I’ve just finished browsing through Arthur’s Hall of Viking Manliness’ 10 Manliest Video Games of All Time, and I have to say, yes, the list is indeed full of manly video games.
How did the guys up at Arthur’s Hall come up with the idea of giving the world such a list of video games? Shatner (yes, after William Shatner), Arthur’s Viking Assistant, gives us the details:
I had a discussion with Arthur the other day regarding the question, “Are video games manly?” While wasting your life away on a couch playing video games isn’t quite as manly as killing small animals …read more

I’ve been a big fan of joysticks since I first took hold of that shaft attached to a flat box which made up the main controller for the Atari 2600. This healthy respect for the joystick as a video game controller went up a notch in the late 80s when arcades started sprouting in my corner of the world.
During this time, on the other side of the world, video game consoles were coming out. These consoles didn’t come with joysticks as controllers but something called D-pads, an adaptation of the arcade controller sans the stick. The joystick was replaced by …read more

Ever wonder how the modern video game console controller came to be? Well, thanks to the ingenious Sock Master, we now have a pretty good idea. Here’s a little tidbit from his “study” entitled “Sock Master’s Game Console Controller Family Tree”:
How did the current home-console controllers come to be? How have they evolved? You may have noticed some similarities between the current generation controllers, or between them and the previous generations of controllers. So, how do they all tie together?
Let’s try to find out. I’ve put together a chart, or controller family tree, that tries to connect all the current …read more

I’m currently watching a video on the history of video games by YouTube user applemctom, and my wife, Joyce, keeps asking me why I know majority of the games featured in the video. I guess my video games addiction is finally showing, eh? To test my mettle, I tried to list down in order all the games shown in the two-minute footage. Unfortunately, I didn’t get them all. Before I show my list (rather, before you take a look at it), watch the video and try listing down in order all the games that you see. Let’s compare notes later.

Well, …read more

It’s really amazing what video game developers can do with today’s technology. I remember playing Street Fighter on the Nintendo Family Computer and that game is a far cry from today’s version of Street Fighter. Viewing several videos of fights between Ken and Ryu has made my loins ache for a good gaming rig on which I can play the best fighting games. Unfortunately, consoles are expensive on my side of the planet, more so the game cartridges that come with them.
Sigh. I guess I just have to content myself with watching videos of the fights—at least until I get …read more

Who is Zack Scott and what does he know about Nintendo and video games?
Well, borrowing from what he’s written on the About page of his blog, Zack Scott is a prolific videographer. His collection of videos, which is very extensive, focuses mostly on comedy, education, and (gasp!) his cute pets.
So what does his being a, uhmm, cute pet lover have to do with Nintendo and widely or little known facts about the company? Watch this.

You have no way of knowing this just by viewing the video on Re:Retro, but when you hop over to YouTube and check out the Zack …read more

Did you know that there have been at least 63 video game consoles and personal computers in the past 50 years? Well, I didn’t … honestly. So imagine my surprise when I came across this video:

The author of this mish-mash, however, missed the entire Apple line of personal computers. I owned an Apple IIc, so I know first-hand that a lot of video games can be played on the machine—that is, if any Apple computer is still intact to this day.

Call me a purist, but I could never think of certain consoles as retro platforms. By that I mean anything Sony or Microsoft will ever make. That’s for the plain and simple reasons that both companies largely started entered the market not with a love for games, but with an interest in making a lot of money.
Once were done with this cycle of hardware I’ll find it hard to class the PS2 and Xbox as retro platforms, so I’ll make a pretty bold claim here: retro gaming’s next star is of course the Gamecube. It has all the hallmarks of …read more