Buying Games Cold

We are constantly deluged with gaming information. If it's not trailers or sizzle reels, it's magazine profiles, social media pics and adverts. We live in very fortunate times in that we have all this content to make an informed purchasing decision. Sure, the various Not E3 streams and trailer drops have been exhausting but think of the alternative; nothing, nada, nowt to look at and make decisions on.

Back in the day, before all this media existed, gamers had to rely on a few magazines off the WHSmith's shelf. In the British microcomputer boom of the 80s though hundreds of games were released and all were not covered in magazines, so you had to rely on either word of mouth, cover art or tiny screenshots at the back of the cassette.

As I was tidying my garage this week, I was organising my Amstrad CPC 464 game cassettes and waves of nostalgia washed over me. I had kept a select few games after getting rid of the rest in a great cull that must have happened at some point but which I now can't seem to recall. There were some bonafide classics in there including Rainbow Islands, Bubble Bobble, Chase HQ and some Dizzy titles. However, there were a few duffers too... Capcom's Sidearms anyone?

Have a Crackin' Time With Wonderful Dizzy

As a 40 year old gamer,I have fond memories of gaming in the 80's. But there is one series which came out on the micro computers that holds a special place in my heart, and that series is 'Dizzy' the lovable puzzle solving egg.

The game is very cute and done in the old micro-computer style.

I met the twins a few years ago and they were very amiable and signed my copies of their Dizzy game. A short while ago, I backed their Kickstarter for a signed Mystery World Dizzy NES cartridge and also read their biography, Let’s Go Dizzy.

I met the Oliver Twins years ago and they were lovely and approachable.

I met the Oliver Twins years ago and they were lovely and approachable.

So, when it was announced that they were making a new game with Dizzy I was ecstatic. Wonderful Dizzy is set in the world of Oz and through his journey across the land he meets the usual coterie of characters including the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion. The game is the usual Dizzy fare and is free to play in-browser.

Let's Go Dizzy: The Story of the Oliver Twins- Book Review

Like most children of the 80's I had a huge love of the micro computers scene that was thriving. I had my first real experience with computers in the mid 80's with the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC 464. The first real games that blew me away were Robin Hood and later Fantasy World Dizzy. Both games were created by the Oliver Twins and at the time they became almost mythical figures, creating the best games including the iconic Dizzy. I used to love reading about the twins but in an era before the Internet there were only occasional snippets or features in magazines so they remained unknowable, unfathomable.

Luckily, I met the twins a couple of years ago at the Centre for Computing History and listened to them as they orally discussed their history and Dizzy games but this book, Let's Go Dizzy: The Story of the Oliver Twins, is a detailed account of their life and game making history.

Over 232 pages, Chris Wilkins, discusses their childhood, early interest in coding and rise to video game super stardom. The book is heavy in interviews and quotes from the twins themselves and so isn't just anecdotal but actually from the mouth of the twins. There are a large amount of photos from the time which help to provide context and the screenshots help to break up the large amount of text. Of all the sections, I found their evolution from the micro computers to the 8 and 16 bit era especially interesting as they discuss the Nintendo vs Code Masters Game Genie lawsuit and why certain Dizzy games weren't released on the platforms. The book is honest and covers the highs and the lows of their careers and for anyone interested in the life and works of the pioneering Oliver Twins, this is a must read.

LINK- Play the Dizzy Game In-Browser Now

The Cambridge Centre For Computing History

I've been meaning to visit the Cambridge Museum for Computing History since I first came across their website a while ago, but knowing that the Oliver Twins (of Codemasters and Dizzy fame) were going to be doing a talk there was all the impetus I needed to finally get down there.

The museum is located in an industrial area, usually the preserve of out of town shopping centres and shops like B & Q and Carpet Right, but for a collection of vast proportions it makes sense that the computing centre is here. The centres collection explores the historical, social and cultural impact of personal computing. What makes this museum so special is that unlike many other museums the displays are not behind glass, instead most of the old computers and game consoles are plugged in and working, ready for use by visitors (Only the very rarest items have a 'do not touch' sign on them or are behind glass).

