Gaming Remembrance #10 - Lotus Turbo Challenge 2

The second Lotus game shifted focus to arcade-oriented gameplay. Being the first of the series released for a game console (for Sega Mega Drive under the title Lotus Turbo Challenge), the fuel limit and difficulty levels were dropped, and the lap-based levels were replaced with course-based time trials, (not unlike arcade games such as Out Run), with the player required to complete each course within a specified time to qualify for the next one.

In addition to the Esprit Turbo SE, Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 also featured the Lotus Elan SE, hence 'Esprit' being dropped from the title. There was no choice of car however; it varied depending on the scenery of the level (the hard-top Esprit was used for the snow and thunderstorm levels, for example, while the Elan SE appeared in the desert and forest levels).

In an improvement over its predecessor, Lotus 2's single-player mode used all of the game screen instead of half, and opponent cars appeared in a variety of colors (opponent cars in the original game were all white). However, music was absent from racing altogether; the player instead hears the car's engine sound.

Lotus 2 was developed for the Amiga and then converted for the other platforms. It was considered as a technically most impressing game in its own genre. The Mega Drive port lacked the smoothly running graphics of the original version.

 Barry Leitch's intro music for Lotus 2 is often found on playlists of retro computer music webradio stations; it contains a sampled voice at around the 12-second mark (played through the left channel only) which says "you will not copy this game".The sample is played very quietly during the first few bars, and can be easily accessed in any MOD tracker program. The hi-hat and voice sample at the very beginning of the main theme is taken from Yello's Oh Yeah, a song that became famous as the theme for another sports car (a Ferrari 250 GT California) in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Lotus 2 used a password system to access different races (once the player qualified for a particular race, the password was revealed); the password DUX accessed a hidden game, and the password TURPENTINE removed the race time limits. The Mega Drive version also contained a hidden Centipede-like game called Pod, which can be accessed by entering the player's name as POD PLEASE.

There is a touch of humour on level six (the motorway level) of the Amiga version: if the player manages to successfully drive under the trailer of one of the lorries that cross the road, the in-game announcer shouts "Yeehaa!" This sound was used as a taunt on the Mega Drive port.

Inside the Mind Interviews #4 - Rubbish Mob (Australia)

1. G'day Arsehole metal heads what's cooking? how is life up at the top end of Australia going? Anything wild or crazy? What's the latest news?

G'Day turkey breath Johnny Psyclops here, not much is cooking on the camp fire at the moment probably some charcol left overs around haha. We're just kicking back drinking beer and listening ugly music like Superchrist. The top end is always the same nothing much changes up here, I'm waiting for the buggers to put street lights in still haha. Lots fishing and hunting, Dirt track racing and maybe the odd rehearsal as well. The only thing crazy recently was Sir insult-a-lot made BBQ into a car and can now cook and drive at the same time, He's a maniac! We had a bushfire recently and maybe a few crocs around but all of that is normal for us up here haha.
It's a quiet year for rubbish mob but in the next few weeks we will start rehearsing again for the next slab of tracks.

2. When and how was Rubbish Mob formed, where did the name even come from?

Rubbish Mob is a combo of our old bands. In the 80's Sir Insult-a-lot, Massive and I had a thrash metal band called The Mob; we recorded 2 horrible demos of bush thrash. Nothing was happening so In the early 90's we re-located to Perth and changed the name to Rubbish. We played a noisy punk/thrash style we did 2 demos and an EP and experienced city life hell.
After no success we returned to the top end bush by 1999. After a couple of years relaxing with beer and women it was time to start it up again in 2001 and call it Rubbish Mob. The rest is a smelly stench...

3. In the bio sheet it states that there is 3 demos before "Up in the block hole" demo but there is very little information about these releases. Can you give us some more info about the time before the block hole demo.

