A MOST AGREEABLE PASTIME
Video Games, Victorian Style
Category: Pulp
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Another year, another countdown, another birthday. And I’m boxing it all up, tying a nice little bow around it, and turning the ripe old age of 32 with a celebration of 32 BRILLIANT examples of FANTASTIC video game box art. Join me, won’t you? Blood Money (1989) – There is unique, nay unmatched, about some of the…
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Another year, another countdown, another birthday. And I’m boxing it all up, tying a nice little bow around it, and turning the ripe old age of 32 with a celebration of 32 BRILLIANT examples of FANTASTIC video game box art. Join me, won’t you? F/A-18 Interceptor (1988) – It may not be the most exciting box…
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Another year, another countdown, another birthday. And I’m boxing it all up, tying a nice little bow around it, and turning the ripe old age of 32 with a celebration of 32 BRILLIANT examples of FANTASTIC video game box art. Join me, won’t you? Faery Tale Adventure (1987) – I was shit scared of Faery Tale Adventure…
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Another year, another countdown, another birthday. And I’m boxing it all up, tying a nice little bow around it, and turning the ripe old age of 32 with a celebration of 32 BRILLIANT examples of FANTASTIC video game box art. Join me, won’t you? Defender of the Crown (1986) – I’ll be honest and admit that…
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Another year, another countdown, another birthday. And I’m boxing it all up, tying a nice little bow around it, and turning the ripe old age of 32 with a celebration of 32 BRILLIANT examples of FANTASTIC video game box art. Join me, won’t you? Impossible Mission (1985) – If there’s one thing synonymous with the 1980’s that’s…
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Another year, another countdown, another birthday. And I’m boxing it all up, tying a nice little bow around it, and turning the ripe old age of 32 with a celebration of 32 BRILLIANT examples of FANTASTIC video game box art. Join me, won’t you? Transylvania (1984) – Text-based graphic adventure Transylvania for the Apple IIE is…
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Another year, another countdown, another birthday. And I’m boxing it all up, tying a nice little bow around it, and turning the ripe old age of 32 with a celebration of 32 BRILLIANT examples of FANTASTIC video game box art. Join me, won’t you? Space Ace (1983) – I didn’t get my greasy little mitts…
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So this turned up on my doorstep this morning. It’s quite strange to buy a Wii U game with ’18-rated’ emblazoned all over it. It almost feels naughty. I’m mega impressed by how much you get in the collectors’ edition, check it out: Look at all that: a poster, postcards, art book and steel case……
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I’ve been a big fan of the work of William Gibson for a long time, but it was only recently I found out that his first novel, Neuromancer, was turned into a video game back in 1988. I found this especially interesting because Neuromancer (and its short-story prequel of sorts, Burning Chrome) essentially predicted the…
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Back in the summer I found out that there’s a decommissioned nuclear bunker not far from where I live in Edinburgh, just at about the same time I heard the announcement of Fallout 4. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to write an article on what life in a real Fallout Vault would be like…
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My latest Kotaku UK article is up – this time it’s a look back at all the games that made Konami great, seeing as all the indications are that they might stop supporting consoles: RIP Konami Console Games 1983-2015 I should point out that the slightly melodramatic title was the doing of the Kotaku UK…
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There’s a sale on! Use the code SAVENOW and get 15% off Most Agreeable T-shirts until 11th August! To order, simply click on one of the options below, according to the corner of the world in which you currently reside: CLICK TO VISIT THE MOST AGREEABLE EU SHOP CLICK TO VISIT THE MOST AGREEABLE US…
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Tales from State of Decay. My name is Jacob, and today is the day I die. Huddled cold in a public restroom, cold, tired and bleeding, waiting for my inevitable end. It’s dark outside and I can’t see a thing. But I can hear them, scratching. They’re at the door. They know I’m in here.…
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What better way to proclaim your love for the WORLD’S GREATEST VICTORIAN-THEMED VIDEO GAMES BLOG than with some beautifully designed apparel? Thanks to our multi-talented resident designer Simon Bradbrook Esq., we’re proud to present our exclusive range of MOST AGREEABLE T-shirts, available in PREMIUM or PEASANT forms and in a RANGE OF EYE-GOUGING COLOURS to suit…
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I decided to treat myself. I bought the rather lovely book Commodore Amiga: A Visual Commpendium from Funstock, and it is awesome. At 30 quid it’s not cheap, but it’s worth the money – the book comes in at around 400 pages and has beautiful colour images throughout, in addition to some fascinating developer interviews. I…
