Here at Total Recall, we deal in history. Partly because I love my video games, but also because as a graduate in the field I love my history as well. So it saddens me deeply when I see people involved in video games trying to mess with real, actual history. Which leads me to something…
The AV Club’s newly-relaunched games section, the Gameological Society, explores one of the greatest single examples of voice-over work in the history of the industry: Last Alert, a shooter for the TurboGrafx-16. A game renowned the world over for just how shitty its localisation work was, just about everything that could go wrong does go…
Arcade classic Dragon’s Lair has its share of critics, but because it was so beautiful for the time, it’s also got its share of fans. Enough for there to be a market for a very slick documentary. Inside the Dragon’s Lair is an upcoming documentary being put together by Sleepyeyed Films, who are looking to…
Get a cup of tea, a biscuit or two and settle in for ten minutes worth of Nintendo Power Glove propaganda, courtesy of the official VHS cassette guide to the peripheral. It is something you really should watch. From the product placement to pseudo-religious tone throughout, it’s as perfect a summary of one of Nintendo’s…
Due to the overwhelming popularity of its Smash Bros. series, a lot of people give Nintendo credit for pioneering the idea of a fighting game bringing together a company’s mascots in the name of face-punching. Sega fans, though, will know that Smash Bros. was just the latest in a long line of such titles. One…
Not just as a vague concept, either. The famed science fiction author absolutely nails it, from the bank statements to the hardware to the social changes to the possibilities for communication. “Visionary” is an awful, over-used word, but it’s cases like this which are the rare exceptions you can actually use it and it fits.…
When I was four years old, my father took me out to a local electronics store and said we were buying a computer. OK, I thought, not really knowing why that was such a big deal. Twenty-seven years later, I now know it was one of the most significant days of my life. That day…
If you think unboxing new games is fun, wait until you see how awesome it is when a guy finds a box of old PC games and spends seven minutes taking them out of a single, larger cardboard box Space Quest. Man Hunter. Police Quest. Gold Rush. I can smell the musty manual paper through…
Nolan Bushnell, co-founder of Atari and also the man behind Chuck E. Cheese’s, won’t just be remembered for those two towering achievements. The guy also made robots. In 1981, having left Atari three years previously, Bushnell founded Catalyst Technologies, a venture capital group designed to help invest in technology start-ups. Catalyst in turn went onto…
It might be dusty, and the games might be more than a little dog-eared, but according to the photographer it all still works, despite having sat in a loft for over thirty years. They sure don’t make ’em like they used to. True Vintage [sj9966 @ Flickr, via it 8-bit]
Thirty Years ago today, Atari had the balls to proclaim an entire day, hoping to lift its iconic Pac-Man character alongside the likes of other people who have their own day. Like, you know, Martin Luther King. And Jesus. The fact it was only celebrated by video game fans and Atari employees for that one…
It’s one of those things you probably never bothered to think about. “GameStop” sounds like something it took three seconds to come up with. But there’s surprisingly a bit more of a story behind the name. Executive Chairman of the company (and also founder and former CEO) Dan DeMatteo has told Reuters that he named…
Not the Pokémons. There’s too many of them, and just when you think you’ve got them all, Nintendo goes and creates more. Catching all (or most) of the coloured variations of the Nintendo 64 control pad, though, that’s probably easier. And more impressive. And practical! [via is it real]
Two Crude Dudes is a terrible game. Just terrible. I remember trying to play it as a kid, on a number of occasions, and every time I picked up a controller I’d be floored by how poor it was. So, uh, why did I keep picking up a controller? Because I so badly wanted it…
I’ve only played a bit of Remedy’s newest downloadable Alan Wake game—though Evan Narcisse liked it a lot, and I like what I’ve played, too. But then, I have something of a soft spot for Alan, for some reason. The original game sticks with me more than I thought it would; it’s the sort of…
I have some fond memories of my Game Gear. I loved that giant hunk of sexy black plastic so much that I forgave its terrible battery life and the other aspects that led to its financial failure. The game I played most was Mortal Kombat, which I was so excited to finally own in some…
I love the movie Clue. I’ve seen it over a dozen times. I can quote whole sections verbatim, and any time I feel annoyed by someone, I suffer from flames on the side of my face and heaving breaths. The board game is great, but the movie will always be the Clue that has my…
It’s funny, when people think of Prince of Persia games, they think of either the first one, or the ones including and following 2003’s Sands of Time. It’s as though there was a game in there that never existed… That game was 1999’s Prince of Persia 3D The 1989 original, and its 1993 sequel (which…
There’s a really interesting piece up on HG101 in which Iraqi gamer Salwan Asaad, now living in Egypt, recounts his experiences growing up in the 1980s with the region’s fledgling scene. Unlike the hell-in-a-handbasket Iraq has become in the last twenty years, Asaad remembers during the 1980s it was a (relatively) more prosperous state, and…
Seeing video games in a movie these days, or even a movie based on a video game, is nothing out of the ordinary. It’s expected. But during the 1970s, it was something to be marvelled at. This clip collects cameo appearances on the silver screen by the arcade games and home consoles of the 70’s,…
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