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By EmuMovies

Sony PlayStation Video Snaps Updated (1,170 New Videos)

Quite a few updates for the Sony Playstation video snaps collection today.  We have 1,170 new and updated videos, all audited against the latest redump database.  This brings the total number of official video snaps for the Playstation to 2,581.  Captures by @Circo & @drewby, videos are our standard 30seconds of gameplay followed by 10 seconds of title screen. Captures were made using Mister and Retroarch. All of these new videos are also available in HD quality via Sync and FTP. Please let us know over at EmuMovies if you have any requests for videos we might have missed.
[File List] Sony Playstation (Video Snaps)(HQ480p)(ReDump)(EM 2.3).txt
[File List] Sony Playstation (Video Snaps)(SQ240p)(ReDump)(EM 2.3).txt
Links:
EmuMovies Website (SQ240 Only) Directly through your front-end or our app using EmuMovies Sync (HD1080, HQ480 & SQ240) EmuMovies File Server (FTP) (HD1080, HQ480 & SQ240) View all our updates on the EmuMovies Files Feed   (We only post a handful in the news feed)
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By EmuMovies

Atari 5200 Video Snaps Updated (74 New Videos)

Happy weekend everyone! Today we have 74 new video snaps for the Atari 5200 bringing the full set up to 169 videos in total.  Most of these new videos are the unlicensed and prototype titles that were not previously included.  A mister fpga was used to record all the game footage.
[File List] Atari 5200 (Video Snaps)(480p)(No-Intro)(EM 2.2).txt[File List] Atari 5200 (Video Snaps)(240p)(No-Intro)(EM 2.2).txt
What's New (Version 2.2)
5200 Menu (USA) (Proto).mp4 Analog Collection, The (USA) (Unl).mp4 Archon - The Light and the Dark (USA) (Unl).mp4 Asteroids - Vector Edition (USA) (Unl).mp4 Astrogrover (USA) (Proto).mp4 Atari PAM - Pete's Test (USA).mp4 Atari PAM Diagnostics (USA) (v2.3).mp4 Atari PAM System Test (USA) (v1.02).mp4 Attack of the Mutant Camels (USA) (Unl).mp4 Behind Jaggi Lines! (USA) (Beta) (1984-01-18).mp4 Boogie (USA) (Demo).mp4 Bosconian 5200 (USA) (Unl).mp4 Buried Bucks (USA) (Unl).mp4 Captain Beeble (USA) (Unl).mp4 Capture the Flag (USA) (Unl).mp4 Caverns of Mars (USA) (Unl).mp4 Chess (USA) (Unl).mp4 Chicken (USA) (Unl).mp4 Chop Suey (USA) (Unl).mp4 Claim Jumper (USA) (Unl).mp4 Combat 2 - Advanced (USA) (Unl).mp4 Cosmi Presents Forbidden Forest & Slinky (USA) (Unl).mp4 Crazy Otto (USA) (Unl).mp4 Crystal Castles (USA) (Unl).mp4 Donkey Kong (USA) (Unl).mp4 Donkey Kong Encore (USA) (Unl).mp4 Donkey Kong Jr. Encore (Arcade GFX) (USA) (Unl).mp4 Donkey Kong Jr. Encore (Enhanced) (USA) (Unl).mp4 Donkey Kong Junior (USA) (Unl).mp4 Doom (USA) (Unl).mp4 Dreadnaught Factor 2, The (USA) (Unl).mp4 E.T. Phone Home (USA) (Unl).mp4 Fort Apocalypse (USA) (Unl).mp4 Freecell (USA) (Unl).mp4 Galactic Chase (USA) (Unl).mp4 Gateway to Apshai (USA) (Unl).mp4 Hangly Man (USA) (Unl).mp4 Hangly-Plus (USA) (Unl).mp4 Intellidiscs (USA) (Unl).mp4 John Anderson's Rally Speedway (USA) (Unl).mp4 Journey to the Planets (USA) (Unl).mp4 Jumpman Junior (USA) (Unl).mp4 Jumpong V2 (USA) (Unl).mp4 Kid Grid (USA) (Unl).mp4 Laser Gates (USA) (Unl).mp4 Magical Fairy Force (USA) (Unl).mp4 Mario Bros. Encore (USA) (Unl).mp4 Meebzork (USA) (Proto) (1983-11-16).mp4 Moon Patrol Redux (USA) (Unl).mp4 Ms. Pac-Man Encore (USA) (Unl).mp4 Necromancer (USA) (Unl).mp4 Pastfinder (USA) (Demo).mp4 Pirate Pete (USA) (Unl).mp4 Popeye Encore (USA) (Unl).mp4 Preppie! (USA) (Unl).mp4 Raster Music Tracker Demo (USA) (Unl).mp4 RealSports Curling (USA) (Unl).mp4 Road Runner (USA) (Proto).mp4 Scramble (USA) (Unl).mp4 Shamus - Case II (USA) (Unl).mp4 Sinistar (USA) (Unl).mp4 Space Invaders Arcade (USA) (Unl).mp4 Space Invaders Deluxe (USA) (Unl).mp4 Space Race (USA) (Demo).mp4 Spitfire (USA) (Proto) (1983-11-03).mp4 Spy Hunter (USA) (Unl).mp4 Stargate (USA) (Proto 3) (1984-01-05).mp4 Tapper (USA) (Unl).mp4 Time Runner (USA) (Unl).mp4 Up'n Down (USA) (Unl).mp4 Xagon (USA) (Unl).mp4 Xmas (USA) (Demo).mp4 Yar's Strike (USA) (Unl).mp4 Yellow Submarine (USA) (Demo).mp4 Links:
EmuMovies Website (SQ Only) Directly through your front-end or our app using EmuMovies Sync (HQ & SQ) EmuMovies File Server (FTP) (HQ & SQ) View all our updates on the EmuMovies Files Feed   (We only post a handful in the news feed)
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By EmuMovies

