 6128 with addition radio tuner and disk drive mod and a BBC model B for all those Chuckie Egg fans!
With everything setup and ready to go and already attracting quite a crowd in our small room a few of us decided to grab a bite to eat and visit the busy trade stalls that had been setup upstairs.
Mr and Mrs Atari from the Netherlands had brought over a huge collection of Atari goodies and thanks to the large amount of buying I’m hoping they didn’t have too much stuff to take back on the plane. That boxed Atari Lynx 1 was a tempting buy!
Star Wars for the NES, been looking out for this for a while now.
Back downstairs, Eurocon was in full swing with happy gamers taking in the delights of an impressive collection of older consoles. The RCM room was jam packed again so we left them to it whilst enjoying lunch over at the gaming tables.
Sitting opposite Mike as we battled out on a two-up game of Mr Do!
Thankfully the machines were set to free play and i would have spent a fortune on this R-Type machine.
The Lass also had an extensive collection of old computer magazines to browse through, so surrounded with the sounds of vintage machine noice and friendly banter, I settled down to relax with a very old copy of one of my favorite magazines of yesteryear, Zzap64.
Now i mentioned a few post ago, that there was one particular system that I’d not had a lot of exposure to and one that i was deeply falling in love with. This computer is the Oric-1 (and Oric Atmos). I spent most of the late afternoon enjoying the delights of this wonderful little machine and thanks to Karl’s ingenious way of loading games – sound samples of taped games played back at speed via a laptop & MS Windows sound recorder connected to the phono input, was able to play quite a few from his collection.
One such game was Defence Force, a colourful Defender clone that just oozed playability. I was totally hooked on this game and so began the mini competition between myself and Sophie for the highest score. Throughout the course of the evening, we battled out for hours trying to jostle for position. At one point I’d amassed an impressive 86,000 points which had eclipsed her 23,000 only to find whilst nipping to get a drink that she’d beaten this again a stonking 92,00o!
This was fighting talk, I HAD to give it my all on one last attempt. With a crowd gathering, wrists aching and sweating palms i gave settled down for the fight. After about half hour I’d done it with a whopping 112,000 score. I was shattered but my glory only lasted an hour or so as Sophie had to give it one more go. At the end of a frantic hour, she’d beaten me with an incredible score of 263,000 and knowing that I couldn’t even come close i had to concede defeat. One of the best few hours of the whole event.
The final score on Saturday, well done Sophie!
Taking a time out from this epic battle, some of the guest speakers were arriving and one that i really wanted to meet was Bob Wakelin, famed artist who has produced some of the most iconic game box art to grace so many classic games including many from Imagine and Ocean software. For me, his artwork, along with Oliver Frey was synonymous with gaming in the eighties and many a duff games I kept from the bin purely for the stunning box art.
I found him outside having a drink so I plucked up the courage to go and talk to him for a few moments. He was just the nicest chap you could ever meet and chatted with me, Karl and Andy for about an hour regaled stories and anecdotes from his time as a game artist.
Bob Wakelin and myself.
He also kindly signed Andy’s t-shirt which to compliment the other signatures he obtained from various programers and artists.
Bob was also on hand to sign prints of some of his most iconic game covers such as the my favorites, Target Renegade, New Zealand Story, Rastan and Wizball.
Mmm, Target Renegade! – see blog post http://stiggyblog.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/retro-gaming-target-renegade-sinclair-spectrumc64/
Meeting Bob was the just one of many great moments Eurocon had to offer. Another would be the film crew from Channel Five that dropped by to film a program about Retro Gaming and interviewed a few of us. If we don’t end up on the editing room floor, the camera man I spoke to said the program might aired around December therefore will post any further news as it arrives.
Saturday was such a brilliant and actioned packed day and it wasn’t until getting back to the hotel room I could take stock of all that had happened. Suffice to say, sleep came very easily!
What a fabulous weekend it’s been at Eurocon, full of laughs and classic gaming in the company of some of the nicest folk anyone would wish to meet.
Friday – Up early on in the morning and a short walk to my local train station carrying a back breaking pack containing all I’d need for the weekend including camera gear and laptop. It’s a shame my mp3 player had broke just a few minutes into the journey, but with free wireless on the train up to Manchester, was able to catch up on a few podcasts whilst enjoy the stunning views as we trundled along through the high ranges of the peak district.
Arriving around noon and with map in hand, made my way to the Lass O Gowrie, a multi award winning victorian public house we’d all be calling home for the next few days. http://www.thelass.co.uk
Left to Right: Myself, Karl, Mike, Stu, Andy, Sophie, Richard, Kayleigh and Mark.
Most of the guys from the Retro Computer Museum had already arrived as too were many of my friends from across the pond. With lunch ordered, time to catch up with everyone.
The current proprietors of the Lass is an avid retro gamer himself, owning quite a collection of arcade machines, cocktail arcade cabs and hosts regular retro gaming evening at pub each week. Dotted around the place were artwork and items from the 70′s and 80′s that perfectly set the scene for the weekends event. You don’t expect ZX Spectrum’s & vintage Kenner Starwars figures behind the bar in most pubs!
‘Witchfinders’ Mame bar top cab, aptly named!
Due to football match taking place, we couldn’t set up the RCM collection of British computers until the next day, so Friday evening was spent relaxing over a game or two…and thanks to this Pheonix cocktail cab, many lost hours!
With the evening drawing to a close, it was time to head out for a bite to eat and in the heart of Manchester city centre were plenty to choose from. We ended up in at an oriental buffet and with eighty or so dishes on offer to suit everyones taste.
So far, it’s been a brilliant day, shame we couldn’t set everything up this evening but wary from the days events and travel was glad we didn’t have to lug equipment around.
Heading to the hotel for a well deserved rest. Like some kind of weird Pac-Man maze, finding the right floor/room was going to be a challenge!
