Retro Gaming | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Thu, 30 Mar 2023 10:03:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Retro Gaming | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Antstream Arcade retro gaming platform comes to Epic Games Store https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/antstream-arcade-retro-gaming-platform-comes-to-epic-games-store/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/antstream-arcade-retro-gaming-platform-comes-to-epic-games-store/#respond Tue, 30 Nov 2021 11:43:52 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=541873 The Antstream Arcade has been available for a long time now, offering over a thousand retro titles available through cloud streaming. The service quietly joined the Epic Games Store last week, offering a free welcome pack for all users.  For one reason or another, neither Antstream or Epic Games sent out a press release or …

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The Antstream Arcade has been available for a long time now, offering over a thousand retro titles available through cloud streaming. The service quietly joined the Epic Games Store last week, offering a free welcome pack for all users. 

For one reason or another, neither Antstream or Epic Games sent out a press release or updated their news sections with this announcement. Fortunately, PCGamer spotted it, which helped spread the word.

For those who don't know, Antstream Arcade is a cloud gaming platform focusing on bringing retro games to a wide range of devices, including PC. The idea is that using Antstream, you don't have to tinker with emulators or hunt down ROMs, and can instead jump right in to playing with a catalogue of over 1000 retro titles. You'll find games from the arcade era, as well as the early days of PC and console gaming.

The free welcome pack on the Epic Games Store is available for new Antstream players until Thursday this week, offering 1090 gems to use to acquire games. Most titles cost 30 gems per play, so you'll be able to at least try out a good number of titles. You also have the option of paying $39.99 for a 1-year subscription to the service.

Antstream Arcade is supposed to be coming to Steam at some point too, as the service was listed on the store over the Summer. Currently, it is still listed as ‘Coming Soon', indicating it might be a timed exclusive to the Epic Games Store.

KitGuru Says: Have any of you tried Antstream before for your retro gaming fix? 

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Retro game streaming platform ‘Antstream Arcade’ partners with SNK https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/mustafa-mahmoud/retro-game-streaming-platform-antstream-arcade-partners-with-snk/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/mustafa-mahmoud/retro-game-streaming-platform-antstream-arcade-partners-with-snk/#respond Thu, 05 Dec 2019 13:50:24 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=440149 Antstream Arcade, a subscription-based retro game streaming service, has announced that it is partnering with SNK, publishers of some of the most well known classic retro titles, including Metal Slug, The King of Fighters, And Samurai Shodown. This partnership means that a number of SNK’s biggest retro titles will be coming to the platform, including …

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Antstream Arcade, a subscription-based retro game streaming service, has announced that it is partnering with SNK, publishers of some of the most well known classic retro titles, including Metal Slug, The King of Fighters, And Samurai Shodown. This partnership means that a number of SNK’s biggest retro titles will be coming to the platform, including Fatal Fury and Last Resort.

Antstream Arcade was founded in 2013 and has become the largest retro game subscription service in the world, with over 800 titles available on the service. The service functions similarly to Google Stadia, in that it is all streaming-based, with no downloads required. Of course, unlike Google Stadia, Antstream Arcade focuses on retro titles, which requires substantially less bandwidth to stream.

Speaking on the partnership, Sandy Li, Manager of Licensing & Business Development (Americas & EMEA regions) at SNK Corporation said “Antstream Arcade will allow games like Metal Slug and Metal Slug X to be enjoyed on modern platforms, but also experienced in a completely different way through the social challenges. We can’t wait to see the reaction of gamers and the added value this partnership will bring”.

One of Antstream Arcade’s touted features are its aforementioned social challenges “where friends can challenge each other, in an effort to top the global leader board”, adding new functionality and replayability to these retro titles. Antstream Arcade also recently announced that it’ll be partnering with the upcoming Atari VCS console.

The service is currently available on PC, Mac, Android, Fire TV, Nvidia Shield, and Xbox One. A PlayStation 4 release has been confirmed, although there is currently no ETA on its release.

