Happy New Year and welcome to 2020!

And so we approach the end of another year...  Another decade in fact.  I still find it hard to believe that very shortly we will all be living in the 20s!

As I look back over the past year while still recovering from a dreadful sickness big which has plagued the Wilson family over Christmas, I can't help but think that 2019 has had a fair few highlights and memorable moments, namely our first family cruise (thanks muchly to Michelle's Dad), and my first trip out to the Maunsell Sea Forts which is something I've always wanted to do.  Sophie and Kayleigh have now moved up to Middle School, Kieran is progressing nicely in his GCSE subjects at school, Michelle's nail business is booming (I think this has been her most successful year yet), and things are the same for me at work, but with the added benefit of having all of my children at the same school!

It's been a good year for gaming too.  Besides the countless hours of playing old games on my many retro machines, I've also been able to enjoy many of 2019s fantastic releases.  Highlights have been
Shenmue 1 and 2 (re-released on PS4)
Shenmue 3
Call of Duty Modern Warfare
Dark Pictures Man of Medan
Days Gone
Resident Evil 2 Remake
The Walking Dead The Telltale Definitive Edition
Blood and Truth

With that said, the best gaming highlight in 2019 for me though is playing through and finishing Resident Evil 7 in VR - Now THAT was an experience!

2020 Looks like it's going to be an equally good year for new games, with the recently announced Resident Evil 3 remake expected in April, and of course the long-awaited The Last of Us Part 2.  I can't wait!

I never make new year resolutions, but I will make some aims which I intend to keep to...

1)  Find time to relax and play some games.  I've got a massive backlog of games I've purchased over the past year which I haven't even played yet.  I've had Red Dead Redemption 2 since October 2018 and I still haven't played it!!
2)  Find time to write more music.  This is something I've wanted to do for so long, but I just never seem to find the time to do it.
3)  Find time to go out more with the camera.
4)  Find time to catch up with old friends, some whom I have neglected for too long.

I guess my biggest aim of 2020 is to FIND TIME for myself to do things.  I spend so much of my time working and worrying about stuff, that I seem to struggle to enjoy the finer things in life.  A problem I've had for as long as I can remember.

Anyway, to the odd person who will read this - Happy New Year!  I wish you all the best for 2020.  To end this year and decade, enjoy a small Commodore 64 demo I've put together

sd

PS - I still can't believe 1990 was 30 years ago.

Gaming Memories - December 1989

Looking back at what I was reading and playing exactly 30 years ago this month, December 1989 was a good year for racing games on the Commodore 64. My Amiga owning friends might have had the eagerly awaited home version of Hard Drivin', but I had the Commodore 64 versions of Turbo Outrun and Stunt Car Racer, both of which scored higher than their Amiga counterparts between both Zzap and Commodore User reviews.

It was however around this time when I decided to ditch Commodore User in favour of the more C64 friendly Zzap 64/Amiga as my primary source of C64 news and goodness since Commodore User was aiming more for the Amiga market. Shame on them, as the C64 still had plenty of life left in it to last a few more years.

Retro Gaming Trekkie Dad (Episode 1) - Castle Master for the Commodore Amiga

The first of (hopefully) many new videos from me, reviewing/playing old and new computer games, with the occasional smidgen of Star Trek thrown in here and there. 

This episode is devoted to the classic 3D adventure game Castle Master by Incentive Software.  Released back in 1990 by Domark Software, it was the fourth game to utilize the revolutionary Freescape solid 3D system and is an excellent example of early virtual reality on home computers.  So be prepared to spend the next 1 hour 30 minutes watching me wandering aimlessly around Castle Eternity, getting lost, destroying spirits, and getting even more lost before finally defeating the evil Magister once and for all.

 

Star Trek Shuttles

Years ago, I made a very basic diorama for my ERTL Galileo shuttlecraft, made up a few pieces of wood, paper mache, and some bits and pieces leftover from a trainset I was building.

Anyway, I thought it might be a good idea to see what my Star Trek shuttles from the Star Trek Starships Collection would look like on it, and well...  Here are a few.

Galileo 7 Shuttlecraft (Star Trek The Original Series)

Galileo Shuttlecraft (Star Trek V The Final Frontier)

Type 6 Shuttlecraft (Star Trek The Next Generation)

Starfleet Runabout (Star Trek Deep Space Nine)

Type 15 Shuttlepod (Star Trek The Next Generation)

Giving the Amiga a clean!

So yesterday, I decided to give the Amiga 500 a clean.  I tend to use my A1200 more for general use, so this has been the first time I've fired up the A500 in quite a long time.  Glad the GVP A530 is working fine and the hard drive still contains lots of graphics, music (and very basic 3D renders and objects) I created in the mid-1990s.  Ahhh, the memories.

The case wasn't too yellow, so no need for retrobrite, however, I was able to blow out a considerable amount of dust, dirt, and lint from under the keys and on the motherboard.

Musical Kayleigh

My daughter Kayleigh is really getting into writing music on the keyboard lately, especially now that she is doing music at her new school. Here's a couple of her masterpieces, including a lovely rendition of Harry Potter. She picks it up so quickly!