NEOGEO X Mega Pack 1 & Classics 1-5: Fifteen More Hits, Served Two Ways…

Posted on June 24, 2013 by geelw

The wait for more NEOGEO X games is finally over as SNK/Playmore is giving you two ways to get this new set of arcade classics along with an update that allows save games and a bonus charging cable. NEOGEO X Mega Pack 1 features 15 titles, a firmware update and that Rocket transfer cable all for a mere $79.99. Now don’t get nuts about that price point, folks. Given the NEOGEO X Gold comes with 20 games installed, this should give you all a good idea of the value that was when it launched. That and a numbebr of actual NEOGEO games for the home console back in the day cost more (a lot more) when they were initially released and some command top dollar to this day…

Includes in the pack are Art of Fighting 3, Blazing Star, Blue’s Journey, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, The King Of Fighters ’96, Kizuna Encounter, The Last Blade, Metal Slug 2, Samurai Shodown III, Savage Reign, Sengoku, Shock Troopers, Super Sidekicks 3, Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy, and World Heroes 2 Jet. The games in this collection will also be available in three-game NEOGEO X Classics Volumes (1 – 5), retailing for $24.99 with each package containing that firmware update on the game card and that Rocket transfer cable.

Obviously, the Mega Pack is the best deal here for NGX fans, but it’s great that SNK/Playmore is giving fans the opportunity to purchase this new set of 15 as three-packs. Granted, the hardcore collector might be ticked off at having to flip a coin, but I’ll bet some of them will end up with that Mega Pack and all the Classics (plus a bunch of extra Rocket transfer cales)…

BUY THIS! Super Fighter Team Goes Digital With The RPG Trifecta Pack

Posted on June 13, 2013 by geelw

Usually, I save my biggest double-takes and jaw-drops for this time of year because of E3’s more surprising reveals, and yes there were a few doozies that put me in some poses most publicly shameful (or as shameful as one can look while watching a company dismantle its competition with a single internet video that crushes that competitor’s master plans). However, In the middle of all this E3 news and it’s talk of “interactively aggregate competitive materials” (Thank you, Corporate B.S. Generator!), thank goodness Super Fighter Team is on the case to keep me sane (but still picking up my jaw and eyeballs off the carpet)… Continue reading →

Capcom Arcade Cabinet All-In-One Pack: Holdouts Get It But Good…

Posted on May 27, 2013 by geelw

So, you were one of those ~~cheap~~ thrifty folk hanging about and peeking ’round the corner every so often waiting for Capcom to release the full version of its hit arcade games collection at a ridiculously low price? Well, *ding!*… your order is hot and ready to go. Available now for oh, about 50% off and including the two secret bonus games, Vulgus (“What’s a Vulgus?!”, you ask? You’l find out soon enough!) and 1943 Kai! you can grab Capcom Arcade Cabinet on PSN and XBLA for $29.99 (or /€29.99/£23.99/2000 Microsoft points). Play these at home on your TV and not have to worry about some thug shaking you down for quarters, sticky controllers or cigarette smoke blinding you when you’re going for that high score. Er, unless you smoke when you’re playing games…

GOG.com Ends A Crazy Week With A 50% Off FPS Fire Sale…

Posted on May 25, 2013 by geelw

It’s been a hell of a good week for fans of classic PC games who happen to have gog.com accounts. Between UnEpic, Wizardry 6, 7 and 8 and the newly announced Xbox One making some people never want to go near a Microsoft console again (heh – little joke there), the team at gog has done it up right (again). Of course, all you want to hear about is what’s on sale this weekend, so… BOOM! here you go. Nothing but shoot-tastic firt-person classics (and not so classics) this weekend, so if you’re into wild action, over the top humor and packing too much heat as you take down alien bastards who stole your ride, crazed undead, assorted futuristic scum and lots of Nazi soldiers, well… it’s your move… but only for the weekend folks, so get busy – your trigger finger needs something to do.

VGA 101: More Classic PC Game Intros? OK, A Little Dungeon Hack For You…

Posted on May 14, 2013 by geelw

Another favorite game of mine by Dreamforge was Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Hack, a pretty cool create your own dungeon-crawler were you chose or created a hero or heroine and set out in a random dungeon generated by you or the computer. This made for who knows how many millions of possible combinations and no two generated “seeds” playing exactly the same. Basically, it’s a rogue-like where survival was constantly tricky, but not impossible if you lucked out and managed to get some great gear to defeat the increasingly difficult monsters (and found enough rations so your avatar wouldn’t starve to death). Anyway, the intro is another favorite of mine thanks to the great art and colors used plus it’s funny as hell to see the hero whine about needing to get paid in advance with traveling and supply money… only to get zapped to the dungeon unprepared. I think I’ve only ever completed three or four of the dungeons I cooked up with this game, but it’s been a long while since I’ve played this one. I’ll fire it up once I have free time and dink around a bit to see if I can still play this one. It installs and runs perfectly on Windows XP, but I really don’t have the time to dive in and get hooked all over again…

VGA 101: Anvil of Dawn Gets GOG’ed (FINALLY!)