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My article on Russian ZX Spectrum clones – ‘The Land Where the Spectrum Lived On‘ – has just been published on Kotaku UK. This was a fascinating article to research and write, but it took an absolute age – there’s not a huge amount of information on the Russian Spectrum scene in English, so piecing…
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My article on the Xbox One Rare Replay collection just went up on Kotaku UK. And there’s one game I’m particularly looking forward to playing again: Solar Jetman. As I say in the Kotaku article, this NES game wasn’t hugely successful in terms of sales, but it garnered huge critical praise – and it had…
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With every man and his dog having a rip-roaring whinge about bloody remakes, you’d be forgiven for thinking that they were as contagious and worrisome as STDs amongst first year uni students. But put away your frangers for a minute you horny little bastard, because if you believe me, remasters and remakes may be the video…
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There was something wonderfully magical about Viva Piñata. It was easy for tending to one’s garden to border on obsession, as building a sustainable ecosystem through both the comfort of nurture and the ruthlessness of nature, had me running home from work at lunchtime to briefly play god from the comfort of a beautifully manicured…
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I could write about Doom all day. And believe me I’ve tried. And tried again. For me it sits right next to Wipeout as one of the games that made me sit up and pay attention to games as more than just a thing that I did when the sun went down or the ball was…
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Santa (or Father Christmas as he was known to me as a kid) has come and gone and you’ve probably had way too much egg nog by now. ‘Tis the season, after all. But most importantly we’re mere hours away from the first ball being bowled annual boxing day Test Match at the Melbourne Cricket…
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I love Christmas time. Where I live it brings unbearably hot weather and the sound of leather on willow. For those of you not on this end of the world it brings snowmen and open fires. Opposite seasons aside, one thing we share in common though, assuming you’ve found your way to this blog intentionally, is…
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I’m feeling old. I don’t know my Iggy Azalea from my Ariana Grande and have no idea what the kids of today think is cool. I mean I still think Faith No More and Mr Bungle are cool, but i’m becoming painfully aware that to the modern generations, they’re basically their versions of what the…
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Forza Horizon 2 is a spectacularly beautiful game, and one that by design, caters to the car worshipers amongst us. With everything from its massive roster of perfectly detailed cars, its bucket list challenges that have you pushing some of the world’s most exotic cars to the limit, and its focus on enjoying the act…
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Want a prototype Playstation 3? You know the one with the infamous ‘batarang controller’ announced by Sony at E3 2005? Well I know where to get one. At least according to the Australian Retailer Wow Sight and Sound’s website, you can get one there! The screen grab from the website is right on the front page advertising…
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I was browsing through a book shop the other day when I came across a volume that got my nostalgia glands throbbing from just one look at its cover. The Fantasy Art of Oliver Frey is a celebration of the artwork of one of the most famous individuals in the eighties computing scene, and I…
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Relic’s Warhammer 40K: Space Marine is somewhat of a guilty pleasure of mine. I acknowledge that it isn’t the deepest and most polished third person shooter of all time, but for me it made my imagination run wild and spurred an interested in that universe that hasn’t abated since I first played the game in 2011.…
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I’m not afraid to admit that Ouran High School Host Club is not only one of the greatest anime series of all time, but perhaps even one of the greatest television series ever. Based on the manga of the same name it tells the tale of lower middle class scholarship student, Haruhi Fujioka, who is forced…
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It’s sad to see Brick and Mortar retail in such doldrums that spectators have all but pronounced it dead. Not because the prices were good and certainly not because the service was good, but more so because the retail experience was so full of sensory delights and paraphernalia. I distinctly remember walking in video rental…
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Did you know that a graphically enhanced port of SkiFree was released on the Game Boy Color as part of a compilation of PC games that included six other games, including Minesweeper and Free Cell. The Microsoft Entertainment Pack was released in 2001. Released in 1991 the original SkiFree was developed for Microsoft Windows…
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Get ready for a rant about retail: So there I was at my local CeX browsing the PS2 section when I spotted it – a copy of Le Mans 24 Hours. Being a bit partial to the now defunct developer Melbourne House’s other racing game for the platform, Grand Prix Challenge, I picked it up…
A MOST AGREEABLE PASTIME 