Being a retro gaming geek, this museum has the perfect blend of interactive exhibits and informative knowledge displays. As an avid gamer I felt that I knew a lot about computing but boy was I wrong, there were so many machines which I didn't even know about, the one that really surprised me was the Amstrad/ Sega Megadrive hybrid, that was a thing apparently! Who's fevered mind dreamed that one up?

The Amstrad Mega PC- The power of the Sega Megadrive and Amstrad PC combined.... wow, just wow!

The centre had it all; Macintoshes, Sinclairs, Microcomputers as well as  all the Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft consoles. The museum had gadgets and peripheries and even a Sinclair Electric car.

Although the centre had only been open for exactly a year, it had plenty to see and do and was packed. There had been a school group earlier in the day and as the time ticked on closer to the Oliver Twins talk more of a crowd started to build. I played many of the game on show including Super Robin Hood, Fantasy World Dizzy, Cybermorph on the Atari Jaguar (the controller is horrendous to hold), Sonic the Hedgehog on the Megadrive and a shmup on the Turbo Grafx 16. Also I saw the graveyard of arcade machines, there were 13 in total and whilst some were fixed many are in need of major renovations. The museum is hoping to get them back online soon and that would be special!

Just after 3 o'clock the Oliver twins, Philip and Andrew arrived and had a look around the centre. Once they had a look around they went into the conference room and after a few technical hitches, started their talk. The talk was relaxed and illuminating, they talked about their interest in gaming from a young age and their enthusiasm for coding right up to their relationship with Codemasters. They discussed Dizzy of course but this was much more than just that, they talked about starting their own company and the founding of Blitz Games, its closing and the emergence of Radiant Games, their newest venture. They spoke with enthusiasm and candour and it was refreshing to see such honesty and lack of hyperbole.

After the talk, which lasted just over an hour and a half, there was a chance to ask questions. I learnt that the brothers enjoy the works of Nintendo and respect their fun way of producing games that engage people of all ages. Also the brothers thought that Fantasy World Dizzy had the best art of their games, anything with a dragon is cool apparently!

  There was a short break for drinks and refreshments and this provided me with an opportunity to get things signed and discuss gaming further with the Philip Oliver. He signed my Fantastic Dizzy Master System poster and my Quattro Games cassette from Codemasters, both of which I'd had since my childhood.

After a time Adam Oliver, the 15 year old son of Andrew, spoke about game designing and the challenges of making a game. He discussed learning coding in Scratch and then moving onto GameMaker and then producing Alien X, the BAFTA Young Game Designer of the Year 2014 Award winning game. Andrew answered questions and offered an interesting take on the changes to the ICT Curriculum. I asked him how schools were coping with the new curriculum and he spoke openly how things had shifted from consuming to constructing, there was a notable shift in his school from proprietary Office packages to creative software where the pupils were given creative freedom under a remit. It seems like computing is finally moving in the right direction and the Olivers are helping by being involved in such initiatives as 'Made in Creative UK.'

I left the centre after having been in there for over 6 hours and I have to say that I had the most fantastic time. I played games I hadn't touched in years, met fellow gamers and enthusiasts an met my childhood game heroes and got my swag signed. All in all an amazing day!

My signed copy of Fantasy Dizzy and Quattro Adventures pack.

Here I am on the far right hand side... so stoked to have been here!

An Afternoon With the Oliver Twins- Creators of Dizzy

As a gamer in my early 30's I have fond memories of gaming in the 80's. But there is one series which came out on the micro computers that holds a special place in my heart, and that series is 'Dizzy' the lovable puzzle solving egg. 

Now fans of Dizzy can get a chance to meet the Oliver Twins on 26th July 2014 at the The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge.

According to the Computing History website:

The legendary Oliver Twins, Philip and Andrew, will be talking about the past, present and future of computer, video and now mobile games. They will share experiences from their early days of working with Codemasters, Dizzy Egg and Blitz Games all the way through to their current endeavours with their newly formed company Radiant Worlds. Q&A session will follow this presentation..

Starting on 8 bit computers in the 80’s with games like Dizzy all the way through to recent games such as Puss in Boots, Epic Mickey 2, they will also talk about their exciting new game!

