Retro Gaming Australia

As part of their evergrowing focus on digital distribution, Sega has announced that it will be bringing a collection of Model 2 arcade games to Xbox Live Arcade and PSN in the coming months.

The slate of titles, dubbed the “Model 2 Collection”, includes Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Striker, Sonic the Fighters, Fighting Vipers and Virtual On.

Word on the street is that these titles will boast improvements like online play and in the case of Sonic the Fighters, extra playable characters. We’ll have to wait and see. I doubt we’ll see Pepsiman in Fighting Vipers, but one can always hope.

Stainless Games has released Carmageddon for iOS devices today as part of their plan to revive the long dormant IP.

As a thank you for the folks who supported the Kickstarter project for the new Carmageddon, the iOS release is being made available free of charge for the first 24 hours of release – i.e. – right now.

So if you fancy yourself a bit of pedestrian genocide, grab the game from the App Store today.

An upcoming book entitled Stay A While and Listen by David Craddock is a history of Blizzard Entertainment concocted from interviews with nearly 80 former employees of the company. The book is due for release on October 29, but the author has revealed to Shacknews one of the cancelled Blizzard projects that came up in his research – the Game Boy Color version of Diablo the company dubbed “Diablo Junior”.

After Diablo II, the team split into several groups – one worked on the Lord of Destruction expansion, while the others were to throw ideas around for new IP and new games. One of these projects was a portable prequel to Diablo, intended for either the Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance:

“Diablo Junior was intended as a single-player-only prequel to the original game. Taking a page from Pokémon’s book, the team wanted to release three cartridges, each packing a different hero in the warrior-rogue-sorcerer vein as well as items that players would have to trade for in order to collect. Heroes started in a unique town before heading into dungeons and wilderness zones. Diablo Junior was ultimately put out to pasture (absent of cow levels, I’m sure) because of the steep production costs associated with developing handheld games.”

A second expansion, following from Lord of Destruction, was also planned, with the focus to be shifted onto the game’s multiplayer features such as a guild hall. The second expansion was quickly scrapped to start work on Diablo III, as the team had felt Diablo II had run its course.

Source: Shacknews

Nintendo eShop (North America)

Wii Virtual Console
The Last Blade (Neo Geo) – 900 points

3DS Virtual Console
Mario Golf (Game Boy Color) – $US4.99

PlayStation Store (Australia, Europe)

New Releases
Marvel vs. Capcom Origins (Marvel vs. Capcom and Marvel Super Heroes) – $AU23.95

PlayStation Store (North America)

New Releases
Retro City Rampage – $US14.99 (entitles you to both PS3 and Vita versions)
Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV (PSOne Classics)
Destrega (PSOne Classics)
Saiyuki: Journey West (PSOne Classics)

Discounts
The Revenge of Shinobi (Mega Drive) – $US1 (80% off)

Good Old Games

New Releases
Retro City Rampage – $US14.99

Discounts
Save 60% on Ubisoft’s back catalogue

USAopoly has been producing licensed versions of Monopoly for years, with properties such as The Simpsons, Lord of the Rings, Batman and even Mario making the cut. You can now add Sonic the Hedgehog to the list of names with the recent release of Monopoly: Sonic The Hedgehog Collector’s Edition.

It’ll set you back $US39.99 plus shipping.

Just Add Water has released footage from the upcoming HD remake of Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee, subtitled New & Tasty Edition.

The game is set for release next year.

Xbox Live Arcade
NiGHTS Into Dreams HD – 800 Microsoft Points ($AU13.20)
Sonic Adventure 2 HD – 800 Microsoft Points ($AU13.20)

Nintendo eShop (Australia, Europe)

Wii Virtual Console
Real Bout: Fatal Fury 2 – The Newcomers – 900 Nintendo Points

PlayStation Store (Australia, Europe)

New Releases
NiGHTS Into Dreams HD – $AU12.95
Sonic Adventure 2 HD – $AU12.95
Tombi (PSOne Classics) – $AU6.25

PlayStation Store (North America)

New Releases
NiGHTS Into Dreams HD – $US9.99
Sonic Adventure 2 HD – $US9.99
Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon Special Edition (PS2 Classics) – $US9.99
Ruff Trigger: The Vancore Conspiracy (PS2 Classics) – $US9.99

Discounts
Alex Kidd in Miracle World – $US1.00 (PSPlus only) until 09/10/2012

Good Old Games

New Releases
SpyCraft: The Great Game – $US5.99
Powerslide – $US5.99
La Mulana – $US14.99, currently on sale for $US9.99

Discounts
Activision Greats – 60% off the following:
Arcanum: Of Steamworks And Magick Obscura
Betrayal At Krondor Pack
Caesar 3
Call To Power 2
Dark Reign + Expansion
Dark Reign 2
Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within
Gabriel Knight 3: Blood Of The Sacred, Blood Of The Damned
Gabriel Knight: Sins Of The Fathers
Interstate ’76 Arsenal, The
Interstate ’82
King’S Quest 1+2+3
King’S Quest 4+5+6
King’S Quest 7+8
Phantasmagoria
Phantasmagoria 2
Pharaoh + Cleopatra
Police Quest 1+2+3+4
Police Quest: Swat 1+2
Quest For Glory 1-5
Return To Krondor
Return To Zork
Space Quest 1+2+3
Space Quest 4+5+6
SWAT 3: Tactical Game Of The Year Edition
Torin’S Passage
Vampire The Masquerade – Redemption
Zeus + Poseidon (Acropolis)
Zork Anthology, The
Zork Nemesis: The Forbidden Lands
Zork: Grand Inquisitor

Nintendo of America will be rewarding those who purchase Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Style Savy: Trendsetters, Crosswords Plus, Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone!, and Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask through the 3DS eShop with a free copy of Donkey Kong: Original Edition.

Donkey Kong: Original Edition is an updated re-release of the NES version of the game which was only available pre-installed on the European release of the limited edition Mario 25th edition Red Wii. It includes the cement factory level, restoring the game to its full state.

Some of you may have heard of a manga series called Aoi Sekai no Chuushin de (In the Centre of the Blue World), which is a reimagining of the 16-bit console war. The series tells the story of two kingdoms – the Segua Kingdom and the Nintenduro Empire, who are battling for control of the land of Consume. When the series begins, Segua is on the back foot, but the tide turns with the arrival of a kid named Gear, who boasts super speed. The series is written by Crimson and Anastasia Shestakova.

Like many popular mangas, the series is getting an animated television series which will start airing on Tokyo MX from October 20. Currently three episodes are slated to air – one in October and two next year. 5th Avenue is the studio in charge of production.

Medicom are preparing the release of some new Super Mario Bros and Legend of Zelda figures this year. Rather than basing these new lines purely on modern interpretations of the characters, Medicom will also be releasing classic interpretations of Mario and Zelda based on the art featured in the manuals of the original NES releases.

Included in the range are the classic Link, Wind Waker Link, Tanooki Mario and SMB1 Mario.

Best of all, these figures are dirt cheap at just 730 yen from AmiAmi and will be available in January 2013.