😎 How VR Is Changing Gaming 😎

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Driving Simulators

It’s no surprise to anyone who is paying attention that the world of Virtual Reality (VR) should be affecting the world of gaming so much.

But the amount that it is doing so, and the ways in which it is doing so, might come as a surprise to some people.

The truth is that this is clearly the next wave in gaming, and we can expect more and more platforms to start taking on board increasing amounts of VR components over the next few years.

It’s always hard to predict what the world of gaming will look like in ten years’ time, but at the moment we can probably say with some degree of confidence that it will be dominated by VR to some degree.

That doesn’t mean that there won’t be other gamer types out there, but VR looks set to be the way ahead for now. Let’s look at some current examples of where VR is being used in the world of gaming already.

🎮🤠 The Video Games Adventures of Monte McGnarly 🤠🎮 @McGnarlyG

A little while back I was approached by @McGnarlyG to take a look at his new book entitles "The Video Games Adventures of Monte McGnarly"

I'm so glad I took up his offer as this book takes you on a personal nostalgic journey of video games discovery through the use of rhyming verse.

👅 10 New Video Game Trailers To Drool Over 👅 #IndieGames #GameDev

With so many awesome Trailers over the last week or so I thought I would pull together 10 Video Games that I am truly excited about at the moment!

It seems like the Indie Scene has just set the industry alight again with some awesome Indie ports to the Nintendo Switch and also just some plain old great looking video games coming to ALL consoles.

I know Trailers don't tell the whole story but based on these trailers alone I'm just going to go along with the hype train for a while until we get our hands on some of these marvellous looking specimens!

Which of these 10 gets YOU most excited to play? 👅

🎮😍 The Retro Bit SEGA Controllers Look Awesome! 😍🎮 @RetroBitGaming #Retrogaming #SEGA

Retro-Bit® has announced their line up of officially-licensed SEGA controllers that will be available spring 2019. 

The line-up includes Sega Genesis®, Mega Drive and Sega Saturn® controllers with original and USB®-ports

🕹️ PLAY EXPO RETURNS TO MANCHESTER THIS MAY! 🕹️ #RetroGaming @ReplayEvents

It's the North Of England's Biggest Videogames Expo and it's coming back to Manchester Central Exhibition Centre on May 4th and 5th 2019!

🥋The Messenger - PS4 - "A game that draws inspiration from Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi, Shovel Knight and Last Ninja"

🉐🥋⚔️ A game that draws inspiration from Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi, Shovel Knight and 

Last Ninja has got to be good right?! 🥋⚔️🉐

🍸 Review: Red Strings Club "Make Mine Strong, Sour and Soul-Searching, Barkeep" 🍹 @Deconstructeam #GameDev #IndieGame

Game Title: The Red Strings Club

Developer: Deconstructeam

Platform Reviewed: Switch

Rating: Ice Cool

A cyberpunk adventure set mostly inside a bar where the main draw is an expertly told story that makes the player question their own motivations and values with some cocktail-making and industrial espionage thrown in?

Sign me up.

🔍 Review: Rainswept "A Breezy, Narrative Driven Adventure" 🔎 @Rainswept_Game #GameDev #IndieGame

Game Title: Rainswept

Developer: Frostwood Interactive

Platform Reviewed: PC (Steam)

Rating: Ice Cool

I’ve always enjoyed playing a solid graphic adventure that’s driven by narrative and doesn’t rely on pop culture references or obscure puzzles to move forwards, and Rainswept is just that. By no means perfect, it does, however, take an approach that, whilst dipping into the sentimental, talks about heavy topics with a light touch.

🕹️ Crash and Sinclair User Magazines Tapes & Posters eBay Unboxing 🕹️ #Retrogaming #ZXSpectrum

🕹️📦📼 "I got my hands on an eBay lot of Crash and Sinclair User Magazine Ads, Tips Pages and Cover Tapes so I thought I'd unbox them just for you and go through what I've got, enjoy!" 🕹️📦📼

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🎙️❄️ "Please Subscribe, Like & STAY FROSTY!" ❄️🎙️

👊⚔️ From the Arctic Archives: Slashers The Power Battle "Dead Online But Still Worth A Bash Offline" 👊⚔️ #GameDev

Due to the number of games we receive for coverage in the Games Freezer, it’s sadly inevitable that some slip through the glaciers.

