Retro

You are caught in a dark maze full of glowing orbs. You're hungry and only the orbs can feed your insatiable appetite. But at each turn, danger lurks. Merciless ghosts haunt your every move. This is the story of Pac-Man.

Freelance game developer Tom Davies has converted Pac-Man into a first-person shooter gaming experience that mines the darker side of the classic. FPS-Man is free to play on gaming site Kongregate.… Read more

Sony stunned the gaming world this week by divulging that its new PlayStation 4 console will be significantly cheaper than its major rival, the Xbox One. But does it stand a chance against the might of Microsoft?

To find out, watch as we plunge headlong into the rich history of the PlayStation, from its humble beginnings as a failed co-project with Nintendo, to the might of the all-powerful PlayStation 2.

Along the way we'll slap you about the cheeks with nostalgic treats, from old-school adverts to one particularly creepy T-Rex. Spinning up to the present day like an educational … Read more

There's a special place 200 miles south of where I live. It's a place of legend, an ancient burial ground. Supposedly, a stretch of land near Alamogordo, N.M., is the final resting place for one of the most infamous disasters in gaming history: the Atari E.T. game.

According to a New York Times report from 1983, Atari dumped 14 truckloads of unsold game cartridges and other detritus into a landfill. "Guards kept reporters and spectators away from the area yesterday as workers poured concrete over the dumped merchandise," it reads.

The E.T. game earned its status as one of gaming's biggest bombs by pretty much stinking up the entire video game industry at the time. Critics and gamers alike hated the plot, the way it looked, and just about everything else about it. That's why Atari got stuck with several million unsold copies.… Read more

Though steampunk tends to mind a retro vein, it goes surprisingly well with the aesthetics of the "Star Wars" universe. This was already proven with the marvelous steampunk AT-AT. Epbot reader May B. delves into the look for an unusual, and somewhat creepy, version of a Darth Vader costume.

May B.'s concept starts with a Victorian mourning dress, a shiny black number full of intricate patterns, topped off with a black hat with a veil running down the back. Steampunk goggles (a requirement pretty much) are integrated into a Darth Vader mask topped with a filigreed silver detail.… Read more

Any camera from the 1930s would probably get photophiles excited. But make it the cam that snapped the famed shot of the couple kissing in Times Square on V-J Day and you've got an OMG find.

That shooter, a 1937 35mm Leica Illa, sold at a Vienna auction over the weekend for 114,000 euros, or about $147,117.

Late photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt used the very camera to shoot his iconic image of a sailor kissing a girl in Times Square on August 14, 1945. Life magazine published the photo a week later. … Read more

One of what's believed to be only six still-working Apple 1 computers set a record at auction Saturday, selling for $671,400 in Germany.

The machine, built by Steve "The Woz" Wozniak in Steve Jobs' parents garage back in 1976, was sold along with the original owner's manual and a signed letter from Jobs to original owner Fred Hatfield.

Breker, the German auction house that handled the sale, sold another Apple 1 in December for $640,000, a substantial jump in price from the Apple 1 sold by Sotheby's in New York last June for $374,500.… Read more

If you're a fan of "Game of Thrones," a grand competition called Battle of the Nations might be right up your alley. The tournament, held yearly in Europe, features a variety of full-contact medieval battle competitions involving around 500 people in teams from 22 countries.

The 2013 Battle of the Nations, which concludes on May 13, takes place in Aigues-Mortes, France, and offers battles such as 1 vs. 1, 5 vs. 5, 21 vs. 21, and a grand royale battle where everyone fights each other. Russia has won all three of the previous tournaments. … Read more

MONTREAL--For the first time in maybe 20 years, I got a new cassette tape.

It's a bitchin' mix of 1970s funk tunes and it sounds delicious on my car stereo, which fortunately is old enough to be able to play it. But the best thing about this tape is that it came out of a vending machine.

Distroboto is a nonprofit network of machines in Montreal that have been retrofitted to sell works by independent artists. They spit out music, literature, and accessories, all for $2 a pop. … Read more

Mario's multilevel gaming style has endured for good reasons. It's simple, it's fun, and it's addictive. Once you've conquered the realms of Mario and other similar retro games, where do you go next? How about creating your own custom video game? That sounds great, but you'll need to brush up on your programming skills first. Unless, that is, Kickstarter project Pixel Press gets off the ground.

With Pixel Press, you just need the app, a piece of paper, a pencil, and your imagination to create your own game. No coding required.

Here's how it works. You start by printing out the gridded Pixel Press sketch sheet, along with the instructions. You can design five layers on the sketch sheet using certain elements like terrain, hazards, monkey bars, moving platforms, barriers, spikes, portals, and power-ups. You draw all these out onto the grid, with the aim of designing five progressively more challenging levels for your hero to conquer.… Read more