Geez those 3 demos are complete poop haha, They were just cdrs released between our mates up in the north. The first prolapse demo party was in 2002 with the release of Richie's Garage Demo containing 10 tracks of prolapse party songs. It was recorded at Richie's Garage featuring Sir Insult-a-lot, Massive, Mahatma, Soggy and Johnny Psyclops.
The second sewer storm party was in 2004 with the release of The pig and the tractor demo containing 8 tracks of sewerage. Same line up as before, same shit sound as before.
The third of block holes was in 2006 with the release of Arsehole metal demo containing 14 tracks of diarrhea bush tucker, no remorse. Featuring Sir Insult-a-lot, Massive, Mahatma, Turbo Slip Pervertus and Johnny Psyclops.
We have no intentions to re-release them as all the songs will be re-recorded anyway one way or another.


4. The most classic aspect of the band is the gross covers and pictures on all the rubbish mob releases what's the reason behind this? You have used arseholes, pussies and other random pictures, what will the next covers have install?
I feel The pictures almost have nothing to do with the music at all which is kind of strange.

Sex sells my friend, well maybe not for us haha but it sells. Everything is sexual and in your face these days, sexploitation is in full swing. We decided to take this concept and pump it up to the max, now its disgust sells haha. Its great hearing the feedback regarding the cover as our releases stink up the underground. Lots whining and crying about the covers from grown men but none from any women hahahaha go figure that one. Rubbish Mob will always have disgusting over the top covers regardless of the music content. Next covers will feature big tits, piss drinking, scat, bestial love, more block holes etc
Prepare to cry even more you wimps! Beware!

5. Up in the block hole demo was released in 2010 on graveyard shift records on CDR and Tape and it's one ugly dirty thrashing punk piece of shit classic demo. Tell us about the time around this demo release. The recording, the writing of the songs and the reception etc. How did the partnership with graveyard shift records come about?

One of my cousins is friends with the graveyard shift mob down in Melbourne and got us hooked up with them. We sent them a rehearsal tape and they liked what they heard and agreed to release the up in the block hole demo. They handle everything us for us as well because we're in the middle of nowhere up here we can't really do shit. I remember leading up to recording it was just good to be back as we did nothing for 4 years before we recorded up in the block hole. The whole demo was done in a couple of hours we just plugged it in and went for it live, very hot day and we were very drunk.
Reception was mixed maybe more on the negative side? not really sure we don't pay too much attention, we've got drinking and hunting to do. Sometimes graveyard shift lets us know about a review. Everyone talks about the cover and never about the music all the time.


6. How is the metal, punk or music in general scene like at the top end? is it getting stronger?

Not much to report up here, the closest scene town is Darwin and none of us live there. When we play or visit there, there is a few shows going on and a small dedicated crowd. I would say for metal and punk that it's getting weaker and punters are falling off. When we play no one rocks up or cares it's always the same 10 arsehole metallers hahaha. Even the bands we've played with over the last 10 years or so are all gone we're the last one left haha.

7. I've heard some classic stories regarding your live shows. No band in any major city does what rubbish mob does on stage. So what's a rubbish mob live show like? Explain to the readers what sort of experience they can expect. Any chance of playing any major cities in the future?

Yeah we've done some crazy shit over the years; we've got the freedom to do whatever up here haha. We've done a lot of shows outdoors which is our favourite type of show. We have block hole queens, Hot BBQs on stage, Compost bins, Sex toys, Mysterious white powders, Richie impersonators, Old jocks and socks, Vulgar food, Politician cut out burnings and much more it's a carnival of bush fire.
Yes a real tour to the major cities will happen when the mead is ready... we've got some news! it won't be long before we will be at your door, under the radar, in the pipes. Re-location of the sewer pit will be happening in the next few years. We will be bringing the carnival of bush fire to your shit box cities soon. Like every other dickhead aussie metal band says... BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!


8. Sick and Insane Pollution promo CDR was released in 2011 on graveyard shift records again. The sound and playing is greatly improved on the new songs.
More aggression and power. Tell us about the time around this demo release, recording and reception. What's the reason to include 2 older songs on this promo?

