Category: TC

Sofa Gaming with Gauntlet - 1

Sofa Gaming with Gauntlet

Chris Halpin-Durband CH-D, PC, Reviews, TC, TeamZ1G

Before joining the PC master race I used to play consoles a lot, and there is a large part of me that sorely misses the good old days of my youth, with multiple people clustered around the same fourteen inch television which was in turn split horizontally to enjoy a spot of sofa gaming. Obviously beat ‘em ups were always a staple fare for this sort of social activity, along with various first person shooters (some of my fondest gaming memories are of multiplayer with three other friends playing GoldenEye and Perfect Dark) but one game really stood head and shoulders above the rest for local co-op gaming; the 1987 NES release Gauntlet. This was heavily based on the original 1985 arcade cabinet game of the same name but it was one of the first console ports of a coin-op game that to my mind really managed to capture the frantic spirit of multiplayer arcade shenanigans and bring it to your living room. When I noticed that a new version was being released on Steam I sighed inwardly; there have been a string of Gauntlet spin-offs, re-imaginings and sequels ranging from the mediocre to the disastrous. I felt it was my moral duty to review this game properly for you in the way that it was intended to be played; with another gamer in front of the TV. As such I invited fellow Zero1Gaming writer Trent Cannon to my humble abode to join me in my quest to re-capture my childhood with fizzy drinks, sugary snacks and Gauntlet. Read more …

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Super Smash Brothers 3DS Review

Trent Cannon Archive, DS, Reviews, TC

I didn’t come into Super Smash Brothers 3DS without some worries. To me, Smash isn’t a fighting game. It’s a party game. It’s the kind of game I play with my friends in the same room, starting at 8pm and finishing somewhere around dawn the next day. It is a chance to shout and swear and curse the day someone allowed that goddamn shock rat in this round.

It brings out almost as much anger as blue shells for me, but it’s the best kind of anger because soon I’ll be able to break those bitches with a well-placed Falcon Punch. Read more …

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The Waste Land – Review

Trent Cannon Archive, PC, Reviews, TC

Nostalgia is a funny thing among gamers. Steam is littered with games that claim to be “old school” and “retro-style” as though this were a genre. Most often these are games are platformers with a simple “save the princess” type plots, with pixelated graphics and a bit of tongue in cheek humour to make those who play them not take them so seriously. After all, how seriously did any game back then take itself? Read more …

minecraft

The Sense behind Microcraft

Trent Cannon Editorials, News, TC

How much does a global phenomenon cost? Lots of people have wondered how much it cost to create one, but Microsoft has gone out of its way to explain, in no uncertain terms, how much it cost to purchase one outright. And the answer, I think, surprised everyone.

Mojang, led by fedora-wielding face of indie game development Notch, has just been bought by Microsoft for the tidy price of $2.5 billion. This is big news for both companies, both because of what it may mean to Mojang’s future and how Microsoft is going to make any return on this purchase after Minecraft has already sold more than 50 million copies worldwide. Read more …

Thorax

Nostalgia Trip – Secret of Evermore

Trent Cannon Archive, TC

We here at Zero1Gaming have spent most of the last week looking ahead toward the next few months of releases, and for good reason. I mean, there are a lot of great titles on the horizon, from new entries in the Assassin’s Creed, Dragon Age, and The Sims series as well as new titles like Pillars of Eternity and Shadows of Mordor due out over the next few months, so we’ve had good reason to be excited. However, with all out excitement, I’ve found myself thinking back to a simpler time. A time when I was young and full of hope and video games were still something you got beaten up for admitting you liked.

Gather ’round, kids. Crazy Uncle Trent is going to tell you a story. Read more …

Santa

Trent’s Holiday Season Preview

Trent Cannon Previews, TC

So Summer is coming to a close. The trees are changing. The weather is getting colder. Students everywhere are gnashing their teeth and cursing the onward progress of time as they are marched into the cold embrace of education. For me, however, it means one thing: the great gaming gluttony will soon begin! We’re almost to the holiday season and will shortly have a wide selection of games to look forward to. Truly it is a magical time. Unless you are my wallet. Then it is significantly less awesome. Sure a load of games have been delayed to next year (I’m looking at you, Batman), but there are still plenty to keep you going as the weather gets colder and going outside sounds like more and more of an insurmountable task.

So with the close of the year just around the corner, I’m checking out some of the big releases that are coming my way. These are some pretty much guaranteed purchases for me… Read more …