Late last year, the SEGA Ultimate Mega Drive Collection had merely been a rumor. Now, it’s a reality, and it’s coming to video game store shelves this January 26, at least in Australia. Is it also slated for release in North America and Europe? I really have no idea.

All I know is what’s in the SEGA Ultimate Mega Drive Collection. Here’s a partial rundown: Sonic the Hedgehog (1, 2 and 3), Alien Storm, Space Harrier (whoopie!), Streets of Rage (1, 2 and 3), and Columns.

Here’s what, *sigh*, PC World has to say about the upcoming release of SEGA Ultimate Mega Drive Collection followed by a short clip of what you can expect:

SEGA will bring smiles and nostalgic thoughts to many next week with the release of the Ultimate Mega Drive Collection for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Featuring 40 of the most popular games for the SEGA Mega Drive, the collection brings the retro games to the latest generation of consoles with high-definition refinements. Each of the 40 games has been enhanced to 720p, and console-specific unlockable achievements and multiplayer modes have been added. The collection is scheduled for a January 26 local release on both consoles.

Oh, and in case you didn’t like the video, PC World has a slideshow of screenshots from the collection. You might want to check it out.

Post from: EveryJoe

SEGA waxes nostalgic, to release Ultimate Mega Drive Collection for Xbox 360, PS3

The iPhone may be the newest gaming rig on the field, but it\’s starting to host its fair share of yesteryear. Some of the biggest names in retro gaming have popped on the touch screen, such as Namco\’s Pac-Man and Atari\’s Missile Command. And in just the last few weeks, the App Store has placed wayback classics like Space War and Adventure within reach of iPhone gamers. But one of the most intriguing trips down memory lane comes courtesy of Sid Player, a to-go jukebox that links you directly to a huge library of classic Commodore 64 music.\r\n\r\nThere is something special about the music of the C64. The Commodore 64 was a wildly successful platform that snuck into many homes as a productivity machine, but was primarily used as a game player. The C64 was built with audio in mind (among other things) and the SID chip was capable of producing some incredible game music. While technically limited when compared to the audio equipment of today, the SID chip, in the right hands, could sing. Some of the greats of the era, such as Rob Hubbard and Paul Norman, coaxed some fantastic music — not game music, but just music — out of the SID. Play The Last V8, Human Race, Aztec Challenge, and Forbidden Forest, and just try to disagree.

\r\n\r\nEven though I don\’t own an iPhone (yeah, it sucks) and didn\’t own a Commodore 64, I could imagine how strange it would feel playing classic or retro video games on a 3.5-inch widescreen at 480 by 320 pixel resolution. Playing these retro games isn\’t about how it looks or sounds, but how it feels, and how it feels right in the hands of a passionate classic or retro gamer.\r\n\r\nIf I owned an iPhone, however, I\’d probably go for retro or classic video games that I had played when I was young … er. Space Invaders and Asteroids, which I originally played on the Atari 2600, are probably two of the games I\’d get for my iPhone.\r\n\r\nScouring the Internet, but staying away from the Apple iPhone App Store, I\’ve found a retro game pack for the gadget at Apptism. The retro game pack has four games—Bricks, Alien Hunter, Tank Wars and Pong—and is downloadable, for a fee, of course, from Apptism.\r\n\r\nBefore you go downloading new retro (boy that sounds so contradictory!) video games to your iPhone, consider viewing this video entitled The Good, Bad & Ugly side of the Apple iPhone App Store from TekieTV:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nOh, and if you\’re looking for a good blog to get news about Apple and the iPhone, check out The After Mac and Cellphone9.

Post from: EveryJoe

Even the iPhone is going retro

\r\n\r\nPretty little Lego spaceship, eh? It\’s actually a model of Samus Aran\’s gunship in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and is part of a collection of images on Flickr known as Metroid Quarantine. The collection of Metroid-related pictures is but the tip of the iceberg. The group also has a website known as (what else!) Metroid Quarantine, The Metroid Blog.\r\n\r\nGo check out Metroid Quarantine\’s other photos.\r\n\r\nOh, and if you\’re wondering what Samus Aran\’s gunship looks like in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, here\’s a reproduction:\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\nFirst image courtesy of Metroid Quarantine and paulishdog. Second image is from the Metroid wiki. Samus Aran and Metroid copyright belong to Nintendo.

Post from: EveryJoe

Metroid Quarantine: Samus Aran and her universe in Lego

Why don’t I just shut up and let you watch the video:

The first time I watched the clip, I found the humor dry. No offense, Richard. We’re roughly in the same time zone, yes, but our cultures are so different that what’s funny for a Bloke isn’t really funny to a Juan. The second time I viewed it, I was laughing like crazy, along with my wife, who thought Frank and Dale were hilarious. Yes, humor takes some time to sink in, but by all means … WATCH IT!

Post from: EveryJoe

Company of Heroes machinima: Frank and Dale #1

Well, regardless of which video you choose, one thing’s for certain: They’re both better than the video I showed you in my previous posting, Gordon Freeman in Mario Land.

