In this episode I talk about the death of VARTA, the undeath of Arcade1Up, Minecraft's system requirements, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2's new episode Cost of Hope, the PSN outage, a rare Mario / Duck Hunt cartridge haul, DOOM on the C64, DOOM on regex, Thimbleweed Park 2, Gremlin Graphics Classics & more!

Listen on your favourite podcast platform: https://anchor.fm/reesrambles

The official podcast of ctrl-alt-rees: https://youtube.com/ctrlaltrees

Subscribe to Rees Rambles on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/reesrambles

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/5k922pd8PW

Episode Links:

Hack Build Restore: https://www.youtube.com/@hackbuildrestore

Website For The Above: https://hackbuildrestore.com

VARTA Is Dead!?: https://www.reuters.com/business/german-battery-maker-varta-files-insolvency-applications-2026-07-24

Arcade1Up Isn't Dead!?: https://gizmodo.com/the-dream-of-home-arcades-isnt-dead-and-neither-is-arcade1up-2000723657

Arcade1Up OutRun: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2026/07/this-out-run-arcade-cabinet-features-five-games-and-costs-usd629-99

Arcade1Up Street Fighter: https://arcade1up.com/collections/new-arrivals/products/street-fighter-ii-supreme-arcade-machine

Arcade1Up Ms. PAC-MAN: https://arcade1up.com/collections/new-arrivals/products/ms-pac-man-pub-table-arcade-machine

Arcade1Up Sonic: https://retrododo.com/arcade1up-set-to-release-two-sonic-arcade-cabinets-later-this-year

Minecraft System Requirements: https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/pc-gaming/minecraft-system-requirements-raised-for-the-first-time-in-17-years-microsoft-now-recommends-16gb-of-ram-and-a-2020s-or-newer-cpu-to-run-the-java-edition

ClassiCube: https://www.classicube.net

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Cost of Hope: https://www.techtimes.com/articles/321686/20260727/stalker-2-cost-hope-launches-august-20-alongside-free-unreal-engine-upgrade.htm

PSN Outage: https://www.ign.com/articles/sonys-nightmare-month-gets-worse-as-playstation-network-goes-down-leaving-fans-unable-to-play-digital-games-just-weeks-after-killing-disc-controversy-erupted

HP Keyboard PC: https://www.gadgetguy.com.au/hp-eliteboard-g1a-australia-launch

Rare Mario / Duck Hunt Cartridge: https://www.ign.com/articles/how-97-copies-of-an-unreleased-version-of-super-mario-bros-duck-hunt-were-discovered-in-a-wisconsin-warehouse

Famicombox: https://www.eurogamer.net/nintendo-famicombox-found-japanese-love-hotel

C64 DOOM: https://www.reddit.com/r/c64/comments/1v8zk85/doom_for_c64_by_steve_mccrea

Regex DOOM: https://www.tomshardware.com/software/programming/daring-coder-gets-doom-running-with-regular-expressions-at-180-seconds-per-frame-like-playing-correspondence-chess-with-a-shotgun-nearly-14-million-substitutions-to-render-a-frame-at-80-000-substitutions-per-second

Shinobi For A500: https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=123358

Thimbleweed Park 2 Announcement: https://www.grumpygamer.com/twp2_announce

Gremlin Graphics Classics: https://gremlingraphics.co.uk

Video Of The Week 1 (Semi-Ramblomatic Duke vs. Quake): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEDP7tp4z28

Video Of The Week 2 (Explaining Computers Bazzite): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcAtLr1u86o

Video Of The Week 3 (Sayaka Bil Herd Interview): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3jbIH6wuWc

Video Of The Week 4 (Ancient Miniature Mechanical TV): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41b8fw3_wP8

Chapters:

00:00:00 Retro Collective Sale Day Update

00:10:28 RIP VARTA

00:15:51 Arcade1Up Still Exists!?

