Tuesday 31 December 2013

New Year's Resolutions

We've come a long way this year, haven't we? With (at the time of writing) 160 posts and 8916 views from all across the world, it really has been a good year. Thanks to everyone who read, shared and commented on the blog who without, this blog would still be stuck on 100 views! Thanks to the game companies who have put out some really good games this year so that we have enough material to write about. Thanks to anyone who has put blogs link up on their own blog (retrocosm.net), so we can get just a few more views. And finally, thanks to the writers of this blog as, without their smart ideas about walkthroughs, Top 5's, YouTube, app reviews etc., this blog would be so much less. With all the cheesy stuff out of the way, here are some things you can look forward to next year:

The 12 Generations of Gaming - Gen 6

On the 6th gen of gaming,
Rockstar sent to me,
Lots of steal-ing.

On the 6th gen of gaming,
Microsoft sent to me,
X Box No. 1

The Sixth Generation – 1998 - 2013

Consoles:
Xbox Classic
PlayStation 2
GameCube
Sega Dreamcast

Popular Games:
Halo 2
Super Smash Bros Melee
GTA: San Andreas
Call of Duty

This is the generation that I really got into gaming (with the PlayStation 2 actually) and apparently not much changed from fifth gen other than better hard drives and new reaches in graphics and software. It also saw the rise of the Xbox as well as the fall of Sega as well as the best-selling console of all time (PlayStation 2).

In this post, I will talk about all four consoles as well as some of the best software to grace their systems.

Monday 30 December 2013

The 12 Generations of Gaming - Gen 5

On the 5th gen of gaming,
Nintentdo sent to me,
Six-teee Four!

On the 5th gen of gaming,
Sony sent to me,
Play- stat-ion!

On the 5th gen of gaming,
The world sent to me,
Three Dee-e-e!

The Fifth Generation – 1993 - 2001


Consoles:
PlayStation
Nintendo 64
Sega Saturn
3DO
Atari Jaguar

Popular Games:
Metal Gear Solid
The Need for Speed
Tomb Raider

The fifth generation marked the beginning of the 3D era (also known as the 32 or 64-bit era) as well as a massive jump in gaming technology. The 5th gen also saw the end of using bits as a show of power (except the Nintendo 64 and some Atari Jaguar adverts) as they had reached a technological level that meant that just having more bits didn't relate to power as much as before. Finally, the fifth generation saw the rise of emulation due to many PC's being able to successfully emulate older 8-16-bit games. The development of the Internet also helped with this as well as being able to download and store ROM's onto PC's.

In this post, I will talk about the three main consoles of the generation (PlayStation Nintendo 64 and Sega Saturn) as the other two (3DO and Atari Jaguar) didn't make enough of an impact for future gens so are not included here. Of course, I will also be talking about the software of the gen however, for games like Pokémon please be patient as a post will be coming soon.

Sunday 29 December 2013

The 12 Generations of Gaming - Gen 4

On the 4th gen of gaming,
Sega sent to me,
Mega Drive, and Soni-ic.

On the 4th gen of gaming,
Nintendo sent to me,
A world of Mari-o

On the 4th gen of gaming,

The World sent to me,

Nintendo and Sega rivalry.

The Fourth Generation – 1988 - 99

Consoles:
Mega Drive/Sega Genesis
TurboGrafX/ PC Engine
SNES/Super Famicon
Neo Geo

Popular Games: 
Sonic the Hedgehog
Super Mario World
Samurai Showdown
Bonk's Adventure
Starfox/Starwing

And so, the 8-bit era ended only to bring around the 16-bit era of gaming bringing with it the SNES and Sega Mega Drive as well as a few more consoles and lots of games including IP's like Sonic the Hedgehog and Starfox. It was also the first time when several companies started to take notice of the gaming industry and start to make plans to release consoles in the future. Once again, Nintendo led the crowd but this time was closely followed by Sega. Let the rivalries commence.

Once again, I am going to talk about both some of the consoles as well as a few of the more important games.

Saturday 28 December 2013

The 12 Generation Of Gaming - Gen 3

On the third gen of gaming,
The Nintendo sent to me.
Many new IP-e-es.

On the third gen of gaming,
Sega sent to me,
The Sega Mark III.

The Third Generation – 1983 - 95

Consoles:
Atari 2600
NES/Famicon
Sega Master System
Atari 7800
Nintendo Game and Watch

Popular Games:
Legend of Zelda
Super Mario Bros
Metroid
Dragon Quest/Warrior 
Final Fantasy
Mega Man 2
Metal Gear
Alex Kidd in Miracle World
FIFA International Soccer

It's time for third gen now and some of the more recognisable and popular games are making an entrance as well as some brilliant hardware as well. Third gen (also known as the 8-bit era) signalled the end of the North American video game crash as well as the transition of gaming dominance from North America to Japan. Also, the blocky graphics are gone! (well almost) Sprite based graphics are here to stay. The world says hooray! Gaming companies get pay! If you don't like these rhymes just say... Yeah, I'm going to stop that now. Other pivotal features of the third gen include: the amazing D-pad, better scrolling, 256*240 resolution and 32 colour graphics!