We had a new drummer and guitarist so we decided to put the tinnies down for a couple of days and rehearse and record a few new tracks. We recorded all the tracks in about 1 hour live on slightly better equipment and desk than the demo that's why sounds a bit better haha. We got a top bloke from the south to mix it for us. It is the best Rubbish mob recording ever done; let's hope we can top it on the next one. Since the new tracks were for a split and single and wouldn't be heard for a year or two we decided to use 3 new songs and 2 old ones for a promo so we could get some new material out there, not a bad idea from brown love. Not sure on the reception I haven't heard much about it, I think the cover was more talked about again.

9. Rubbish Mob like to take the piss out of everything and especially other Australian bands any reason for this?

Taking the piss is the Australian way, we’re still waiting for some band to take the piss out of us but that might be hard to do haha. All the bands we take the piss out of are horse shit anyway. We do it because no one else has the guts to do it.

10. Quite a few of the rubbish mob members like to travel to the major cities from time and time. What are your thoughts of metal and punk scenes around Australia?

Some of the Rubbish Mob Crew likes to travel around Australia and do a bit of Promo around the cities. The reports back are that the cities are filled with boring bands and lamer headbangers. It's a very hold my hand and blow me there sort of scenes around Australia. Nothing at all like the crazy bush bangers.

11. I see the next release is a 4 way split with Spavaldery from Italy, Thrashera from Brazil and Infestator from France titled "The Last Drinks before the Storm" again to be released on Graveyard shift records. How this release come about and what can we expect from the other bands?

Graveyard shift records suggested to do a split with some overseas bands so we said yeah go for it and they set it all up. All the other bands are crazy and different in their own way, should be a classic unique release this one. Expect dirty thrashing punk mayhem soaked in beer and thunder. A big G'day to Thrashera, Spavaldery and Infestator for having the guts and joining us in this split.


12. I also see on the release schedule a single titled "bush, babes & beer" arriving early 2013. What can the arsehole metal fans expect from this release?

This release should be a little Ronnie Coote. It will be packed with 4 new songs and 2 unreleased songs recorded in 2011 all into one hole of a CD. Expect this release to take Rubbish Mob to the next level of the sewerage plant pump. Bush, Babes & Beer should make it in the charts without a doubt and it will lead us to cash, champagne, limousines and whores like watain haha.

13. What are some of the influences for the rubbish mob sound and image?

Decline of humans and society, Women selling their holes, Plastic surgery disasters, Garbage dumps, Hard Rubbish, Spinifex, Greed, Corporate scum, Useless politicians, Rock star bands, Religious nut jobs, Ugliness, Tits, Piss, Block holes, Perverted Disgust, Australian History, Classic Movies, Cities of rubbish, A Future going no where...

The Beast, Frank Zappa, The 12th man, Venom, Warumpi Band, Goanna, Political Asylum, The Penetrators, Motorhead, Virus, Tank, Supertramp, Hirax, Death Angel,
At war, GBH, Discharge, Budgie, Racer-X, Black Flag, The Destructors, The Outcasts, Crime, Judas Priest, Henry Phillips, Bill Cosby

That should be close enough mate!?


14. The videos on youtube are really funny with many classic photos in a slide show setting. What's the go with these videos and who makes them? any new videos out soon?

One day we'll have the equipment, cash and time to do a real promo video that would be a ripper! Probably be too over the top and rude for youtube geeks haha. Yeah I make the videos just using some crap program I just collect the pics from the net, sometimes my mates send me some classics. I just chuck them into a video and sometimes make my own edits to make it funnier. We get better feedback on our videos than our music releases haha strange world. More videos to cum!!! Lick the shit, Richie occult metal and bush, babes and beer!

15. In Rubbish Mob's ugly words who are the best and worst bands in Australia and the world?


The current bands we like and you should listen to, they lay down the law!
Superchirst ~ Christ Kiddo ~ The Remains from Tassie ~ ~ Thrashera ~ Spavaldery ~ Post Vomit Voice ~ Infestator ~ Power from Hell ~ FEMA...  is about all I can think off right now mongo!

