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Retro Homebrew & Console News is a site that has the latest Retro Homebrew News, DCEmu Hosted Coder Releases, Interviews, History and Tutorials, Part of the
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February 3rd, 2014, 22:59 Posted By: wraggster
Longstanding UK developer Elite Systems has come under fire from a number of ZX Spectrum developers accusing the company of failing to pay royalties for its Spectrum iOS and Android apps.
Elite recently launched a successful Kickstarter project to manufacture and sell a Bluetooth ZX Spectrum keyboard. The keyboard, originally rumoured to be in development as far back as February 2011, will come complete with rubber keys and be available on iOS, Android and Windows devices.
 Rod Bowkett's Dynamite DanHowever, a number of developers have come forward to accuse Elite of failing to pay them royalties for the previous ZX Spectrum app it released on iOS and Android three years ago.
ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection was released in October 2010, and initially included six Spectrum games: Chuckie Egg, Saboteur!, Turbo Esprit, Harrier Attack, Buggy Boy and Frank Bruno's Boxing.
Over the years a number of DLC packs have been added too, expanding the collection to around 200 games. While Elite owned the rights to some of these games, most were acquired through licensing agreements with their original programmers, with royalties promised for each sale.
Now, fourteen of these developers have made themselves known on the Bluetooth ZX Spectrum Keyboard Kickstarter's comments section, saying they have yet to receive a single payment in more than three years.
The complete list of developers making the claim is as follows:
- Costa Panayi (Tornado Low Level, Highway Encounter)
- Rod Bowkett (Dynamite Dan)
- Steve Crow (Starquake, Wizard's Lair)
- Jonathan Cauldwell (Egghead To The Rescue)
- Julian Gollop (Lords Of Chaos, Rebelstar)
- Chris Hinsley (Everyone's A Wally)
- Mike Lewis (Redhawk)
- Jon Ritman (Match Day)
- Steve Wetherill (Nodes Of Yesod, Sidewize)
- Sandy White (Ant Attack)
- Bob Smith (modern programmer)
- Ian Stewart (Gremlin Graphics titles)
- Simon Ullyatt (Chronosoft)
- Roger Hulley (Skool Daze)
 Jon Ritman's Match Day"Don't let this [Kickstarter] go through," stated Costa Panayi, who was the first to raise the issue. "Elite has been selling my games since 2010 and has never paid me a penny. Others are in the same position. If this goes through you will lose your money."
Rod Bowkett added: "I can only echo Costa Panayi's comments. Elite features my games Dynamite Dan I & II yet has not supplied quarterly statements or paid a single penny in royalties to date. If [company director Steve Wilcox] can't be trusted to honour the terms of a legally binding agreement can he be trusted to deliver this keyboard? I doubt it. I strongly urge you not to contribute to this project."
Mike Lewis added his voice to the growing crowd of irked developers. "I am the author of Redhawk and Kwah, originally published by Melbourne House in the 1980s," he explained.
"Like Costa I also signed an agreement with Steve Wilcox and Elite and have yet to receive a royalty statement, any payment or even a response to emails. Please don't buy Redhawk and Kwah through Elite. They need to pay the original developers they are trumpeting about having the licenses from before developing new projects.
 Chris Hinsley's Everyone's A Wally"My contract with Elite Systems for Redhawk and Kwah states 50 per cent of the revenue to be payable as royalties to me and for quarterly royalty statements to be made. I was even sent a sample royalty statement. Since signing the contract and Redhawk and Kwah appearing as in-app purchases on the IOS store I have heard nothing from Steve Wilcox or Elite at all."
Some of the developers, such as Steve Crow, have entire six-game DLC packs dedicated solely to their work.
"I am the author of Starquake, Firelord, and Wizards Lair for the ZX Spectrum," Crow said.
"Like the other game developers here Elite Systems have been selling my games illegally, with no rights or contract to do so and making money from my original work which I hold all rights to. Check out the Steve Crow pack on Elite's iTunes ZX Emulator. In my opinion, I have serious concerns about this Kickstarter project and whether the Bluetooth ZX Spectrum keyboard will ever see the light of day."
Steve Wilcox responded by temporarily removing the iOS and Android apps, and issued the following statement:"The public statements are far too wide-ranging to be addressed in this single response. However I acknowledge that I, as a director, may have failed in my duty to ensure that some of the reports and some of the payments - due to the ZX Spectrum game developers, with whom Elite has contractual relationships - were made in accordance with the agreed terms.