XBOX 360 Video Snaps Retail Released (1,144 New Videos)

I am super excited to announce that the XBOX 360 Retail Video Snaps set is finally out.  For this 1.0 release we have 1,144 new video snaps for you guys.  This was the first major pass at this, didn't include any kinect only games yet, live service games are of course excluded and there are quite a few others that I couldn't get to easily run that may also be mission, but it is rather complete.  
[File List] Microsoft XBOX 360 (Video Snaps)(HD)(Redump)(EM 1.0).txt[File List] Microsoft XBOX 360 (Video Snaps)(HQ)(Redump)(EM 1.0).txt[File List] Microsoft XBOX 360 (Video Snaps)(SQ)(Redump)(EM 1.0).txt
There will be another set for XBLA coming soon, we have about 450 of those done and they are also available on the ftp and sync services. 
[File List] Microsoft XBOX 360 XBLA (Video Snaps)(HD)(No-Intro)(EM 0.6).txt
What's New (Version 1.0) (1,144 Videos) @Circo
Links:
EmuMovies Website (SQ Only) Directly through your front-end or our app using EmuMovies Sync (HQ & SQ) EmuMovies File Server (FTP) (HQ & SQ) View all our updates on the EmuMovies Files Feed   (We only post a handful in the news feed)
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By EmuMovies

MAME HD Video Snaps Complete (Full Video Set Redo)

After 2 years of effort we here at EmuMovies have finally completely re-recorded and remade the complete MAME video snap set.  The previous set had its roots going back 16 years and things look so much better now.  The new videos are available in 1080p, 480p and 240p sizes depending on your use case and are available on the website in 240p quality and on our FTP and Sync services in all quality levels.  Thanks to our internal team for helping to get all these done, edited and available.  We will keep posting updates to our sync and ftp services monthly as new titles come out (we are working on another update right now) but if we don't just stop and announce our progress nobody will know! 
So please take a moment and refresh your video snaps, you will be glad you did.  Thanks to all our supporters and front-ends that keep us going every month and a huge shout out to Launchbox for their 11 years of partnership.  Enjoy the content everyone.
[File List] MAME Arcade (Video Snaps)(HD)(MAME)(EM .278).txt[File List] MAME Arcade (Video Snaps)(HQ)(MAME)(EM .278).txt[File List] MAME Arcade (Video Snaps)(SQ)(MAME)(EM .278).txt
 PS... XBOX 360 hits next week 😉
 
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By EmuMovies

Nintendo Switch Video Snaps Updated (3,520 Videos)

Today we dropped some new video snaps for the Nintendo Switch. The set is now at 3,520 videos covering hopefully most of what people need. There is an almost unlimited amount of games (shovelware) for this system.  I think the total is now somewhere north of 16,000 games in the library. So here is what we are asking, if you are still missing some videos for installed games or find an error, please let us know in the EmuMovies request section on the forums and we can prioritize those videos on the next round. 
Here is the list of whats available now.
[File List] EmuMovies Nintendo Switch Video Snaps (EM 0.3).txt
Videos are now available via EmuMovies Sync and on our FTP server in HD and HQ formats
 
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News ticker
  • MAME HD Video Snaps Complete (Full Video Set Redo)
  • Sony PlayStation Video Snaps Updated (1,170 New Videos)
  • Atari 5200 Video Snaps Updated (74 New Videos)
  • XBOX 360 Video Snaps Retail Released (1,144 New Videos)
  • Nintendo Switch Video Snaps Updated (3,520 Videos)
  • Microsoft Windows (PC Games) Video Snaps Updated (979 Videos)
  • Nintendo Wii Video Snaps Released (v1.0)(1,129 Videos)
  • Nintendo 3DS Video Snaps Updated (73 New Videos)
  • Sony PlayStation 2 Video Snaps Updated (2,111 New Videos)
  • Sega Naomi & Naomi 2 Video Snaps Released (v2.0)