Battler, there is so many snooze bands around these days especially here in Australia, it's getting to a point of overkill.
Electrik dynamite ~ Sanguinary misanthropia ~ Claim The Throne ~ Disentomb ~
Bane of isildur ~ Barbatos & Abigail ~ Internal nightmare ~ Ghost ~ Watain ~ Heaven the axe ~ Drowning the Light ~ Hate for Fate ~ Order of Orias ~ Ruins ~ Kromosom ~ PortalThese bands are like a meat pie left out in the sun for 3 days, not very good on fuel... Where's the power, action and the glory? no where! Snooze time music!


16. What does the future hold for the sewer pit of Rubbish Mob?

The last drinks before the storm split out soon. Bush, babes & Beer single out in 2013 followed by Same shit, different arsehole single late 2013.
A possible bush show or 2, Also our first tour diary magazine out in 2013 and more useless junk like nuclear dim sims now! Light a fire and give it some time, soon the smoke of Rubbish mob will appear!

17. Thanks for the interview crazy yobbos, All the worst for the future, have some beers ready for me when you play in my city.

No worries, good interview probably the only one we're going to get haha. Thanks arsehole!

Contact sewerpit@hotmail.com

Interview by Biffa Oct 2012

Gaming Remembrance #9 - Silkworm

Silkworm is a classic side scrolling shooter, developed by Tecmo and first released for arcade in 1988. In 1989 it was ported to the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and NES (1990) systems by The Sales Curve and released by Virgin Mastertronic.

Silkworm also spawned a sort-of sequel - SWIV. While SWIV was not a direct sequel, it followed the same core gameplay design of a helicopter/jeep team, albeit as a vertically-scrolling shooter instead of a horizontally-scrolling one. SWIV was described in the game's manual to mean both "Special Weapons Intercept Vehicles" and "Silkworm IV".

Silkworm was released at a time where side-scrolling shooting games were among the most popular genres - it was released at the same time as Forgotten Worlds, Sanxion, Mr. Heli and DNA Warrior.

The Spectrum version took 3 months to program from start to finish, and was a copy of the Amiga version, which was almost arcade perfect.

The game reached number three in the UK Spectrum sales charts, behind Robocop and Dragon Ninja.[

In November 1990, Virgin would rerelease Silkworm as part of the Edition 1 compilation, which also included Double Dragon, and the shoot'em ups Gemini Wing, and Xenon.

Silkworm had interesting graphics and relatively fast-paced gameplay. The player can take control of a Jeep mounted with a machine gun or a Helicopter mounted with forward and downward firing guns. Two players can work simultaneously and cooperatively against enemies, with one playing as the Jeep and one as the Helicopter.

In single-player mode, it is generally easier to play with the Helicopter than with the Jeep, but it can be more fun to play as the Jeep. As the Jeep, the player needs to destroy everything directly in front of it or be prepared to jump in order to avoid collisions. In two-player mode, the Helicopter and Jeep must cooperate, and the players depend on each other to succeed. For example, the Helicopter can only fire forward, so occasionally, the Jeep must cover the rear with his swiveling gun. However, when covering the rear, the Jeep is vulnerable from the front, so the Helicopter must cover him.

Silkworm featured a fairly wide variety of enemies, some of which had specific weaknesses, such as the armoured AA guns that could only be harmed when their shields were down to fire. Most famously, there was the "Goose" helicopter - a giant, heavily-armoured "mini-boss" helicopter that was composed of several smaller vehicles that connected together.

The players collect shields (which could alternatively be shot by the player in order to destroy all enemies on the screen), power cells which increase firepower and an additional bonus can be added to the score achieved. The game gets harder on the completion of each level. The game employed some destructible environmental elements, such as buildings and ancient ruins.

The speed was one of the defining parts of the gameplay, which the programmers who worked on the home conversions were keen to preserve, using a variety of programming techniques. One element that required work was the control system (the arcade original had three buttons, whereas most home systems had just one), but this was solved without much problem.

