Mastertronic - What if? : Call of Duty Advanced Warfare

Mastertronic brings you "Call of Duty Advanced Warfare" on cassette for £1.99, only for Commodore, Amstrad, Spectrum and Atari  - Available from all good newsagents, chemists and game shops!

 

If only..... :o)

Because I have WAY too much time on my hands, I thought I'd mess around with putting together some fake Mastertronic covers for modern computer games in an attempt to give them the retro 1980's 8-bit cassette look.

  

Remember...  These are just for fun, and are obviously NOT available.

In case you are not aware (or can not remember), Mastertronic were big in the mid to late 1980s and were a major budget software label in the United Kingdom and produced a large number of cheapo games and re-releases for the Commodore/Spectrum/Amstrad/Atari 8-bit computers (and some 16-bit too) - most at a pocket-money-friendly £1.99!  They're still going now, but dare I say it I doubt anyone from the original days is still running things. 

Anyway, remember this is just a bit of fun, but what would modern games look like if Mastertronic still released games like the good ol' days? Well, here you can find out!

 

As always, click the images to enlarge.

 

 

 

You can view more of my fake Mastertronic covers by clicking here

How things change....

Whilst having a sort out and rummaging through the black hole that is my cupboard in the bedroom, I've come across this newspaper advert dating back to Friday 17th April, 1998.  Ok, it's nothing special, but it is in fact the advert that convinced me back in 1998 to upgrade my puny Pentium 90 Windows 95 PC (and also my suped up 40mhz Commodore Amiga 500) to a 'top of the range' Windows 98 PC with an astounding 300mhz Pentium 2 processor, complete with 64mb of RAM, 4mb ATI Rage Pro graphics card (which I upgraded almost immediately with a 3DFX Voodoo 2 card) and an incredibly large (at the time anyway) 6.4Gb hard drive, all for an amazing £1173.83

 

What amazes me more now is how the 21 year old me from 1998 could actually afford £1173.83 on a PC (bearing in mind that I also bought a laptop from Time around the same too for around £1500).

 

Click to enlarge

 

Happy 10th Birthday Kieran

 

It's hard to believe that our little Kieran is no longer little any more and has now finally reached double figures.  Yep, 10 years ago today at exactly 5:13am, he entered the world (or should I say yanked and pulled!), weighing in at a healthy 8lb 4 1/2 oz. 

 

Watching him grow in to the young man that he is today has been one of the most wonderful life experiences I have ever had.  Both Michelle and I could not have asked for a more wonderful, caring, loving, and good looking son! 

 

The past day or so I've been reminiscing and remembering some of the wonderful times I've shared with my boy but at the same time feeling a little sad that for the past few years I really feel like I have let my work and other things get in the way of our 'play time'.  I really need that to change.

 

Anyway, enough of that...  Enjoy a small selection of pictures of Kieran from the day we first saw him during a scan at the hospital, his birth, and then up to yesterday during his 10th Birthday Party.  These are random pictures - I couldn't pick my favourite ones from a collection of over 43,000 photographs!!!!

 

The first time we saw Kieran, albeit, just the shape of him!!! (2004)

 

Proud Daddy moment, still at the hospital. (2005)

 

First trip to the seaside at Southend (2005)

 

Growing boy (2006)

 

Playing in the park (2007)

 

At the seaside again (2007)

 

Another Daddy and Kieran photo (2008)

 

Dressed up and looking smart (2008)

 

Doing a bit of gardening with Mummy (2008)

 

Kieran's first trek up the Malvern Hills (2009)

 

Kieran with his sisters (2009)

 

Spikey-haired Kieran (2010)

 

Kieran playing with his Army Men (2010)

 

You're supposed to eat the ice-cream Kieran! (2010)

 

Kieran riding his bike (2011)

 

Kieran and a Cyberman (2011)

 

Happy Kieran (2011)

 

Kieran during his 'Indiana Jones' period (2012)

 

Kieran on the Malvern Hills again (2012)

 

Kieran has been cloned!! (2012)

 

Kieran with his sisters (2013)

 

Smart Kieran (2013)

 

Kieran playing (2014)

 

Kieran showing off! (2014)

 

Kieran on his scooter at Southend (2014)

 

Kieran and sisters on Bredon Hill (2014)

 

Kieran (2015)

 

Kieran (2015)

 

Kieran, Daddy and a Creeper during his 10th Birthday Party (2015)

 

I love you mate!  Happy 10th Birthday Kieran, love from Mummy, Daddy, Kayleigh and Sophie  :)

Another year older.