I am working toward that unacceptable position being remedied within the next 28 days, sooner if possible. I believe that all of the ZX Spectrum games included or included as in-app purchases within the above referenced apps were included with written consent, where such consent is available but I will need to review the written records relating to some 200 games before making a more fully informed comment."
The fourteen developers listed above responded to this with a group statement, written by Rod Bowkett. "We are so enraged by Mr. Wilcox's 'statement' that we have one of our own," it began.
 Sandy White's Ant Attack"Given what we've been telling you over the last few days can you imagine how offensive we find 'we take our contractual relationships most seriously'? Frankly, anyone who buys that deserves to lose their money.
"We ask you to not purchase any Elite product that either includes any of our games or supports in-app purchases of them. Mr. Wilcox has no rights to them because he has repeatedly failed to honour the terms of the agreements with us and is as a result in breach of copyright. In the case of Steve Crow he never even had an agreement in the first place.
"In a court of law he wouldn't have a leg to stand on and he knows it. Do you honestly think he's going to suddenly change his modus operandi when it comes to this project? Good luck with that!"
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...f-non-payment/
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January 29th, 2014, 00:17 Posted By: wraggster
"Henk Rogers was a Dutchman who arrived in Japan in the 1980s following a girlfriend (later, his wife). An inveterate D&D player, he became enthralled with the NEC-8801, and nearly killed himself trying to create a D&D-like world that he released as The Black Onyx. No one initially knew what to make of it, and the game sold slowly at first. Through savvy pricing, packaging, and press attention, sales grew, and the game jumpstarted RPGs in Japan. Rogers got left behind, though, as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy hit a local nerve better than his efforts. 'I also realized that I didn't quite understand the Japanese aesthetic and way. These games were quite different to mine, and just struck a more effective cultural chord.' Rogers went on to license Tetris to Nintendo, though, so he did just fine."
http://games.slashdot.org/story/14/0...ith-black-onyx
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January 27th, 2014, 21:16 Posted By: wraggster
[Petri]‘s first computer was the venerable Commodore VIC-20, predecessor to the Commodore 64. With only 5kB of RAM, a very simple graphics chip, and BASIC, it’s a bare-bones system that’s perfect for a 7-year-old future programmer. [Petri] was trying to figure out something to do with this old computer, and realized the simple schematic would allow him to recreate those classic VIC-20 cartridges using modern hardware.
This project began by cracking open a few game cartridges to see what was inside. They’re very simple devices, consisting of a decoupling cap and a ROM chip wired directly to the data and address busses. [Petri] desoldered the ROM and replaced it with a ribbon cable that would give him a clean breadboard to VIC-20 expansion port interface.
Instead of finding a contemporary EEPROM chip to program, [Petri] decided on using a Flash chip. The original cartridge had a 16kB ROM chip, but the smallest parallel Flash chip he could find was 256k. No problem, then; just ignore a few address lines and everything worked out great.
After getting the VIC-20 reading the breadboarded Flash chip, [Petri] started work on a circuit that would program his Flash chip while still attached to the expansion port. With a few buffer chips and an ATMega32a loaded up with Arduino, he’s able to program the Flash chip and turn it over to the VIC-20.
http://hackaday.com/2014/01/27/flash...0/#more-113530
A simple test that toggled the color of the screen as quickly as possible was all that was needed to test the new circuit. Now, [Petri] can finally start on programming some games for his first love.
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January 26th, 2014, 22:58 Posted By: wraggster
 Indie music group Man Factory recently concluded their six-year battle to translate the universe and characters of Street Fighter 2 into a rock opera. No, you are not hallucinating, and yes, you did read that right: a rock opera.
"Street Fight" is a series of threealbums released on Bandcamp that centers its story on Chun-Li and Ken, though other characters also make appearances and sing songs. Chun-Li seeks revenge on M. Bison for the death of her father, while Ken is punching his way through feelings related to his girlfriend's tryst with buddy Ryu.