Posted on May 14, 2013 by geelw

Dreamforge’s classic 1995 first-person dungeon crawler was one of my favorite games back in the day and I still have my original CD and manual in the library. It’s been around as “abandonware” for a few years, but that and other versions were (and are) incomplete, missing the movies and/or fully voiced dialog, making for half the game it should have been. Well, the fine folks at GOG.com have gotten this one up and running (it turns out Ubisoft has the rights, which means we could HOPEFULLY see a remake down the road) and available for the low price of $5.99 (whee!), which makes me a happy camper indeed. Granted, I finally got my CD up and running last week, so I won’t be buying this right away. But it’s REALLY great to know it’s exactly where I need to find it, now whole again and able to be enjoyed by a new generation of gamers (who I surely HOPE will appreciate it for how important it was to the genre) who won’t compare it to games inspired by it (backwards!) or think it’s a new “retro” styled game (oh, the irony there!)…

Inventist, Your Swerver Quad Skates Make Me Want to Go Broke (In All The Right Ways)…

Posted on March 20, 2013 by geelw

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Hmmm. $395 is a bit steep for a cheap guy like me, but I saw these awesome feet-wheels at Toy Fair and immeduately wanted to take them for a test drive. I used to roller skate a bit in the 80’s (no, it wasn’t a disco thing, silly!) and early 90’s, but stopped once I actually broke a pair of old-school skates during a parade I was in (no, it wasn’t that type of a parade, silly!). Anyway, those slick Swever Quads promise with a “patented lean-to-turn design” that according to the official site “allows for increased stability when skating forwards or backwards, and more freedom of movement.” Hmmmm. They do look nice with jeans, yes?

swerver quad skates 2

Well, no “Hmmm.” at all actually, as I’ve seen Inventist’s other products in action including the amazing Solowheel, which makes me crack up because I think of that old BC comic strip (which is STILL running, I just found out – just not in any NYC papers from what I’ve seen) and that “original” solo wheel cooked up by Thor back in the day. OK, so I’m mandated to get a gaming angle here by the other side of the brain, so here you go: a play through of the classic and slightly related to this post Commodore 64 game from 1983 called B.C.’s Quest for Tires. Hmmm… (again?) perhaps that NEXT Solowheel video can be a “remake” of the game? THAT would be really cool. Weird and funny as hell, but cool nonetheless…

(Thanks to Christian Liepold and his YouTube Channel for that video, by the way)

Capcom Arcade Trivia: “Did You Know…” You Don’t Need A Coin Drop On Your TV To Play These?

Posted on March 9, 2013 by geelw

No big prizes for knowing this stuff already, folks… BUT if you hadn’t a clue before, now you know AND there’s the whole side benefit of looking and sounding REALLY cool to your geek buddies who think you need to play more games. Or something like that. Video game history is pretty awesome at the end of the day no matter how you look at it, I say. Capcom Arcade Cabinet is out NOW for the PS3 (via PSN) and Xbox 360 (via XBLA). It’s possibly coming to other platforms, but you didn’t hear it here. Yet.

Applied Design @MoMA: Playing Games in Public Reveals Some Issues…

Posted on March 5, 2013 by geelw

Well, that darned “ringer” Pac-Man machine with the funky joystick was ONE problem and bad enough for an old gaming salt like me to come up against, grrrr. But I’ll have to kick myself harder for being SO supremely lame at vib-ribbon when I have it here and used to play it quite a lot. Granted, it HAS been a few years since I picked up that PSOne import, but still… I think someone messed with the controller, as the card next to the exhibit was off a bit. Well, the good thing was everyone who played it had problems as well. I at least managed to make it to the end of the second area on one attempt… and of course, I wasn’t filming or being films when it happened… bleh.

Capcom Arcade Cabinet 1985 Game Pack #1: Three More Classics To Keep You Twitching The Night Away…

Posted on March 5, 2013 by geelw

Let’s see now… Ghosts ‘n Goblins, GunSmoke, and Section Z, all true classics and all now popping up on PSN and Xbox Live Arcade for you Capcom Arcade Cabinet users in North America (European PlayStation Store users get theirs tomorrow) for a very reasonable $9.99€/9.99/£7.99/800MSP. For those of you PSN users who missed last week’s intro 1987 pack or just want the two classics Avenger and/or 1943: The Battle of Midway by themselves, they’re both for sale individually on PSN for $3.99/€3.99/£3.19 each. Capcom hasn’t said a thing about 360 users in regards to these two titles getting single purchase deals, but I’m guessing 360 owners will need to take that up with Microsoft and not Capcom if it’s an issue about individual games being sold or whatever. Anyway, enough reading – go drop some virtual quarters already!