The latest issue, 56, of the excellent Commodore Free magazine is now available in the usual PDF, ePUB, MOBI, HTML, TXT, SEQ, and D64 disk image formats. Get your copy in the format of your choice here!

Dungeons & Dragons: Order of the Griffon for the NEC TurboGrafx-16 (via Retro Uprising)I'd like to provide the latest update to my list of working emulator and simulator sites for various platforms and games. All of these enable play directly within your browser, so there's no sticky business of downloading software and finding the necessary game files to get it all going. These are all great sites and we should all show our support. This is the "December 2011" edition of the list and, naturally, I'd love to keep adding to it, so suggest away. Here goes:

• 2600online.com - Play various Atari 2600 Video Computer Systems games
• Another World (aka, Out of this World; 1991)
• Armchair Arcade - Our own hosted simulations
• Atari.com - Play select Atari 2600 and Atari arcade favorites
• BBC Micro News - Parrot - News stories and a speech synthesizer directly from a cluster of BBC Micros
• c64s.com - Play various Commodore 64 games
• Classic Atari games on IGN
• Spacewar! (1962) emulation
• First-Person Tetris (NES version)
• Freearcade.com (Scott Adams section) - Play various Scott Adams/Adventure International text adventures
• Google Pac-Man - The popular browser-based re-imagining of the classic arcade game
• Play Halo 2600 - Atari 2600 interpretation of the popular FPS
• Virtual GameBoy - Play a huge selection of GameBoy and GameBoy Color games
• JEMU - Emulate and play on the Acorn BBC Model B, Amstrad CPC464, Dick Smith VZ-300, Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K, Sinclair ZX80, and Sinclair ZX81
• JPC x86 PC emulator - Play classic DOS games like DOOM and Linux demos
• JSGB - GameBoy emulator
• JSVecX - Play GCE/Milton Bradley Vectrex games in your browser
• Mocha - The Java Color Computer Emulator - Emulation of the Radio Shack Color Computer
• nintendo8.com - Play Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)/Famicom games
• Pica Pic - Play amazing simulations of classic LCD and related handhelds
• Play Infocom Adventures Online
• Retro Uprising - Play a wide range of videogame and computer systems (arcade, Atari, Coleco, Nintendo, Sega, etc.) in your browser and through a custom software interface
• Sandy White's Ant Attack
• Sarien.net - Play Sierra adventure games
• SC-3000 Survivors - Play Sega SC-3000/SG-1000 games
• Timex/Sinclair 1000 Emulator
• Virtual Apple 2 - Play Apple II and IIGS games
• Virtual Atari - Play Atari 2600 games
• vNES - Play Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)/Famicom games
• World's Biggest PAC-MAN - The World's Biggest PAC-MAN (really)

The latest issue, 56, of the excellent Commodore Free magazine is now available in the usual PDF, ePUB, MOBI, HTML, TXT, SEQ, and D64 disk image formats. Get your copy in the format of your choice here!

I want you... to buy more stuff!After checking out the latest, typically profound Stuff No One Told Me comic, The weight of things, it got me thinking yet again about my own life and habits, and in particular an area that relates to Armchair Arcade's mission, which is primarily to chronicle the complete history of videogames and computers. As a co-founder of Armchair Arcade, I've obviously been a part of shaping said mission, which is no surprise as it's clearly a reflection of my own life. As I used to like to say, I have three basic loves in my life: family, working out, and of course, technology, with a big focus on videogames and computers.

As you probably know by now, I have a ridiculously large videogame and computer collection--more stuff than can be appreciated in one lifetime, stuff I've been accumulating for the better part of my 39 years on this planet in one way or another. It is in that particular area that that comic speaks most to me, as, as much as my collection brings me joy, it also feels like the beast I must constantly tend to, and, most sad of all, constantly feed, with little time available to stop and smell the actual "roses," which is usage of the very items that elicit the warm and fuzzies in me, both in recollections of positive childhood memories (again, as in the comic) and to satisfy my present desires.

