Retro Gaming Australia

Not a whole lot going on in the world of retro gaming this week. I’ve been a bit all over the shop this week; played virtually no games, did no work on the site and have precisely squat to show for the last 168 hours. Maybe next week will be better.

Atari Flashback 2+ on the way at Atari (via AtariAge)

Atari is issuing a limited number of Flashback 2+ consoles to retailers (presumably in the US) on February 22nd. The Flashback 2+ is one of those system on a chip devices that features 40 or so classic Atari 2600 games (the site has a full list) for $US29.99. Preorder through their website and you get a free XL T-Shirt.

Interview: Chris Bergstresser at Sega-16

For their latest interview piece, Sega-16 caught up with Chris Bergstresser, one of the driving forces behind the short-lived Sega Channel initiative. The interview, while brief, does shed some light on previously unknown plans that Bergstresser and his team had for the service. Good read.

Metal Gear Solid (Game.com), A.I.: The Circuit (Xbox), Road Riot 4WD (Mega Drive/Genesis) and Monster Hunter (Mega Drive/Genesis) at Unseen64

Unseen64 has details on a bunch of cancelled games for older consoles this week. Metal Gear Solid for Game.com looks a little freaky, and A.I.: The Circuit sounds like one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard of. I played a heap of Road Riot 4WD in America, but the shots of the arcade version I looked up don’t look quite as good as what I remembered.

Game Raider: The Science of Game Preservation at 1up

This article is a couple of weeks old, but it came up on a NeoGAF thread about justifiable piracy. 1up writer Frank Cifaldi discusses his adventures in finding prototype games and releasing them into the wild, along with a bit of a discussion on why some games don’t make it to market.

Tommy Tallarico’s NES Development Stuff at 1up

A bloke on the NintendoAge forums was auctioning off some prototype stuff this week, which happened to belong to game music composer Tommy Tallarico.

The History of BioWare at IGN Retro

I don’t think much of IGN Retro, but with Mass Effect 2 out this week, I figure someone might want to read about the origins of the company that made it and many other good C-RPGs.

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One of the things I enjoy about retro gaming is that the websites and such that cover the hobby are not needlessly competing against one another. In the modern “professional” games writing sphere, the vast majority of outlets are in competition with each other despite having access to exactly the same limited information released in a controlled manner by the gaming publishers.

In the interest of promoting quality retro gaming writing, I’ve decided that I’ll be making a (hopefully) weekly post linking you to the best articles posted around the net. If you have any suggestions of quality articles, feel free to drop a comment, e-mail or forum PM and I’ll include it in the next edition.

How digital downloads affect values of collectable games at racketboy

Solid retrogaming site racketboy investigates the affect of digital releases on secondary market prices. The methodology isn’t foolproof, but it’s an interesting read nonetheless. I’m hoping that the trend applies to the recently announced Mega Man Zero Collection so I can pick up the GBA games for a reasonable price.

2009 European Mega Drive Championship at Sega-16

Sega-16 reports on the 2009 European Mega Drive Championships that were held in Lisbon. Portugal, Germany and England battled it out for five hours in a quest for Mega Drive supremacy.

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