There’s hijinx galore on this week’s TMA! The boys discuss Thrustmaster peripherals, Alien Isolation and their usual played and purchased titles. Mat’s got some rare NE titles, while Tom’s got himself a Wii Mini. From there the conversation stems into how many consoles the boys own and leads them to question their own sanity…
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Long time no article written processors…that out of the way, let’s talk about Manchester’s Play Expo, which I was lucky enough to attend last week.
I wasn’t sure what to expect to be honest, but what I experienced was pure retro-delight. There were new games to try out, strangely ones that were already released mostly…not too much to hold my attention, although I wished I’d have made the extra push to try out Team 17’s new offering, the lemmings-like sheep saving simulator, Flockers.
It was slow progress at first making our way through the expo, I spent a good chunk of time playing Terminator 2: The Arcade Game on the Mega Drive, in one of the dedicated retro movie tie-in sections of the event. These exhibits were pretty cool, a fleet of systems were set up in a row that enabled you to sample the progression of several licensed games throughout the ages. There was everything from the aforementioned Terminator games (Terminator: Redemption, was featured here on Xbox, and it's still a thrilling experience to this day) to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Alien franchise.
Littered throughout these areas were cabinets displaying several original movie props, things from the likes of Star Wars to Robocop, I especially liked the inclusion of some props from The Last Starfighter movie. Let’s not forget the Delorian Time Machine from the Back to the Future series was there also.
Ok, after a quick toilet break I experienced perhaps the highlight of the day, a talk from Mel Croucher, creator and designer of Deus Ex Mahina, one of the most unique experiences in gaming. Mel was incredibly entertaining as he described the key elements in any video game are Dice (Luck), Ping Pong (Coordination), Chess (Strategy) and Bollocks. Bollocks of course is all the layers of flash a game throws at you to make you think you’re playing something truly special when in reality you’re just playing the same old thing repackaged. I agree with him. After the talk myself and my girlfriend purchased his book about the making of Deus Ex Machina and had it signed, he instructed us to read it somewhere snug, while being intimate with each other. Needless to say, Mel is now one of my new heroes.
After lunch and a rummage through a load of over-priced retro games (which I confess I picked up a few of) we reached the true retro area of the event, hundreds of televisions connected to a dizzying array of different consoles, ranging from familiar favourites like the Super Nintendo Entertainment System to obscure delights like the JVC-XEye (a lovely piece of kit combining the Sega Mega Drive with it’s Mega CD add on in one neat package).
We spent a good portion of time here, playing all sorts things, Keiko’s Fly Squadron on Mega CD was a particular highlight for me, a game which I will probably never own due to it’s high price point and it’s dependence on needing to own a Mega CD (a stupidly over-priced bit of kit on the second hand market). I also got to try out the Amiga CD32 for a short while, something I’d been curious about sampling for some time. It was ok…
Beyond this there was the Arcade area of the event and boy, what a treat that was. All the classic arcade machines of old lined up and free to play. A game called Crossbow kept us amused for a sometime with it’s early light gun type satisfaction. I got to play a Donkey Kong arcade cabinet which proved to be a much more natural and enjoyable experience than playing it on console. Honestly there was so much there to try and nearly all the classics accounted for. Something I thought was pretty neat was the inclusion of a Fix-It Felix Jr. Machine as featured in the animated movie, ‘Wreck-It-Ralph’.
After losing several members of our crew to the joys of old Arcade machines, myself and my girlfriend, Claire found ourselves amongst the Pinball Machines, which after spending some time juggling balls on the Twilight Zone table I was starting to grow rather fond of, but time was marching on and a raffle for charity was being drawn, 1st prize was a PS4. Claire bought tickets but sadly she didn’t win that converted PS4. The 2nd best prize was a Sega Dreamcast (which was left unclaimed) and there were other treats like a bucket of sweets on offer. Strangely the prize of a small plastic Darth Vader helmet caused too eager young men to leap on top of each as it was thrown into the audience as a freebie. Their scuffle resulted in the rope barrier in front of the stage crashing to the ground as they wrested each other for the prize. They were promptly told to cut it out. I assume they’d eaten too many sweets and feeling a little over-excited, that or they were Vader’s biggest fans. If so they would have been lucky enough to meet Darth himself, David Prowse who was signing autographs elsewhere at the event.
