katiewhiteart.com

For today's post I'm going to give a shout out to katiewhiteart who has been producing some excellent retro gaming goodies.

Katie certainly knows her mushrooms.

For the past couple of years Katie has been producing cards and necklaces but now, after hitting the event circuit, she has turned her hand to producing cards and jewellery in from the haven of classics old. Classics including the likes of Mario, Zelda and Mega Man.

Exclusive work for the NERG event

Currently the cards feature the likes of the NES pad, floppy discs, the mushrooms pictured above and life hearts (though luckily they don't beep when down to half a heart). Alongside these cards are others featuring Mana and HP potions which also feature on jewellery as well as a pixel sword brooch.

Katie will be at NERG (North East Retro Gaming event which you may have heard about) and will be producing exclusive content for the event including the rather cute Mega Man pictured as well as a picture of Link in the same style.

You can and should check out www.katiewhiteart.com (which is currently under construction) for examples and make sure to like the Facebook page (Pai-thagoras) for news and new offerings.







Interview wih Philip Murphy, the man behind NERG.

Yesterdays post was a write-up regarding the North East Retro Gaming Event, today's post is connected to the event as GameOverYeah presents an interview with the man behind the plan, Philip Murphy.

Hi Philip, can you start by telling us a little bit about NERG?

NERG is the first and biggest retro gaming event that will be held in the North East. As we don't have any exhibition centres, space is limited and I'm restricted to only allowing 900 people in per day. It's being held at Gateshead International Stadium. At the last count, I have amassed 44 pinball machines, 55 arcade machines and 55 home computers/consoles. Even though this is the first event I have ever done, I have managed to secure 5 exclusive(maybe 6) machines which have never been displayed before at a UK event. One thing people don't realise and find hard to believe is that all the machines are free play. You pay your admission price of £15 per day or £25 for the weekend and that's it! You can play as long as the venue is open for free.

What made/inspired you to create NERG?

I got back into retro gaming about 2 years ago when a friend introduced me to an arcade collecting forum. Since then, I've collected arcade/pinball machines and been to numerous events around the country. I was travelling back home from an event in October 2012 when I was thinking/wishing that the North East had an event like it. After a couple of weeks thinking, research and planning, I decided to do it myself. North East Retro Gaming was born on 24th October 2012

What would you say so far has been the biggest achievement of setting up the event?

Wow.....that's a tough one. Primarily, the 5 event exclusives I've managed to secure. The Matrix pinball machine is coming over from Holland. It's a one of a kind machine and has never been on display in the UK

The Angel of retro gaming of the North with the Angel of the North

before. There is the Tron Legacy Limited Edition pinball machine. Only 400 of these were produced. The Wizard of Oz pinball machine was released on May 1st and will be appearing for the first time ever and it's the first pinball machine to contain an LCD screen in the back box. We have a Mad Planets video arcade machine. Only a handful of these are left in Europe. There is a Sharp X68000 home computer which was only ever released in Japan. I may have a 6th exclusive but it's not finalised yet.

I'm really proud about doing the whole thing as I'm doing it on my own. And I've never done it before! I've had to plan, arrange and promote everything. I'm pulling a lot of favours from friends and family also, which range from logo, web, flyer and poster design to photo shoots and actual help and assistance on the day.

On the flip side, what has been the most difficult part of setting up the event?

Promotion and making people aware that this event is taking place. I don't have a track record like other events around the country have. This is brand new and the majority of my time has been spent promoting and convincing people that this event will be worth attending.

Did you have a plan when it came to which machines to have at the event or was it a case of let’s go out and see what we can get?

I needed the support of machine owners before I could even announce the event. Without their support, it just wouldn't be happening. Since the initial announcement and promise of machine loans, I've been approached by others offering machines and it's got to the stage where I've had to turn down offers as I've had that many. It's a great and fortunate position to be in. I've obviously targeted some key favourite machines like Star Wars, Tron, Defender and Space Harrier. Which are all appearing by the way :-)


What machines/consoles are you looking forward to playing?

It has the be The Matrix pinball. This machine doesn't officially exist! The movie has never had a pinball license. The Dutch guys have converted a Johnny Mnemonic pinball machine by changing the artwork, the playfield, the software. Everything! It's a one of a kind! From the videos I've seen, it looks great!