The retro game streaming service is currently only available in a select number of countries (the UK is included), but a wider release has been promised for 2020. Antstream Arcade costs £9.99 per month, or £7.99 on an annual plan. The full list of games available on the service can be found here.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: Are you excited to see SNK joining the service? What do you think of Antstream Arcade? What is your favourite SNK title? Let us know down below.

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KitGuru explores retro gaming in 2019 https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/damien-cox/kitguru-explores-retro-gaming-in-2019/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/damien-cox/kitguru-explores-retro-gaming-in-2019/#respond Wed, 06 Feb 2019 17:56:20 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=403175 KitGuru’s Storm and Damien visited the Retro Games Fair in Leeds, a celebration of video games, merchandise and the technology of yesteryear.

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Over the weekend, I visited the Retro Games Fair with KitGuru's very own Storm to celebrate video games, merchandise and the technology of yesteryear. The event itself gave us a chance to experience the nostalgia first-hand, and discover what ‘retro gaming’ is to the people of Leeds.

What is the Retro Games Fair?

You’d be forgiven for not having heard of the Retro Games Fair in comparison to more mainstream events across the country, but by no means does director Steven Smith hold back in the five+ years since its conception. The Fair packed the Marriott Hotel less than an hour and a half after doors opened, only just losing its crowded vibe moments before closing shop.

Event goers were treated to dedicated gaming rooms that housed Space Invader arcade machines and classic consoles, such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and the SEGA Mega Drive (Genesis in North America). In the main hall, customers browsed stalls full of cartridges and disks of a bygone era, inspired artwork and a range of licenced and fan-made products, while nostalgic tunes emanated from the speakers.

For those that feel that they’ve missed out, Smith holds many different retro-based events throughout the year. The Retro Games Night will take place on March 15th, followed by the collectible-focused Collectorabilia on April 7th.

What is retro gaming?

Everyone undoubtedly shared a love for video games at the Retro Games Fair, holding great respect for the generations past. Despite this, I couldn’t help but notice one glaring difference in that each person has a different definition of retro gaming. So what exactly is retro when it comes to the gaming scene?

Derived from Latin, ‘retro’ almost always means “backwards” or looking back through the past. Oxford Dictionary outlines the term as “imitative of a style or fashion from the recent past,” although it has evolved in current years to describe the original styles rather than inspired pieces. Retro gaming in particular is encompassed by the act of playing and/or collecting vintage games. The problem with this definition however, is that what is considered ‘old’ is entirely dependent on an individual’s age, social circle and gaming experience.

Asking the people of Leeds, it seems as though aging consoles from Atari, Nintendo and SEGA are almost universally considered retro in 2019. With three generations between now and the original PlayStation released in 1994, Sony just about made the cut on most accounts, but the PlayStation 2 from 2000 wasn’t quite so lucky. Alternatively, a representative from GAME classed Microsoft’s beloved Xbox 360 as retro despite its relatively recent 2005 release date, simply because it is no longer sold on the market.

In more recent years, defining retro has become a little more difficult with the embrace of 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit graphical styles gaining popularity in mainstream video games. This is particularly evident within the Metroidvania genre, a style of action-adventure game that was pioneered by Nintendo’s Metroid series and Konami’s Castlevania series in 1986. Metroidvania titles often take a more open-world approach to side-scrolling platformers, and are often more difficult than its standard platforming brethren.

Thomas Happ Games’ Axiom Verge (2011) and last year’s Dead Cells from Motion Twin take more direct inspiration with their blocky art styles, while Team Cherry’s renowned Hollow Knight (2017) uses a cleaner, more modern approach. Despite this, none of these are typically classed as retro by the community, but rather retro-inspired or ‘retro style’ in 2019.

To truly define retro gaming in 2019, we would rightfully need a bigger, more varied sample, though Leeds’ Retro Games Fair did help clear one thing up. If it wasn’t obvious before, it’s clear now that retro doesn’t mean the same thing it did just 5 years ago, with more generations of consoles and gamers forever shifting balance. At some point, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 will inevitably become retro, but when that will happen all depends on the perspective of the individual.

KitGuru Says: Given that the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo 64 and PlayStation completed my childhood, I would class anything from the fifth-generation or prior as retro. What would you define retro gaming to be? Do you have a different cut-off point?