In this post, I'm going to talk about both the hardware as well the software. Oh, and some of you may have noticed the lack of any handheld hardware based paragraphs but don't worry, they will be coming later.

Friday 27 December 2013

The 12 Generations of Gaming - Gen 2

On the second gen of gaming,
Atari sent to me
A game which didn't start with P.

On the second gen of gaming,
The world sent to me,
The video game crash of 82 and 3.

On the second gen of gaming,
Nintendo sent to me,
the handheld industry.

The Second Generation – 1977 - 83

Consoles:
Atari 2600
Intellivision
Colecovision

Popular Games:

Space Invaders
Pitfall
Pac-Man
Mario Bros.
Donkey Kong
Galaga 
Frogger
Breakout 
Asteroids 


And so, the first generation came to an end but with its death it brought rise to a new generation of gaming, which brought another, and another, and another... well you get the picture. It introduced things such as the microprocessor as well as 2 to eight colour graphics! It's so colourful! Second gen also brought about many companies and games that would define and change the video game industry forever. 

Rather than talk about the consoles that were in this generation like I did with my last post I've decided to write about the games as it was them that really defined the 2nd generation. Ever heard of Space Invaders? What about Pac-Man? Mario? Donkey Kong? Of course you have. At least I hope you have. If not, you definitely need to read the next few paragraphs.

Thursday 26 December 2013

Top 5 - Best Selling Video Game Home Consoles

This Top 5 is dedicated to the facts not my opinion (not all of it anyway). Anyway, on with the post. What are the best-selling Video Game Home Consoles of all time?

The 12 Generations of Gaming - Gen 1

On the 1st gen of gaming,
Magnavox sent to me,
The Magnavox Odyssey.

On the 1st gen of gaming,
Atari sent to me,
Tennis like Pixel-ls.

The First Generation – 1972-77

Consoles:
Magnavox Odyssey
Atari Pong

Popular Games:

Spacewar!
Pong

So then, the first gen of gaming saw the rise of many greats including Atari and their game Pong. Pong is largely considered to be the first commercially successful video game of all time, but it is not the first. That prestigious title goes to the Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device in 1947. But to bring it back to the time of 1st gen (and something that resembles a video game) we'll cut down the competition to just coin operated systems which means the prestigious title would go to Computer Space in 1971. Although games like Spacewar! were released 10 years earlier.


So, the success of that paragraph: confusing you all and showing everyone how messed up the start of the video game industry was. Don't worry, it gets easier from here. 

Friday 6 December 2013

Top 5 - Nintendo Home Consoles

This Top 5 is all about Nintendo and the great home consoles they have made and revolutionised gaming with. Enjoy.

Thursday 5 December 2013

Review No. 66 Mario Kart Wii - Wii (3+)

Strong Points:
Lots of items
Lots of characters including hidden ones
Lots of stages
Time Trial, Grand Prix and Versus are great
Up to 12 players on multiplayer
Bikes and Karts are completely different adding variety
Tricks help you to overtake the competition

Weak Points:
Online servers are weak although the actual gameplay is all right
Characters don't have their own speeds and strengths but have the same as in their class decreasing variety
Not very challenging
Some items are overpowered
Battles aren't the best




Monday 2 December 2013

Review No. 65 Wii Play - Wii (3+)

Strong Points:
Nice graphical styles for the games
Good use of Mii's
Another showcase for the Wii Remote
Shooting Range, Charge!, Tanks! and Laser Hockey are good fun
Addictive
Anyone can play

Weak Points:
Only 9 minigames
Soon gets repetitive
The rest of the games suffer from bad controls or lack of originality
Having to unlock each of the games is a chore, especially when you have to play through the lacklustre ones to get to others which may be more fun


Sunday 1 December 2013

Video Game Character of the Month - December 2013 - Pac-Man - Pac-Man

Video Game Character of the Month
December 2013
Pac-Man
Pac-Man
Overview
Oh Pac-Man, what are you? A pizza missing a slice? A Japanese character? A legend? A hero? A fat little half circle who's afraid of ghosts and likes pellets and fruit? Well the answer is all these things and more. Oh Pac-Man, thank you.
Sorry about that, now back to the award. I have always liked Pac-Man and have enjoyed playing his games (if I can find them). A quick bit of info on Pac-Man: