P: A Load of P's... A to Z of Game Consoles & Computers

Here is a brand new A to Z for the April Blog Challenge. Missed this for a few years, but now returning with a kind of quick reference guide to gaming systems including original consoles, handhelds and home computers. PC's, emulation boxes, minis and mobile devices don't get included, this is a list of dedicated machinery for mostly playing games and educational software. This is valid up till March 2018. If anybody notices any missing systems you feel belong in this list, feel free to contact me. 

The years stated are years of release, not when the system ended production.

Let's continue with P... a lot to get through here!

• Pippin, 1995 by Apple/Bandai/Katz Media
• Ping-O-Tronic, 1974 by Zanussi
• PC-50X Family, 1975 by General Instrument
• Playcable, 1981 by Mattel
• PV-1000, 1983 by Casio
• PV-2000, 1983 by Casio
• PC Engine AKA TurboGrafx 16, 1987 by NEC Home Electronics/Hudson Soft
• PC Engine Duo AKA TurboDuo (All variants), 1991 by NEC Home Electronics/Hudson Soft
• PC-FX, 1994 by NEC Home Electronics
• PC-1512, 1986 by Amstrad
• PCjr, 1984 by IBM
• Pecom 32/64, 1985 by Elektronska Industrija Nis
  
• PET (All variants), by Commodore International
• Plus/4 AKA 116, 1984 by Commodore International
• PMD 85, 1985 by Tesla
• Philips:YES, 1985 by Philips
• Poly 1, 1981 by Progeni Systems/Poly Corporation
• Playdia, 1994 by Bandai
• Playstation, 1994 by Sony
• Playstation 2, 2000 by Sony
• Playstation 3, 2006 by Sony
• Playstation 4, 2013 by Sony
• Playstation 5, 2020 by Sony
• Pandora, 2010 by Openpandora
• PasoGo, 1996 by Koei
• Pixter, 2002 by Mattel/Fisher Price
• P2000, 1980 by Philips
• Proscreen, 1984 by VTech
• PreComputer 1000, 1988 by VTech
• Pravetz 8D, 1982 by Pravetz
• Pravetz Series 8 (All variants), 1985 by Pravetz
• Prologica CP-100, 1984 by Prologica
• Pasopia, 1981 by Toshiba
• Pencil II, 1984 by Hanimex
• Primo A-32, 1984 by Microkey KFFT
• Prodest PC128, 1986 by Olivetti
• Poly 88, 1976 by Polymorphic Systems
• PG7, 1977 by Polycon
• PC200/PC20, 1988 by Amstrad
• Picno, 1992 by Konami
• Pyuta Jr, 1983 by Tomy

Pictured are PV-2000, Playstation 4, Playstation 2 and PC-50x

Christmas 2013, My (Great) Expectations.

Salutations and greetings friends, readers, bloggers and people who have clicked a wrong Google link. This is the Novabug Blog by the way, stick around because you might like it. Maybe.

So, it's that time of year again when we all spend too much money on superfluous tacky gifts, vast amounts of food too great in mass to consume within the use-by date, and moan about the choice of Bond movie shown. It's a time when British people can be divided; either ignoring it quietly, hating it opening or just going with the flow. For the majority, people adopt the latter. So, the expectant day is filled with larks and tomfoolery; the turkey get's dropped, the kids all get sugar-filled and throw up, the carpet becomes a smorgasbord of past christmas dinners and decorations, the cat climbs the tree and inevitably, everyone passes out after rowing over a game of Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit or Wii Sports. Ahh, the joy!

Okay, maybe that's all a bit melodramatic and OTT, but you get my point. After all, once you have passed the age of when the innocence and irresponsibility has gone, it becomes just another day, just with more food and mess. This year I hope for a more mundane Christmas, well, once the children have worn themselves out. They will get ample amounts of toys, colouring book and so on, most of which will be destroyed or lost before Boxing Day is finished. I however, on the back of the 'big' launch of this years most wanted games consoles, have bought the family a Nintendo Wii U, because it's far more suitable to a young family environment and it's cheaper. Much cheaper. I got the system, extra controllers and 4 games costing far less than a new Playstation 4 with 1 game, or an Xbox One with no games. It's a no-brainer for me. The big day will consist of a hectic morning of torn wrapping paper, setting up dollhouses or building lego models, while the loving missus makes some hearty breakfast. Then, it's on to the mother-in-law's, for a brief but equally frantic session of more toys and such like, and then on to my mothers superlative christmas dinner, after which things can start to chill down. Personally, I'm looking forward to playing on my brothers PS4, but really I just want to sit, drink and watch anything that appears on the TV. As long as I can relax, I'm happy. No forcing the fun this year, just going to run with whatever, as they say. 

So, what's your plans? Do you have wildly massive and unobtainable predictions on how the day will pan out? Good? Bad? Terrible? Fantastic? What ever way you spend the 25th, whether you celebrate or not, I offer my seasons greetings and goodwill, because, no matter what the connotations of Christmas means to you, it should really all be about being good to one other. A feeling of happiness and love between family and friends. Yes, this sounds cliche, but it's the truth. No religious or cultural differences should hinder this. So, happy Christmas one and all, have a peaceful but fun time, and look forward to the new year with a positive outlook. Well, that's what I hope to be doing.

