Retro Gaming Australia

The Sega AGES 2500 series was an interesting experiment early last decade. It started out with D3 and Sega teaming up to produce 3D remakes of classic Sega franchises like Phantasy Star, Golden Axe and Space Harrier and selling them for 2500 yen. However, after some of these remakes turned out to be terrible, Sega teamed up with M2 to produce highly accurate ports of their other popular games like Virtua Fighter 2, Gunstar Heroes and Fantasy Zone.

Today the company announced that some of these games will be coming to the Japanese PlayStation Network as part of the PS2 Classics line up. First game up is the Saturn classic Dragon Force. It will be followed by the STV brawler Dynamite Deka (or Die Hard Arcade) and Gunstar Heroes: Treasure Box

Sega’s embrace of digital distribution appears to be paying dividends – at least for Japan.

Translation group Vice Translations has released an English patch for the Famicom game Kyattou Ninden Teyandē, better known to us in the west as Samurai Pizza Cats.

Like a lot of early anime, Samurai Pizza Cats was heavily altered when it was brought to the west – the Japanese series is very different. Fortunately, Vice noticed this and produced two versions of the patch – one straight translation of the game, and one that’s more in line with the western version of the show.

The game itself is a straight up action platformer with a number of playable characters, which you can switch between on the fly.

You can get the translation patch here.

Kind of quiet again.

Nintendo eShop (Australia, Europe)

3DS Virtual Console
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins – 20% off ($AU4.80)

PlayStation Store (Australia, Europe)

New Releases
Ratchet & Clank Trilogy HD – $AU49.95 (or individually for $AU23.95)
1945 I & II: The Arcade Game (aka Strikers 1945 I & II) – $AU8.45
Castle Shikigami II – $AU8.45
Grooverider: Slot Car Racing – $AU8.45

Discounts
ICO & Shadow of the Colossus HD – $AU29.95 (Permanent)
Jak & Daxter Trilogy HD – $AU39.95 (Permanent)
The Sly Trilogy – $AU24.95 (Permanent)

PlayStation Store (North America)

New Releases
Disney’s The Little Mermaid – $US5.99

Good Old Games

New Releases
Geneforge 1-5 – $US9.99

Discounts
Battle of the Games Sale – Ongoing until July 6

Last week, Nintendo of America announced the upcoming releases for the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console and reaffirmed their support for the service with a commitment to release two 3DS Virtual Console titles a week from July 5 to August 1.

Throughout July, which Nintendo have nicknamed the “8-bit Summer”, the following games are scheduled for release:
The Legend of Zelda (NES) – July 5th
Kirby’s Pinball Land (Game Boy) – July 12th
The Sword of Hope II (Game Boy) – July 12th
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (Game Boy) – July 19th
Tumblepop (Game Boy) – July 19th
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (Game Boy) – July 19th
Sonic Blast (Game Gear) – TBA
Sonic Labyrinth (Game Gear) – TBA

Unfamiliar with some of these games? Not a problem. Just check out the trailer above for a showcase of what’s on offer. Apparently more titles will be available too, but these are yet to be confirmed.

Nintendo of America will also be offering a weekly sale on select eShop titles for a limited time, so if you live in North America or are the proud owner of an imported Nintendo 3DS you have a lot to look forward to this … winter.

Source: Siliconera

In celebration of Wimbledon and the late-May release of Mario Tennis Open for 3DS, Nintendo has shared an infographic titled “The Evolution of Mario Tennis” – a pictorial representation of the history and key moments of the much (most?) loved Mario sport series.

(continue reading…)

One of the most important companies in the history of video games, Atari, was incorporated 40 years ago today. Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney’s original business, Syzygy Engineering, was started about a year earlier, but never formally incorporated.