As the day drew to a close we just managed to catch the last part of a talk from Team 17, developers of amongst others, the Worms series (one of my all-time favourites).
Just before we loaded ourselves into the Blast Process wagon to return home, we had a quick go on a brand new game, the very enjoyable Wulver Blade, a new side-scrolling beat-em-up developed by the folks at Fully Illustrated and Darkwind Media.
With that we were off, after a full day of mostly retro-flavored, video gaming delights. As the sun set over the Manchester Eventhall that faithful Sunday evening I could hardly wait to come back next year and do it all over again.
- Tom Parry
Check out this super funky video that Blast Processor Mike made of the event below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0iF_53TAEE&w=560&h=315]
You know the strength of a Podcast, when two men can waffle on about games for 40 minutes about video games just two days after doing the same thing for an hour. Tom’s been out to Viborg Animation festival and not only tried an Oculus Rift, but a fun new indie title called ‘Stikbold’. Mat’s been doing some general faffin on the the Gameboy, all the while working on a terrible David Bowie impression…
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Mat’s back from EGX 2014, which means there’s pleanty to talk about! From Nintendo’s up & coming Wii U delights such as Kirby, Yoshi’s Wooly World & Splatoon, to indie hits like Lumino City & Volume, it’s all going on! Back on the home front, Tom’s been playing Entwined on the Vita, as well as some truely terrible DS games… Oh and Mat played a Virtual Boy…Believe me when I say, it’s all more exciting than it sounds!
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On this week’s TMA, the boys tackle the serious issues affecting gamers today. From whether ones socks should match, if ‘Action Puzzle’ is even a genre, and more importantly, if a gamer wasn’t that into Rush, should they be subjected to a 25 minute version of their album in Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock? Other than the usual tosh about plastic instruments, the boys discuss Destiny, Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Picallo, as well as the new Smash Brothers Demo on the 3DS! Cor!
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The Boys are Back in Town! Literally! Thin Lizzy songs aside, Tom’s back from London, Mat’s back from Hungary, it’s time for some serious podcasting and gaming! Mat’s been sinking his teeth into some seeerious Destiny, Tom’s been playing Golden Eye on the Wii and a host of others! Hear us mispronounce all your favourite words, make up new ones and find out the definition of the term ‘Birth Purse’…. It’s quite literally, a literary lapse of linguistic elocution! How’s that for alliteration? Oh, and of course, talking a lot of rubbish about games!
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On this week’s TMA, the boy’s go on a totally non-official adventure into Skittles land, munching tropical delights while discussing what we’ve been playing & general happenings. Mat gets all geriatric about how Resident Evil was back in his day, as well as how NHL games haven’t changed much since 1995, while Tom’s been diggin’ Steam World Dig and contemplating how much he’ll enjoy Super Smash Brothers on the 3DS…. And to think, all we needed to unlock this greatness was a tropical sugary delight…
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On this week’s TMA, the boy’s are recording a little earlier in the week than usual, as Mat’s buggering off to Hungary for the next 10 days! While this means there’s not been a lot of games played on this week’s epsode, the boys discuss the latest in news! From the Pokémon fighting game, through Amazon’s acquisition of Twitch… It all seems to be happening! Well, except Shenmue 3…
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On this week’s podcast the boys get down to business with some Retro Gaming shenanigans! Tom’s got some new Famicom Games, including Kid Dracula, Kid Niki (the iRem cart!) & Ninja Kid (Bandai), while Mat’s been getting some crazy flea market finds, as well as sinking his teeth into Rogue Legacy, Hohokum & some Gameboy Delights… Ahh, good times!