In the Arctic Archive feature, we re-visit titles not covered upon their initial release to see how they fare down the line.

Slashers: The Power Battle

Price: £5.19

Status: Early Access

There’s always an oddly sad shelf life to online games, especially ones that don’t sell well upon their initial release. If a game is pretty much purely online-only and the fanbase just isn’t there for whatever reason, games become obsolete sometimes weeks and even days after launch.

🤜💥🤛 Every Single Street Fighter Player Select screen - 1987 to 2018 🤜💥🤛 #StreetFighter

"Here is every Street Fighter Player Select Screen From Every Fighting Video Game That Features Any Street Fighter Characters"

⏬⏬ Have I missed any? ⏬⏬

Let me know in the comments below...

🕹️ Britt's Amusement Arcade Memories Amidst A Flooded Flat - Video Games Memories 🕹️ #RetroGaming #Arcade

There is an undeniable connection for a lot of people to some form of gaming, no matter how distant or seemingly inconsequential.

A moment that I found really funny (in hindsight) was a few years ago in my old flat, my girlfriend woke me up at three in the morning because the bathroom ceiling was gushing with water (pinch me) and so I pegged it upstairs to wake up my upstairs neighbour (a guy in his thirties) who immediately ran down to my flat to see the damage. We headed into my living room to grab a load of towels to stem the flow, all in a complete frenzy due to the level of water coming through.

Amidst all of this, as we were running back to the bathroom, he stopped and pointed at something on display in our living room and said, “Is that Scramble? Wow, I had that when I was a kid, haven’t seen it in years!”.

Naturally, I walked over to him and filled him in on the finer points of our gaming collection until my girlfriend walked in and said, incredulously. “Umm….can you talk about games after we’ve stopped our bathroom flooding?”

Obviously, I split up with her on the spot.

👾 Steve @GAMETelford Talks To Us About Dressing In Lycra, Pong Machines & Chip Buttys - Video Games Memories 👾 #Retrogaming #GamersUnite

Within the gaming community, there are certain people that really stand out as ambassadors for the video games medium and I think today we are lucky enough to have someone with us who gets the idea that video games are all about having fun. 

Our guest today runs the amazing @GAMETelford  Twitter account and manages to combine that sense of fun whilst also doing a day job at GAME in Telford.

The Twitter account is one of my favourite accounts on Twitter and is always guaranteed to raise a smile due to the amazingly talented Steve acting out skits on a weekly basis. 

The amount of effort that must go into the account is astounding and I am really looking forward to today's Video Games Memories with Steve so as we can see what makes the great man tick...

Let's get started with a few questions to provoke the nostalgia gland in Steve's video games brain...

🏌Episode 12: Top Pro Golf 2 - 1993 - SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive "Golf Has Never Been So Much Fun!"🏌 #Retrogaming #SEGA

🏌"I've made it to Episode 12 and the truth is that Golf Has Never Been So Much Fun!

It's Top Pro Golf 2 on the SEGA Genesis and it's fun if you can putt..."

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🎮👾 Review: 8-Bit Armies & 8-Bit Hordes “Attack the Blocks” 👾🎮 #IndieGame

Developer: Petroglyph Games

Rating: Melting

Platform Reviewed: Playstation 4

It was a simpler time. But a frustrating one. Before the internet ushered in a glorious era of cat memes, trolling and post-pub online shopping sprees, everything happened at a slower pace. 

🔎 Ten Minute Taster: Conarium "Join me as I Explore the Antarctic Base!" 🔎 #IndieGame #GameDev

"Join me as I Explore the Conarium Antarctic Base, study clues, unlock secrets and generally get freaked out!"

💙⚽ Why I Love Football Video Games "It all started in a Fish & Chip Shop"⚽💙 #Retrogaming

It all started with an arcade game in a Fish & Chip Shop in Enfield.

The shop was called the Sea Shell Fish Bar and the arcade cabinet was TEHKAN WORLD CUP

After witnessing someone complete the game whilst I was standing in the shop queue with my dad one Friday night I was never the same again. 

