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!

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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