retro gaming Archive
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![Today, I want to introduce all of you to a truly hidden gem of the 3.5 era, one that still ranks among my favorite anthologies and which you actually might now know about. Now some of you may know the name Morten Braten from necromancer Games’ excellent “Ancient Kingdoms: Mesopotamia“-book. What most of you won’t know is that he, more or less all by himself, released an anthology/setting-book breathing the spirit of Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith etc. – all contained in Xoth Publishing’s The Spider God’s Bride & Other Tales of Sword and Sorcery This adventure-anthology for 3.X is 200 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page appendix for references and bibliography, 1 […]](http://nerdtrek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Xoth-spider-gods-bride-115x115.jpg "The Spider God’s Bride & Other Tales of Sword & Sorcery")
The Spider God’s Bride & Other Tales of Sword & Sorcery
Posted on September 28, 2012 | No CommentsToday, I want to introduce all of you to a truly hidden gem of the 3.5 era, one that still ranks among my favorite anthologies and which you actually might now know about. Now some of you may know the name Morten Braten from necromancer Games’ excellent “Ancient Kingdoms: Mesopotamia“-book. What most of you won’t know is that he, more or less all by himself, released an anthology/setting-book breathing the spirit of Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith etc. – all contained in Xoth Publishing’s The Spider God’s Bride & Other Tales of Sword and Sorcery This adventure-anthology for 3.X is 200 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page appendix for references and bibliography, 1 […] -
![The first thing one can not escape when scanning through the 488 pages of Goodman Games Dungeon Crawl Classic (DCC) Core Rule Book is the art. It’s everywhere, and I do mean, everywhere. The TOC is laid out inside art panels held up by characters, credits, play tester thank yous, designer notes, all tucked into the artwork, that is…for lack of better explanation, straight out of the 70’s. Seriously, this IS your daddy’s artwork folks lol. The art instantly took me back to my childhood and the style of RPG games that were on the shelves at my local game-store when I first got into role playing as a hobby. Is it cheezy art? Oh yeah, but in all the […]](http://nerdtrek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Dungeon-Crawl-Classic-Rule-Book-115x115.jpg "Goodman Games Delivers With Dungeon Crawl Classic")
Goodman Games Delivers With Dungeon Crawl Classic
Posted on May 3, 2012 | 4 CommentsThe first thing one can not escape when scanning through the 488 pages of Goodman Games Dungeon Crawl Classic (DCC) Core Rule Book is the art. It’s everywhere, and I do mean, everywhere. The TOC is laid out inside art panels held up by characters, credits, play tester thank yous, designer notes, all tucked into the artwork, that is…for lack of better explanation, straight out of the 70’s. Seriously, this IS your daddy’s artwork folks lol. The art instantly took me back to my childhood and the style of RPG games that were on the shelves at my local game-store when I first got into role playing as a hobby. Is it cheezy art? Oh yeah, but in all the […] -
![I missed out on the whole Dungeon a Day concept, I wont bore you with the details, but I was one of those guys who had to scan over convention reports with a sense of loss as I read through articles referring to a favored room here, or legendary dungeon whatsit there….yeah, it sucked….BUT NO MORE!!!!!!! Super Genius Games, you know, those guys who own the rights to all that material, have released the first PDF from the Dungeon a Day archives. I’m going to venture a guess that this is in fact an experiment on their part, to see how much interest it generates, to determine if this imprint might be added to their line or not. So, let’s […]](http://nerdtrek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Tomb-World-of-Alak-Ammur-115x115.jpeg "Alak-Ammur’s Tomb World has Returned")
Alak-Ammur’s Tomb World has Returned
Posted on March 6, 2012 | No CommentsI missed out on the whole Dungeon a Day concept, I wont bore you with the details, but I was one of those guys who had to scan over convention reports with a sense of loss as I read through articles referring to a favored room here, or legendary dungeon whatsit there….yeah, it sucked….BUT NO MORE!!!!!!! Super Genius Games, you know, those guys who own the rights to all that material, have released the first PDF from the Dungeon a Day archives. I’m going to venture a guess that this is in fact an experiment on their part, to see how much interest it generates, to determine if this imprint might be added to their line or not. So, let’s […] -
![Nintendo was well-known in the videogame industry during the NES era for their restrictive licensing agreements. Third-party developers were obligated to set limits on the number of titles they produced per year (typically five) to avoid flooding the market with similar games, as well as agreeing that their games would be available exclusively on Nintendo systems for a certain period of time (typically two years). Restrictions of this kind allowed Nintendo to maintain a degree of control over both the number of games produced and the content of those games. Nintendo also had a relatively strict policy regarding sexual content, violence, language, and other mature content; and developers were required to hew closely to Nintendo’s standards in order to keep […]](http://nerdtrek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/NES_Vector_Illustration_by_dxprog-115x115.jpg "Nintendo’s Restrictive Licensing History")
Nintendo’s Restrictive Licensing History
Posted on November 12, 2011 | 5 CommentsNintendo was well-known in the videogame industry during the NES era for their restrictive licensing agreements. Third-party developers were obligated to set limits on the number of titles they produced per year (typically five) to avoid flooding the market with similar games, as well as agreeing that their games would be available exclusively on Nintendo systems for a certain period of time (typically two years). Restrictions of this kind allowed Nintendo to maintain a degree of control over both the number of games produced and the content of those games. Nintendo also had a relatively strict policy regarding sexual content, violence, language, and other mature content; and developers were required to hew closely to Nintendo’s standards in order to keep […] -
![Maybe it is just me, but tell me does this seem odd (or like you), kupo? Lately I have been more interested in playing an old DOS (yes I said DOS kupo!!) game, Treasures of the Savage Frontier to be exact, rather then being interested in oh say the newest Final Fantasy with all its shiny graphics and fast game play. Why is it that games in this day and age, while pretty to look at and fun to play from time to time, just don’t hold onto my attention like the old games do? I will tell you why kupo! I believe that games today just have too many gimmicks! Sure it’s nice looking but they have to […]](http://nerdtrek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/treasures-of-the-savage-frontier-115x115.gif "Moogle’s Corner: Sometimes old is better than new kupo!")
