Site Blog

Farewell Patrick!

My "Highscore" Story

25 Years Cascade

Commodore 64: 8 Bit Legend

The Stuff Is Out There

I hate moving...

Puhh... being back from Greece in the beginning of October, I finally felt driven on enough to finish this new Cascade website, which was slowly getting rotten as alpha in my projects folder (it's beta now ;-). Meeting all those old friends in Hellas after such a long time, besides seeing the famous Antikythera mechanism from eye to eye, gave me a lot of new energy, which I wanted to invest before it fades again...

To this website:
Well after I stopped uploading old stuff to csdb last year (read below why), I started concentrating (besides other things, of course) on a new Cascade website as the old site was apr. 7 years old and really antiquated. I wanted a dynamic content system, the possibility of an easier site administration and a little blog-like system, just to spit out my thoughts from time to time, whenever I feel to do so. Furthermore I wanted to integrate my personal demo and game databases into an easier webdesign, therefore the new layout was made with .css (well most of it at least). So I recoded the whole site from scratch. All in all it took quite long to finish the code, because real life leached most of my energy. But now it's finished and I hope you all like this...

Some words to csdb:
As I said I stopped uploading stuff to csdb, although I still sit on tons of missing old cracks. The reasons for this is that my motivation for supporting csdb sadly was killed, after some ppl started to spam the database for unknown reasons. Maybe those guys suffer of heavy image neurosis, being keen on upload credits in the csdb stats, I don't know... but now there are many, many "scene releases" in csdb that are either not scene related or no releases by definition or worse, even both! Some entries are totally senseless, others were only done to have some bytes for upload to csdb. It's so weird!
And not to mention all the double-entries because some ppl are not willing to check properly. So the amount of 67.000 "scene releases" in csdb is definitely artificially elevated, spoiling this cool web resource :-(

Hopefully someday things get better, or I simply regain motivation to support csdb more than just keeping track on the Cascade entry... we'll see...

17.01.2020 - Amiga game 'Killerball' downloadable for free
The commercial video sports game 'Killerball' (Publisher Microids) is inspired by the SciFi classic 'Rollerball' (1974) and can now be downloaded from the website of the Amiga Future as ADF and IPF image as well as WHDLoad archive.

16.01.2020 - New Video from 8-Bit Show And Tell: Decoding Information Society's '300bps N,8,1' on a Commodore 64
It's shown how to decode Information Society's infamous 300bps N,8,1 (Terminal Mode or ASCII Download) story from their 1992 CD, 'Peace and Love, Inc.' using equipment from 1992 or earlier, and learn a bit about analog modems in the process! Stick around after for a reading of the band's crazy story.

16.01.2020 - C64 game 'Synthia in the Cyber Crypt' (SEUCK) released
Entry #2 for the SEUCK Compo 2020. Synthia in the Cyber Crypt' is a platform style game, which we might have not seen before made with SEUCK. Story: Humanity is doomed. The scientists who had been working on AI replacements to help the survivors of the atomic war have been killed by their latest model. One obsolete HEC-80 is our last hope.

16.01.2020 - Amiga game 'Project Horizon' announced
There's not so much info about the game itself, but the gameplay should include some basic shooting thingy like Commando. And if possible, the game will turn out as a Chaos Engine/Alien Breed like game. There is also a second new video for this game project showing Map Editor for Project Horizon.

14.01.2020 - Preview of the upcoming C64 game 'Millie and Molly'
Take a look at a level using the underwater GFX and music from the upcoming C64 game 'Millie and Molly' by Carleton Handley (code), Saul Cross (graphics) and Hans Axelsson-Svala (music). In it’s early development the games title was temporarily named “Catrap (Pitman)”. Many Game Boy fans will be familiar. There are five styles in total spread over 100 levels. The shown level in the video won't be in the final game as totally original levels are currently being designed.

13.01.2020 - Amiga game 'Stalker', yet unfinished, was recently updated
'Stalker' is a prototype of an Amiga game that was initially developed about 20 years ago. The main unique feature of the game was the re-arrangeable playfield. The player controls a two leg robot in a scene that is built by same sized blocks. These blocks are moveable in a rearranged mode. Check the video for some impressions of the game. Download links are available in the video description.