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Sinclair Spectrum Vega campaign hits £100k goal in one day https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/console-desktop-pc/matthew-wilson/sinclair-spectrum-vega-campaign-hits-100k-goal-in-one-day/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/console-desktop-pc/matthew-wilson/sinclair-spectrum-vega-campaign-hits-100k-goal-in-one-day/#respond Wed, 03 Dec 2014 13:47:08 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=224670 Inventor Sir Clive Sinclair yesterday backed a new crowd funding project aiming to revive the ZX Spectrum brand of home consoles, sparking a wave of interest and netting the project its £100,000 goal in just one day. The campaign will also be donating some of its earned money to a children's charity. The Sinclair Spectrum …

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Inventor Sir Clive Sinclair yesterday backed a new crowd funding project aiming to revive the ZX Spectrum brand of home consoles, sparking a wave of interest and netting the project its £100,000 goal in just one day. The campaign will also be donating some of its earned money to a children's charity.

The Sinclair Spectrum Vega uses a low cost micro-controller and some new emulation software to allow the console to run all of the games that were developed for the original model back in the 1980s. The console remake is being marketed by Retro Computers LTD, a small startup company in which Sir Clive Sinclair's company is a share holder.

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[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN8aDkgqHn4′]

The Vega is being developed by Chris Smith, a former ZX Spectrum games developer. The first thousand Vega units will be manufactured within the UK, once those are all sold, a second production run will be prepped. The console itself has already been created and is fully working, the crowd funding campaign is needed to get it manufactured.

The first thousand units will be limited edition models, the second production run will see a further 3000 units made. Any further orders will be made in batches of 10,000 units. At the time of writing, a lot of the campaign perks have already sold out and the campaign has managed to exceed its goal, raising £107,869.

Since the campaign has managed to raise so much so quickly, it might be cool to see the console's specifications beefed up a bit with some of today's modern tech advancements.

You can check out the Indiegogo campaign, HERE.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It seems there are still plenty of retro console enthusiasts around these days. What do you guys think of this? 

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E.T. cartridges found in fabled Atari landfill https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/e-t-cartridges-found-in-fabled-atari-landfill/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/e-t-cartridges-found-in-fabled-atari-landfill/#comments Mon, 28 Apr 2014 07:00:06 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=189412 The Atari 2600's movie tie-in game, ET, didn't go down particularly well with gamers all those years ago and as a result, thousands of copies of the game were dumped in an undisclosed landfill site. Since then people have speculated as to where Atari dumped the games with some rumours pointing towards a New Mexico …

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The Atari 2600's movie tie-in game, ET, didn't go down particularly well with gamers all those years ago and as a result, thousands of copies of the game were dumped in an undisclosed landfill site. Since then people have speculated as to where Atari dumped the games with some rumours pointing towards a New Mexico landfill but now, after years of wondering, a team of film makers have uncovered the games at the Alamogordo landfill site.

If you know much about console history or are in to retro gaming at all, then chances are you know about Atari's E.T game flop. Atari was expecting the game to sell quite well, unfortunately it didn't and the company had to dump all of its left over copies. The flop was quite the turning point for Atari and kicked off a series of financial woes that eventually forced the company out of the console hardware business. You might be wondering, why would anyone want to recover thousands of copies of a company destroying game? Well it turns out that Microsoft is behind this and is using this discovery as part of its upcoming documentary, currently under the working title: “Atari: Game Over”.

Atari Dig_Evidence

The documentary came to be when “Fuel Entertainment took an interest in the legend, and in December 2013, with help from local garbage contractor Joe Lewandowski, acquired the exclusive rights to excavate the Alamogordo landfill. Fuel Entertainment then brought the opportunity to Xbox Entertainment Studios.” The film is set to air exclusively on Xbox One and Xbox 360 later this year although an exact release date has yet to be announced.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: I'd like to know just how many copies of the game were found at the dump, hopefully the exact figure will be released soon. Do we have any retro readers? Did you ever play the E.T game? 

