Latest news with #MegaDrive
Stuff.tv
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Stuff.tv
Sega killed a bunch of mobile games. Here's how to save them.
Sega Forever was a brilliant idea in theory. Tap into Sega's rich back catalogue. Lovingly repackage each title for smartphones. Let fans enjoy the classics with cloud saves, leaderboards, and support for virtual and physical controls. And let everyone play for free – or bin adverts with a small one-off payment. In reality? It fizzled. Most of the collection comprised a bunch of Mega Drive/Genesis titles in a creaky emulator. Beyond that, Virtua Tennis showed up as the half-hearted mobile version rather than the Dreamcast great. However, the odd title shone, such as a cracking mobile-optimised Crazy Taxi I still play, and a Super Monkey Ball remake that felt right at home on mobile devices with gyroscopes and accelerometers. Sega is now axing even these highlights. Open a remaining Sega Forever game and you'll see a notice that support is ending. Hardly a shock, since the most recent Sega Forever release arrived in 2019. But it's still a gut punch that the range would have been better named Sega For About Eight Years. My take is that while gamers obsess over the new, the industry's rich history deserves equal attention. It's worth preserving. Yet unlike with music, film and literature, it's hard to legally access more than a small selection of titles. And those are resold time and time again. Sega Forever could have been different – a window into the deeper cuts of Sega's history. But it never quite got there. There are probably solid business reasons for that. But it also again highlights the ephemeral nature of digital games. Buy something on an app store and you can download it on multiple devices – until the day you can't. There's no guarantee of permanence, which in Sega's case stands in stark contrast to the cartridges and discs these games originally appeared on. My Sega Forever games really are forever. So there. Save state Fortunately, there are ways to safeguard mobile games. Connect an iPhone or iPad to a Mac or PC, and use iMazing. Go to Tools > 'Manage Apps', click Library, and download games as IPA files to later sideload on to compatible devices using the same Apple ID. (That's how I resurrected old App Store games on a first-gen iPad Air.) Android's easier. Install Cx File Explorer, tap Local and Apps, pick a game and tap Backup. Squirt the APK+ file to another device using something like Quick Share (again, use Cx File Explorer to install it). And whether you favour Apple or Android kit, stash copies of your exports in the cloud or on a backup drive, so you don't lose them if a device dies. So it's good news that Sega Forever (and other) games can be saved, but preservation shouldn't mean jumping through hoops. The games industry must be better about safeguarding and making accessible its own history. 'Netflix of retro games' Antstream Arcade makes a valiant effort regarding accessibility, but still only has 1300 titles and lacks true ownership. Permanence for classic digital games remains vanishingly rare. And when a service winks out of existence, gaps in gaming history reappear with no guarantee they'll ever be filled again. Of course, there is one (legally grey) way to access old games that the industry hates and yet actually works: emulation. Maybe it's time to stop fighting it. Publishers could repackage old games however they like and simultaneously give us access and personal-use rights to old ROMs and disc images, to use as we please. Then a name like 'Sega Forever' would mean something, and the classic games we care about really would be able to legally live on in our lives, forever.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
《邊緣禁地4》真的要賣80美元？執行長：如果你是粉絲就想辦法買下去
2K Games 旗下 Gearbox Software 開發中的新作《邊緣禁地4》（Borderlands 4），此前 Gearbox 執行長 Randy Pitchford 才表示不清楚遊戲該賣多少。但最近 Pitchford 卻被發現，先前回應網友關於《邊緣禁地4》的售價問題時，就表示：「如果你是《邊緣禁地》粉絲就會買」。 此前，一名玩家擔心《邊緣禁地4》的售價會高達 80 美元，在 Randy Pitchford 的 X（推特）留言，希望他們不要冒險，否則很多玩家不會願意花 80 美元買這遊戲，因為會助長價格上漲的風氣。並認為 Pitchford 是開發商執行長，肯定在售價上有一定的發言權。 但對此，Pitchford 卻不認同這說法，回應：「A) 這不是我能決定的。 B) 如果你是真粉絲，你就會想辦法買下它。我在 1991 年時，家裡附近的電玩店有一片 SEGA Genesis（Mega Drive）主機的《星際航艦》（Starflight），售價 80 美元，我才剛剛從高中畢業，在皮斯摩海灘的冰淇淋店打工，領最低的薪資，但我還是想辦法買到了。」 A) Not my call. B) If you're a real fan, you'll find a way to make it happen. My local game store had Starflight for Sega Genesis for $80 in 1991 when I was just out of high school working minimum wage at an ice cream parlor in Pismo Beach and I found a way to make it happen. — Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) May 14, 2025 而 Pitchford 的回應卻不被網友們買單，有人嘲諷《邊緣禁地4》80 美元，但玩過這系列的都知道，後面還會推出季票，或是各種造型：「這絕對是近期最糟的執行長回應」、「我等不及看到這款遊戲失敗」、「別用通貨膨脹那一套，我們的薪水可沒有」。 緊貼最新科技資訊、網購優惠，追隨 Yahoo Tech 各大社交平台！ 🎉📱 Tech Facebook： 🎉📱 Tech Instagram： 🎉📱 Tech WhatsApp 社群： 🎉📱 Tech WhatsApp 頻道： 🎉📱 Tech Telegram 頻道：