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      Rough Guide to Front-ends

      By jackhammersalm, in Scene News, , 1 comment, 5,765 views
      Publish Date: 10/16/2016
      Today's entry into my rough guide is a relative newcomer in terms of front-ends. So without further adieu, its time to introduce you all to

      LAUNCHBOX
      I've been following this project for a year since I got a registered license for this to see everything and my first impressions of this wasn't the best because certain features wasn't in it yet I made a video which I handed to the developer who in turn ACTUALLY listened to me. The issues I had with 5.2 (that was when I first looked at it). First off, there was no tool tips. which is annoying another thing was its MAME naming conventions (it made 2 mistakes and major ones at that). When I did that last december, I gave a first impressions video to the developer. He used it and worked out the kinks out of it. Right now we are at version 6.11 and boy it has come a long way in a year. First off Jason (the developer) has gone out of his way to fix the glitches from the older version like naming conventions of MAME (which was one of my pet peeves with the project). Made in visual studio and has both ScummVM and DosBOX pre-installed with its configuration tools (I used this for my looking back at sparcade). First thing I noticed when I first fired up LaunchBox its welcome message was quite encouraging.

      Add dos games, add steam and other platform games (like origin and uplay and considering you get free games off them just jump on them for freebies ir if you game games on their platforms as well). Add ROM files which is pretty self explanatory. finally adding window games themselves. With a introduction like that, There isn't so much stuff you can't do. The use of DOSbox and ScummVM are what makes this front-end different compared to normal front-ends because its a simple point and click or a click and drag. Everything else is self explanatory or automatically found via the game databases the system uses (this includes GamesDB which I have no end of complaints about). But this is only part of the story. If you purchase a license for LaunchBox, you get another mode and this baby is call BIGBOX.

      BIGBOX is what you really use once you have finished screwing around with everything tinkering with setting and making sure you can play it comfortably. it looks nice and actually is well thought out. While not as flashy as something like Hyperspin or other off the wall Front-ends. LaunchBox's BIGBOX mode was designed for ease of use and true functionality. don't get me wrong, you can launch everything from Launchbox itself but its more designed to actually edit your settings and configure you setup.
      It still has issues but they are few and far between and you can actively see LaunchBox being developed by Jason on twitch.tv. He does a stream every so often when he can and he interacts towards his followers and users of LaunchBox here. You can actually approach him compared to most developers. I have talked to him as well. I have emailed the man myself during the 5.2 issues. The developer is a good person trying to deliver a solid product and but to me it still needs work but given time this is going in the right direction.
      Ok so here are the pros and cons of LaunchBox.
      OK the pros
      Quite detailed in giving information auto finds the inforamtion to the game you have inserted into the system. DOSBOX and ScummVM Native. Quite feature rich in terms of adding games. constantly updated BIGBOX MODE (on with paid registation) Not the cons
      pay for product that unlocks all features (BIGBOX) The menu can be a bit intimidating if you are not used to it LaunchBox has issues with certain games While it has issues with this front-end and its a paid application but I'll be honest it actually worth the money considering the amount of work put into this. and I saw from version 5.2 to now and I see this project going places but it needs to fall into the trap of adding  too much too quickly without compromising the core system. While though it has issue it's still has soo much potential as well and with the developer being so transparent as well help this product immeasurably.
      This is a rough look at it considering I'm a hyperspin-phile and I don't disagree this project is going places. Anyways that it for another part to my rough guide and my next up on the bat is

      Thats right I will be covering this in my next part of my rough guide.
       

      Rough Guide to Front-end

      By jackhammersalm, in Scene News, , 2 comments, 5,053 views
      Publish Date: 09/30/2016
      My Rough Guide
      To Front-ends

       
      I had a big article which covers all the front-ends out but due to a page error it all got wiped. So rather than give up. I will do it in pieces, giving you my opinion. I will cover everything front-end with pros and cons for everything about said front-end. I have used a fair few over the years and so without further adieu, I'm going to re-review my first excursion into proper immersion and I've already written about this in another article. But I may as well cover this in more detail so lets start with
       
      First of 3d arcade between 2004 to 2009 was actually quite an experience because this community was quite vibrant with content creators and users alike. The engine was designed in Adobe Director (which is ancient now) by )p( who for the most part created it a Galaxian like front-end in which you shot the game you want to play however it evolved into 3D Arcade. )p( created a simple map of a circular room in which you put arcade in. The first official version of this front-end was released on an i-modernist website host on 24/4/2002 with version 0.6 its first arcade model released by Zakk (with a real media RM video file) in the w3d format (which ended up being the format to the arcade models for future releases), By this point there are a template of the base arcade model in which you could add a marquee and picture snaps. Its interesting how the early going on contributor was Zakk. But as the following versions, )p( went out of his way by adding a first person walking simulator (not FPS which is stated). but it wasn't until this 0.65 when this was implemented and )p( also added this point to everything is skinnable, let me rephrase that the first person part of the front-end had the ability to be skinned with anything you wanted (objects within the system) and this was still 2002. Personally I didn't join the community until 2003 when I built my first computer and a few months in i started looking for a front-end (with the advice of Jennatek) I found I liked this first because it represented something visual which wasn't a list format but I saw this as a screenshot

