James Woodcock

Freelance Journalist, Author, Blogger and Podcaster specialising in gaming and technology. Music Composer and Video Editor. http://www.jameswoodcock.co.uk

[jameswoodcock]

Retro Tea Breaks 1 - A Book to Preserve Video Game History

Retro Tea Breaks 1 – A Book to Preserve Video Game History

I have been working with Neil of RMC (Formerly known as the Retro Man Cave) as a researcher since December 2019. In that time, my key duties have been to reach out to well known figures of video game history and introduce them to Neil’s Retro Tea BreaksYouTube show. Once onboard, arrange the timings for the interviews and write the initial set of questions with help from the RMC community and it…

View On WordPress

[jameswoodcock]

ScummVM Project Officially Merging with ResidualVM

ScummVM Project Officially Merging with ResidualVM

As ScummVM celebrates 19 years of 2D point and click adventure game engine development, another project that although doesn’t quite have the same prominence in the media – still endures with its commitment to 3D point and click adventure games including Grim Fandango, Escape from Monkey Island and more.

The separation of the two projects probably made a lot of sense at the start so the key…

View On WordPress

[jameswoodcock]

My Article 'To Simply Point' Features in Fusion Annual 2021

My Article ‘To Simply Point’ Features in Fusion Annual 2021

Appearing on Kickstarter earlier this year, Fusion Annual 2021 continues the success of their other publications – covering retro gaming topics with an optional hard back copy or PDF.

I created an article for Fusion Retro Books literally months and months ago, which they decided would fit best in their 2021 annual, so inevitably a wait was involved. It was certainly worth the delay though, for…

View On WordPress

[jameswoodcock]

New Site Logo Unveil: Pixel Art Logo Created by Stoo Cambridge of Sensible Software Fame

New Site Logo Unveil: Pixel Art Logo Created by Stoo Cambridge of Sensible Software Fame

For a few years now, my site has been represented by a logo which is no more than a photo of myself taken by the talented Daniel Hughes Photography. With this photo, I later removed the background and added a circle and that was basically it – my site logo and identity. However, I was craving something a little more unique, something that would better illustrate this is my website, but also just…

View On WordPress

[jameswoodcock]

The Unique Sonic 3 & Knuckles PC MIDI Soundtrack

The Unique Sonic 3 & Knuckles PC MIDI Soundtrack

When the Microsoft Windows 95 operating system was at the heart of a PC, along with something like a Pentium 75MHz processor – SEGA PC released a number of titles from their catalogue to the platform for those who didn’t own their own console hardware.

The Sonic & Knuckles Collection was one such title, featuring all 12 levels from the combined Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles cartridge releases.…

View On WordPress

[jameswoodcock]

Streets of Rage 4 Review - A Triumphant Return

Streets of Rage is back with a thump after a nearly 30 year wait and wow our patience has paid off.

To say we have had to be patient for the 4th instalment of the Streets of Rage (Bare Knuckle in Japan) series would be an understatement. In fact, if I was honest with myself there was a part of me that wished it wouldn’t, as the risk of a development studio, well to be frank, mucking it up seemed too great. Yes, here we are 26 years later after Streets of Rage 3 released for the SEGA Mega Drive…

View On WordPress

[jameswoodcock]

Full Game Soundtracks Now Available on YouTube

Listen to my fanmade enhanced soundtracks of classic point and click adventure games in full on YouTube.

I adore classic point and click adventure games, so a few years ago I started a new section on my website called the ScummVM Music Enhancement Project. With an aim to use the original game MIDI files and using the latest MIDI hardware combined with quite a bit of editing and adjustments – I was able to release with permission the full soundtracks for use with ScummVM, a fantastic piece of…

View On WordPress

[jameswoodcock]

Freddie or Not, Here I Come - Anti-Bullying Awareness

Freddie or Not, Here he Comes - How a message for anti-bullying awareness deserves to go viral.

I am sure if we are honest with ourselves, we have all experienced bullying in some form. Many will automatically reflect on incidents within our school life, while others don’t see bullying as a distant memory and instead a reality of adult life. It is a plague that impacts us in a profound way and for all its negative origins, still surprises us when brave individuals take it upon themselves to…

View On WordPress

[jameswoodcock]

Crysis Remastered Announced - Releasing Summer 2020

The computer crippling legend that is Crysis is coming back, remastered for PC and current gen consoles.