What would you recommend to someone who is attending NERG who is new to the retro gaming scene?

Enjoy the experience and join the many forums out there for retro gamers/collectors. It's a huge community and not restricted to just the 35 to 45 year olds. Many kids/teens love the old school games also. Gaming began in arcades, not the bedroom.


As for yourself, what were your favourite games back in the day?

Phoenix had to be one of my early favourites. Then there was Star Wars and Tron. My first console was an Atari 2600 and on that I played a lot of Space Invaders, Pac Man and Asteroids.

Finally, what does the future hold for NERG?

I believe I've done everything I can to make this one of the best retro gaming events held in the UK. A bold statement, I know. Afterall, I'm new to all this event organising but I'm determined to make it a success but I need people to attend and show their support. If it is a success, NERG will be back yearly :-)

Thanks for your time Philip, much appreciated.

Hope you enjoyed the interview. A huge thanks to Philip for taking the time to answer the questions and remember that you can purchase tickets for the event from www.northeastretrogaming.com

North East Retro Gaming

In two weeks time the first North East Retro Gaming event will be going live over two days at Gateshead Stadium and what an exciting two days it's looking to be.

Over the weekend of 29th/30th June there will be the chance to play on arcades, consoles and pinball machines as well as partake in a Cosplay event and visit several traders.

At time of writing there is currently over 40 arcade machines including the likes of Tron, Defender, Gauntlet/Gauntlet II, Star Wars, Ghost'n Goblins and one of my all time favourites, those 'Heroes in a half shell', Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Console wise people will be in for a right treat with 40 machines currently on offer to play which includes both the Sega and Nintendo families (minus the Wii but does include the Panasonic Q), a Sharp X68ooo (an exclusive to the event), Panasonic 3DO and a Philips CD-I amongst other classic consoles.

Finally there will be over 30 Pinball machines based on games, film and TV including an exclusive Matrix machine. Alongside this will be machines based on Indiana Jones, Austin Powers, Street Fighter 2, Star Wars Trilogy, The Sopranos and Star Ship Troopers.

Alongside all of this there will also be the aforementioned Cosplay event (which includes a £100 prize for the best costume) and several traders of games, sweets, t-shirts and art. Traders include That Retro Game Shop, Pixel Generation, Village Sweet Shop, AnimeZ and Katie White Art (who will be the subject of a future post). So be sure to take plenty of cash for all of the retro goodies that will be available.

Talking of cash, the best thing about all of this is that to be able to play the games there is just a one-off upfront payment of £15 for one day or £25 for both days and then it's freeplay all the way. That's right, each and every arcade and pinball machine is on freeplay meaning that not a single penny has to be spent on the day (unless you buy a ticket on the day) which means that you can play until your heart's content or your fingers bleed.

One last thing is that your ticket also gets you into an after show party on the Saturday night at the Swallow Hotel which includes more free stuff in the way of a free buffet. Should be worth the ticket price alone.

So what are you waiting for? With just two weeks to go make sure that you have a ticket by heading along to www.northeastretrogaming.com and don't forget to the Facebook page while you are at it and join in all of the chat and announcements.

GameOverYeah will be attending and hopes to see you there.

Completed Games May 2013

The Hardy Boys Treasure on the Tracks - DS
Warioware Touched - DS

Two games completed in May and a mixed bag they were.

To be blunt I found the Hardy Boys to be a bit of a boring game. I don't mind point and click games (I'm enjoying playing through Zack and Wiki) but this one just left me feeling meh. The puzzles are not difficult at all and you don't really feel inspired to want to play through in one sitting. As for the end, possibly the worst ending ever committed to video gaming.

Warioware Touched on the other hand was fun while it lasted. Anyone who has played a Warioware game before will know what to expect as the formula hasn't changed at all but the game is still fun, especially the ones based on old Nintendo games.

May 2013 Purchases

 

A nice little haul this month, especially for the DS.

Couldn't say no to Monkey Ball at only 99p, especially with it being complete. 42 All Time Classics seems like something that I would enjoy, as well as Wario D.I.Y. I had never seen or heard about Flower Sun and Rain until the morning of the day that I then spotted in on the shelves in the afternoon. Looking forward to playing that one with it being developed by Suda51. Finally, Bully is one that I've been after for a while now but the price kept fluctuating and I picked up Dante's Inferno after reading about it on a fellow blog here.