I was obsessed with football video games from that point onwards and more specifically I was obsessed with the quest to find the best football game out there.

📽️ 🎮 The Games Freezer YouTube Trailer 2019 🎮 📽️ #Retrogaming

🎮 It's time for the NEW Games Freezer YouTube Trailer 2019...

Retro Gaming, Indie Gaming and Britt's Flaming Gavel! 🎮

🦄 Review: Eternity: The Last Unicorn "A Game Out of Time" 🦄 #GameDev #IndieGame

🦄 Developer: Void Studios 🦄

Rating: Melting

Platform Reviewed: Playstation 4

A game that aims high but unfortunately ends up feeling like a cancelled late-gen PS2 title that was bought, polished and released two generations too late.

Void Studios’ first release, Eternity: The Last Unicorn (E: TLU) came across as sweeping and majestic in not only it’s trailers but also through various blurbs and descriptions (not helped by the mention of ‘Elderly Scrolls’ in the latest trailer, curiously re-named ‘Addy Scrolls’ in-game). Of course, this isn’t a game that can compare with Bethesda’s behemoth titles, coming as it does from a small, new studio.

✍️🎙️ Britt Interviews: Simon Meeks (The Secret Experiment) 🎙️✍️ @Simon_Meek @TheSecretExp @BrittRecluseuk

The Secret Experiment created one of my games of the year for 2018, the wonderfully twisted, abstract and also BAFTA-winning Beckett.

Ever since playing the game, I’ve kept an eye on the company and the man behind it, Simon Meek. Keen to see what he came up with next.

To my surprise, it wasn’t a video game at all but an experimental book entitled Marnie Wakes which consists of 32 cards to be read or ‘performed’ in any order.

I’d never come across anything like this with the exception of William S Burroughs own experimental ‘Cut and Paste’ style of literature which eventually gave us Naked Lunch, and so I was intrigued.

🐵 Review: Ape Out "Serious Monkey Business" 🐵 @devolverdigital #GameDev #IndieGame

Game Title: Ape Out

Platform Reviewed: Nintendo Switch

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Rating: Ice Cool

Although at first glance, there are comparisons to be drawn between Ape Out and Hotline Miami, within a few moments of gameplay, it’s clear to see that it isn’t really ‘apeing’ it at all, and it’s all the better for it.

📦🎮Quickshot Custom Triggers Unboxing (PS4) 📦🎮 @bionikgaming

🎮 "Let's talk about the PS4 Quickshot Custom Triggers and I try to demonstrate how to install them" 🎮

🍺🗡Review: Party Hard (SWITCH) "You start asking yourself why they can't keep the bloody noise down" 🗡🍺 @tinyBuild #IndieGame #GameDev

Parties are fun. I know it, you know it.

Rockstar-turned-agony uncle Andrew WK knows it. "When it's time to party, we will party hard," and all that.

However, as you turn into a late-thirties curmudgeon, like me, you notice that when other people are having parties and you're not, it grates a lot. 

You start asking yourself why they can't keep the bloody noise down, it's nearly eleven o'clock, and other things your eighteen-year-old self would weep at hearing.

👮🚨🍩 Review: Beat Cop (iOS) - "An 80's Pixel Fest Of Cops, Donuts and Laughs!" 👮🚨🍩 #IndieGame @11bitstudios @PxCrow

Beat Cop - iOS

11 Bit Studios

I’m stuck on my train on the way home on a Thursday evening, the train I’m on has stopped and hasn’t moved in the last 15 minutes. Then I remember that I have Beat Cop on my iPhone to play, so I whip it out and get stuck into this great pixel art 80’s police shows inspired video game.

🕹️ Doncaster is Ready To Host The UK’s Biggest Retro Gaming Market On Sunday March 3rd! 🕹️ #Retrogaming @ReplayEvents

"An air of nostalgia is set to sweep through Doncaster in March when the UK’s biggest 

retro video game market comes to town."

