Not everyday you’ll find a video games company in which its primary business model is to bring retro games to live on modern day devices. One such company is DotEmu.

Here’s a brief on the company: DotEmu develops innovative technologies for bringing massively and quickly old video games and software to many supports: Java/Flash, iPhone/Smartphone and PC.

DotEmu notably adapted Street Fighter II, Boulder Dash or else the Ishar trilogy. Most recently, DotEmu announced the launch of a new online store which plays host to famous 80s and 90s video games and until the grand opening on May 6, many games will be made available for free exclusively during the beta phase.

Available on PC, iPhone or directly online, the DotEmu catalogue offers a real homecoming for a whole generation of gamers! Fans of fighting and arcade games can get their hands on Street Fighter II and Boulder Dash.

Adventure enthusiasts will not be outdone with games like Beneath a Steel Sky, Drascula, Nicky Boom. As for RPG fans, they will relive the Silmarils collection with Ishar series, Robinson’s Requiem and even DEUS!

An speaking of oldies but goodies, DotEmu is proud to announce that the Gobliiins trilogy is now available for download. Back in the day the game was an unforgettable adventure for PC DOS, Amiga and Atari ST gamers!

From April 26, the store and catalogue will be available in beta on DotEmu.com. Players can access many games as Ishar I, Nicky Boom 1, Metal Mutant or Transartica for free during this period right up till the official launch on the May 6.

PC games are adapted to be compatible with Windows XP, Vista and 7. All games are multilingual. For those who may encounter computer issues: don’t panic! Paid games are downloadable again at any time.

If you are like me, a child of the 80s, you probably played with one of those Game & Watch devices from Nintendo. Some of the ones that I played were Octopus and Parachute. While fun, these were hardy little devices that withstood handling by children and practically ran for hours thanks to the LR44 button cells that powered them.

Now, nearly 30 years after the release of Chef, Parachute and Octopus, TakaraTomy has released a smaller version that can be used as a keychain and more importantly, are solar powered. Yup, no batteries required and each of them measure a minuscule 3.5 cm (h) * 6 cm (w). Each of these are going for USD 9.90 and if you are interested, check out the links below:

• Game Watch Mini Solar Key Holder: Chef (USD 9.90) ~ Click here for details
• Game Watch Mini Solar Key Holder: Octopus (USD 9.90) ~ Click here for details
• Game Watch Mini Solar Key Holder: Parachute (USD 9.90) ~ Click here for details

Don’t forget to check out the pictures:

Well, aside from being female. If you listen carefully to Ke$ha’s album, Animal, you’ll notice that some tracks contain samples that really sound like they are taken from retro 8-bit games. Cases in point are Tik Tok and Blah Blah Blah (feat. 3OH!3). But for non-gamers, the samples may sound like old-school MIDI tracks.

Speaking about retro video game music, if you have not gotten your hands on the Bayonetta 5 CD pack, you certainly should. Some of the discs contain remixed tracks from Outrun (Magical Sound Shower, Splash Wave), After Burner, After Burner II, Fantasy Zone (Boss theme) and Space Harrier!

The Bayonetta Original Soundtrack (Japanese ver.)  is currently being sold for USD 52.90 at Play-Asia. Click here for further details.

The thought of having a Famicom controller as a business card holder would be a little weird for some, but trust Banpresto to actually come up with it, albeit not using an actual controller. The Nintendo Family Computer Card Case: Controller 1 is for the retro-inspired, card-carrying set. Measuring 60 mm * 90 mm, it should be able to handle most business cards.

Banpresto also has a number of other retro video game inspired card holders coming in this November. There’s the Pac Man Card Case: Game Type and the Pac Man Card Case: Table Type, both of which are priced, like the Famicom business card holder, at USD  9.90 each. Click on the respective names above to get more information.

I finally got to watch The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.  It’s a pretty interesting documentary on one man’s quest to beat the world record high score on Donkey Kong. Steve Wiebe here is the overall nice guy going through some tough times in his life. Laid off from work, he takes to playing Donkey Kong Jr. with the aim of beating Billy Mitchell’s high score.

While retro games are understandably an obsession and players can be really competitive, I’m rather surprised at how obnoxious and childish some of these “world record high score” holders are.

It’s quite an eye opening experience to learn how Brian Kuh (who, unfortunately, behaves like Billy Mitchell’s lap dog) entered Steve Wiebe’s garage without permission and proceeded to disassemble his Donkey Kong Jr. for “verification” purposes.

And oh the sheer hypocrisy of it all. While Steve Wiebe’s Donkey Kong score is rejected due to the fact it was video taped and not done in front of a live audience, Walter Day, the guy responsible for keeping track of all these scores, accepts Billy Mitchell’s world record score recorded on a video tape!