Silkworm featured a background music theme composed by Barry Leitch, which went on to be a minor cult hit, being included on a Sinclair User covermounted cassette, along with such classics as Shinobi and Continental Circus

Dangerous Recommendations #6 - Satan's Satyrs - Wild Beyond Belief!

Released this year in 2012 this little LP is a dead set ripper. I've been following Satan's Satyrs since their first demo and they just get better with every new release. Wild beyond belief is easily the best output so far from the band, could be even album of the year for me so far. The band have a sound that reminds me off Black flag damaged noisy guitars mixed with venom's welcome to hell craziness.
The feeling of the songs just take you back to the 70's on the out skirts of town near a cemetery where a biker gang is hanging out and causing mayhem. The production on here is even more noisy and fuzzy than previous outputs and this suits them better I feel. Everything on here has improved, for instance the vocals are just a little better and more structured. Great riffs and song passages that will be stuck in your head forever.
The songs are catchy as hell without sounding retro or stupid like so many bloody bands these days. Forget Ghost, Uncle Acid shit, Jess and ancient crap etc Satan's Satyrs is the band that stands above them all.

Classical Visions #6 - Phantasm

Phantasm is a 1979 cult-classic horror film directed, written, photographed, co-produced, and edited by Don Coscarelli. It introduced the Tall Man (who was portrayed in the film and its sequels by Angus Scrimm), a supernatural and malevolent undertaker who turns the dead into dwarf zombies to do his bidding and take over the world.

A young boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber known only as the Tall Man, who keeps a mysterious arsenal of terrible weapons with him.

Mike, a young teenage boy who has just lost his parents, is afraid to lose his brother. This fear causes him to follow his brother to a funeral, where Mike witnesses the Tall Man lift a coffin on his own. Mike decides to investigate and discovers a horrible world where the Tall Man, along with his flying spheres, shrink the to half their normal size and reanimate them as slaves. It is then up to Mike, his brother, and Reggie the ice cream man to stop the Tall man.

Elvira Mistress of the Dark

In the late spring of 1981, six years after the death of Larry Vincent (who starred as host Sinister Seymour of a local Los Angeles weekend horror show called Fright Night), show producers began the task of bringing the show back. Deciding to use a female host, producers asked 1950s horror hostess, Maila Nurmi, to revive The Vampira Show. Nurmi worked on the project for a short time, but eventually quit when the producers would not hire Lola Falana to play Vampira. The station continued with the project and sent out a casting call. Peterson auditioned against 200 other horror hostess hopefuls and won the role. Producers left it up to her to create the role's image. She and her best friend, Robert Redding, came up with the sexy punk/vampire look after producers rejected her original idea to look like Sharon Tate in The Fearless Vampire Killers.

Since they were unable to continue with the Vampira character, the character Elvira was used instead. What followed was Elvira's Movie Macabre, featuring a quick-witted Valley-girl-type character named Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. With heavily applied, pancake-horror make up and a towering black beehive wig to conceal Peterson's flame-red hair.

Shortly before the first taping, producers received a cease and desist letter from Nurmi. Besides the similarities in the format and costumes, Elvira's closing line for each show, wishing her audience "Unpleasant dreams", was notably similar to Vampira's closer: "Bad dreams, darlings..." uttered as she walked off down a misty corridor. The court ruled in favor of Peterson, holding that "'likeness' means actual representation of another person's appearance, and not simply close resemblance." Peterson claimed that Elvira was nothing like Vampira aside from the basic design of the black dress and black hair. Nurmi herself claimed that Vampira's image was based on Morticia Addams, a character in Charles Addams's cartoons that appeared in The New Yorker magazine.

The Elvira character rapidly gained notoriety with her tight-fitting, low-cut black gown which showed ample cleavage. The movies featured on Elvira's Movie Macabre were always B grade (or lower). Elvira reclined on a red Victorian couch, introducing and often interrupting the movie to lampoon the actors, the script and the editing. Adopting the flippant tone of a California "Valley girl", she brought a satirical, sarcastic edge to her commentary. She reveled in dropping risqué double entendres and making frequent jokes about her display of cleavage. In an AOL Entertainment News interview, Peterson said, "I figured out that Elvira is me when I was a teenager. She's a spastic girl. I just say what I feel and people seem to enjoy it." Her campy humor, sex appeal, and good-natured self-mockery made her popular with late-night movie viewers as her popularity soared.

