Retro reflections by Matt S. Before even the Game Boy, Nintendo had the Game & Watch games. These little handheld gaming machines were a serious addiction to me, and to this day they are such utter curiosities that if you haven’t played one, in its original form, then you’re doing…
Read MoreRetro reflections by Matt S. With the latest Nintendo handheld, the Nintendo Switch, now on the market (yes, I know it streams to home televisions too, but it’s totally a handheld), I thought for this week’s retro reflections I’d take a bit of a personal look back at my history…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Imagine being a kid on Christmas day a couple of decades ago; 1977, to be precise (or think back to then if you were indeed around then). The big day had rolled around. Under the tree was a box that you had been drooling over weeks. You…
Read MoreRetro Reflections by Matt S. Back in 2001, when the first The Lord of the Rings film was released to cinemas, the world got hit with a new wave of complete love and fascination for J.R.R. Tolkien and his brilliant, important, fantasy masterpiece. Suddenly people were re-discovering the books all…
Read MoreReview by Brad L. Philosopher George Santayana once mused “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” I swear Santayana somehow predicted Double Dragon IV. A myriad of games looking to replicate the glory days of the Nintendo Entertainment System have come and come again, like a…
Read MoreRetro reflections by Matt S. As most readers know by now, I’m a great fan of the fantasy Middle East. One of the first games I played that really captured the exotic magic of that setting was Al-Qadim: Genie’s Curse, and to this day, with a setting as criminally underused…
Read MorePreview by Harvard L. Here’s a PSA to all game designers and people with an interest in balancing game systems – play Card Quest. It’s a humble little Early Access card battle/strategy RPG combat game with some immensely elegant mechanics that lend themselves to compulsive, satisfying play sessions. I really…
Read MoreGame Theory by Matt S. Final Fantasy isn’t a game that people generally cite as an example of philosophical depth. Indeed, most people don’t see it as much of anything; it’s rarely considered a “great” Final Fantasy game, and very rarely played except by the purists and franchise historians. And…
Read MoreWe have a bit of a different episode for the Digitally Uploaded podcast this week; it’s all about the Internet Archive and the games it stores on its digital database. Matt C, Matt S and James all picked a game from the Internet Archive to play, and reflect on in…
Read MoreRetro reflections by Matt S. When I was a real youngster, before I had even really started playing video games (I didn’t yet have my first console – a Game Boy – and though the family had a Commodore 64, I very rarely used it), I discovered a box that…
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