I think as much as we'd like to think otherwise, I do believe we can have all of the same feelings of "weight" about digital goods, i.e., items that only exist as bits of information stored somewhere other than a physical medium we retain all rights to, like a record, cassette, disk, optical disc, etc. Again, there's a certain burden of guilt of lack of usage because there's simply not enough hours in the day. It's part of the reason why I avoid any and all MMORPGs--not for fear of addiction, but rather for fear of not being able to put time into it to make it worth the effort. "First world problems" as they say...

Naturally, abundance in that area also breeds indifference. I always like to use MAME as an example. It's something we would have practically murdered for as kids in the 1980s, but shortly after gaining the ability to replicate literally thousands of arcade games in the late 1990s, we as a whole became somewhat indifferent to the idea. It's there, it's free, it's accessible, it's everything we hoped for, but the "chase" is over. The dream has been realized and it's overwhelming. In other words, it's all in our possession without barriers and it somehow became far less special than when we had to plunk down .25 or more per play. In fact, digital subscriptions like Netflix and OnLive can feel like that too, where we can somehow complain about the lack of selection despite hundreds or even thousands of possible on demand selections that we couldn't possibly have the time to explore even a portion of.

So, can I rid myself of my possessions like in the comic and set myself free? Although I've fantasized about it, probably not. I don't think most of us could or ultimately would want to. You'd have to be at a very specific point in your life with very specific responsibilities. I guess all I - all we - can do is acknowledge the problem, try to keep it under control, and for goodness sake, try and really enjoy this trip through life a bit more. To put it another way, think about and smell those "roses" now and again, whatever form they may take...

(Download the MP4 here)

My new article for Que, Xbox 360 Fall 2011 Dashboard Update Features and Expectations, has now been posted. If you still haven't read about all the new features coming to the Xbox 360 with the pending update, then be sure to check it out. If you're in the beta program, the update should hit within the next few days, with a wide release for all Xbox 360 owners expected within the next several months. Finally, our new book, My Xbox: Kinect, Xbox 360, and Xbox LIVE, is now targeted for a February 2012 release, in order to incorporate all the latest and greatest information on the platform.

Programmers Andrew Davie and Thomas Jentzsch, in association with publishers AtariAge and First Star Software, Inc, have announced that the original game in the Boulder Dash® series, Boulder Dash® Volume 1, will be available for purchase for the Atari 2600 Video Computer System (VCS), exclusively from the AtariAge Store, in time for Christmas 2011. The price is $75 and includes the cartridge, box and manual. What makes this game special is that, among other things, the cartridge will contain 16K of RAM, which will allow for as perfect a conversion of the original game as possible, and in some ways - like with the color palette - a bit better. As many of you know, First Star Software was founded in 1982 by Richard Spitalny and Fernando Herrera and was responsible for developing and publishing several classics, including Astro Chase and Spy vs. Spy. The company has stayed in business ever since and is one of the only original companies to continue to support classic platforms, with this licensed version of Boulder Dash being their most recent example.

Here's the thread on AtariAge for more information on the game. Pre-orders are supposed to start soon and a label contest is already underway. Check out the video below for an idea of how the final game looks and sounds:

The latest issue, 55, of the excellent Commodore Free magazine is now available in the usual PDF, ePUB, MOBI, HTML, TXT, SEQ, and D64 disk image formats. Get your copy in the format of your choice here!

Pre-orders for GunLord, a Eurostyle Platformer with emphasis on exploring huge worlds and blasting enemies, are now available for the Sega Dreamcast, SNK Neo Geo MVS, and SNK Neo Geo AES. The game features 8 stages of exciting 2D game play with over 45 unique enemy types: Blast yourself through giant landscapes, explore caverns and reveal all secrets!

Fans of classic games like Turrican will feel right at home here. GunLord looks and plays like an original full commercial release--on the Neo Geo platforms it even has the price to match!