2009’s Best Retro Revivals: What’s Old Is New Again

2009 wasn’t just the year of big name releases; there was also a very obvious attempt to revive some of gaming’s longest running franchises. While that’s not necessarily a new idea, it seemed like in this past year developers actually attempted to keep the feeling of the original games instead of just taking the name of a franchise and slapping it on something completely new. Take a look at some of the classics that received some nostalgic love this year, and reminisce about the good old days as you cross your fingers that 2010 holds the same retro goodness. [Continue Reading]

Arkanoid Live Review: They Don’t Make ‘Em Like This Anymore

It’s undeniable that “Arkanoid” is a longstanding video game classic. It’s been around for 13 years, and although it is a take on Atari’s “Breakout,” it’s Taito’s “Arkanoid” that is still around, and it’s their version that is the quintessential take on the brick breaker “genre.” The fact that it has been around for so long, makes it hard to say that the franchise is “back” with a new release for Xbox Live Arcade, because the franchise has seen releases as recently as last year’s DS version, so it may be more appropriate to say that “Arkanoid” is here, again. [Continue Reading]