Here's some of our favorite lyrics: "Blanket off I'm takin' off I'm gettin' outta here. How come she always mentions him? Could she be shy-yuken my best friend?" If it weren't referencing the wrong game, we'd call this a flawless victory.
http://www.joystiq.com/2014/01/26/st...g-their-heart/
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January 26th, 2014, 00:08 Posted By: wraggster
To help hit its Bluetooth ZX Spectrum funding target, Elite will be traveling up and down the country in a PromoVan.
Members of Elite’s staff will accompany the vehicle, and will be on hand to discuss the Bluetooth ZX Spectrum device and take pledges.
The Road Show dates for next week are as follows:
- Glasgow/Edinburgh, Monday 27th
- Manchester, Tuesday 28th
- Birmingham/Lichfield, Wednesday 29th
- Cambridge, Thursday 30th
- London, Friday 31st – the appeal’s closing date
The Bluetooth ZX Spectrum is a keyboard, initially for iOS, in the form-factor of a 48k Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Android, Windows phones, tablets and PCs and Macs will also eventually be able to use it.
The firm is looking for £60,000 to fund the project. Those interesting in backing it can visit the Bluetooth ZX Spectrum Kickstarter page for more information.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...ng-push/033026
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January 23rd, 2014, 23:14 Posted By: wraggster
 That Myst’s creators bothered to make up a pretend language is worth celebrating.
Remember the weird language used by the D’ni people in the Myst series? It was a thing of beauty, and added an interesting layer to the game. Those are not the main reasons why I liked it, though. What I really liked was knowing that the developers had bothered to create it, and had done so with a depth and commitment that frankly made them heroic. But I am a sucker for that sort of thing. I’m the kid who reckoned the best thing about the Star Wars films was the languages. Heck, they even needed subtitles. Swoon! So naturally I imagine the Myst guys had a similar mindset to me and loved the challenge of making up their language as well.Sure, there are other games with made-up languages in them. Jade Empire on Xbox had one. Even – if my ancient memory can be relied upon – the Ultima series had monsters and gargoyles talking a gibberish dialect. Of course, games that pull this trick don’t usually require the player to actually learn these languages (although it can help). The reason I think they’re there is to create a distance between those who understand them and those who can’t – namely, you.When you play a game, you’re so immersed in the world that it’s hard for any element to seem weird. It takes minutes to get used to the game physics, the abilities of the character or vehicle you control, and the effects you can wreak upon those around you. It’s possible to become very comfortable with a game world very quickly. And that’s a good thing. But sometimes you just need to say to the player, “These guys over here are just not like you. They’re not meant to be understood. Not by you right now, at least. That’s why they talk like that.”So I love weird languages in games, and I say this as someone who’s spent a vast amount of time playing games that use nothing but the impenetrable and baffling language of Japanese. But it’s not just weird languages. It’s weirdness in games itself. And it has always been with us. I need only say two words: Jeff Minter.
http://www.edge-online.com/features/...-to-minecraft/
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January 20th, 2014, 21:35 Posted By: wraggster
The Mega Man board game Kickstarter ended over the weekend with a grand total raised of $415,041, mega blasting its original $70,000 goal into mega smithereens. That means backers who pledged $70 or more are due to receive the blue bomber's licensed venture onto tabletops sometime in October.
That juggernaut-like funding means a ton of stretch goals were unlocked along the way, including one for fully colored game pieces in every box. Even though the Kickstarter's over, creator Jasco Games is keeping Paypal funding open, and that will go towards further stretch goals. There's no word yet on when non-backers can expect to find Mega Man: The Board Game powering up retail shelves.
http://www.joystiq.com/2014/01/20/me...h-415k-raised/
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January 20th, 2014, 00:31 Posted By: wraggster
Namco Bandai’s latest licensed Pac-Man spin-off has arrived in the UK.
Animated TV show Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures premiered on the Disney XD channel last Saturday (January 11th) with its first two episodes airing at 9:30am and 10:00am.
Namco reckons it’s the channel’s top-rated show so far for the first two weeks of the year with kids and boys aged between four and 15. It also beat all other kids channels for the timeslot.
"We are thrilled that Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures was the top rated show with kids and boys on Disney XD for the series launch, which is fantastic given the quality of shows on the channel,” 41e CEO Allen Bohbot said.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/pac-m...the-uk/0126880
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January 14th, 2014, 11:53 Posted By: wraggster
Are you a fan of these characters? Or are you just looking for something new in your Mega Man game?