The Guardian
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Farm Simulator: 16bit Edition review – the simple joy of ploughing your own furrow
When I got my first job in games journalism 30 years ago, I arrived just too late to review games for my favourite ever console: the Sega Mega Drive. Although a few titles were still being released for the machine in 1995, the games magazine world had moved on and all anyone wanted to read about were the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn. It was a bitter blow. Fast-forward to 2025 and a resurgent interest in producing new games for vintage home computers and consoles has led to Farming Simulator: 16bit Edition – a Mega Drive instalment in the hugely successful agricultural sim series. The passion project of Renzo Thönen, lead level designer and co-owner of Farming Simulation studio Giants Software, the game has been written using an open-source Mega Drive development kit, and manufactured in a limited run of genuine Mega Drive cartridges. Slotting this brand new release into the cart of my dad's ancient Mega Drive II console felt ridiculously moving and I thought the game could only be a letdown after that. But I was wrong. Farming Simulator: 16bit Edition takes the basic rhythms of its stablemates – sowing, harvesting and selling crops – and puts them in an isometric environment where workable fields are interspersed with useful buildings such as fuel depots, seed stores and garages. You begin with basic tractors and harvesters, but as you carefully work the land, you grow and sell wheat to earn money, thereby opening the prospect of upgrading your machinery and buying more powerful vehicles. Eventually, you make enough money to unlock new farm areas, but the basic game play is always the same: you slowly and carefully drive your tractors over your land, ploughing and sowing and harvesting as the seasons pass. In this reduced format, the sedate pace of the farming simulator games should become a dull repetitive chore; robbed of intricately detailed 3D visuals, real-time weather systems and supplementary activities, all you're doing is effectively mowing the lawn. Over and over again. Let's be honest: transferring the complex, multilayered 3D sim into a console that launched at the same time as the world wide web and the first mass manufactured Nokia mobile phone was always going to be a technical challenge. But somehow, the system still works. Perhaps it's the nice chug-chug sound effects of the tractors, or the amusingly precarious steering that often sends you crashing into a tree; or maybe it's the sheer nostalgia of the rugged 2D visuals. I don't know. I just know that I've kept playing. Veteran Mega Drive owners may be reminded of the Desert, Jungle and Urban Strike games or the isometric strategy delights of Populous or General Chaos. But what's really fascinating is seeing a modern game genre on this old machine and wondering, what score would it have received from contemporary gaming mags such as Sega Power or Mega? Perhaps, this is one for Mega Drive nuts like me who thrill at the idea of running something new on their beloved artefact – like playing a 4K Blu-ray movie on a Toshiba video recorder. It's also going to be tough to secure one as only 1,000 are being made. However, Giants has previously released a Commodore 64 version of the game, Farming Simulator C64, which is now available to play for PC, and perhaps an emulated version of this one will also find a way to modern machines. And yet, like a deluxe half-speed remaster of some old vinyl album, there is emotional value in the format itself. This is why Giants isn't alone in producing new carts for the old consoles. The excellent puzzle platformer Tanglewood appeared for the Mega Drive a few years ago and a promising shooter Earthion is coming later this year. Limited Run games has also made a whole range of new SNES carts for classic titles. I wish my dad were around to see me reviewing a new release for the last console we played on together. As someone who spent all his boyhood summers staying on a farm, he certainly would have loved this game. For now, I will keep ploughing these fields and selling wheat, enjoying the tranquil cycle of nature as rendered on a machine as out of date as an ox cart. Farming Simulator: 16bit Edition is available now, £43
Business Mayor
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
'Aliens: The Video Games' Charts The Interactive History Of Everyone's Favourite Xenomorphs
