In The Race for a New Game Machine, David Shippy and Mickie Phipps give the reader some good insight into how the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 were made. This was one part of video game history I didn’t know much about. I’ve read books about making video games, creating arcade cabinets, and running aContinue reading “Review of The Race for a New Game Machine”
Author Archives: Paul Werkema
NES Launch Titles and Memories of Video Games in the 80s
The NES has a special place in my heart. It was the first console I had growing up, and I have a bunch of memories of playing it. I remember playing on this old CRT TV which we had to turn all the lights out just so we could see the screen. I don’t rememberContinue reading “NES Launch Titles and Memories of Video Games in the 80s”
Kwirk is a Quirky Game — Yokoi Corner
Sometimes a game has a very straight forward name, like Puzzle Boy, and when it’s brought to the US it gets renamed for some reason. In this case, Acclaim decided to rename Puzzle Boy to Kwirk. I’m not sure why they went with the change. Kwirk is made by Atlus and is a fun puzzleContinue reading “Kwirk is a Quirky Game — Yokoi Corner”
Mutant League Games and Mutant Football League
Last wee I started playing Mutant Football League again. It had been a while since I played the game. I have the PS4 version and the Nintendo Switch version. It brought me back to when I was a kid, and when I was streaming video games on Twitch. Back in the 90s EA, before theContinue reading “Mutant League Games and Mutant Football League”
Memories of Phantasy Star
There are a few games that stand out when you talk about role playing games (RPG). Over the years I stopped drawing a distinction between western, computer, tactical, and Japanese RPGs. There were slight differences which never really mattered to me. In my mind I had an idea of what the genre was, and itContinue reading “Memories of Phantasy Star”
Yokoi Corner — Mercenary Force
There are a bunch of good Game Boy games, both color and not, which seem to have been lost to time. At least it seems like it to me. I always seem to stumble across a game I have never heard of, or missed out on, when I look at the Game Boy games, I’veContinue reading “Yokoi Corner — Mercenary Force”
Review of Arcade Perfect by David Craddock
Arcade Perfect talks about the history of porting arcade games to home console and handheld consoles. This is a subject which is very interesting, and not one I have read a lot about. Many of the stories in this book made me feel for the developers, especially early on when the console limitations hamstrung whatContinue reading “Review of Arcade Perfect by David Craddock”
Looking Back at the Sega Genesis Launch Titles
The Sega Genesis/Mega Drive launched with six games in the US. While they were all visually impressive for the time, they weren’t as good as the Nintendo games that were available on the NES. The six games, Altered Beast, Space Harrier II, Thunder Force II, Super Thunder Blade, Last Battle, and Tommy Lasorda Baseball showedContinue reading “Looking Back at the Sega Genesis Launch Titles”
BurgerTime Party!
A while ago, I picked up the game BurgerTime Party on the Nintendo Switch. This game is the latest installment in the long running BurgerTime series which started as an arcade game. It’s a very simple single screen game. The only goal is to get the high score. The game itself is a little strangeContinue reading “BurgerTime Party!”
Wata and the State of Video Game Collecting
A few years ago, I heard about graded video games. I also heard about the sealed collectors, and how the prices of retro games had gone up. This surprised me, mostly because I had stopped collecting video games in 2015. I had most of what I wanted, and I had been priced out of theContinue reading “Wata and the State of Video Game Collecting”