David Kudrev
Recently, a retro-gaming Expo was held in Portland, Oregon, USA. Unfortunately, I found out about this event a few weeks too late!
The Portland Retro Gaming Expo (PRGE) was held on the 24th and 25th of September this year, with 2012’s Expo preparations already under way. The Expo consisted of numerous guest speakers (like the infamous David Crane of the Pitfall fame), game tournaments, Cosplay and of course vendors with oodles of classic games and trinkets to buy. Bravo to the organisers of this event, it looks like everyone had a lot of fun! For more information on this Expo, head on over to retrogamingexpo.com
Last night I was looking around the App Store on my phone (out of pure curiosity) for anything with the keyword ‘pixel’. I came across 3D Pixel Racing and thought I’d give it a quick burl! Did I expect much else besides a racing game? Not really. And that’s what I got, as well as an interesting twist with the graphics by combining old and new styles in a gorgeous way. Also the soundtrack suits the game nicely (different kinds of tunes, not 8bit-centric), however, the controls are sadly quite hit and miss. It ran more smoothly on an iPad 2 than it did on the iPhone 4 naturally, so it should be just right on the 4S. It’s not a bad game, but there are better titles out there. With that said, there is no doubt that with future updates to the game, the developer will improve the control interface for it. 3D Pixel Racing is available on the App Store (Universal/AU$1.99) and on WiiWare.
Whilst on the topic of combining pixels with 3D, here is a sight for sore eyes. Deviant Art user tibori has created this awesome desktop wallpaper, paying tribute to Super Mario RPG on the SNES. A classic game that wouldn’t have existed if it wasn’t for Squaresoft (now Square Enix). The picture is available on the artist’s site in a high resolution download.
And if the above wallpaper is not enough to show the world your love for Mario games, then Etsy has got you covered! Store owner Arlique is selling a pair of hand-painted sneakers depicting Mario’s love for Princess Daisy.
And to complete today’s post, we fly over to Illinois, USA, where there’s a Video Arcade called the Galloping Ghost Arcade. The website has a massive list of which games they have available, including private gaming rooms full of old and new consoles and games. And if you’re lucky enough to be in the neighbourhood, then there’s no excuse for walking past, or never finding the time to pay this Arcade a visit. Support your local Video Arcades folks, no matter where you are in the world, as they’re not going to be around forever!