The Pixel Empire

Needless to say, us TPE guys have been working on some Christmas gaming gems for you all. Expect to see some snow/ice related video games, our annual Secret Santa reviews and some exclusive surprises as well. Some classic title just 'may' be getting a reboot... I'll say no more. In the meantime, we have been covering some great games such as Command & Conquer: Red Alert, Bejeweled 3, Rayman Legends and the updated version of Baldur's Gate. Read them now, it's unmissable. Also, on the back of Sony and Microsoft cornering the media attention, we look back at the previous generation of big games consoles. The PS3 and Xbox 360 get our judgement, with no pulled punches I assure you. 

Novabug on YouTube. 

I recently have been producing a vast amount of video material, all mostly about gaming, so why not take a look. I have some new gameplay's of Pang, Batman and Barbarian 2, as well as me chatting about old console niggles, what games most consumed me and how my better half feel about my gaming habits. Take a butchers, I hope you will enjoy my rantings and banter. Click HERE to view and enjoy my channel.

Happy Christmas, Merry New Year and all that guff...

For 2013... Bug...'Out!

We are all Brand Loyalists, Like it or Not.

I saw a Youtube video the other day, which talked extensively about the concept of fanboy-ism amongst gamers. This got me thinking, because as a reviewer of all games that are considered retro, I am compelled to put across a totally unbiased and equal view on the subject matter. But, do I really do this? Am I being fair, objective and open-minded? For general articles I think I have this down to a tee, no worries there, but in social conversation and discussion, I'm not so sure. I have come to conclusion that, no matter what kind of gamer you are, no matter what era you hail from or what generation you belong too, we all have our favourite consoles but more potently, concealed within the depths of our id, I suspect we have an unexplained draw to a specified manufacturer at any given period. And there is little we can do about this.

Casting aside my usual thought-processes of fair play, I can admit what brands I'm drawn too. In my childhood, Amstrad was the manufacturer that imprisoned my young gaming mind. I would defend the CPC with all the over-inflated facts or blatant untruths I could. The three way argument of the Commodore, Amstrad and of course the Spectrum fans would be the start of many schoolyard scraps. Normally, the Speccy guys would be overrun by the brags of graphical power the other two had, so it became a straight fight between C64 and 464. Our young minds not able to fully grasp the concept of 'Gameplay'. Ironically, if the Speccy guy had played this card, a win may have been very possible. Anyway, needless to say I was Alan Sugar's metaphorical bitch during this time, and even when I had the chance delve into the delights of the Amiga or Megadrive, all I craved for was Amstrad's latest machine. Yes, that was the ill-fated GX4000.... (Yes, I know now!)

Machinehead! A few generations of my favourite manufacturers...

After Amstrad abandoned the computer market, and the 16-bit era taking a foothold, I found myself strangely drawn to Nintendo. I believe this was a combination of liking the newest console available at the time, and the illogical hatred I had developed for SEGA; the Megadrive unceremoniously killing the GX4000 was a bitter pill to swallow. I now know the Megadrive was, and is a great machine, but I could not accept this at the time. So, I became a Nintendo-head. After getting the SNES, I backtracked to the Gameboy and NES, and again found myself fighting their corner whenever the situation arose. I am still an avid Nintendo fan, but due to the peer pressure and the cost of the N64 at the time, I fell in love with Sony and their Playstation. As I have grown older, learning to see the merits of the systems I forgo'd, I still find myself getting riled at people slagging off Amstrad, Nintendo or, to a lesser extent, Sony, and will still defend there failings to the letter. It's ridiculous I know, but this is the silly emotional attachment that I believe all gamers have with their chosen brand. Speccy fans behave in this manner, as do Amiga ilk and so on. In current times, it's been a plain straight battle between Sony and Microsoft, PS v Xbox, the latter being another brand I cannot get along with. Maybe it's because Microsoft's history are littered with problems for the consumer, their apparent greed doesn't help either, and this plays on my mind. I mean, why did they ruin a perfectly good OS (Win95) by saying Vista was the dog's ballbags? It was more dog shit then dogs balls, and now it seems they are doing it again. Windows 7... Good enough. Windows 8? Ugh! 

The difference now is that I can appreciate and respect that people have views of their own, correct ones at that, because I am exactly the same with my brands. But, take one moment to look at your personal gaming history, and I'll bet you will find yourself siding with a certain console or manufacturer. It maybe to do with the games, the looks, the technical prowess, who knows. But a die-hard Amiga fan will never accept an Atari-ST, an Xbox man will always curse a Playstation even thought they can still give an approving nod to the merits of each system. In short, we are all fanboys. It's the way of the world, and a brighter, more entertaining and diverse place for it. My next console? A WiiU, obviously. 

The Pixel Empire 

Retro and racing have been the subject of choice recently on The Pixel Empire. Not only did we finish off our retro month with a Amstrad/Speccy showdown, with classic Manic Miner and the awesome Batman getting full coverage, but we have a long exciting starting grid of racing titles lined up. Ferrari's get some tough love in Crazy Cars 2 and Ferrari Grand Prix challenge, and Shane dishes the dirt in Xbox title DiRT: Showdown. Stay tuned to our Facebook page and Twitter profile for the upcoming reviews on V-Rally, Penny Racers, Lotus Turbo Challenge and Street Racer.

Right that's me all talked out for now, will have another blog up when I can be bothered to rant about something again. Maybe something more mundane, like how can a cup of tea be made so differently by family members. Or something...

Sayonara...Bug' Out!