Of course, the Atari corporate entity that exists today and the original company are quite different. Atari as we know it today is actually French video game developer and publisher Infogrames Entertainment SA. The original Atari Corporation was bought at the height of its success by Warner Communications. After the video game crash in North America, Warner split the company into three; Atari Corporation, the home computer and console games division, which was sold to Tramiel Technologies, Atari Games, the arcade game division, which was sold to Namco in 1985, and Ataritel, which dealt with phones was sold to Mitsibushi.

The Tramiels sold their stake in Atari, leaving the company to merge with a hard drive manufacturer JTS to form JTS Corp in 1996. The marriage was short-lived, with JTS selling the Atari name and assets to Hasbro Interactive in 1998. Hasbro sought to free itself of Hasbro Interactive in 2001, selling the division to Infogrames, which subsequently rebranded its North American division as Atari, Inc. It also made Atari Interactive, the division it bought from Hasbro a separate entity.

After years of losses, Inforgrames SA bought out all existing shares in its listed American entity Atari, Inc. and then rebranded itself as Atari SA.

Atari Games, on the other hand, only stayed with Namco for a year. A group of employees decided to buy the company out, and operated it until 1993 when Time Warner , which technically originally owned the company, bought it from the group. Time Warner held onto the company for three years before selling it onto WMS Industries, better known as Midway Games. It was renamed Midway Games West when Hasbro began using the Atari name for home console software again. The division stopped producing arcade games in 2001, and was disbanded in 2003. The holding company for all of these assets still existed as late as 2009, and amusingly, found its way under the Warner umbrella again when Warner Bros. Entertainment bought the remnants of Midway.

That ought to do it for today’s lesson in corporate history.

Last week saw the release of a fan remake of Lankhor’s cult classic Black Sect – a 1993 adventure game released for the Atari ST, Amiga and PC.

Black Sect has been remade in Adventure Game Studio and includes additional features to make the game more accessible – extra and modified puzzles, new sound and music, unlimited save slots, updated hint system, new interface, etc. The remake retains the original game’s visuals (for the most part), locations, and the day and night cycle while removing the real-time time limits and dead ends that plagued players previously.

The Black Sect remake can be downloaded here for free.

Source: Retro Collect

In celebration of one full year of the Nintendo eShop, Nintendo are offering select eShop titles at a discount for a limited time.

During the European Nintendo Direct briefing, it was announced that ten games (some of which are awesome!) will be available for 20% off – five on sale this week and the remainder on sale the week after. Australians also have access to the anniversary sale; however the titles for the second week are yet to be confirmed.

A list of the sale titles and their prices has been provided below.

Week 1: 22 June – 28 June
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX – £4.30/$7.20
Let’s Golf! 3D – £4.30/$6.00
Pullblox – £4.30/$7.20
Super Mario Land – £2.90/$4.80
Zen Pinball 3D – £3.60/$6.00

Week 2: 29 June – 5 July
Dillon’s Rolling Western
Freakyforms: Your Creations, Alive!
Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH!
Mighty Switch Force!
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

I think The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX, Super Mario Land and Pullblox are this week’s necessary purchases – if you haven’t snagged them already.

Source: Nintendo Life, Nintendo Nation

The now removed site FinalFantasyVIIPC.com has leaked plans for an updated re-release of Final Fantasy VII for PC.

The Square Enix owned domain inadvertently revealed a product description suggesting a Steam release of the RPG classic with new online features, 36 unlockable Steam achievements, Cloud saves, a character booster and a digital download price point of £7.99 / €9.99.

Exciting news! Here’s hoping an official announcement is soon to follow.

Source: GoG Forum, Google cache

Little to write home about.

Nintendo eShop (North America)

Wii Virtual Console
Double Dragon II: The Revenge (NES) – 500 points

PlayStation Store (North America)

New Releases
Tomba! (Tombi!) (PSOne Classics) – $US9.99

Good Old Games

New Releases
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 – $US5.99
Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire – Free
Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2 – Martian Dreams – Free

Discounts
Battle of the Games sale – Ongoing with new sales every day until July 6