I for one, think it’s a damn shame that Leisure Suit Larry is no longer under the control of the immortal Al Lowe, and after the hideous disaster that was ‘Magna Cum Laude’ you’d be forgiven for giving up on Larry altogether – but that said I’m still eager to see what the latest installation of this adult classic has in store for us. The next Leisure Suit Larry game, currently in production by Team 17 (of ‘Worms’ fame) boasts voiceovers from such luminaries as Shannon Elizabeth and Carmen Electra to name but a few – and it seems that the Team 17 / Sierra conglomorate are attempting to take this franchise back to it’s roots.

It’s still hard to see Larry’s world in full next-gen 3D as opposed to the old point and click format we fell in love with in the ‘good old days’ but the screenshots do look pretty impressive, and I’m sure it’ll be good for a laugh nonetheless.

The Internode Games network have an exclusive interview posted on their site, with the writer of the next game, Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust – a Mr. Allen Covert. He’s a longtime friend of Adam Sandler, but let’s not hold that against him.

Check out Internode’s interview with Allen Covert to see what’s next in store for die hard Larry fans.

For more Leisure Suit Larry related info, check out the following sites:

Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust – Official website
Leisure Suit Larry on Wikipedia
Al Lowe’s website
Sierra Entertainment
Team 17
Our lovely t-shirt inspired by the original Leisure Suit Larry

Read more

For those of us growing up in the UK back in the 80’s, the humble BBC Micro was to be seen in classrooms across the country. They boasted many educational games and applications and for many of us, represented our first experience with computers.
Who can forget the legendary ‘Granny’s Garden’, or the ‘Logo Turtle’?!

I was lucky enough that my school had around 20 of these machines all linked up in a computer room, giving me my first taste of networking.
The idea that I could write an insult about my teacher on one computer, and have it appear on another computer at the other side of the room was incredibly exciting!

While other home computers existed at the time, the BBC Micro was unique in that it was a joint project between the BBC and Acorn Computers, to develop a machine that could be implemented in the classroom – known as the BBC Computer Literacy Project.

Granny’s Garden on the BBC Micro

Today, the London Science Museum brings together the original team responsible for the BBC Micro, John Radcliffe and David Allen, from the BBC, and Hermann Hauser and Andy Hopper, from Acorn, in a special meeting of the Computer Conservation Society.
This will be the first time the team has been together since they worked on the project in 1981.

Dr Tilly Blyth, Curator of Computing and Information at the Science Museum, said: “This is a rare opportunity to hear about the remarkable impact and legacy of the BBC Micro and the Computer Literacy Project. The BBC Micro helped stimulate the imaginations of a generation of children, and inspired them to see computer programming as a career. This period of intense creativity is a major reason why the UK is now the fourth largest producer of computer games in the world and a major player in the global interactive market.”

David Braben, the co-writer of the groundbreaking game ‘Elite’ – written first for the BBC Micro – has also released an article on BBC News about the BBC Micro computer, and it’s role in UK computing.

Science Museum Press Release
David Brayben article on the BBC Micro
BBC Micro on Wikipedia
Granny’s Garden on Wikipedia

Read more

Link bait it may be, but the concept of Mario writing a formal letter of complaint to his bosses at Nintendo is just hilarious.
Greg Lockwood has taken on the Mario persona in order to level a firm barrage of abuse at Nintendo, and the result is chuckle-worthy to say the least.

“Whose bright idea was it for me to compete in Olympic events against Sonic of all people? What were you thinking? He runs so fast you can’t see his fucking feet.”

Love it.
Check out the full letter over at Sea.Man.Ticks

Read more

I came across this, and just had to post a link for you guys to see – SmashBrawlRankings.com have put up a list of 12 old Nintendo adverts from the cheesy 80’s.
Some of these are just hilarious – the list even includes the really old NES advert with ROB the robot… Ahh, the memories.

Follow the link to check out this little slice of nostalgia.

Nintendo Commercials

Read more

This is quite possibly the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen.
This is the ‘Nestari‘.

As the name suggests, it combines a NES and an Atari 2600 in a portable handheld console. It was created by one ‘Benjamin J Heckendorn’, who it appears is a god of all things console-like.

On his site, Benheck.com, Benjamin documents how he hacks old machines to pieces, creating new masterpieces such as the Atari 800 Laptop, the portable Colcovision and the handheld Sega Megadrive, to name but a few.

Seriously, I would literally kill several people, including friends and family members, to be able to do what this guy does. It’s just incredible… Luckily I don’t have to go that far as he’s had the foresight to write a videogame hacking book with tutorials, and even sells ‘kits’ via his website.
So that’ll save a few lives.

Read more

Nintendo have announced that later this year, the Commodore 64 will be added to the Wii virtual console. It’ll be a great day for retro gamers, who will be able to enjoy classic games from one of the greatest home computer systems of the 80’s.

Bala Keilman, CEO of Commodore Gaming, commented, “The massive impact the Commodore 64 had on video-gaming is still evident today with many gamers remembering the computer and its games with great fondness. By working with Nintendo of Europe, we are ensuring that future generations of gamers can play some of the best and most popular titles that kick-started the computer games revolution and so keep the C64 legacy in gamers hearts.”

It’s unclear at the moment how many C64 games will be released for the Wii, however we have been told that they will cost 500 Wii points (around £2.50) each and that the first two games released will be the all-time Commodore classics, ‘International Karate’ and ‘Uridium’.

Related links:

• Commodore Gaming
• Commodore 64 on Wikipedia
• Commodore 64 at Old Computers
• International Karate + on Wikipedia
• Uridium on Wikipedia

Read more

So rare, it doesn’t even have a Wikipedia entry, the Atari 2600 game, ‘Gamma Attack’ is thought to be possibly the rarest video game of all time. Apparantly, only 20 were ever produced… and you could own one of these little gems for a mere… wait for it… $500,000.00

Yeah, we think it’s possibly a bit steep, especially since the graphics are well naff, but each to their own.
If you fancy owning this trophy of geekiness, and you have half a mil to spare, get on over to eBay now!

Gamma Attack on eBay

Read more

Created in 1986 by Andrew and Phillip Oliver (The Oliver Twins) for Codemasters, Dizzy the egg was an 80s phenomenon. Dizzy spawned eight full length adventure games as well as six spin-off games, and was ported to many formats including Spectum, C64, Amstrad, Amiga, Atari ST and several consoles.

Dizzy began life on the ZX Spectrum. His somersaulting antics where due largely to the fact that the Oliver Twins had previously developed a program called ‘Panda (PhillipANDAndrew) Sprites’ which enabled them to rotate sprites by any degree. Yes, in the 80’s, rotating a sprite was a difficult affair.

Read more