       
      So with my 512k broadband modem (yes we have come a long way since those days). Then I discovered the major flaw in the plan. Configuration is different kettle of fish. While it looks good with the content, its' major let down is a serious learning curve in which you have to navigate the selset menu's which are not very well explained or well thought out. This is before youtube guides and the written guide is confusing at best (when you read  for adding music is a playlist of playlists). While the learning the system takes a lot of time (in my case about 2 years when I came back to it). While the system has it flaws, The positives are (as the front-end is still available and works on windows 7) quite extensive with voodooscientist little cinema arcade which is a beautiful location ( I believe this was inspiration for NewRetroArcade:NEON). This is a good map because its' shows multiple different applications to use within a single map. While limited technology made it simple and cumbersome with things like delays between picture and sound, you got the gist of the experience. Another Map that was spacious and quite detailed was the exhibition hall. which showed a multi-level setup with some beautiful touches
       
       


      Pictures from VoodooScientist lounge. It features a home theater, A karaoke lounge, A bowling alley (non functional). I believe this was the inspiration for NewRetroArcade:Neon
      The second arcade location
      The Exhibition Hall

      These 2 locations are what sold me, but this is where my first experiences were bad as configuring this thing is a challenge and during that time I wasn't a patient person during 2003/2004. I have gone back to this a few years later. I learned to put music within this thing (I thought that was a victory back then). But my second time returning to this was interesting because I learned a few things. By 2007 there was a DVD release which featured The front-end, artwork, maquee and arcade models and emulators (no roms, emulation general rule) the only problem with it is that the configuration is actually still an issue even with the DVD edition. Since I changed over the Hyperspin in 2009. There are video tutorials out there. This one is most promient
      Ok may as well go with the pros and cons of this front-end
       
      PROS
      Has multiple modes its 3D environment was the first of its kind with front-ends Has quite a repository of models and locations the DVD edition come packaged with emulators of the times CONS
      The main project has lost its main developer ()p( is gone onto bigger things) A pain in the ass to configure from scratch Has not aged well considering this could be better in the long run The community is dying out (there is a hardcore contingent there) In closing with front-ends like NewRetroArcade:Neon and Anarchy Arcade, 3D Arcade has turned into a child of its time, while graphically it still has the art assets to make it different conpared to NewRetroArcade and is still is a tad easier to configure than Anarchy Arcade. I personally think this deserves a remake with the maps intact because seeing this in something like the unreal 4 engine would be amazing. The question is who would be crazy enough to remake this system and at least tweak the configuration UI because that was 3D arcades biggest downfall.
      Next Front-end guide for is LaunchBox
       

      SUPER RETRO GAMER #3

      By jackhammersalm, in Scene News, , 0 comments, 4,198 views
      Publish Date: 09/18/2016
      yes here is the video from the show and trust me if I have more time, I would at least play crazy taxi (which I was terrible at) But again limited time to play anything because real life interferes with everything. There is not much more I can say really other it is entertaining. I really need more time to sort everything but that's never going to happen unless its on a weekday and most of all my wife can sort out the kids. But time I got was interesting and I couldn't wait to just jump in hence why I played crazy taxi. I'll try and do a better one next month. Anyways I will try and workout a plan for you guys during my next article and yes I will transfer RANDOM GAME! from the 3rdlevel.net to here now. But if you are in the London area during this time when the next one is showing I'll put a heads up for those of us in the UK. thats it for now but if you want a closer look
      look at their website
      http://www.superretrogamer.com
      they also are on google and facebook.
      They have a discord as well but you will be able to find it on your own.
       
       

      Where it began

      By jackhammersalm, in Scene News, , 7 comments, 4,786 views
      Publish Date: 09/10/2016
      1996 I was at university studying something I was not going to use in later life (simply because I lost interest and for your information I was studying craft baking at University). Interesting, so how did this craft baker become the writer to the hyperspin report and the3rdlevel dot net. Easy my friends were computer science students and most were into the computer scene. My first emulator I was ever introduced to was a spectrum one, not an arcade. I had a talk to these friends and my first taste of emulation was a Nemesis Emulator (while not perfect yet it was very playable and I remember playing this in the computer labs at the time. I was also hanging out of a games shop during this time also (Turbo Games). So during my late teens early 20's I loved games and gaming.
      But I didn't have a PC to play any games on. I basically lived round my friends (jennatek) and my uncles place during these years. Emulation during the early Windows / MS-DOS days were confined to a bunch of single game emulators and a couple of multi-game Emulators(please bare in mind MAME wasn't as big as it is now back then it was just a PAC-MAN emulator and only really played a handful of games. My first taste was Sparcade on MS-DOS, it played something like 30 games at the time, which was quite a feat ( we are talking 1996 here) and they played classics like space invaders, slapfight, phoenix and airwolf. This was my first taste of emulation and it was good. I played this at jen's most of the time.