🐗 Review: Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden - PS4 - "Never a ‘boar’ing moment" 🐗 #GameDev #IndieGame

Game Title: Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden

Developer: The Bearded Ladies

Platform reviewed: Playstation 4

Rating: Ice Cool

Pre-fight stealth sections add a new angle to the turn-based strategy formula present in Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden (MYZ: RTE) and the story, whilst quite generic is rich with atmosphere and the unforgiving gameplay is just on the right side to keep you involved without it feeling hugely unfair.

🎧 Unboxing: Venom Nighthawk Chat Gaming Headset (PS4/PC/XBOX/SWITCH/MAC/MOBILE) 🎧

🎧 "This month I'm testing out the Nighthawk single cup gaming headset, ideal for a gamer on a budget who needs one ear on the action and the other on a potential crying baby or maybe the front doorbell!" 🎧

🏌 Episode 11: Battle Golfer - 1991 - SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive - Golf Has Never Been So Much Fun! ⛳ #Retrogaming

🏌Golf Video Games Don't Get Much Weirder Than Battle Golfer Yui on the SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive!

Watch me struggle to comprehend this games weirdness! ⛳

🎧 Gioteck TX20 Retro Stereo Game & Go Headset - Unboxing 🎧 #Unboxing

🎧 "Check these funky retro Gioteck TX20 earphones out with me. Gioteck has got these awesome retro-styled earphones out right now and they're made for gaming. They are compatible with PS4, XBOX, SWITCH, PC, MAC, MOBILE and any other system with a standard microphone jack!" 🎧

🖥 PC Upgrades You Can Probably Afford 🖥

Image source

If your PC is starting to feel a bit sluggish you may be thinking it is time to replace it. They are not cheap though, and a better option could be to look at ways of improving its performance.

PC upgrades could save you a lot of money and make your PC feel like a new machine.

🐒♚Ten Minute Taster: Monkey King: Master Of The Clouds [PS4] 🐒♚ #IndieGame @RetroismGames

♚🐒"A huge Japanese coin-op hit developed by HOT-B in 1989, the game was later renamed Cloud Master when released outside Japan on the Sega Master System. 

It subsequently appeared on NES, SFC, and the PC Engine. This upgraded release of the original arcade version includes HD ready elements by developer Starfish-SD, the company formed by the original HOT-B development team.

For the first time, live online leaderboards will add a worldwide competitive quality to the game not possible before."🐒♚

⚔️🗝️ Review: Iron Crypticle - "Total Carnage, I Love It! (SWITCH) 🗝️⚔️ #GameDev @TIKIPODltd @BrittRecluseuk

Game Title: Iron Crypticle

Developer: Confused Pelican

Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch

Rating: Ice Cool

Playing like a four-player version of Super Smash TV with RPG elements, Iron Crypticle went down a storm at a recent multiplayer night at mine, the clever use of random generation and unlockable items to make each dungeon delve more varied as well as ramping up the replay value immensely.

Fun in single player but elevated above and beyond in the mighty form of local co-op, Iron Crypticle is a keeper.

⛳️🎮 Golf Has Never Been So Much Fun - Episode 10: Arnold Palmer's Tournament Golf - 1989 🎮⛳️ #Retrogaming

⛳️🎮 "Play this game with a yardage chart and you might just become a World Champion" 🎮⛳️

🔎 Review: Call Of Cthulu "Not so much a call as a distant whimper" 🔎 #GameDev #IndieGame

Game Title: Call of Cthulhu

Developer: Cyanide

Platform Reviewed: Playstation 4

The main bulk of my knowledge of Cyanide as developers comes from their previous titles Of Orcs and Men and Styx: Master of Shadows, two titles that, whilst quite rigid in their gameplay, kept me involved until the end.

Whereas in terms of H.P Lovecraft in the gaming medium, the two main touchpoints for me are 2005’s Dark Corners of the Earth and the more recent Conarium, both tasty titles for different reasons.

This new title, Call of Cthulhu, whilst having some great moments, never felt like it got into a flow for me, too many moving parts and a leaping narrative removed my sense of immersion and also interest, ultimately making the latter half of the game feel like a trudge.

⚽ Championship Manager 93 Legends ⚽ #Retrogaming

Nostalgia is a powerful force of nature.

I just got back into playing Championship Manager 93 which is an extremely dangerous statement to be making upfront as I'm now a recovering CM Addict from the 90s.