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So the boys really lower the tone this week… Amongst flatulence and debating Tom’s speed of photoshopping icons, the boys talk the usual mix of Retro & Current Gen titles! Tom’s been playing some Resident Evil 4, Halo 4 and other 4th entries to popular gaming franchises, while Mat’s been playing some obscure Gameboy deep cuts, such as Barbie Game Girl, Amazing Tater & Trip World… As fun as those all sound, it really is entertaining… Oh and sorry about the post-credit fade out fart…
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On this week’s TMA, the boys discuss the big news! Mario Kart 8 hasn’t saved the Wii U, Sony want you to rent PS3 games, and Tom’s Xbox is a freezin’ still… Mat’s been to a flea market & come back with some nice Flea Market finds, while Tom’s been getting bargains all of his own on eBay offers… Almost enough to buy a bag of sweeties don’t you know! Cor! Bargains!
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Hello everyone, it’s good to be back! On this week’s TMA, there’s a lot to talk about! Oh so many games bought and played, as well as a breakdown of the Danish weather, some Detiny Beta analysis and more Tea Baggin’ action than you can care to miss!
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An announcement from our co-founder, Michael Davies. We have some real treats in store for you at Blastprocess.com this Autumn. Keep those eyes peeled!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rQcmXrwJiM&w=560&h=315]
It’s almost the Holidays! Well for Tom at least, Mat’s already been on his and brought back some wonders from Corfu! We talk the usual tat about gaming, upcoming releases and Tom’s gaming induced narcolepsy, as well as discussing something a little closer to home n the wake of one of our listeners hanging up his controller for good.
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The latest from Tom's Game Room. Seeing as the original Game Room video was nearly 3 years old, Tom has created an update to show the room in its current fit to burst state, enjoy!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3Nomb7VPjM&feature=youtu.be]
It’s Tom & Mat Time coming at you and it’s going to be a Klax-ic episode! Ok, as you might have guessed from the Puns, Mat’s played Klax on his new Master System II, as well as a whole host of other games you probably love and he doesn’t… But it’s new consoles all round! Tom’s picked up a Famiclone all of his own and a copy of Takeshi no Chosenjo to go with it! Then things get serious as Mat spots a reseller in Denmark, and Tom’s been looking down at the Wii U Gamepad for some Final Fight 3! There’s some talk of Valiant Hearts, some Revenge of Shinobi and also a little Transformer talk, just because we thought you might appreciate it!
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Game Room videos. If there's anything a self respecting video game website should have then it's videos of the site's bloggers showing their wares. So here we are, my Games Room circa 2012...I think.
As you may have guessed there's a little story as to why this video's taken so long to appear on the site. Firstly, it was technically never finished as part 3 was never fully edited and secondly the screen ratio of the video got squashed somehow.
Regardless of these problems I felt what we did manage to film was worth salvaging, so here it is, a lost relic from the Blast Process archives...
Part 1: SATURN, MEGA DRIVE, NES, GAMECUBE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niEYSnQMc-A
Part 2: MASTER SYSTEM, N64, XBOX, MASTER SYSTEM, WII.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQdDFyhwQ8c
It’s Tom & Mat Time again kids! On this weeks episode, Mat sets out to concur the Danish car boot scene after watching lots of Game Chasers, while Tom’s too busy accidentally purchasing copies of Virtual Tennis 4 and talking himself out of buying a Kinect. Other than that, the chaps talk Megaman, Danish Supermarkets and an awful lot about retro gaming yet again. Yup, it’s just another Sunday in Tom & Mat Land!
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Phwoar! It’s another Tom & Mat Attack! This week is again a more retro orientated podcast, talking about a lot of classic titles! Tom’s been on Megaman, Mat’s been digging up some Gameboy obscurities and together, the boys have been playing some games set in the ol’ west! With some Red Dead Revolver, Dead Eye Jim, not to mention some Bloody Roar 4, this is a cracking episode! Also learn all about our exciting Tetris contest, in which you can win a Tee, a Gameboy & a copy of Tetris!
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My my! It’s that time of year again, it comes around so fast! It’s time for Tom & Mat to talk about the Electronic Entertainment Expo! Covering everything from Microsoft, Sony & Nintendo, to EA and Ubisoft, weighing in with opinions such why Assassin’s Creed would make crap multiplayer, as well as why Splatoon looks like the best thing ever! If you have any thoughts, please feel free to share them with us, we’d love to hear YOUR opinions on all of this!
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