TAKING THE PISS OUTTA WII
latest news
News:Lucky number 5
News:Enough with the guitar games!
News:Yellow, Emerald, Crystal now Platinum
Podcast:Yahtzee joins to talk GH4, SSBB, and out of control kids
News:GTAIV to give aussies an R rating?
News:Hookers, Halo and Fraud - The life and times of Ralph in Texas
News:Super Smash Brothers Brawl - Finally
News:Lego Indy Demo
News:Too Human Coming Soon - Finally
News:A guide to importing Rock Band
News:Blue Dingos rendition of Finish the Fight
10 Questions:10 Game Industry Questions - Rob Davis
News:He Was A Fattish But Active Man, Of Paralyzing Stupidity
News:IGN turning into RALPH?
News:If Nintendo had made Halo 3
News:Enough with the guitar games!
News:Yellow, Emerald, Crystal now Platinum
Podcast:Yahtzee joins to talk GH4, SSBB, and out of control kids
News:GTAIV to give aussies an R rating?
News:Hookers, Halo and Fraud - The life and times of Ralph in Texas
News:Super Smash Brothers Brawl - Finally
News:Lego Indy Demo
News:Too Human Coming Soon - Finally
News:A guide to importing Rock Band
News:Blue Dingos rendition of Finish the Fight
10 Questions:10 Game Industry Questions - Rob Davis
News:He Was A Fattish But Active Man, Of Paralyzing Stupidity
News:IGN turning into RALPH?
News:If Nintendo had made Halo 3
latest podcast
random quote
“Again, if this kind of genre is your cup of tea, then you’ll find it to be some of the most delicious tea you’ve ever tasted, with scones on the side.”
'The Orange Box' Reviewby Yug
most recent on forum
The Phantom Comic by Fleeek at 1:27am
Your latest purchase by Fleeek at 1:25am
NEWS [ Lucky number 5 ] by Fleeek at 1:24am
Late Podcast by Roy_the_gamer at 1:23am
I'm so Proud by Fleeek at 1:19am
Fire Emblem by SniperXtreme at 1:19am
I hate myself. by Fleeek at 1:18am
English Literacy in Aus by Fleeek at 1:14am
PS3 or 360 by Fleeek at 1:09am
PODCAST [ Yahtzee joins to talk GH4, SSBB, and out of control kids ] by Fleeek at 12:58am
Help Aussie kids learn! by Fleeek at 12:51am
Podcasts by Fleeek at 12:45am
April 19th - Movies and drinks by Fleeek at 12:31am
New Rock Band DLC album coming soon by J1n at 12:28am
FS: WoW Burning Crusade CE - Never Opened by netjunkie at 11:43pm
Your latest purchase by Fleeek at 1:25am
NEWS [ Lucky number 5 ] by Fleeek at 1:24am
Late Podcast by Roy_the_gamer at 1:23am
I'm so Proud by Fleeek at 1:19am
Fire Emblem by SniperXtreme at 1:19am
I hate myself. by Fleeek at 1:18am
English Literacy in Aus by Fleeek at 1:14am
PS3 or 360 by Fleeek at 1:09am
PODCAST [ Yahtzee joins to talk GH4, SSBB, and out of control kids ] by Fleeek at 12:58am
Help Aussie kids learn! by Fleeek at 12:51am
Podcasts by Fleeek at 12:45am
April 19th - Movies and drinks by Fleeek at 12:31am
New Rock Band DLC album coming soon by J1n at 12:28am
FS: WoW Burning Crusade CE - Never Opened by netjunkie at 11:43pm
upcoming releases
NDS
22 May
Apollo Justice Ace AttorneyPS3
22 May
BUZZ Quiz TVWII
22 May
Dream Pinball 3DNDS
22 May
Dream Pinball 3DPC
22 May
Dream Pinball 3DPS2
23 May
Silent Hill OriginsX360
23 May
Top Spin 3PS3
23 May
Top Spin 3WII
23 May
Top Spin 3NDS
23 May
Top Spin 3PC
23 May
Top Trumps: Dr WhoPS2
23 May
Top Trumps: Dr Whorss feeds
Australian Gamer Content - All
Australian Gamer Podcasts - All
Australian Gamer Updates, Reviews, Previews, Features
what's new
feature :: bretro retro volume 1
Bretro Retro Volume 1
Welcome to Instalment One of Bretro Retro, a monthly feature starring your favourite writer discussing all of your favourite old videogames.
Welcome to Instalment One of Bretro Retro, a monthly feature starring your favourite writer discussing all of your favourite old videogames.