🗝️ Ten Minute Taster: Rehtona "It's Another Backwards!" 🗝️ #GameDev

游戏简介

《幻境双生 - Rehtona》）是一款复古风的平台像素解谜游戏，首发平台是Steam。在游戏中，玩家将扮演主角Rehtona，身处正发生异变的世界，利用各类独创性机关和她被赐予的 “幻象标记” 能力，穿梭于世界的表里两侧，收集每一片世界之心碎片，解开一个个谜题，找寻故事的真相。

🆒 Review: OlliOlli Switch Stance "If you’ve never played OlliOlli this feels like the ideal time to get involved" 🆒 #GameDev #IndieGame @Roll_7

Let me list off my extensive skateboarding video games points of reference so as I can frame this review for you a little better.

California Games (SMS) – Year Of Release: 1987

Tony Hawks 2 (PS1) – Year Of Release: 2000

🎮🧠 Can Gaming Give You These Life Skills? 🧠🎮

Image via Unsplash

Gaming is an adventure, a way to relax and to catch up with friends.

But have you ever stopped to think it could be teaching you valuable skills?

Yep, it turns out that all the times your parents yelled at you for spending hours hammering away at your controller in your games room, they might have been wrong about it being a waste of time - because you were actually developing a whole host of useful attributes.

Of course, there is no denying that there can be a dark side to excessive gaming - the media is rife with stories of addiction and anti-social behaviour -, but there's also an underreported good side.

🖳 Loading Screen Games 🖳 #Retrogaming

Who remembers a time when you would sit and wait for your computer games to load?

Anyone who owned a Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC or an Atari 800 will remember it very well!

🔎 Review: Observer 'A great way to spend a few ‘Hauers’ 🔎 @BlooberTeam @BrittRecluseuk #GameDev

Game Title: Observer

Developer: Bloober team

Platform Reviewed: PS4

Rating: Ice Cool

Everything is improved by adding Rutger Hauer, the movie veteran of classics such as Blade Runner (most applicable here), Salute of the Jugger, The Hitcher, Surviving the Game and dozens more besides (yes, even Armageddon with Mark Dacascos, a better film than the 1998 Michael Bay one) provides the physical basis and voices the protagonist of Observer, Daniel Lazarski.

A cop for the KPD (Krakow Police Department), his speciality is hacking into neural implants and ‘observing’ memories to piece together crime scenes. Set almost exclusively in a rundown tenement building in a dystopian Poland, Observer manages to convey a rich world full of dubious history in a relatively claustrophobic setting. Good.

🕹️ Games Room Tour 2019 - "Britt & Faye's Games Room(s)" 🕹️ @BrittRecluseuk @kingdomofcarts #Retrogaming

"Join Britt as he shows us around the awesome games room that he and Faye have built up. Keep your eyes open for some pure retrogaming gold in them there rooms!"

@BrittRecluseuk 🕹️

@kingdomofcarts 🕹️

🌵 Ten Minute Taster: Brawlout - PS4 "My First Go At A Platform Fighter Game!" 🌵 #Brawlout

🥕🥕🥕 Review: Ninjin: Clash Of Carrots "Surprisingly endearing carrot-based frolics" 🥕🥕🥕 #GameDev @NinjinClash

Ninjin: Clash of Carrots
Rating: Ice Cool

When I first received this game for review, I must admit that, from the trailer I assumed it was a tedious endless runner, possibly ported from mobile platforms and so I began to set up the rickety stool and noose, however, I was hugely surprised to see that the game offers far more depth and challenge than I initially expected.

🔴🔫 Review: Pang Adventures "We all make mistakes…mine was not playing this from the second it was released" 🔴🔫

Game Title – Pang Adventures

Developer – Dot Emu

Platform reviewed – Nintendo Switch

Rating – Ice Cool

I sat down to play Pang Adventures with my girlfriend, as it has always shone (as does everything) in local co-op.

After the first training round which probably lasted less than ten seconds, I turned to her and said, “I’m addicted to this”.

What followed were a couple of hours of us ploughing through the first 40 or so (out of 100) levels and I fully intend to carry on tonight, I love it.