Image: 20th Century Fox As one of cinema's longest-running sci-fi horror franchises, the Alien series has spawned more than its fair share of video games—but the surprising thing is, unlike some other movie crossovers we could mention, the majority of them have been pretty decent. Starting in 1982 on the Atari VCS / 2600, the lineage of Alien video games has hit systems such as the Mega Drive, SNES, PS1, PC, PSP and more—and a new book by acclaimed author and journalist Mike Diver aims to chart that blood-soaked history. Aliens: The Video Games was formally announced back in 2024 and covers both games 'old and new, licensed and unofficial, crossovers, fan projects [and] unreleased titles,' according to the author. It will also feature plenty of interviews. It's #alienday. And Independent Bookstore Day. So here's a thing. Aliens: The Video Games. Games old and new, licensed and unofficial, crossovers, fan projects, unreleased titles. Loads of new interviews covering games from the 1980s to the 2020s. Cover by @ Out in 2026. — Mike Diver (@ 2025-04-26T06:11:17.580Z Whether you're a fan of Alien 3: The Gun, Alien vs Predator or the more recent Alien: Isolation, this will surely be a recommended read for fans of cinema's most enduring xenomorphs. It's being published in 2026 and will be available online and from book retailers, and should serve as the perfect companion tome to Andy Kelly's superb Perfect Organism. The Alien franchise started back in 1979 with Ridley Scott's seminal horror classic. It was followed by an equally-adored sequel in 1986, directed by James Cameron. Since then, we've seen multiple sequels and spin-offs, with the most recent movie being 2024's Alien: Romulus. A TV series, Alien: Earth, will debut on FX on Hulu in 2025. READ SOURCE businessmayor April 29, 2025
Forbes
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Prisonela MD' Is A New Platformer Just Released For Sega Genesis
Prisonela MD Ratalaika Games Today marks the release of a brand-new platformer for a Sega Genesis near you (or Sega Mega Drive, if you're not in the United States) named Prisonela MD. This all-new fast-paced platformer is all about bite-sized action and quick reflexes. In Prisonela MD, you take on the role of an enslaved creature cast into a colossal fortress dubbed the Prisonela. There are twisted rooms of torture and chaos you must escape to reclaim your freedom. Check out the trailer below to see what it's like; there are definitely some Celeste vibes in the visuals and gameplay. Prisonela MD is developed by Two Black Cats and published by Ratalaika Games, with The Retro Room Games handling physical distribution of the actual Genesis / Mega Drive cartridges, cases, and manuals. You can grab a physical copy to play on your actual system here if that's your thing. The physical edition even includes a full-color manual like the good old days, which is a nice touch. The game is also coming to PC via Steam this year as well, and you can try out a demo right now in your web browser on the developer's page if you want to see what it's like for yourself. And when it's available, you'll even be able to play the ROM in an emulator on your PC, console flash cart, or handheld emulation device of your choosing. The Retro Room provided me with a ROM of Prisonela MD to try out and I can definitely confirm the Celeste vibes I mentioned before. Levels are short and punchy, but extremely tight and well-crafted. It feels like the concept behind the game was to distill down all of the best parts of a difficult platformer and remove everything else. Honestly, it works really well based on what I've tried so far. Notably, Prisonela MD is the first game to be created using MD Engine, a Sega Genesis/Mega Drive game engine designed to be used by folks who do not have C or ASM knowledge. There will be more details on that program soon, as it's being created in-house by Two Black Cats themselves. I noticed that there is another version of this game that released a little over a year ago developed by 9Ratones named Prisonela DX on Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch, but it's actually quite a bit different. The concept, gameplay flow, and characters are all very similar, but the structure and content are extremely different. Think of it as a remix of the same general idea, but not the same game. Levels in 'Prisonela MD' are very tiny Ratalaika Games Prisonela MD is the latest in a rising resurgence of indie games developed for classic hardware. Crafting a game with a retro aesthetic is one thing, but developing a game that actually runs on original systems as if it was made in the 90s is something else entirely.