Moogle’s Corner: Sometimes old is better than new kupo!
Posted on September 8, 2011 | 1 CommentMaybe it is just me, but tell me does this seem odd (or like you), kupo? Lately I have been more interested in playing an old DOS (yes I said DOS kupo!!) game, Treasures of the Savage Frontier to be exact, rather then being interested in oh say the newest Final Fantasy with all its shiny graphics and fast game play. Why is it that games in this day and age, while pretty to look at and fun to play from time to time, just don’t hold onto my attention like the old games do? I will tell you why kupo! I believe that games today just have too many gimmicks! Sure it’s nice looking but they have to […] -
![What do a binary clock, phantom keystroker, and a NES USB controller have in common? They cause my nerd sensors to go to maximum and my wife to go to red alert hiding the credit cards! I have been navigating the net finding stuff nerds like me really don’t need but must have in their office or home. So far I have my sights zeroed in on a LED clock which looks like it belongs on the bridge of the old school Enterprise and the giant size polyhedron dice set. There’s just too much good geek stuff out there to pass up. Here’s a few of the wonderful nerdy things I found that peaked my interest: TIX LED Clock As […]](http://nerdtrek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/nerd-stuff-to-buy-115x115.png "Cool stuff for nerds like me")
Cool stuff for nerds like me
Posted on August 1, 2011 | 1 CommentWhat do a binary clock, phantom keystroker, and a NES USB controller have in common? They cause my nerd sensors to go to maximum and my wife to go to red alert hiding the credit cards! I have been navigating the net finding stuff nerds like me really don’t need but must have in their office or home. So far I have my sights zeroed in on a LED clock which looks like it belongs on the bridge of the old school Enterprise and the giant size polyhedron dice set. There’s just too much good geek stuff out there to pass up. Here’s a few of the wonderful nerdy things I found that peaked my interest: TIX LED Clock As […] -
![Game: Metroid System: Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Year: 1986 Type: Action-Adventure Claim to Fame: Samus is a woman! Trivia: The first female character to kick some serious ass! Metroid was one of my first NES games and the moment I set eyes upon the sci-fi imagery and heard the eerie music I knew I was hooked! I spent hours and hours battling through a plethora of strange aliens to obtain power-ups and eventually reach my target: Mother Brain. I think more than anything I remember how much I loved the music of this game which later would come to influence me when I grew up to wage war in the dying music industry. I still remember playing a show with […]](http://nerdtrek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Metroid-original-115x115.jpg "Retro Gaming: Metroid for the NES")
Retro Gaming: Metroid for the NES
Posted on June 26, 2011 | No CommentsGame: Metroid System: Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Year: 1986 Type: Action-Adventure Claim to Fame: Samus is a woman! Trivia: The first female character to kick some serious ass! Metroid was one of my first NES games and the moment I set eyes upon the sci-fi imagery and heard the eerie music I knew I was hooked! I spent hours and hours battling through a plethora of strange aliens to obtain power-ups and eventually reach my target: Mother Brain. I think more than anything I remember how much I loved the music of this game which later would come to influence me when I grew up to wage war in the dying music industry. I still remember playing a show with […] -
![Game: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past System: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) Year: 1992 Type: Action-Adventure Claim to Fame: Viewed as one of the greatest games of all time, it sold more than 4 million copies! Trivia: Many changes were made from the Japanese to American version. The most obvious change was made to the subtitle of the game, which was renamed from Kamigami no Triforce “The Triforce of the Gods” to A Link to the Past. The font used to represent an unreadable language, Hylian, originally had designs of a vulture and an ankh. These designs were based on Egyptian hieroglyphs which carry religious meanings, and they were altered in the English version. The localization […]](http://nerdtrek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/zelda-link-115x115.gif "Retro Gaming: Zelda: A Link to the Past")
Retro Gaming: Zelda: A Link to the Past
Posted on June 17, 2011 | 1 CommentGame: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past System: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) Year: 1992 Type: Action-Adventure Claim to Fame: Viewed as one of the greatest games of all time, it sold more than 4 million copies! Trivia: Many changes were made from the Japanese to American version. The most obvious change was made to the subtitle of the game, which was renamed from Kamigami no Triforce “The Triforce of the Gods” to A Link to the Past. The font used to represent an unreadable language, Hylian, originally had designs of a vulture and an ankh. These designs were based on Egyptian hieroglyphs which carry religious meanings, and they were altered in the English version. The localization […] -