00:23:44 You'll Need To Buy A New Minecraft PC

00:31:50 New S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Expansion: Cost of Hope

00:40:57 Not Reese's Pieces

00:54:34 Videos Of The Week

01:03:22 Gremlin Graphics' Triumphant Return

https://www.pcbway.com/activity/anniversary12th.html - PCB fabrication, assembly, 3D printing, CNC machining & more!

Latest Main Channel Release (GEEKOM Review): https://youtu.be/sTDwkXjINsQ

In this episode I talk about DOOM being influential, the upcoming official Atari movies, some dubious "backward compatible" original Xbox games on PC, a new album released on the NES, a Mario Kart recompilation project, the Z80's 50th anniversary, a floppy disk game design contest, Fallout: New Vegas getting an official remaster, the computers of Jurassic Park, an upcoming official Wolfenstein RPG, the MultiSystem 2 & more!

Listen on your favourite podcast platform: https://anchor.fm/reesrambles

The official podcast of ctrl-alt-rees: https://youtube.com/ctrlaltrees

Subscribe to Rees Rambles on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/reesrambles

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/5k922pd8PW

Episode Links:

Retro Collective Table Top Sale: https://www.retrocollective.co.uk/view-event.php?id=656

Washington Post DOOM Influential: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-washington-post-selects-doom-as-one-of-the-25-most-influential-works-of-american-culture

DOOM On Custom CPU: https://armaangomes.com/blogs/doom

Atari Movies: https://deadline.com/2026/07/atari-universal-deal-10-game-ip-script-matt-reilly-carl-hampe-entertainment-360-1237001656

OG Xbox "Backward Compatible" PC Releases: https://www.ign.com/articles/microsoft-announces-xbox-backward-compatibility-on-pc-with-new-features-and-achievements

Emo Album On NES: https://www.nme.com/features/gaming-features/dadydream-plus-interview-second-last-day-summer-nes-cartridge-3958260

Mario Kart Wiicompiled: https://collider.com/mario-kart-wii-pc-port-beta-august-2026

Zilog Z80 50th Anniversary: https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/zilog-z80-turns-50-as-open-source-replacement-heads-for-drop-in-dip40-silicon

1.44M Game Design Contest: https://www.tomshardware.com/software/korean-outfit-hosting-1-44mb-game-development-contest-to-honor-the-floppy-disk-entrants-must-confine-entire-fileset-including-resources-engine-and-library-to-miniscule-storage-format

Bethesda Announcements: https://x.com/BethesdaStudios/status/2078117386935214101

Jurassic Park Computers: https://fabiensanglard.net/jurrasic_park_computers/index.html

Wolfenstein RPG: https://screenrant.com/wolfenstein-ttrpg-fall-2026-release

MultiSystem 2 Update: https://shop.heber.co.uk/blog-news/multisystem2-pocket-development-progress-handheld-mister-fpga-system

Video Of The Week 1 (CPSvis Dune II C64 Remake): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SILhafNKU8c

Video Of The Week 2 (RetroBuilt DIY Tiny Monitor): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOZOUVhqeNg

Video Of The Week 3 (Dan Wood MEGA65 Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbwnjCF96bw

Video Of The Week 4 (Lavina / Gotu Commodore Plus/4 Demo): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpHyrDOa1-s

Video Of The Week 5 (NetworkChuck FIFA Broadcast Network): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhnH0juUaGw

Video Of The Week 6 (CrossFit Games Live Coverage): https://www.youtube.com/@CrossFitGamesTV

Chapters:

00:00 Retro Collective Table Top Sale

09:27 PCBWay

10:37 DOOM News

19:05 Atari Movies

25:43 OG Xbox Back Compat Games?

32:38 Some Stuff

48:21 Videos Of The Week

Latest Main Channel Release (GEEKOM Review): https://youtu.be/sTDwkXjINsQ

In this episode I talk about the mass layoffs at Xbox, Eben Upton's BBC Micro port of DOOM (that he didn't actually code himself), fake Half-Life screenshots doing the rounds again, a port of Yume Nikki to the PS1 and Dreamcast, Chuckie Egg's return, the GF1 Neptune, PC games on SSD cartridges, Linux on the Atari Jaguar & more!