      it wasn't until I left Uni when I really put myself into the scene as a gamer. Sparcade had served me for a year but it didn't emulate the one game I really wanted at the time,

       
      Yes, that's right, the vector game version of Star Wars (and yes I would love to own a cabinet, Do not care what size either). Why this game you may ask, Being a huge Star Wars nerd, this still held up (even with the release of X-Wing and Tie Fighter). I loved the pace of this game as it was fast, solid gameplay and there was also something about shooting tie fighters. By 1998 the first of the Vector games were starting to be introduced and That meant Star wars had hit home computers and windows 95. By 1990, I was living out of my uncles place my boring 4 walls and Jens at the time. But over time Mame had over a 1000 arcade classics but not the 1988-1995 yet. Games like Wrestlefest, WWF SuperStar and the like, Another Emulator Beat MAME to that punch as it cover most of Taito and thechnos and that emulator was Raine. it was the first emulator to do and garnered quite a follow. during the next year a lot of people developed for MAME and games were coming at an alarming rate. They had taken to releasing Beta versions rather than the what you get today. You realise when you play random games on mame without knowing what you are playing. sometimes you remember I have played this. Here's the problem I have, I have a hell of a memory when it comes to games. But with Emulation you didn't have things we take for granted today. First of Zip Support, for those of us that were in the 90's we had to unzip the game into it's own folder in which you dumped the roms folder into. Those early years were a pain in the backside. If you wanted the play NeoGeo games the emulator at that point was NEO-rage before MAME covered that in the 2000's. Most of us during our youth remember playing arcades games. One game I played on another emulator before MAME was Image Fight and that first game out on the M72 Emulator. What is Image Fight (what is that, well, Image Fight is a vertical shump which had to me an interesting feature, you fighter transformed into 3 different modes which had different rates of file and maneuverability).

      While my personal taste in games in games is best described ecliptic. But my tastes are like a lot of people's and MAME has provided a lot of games in which I adore in my life. While MAME has provided a lot of games in the past 10 years and Mame is nearly 20 years old now. it's amazing when MAME first came out, it only played 6 games and the first was Pac-Man. This is for the fallen who pathed the way from the beginning till now.
      NEO-Rage (covered by MAME 35B11)
      Retrocade
      M72
      Raine (Yes I know it's still around but its not as popular)
      System16
      Sparcade
      Callus
       
      These emulators are the forefathers to MAME has become today. There are alternatives to MAME that play games MAME still can't yet. But the future is always bright when it comes to preserving our history with the internet. I look to the future and I see less variety in terms of emulators, as older emulators are no longer supported or have reached the pinnacle of their particular emulation choice (meka for the master systems being one).  We have a wide selection of multiple system Emulators (including MAME and Retroarch) which makes single systems obsolete which is a little disappointing because you knew what you could get with each emulators (there are certain exceptions like supermodel which is a model 3 emulator which specialises in Star Wars Trilogy). Looking back and even if you look in rocketlauncher the amount of emulators there are out there and some still in development (retroarch being core based and covering all systems including mame with it's core system. When you look at games today with their brilliant graphics get sometimes their gameplay is what kills a game dead. But when you back even to computers like the spectrum there were a lot more challenges in terms of actually creating an actual game with minimal graphics but solid gameplay. Game ports back then were interesting because nothing until something like 1985 were officially licensed until those times. There were some licensed games like movie tie-in or some arcade port around that point. I'm going off point, here but I bringing the point the people that game retrogames now are people, who have played game during at this period never forgot what we played and why we love them as well. But if you look back toward what emulators came before you maybe surprised because there many people with the same goals, just different ways of doing things.
      If I missed anything then correct me and I'll edit and credit you for the correction. but please this is my opinion, so don't shoot the messenger (IE me)
       
       
       

      NES games in 3D

      By jackhammersalm, in Scene News, , 5 comments, 5,744 views
      Publish Date: 09/05/2016
      3DNES Review
      First off I want to get this off my chest, not everything in the UNITY Engine is terrible. It's got a bad reputation for delivering crappy end product that people just poop out at an alarming rate. However this project caught my attention originally on a facebook post a couple of months ago then reignited when Simply Austin brought it back to my attention. So I thought screw it lets have a look at this. Demo's shown on youtube show the potential. But actually getting it to work properly on your own, that's a different kettle of fish. First off you are greeted with this screen. Made with Unity personal edition (after you finish with the base setup of resolution and pad and key bindings). curious why would anyone use unity to make an emulator. Well first off you have options on the standby screen (before you actually load an emulator)