12.01.2020 - Jan Beta - Classic Atari/Commodore Joystick to USB Adapter
Jan Beta has made a new video where he's attempting to build his own joystick adapter to be able to use classic style DB9 connector joysticks, mainly used with home computers and 8-bit consoles, on modern USB hardware and emulators.

12.01.2020 - Commodore C16 – RAM upgrade and internal SD2IEC mount
Retrohax.net blog has a new article online: This time, a short post about RAM upgrade in C16 and internal SD2IEC installation plus dual OS ROM. Some time ago the author was asked to make some mods to C16. He had a C16 that had fried TED chip but he didn’t have a replacement for it so this nice Commodore landed on a shelf. However, he has managed to order TED from eBay and when it was delivered he could restart working on this machine.

11.01.2020 - Royal Mail dedicates its own stamps to twelve classic games
The British post hast announced special stamp sets containing motives of classic computer and video games, available from 21 January. Seasoned gamers, young players and collectors will enjoy exploring the stamps, stories and images featured in this colourful celebration of classic video games.

09.01.2020 - The Amiga Future magazine - Issue 142 available for order
Amiga Future magazine #142 can be ordered right now. Available in german or english language. Show Reports: Amiga 34, Amiga Meeting - Interviews: Christian Haller - Reviews: Insanity Fight, Insanity Fight iOS, Blastaway, Football Fortunes, Goldrush, IBrowse, DiskPrint, AdressMaster, Aminet News, MorphOS Camp, MC68k - Special: Shogo part 2, AmigaOS 3.1.4 part 3, XCopy Tools, FPGA Amiga-Clone, Trevors Soapbox, Demoscene - Others: Editorial, Content, News, Imprint, Content CoverCD, letters to the editor.

06.01.2020 - New Amiga game 'Matchic' available for pre-order
Coming on 18th January - Psytronik Software is very pleased to present 'Matchic', a puzzle game for the Commodore Amiga. 'Matchic' was originally released (very briefly) in 1991. Unfortunately, the company involved with publishing the game went bust shortly after the game was released and only a few copies were sold. Flash-forward to 2020 and Psytronik is proud to give this rare Amiga game a proper commercial release complete with glossy big box packaging!

05.01.2020 - Elite 128 V2.0 released
This is the long awaited version 2.0 of Elite 128! Version 1.0 was released in 1998. Coder 'Uz' worked on it for about another year at that time adding new features and improving the code, then stopped without a new release. After not touching the code for about 13 years, he was contacted by some elite enthusiasts with questions. To answer them, he had to remove the dust from the old code. He reviewed the changes, recompiled the code and saw it was good. So he decided it would be a pity to have the code unreleased. Read the .txt included in the .zip file for more info.

05.01.2020 - New C64 game 'MARS' available for pre-order
Coming on 18th January - Psytronik Software presents MARS (aka MARTE), a new game for the Commodore 64 by Sputnik World. Released 50 years after man first set foot on moon now here's you chance to take a giant leap even further - on a mission to the red planet, MARS! The human adventure continues ...

05.01.2020 - 'Realms of Quest Quadrilogy Collection' for VIC20 available for pre-order
Coming on 18th January - Currently being hammered and forged together deep in the fiery pits of Psytronik Software is the 'Realms of Quest Quadrilogy Collection'. This beautifully presented glossy box set will contain the first four complete Realms of Quest games for the VIC-20 along with the bonus C64 game Ultimate Quest:Catacomb.

05.01.2020 - New C64 game 'The Shadow Over Hawksmill' available for pre-order
Coming on 18th January - To celebrate the 100th release from Psytronik Software the team behind the multi-award-winning release Rocky Memphis: The Legend Of Atlantis are BACK with a stunning new arcade adventure for the C64. Journey to the rain-swept village of Hawksmill to investigate the mysterious disappearance of it's inhabitants.