My only beef with the guys who did the modifications is the way they presented the world of Super Mario Brothers. Come on! The game Super Mario Brothers may be side-scrolling and set in a two-dimensional world, but having Gordon Freeman walk a narrow blocky terrain in 3D isn’t exactly a good translation of the Super Mario Brothers world’s physics.

Hmmm, probably has something to do with Half-Life’s Steam engine.

Post from: EveryJoe

Gordon Freeman in Mario Land #2

Waitaminute! This blog isn’t about comic books! Duh! It’s about retro and classic video games. So where are the crossovers in the video gaming realm? Believe it or not, the most well known crossover in this world still has something to do with comic books. Ever heard of the Marvel versus Capcom series?

Here’s a little backgrounder courtesy of Wikipedia:

Marvel vs Capcom is a series of fighting games created by Capcom in which characters created by Marvel Comics and Capcom’s own characters appear together. While it was the first versus series involving Capcom, the name Marvel exists to distinguish it from Capcom’s other versus series with SNK, Tatsunoko Production, and Namco’s crossover role-playing game with Capcom, Namco x Capcom.

The Marvel characters depicted in these games were often based on their incarnations in various early 1990s animated series (particularly X-Men), and were often voiced by the same voice actors.

Many of the characters and fighting mechanics used in these games were first developed and refined in two other fighting games Capcom had developed earlier, serving as precursors to the series: X-Men: Children of the Atom, which featured characters strictly from the X-Men universe, and Marvel Super Heroes, which gleaned characters from Marvel’s entire roster (X-Men included).

Although the tag-team fighting concept was not new, it was refined with this series (although fans would argue whether this was for better or for worse). New fighting game terminology, such as “Aerial Rave” (the act of performing a combo on an opponent while the opponent remains airborne) and “Variable Combination” (the act of having two or more characters on the same team to perform their hyper combos at the same time) were added to the fighting game vernacular with this series.

Well, this post is not really about Marvel vs Capcom, but about a fantasy crossover between two very popular video game worlds, that of Super Mario Brothers and Gordon Freeman’s Half-Life. Go check out the video below:

Post from: EveryJoe

Gordon Freeman in Mario Land

Not too shabby for a student. I’m sure Santa Claus got the surprise of his jolly life.

You’re probably sick of Super Mario Brothers-themed Christmas postings, but for those who missed the first two, here are the links:

Have a very Mario Christmas!
Have a very Mario Christmas, too!

Oh, and go check out Evan’s other video, “A newb’s first linerider!”

Post from: EveryJoe

Even students are into the Mario Christmas spirit

Come to think of it, these piggy bank arcade game machines don’t just force you to save but you can probably make them pay for themselves by allowing others to play Tetris and Breakout on them. Hey, at USD 40.74 per piggy bank, that’s not such a bad idea.

Check out the product brochure at Strapya. Oh, and watch this video:

Post from: EveryJoe

Play Tetris and Breakout on a piggy bank

Fortunately, there are old or classic games that do make the cut. Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, and The Sims series come to mind.

Armed with this information, I quickly scoured the Web and landed on the very site that lived and breathed machinima, Machinima.com. Riding on the hype of the recently released Max Payne movie starring Mark Wahlberg in the lead role, I’ve chosen for the viewing pleasure of Re:Retro regulars one of the best machinima using the game engine of Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, Only The Strong Survive by Riot Films.

Before you check it out, here’s a little backgrounder:

Mission OA-032. The Organization sends two assassins, Andy and Brown, to a deserted apartment complex. As they wait for their target to arrive in the courtyard of the building, Andy gets the feeling that Brown knows something about the mission that he doesn’t.

Only The Strong Survive is a prologue and introduction to the world of the Organization and Andy’s winding story of vengeance and betrayal. This chapter introduces the key event that propels the story into motion, as will be told in Only The Strong Survive II: Delusion and concluded in Only The Strong Survive III: Requiem.

After watching the clip several times, I’ve come up with several observations (to the guys at Riot Films, don’t take my criticism badly):

1) I find the scene where the supposed target and his bodyguards walk into the courtyard and position themselves neatly in the middle of an open area very unsettling. If I were Andy, I’d probably think, “How convenient … too convenient!”

2) When Andy leaped off the balcony to the cold stone pavement, I couldn’t stifle an “Ooomph! That must’ve hurt.” Same goes for Brown’s equally suicidal jump.

3) Is it just me or do all the guys in the film need corrective lenses? Either they’re all bad shots or the film should be renamed Only The Strong Lucky Survive.

It’s okay, guys. The film looks great. You’ve got me intrigued enough to wait with bated breath for the sequels.

Post from: EveryJoe

Retro Machinima: Only The Strong Survive using Max Payne 2 engine

I like the transitions between levels, but the music just knocks the whole thing off balance. I mean, where’s the Russian-sounding background music? I also love the ending. Yes, the video has a great ending. If you didn’t view it till the end, you might want to view it again.

To the guys up at Rojhelio Studios, a low-budget film production company owned by Ryan Murphy, great work, guys. More retro gaming videos, please. Go check out their YouTube channel.

Post from: EveryJoe

A round of Lego Tetris, anyone?