Next week, gamescom will once again open its doors at the Cologne Exhibition Centre – and Look Behind You will be there for the first time: The world’s largest computer games fair gathers the most important international manufacturers, but also many indie developers, who invite you to play games novelties of all kinds. From 23 to 27 August 2023 (public days from Thursday to Sunday), visitors can experience games and entertainment, but also many other highlights.

For retro fans, nostalgia lovers and fans of retro gaming, the Retro Area in Hall 10.2 will be one of the most important places to go. In this area of gamescom, visitors can experience legendary video game consoles, games and technologies from the 70s, 80s and 90s and fully immerse themselves in video game culture. Music and dance games, pinball machines and other electro-mechanical machines from the past, a quaint tractor simulator, a picture gallery and showcase exhibitions show the whole variety of gaming. On stage there will be small tournaments, quiz rounds, films, lectures, interviews and live music.

Look Behind You will be running a joint stand with the publisher gameplan inside the Retro Area – Nico Barbat and Simon Neumann (Look Behind You), Winnie Forster (gameplan) and author David Pleasance will be on site and are looking forward to exciting conversations with visitors.
All the latest books are on board: “Die Geheimnisse von Monkey Island”, “Die Kunst von Assassin’s Creed Valhalla”, “Commodore: The Inside Story” in German and other titles.

Infos:
gamescom: https://www.gamescom.de
Retro Area: http://www.spielepower.de/gamescom/aussteller.php

20. August 2023

Filled to the brim like a treasure chest: “The Secrets of Monkey Island” tells the story of one of the most legendary series in video game history within 272 pages – with a twinkle in its eye, it lets the reader relive the adventures of Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirate. What’s in? The complete adventures of Monkey Island retold, interesting facts about the development of the adventure game from then until today, backgrounds and facts about technologies like SCUMM and iMUSE, anecdotes and entertaining facts about the Monkey Island universe and much more!

“The Secrets of Monkey Island” is – how appropriate (!) – the first book published by LOOK BEHIND YOU. Available as of October 21, 2022 – directly from the publisher and in well-stocked bookstores.

Order your premium copy now!

21. October 2022

Amiga 1000 versus CD32, DraCo versus Pegasos, Walker versus MCC – this new cool card game features 32 Amiga originals, clones and prototypes that compete against each other in six categories (processor, graphics, kickstart, market entry, form factor and innovation). Playable as trump or quartet. All playing cards have been illustrated with love – by Amiga fans for Amiga fans! AMIGA DUEL is now available in a fancy box – directly from LOOK BEHIND YOU, from selected Amiga dealers and from Amazon.

Price: 12,99 €

Further information: AMIGA DUEL

19. October 2022

For 2 to 4 players.

All cards are dealt among the players. Each player holds his cards as a pile. The starting player to the dealer‘s left reads out a random value of their topmost card. Each other player then reads out the equivalent value from their cards. The best value wins the trick. The winner takes all cards of the trick and places them under their pile. In the event of a draw or an unspecified category (–) a new category of the same card must be chosen. The winner calls for the next round. The player who obtains the whole pack is the winner of the game.

Winning by values is defined as follows:

• Processor: Processor: the higher (index values 1 to 17, highlighted in bold, e.g. G4 beats 68030)
• Graphics: the higher (index values 1 to 6, e.g. AGA beats OCS)
• Kickstart: the higher (e.g. 2.05 beats 1.2)
• Start (Year of Availability): the older (e.g. 1987 beats 2001, unpublished is worst)
• Formfactor: the more compact (e.g. 4 points beat 2 points)
• Innovation: the higher (e.g. 3 points beat 1 point)

We have developed an index from 1 to 17 and from 1 to 6 respectively for the processor and graphics categories, which are highlighted in bold, for greater ease of play. For the form factor and innovation categories, we introduced a scale of 1 to 5 each. The highest value in each of these four categories wins.

For 2 to 4 players.

The rules of the trick variant of Amiga-Trump are the same as those of the fast variant, with the following exception: if the values are the same, the other players must call “trick” as quickly as possible. All cards of this round are placed in the center of the table. The player who called “trick” the fastest may now choose the category and read out his preferred value. Whoever wins this round of the game additionally receives all the cards that were previously placed in the center.

Some variants of the rules allow “three card pick”, whereby a player who has only 3 cards remaining is allowed to choose any of their three cards to play with. Typically, this lengthens the game considerably.

For 3 to 4 players.

All cards are shuffled by one player and distributed equally to all players. In this game variation, the player fans out his cards and looks at them carefully. If he owns all four cards from one group (A to H), he may place them directly in front of him on the table. The player owning the Amiga 1000 begins.

He now asks any other player for a card that he himself is looking for to form a quartet (for example, card A3 or Amiga 2000). If the challenged player possesses the requested card, he must give it to the challenger, and the challenger may continue to ask. If the challenged player does not possess the card, the challenged player may ask one of the other players for the card he is looking for, and the process repeats. As soon as a player has obtained all four cards of a group, he may deposit them in front of him.

The winner is the player who has played the most quartets.

Eight groups (A to H) of four models each form the Amiga quartets for playing Happy Families:

• Classic Amigas (Generation 1) (A): Amiga 1000 (A1), Amiga 500 (A2), Amiga 2000 (A3), Amiga CDTV (A4)
• Classic Amigas (Generation 2) (B): Amiga 500+ (B1), Amiga 600 (B2), Amiga 3000 (B3), Amiga 3000T (B4)
• Classic Amigas (Generation 3) (C): Amiga 1200 (C1), Amiga 4000D (C2), Amiga 4000T (C3), Amiga CD32 (C4)
• Clones (D): DraCo (D1), Eagle 1200TE-40 (D2), Infinitiv A-1400 (D3), O/Box (D4)
• PowerPC-Amigas (B): AmigaOne XE G4 (E1), AmigaOne Micro A1 G3 (E2), AmigaOne X1000 (E3), AmigaOne X5000 (E4)
• NG-Clones: Pegasos (F1), Sam440ep (F2), Minimig (F3), The A500 Mini (F4)
• Prototypes: Lorraine (G1), Amiga 3000 Plus (G2), Amiga Walker (G3), Amiga MCC (G4)
• Grapevine-Amigas: Amiga 1400 (H1), Amiga 5000 (Nyx) (H2), CD64 (H3), Lazarus (H4)

Look Behind You will publish “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” as a fantastic hardcover art book in Germany for the first time – completely in German and with the usual high-quality look and print quality! The oversized art book gives insights into the world, the characters and the development of “Valhalla”, the latest part in the successful series of Assassin’s Creed. Ubisoft’s designers showcase iconic artwork and a comprehensive collection of never-before-published concept art from the world of the stunning Viking epic.

“Die Kunst von Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” is published in German as a premium hardcover with 192 pages in the format 23.5 x 31.0 cm as well as a digital edition and will be available from December in bookstores and online mail order, in all digital stores and directly from Look Behind You.

Further information: Die Kunst von Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

3. July 2022