The King of Kong is a pretty interesting movie (Steve Wiebe does win in the end), and while some people will have a problem believing that such obsessive-types exist, it’s a fun romp through the retro gaming scenes.

It’s a device slightly bigger than a GBM that plays everything from NES games right up to GBA, Neo Geo and even Capcom CPS 1 & 2 games. ThinkGeek calls it the Pocket Retro Game Emulator while DealExtreme calls it the “Dingoo A-320″.

But if you are looking for a bargain for the device with such an impressive feature set (look out for the expanded list below), you are better-off buying it over at DealExtreme (click here for details) since the site is selling it for just USD 82 with worldwide free shipping compared to USD 99.90 on ThinkGeek.

Check out the following video from ThinkGeek putting the Dingoo through its paces.

Feature Set:

• 2.8 inch LTPS-TFT true color screen.
• Built-in 3D, Capcom CPS2 & CPS1, GBA, MVS, NEOGEO, NES, SFC and SMD emulators
• AV-Out
• Video Player with support for RMVB, RM, AVI, WMV, FLV, MPEG, DAT, MP4, ASF formats
• MP3 Player
• FM Radio
• Voice Recorder
• Image Browser and E-book reader
• 4GB built-in memory with MiniSD slot
• Built-in Lithium battery rechargeable by USB port or by the included USB AC charger.

There’s one thing about the 16-bit video games era that I totally forgotten until 30 minutes ago, and that is I totally suck at 16-bit games. Be it Mario or Sonic,  I had two left thumbs on the controller.

And the game that reminded me of all that was the compilation that arrived yesterday afternoon, Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection for the PS3. I only had the time to try out the games just now and it turned out to be an embarrassing experience.

Blame it on rust or anything, but I didn’t manage to finish a level in any of the games that I tried, except for Sonic The Hedgehog.

The list of retro games in this compilation is really comprehensive (click here for a breakdown) and I think I’ll probably take some time to go through all of them. But if you are a retro game nut (honestly, I prefer playing old games on a handheld console), especially one who covets SEGA stuff, this is the compilation for you.

Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection is available at USD 29.90. Click here for details.

To some, 09/09/09 was a superstitious date but for some gamers, it was the anniversary for the North American launch of the now defunct Sega Dreamcast. Turns out to be that even in dead that there are still people releasing games for the console, which was considered ahead of its time when it was first released.

One of the upcoming games for the Dreamcast is Last Hope: Pink Bullets. This shmup is an upgrade to an earlier title (Last Hope), promoting better visibility and an easier time for novices. Check out the trailer below:

This maybe reason to bring back my Dreamcast which is in my old house in my hometown of Sitawan,  Perak. Looks pretty interesting right? For purchase information, check out the product page at Play-Asia (click here for details). It’s available for pre-order at USD 39.99 and it’s scheduled for release in September 14th 2009.

This you have to check out, a Space Invaders coin box that doubles up  as a functional (albeit mini) Space Invaders arcade machine! Measuring just 17 cm * 11 cm * 11 cm and powered by 3 AAA batteries, TakaraTomy’s Space Invaders Coin Bank accepts any coins similar to that of the Japanese 100 yen coin.

Slip in a coin and you get to play Space Invaders like it’s 1978 with a mini joystick  providing left and right movement and a fire button to well, zap stuff. Check out the following pictures taken from Play-Asia.

The Space Invaders Coin Bank is now available at a discounted price of USD 49.90 over at Play-Asia, click here to check  it out!

I got what I wanted today at Borders. The magazine section was a mess and the staff were starting their end-of-the-day clean up rounds when I found issue 65 of Retro Gamer under a bunch of PSM magazines.

Malaysian freeloaders tend to treat their reading material with disdain and I did see quite a number of magazines in sorry, damaged states. I wonder what do stores do with these magazines. Send them back to be recycled? Maybe. But I know the good ones that are unsold will usually end up in back-issue stores.

I don’t normally settle for one item in a bookstore, so I ended up buying two books. The first one was Into Thin Air, a true story recounting the disastrous 10th of May 1996 on Mount Everest whereby 9 climbers from 4 different expeditions lost their lives.

John Krakauer first wrote Into Thin Air as an article for Outside magazine, and I remember reading his account as a survivor on the magazine’s website a couple of years back. It remains one of the best written articles I’ve ever read. Check it out over here.

The second book is a new one from Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, titled Paul of Dune. Touted as the epic sequel to Dune (written by Frank Herbert, Brian’s father), it ‘s supposed to bridge the first book with the second book in the series, Dune Messiah.