      This is the first screen you are greeted with once you boot this up for the first time. it doesn't look like much but it shows you this isn't a normal emulator because it has auto detecting for the 3D aspect of any rom. you play it as is but looks graphically interesting  as it creates a 3d environment from just basic information. There are profiles created for certain games. What started as a webpage app got converted into an actual emulator, in which version stand at 1 b3 (unless you pay for early releases). What makes this different compared to normal NES emulators. For starters, this
        and this and finally this.
      All this looks impressive but it's takes time to set up to properly as you have to create profiles for each game to get the best results. if you run this straight out of the box it will appear a little glitchy and can be a little unstable. But if you onto their forum, There is something like 72 different configuration files already set up, While they are there, they are not perfect yet. If you can find the time to actually do configuration files yourself, you may find you do a better job than the actual user config files on the site. This does have promise but still needs a lot of work in order to be perfect. but what I am seeing so far even out of the box has promise. I'll be looking into this project a little more over the coming months, But I will look at it with a dose of cynicism as well. If you want to look it up go HERE!

      A little history lesson

      By jackhammersalm, in Scene News, , 4 comments, 5,987 views
      Publish Date: 08/29/2016
      A little history lesson
      I got my first major PC build in 2003 which I bought the parts off of a friend and then built the system. I was heavily into retrogaming and emuation back then in between playing MMO star wars galaxies and various PC games I acquired via any means. I was always interested in frontend. Jennatek and I have been friends for about 20 years and I value her opinion. She pointed me into the direction of my first frontend which was via arcadecontrols.com 3d arcade

      3D Arcade
      Let me point this out right now, the community for this is not as bustling as it once was as development died a few years ago when director was not longer updated. designed during the XP era, this frontend was quite unique as it was the only one of it's kind and the developer, plus a group of crazy but very talented artists and modellers showed the world what was possible. While it looks impressive there were gaping big problems with it as well. First the configuration of this made Hyperspin look like a piece of cake. The way this was presented in it's read me was a playlist of playlists. Which made no sense at the time. but I got some stuff configured but the cabinets look all generic without artwork well the other problem was also it's biggest strength and that was the individual and unique arcade machines they had created on their system. Another advantage is the use of difference locations. 
      For instance, the Time out Tunnel which had a it's own little sub corridor for effect

      The level of detail back in 2007 to 2009 was spectacular in their arcades. the other advantage was the use of multiple emulators like Mame. Kega, BSnes, Visual Pinball with Pinmame before the whole project was merged with MAME. But walking into this out of the box was a REAL! learning curve. But you have 6 or seven different locations. These systems used a either a screen videos or screen cap to show what was playing and also the name of the marquee which if you had the extras for would show the actual marquee file said file (Hyperspin's wheel art would do just as well here if not a little better). But there are a lot of reasons why this should would well but really didn't for me.
      First off, the configuration tool was a real nightmare to use because it made no real sense it took me 2 years to properly learn how to use it, even then I didn't scratch the surface. There were a lot of parameters to fill in which also made it quite detailed for the time. But after a few years you could have got a DVD edition which included the marquee files and everything EXCEPT roms. But has time went on and during one of the website downtime sessions which happened once a year for 2 weeks on this occasion, I went elsewhere which lead me to my home on Hyperspin. But I never forgot my roots.
      But before that development was slowly dying because )p( had really left the group to pursue real life things like watching his son grow up. So development had stopped for the system itself but it didn't stop there, by my last count there are 18 different locations and something like 400 plus different arcade models to play with plus skins and various other options. Everything is skinable to a degree and it shows with some of the arcade skins for the pinball tables which had a generic table which could be skinned. Perfect setting for that was the Derino's damned dungeon in which you had a large winding arcade which showed off the capabilities of the frontend also.
       
      while the video shows just basic arcades its only when I added the actual models to extra effect when you see the sheer scale of the and you can see the the difference with just a few cabinet (while my video is crappy with a bad mic) the video just shows what kind of frontend 3D arcade was. it waas ahead of it's time. so why did it fail so much it didn't for a which because it had a wow factor which everything from GameEX to AtomicFE tried to do differently while both are functional (well GameEX was functional and AtomicFE Crashed on me a few times and I gave up with it).  After 4 years of trying to go back and trying to configures this thing again, during one of the sites downages (due to Mameworld going for a name change to .info). I started looking elsewhere and which finally lead me to my home of Hyperspin which I am a valued member. However I didn't give up on this project. it had a DVD release also a few new arcades locations added (which included Flynn's Place from Tron which was in it's 3rd beta according to the forums). While the forums have a few hardcore members, it's not as bustling as it was circa 2007/2008. 
      This brings me to my second introduction
      THIS IS

