Classic Consoles Center

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  • Mamma Mia!

    Mamma Mia!Over 30 million people world wide saw this smash hit musical since its 1999 London premiere, more than 100 000 of them attended the 45 sold out shows in Vienna three years ago. Now Mamma Mia is back in Vienna, from 15th January to 22nd February 2009 in the Stadthalle.

    Somehow I missed the Vienna shows in 2005/2006, but being a huge ABBA fans since the late 1970s I had to watch it this time and bought tickets for the premiere on the 15th January. Let me tell you that it was a blast! The story is simple: On the day before her wedding, 20 year old Sophie wants to know which of three possible candidates is her father, so she invited them onto the Greek island where she is living with her mother. Core of the show are of course the 22 top hit songs by ABBA. The story is built so perfect around those songs that one could believe they were intentionally written for the musical.

    Vienna sees the original English version as part of the international tour, with a terrific acting Donna (Sophie’s mother) and her two friends Tanya and Rosie („Donna And The Dynamos“), as well as a brilliant singing Sophie, who sometimes comes close to Agnetha’s unreachable voice.

    If you like the songs of ABBA or generally 70s/80s music, you should definitely get tickets for the show in Vienna or somewhere else around the world. You won’t be disappointed!

  • Gameplan: Games People

    Gameplan Games People Cover

    Winnie Forster’s latest book brings you all the info you need about video and computer game programmers, designers and producers, teams and companies. This encyclopedia portraits them all, describes success and failure, rise and fall of legendary companies like Atari, Sega, Nintendo, Activision, Microprose and Sierra. Games People contains:

    – 1500 lexical entries
    – 220 biographies
    – 1300 portraits of companies around the world
    – 4500 computer, video and arcade games, assigned to their creators
    – 650 web links

    Games People has 400 pages, with tables, indices and more than 100 images. Please note that the book is only available in German language. In Austria you can order it via Classic Consoles Center. The price is 27.80 Euro. Shipping within Austria is 4.80 Euro. Please ask for shipping costs to other countries. If you have any questions or want to order your copy, please use our contact form.

  • Christmas Time

    Coconuts christmas present Coconuts christmas present tagA few years ago I won a boxed copy of Telesys‘ Coconuts on ebay.com. When opening the box I found not only the expected cart and manual inside, but also a small piece of coloured paper. It was a christmas present tag, „to Grandpa from Shannon“ written on it. I was really affected. Could it be that the game was indeed a christmas present, not from a grandpa for his granddaughter, but vice versa? Of course the present tag could have belonged to an other present and somehow found its way into the game’s box, but still the thought of an early 1980s Christmas with this game as a present for some unknown video games fan brings happiness into a retro gamer’s heart :)

    Today I stumbled upon the photos on my harddisk and thought it would be a good time to share it with you guys. Happy Christmas time to you all!

  • Megamania

    ISS toolbagSo you always thought there are no funny things flying around in space? You thought Megamania is pure fiction? You’re wrong! At mission STS-126 with Space Shuttle Endeavour, mission specialist Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper lost her handbag, err toolbag, on 18th November during a space walk.

    The bag is now orbiting the Earth near the ISS, a few minutes ahead of the station, and can even be seen with binoculars as a small dot for a few minutes every night. The SpaceWeather Satellite Tracker shows position and time, depending on your location on Earth. It is listed there as „ISS toolbag“ amongst other satellites.

    Someday, however, the bag will die down when entering the atmosphere. At the moment I have no information from the NASA if anyone will be rewarded with special bonus points then.

  • Genesis!

    Genesis in concertOk, it comes a bit late and doesn’t fit exactly this site’s subject, but: Genesis are cult and Genesis had their heydays in the 70s and 80s, oh and they are one of my favorite bands by the way. That’s why I decided to attend their concert in Linz with my wife when I heard that they would play there on their Turn It On Again Tour. Fortunately AtariBuff had a ticket as well, so we met and held a Mini AustroCon ;)

    The 19th June 2007 was a hot summer day, turning into a gentle evening, just perfect for an open air. 30,000 people thought the same, so the vibes were fantastic. We had a superb place just inside the foremost wave breaker – not too far from the stage, but no jostling at all. Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, Chester Thompson and Daryl Stuermer played a sensational two and a half hour show. Their performance was supported by a giant video wall behind the stage that produced a unique atmosphere for each song. Phil is a great entertainer as well, we had many laughs. This was certainly one of the very best concerts I ever saw!

    Visit my special page with infos and photos from this event.

  • Eurocon 2008 photos

    Eurocon 2008Eurocon 2008 in Karlsruhe is over. The organizers Lenno, Chris, Jens & Jens did a great job, we had lots of fun and it was so nice to meet old and new friends. The trade meeting was very well attended, Retrogames e.V. had a great atmosphere, the burgers in the cinema center were big, the beer was cold, what else could you want? You can find my photos on the Eurocon 2008 page.

    Hope to see you all again in Austria 2009!!

  • Martian Threat for Videopac released on cart

    Martian ThreatThe Videopac prototype Martian Threat from the early 1980s has been released on cart by me as Videopac 67 at Eurocon/Retrobörse on 11th October 2008 in Karlsruhe. From today on, the game is also available via mail order. 100 copies have been made, with original style label, original style English manual and original style inlay for a Videopac+ box.

    This is my fourth release of a former prototype and I hope you like it as much as you did the previous releases. As not many prototypes are left for a cartridge release, I will have to start developing my own Videopac games very soon it seems ;-)

    Martian Threat is an enjoyable action game for the Videopac system with a few unique features like two different ending sequences! You can find more info and order the cart in the Videopac section.

  • Relaunch

    Old and new CCC logoAs from today, there will be a link on my old website to this new website. So to speak this is finally the relaunch of the CCC website. However, the old site will stay online for another month or so, because the transfer of all articles and pictures from the old site to the new one is not completed yet, some stuff is still missing on the new site. The transfer should be finished until November.

    Why did I relaunch the site already then? Because there are some news: I will add information of my new Videopac Release Martian Threat and pictures of Eurocon in Karlsruhe today – and want to do that already on the new website :)

    So again welcome, I hope you will like the new CCC website!

  • Classic Consoles Center goes Web 2.0

    Welcome to the new Classic Consoles Center website!

    After 11 years online I am working on the second relaunch of my site – and it even got its own domain! The Classic Consoles Center was always planned as a site that invites its readers to actively participate. Web 2.0 now makes this easier than ever, so I really hope that you fellow readers don’t stay just readers in the future, but evolve into active members. Use the comment function in the News section, use the forums – and start immediately, because at the moment we are in the construction phase of the new site and I want to know what you like or don’t like, what you think about the design and so on – this is not my site, it should be our site.

    Regarding the static content: Please have some patience until the static pages have been moved from the old to the new site. I hope to have completed the transfer until the end of September.