Category: Reviews

  • Retro Gamer Review

    By Jeff Fulton With traditional game related magazines falling by the way-side every day, why would Retrogamer magazine still be going so strong after 100 issues? Somewhere around the middle of 2004, I was browsing the magazine shelf at the local (now itself defunct) Borders and I found a  large yellow…

  • Chuck is gone, but it will leave a lasting impression (to modern nerds at least)

    (Jeff Fulton) The TV show Chuck had it last two episodes last night and while it never achieved a huge TV audience, it represents the type of modern,  innovative, quality TV programming that can exist if those involved use the same creativity with production as they do with writing, acting…

  • The Kinect : Only The Illusion Of “Fun”

    So I’ve been branded a “Kinect” lover by some people, and for the past year that has been a fairly accurate statement.  Before that, I was a Wii lover.  In both cases, I truly believed in the idea of “motion gaming”.  Ever since my family played hooky from work/school in November 2006…

  • Book Review: Fantasy Freaks And Gaming Geeks by Ethan Gilsdorf

    Here it is, I’ll come out and say it.  I used to play pencil and paper role playing games.  I played games like Dungeons And Dragons, Palladium and Call Of Cthulhu for most of the 80’s. I was blessed with a great friend (and he is still my friend to this…

  • Pinball Mania! “Special When Lit” on Netflix and “The Pinball Arcade” For Nearly Every Platform That Matters

    When my wife and I first met, we spent countless hours playing pinball together.    In the mid 1990’s you could still find a pinball machine at most pizza parlors and multiple machines at arcades and bowling alleys.  Our standard playing style was to find a machine we liked (i.e.…

  • iWoz: The “Steve” I Always Liked Was Wozniak

    With all the hoopla about the passing of world’s greatest technology dictator and reality distortion master last week (okay, and the greatest tech visionary of the last 20 years, but’s who’s counting?), it appeared that, once again, Steve Woziank got buried under the praise for his short-time partner, Steve Jobs.…

  • The 8-Bit Game: Digesting Archon

    (By 8bit Jeff Fulton) The word “Archon” roughly translated from Greek means the ruler of a particular nation or state. The 8-bit computer game, Archon was the king or ruler of “real-time” strategy in the early 80’s well before the genre was actually “invented”. While it does not bare any…

  • Book Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

    Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is the the best book about video games you will read this year.  However, this is not a history book, nor is it a personal narrative.  Instead, Ready Player One history lesson in 80’s pop culture wrapped inside an engaging sci-fi story. The story…

  • Two Great New Video Game Books You Should Check Out

    It appears that we are in a “gaming book” renaissance the likes of which we have not seen since the  since the early parts of the 21st century when Dungeons And Dreamers, Masters Of Doom, and The First Quarter all fascinated us with inside stories of games being made and played. While there have…

  • The Pac-man Dossier Kicks Ass!

    If you are at all interested in building a maze chase game in the Pac-man genre, or are just interested in the technical details about the game or how to play it, check out the incredibly detailed Pac-man Dossier by Jamey Pittman. This treasure trove of information contains everything from…

  • Book Review: Replay: The History Of Video Games by Tristan Donovan

    I can honestly say that The new book Replay by Tristan Donovan is the best book about the video game history ever published.   Donovan’s book unseats The First Quarter by Steven L. Kent (the previous title holder) by taking a broader, world-wide approach to the subject. Donovan was  inspired…

  • Review: Atari Greatest Hits Volume 1 For The Nintendo DS

    Playing retro games is much adu about nuance.   If the little things do not feel “right”, the overall game is usually failure, no matter how much effort went into recreating the past.  Nuances are much more than graphics: they also come in the form  timing,  sound design, responsiveness to…

  • Simply Brilliant: Dulldudegames

    One of our super-brilliant readers, “AndyGoesToHollywood”, sent over link to Dulldudegames because he wanted us to take a look at Iain Lobb’s simply brilliant game design tool. I am very impressed, especially with the platformer widget. I don’t think there is any way to have it show you the code…

  • Games I’ll Play Again: Retro-styled Flash Game Micro Reviews

    Again I find myself with a few minutes between asset delivery and code re-writes and instead of doing something practical like working on Solar Fortress or Lunch Battle (or any of the 100 other games I have started and not finished), I am playing other people’s games. Here are a…

  • Review : Atari Haunted House – Wii : Plus Win A Copy!