Source: Xbox

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Twin Galaxies website disappears, angers gamers https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/twin-galaxies-website-disappears-angers-gamers/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/twin-galaxies-website-disappears-angers-gamers/#comments Tue, 17 Dec 2013 15:30:33 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=167874 Twin Galaxies, the long time video game world record score keeper, has disappeared off of the face of the internet. The official site redirects you a “not found” page on the owners site, the Facebook hasn't been updated in weeks and the Twitter has been quiet for over seven days. Understandably gamers are worried, but …

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Twin Galaxies, the long time video game world record score keeper, has disappeared off of the face of the internet. The official site redirects you a “not found” page on the owners site, the Facebook hasn't been updated in weeks and the Twitter has been quiet for over seven days. Understandably gamers are worried, but others are mad as they paid money to submit scores to a site and system that now no longer seems to exist.

They've been commenting on the official Facebook page (where the latest post from TG staff was 7th December), where some are demanding a response while others are simply stating that if TG doesn't get its act together it will no longer be the official score page as others will surely take up the torch.

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Trying to get to the TG homepage now gives you this dead end

Of course Twin Galaxies is hardly a popular destination. Despite being considered as the official video game score keepers (or least it was when it was under the founder and star of King of Kong, Walter Day) and a recent revamp of the site and services it offers, it's not exactly a monster site, barely breaking into the top million in the world and only just about breaking 5,000 likes on Facebook. Similarly those complaining about its disappearance rank in single digits.

This is perhaps most curious though, because the organisation – owned by the 1up Arcade – just hosted its third annual Kong Off competition which has the world's best Donkey Kong players competing head to head. It's no League of Legends world championship final, but it's a big deal in the world of retro gaming and drew its fair share of attention.

We've contacted some Twin Galaxies employees (current and ex) to see if we can find out what's going on. I'll update this if I hear anything  back.

KitGuru Says: It would sad if TG was down and out, though if it is, I bet it didn't help that it started charging for score submissions earlier this year. 

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Project Unity handles 18 console formats in one machine https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/console-desktop-pc/jon-martindale/project-unity-handles-18-console-formats-in-one-machine/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/console-desktop-pc/jon-martindale/project-unity-handles-18-console-formats-in-one-machine/#respond Mon, 15 Apr 2013 12:40:50 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=131874 I'm a big fan of retro gaming. Not only does it let you get a good dose of nostalgia, but it's a great reminder that a game doesn't need to be the latest and greatest AAA offering to be great – there are games made over 20 years ago that are still a blast to …

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I'm a big fan of retro gaming. Not only does it let you get a good dose of nostalgia, but it's a great reminder that a game doesn't need to be the latest and greatest AAA offering to be great – there are games made over 20 years ago that are still a blast to play. Because of that I've been buying up the consoles and games of my youth for years, but one man has taken it far further. A hardware modder, going by the name Bacteria, has managed to electrically link up 15 consoles in one system.

According to Bacteria, he spent over three years, three and a half thousand hours and over £700 to build. It features no emulation, all original console hardware, a unified power supply, one universal controller and a single SCART lead for video output. It also, “uses around 300 metres of cabling and weighs around 20kg.” The boxy shape is down to the intended placement of the Unity in Bacteria's house.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9AY_xQre9M']

If you happen to own Unity – and I don't see why this guy would ever sell, so get your balaclava ready – you'll have access to the following:

  • Amstrad GX4000
  • Sega Master System
  • Atari 7800
  • ColecoVision
  • Intellivision
  • Sega Megadrive
  • Super Nintendo
  • Nintendo 64
  • Nintendo Entertainment System
  • Gameboy Advance
  • NeoGeo MVS
  • Nintendo GameCube
  • Sega Dreamcast
  • Sega Saturn
  • PlayStation 2

Thanks to the backwards compatibility of the PS2, Atari 7800 and GBA though, you can also play PS1, Game Boy and Atari 2600 games.

KitGuru Says: My only complaint is that it doesn't use the original controllers, though it's understandable, since having 18 different controllers lying around would be against the clean aesthetic of the build, but it does strike me that something could be lost because you're not playing with the peripheral that was initially designed for the gameplay. 

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