You’re sure to find a new adventure here! The game has been completely redesigned, and now features colorful ponies in place of Mega Man and the rest of the robot masters.
If you’re not a Mega Man player, don’t worry! You can still get a kick out of this one as the difficulty is nowhere near in comparison to the original games.
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1731/
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January 14th, 2014, 11:52 Posted By: wraggster
If you haven’t played Glory of Heracles III yet, or are planning to replay it sometime, please check out our updated patch for this game. It’s a neat Dragon Quest clone set in Ancient Greek with an amazing story and some legendary plot twists.
So legendary in fact that it got the game’s writer Kazushige Nojima a job at Square as main writer for Final Fantasy VII and many Final Fantasy games onward. He had quite a lot of fans at Square and FFVII director Yoshinori Kitase even asked him to write a mystery plot like the one in Glory of Heracles III.
So if you’re a fan of FFVII you might want to check out this earlier take on some of the same themes. Or if you like Dragon Quest you might enjoy this for the oldschool gameplay. JRPG experts might spot references to early DQ, Mother/Earthbound and Final Fantasy IV. This title really has a special place in JRPG history both looking back at earlier titles in the genre and influencing so many games to come after it.
It is a fan and critics’ favorite even today in Japan. Hopefully with our translation it can get more recognition here in the West as well.
http://www.romhacking.net/translations/967/
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January 14th, 2014, 11:51 Posted By: wraggster
Nintendo wasn’t the only one who had this idea! Originally created (but not released) back in April and upgraded in response to the recent Wii U release of the same name, Dr. Luigi is here to continue The Year of Luigi into 2014.
Check out the cute little trailer below! Available in three versions. (Check the readme for differences.)
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1734/
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January 14th, 2014, 11:51 Posted By: wraggster
FF4kster, the all-in-one editor for Final Fantasy 4 has been updated yet again. This time, along with the usual array of bug fixes and minor improvements, there is an autobattle editor that allows you to change which battles are scripted as well as the scripts themselves. In addition, the program now contains a rudimentary map editor which allows you to edit the inner maps. The tile graphics have been blatantly ripped from FF4Tools, but if all goes well they will soon (hopefully by the next release) be dynamically read from the loaded ROM instead.
Several additional battle commands now have parameters that can be edited as well, including Steal, Boast, Cry, and even Fight!
http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/914/
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January 14th, 2014, 11:50 Posted By: wraggster
Castlevania Simplified 2.0 has been released! This hack was created specifically with gamers that struggle at difficult games in mind. No longer will players have to fear a relentless difficulty curve. While the game has been made easier than the original, there are still some challenging areas within the later parts of the game.
Key Features:
- Simon only takes 1 or 2 damage from most enemies.
- More porkchops are hidden throughout the levels.
- Hearts accumulate faster.
- There are hardly any bottomless pits.
If there are any other classics anyone would love have a “Simplified” version of, by all means, drop me a line.
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1726/
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January 14th, 2014, 11:49 Posted By: wraggster
This article is to announce the 100% complete translation for Zoids - Apocalypse. This strategy game with live action battles is great whether playing on your own or against a second player. Play on the side of either the Guylos Empire or the Helic Republic to overtake your opponent and claim the victory for your homeland!
http://www.romhacking.net/translations/2096/
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January 14th, 2014, 01:37 Posted By: wraggster
The company behind the Neo Geo X retro console has accused SNK of “bullying” retailers.
Back in October SNK suddenly terminated its licensing agreement with Tommo and demanded that it stop manufacturing, distributing, marketing and selling the Neo Geo X, citing breach of contract.
The following day Tommo fought back, denying that any breach of contract had taken place and insisting the business as usual would continue.
Now Tommo has released a statement accusing SNK of foul play, warning that it will fight its corner through the courts if necessary. It has also told retailers that they are free to continue selling the product.
“The agreement between Tommo and SNK provides specific mechanisms to resolve issues the parties may have with each other; the agreement does not allow SNK to unilaterally pull-the-plug on the rights conferred,” Tommo CEO Jonathan Wan claimed.
“Unfortunately, SNK has both failed and refused to use a single contractual remedy to resolve whatever differences exist in this matter, refused our numerous requests to discuss any issues at hand and refuses to consider any good faith proposals we have put forth, instead they are trying to bully US retailers with scare tactics.
