David Kudrev
(Edited by Jen Shadski)
Looking Glass is a renowned company name when it comes to the gaming industry – especially with titles like System Shock 1 and 2, Flight Unlimited and Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri. Late last year Otherside Entertainment announced System Shock 3, a sequel that has been a long time in the making, considering the 2nd game in the series came out in 1998 and was re-released for modern computers in 2013.
Otherside Entertainment is a new company created by former Looking Glass staff. It is only recently that Warren Spector has announced that he will be joining Otherside as a full time studio director. Warren has a rich history of games development including previous involvement with Origin, Looking Glass and Ion Storm Austin. He contributed to the first two System Shock games, and also Deus-Ex and Thief: The Dark Project which received positive reviews and multiple game of the year awards.
According to Gameplanet, Spector is very excited about being involved and helping bring about a new Ultima Underworld successor titled Underworld Ascendant, but a also new System Shock game for the current generation.
source: gameplanet
There’s nothing quite like discovering video game secrets, whether in the form of easter eggs, cheats, glitches, or even hidden menus. Some hidden menus have recently been discovered in Mortal Kombat 1, 2, and 3, allegedly for the first time in over 20 years. The Ed J Boon (or EJB) menus contain various options like being able to view character’s endings at any given time as well as diagnostic book-keeping options.
While Mortal Kombat 1 & 2 have similar menu options, Mortal Kombat 3 offers different options like enabling Galaga, indluding hidden modes which are accessed via kombat kodes, and a rolling demo which demonstrates Fatalities. The Galaga game utilises the sound effects used in Mortal Kombat 3 with hilarious results.
These menus are accessible on any revision of the three Mortal Kombat games. To learn more about how to access these menus, head over to testyourmight.com for the commands.
While collecting video games plays an important role in preserving a piece of history that can be easily forgotten over time, it’s good to know that books are being made to educate and preserve this history via literature. Chris Wilkins is an author who has published several books that delve into the history of game companies, developers, and home computers, and has successfully released these books via Kickstarter.
Indieretronews has word that Chris has allegedly teased a new book that he is working on that concentrates on the history of the Amstrad CPC home computer. The image above (sourced by Indieretronews) shows the teaser that depicts a page containing screenshots and information on the CPC port of Chase HQ. If this does happen, expect a campaign to appear on Kickstarter in the near future!
DATA005: STREETS OF RAGE 2https://t.co/olzpmZ9AnO
— Data Discs (@datadiscs) February 23, 2016
Finally, vinyl producers Data Discs have announced that they are adding another classic soundtrack to their library. To continue their love and appreciation for SEGA and soundtracks by Yuzo Koshiro, Data Discs have announced that a vinyl release of the music from Streets of Rage II will be available for pre-order as of the 27th of February.
The soundtrack has been painstakingly restored and remastered by procuring NEC PC-88 audio files directly from Yuzo himself. Along with the re-mastered original soundtrack the release will include bonus, alternate, and unused versions of various tunes along with other goodies and some sweet artwork on the front.
There will be three different editions of this release (with all three including the same goodies), but the vinyls themselves will be in different designs. Head over to data-discs.com and don’t be alarmed if you see SOLD OUT as according to their tweet above, it ain’t… yet. :)