![Forget Top 40, these bands top the 8-bit list of best video game cover bands. The Minibosses only play covers of original NES games and have experienced huge success in the USA. You can find them constantly on tour and as of this writing they were heading from Arizona over to California still going strong and playing a show almost every single night! On their website at www.Minibosses.com you can find more nostalgic tunes to kick you back to the NES old school days. *Listen: Minibosses – Castlevania *Listen: Minibosses – Contra *Listen: Minibosses – Ghosts & Goblins The Advantage have been covering retro game music since 1998, making them the forefathers of the 8-bit gaming music revolution. Hailing […]](http://nerdtrek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/the-black-mages-115x115.jpg "Top 8-bit Bands")
Top 8-bit Bands
Posted on May 21, 2011 | 5 CommentsForget Top 40, these bands top the 8-bit list of best video game cover bands. The Minibosses only play covers of original NES games and have experienced huge success in the USA. You can find them constantly on tour and as of this writing they were heading from Arizona over to California still going strong and playing a show almost every single night! On their website at www.Minibosses.com you can find more nostalgic tunes to kick you back to the NES old school days. *Listen: Minibosses – Castlevania *Listen: Minibosses – Contra *Listen: Minibosses – Ghosts & Goblins The Advantage have been covering retro game music since 1998, making them the forefathers of the 8-bit gaming music revolution. Hailing […] -
![My home IT infrastructure has suffered a streak of bad luck. After upgrading the graphic card in my desktop, the power supply was subsequently sucked dry and failed. My large-screen laptop has developed the loose AC adapter connection so common in PC laptops (why didn’t they solve this weak design years ago?). My PS2 console stopped working around the time the PS3 was coming out, no small coincidence. As a student, I can’t afford a high wattage power supply for the desktop, and I don’t own a soldering iron to fix the laptop. I’m down to my “couch computer,” a Dell X1 Netbook. I have some free time, as school is on break, and I want to do some gaming. […]](http://nerdtrek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/dos-115x115.gif "Games for 8MB Video Cards")
Games for 8MB Video Cards
Posted on April 27, 2011 | 1 CommentMy home IT infrastructure has suffered a streak of bad luck. After upgrading the graphic card in my desktop, the power supply was subsequently sucked dry and failed. My large-screen laptop has developed the loose AC adapter connection so common in PC laptops (why didn’t they solve this weak design years ago?). My PS2 console stopped working around the time the PS3 was coming out, no small coincidence. As a student, I can’t afford a high wattage power supply for the desktop, and I don’t own a soldering iron to fix the laptop. I’m down to my “couch computer,” a Dell X1 Netbook. I have some free time, as school is on break, and I want to do some gaming. […] -
![Game: Shadowgate System: Mac, Atari ST, and NES Year: 1987 for Mac / 1989 for NES Type: Point & Click Adventure About Shadowgate: In Shadowgate, the player must solve a series of puzzles throughout the castle in order to proceed to the Warlock Lord’s chamber. Due to the castle’s perilous nature, at least one lit torch must be in the player’s possession at all times; if the torch is extinguished, the player soon stumbles, breaking his neck, and must then continue from a saved game (or the area in which they died, in game console versions). Since there is only a finite number of torches to be found throughout the game, this effectively acts as a time limit to proceedings. […]](http://nerdtrek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/shadowgate-title-115x115.jpg "Retro Gaming: Shadowgate")
Retro Gaming: Shadowgate
Posted on April 21, 2011 | No CommentsGame: Shadowgate System: Mac, Atari ST, and NES Year: 1987 for Mac / 1989 for NES Type: Point & Click Adventure About Shadowgate: In Shadowgate, the player must solve a series of puzzles throughout the castle in order to proceed to the Warlock Lord’s chamber. Due to the castle’s perilous nature, at least one lit torch must be in the player’s possession at all times; if the torch is extinguished, the player soon stumbles, breaking his neck, and must then continue from a saved game (or the area in which they died, in game console versions). Since there is only a finite number of torches to be found throughout the game, this effectively acts as a time limit to proceedings. […]