Elvira was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and other talk shows. She also produced a long-running series of Halloween-themed television commercials for Coors Light Beer and Mug Root Beer (her trademark cleavage was concealed for the Coors campaign). She appeared in guest roles on television dramas such as CHiPs, The Fall Guy and Fantasy Island and appeared on numerous awards shows as a presenter. Although she is known primarily as Elvira, Peterson has made out-of-costume appearances as herself for television interviews and specials.

In 1982, with the success of Movie Macabre, Knott's Theme Parks hired Elvira to replace Seymour as the host of its annual Halloween Haunt during the month of October. Elvira appeared nightly at the park, live on stage with a Halloween-themed musical comedy revue similar to her Mamma's Boys act from the 1970s.

The Elvira character rapidly evolved from obscure cult figure to a lucrative brandname and "Mistress of all Media", spawning many products throughout the 1980s and 1990s including Halloween costumes, comic books,action figures, trading cards, pinball machines, Halloween decor, model kits, calendars, perfume and dolls. She has appeared on the cover of Femme Fatales magazine five times. Her popularity reached its zenith with the release of the feature film Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (co-written by Peterson) in 1988. She also played many non-Elvira character-roles in other films, most notably Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) with friend and fellow Groundling Paul Reubens (as his Pee-wee Herman character) and Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1985) starring Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone.

In September 2010, Elvira's Movie Macabre returned to television syndication in the U.S., this time with public-domain films.

Gaming Remembrance #8 - The secret of Monkey Island & Monkey Island 2

Introduction: The Secret of Monkey Island is a 1990 point-and-click graphic adventure game developed and published by Lucasfilm Games. It takes place in a fantastical version of the Caribbean during the age of piracy. The player assumes the role of Guybrush Threepwood: A young man who dreams of becoming a pirate and explores fictional islands while solving puzzles.

The game was conceived in 1988 by Lucasfilm employee Ron Gilbert, who designed it with Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman. Gilbert's frustrations with contemporary adventure titles led him to make the player character's death impossible, which meant that gameplay focused the game on exploration. The atmosphere was based on that of the Pirates of the Caribbean theme park ride. The Secret of Monkey Island was the fifth game built with the SCUMM engine, which was heavily modified to include a more user-friendly interface.

Critics praised The Secret of Monkey Island for its humor, audiovisuals, and gameplay. The game spawned a number of sequels, collectively known as the Monkey Island series. Gilbert, Schafer and Grossman also led the development of the sequel Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge.LucasArts released a remake of the original in 2009, which was also well received by the gaming press.

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge is an adventure game developed and published by LucasArts in 1991. It was the second game of the Monkey Island series, following The Secret of Monkey Island, and the sixth LucasArts game to use the SCUMM engine. It was the first game to use the iMUSE sound system.

The game's story centers on the wannabe pirate Guybrush Threepwood. After defeating ghost pirate LeChuck in The Secret of Monkey Island, little is known of what happened between Guybrush Threepwood and Elaine Marley. The sequel involves Guybrush's attempts to both find the mysterious treasure, Big Whoop, and win back Elaine's love.

The development team for the game was largely the same as for the first game in the series. The project was led by Ron Gilbert, and he was once more joined by Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman.

These 2 ripper games are just so good, I just couldn't decide which one was better so I selected both of them. I played both when they were released on the amiga and they were just so fun to play. Both of them made you feel like you were apart of the game, inside the game. The story, characters, theme and environments were just so out of this world at the time.
It took me some time to finish Monkey Island 2, to this day I still have not finished Monkey Island 1. I always seem to get near the end and never finish it over the years. I may have to fix this problem soon!
Over the year I have still played the games here and there and they are still lots of fun and enjoyable. One of the best adventures game series ever made.