      Well about 2 to 3 years ago, I found this project somewhere and it was called Smarcade Anarchy edition and it's developer made this in the source engine. While it has limitation, it has proven it could hang with the big boys. He tried to kickstarter this and he wasn't successful, while he could sell the product because the money for a source licence is something like $10,000 so he released it for free. This isn't like the first Frontend, which specialized in console and arcade stuff. This is more of a Visual Desktop which you could customize the rooms to tailor your tastes. Everything is editable and I mean anything. it's a bit of a learning curve but once you got everything it's rather simple to edit everything and anything
      don't believe me just look at : WheresThePunch
      Video
      Unlike 3d arcade this both a VR experience and a visual desktop. I was and still am impressed with this frontend as it's specializes in virually everything and you can set games and video even youtube and MP3 files to different Items which can act as links to said programs or files. Adding files and taking them away are easy compared to something like 3D arcade. It was interesting but there are issues with it but not that many. Why did it not succeed in the kickstarter. Simple lack of publicity and not enough word of mouth. But it's a free app and its not difficult to pick up so give it a look.  By the way, Steam workshop support is second to none here and the just look at their website themselves.
      http://www.anarchyarcade.com/
      OK this leaves me to the latest member of the 3D environments with

      That's right I've just covered this and this is a frontend with a few extra minigames. This started life as a learning experience for a 5 man development team which later called themselves DigitalCyberCherries. The concept was simple, to have an arcade environment which was reminiscent of old fashioned arcades. Designed as a VR experience and it was a good experience, but while Anarchy arcade failed to garner support, DigitalCyberCherries wet the appetite of various members of community of emulation. I have reviewed it in my previous article I would look at that. But despite being 25 buck for just 2 maps and a configuration setup which is simple to use but you can see where this experience going. While the earlier version of this have copyrighted material and if you have original 2.0 and 3.0 of newretroarcade I would get those models there and look into the discussions where you can find some marquees and sideart. Personally this needs to have steam workshop support.
      if you don't believe me that this hasn't got potential just look at simply austin's video
       
       
      This shows some of the artwork changes Austin actually made change within the experience in which he added some actual marquee and CP artwork which showed a different system control there. There are generic joystick setups. but you get the experience. while the VIVE needs some tweaking on it's controller system. The reports that the left controller which controlled the directional controls doesn't work well but that's for VIVE users who use the motion controls.
      anyways that's enough of the little history lessons from my personal view, If i have missed anything please don't forget to mention it in the comments anyways time for me to head off and start something else.

      NewRetroArcade NEON

      By jackhammersalm, in Scene News, , 4 comments, 7,527 views
      Publish Date: 08/28/2016
      About late 2014, I saw a new frontend on my facebook feed, this was the first version of NewRetroArcade, my curiosity was peeked. So I downloaded the package and installed it onto my desktop (my this point I will remind you I was using this on my old 7 year old potato). I ran the program and I was greeted by a corridor, which ran at about 15 fps and I blame the fact I have not upgraded my machine is something like years but the premise was there a walk around experience which gave a player a look around a small arcade with extra things to do.
      You could find tapes and play them in the boombox radio (this could be editable) You could actually tune in to the online radio station (preconfigured by the developer to 80's style music) You could play Darts, ten pin bowling or shoot hoops in separate games Almost everything was able to be picked up (bottles, cigs, phone's, tapes and gameboys (yes there were playable gameboys) The Arcades where quite detailed. Please bare in mind this isn't my first rodeo when it comes with 3D environments for gaming experiences. but this felt the most complete and right now this does set the tone to anyone following this experience. That was the classic version which when released on steam became the Tech Demo. They didn't change a thing. So why are they selling the experience for 35 bucks, well a few reasons actually. The Demo was the to simply wet the appetite and boy did they. while it introduced new people to a arcade experience, to the veterans, including another developer who I often speak with. When I covered this a year ago, the whole project was designed by 5 guys who were learn how to use unreal 4. To me this a mixture of passion, craziness and sheer brilliance, while the concept has been done before on other engines, this one stands out because it looks stunning with the lighting effects and the level of detail in the surroundings. Despite all the praise, I will nitpick about the control panels a bit for being a tad generic. other than that, that's about it. if you don't believe me just have a look

        That's just a load of skinned arcade machines. while the models are limited to 2 or 3 styles, the artwork could be added quite easily with the use of paint.net or gimp or even photoshop. it's interesting because to counter the copyrighted artwork they did a lot of generic artwork and screencaps to put as placeholders and when you first look round you think what the hell. Ok you have downloaded but where are these arcade games you are on about. you are forgetting the first rule of emulations in itself, you CANNOT distribute Emulators and roms in the same pack but to anyone here, this isn't that hard to locate the roms, But Jack, it still doesn't work, What is the problem here.
      First off, the emulator built into NewRetroArcade is Libertro (retroarch), thats right you need the cores for said emulators, and the roms. now the interesting part, where is each system going. you need to go into the arcade builder

