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Tech Monthly: Playtime: SIX OF THE BEST ... UNRELEASED CONSOLES(Observer (UK) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) 1 SNES CD Nintendo and Sony's collaboration project never reached the public. But it did inspire the birth of the PlayStation (pictured above). 2 Atari Mirai Images of a pastel-coloured case exist. Rumours persist about a link to NeoGeo outfit SNK. But the Mirai remains a console mystery. 3 Sega Neptune Sega's mushroom of black plastic the 32X flopped, and so this planned combination of MegaDrive and 32X never saw completion. 4 Panasonic M2 Conceived as a 3DO sequel, Panasonic took over the M2 project. The console never made it, but the tech lived on in coffee and cash machines. 5 Bandai HET The hulking HET strived to deliver a portable SNES laptop in 1993 but the GameBoy's success, it seems, sated any further appetite for Nintendo portables. 6 Phantom The Phantom was a download-only console due in 2003. Then it was delayed. Then delayed over and over. And then it was gone. FUTURE TECH: Gamechurch At the recent EGX gaming expo in London, a strange leaflet was being passed around. "Jesus, For The Win!", its cover proclaimed. Surely not a pro-Christianity booklet targeting rather than vilifying gaming? Well, praise the lord and pass that ammunition for the win, so it is. Gamechurch is (of course) an LA organisation that appears to be moving in on the UK's game playing public, spreading their message at events like EGX. In it's promotional materials Gamechurch proclaims video games "have something to say about the way we live, love, hurt, struggle, and overcome, and that is something worth talking about". It's a reasonable point, but whether a shared love of gaming is enough to bring non-believers to their side remains to be seen. www.gamechurch.com PIXEL PERFECT: Helix, Michael Broug, pounds 1.99 Developer Michael Broug doesn't appear afraid of toying with the abstract, having already crafted several games that pay little regard to conventional design. His latest creation is Helix, which while a new title and released for iOS, has a distinctly retro feel. It is simple, and it is hard. The gameplay is rather minimal, asking the player to guide a contorted eye with the finger, banishing enemies by drawing circles around them. An entire game often lasts just seconds, as a barrage of absurd forms close in with speed. The art evokes a feel for graphical glitches from the Commodre 64 era, and the sound is crunchy and rasping. Helix, in its strange way, is a brilliant, smart and eccentric game. www.smestorp.com Will Freeman (c) 2014 Guardian Newspapers Limited. |