“Their threats and accusations have harmed the Neo Geo X product marketing efforts, sales channels, and have cost Tommo significant financial losses.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/neo-g...llying/0126646
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January 10th, 2014, 23:28 Posted By: wraggster
A sequel to Shaq Fu is in development, according to the game's star Shaquille O'Neal.
Speaking to GamerFitNation at CES in Las Vegas, Shaq was asked if gamers would ever see a Shaq Fu 2.
"Actually, yes, it's coming soon. And the graphics is crazy", O'Neal replied.
After the interviewer laughed and assumed O'Neal was joking, the basketball star replied: "I promise you, wait until you see it."
"Are you sure?" the interviewer replied.
Shaq's response: "Yeah, I promise you".
Shaq Fu was a one-on-one fighting game released on the Mega Drive and SNES in 1994. In it, O'Neal travels to an alternative dimension where he has to use his kung fu skills to rescue a young boy from an evil mummy called Sett-Ra.
It gained notoriety for being one of the worst video games of its era and has become something of an in-joke among retro gamers.
In June last year, Shaquille O'Neal's licensing company Mine O'Mine registered four trademarks for Shaq Fu. While at the time these were merely considered protective measures, they may have been registered in preparation for Shaq Fu 2.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...aquille-oneal/
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January 7th, 2014, 01:47 Posted By: wraggster
 With only a 1.19MHz CPU to play with, a lot of Atari 2600 design had to be created outside the games themselves by artists who brought fantasies boldly to life.In a new book, enthusiast Tim Lapetino looks at the history of Atari game covers, such as Video Chess, Defender and Warlords (above), starting from the console’s debut in 1977. “The visual styles are a combination of the artists’ creativity and the inherent limitations of the console itself,” he says. “Those beautiful illustrations served as a gateway connecting the imaginations of gamers to the simple game graphics. I believe Orson Welles said ‘The absence of limitations is the enemy of art,’ and I think that’s true for these artists’ works.”Atari commissioned 136 pieces in total, and tracking each of them down has been quite a task for Lapetino. “At times I’ve felt like a private eye,” he says, “paging through old magazines, internal Atari newsletters, viewing negatives through printers’ loupes. At that time in the video game industry, it was not standard practice to credit artists and creators, so we’ve relied on scarce documentation, art collectors, fan websites, former Atari employees, and the memories of the illustrators themselves. It has been a hunt to even identify some of the artists, much less reach them. We’ve unearthed a lot about the culture of the artists and Atari, and we’re excited to preserve these stories.“We are hoping to provide as complete a picture of the art of Atari in that era as possible,” Lapetino continues. “Its history, and the stories behind these unsung artists, are worth preserving, because the games themselves are part of a rich, pop cultural heritage. But this is a challenging task, as much of the original work has been lost to time or neglect, and Atari’s archives are non-existent as the company changed hands many times. Our book will be a showcase of as much as we’ve been able to unearth, and our search continues. Some of our hope in promoting the book early is to use the publicity to unearth even more artwork, stories, and materials, to better flesh out the whole picture.”
http://www.edge-online.com/news/the-...in-the-blanks/
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January 6th, 2014, 01:28 Posted By: wraggster
[Travis Reynolds] is part of an arcade club at work — the only problem? He’s the only one with an arcade machine, so they always end up at his place. So he decided to make his own portable, arcade briefcase to take to the office.
It all started with a quick trip to Goodwill where he found a beautiful maroon briefcase from the 80′s, for only $5! He then took apart a spare LCD monitor he had sitting around, and it worked incredibly well in his favor. He was able to reuse the LCD’s internal mounting brackets to secure it to the briefcase, and the video cables were just long enough to reach the Raspberry Pi.
The next problem he faced was the joystick height. He picked a Sanwa style joystick which is fairly small, but even that was too tall for the briefcase. So unfortunately, he needs to remove the ball of the joystick before closing the case. After testing out the proposed button layout, he cut a plywood mounting plate to hold everything in place. A bit of black spray paint later plus a power connector through the side of the case, and it’s complete!
He’s running Shea Silverman’s PiMame, which has an easy to use menu, quick setup, and great support. It’s an awesome project, and very well documented in case you’re itching to do something similar — I know we are!
Of course, if you have the space, a coffee table arcade machine is pretty sweet too…
http://hackaday.com/2014/01/03/arcad...the-briefcade/
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