Oh well.  One more year on.  I think Sophie and Kayleigh were more excited about my birthday today than me!

Anyway, I just wanted to say a big thank you to all my friends, family and work colleagues for your birthday wishes - especially those on Facebook (as if FB didn't remind you!). It really does mean a lot.

However, what's worrying is that this morning I had to think for a moment how old I've actually become.  I think I stopped counting a few years ago.  Either that, or  I'm losing my mind.

It's been an ok day I suppose, culminating in a lovely meal with Michelle at Ask Italian in Moreton-in-Marsh.  Shame I had to spend the rest of the day at work.

Oh well, 2 more until the big 40.

And so another one ends, and a new one begins....

Hmmmph.  Happy New Year 2015 

• A new year for more things to go wrong
• A new year to spend stressing and worrying about everything.
• A new year of working my arse off, but still not be able to buy a house or have anything to show for it apart from an empty bank balance, and lots of sleepness nights.
• Another year closer to death.
• Another year further away from the best decade ever (the 80's).
• Another year closer to being 40.
• Another year to wonder where I'll be this time next year.

Yes, I can think of a couple of good things - I have a wonderful family whom I love more than anything else in this world (and are the only thing keeping me going at the moment), but being the natural pessimist that I am, these things are always overshadowed by the negative things in life.... because that's me.

Also, after reading quite a few posts from my friends on Facebook, it seems as though quite a few people also had an awful 2014 and are glad to see the end of it.  SO, here's wishing you all a much better 2015.
 
Anyway, I doubt I'll be purchasing a hoverboard any time before Wednesday October 21st 2015, nor will I be getting a hover conversion done to Zoe Zafira.  Damn you Robert Zemeckis...  Your future predictions were crap.

Goodbye 2014 - You were quite shite actually.

Sigh....  New year is always such a depressing time of the year (Spoken in true Marvin the Paranoid Android style).  Added to that, we're leaving Laindon tomorrow to return to Evesham.  Boo hoo.

Games that remind me of my childhood Number 29 : Icicle Works (Commodore Plus 4)

Since it is still the festive period, I thought it would be a great opportunity for a Christmassy GTRMOMC.  Not only that, but after my previous post about Ghost Town, I'm still in Commodore Plus 4 mode.  So, Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring you....  Icicle Works.

Icicle Works came as part of a game bundle supplied with the computer when our family purchased the Commodore Plus 4 back in 1985. 

Written by Doug Turner for Commodore, the game is essentially a Boulderdash clone, so any one who is familiar with that game, and the hundreds of other clones (ie Repton, Emerald Mines etc.) will feel right at home with this one - and you'll love it too.  You play Father Christmas, and other than the festive graphics, the game is exactly the same.

There are 16 rooms to explore, and the aim of the game is to complete each room by constructing each of the 16 toys by collecting the presents scattered about in each room.

Simple.

As with Boulderdash, you have various obstacles to avoid - Massive snowballs dropping on your head instead of boulders, snow storms instead of amoebas, and polar bears and penguins that will kill you if you let them touch you.  Of course you can use these maniacal animals to help you in your quest for presents by dropping snowballs on top of them.  In fact, some of the later levels require you do to this in order to collect enough presents to construct the toy.

Quite an addictive little game 30 years ago (yes, 30 years - gosh I feel old),and it's still great fun to play now, even if it can be a little infuriating.

Here are some maps to help you play, including the door locations and where each door will take you.

 

AND, here are the various toys which need to be constructed in each room.

 

 

The front cover

Instructions

The tape

The box

 

My Mum and Dad use to play this game a lot, and this is how they recorded their progress.  This piece of paper is 30 years old!