Lazily revisiting Retro Fever

January 5th, 2015 11:25 AM
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Last March, I followed up my unboxing and Let’s Play of Zéphyr with a video about Retro Fever. This game by Brian Picchi might be better called a metagame, as players assume the role of a retrocomputing enthusiast charged with adding as many classic computers to their collection as possible — a game most of us already play every day.

I’m no Internet celebrity, and my video did little to bring attention to Picchi’s work. Finally, Retro Fever is getting the spotlight it deserves: Lazy Game Reviews (whose website looks quite familiar!) has nearly a quarter million YouTube users who were recently exposed to founder Clint Basinger’s own unboxing and Let’s Play of Retro Fever.

Amazing what someone with actual talent can do, no? For more Apple II goodness from Basinger, catch his Moon Patrol unboxing.

Want to learn how Picchi makes such great software? He took Juiced.GS readers behind the scenes of Retro Fever and his previous game, Lamb Chops, in Volume 19, Issue 1. Or you can download the Lamb Chops source code, released just last week.

(Hat tip to Tony DiCola)

Moon Patrol unboxing video

August 8th, 2011 3:17 PM
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Filed under Game trail, Software showcase;
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A hallmark of the 1 MHz podcast are unboxings. The show’s host, Carrington Vanston, often gets his hands on new-in-box Apple II games and will record the audio of breaking the seal, horrifying collectors worldwide. His philosophy: games were meant to be played, and these classics aren’t doing anyone any good in the box.

Another self-described "anti-collector" is Clint, the host of Lazy Game Reviews, a retro computer and video game site founded this past February to collect the thoughts and media that he’d previously distributed via social media (Twitter, YouTube, etc.). The site got off to a great start, with a two-part series on getting an Apple IIGS with ADTPro up and running. He quickly followed up with a feature of similar interest to Apple II hobbyists: an unboxing video of side-scrolling shooter Moon Patrol.

Unfortunately, the video stops short of an actual review of the game as 1 MHz would do. But it’s still a fun look at the tangible aspects of a game that you don’t get with an ADTPro-reconstituted disk image. As we move more and more toward digital distribution, these "feelies" will become artifacts with no modern counterparts. How long before there are no more boxes to unbox?