Christmas ReBlog: The 12 Days of Retro Gaming

I just read a wonderful Christmas-related retrogaming post from 2011 that I hadn’t seen before, all thanks to the magic of google! It’s called 12 Days of Retro Gaming, and it’s worth a read!

In 1994 my father decided that it was high time to replace that old Commodore 64 (which wasn’t even considered a PC anymore) with a brand new Pentium 90 mhz PC.  I remember coming downstairs on Christmas morning and there it was, a beautiful boxy white machine with a VGA monitor, printer, and took up all the space our wide oak desk could spare.  CD-ROM was brand new and this bad boy came equipped with it and a few initial CDs, including Myst and an Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia.  At that time, however, not every game came in the CD version and many PC gamers were selling off their floppy disc versions of games to upgrade.  It was at this time that I became enamoured with PC gaming and began stopping by the used PC game shop near my part-time job and blowing my money on classics.

Read more by clicking the link HERE

More Retro Demos: The Tandy Color Computer 3 Holiday Demonstration Program

Time to unearth another retro Christmas demo, this time one that was used to showcase the Tandy Color Computer 3 back in 1986.  The “Holiday Demonstration Program” was developed by Spectral Associates, a software company founded in 1980, and based out of Tacoma, Washington.  Spectral Associates published a number of CoCo games, including Color Space Invaders, Realm of Nuaga, The Interbank Incident, and Madness and the Minotaur (and many more), selling them both directly through mail-order as well as to Tandy for distribution through their Radio Shack chain of retail stores.

The Holiday Demonstration Program was written by David Figge and John Gabbard, who also co-wrote several of Spectrum Associates’ other titles, and the graphics were coded by Eugene T. Gatlin (who was employed by Spectral Associates from the spring of 1985 to the winter of 1986, and worked on several of the company’s CoCo 3 projects).  Information on Spectral Associates is a bit sparse, including the exact date of its demise, which appears to be sometime in the late 1980s (not far removed from the release date of this holiday demo!).

Regardless, watching this demonstration program is a wonderful trip into the PC retrogaming past, chunky graphics and all!  Enjoy!

Time for a Commodore 64 Christmas!

As we hurtle ever-so-closer to that magic time of year in which peace and good will to all mankind manifests everywhere across North America, except shopping malls and “occupy” demonstrations, a reminder of times gone by is a welcome guest.  In that vein, it’s time to remember the days of the Commodore 64, with the 1982 C64 Christmas demo that displayed all the awesome 64K RAM, 16 colors, sprite animation, and amazing sound synthesis that the then-powerful home computer could offer.  Enjoy the holiday spirit this invokes and don’t forget to keep the retrogaming spirit alive!