Yes, I know, it’s not very original. The use of the name Mario—in place of Merry—is probably as old as the video game that spawned the pudgy red jumper-clad plumber. I just thought it proper to use the line for this very festive occasion, especially since this blog is about classic and retro gaming, and Mario is a video game icon every generation from the 80s to the present can recognize.
Of course, before writing this piece, I scoured the Internet for a good photo to go with the “Have a very Mario Christmas!” title. This is the first one I …read more

If you’re a regular visitor of this blog and the rest of the Video Games Channel of b5media, then you probably already know why I’ve been gone for almost a week. If not, well, here’s a short explanation (which I also posted on my other b5media blog, MMOtaku):
Whew! What a nasty week! I won’t bore you guys with details; suffice it to say that I—and I guess a hundred or so Internet service subscribers in this little town—had a hell of a boring time with little or no Internet connection.
Well, if any good came out of the sudden loss of …read more

That’s right, today is Sonic the Hedgehog’s 15th anniversary!
I can’t believe it’s been 15 whole years since I first played Sonic the Hedgehog on my trusty old Mega Drive.
We’d picked up a copy of Mean Machines (before it became Mean Machines Sega) and saw the review of Sonic’s console debut. The buzz surrounding the game was incredible and Mean Machines were suitably excited, making Sonic the cover star for their eighth issue.

They finally reviewed it in their tenth issue (link to PDF of the review), and that was it. We were getting a Mega Drive for this one game. We …read more

What’s that? A redesign on the cards? A better Re:Retro?
Whatever next?!
I’m not sure when it’s happening, but I’ve nearly finished the template… Once I’ve got the go ahead I’ll drop the new skin on this blizzog (blizog?)… I’m also mentioning it because I really like that picture :o)
Stick around and maybe you will experience the thrills that I’m guaranteeing with the new design! Yes you…

In startling news, Sony realised recently that they replaced the Playstation six damn years ago, and as such don’t need to make it (or the PSone) anymore.
What took them so long? If they were still selling thousands of them then fair enough, but what with the PS3’s release in the not so distant future, and the fact that PS2s are rapidly approaching pocket change prices it amazes me that they hung onto it for so long. Six years too long.
Having said that, they are now well and truly completely and unequivocally retro!
I want one.
Via Joystiq

Aww yeah! It’s time once again to welcome another blog to the b5 media games channel.
Games Industry Wire is a blog written by our newest games blogger Justin Tippins and it concerns, oddly enough, the games industry itself rather than the games it produces…
There will be interviews, analysis, news… Oh! The content… Mmmmm…
Welcome aboard Justin! Stop by and check it out, it’s already shaping up to be a great blog!
Games Industry Wire.

Fellow retro game blogger Racketboy has finally launched his latest blogging project, “Room Play“.
I want to cover the things that will enhance a gamer’s gaming environment while throwing in some things that could be thought of as a gamer’s HGTV. :)
As is the way with such a great blogger, there is already a load of great content over there… Here are a couple of highlights so far:

Make your own USB Saturn Controller
Free gaming mp3s to expand your musical horizons
Sega’s arcade to Revolution possibilities
Console color database

The quality is high as you might expect, and it’s shaping up to be a great …read more

Click to enlarge…
I wouldn’t normally make a post like this, but this is still a new blog (less than a month old) and a story I posted earlier has made the front page of Digg by proxy… I’m just so pleased with the whole thing that not only could I not do anything other than post about it, but my diction has also gone to complete sdkgajdf!
Here’s the blog that the Digg article links to and the article on Digg itself. Go and Digg it if you, uh… Dig it…
I know I’m not ultimately responsible for the Digging of the …read more

That’s right folks, having not long ago launched this blog, the b5media video games channel continues to grow with today’s announcement of the addition of Play Designs.
The second blog b5 is rocking written by your friend and mine, the lovely Amber Loe.
I think you’re gonna like her, she’s into the same kinds of things as people like us… You know, games and web programming and all those geeky things we get up to. Seriously, go talk to her man…
What’s that? You don’t know her well enough? Well find out more in her profile then…
Listen, you’re totally gonna dig what she’s …read more

I guess I should have mentioned this yesterday when the launch was officially announced.
That’s right, Re:Retro is now a real blog that’s ready to go! If this is your first time here, welcome! My name is Jonic, and this is Re:Retro, which will become a prime source of retro gaming goodness for you to devour with your occular apparatus.
My apologies if the design looks a little shoddy, but we had to launch in a bit of a rush last night after I started getting quite a few links coming in. Many thanks to fellow b5ers Play-Girlz (twice), Kapped, Nintendo Gal, …read more