I've already ordered my ticket for £7 and am very excited to meet my 80's heroes, I have my original Amstrad CPC 464 Fantasy World Dizzy cassette and Master System Fantastic Dizzy to get signed!

Gaming and Me- by Anjum Razaq

Why do I play games? Why is it so important to me? Speak to people in the gaming community and you’ll hear a variety of reasons but for older gamers like me you’ll probably hear them say that games are ‘art’ and like other art forms it can be appreciated. Maybe this is a response against feeling judged to have, what is traditionally thought of as ‘a childish hobby’, I don’t know. It doesn’t help when the media constantly speak about gaming in negative terms, a form of entertainment which encourages violence and depravity. Whether games are an art or not can be discussed at another time but to be honest when I started gaming I didn’t sit there thinking ‘Wow, this is art… look how cultured I am’.

So why my interest in gaming? Well to understand we have to go back a little to when I first experienced ‘games’. I first played on arcade machines in classics like Pacman and Donkey Kong but my first home experience was on the ZX Spectrum when I was 6 years old.  However my first deep game experience was with my oldest and best friend who was given a NES with Mario Bros. 1 for his 9th birthday. I went to his house and ate lots of junk food and we played the game for over 8 hours straight. When I got home that evening I promptly vomited, but my eyes were truly opened to the world of gaming.

This was the cassette I had for my Amstrad... epicness was contained inside!​

I got my own first computer for my 10th birthday, getting a second hand Amstrad CPC 464 (this was in 1991 when the Amstrad was already well into obsolescence and the Megadrive and NES were in ascendency). I played that computer for many years and still have it now in storage, but the game that truly immersed me and engaged me was ‘Fantasy World Dizzy’. It is now considered a classic and rightly so. It featured state of the art graphics for the time and a simple story of rescuing your family, a bunch of eggs called ‘Yolkfolk’, from the evil King Troll. I remember loving the fact that it had an inventory system where you could hold only 3 items at a time, so each new discovery of an item felt truly wonderful yet at the same time offered a dilemma. My brother and I played that game for months on end and I remember vividly the moment we became stuck (this was a time before walkthroughs and guides) and my brother discovered that the rope could be used on the crocodile to close his mouth, so we could jump across to another part of the world.

This part of the game had my brother and I stumped for months

I think this was the first time that this joy of discovery really hit me in computer games, the fact that there was an immersive world which you could explore and by using your wits and guile could slowly unravel. A lot of other games at the time were very simple quick game fixes but this; this world was another thing all-together.

In recent years Dizzy has had a little revival due to iOS gaming (Prince of the Yolkfolk has been released on the app store) and frequent mentions in the many Zero Punctuation review videos, where he refers to it as “the best game ever” but clearly taking a well aimed snipe at those who look back through the rose-tinted eyes of nostalgia.

​Old skool game design... I love this hands on approach

In recent years ‘Geek-chic’ has become a part of popular culture, with celebrities purposely seeking to present this image but back when I was a kid being a ‘geek’ was not a trend, it was just a way of being. I loved the ‘Fighting Fantasy’ novels, watched ‘Knightmare’ on TV and my favourite series was ‘Mysterious Cities of Gold’ (it still is). I wasn’t bullied and didn’t feel like an outsider, gaming wasn’t the world I went to shut out the world. Instead it immersed me and engaged me and brought me and my friends together. I felt a real sense of community in gaming and even now, when I meet a fellow gamer there is an instant connection of something shared.

Gaming is a deeply personal experience for me and as I have grown older I have definitely become more discerning and particular with the games I play. Due to time constraints of work and marriage gaming isn’t as big in my life as it used to be but it is just as important, for me it is a big point of identity. That is why when thinking about creating an educational ICT and Games Based Learning blog, Simon and I wanted to look at the various aspects of gaming. Rather than just being a ‘this is what we are doing using computer games’ we wanted to create a forum of ideas and discussion, not just about educational aspects of gaming but gaming as a whole. I saw this poster on the internet and don’t know who created it (if you know who created this please let me know and I will credit them here) but would like to use it here as for me in encapsulates what gaming is. I hope you will join us for this journey and contribute.