      Yep, this thing, which is not that difficult to set up. while this picture is a little dated because they added an actual emulator to use as well in NEON, this is pretty much everything you use to configure the classic and best of all you see that pink circle in the picture, that is where you will find the machine you select to be in that position.
      Right that's enough of the classic map so what do you get for 25 bucks apart from this demo. Good question? and having recently refunded no mans sky after no engaging me in the way it was suppose to and the frame drops killed my mod I decided to get this for me and my best friend (jennatek). Right now we both went into a multiplayer session. Yes first case and point it's multiplayer a good start, second thing is the intro screen

      Why does it look like an 80's version of the matrix, simply put I think that was the point being the design choice (this was designed for the vive and the dk 2 also but runs just as well on a simple setup). with this intro screen you are greeted with 6 options
      Single player Multi player Options Custiomise Credits Quit All pretty self explanatory with the exception of customize, Customise is an other in the multiplayer to have an additional item on top of you virtualboy (ie a hat or cap. It looks weird but it serves the purpose to distinguish between the players. While there are limitations to the emulation currently ie. netplay. you can play some of the custom games which are available like aimbot which is a like a fps cross between doom and goldeneye64. There is also a house of the dead clone in the VIP room with the playable SNES clone (original model and the gameboy models were changed to avoid Nintendo NAZI approach to gaming in general, which is a shame because those models were amazing) but with the classic map we got this.
       
      A new arcade which is a little bigger than the classic build and they also added a lot more activities to do as well as the 3 main one from the classic arcade that being air hockey

      In this room alone with the air hockey, have the zombie problem 2 arcade (their own minigame which is a homage to house of the dead) there is a guitar and a min drum machine in here too. There are quite a few distraction before you configure the arcades themselves like the one punch machines you see, also the whack a mole as well. the map is a little larger and left a couple of easter eggs also near the bar ( if they are crazy enough to do that ). The emulation side of this especially the lighting issues for the gameboy was particularly impressive (yes I had 2 gameboys to play multiplayer with friends with) and the fact that a dot matrix screen with no backlight (which is why the gameboy had a 25 hour battery life compared to the lynx and the gamegears measly 3 hours of battery life. This is not a game but a VR experience which for us arcade buffs which is an experience. Is it worth 25 buck for me person, yes it is but for the casual I'm not so sure, but who knows I give it a shot. 
      Jack, is there anything you would love to see out of this project, yeah steam workshop support for starters. To help with arcade cabinet construction and maybe some new maps. Better netpay with emulation but that's more to do with libertro rather than newretroarcade. Finally a video guide but I know my good friend SimplyAustin is thinking of doing one sooner or later.
      I would recommend this if you enjoy walking around arcade in a VR environment. Setting it up is a little tricky and finding the artwork is a bit of a challenge but I will help you as much as I can via SimplyAustins channel when I pass the helping hand to him. anyways remember when I said this wasn't my first rodeo into 3D environments. For that you can read the next part of this.
       
       

      SUPER RETRO GAMER #2

      By jackhammersalm, in Scene News, , 2 comments, 4,860 views
      Publish Date: 08/22/2016
      While emulation is the primary source of news here, there are times we need to see that retrogaming is very much alive and a social event, earlier tonight I went to the Secret Weapon in Stratford east London. OK the Secret Weapon is a gamer's pub, yes that's right, a gamer's pub. Which is a rare thing in east London but I hear there are 2. But this appeared about 2 days ago on my Facebook stream, I looked at it
      https://www.facebook.com/events/1652471658404314/
      So I went earlier tonight and I wasn't disappointed. It's a surprising change because I know my gaming event. First off the first thing I ever noticed, was an old Cocktail machine working (running an Icade board)

      Granted it an old Galaxian machine but it was working with a working coin mech.
      The pub in question is formerly the princess of wales in Stratford (a place where I grew up). it was shut down about year ago and about 9 months ago it was rechristened the "SECRET WEAPON " why I never knew until tonight. Gamers have started to take over the old pub scene and "SECRET WEAPON" is the second such pub I know (their first one is in Dalston which I will adventure to another time) but this was my first gaming meet. this little evdeavour was started by its' organizer about 6 weeks ago and cost me 5 quid to enter (included a free drink in my case it was a cider) 
      I did a quick periscope of the show but I know it will only last a month
      [video]https://www.periscope.tv/w/1ypKdoDPmgaxW[/video]
      that was a quick tour of the place but I will be looking to attend more without the interference of family commitments (yeah like thats going to happen) but I've got a couple more pictures to show you. But my periscope was really first time I've ever done it properly for gaming related news. Other Photos include



       I may have been there for an hour but in that hour I saw a a different world in which my friends would happily go to. While the consoles are ranging from XBOX and PS2 and SNES it paints a good picture of my social life in East London.
      Tell me what you think....

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