Just when I am starting to get over the fab news that Streets of Rage 4 will finally be released soon, Crytek announce in the same week that Crysis, the first person shooter that was renowned on the PC for bringing computers to their knees due to the insane levels of graphical fidelity, is being remastered.

Official Crysis Remastered Teaser Trailer

View On WordPress

[jameswoodcock]

Streets of Rage 4 Release Date Finally Confirmed!

It’s hard to believe it has been 26 years since Streets of Rage 3 released on the SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive and after waiting since 2018 since the announcement of Streets of Rage 4 – we can finally sink our teeth into retro nostalgia with a modern gloss.

Streets of Rage 4has finally been announced with a ‘confirmed’ release date of April 30th 2020 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC…

View On WordPress

[jameswoodcock]

Final Fantasy VII Music - Yamaha XG MIDI PC Version

Final Fantasy VII Music – Yamaha XG MIDI PC Version

Back in 1997 when the original Final Fantasy VII released on the Sony PlayStation, there was already talk of a PC version to follow. One of the curiosities regarding the PC version though is how it handled the epic soundtrack.

The MIDI format for music has been around for decades, however Yamaha took the format further by…

View On WordPress

[jameswoodcock]

App Creation #60 – App Design – Content

Modern technologies are often more than just a device that offers functionality.  They are actually fashion accessories that become an essential part of life and that doesn’t automatically mean you need to be a techie.

Apps should also reflect this desire for the modern and fantastic in their style and operation.

Fluid Operation

The way in which you interact with an app is a crucial…

View On WordPress

[jameswoodcock]

Bits & Bobs Podcast #2 - Half Life: Alyx, ZX Spectrum Next...

Joined by Tony Warriner and guest Steve Lycett, we discuss topics that interest us both in gaming, gadgets and technology.

In Bits and Bobs Podcast Episode #2, Tony Warriner and I are joined by Sumo Digital Ltd legend, Senior Executive Producer Steve Lycett to share his gaming and technology memories and recent experiences with VR headsets.

Topics for episode 2 of our podcast include:

ZX Spectrum Next

PC Engine mini

Half Life: Alyx

General retro nostalgia

Looking ahead at the next generation consoles

Xbox Series…

View On WordPress

[jameswoodcock]

Retro Gaming Nostalgia - The Importance of Events

Retro Gaming Nostalgia – The Importance of Events

This weekend, I visited the REVIVAL: For The Gamers 2020 to relive many memories from my own gaming past as well as experiencing new ones on computers and consoles and never owned. The event, which was held near Walsall UK, featured a treasure trove of hardware, arcade cabinets, pinball machines and games, going as far back as the Atari 2600 and Vectrex to more modern revivals including the new Z…

View On WordPress

[jameswoodcock]

Lenovo Legion Launch - Y740S laptop, BoostStation & Y25-25 Gaming Monitor

Lenovo Legion Launch – Y740S laptop, BoostStation & Y25-25 Gaming Monitor

Picture the scene… It’s a cold March Monday evening, it’s starting to get a little dark outside as commuters after a long day at work race to the train station to return to the comfort of their homes. Yet, here I am going in the opposite direction and heading towards the centre of Birmingham as I’ve been invited to view the latest Lenovo Legion devices and accessories at an event hosted by Box.

View On WordPress

[jameswoodcock]

Tony Warriner Interview - Revolution Software

Tony Warriner Interview - Revolution Software over at the Retro Man Cave.

A few weeks ago after recording my podcast with Neil of Retro Man Cave, we had a rather pleasant chat which led to Neil asking whether I would be interested in helping him source interviews for his ever growing YouTube channel of around 100,000 subscribers. I have been watching his YouTube channel ‘Retro Man Cave‘ as an avid viewer for many months as he covered retro computing and games, which…

View On WordPress

[jameswoodcock]

Bits and Bobs Podcast - Episode 1

Bits and Bobs Podcast – Episode 1

After discussions with Tony Warriner, Co-founder of Revolution Software, we were both yearning for a podcast where we could just… well chat. Have a discussion, a conversation regarding gaming, technology and whatever else pops into our head without the gloss of lavish introductions and lots of editing.

So, as a result here is our pilot episode of Bits and Bobs in the Raw.

Topics for our…

View On WordPress