Those of you who are regular readers of the AG front page may have asked yourself just what I had in all those boxes. Today and every month until the boxes are empty (or I am bored of the concept) you will be my VIP on the Retro Bus. Grab yourself a ticket and remember to stand up for old people and not to talk to Hobo’s because its all aboard!
Preparation is the key to any good retro session, so before we disclose today’s topic, I’m going to take you through the processes involved in getting ready.
Firstly, build an indoor fort. Use something sturdy like a mattress for the walls and a doona for the roof. Here’s some work in progress and finished pictures in case you need help.
This is mine.
I call it Fort Brett. Its shameless advertising for when I become an internet celebrity and can leave all this AustralianGamer rubbish behind.
Next, its pyjama time. Since this is my first Bretro Retro I’ll get classy and wear my Calvin Klein pyjamas. Those of you without Calvin’s could perhaps wear tracksuit pants and a grotty tee shirt.
Get some hotdogs or donuts and coffee. Put the coffee in a travel mug so you don’t spill it and flood the fort, donuts can only offer floatation for so long before getting soggy. Now hook up your consoles and climb into the fort because its game time.
Flyers for the arcade machine offered “Performance Plus Profit” and “True to Life Scenography”. I’m not sure what exactly scenography means but I’m not going to deny SEGA the right to make words up and then apply whatever meaning they see fit to that word.
Game play was a third person affair with the player racing up the screen using a pseudo 3D effect Graphics were reasonably impressive back in 1981 and SEGA continued to use the VCO board, albeit with small sound upgrades for a series of games until 1984. The scaling effect creating the illusion of travelling through traffic was achieved by assigning different clock speeds to different sprites hence giving 5 levels or frames of animation.
The home console market at the time was about to boom mainly thanks to the Atari 2600, however since SEGA marketing people have pretzels for brains, most of SEGA’s arcade hits only made their way to the slightly more powerful but hideously less popular “Colecovision” system.
For the home release of Turbo, Sega packed the game with what was known as “Expansion Module 2”. This module was a wheel and pedal set, a first for consoles of the time and massively more impressive than Atari’s paddle controllers.
It’d probably be fantastic to go back and play Turbo now, especially on the old Colecovision with the steering wheel expansion. I wish I was the sort of nut bag who collects old consoles and cartridges just because they have a vague connection with SEGA.
Hold on, I am the sort of nut bag who collects old consoles and games!
Back in the early 80’s a Colecovision Steering Wheel Expansion Module 2 would cost you $39.99 AU if you bought it from Kmart. To place this in perspective, the average adult wage was $281. In 2007 money this would cost about $152 which is roughly what they are worth on Ebay today if you can find a seller. As much fun as statistics are, I’m sure your dying to see the game in action, so lets connect it all up and hope it works.
The wheel requires 4 C Cell batteries whilst getting the Colecovision connected to a display will require an analogue antenna connection. I ran mine through a VCR into a 42 inch plasma, just like the people in 1981. You could use an emulator such as ColEM to play the game on your home PC, although only do this if you own the original software because it would be wrong to rob SEGA or CBS of their rightful income.
The steering wheel controller includes a accelerator pedal and a hole where you place a standard controller to use as the gear stick. The wheel itself is quite small and tilted at a strange angle. In use it feels like your driving a bus more than a sports car but it is reasonably comfortable.
Turbo has no intro screen or attract mode, there is a choice of 4 difficulty levels which once selected start the game. The graphics whilst basic, achieve a sensation of travelling whilst the sound is a ghastly one channel drone that only changes when you switch gears to an even more ghastly whining drone.
Turbo features about half a dozen environments to race through which change abruptly as you drive along. The wheel requires a fair spin to move your car unless you are racing in the snow section where everything is a little slippy. It impressed me that different environments changed the handling.
Passing 30 cars gives you extend play where you can go and try pass another 30 cars to gain another extended play, this wears thin after about 20 minutes which is about the time it takes to set up and pack away the console so I’ll be kind and say Turbo offers about an hour of entertainment in today’s high def world.
25 years ago Turbo was an astounding game, today it lacks enough variation to make it anything but a random curio with a novelty controller. Not everything made of plastic and covered with dust is full of gold and Turbo sadly reflects this.
Why not join me next month when we ask the question once more “Hey Brett , what the hell have you got in all those boxes?”
Those of you who are regular readers of the AG front page may have asked yourself just what I had in all those boxes. Today and every month until the boxes are empty (or I am bored of the concept) you will be my VIP on the Retro Bus. Grab yourself a ticket and remember to stand up for old people and not to talk to Hobo’s because its all aboard!