    Note: This is the first a new series of articles where we review new games from a retro/viral/indie/web game developer/technical writer perspective.  Since we are not a game review site, we don’t want to review every game out there, but games that fit our perspective (retro evolved, retro remakes, indie…

  • More Games I Might Play Again (Flash Game Micro Reviews)

    Ahh, here I am, its a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Southern California, and I am in doors, playing YOUR games. God I hope they are good this time… Hikouki Tomodachi (FGD) (82% Retrotastic) – A very fun, and well done 1 or 2 player vertical scrolling blast-fest. Darts and Beer…

  • Games I’ll Play Again #3 – Flash Game Distribution and Mochi Reviews

    I find it easier to get into my day if I play a few games first.  Digging through the Mochi Latest and Flash Game Distribution feed, here are some games that were good or bad enough for me to want to take a second look (at some ethereal unspecified future…

  • Games I’ll Play Again 8/16/2010 – Flash Game Distribution and Mochi Reviews

    It would be easy to just go to the Mochi featured game list and hit those as they have been pre-screened for me. No can do, bud. That would leave out the wonderful world of games that don’t get much attention (most deservedly so). Today I will be going through some…

  • Games I’ll Play Again #1 – Flash Game Distribution Reviews

    Using the last few days of the Flash Game Distribution feed, here are a list of games that I played quickly and were interesting enough for me to want to play again. I have given each a quickie  grade based on my first impression.  Take the grades with a grain of…

  • Reviews Section

    This is the new “reviews” section that collects all of our reviews together!

  • Review: New Star Games Sensational World Soccer 2010

    Wanna play some digital footie? Synopsis:Sensational World Of Soccer 2010 Review.Are you a USA fan who wants to replay the England match and try to put more goals by the hapless Robert Green? Are you an England fan who desires the opportunity to massacre a virtual  Tim Howard?  Are you…

  • EGM Magazine Spring 2010 Review: EGM Returns In Stunning Fashion

    I was never a huge fan of EGM magazine.  Its’ name was too close to Electronic Games, and it always appeared to be written for a generation of gamers just beyond my grasp.  However, with few options, I subscribed in 2008, only to have the magazine go out of business…

  • Retro Game Disasters: Super Breakout On Xbox Live Arcade Game Room

    I love playing retro games, but sometimes those retro games simply do not translate to modern platforms.   A very good example is the Super Breakout arcade game (originally designed in part by Ed Logg).  Super Breakout is one of my favorite arcade games, and also one of the best arcade…

  • Gaming After 40’s Video Podcast Is Exceptionally Retrotastic

    In the past week as I’ve been home sick with pneumonia, I’ve had some time to peruse Dale Dobson’s Gaming After 40 blog. I have to say, I really like what I see. Dale takes a skewed and humorous, but loving view at video games. In fact, his view very…

  • “Gaming After 40” Blog Hits The 8bitrocket.com Sweet Spot

    Hey, for all you guys (and gals too I suppose) who are interested in blogs about the history and current state of video games,  I just discovered a very well-written and insightful one named “Gaming After 40”  Here’s a note from the About page: “I’m in my early 40’s and…

  • Review: Kill Screen Magazine Issue 0

    Review: Kill Screen Magazine Issue 0 I’ve written had many stories through the years at 8bitrocket.com about video game magazines. I’ve covered personal stories about magazines like Electronic Games that influenced me while growing-up. I’ve interviewed some of my heroes of the first era of video game journalism like Bill…

  • A closer look: The Games Of Ace The Super Villain #1: Aceroids

    A closer look: The Games Of Ace The Super Villain #1: Aceroids Ace is a relatively new Flash game developer. Having cut his teeth making games with Game Maker, he has started to port some of his ideas to to the Flash platform. Steve and I have gotten to know…

  • Flash Retro Game Inspirations: Atari 2600 Outlaw

    Flash Retro Game Inspirations: Atari 2600 Outlaw (Atari 2600 Outlaw in the great Stella Emulator) I literally have an entire pile of started, but unfinished retro games sitting in folders on my development machine. I start and never finish at least 10-15 games  a year based on some whim, (examples:…