Listen on your favourite podcast platform: https://anchor.fm/reesrambles

The official podcast of ctrl-alt-rees: https://youtube.com/ctrlaltrees

Subscribe to Rees Rambles on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/reesrambles

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/5k922pd8PW

Episode Links:

Xbox Mass Layoffs BTS: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/-good-work-is-not-going-to-save-your-job-at-this-company-laid-off-xbox-devs-condemn-microsoft

Eben Upton DOOM BBC Micro Port: https://github.com/ebenupton/doom

Video Of The Above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uImpZfoGjMs

Fake Half-Life 3 Screenshot: https://egw.news/gaming/news/35971/half-life-3s-first-screenshot-reportedly-leaked-bu-oLaPXRHGu

Reddit Post Of The Above: https://www.reddit.com/r/HalfLife3/comments/1uoo2xb/potential_hl3_leak_weird_screenshots_posted_and

Elias Daler (Yume Nikki): https://bsky.app/profile/eliasdaler.bsky.social

Cartridges For PC Games: https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/pc-gaming/pc-gamer-turns-steam-games-into-cartridges-with-ingenious-2-5-inch-ssd-system-games-are-stored-on-128gb-drives-alongside-a-script-to-auto-start-the-title-once-plugged-in

GF1 Neptune Running Golden Axe 32X: https://x.com/GamesCareBRA/status/2070633177039655055

Chuckie Egg Is Back: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cevl40j4vv3o

EndBASIC: https://www.endbasic.dev/2026/07/endbasic-0.14.html

Mega CD Tempest Port: https://github.com/pleft/mega-tempest

Linux On Atari Jaguar: https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/dev-ports-linux-to-ataris-notorious-jaguar-console-from-1993-the-first-64-bit-console-features-2mb-of-ram-13-3-mhz-cpu-and-tom-and-jerry-co-processors-the-jag-was-notoriously-difficult-to-program-and-flopped

Hannah Montana Linux: https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/hannah-montana-linux-gets-modern-remaster-after-nearly-two-decades-sweet-niblets-new-v26-is-built-on-debian-with-a-re-skin-of-kde-plasma

PS5 Emulation: https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/playstation/ps5-emulation-ramps-up-in-wake-of-sonys-end-to-physical-media-ps5-titles-now-booting-across-different-emulators-with-rapid-community-development-for-both-2d-and-3d-games

DRAM Shortages: https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/memory/researchers-predict-a-memory-demand-shortfall-so-large-that-half-of-this-years-actual-global-dram-capacity-wouldnt-cover-the-extra-needed

Open source Comic Chat: https://opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2026/07/16/microsoft-comic-chat-is-now-open-source

Video Of The Week 1 (HM Royal Marines Play Halo): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ8FZDm8pso

Video Of The Week 2 (Saberman Amiga 1200 Zepton Port): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oegnkn9DSsk

Video Of The Week 3 (Casio Loopy DOOM): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDe06uY5C40

Video Of The Week 4 (Digital Foundry Evercade): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1ad-WRGDts

Video Of The Week 5 (ThatNukemGuy Ray Traced Duke Nukem): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzWFpMeK1UQ

Video Of The Week 6 (Slidebean Black Bars): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYg0rBfAz6U

Video Of The Week 7 (MVG Neo Geo DOOM): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJwffCeo4jU

Chapters:

0:00 Xbox Is Dead?

10:24 DOOM On The BBC Micro

17:26 Half-Life 3 Leak?

23:10 Weird RPG Yume Nikki Comes To PS1 & Dreamcast

28:49 PC Games On Cartridge

34:42 Bits n' Bobs

45:46 Videos Of The Week

59:13 One More Thing...