Preparation is the key to any good retro session, so before we disclose today’s topic, I’m going to take you through the processes involved in getting ready.
Firstly, build an indoor fort. Use something sturdy like a mattress for the walls and a doona for the roof. Here’s some work in progress and finished pictures in case you need help.
This is mine.
I call it Fort Brett. Its shameless advertising for when I become an internet celebrity and can leave all this AustralianGamer rubbish behind.
Next, its pyjama time. Since this is my first Bretro Retro I’ll get classy and wear my Calvin Klein pyjamas. Those of you without Calvin’s could perhaps wear tracksuit pants and a grotty tee shirt.
Get some hotdogs or donuts and coffee. Put the coffee in a travel mug so you don’t spill it and flood the fort, donuts can only offer floatation for so long before getting soggy. Now hook up your consoles and climb into the fort because its game time.
COLECOVISION SEGA TURBO RACING GAME TIME!
In 1981 SEGA released its first racing game into the arcades, it was called “Turbo” and featured a steering wheel controller. It was available as an upright machine (known as The Turbo Mini) or as a fully enclosed sit down unit. The arcade machine used an early SEGA board named the VCO operating at a massive 5MHZ and running the very high definition of 288x256.Flyers for the arcade machine offered “Performance Plus Profit” and “True to Life Scenography”. I’m not sure what exactly scenography means but I’m not going to deny SEGA the right to make words up and then apply whatever meaning they see fit to that word.
Game play was a third person affair with the player racing up the screen using a pseudo 3D effect Graphics were reasonably impressive back in 1981 and SEGA continued to use the VCO board, albeit with small sound upgrades for a series of games until 1984. The scaling effect creating the illusion of travelling through traffic was achieved by assigning different clock speeds to different sprites hence giving 5 levels or frames of animation.
The home console market at the time was about to boom mainly thanks to the Atari 2600, however since SEGA marketing people have pretzels for brains, most of SEGA’s arcade hits only made their way to the slightly more powerful but hideously less popular “Colecovision” system.
For the home release of Turbo, Sega packed the game with what was known as “Expansion Module 2”. This module was a wheel and pedal set, a first for consoles of the time and massively more impressive than Atari’s paddle controllers.
It’d probably be fantastic to go back and play Turbo now, especially on the old Colecovision with the steering wheel expansion. I wish I was the sort of nut bag who collects old consoles and cartridges just because they have a vague connection with SEGA.
Hold on, I am the sort of nut bag who collects old consoles and games!
Back in the early 80’s a Colecovision Steering Wheel Expansion Module 2 would cost you $39.99 AU if you bought it from Kmart. To place this in perspective, the average adult wage was $281. In 2007 money this would cost about $152 which is roughly what they are worth on Ebay today if you can find a seller. As much fun as statistics are, I’m sure your dying to see the game in action, so lets connect it all up and hope it works.
The wheel requires 4 C Cell batteries whilst getting the Colecovision connected to a display will require an analogue antenna connection. I ran mine through a VCR into a 42 inch plasma, just like the people in 1981. You could use an emulator such as ColEM to play the game on your home PC, although only do this if you own the original software because it would be wrong to rob SEGA or CBS of their rightful income.
The steering wheel controller includes a accelerator pedal and a hole where you place a standard controller to use as the gear stick. The wheel itself is quite small and tilted at a strange angle. In use it feels like your driving a bus more than a sports car but it is reasonably comfortable.
Turbo has no intro screen or attract mode, there is a choice of 4 difficulty levels which once selected start the game. The graphics whilst basic, achieve a sensation of travelling whilst the sound is a ghastly one channel drone that only changes when you switch gears to an even more ghastly whining drone.
Turbo features about half a dozen environments to race through which change abruptly as you drive along. The wheel requires a fair spin to move your car unless you are racing in the snow section where everything is a little slippy. It impressed me that different environments changed the handling.
Passing 30 cars gives you extend play where you can go and try pass another 30 cars to gain another extended play, this wears thin after about 20 minutes which is about the time it takes to set up and pack away the console so I’ll be kind and say Turbo offers about an hour of entertainment in today’s high def world.
25 years ago Turbo was an astounding game, today it lacks enough variation to make it anything but a random curio with a novelty controller. Not everything made of plastic and covered with dust is full of gold and Turbo sadly reflects this.
Why not join me next month when we ask the question once more “Hey Brett , what the hell have you got in all those boxes?”