  • The greatest song ever written? Code Monkey By Jonathan Coulton

    Code Monkey – Jonathan Coulton   I’m not sure what else to say.  I’ve listened 10 times in a row… 

  • Kill Screen: A Video Game Magazine That Aims For The Mature Mind

    If you are like us, you constantly lament the demise of great game magazines like Electronic Games and Next Generation. Those magazines went beyond the standard news/preview/review/strategy format of most gaming tomes to include in-depth articles on subjects like sociology and future of the hobby. However, even those publications still…

  • A Youth Well Wasted: Lee Bradly Bogs His Youth In Video Games

    UK game journalist Lee Bradly has been writing an on-going blog chronicling his youth playing video games.  His series, A Youth Well Wasted is a a fascinating story about his friendship with a kid whose dad was a Sega executive.  As you may know, we here at 8bitrocket.com have been…

  • Mochi Game Review Mash-Up: October 26, 2009 (10 new games reviewed)

    Mochi Game Review Mash-Up: October 26, 2009 (10 new games reviewed) Games Reviewed: Street Fighter 2: CE, GraveShift 2: The Sewers, Zombie Taxi 2, Globulos Challenge, Froggy, Lost Mouse, WS Cup 2009, Battlerun, Speed Game of the Week: Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition I don’t know why I haven’t got…

  • Mochi Game Review Mash-Up October 20, 2009 (11 new games reviewed)

    Mochi Game Review Mash-Up October 20, 2009 (11 new games reviewed) I wanted to do a full blog and site mash-up today (along with Mochi Game Reviews), but I that task is so daunting, I decided to stick to just reviews for another day. I searched out retro games again…

  • Mochi Game Review Mash-Up : Oct 14th, 2009 (Games where things shoot at other things day)

    Mochi Game Review Mash-Up : Oct 14th, 2009 (Games where things shoot at other things day) These were always my favorite types of arcade, video, and computer games, so I scoured the “Coins”, “Featured”, and “Recent” Mochi lists for some arcade blastin’ titles to review. Games Graded: Tank Destroyer, Gravitor,…

  • Jeff Minter’s Grid Runner Revolution PC Review

    If 8bitrocket.com had it’s very own “Mt. Rushmore” containing the faces of four video games designer/developers who have influenced us the most they would be: Dan Bunten (programmer/designer of MULE and Seven Cities Of Gold) Chris Crawford, Atari 8-bit evangelist and the author of the first ever book about the…

  • Mochi Game Review Mash-Up: October 7, 2009 (11 Games Reviewed)

    Mochi Game Review Mash-Up: October 7, 2009 (11 Games Reviewed) Today the game selection kind of made me feel like I was looking though some of the various pirate crew Atari ST and Amiga late era disc menus from the 90’s. Some gems, some odd games with bad foreign translations,…

  • The Dark Spire: Super-Old School 8-bit computer RPG on the DS: A Perfect Flash Game Candidate?

    When people talk about “old school” role playing games these days, they are usually referring to Final Fantasy or Dragonquest or some other JRPG released near the end of the 80’s. Those are good games mind you, but hardly old school. To me, “old school” RPGs are nothing of the…

  • Mochi Game Review Mash-Up: Friday, Aug. 14, 2009 (18 Games Graded)

    Mochi Game Review Mash-Up: Friday, Aug. 14, 2009 (18 Games Graded). I am still catching up with the non-featured games today. It will possibly be Sunday before I actually get to them all (sans most of the Dress Up games). There are some nice quality games, some puzzling ones, and…

  • Mochi Game Review Mash-Up:Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009. Kick Ass Game Day.

    Mochi Game Review Mash-Up:Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009. Kick Ass Game Day. All great games today! Just this batch will have you playing awesome free games for weeks. Who needs a Wii or Xbox Live Arcade with this set of gems? Pretty much all of them could have been Game of…

  • Mochi Game Review Mash-Up:Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2009 (14 Games Graded)

    Mochi Game Review Mash-Up:Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2009 (14 Games Graded). .Again, Wednesday seems to be “new release” day at Mochi. I couldn’t get to all the games (many of them Dress up games), but I will attempt to cover them all this week as releases slow down. 8bitrocket Featured Game…