We've been following the development of 8-bit Unity for a while now and there's a new update with exciting new GUI features. Beta Release 0.3.5 is available now and has a cool tech demo to show off the new GUI controls. Here's what Anthony (the developer) had to say about it...

Some exciting new features in this latest release of 8bit-Unity! A compact yet powerful GUI system is now available, that can generate typical widgets (Panel, Listbox, Button, Scrollbar…).

To demonstrate the GUI system, a cool Tech Demo called “8bit-OS” is included in the distribution. It consists of 4 mini-apps (file browser, image slideshow, music player, and online chat!). More will be added in future!

Here's a preview video of the demo running in a Lynx emulator...

This is the first Beta release of Argon, and we know we’ve still got a way to go.

We have some clear goals for improvement between now and launch:

Not long ago Songbird announced that two new games are coming to the Lynx before the Holiday Season and they've delivered. A Bug's Trip REDUX and Quadromania Redux have now been released on the Songbird Production store.

A Bug's Trip and Quadromania are now available at Songbird! Both games are part of our Redux branding where we make great games even better — including new music, EEPROM saved game support, new graphics, redesigned levels, and more!

A Bug's Trip is sure to be a hit with fans of Pac-man or Ladybug, while Quadromania puts you in a race to clear the blocks but only if they match the color of your bombs.

If you've missed out on a Lynx GD (GameDrive) previously, AtariAge has more in stock...

We have another batch of the RetroHQ Lynx GameDrive available for purchase in the AtariAge Store! The Lynx GameDrive allows you to play Lynx games directly from a memory card, includes EEPROM save support, fast load times, and an on-screen game selection menu. Get yours here: https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1214

Meanwhile, if you're still using the Lynx SD (or Lynx GameDrive Classic as it's called sometimes), we have re-released the updated ROM menu loader for it on itch.io. You can get it from here - Lynx SD Loader 2. Please note this loader will not work on the Lynx GD, it's for the Lynx SD only.

Some sad news from the Atari retro gaming scene - unfortunately due to COVID restrictions in Poland, Silly Venture 2k20 had to be postponed to 3-6 June (Thursday-Sunday) 2021. SV organisers hope that delaying the event will mean it can still happen in person. Our condolences also go out to the family and friends of Ultrasyd, the artist who had performed at many SV events in the past. However, to celebrate his life, SV organisers are going to be sending everyone who ordered a SV T-shirt a free Ultrasyd T-shirt. If you haven't ordered your T-shirt, now is a good time to show your support.

Here's the official statement from the SV organisers...

My Dears, we delayed this information until the last moment because we really believed that despite the prevailing pandemic, we would be able to organize the event on the planned date, not on such a scale and not with the same attendance as before (for obvious reasons), but still, logistically we were 100% prepared for it. We planned the SV partly physically and online but unfortunately the latest restrictions in which all of Poland is in red zone and there is an official ban on organizing events, forces us to change our plans. After some discussion, we decided that changing the form of the event to online only is pointless. This is not the right mood for SV, therefore following in the footsteps of our colleagues from the Commodore scene, the SV2020 date is postponed by several months forward, specifically on June 3 - 6 (Thursday-Sunday) 2021. This is one of the most realistic dates that shouldn't suffer unpleasant surprises. Even if there are any limitations related to Covid, we firmly believe that they will be smaller than in the period autumn-winter and (at worst) we will manage to organize the event at least partly physically and partly online.

The organizers of the X Party in the Netherlands stayed on the date 2020 because, just like us, they wanted to celebrate their anniversary in a special way, in their case the 25th anniversary, "October 2020 +1: Our 25 +1 years anniversary". We invite you to the 20th anniversary of "Silly Venture 2020 + 1: 20th Anniversary" as well "35th + 1 Atari ST Anniversary". Additionally, due to the very sad news related to the death of a wonderful man and musician from the stage Atari, Ultrasyd, concerts are planned with his work. We will inform you soon about who will perform.

And the last thing, regarding SV2020 T-shirts, these remain valid. The printing house has not given them to us yet, but right after we receive them, they will be sent to you. People who ordered a T-shirt or T-shirts received an e-mail asking for a payment some time ago, please make the transfer as soon as possible.

Due to the great loss that was the departure of Ultrasyd from our community, I decided that each person who ordered the SV2020 T-shirt will receive an additional T-shirt FREE OF CHARGE. On the front there is the "Ultrasyd" logo, where in the place of SYD (abbreviation of the name of Sydney) there is part of his profile photo. Additionally a note "Merci pour tes excellents concerts a la Silly Venture", an Atari logo on one sleeve, "Gdańsk" on the other and on the back, an "Ultrasyd" logo and the note "L'Epidémie Dansante". T-shirt project: mOOnie & Grey.

All shirts are in black only and they will be handed over to the party in June or sent by post.

Finally, anticipating your questions... does this mean that SV is changing the date permanently? We do not have such plans, it's just the present one where we were forced by the situation. If a miracle happened and the epidemic began to let go... the second SV in 2021, would take place in the winter period of December 2-5 (Thursday-Sunday) 2021.

Thank you for your attention. Stay safe. STay Atari.

Today BennVenn announced that the drop in Lynx LCD kits are now shipping and you can also buy a ribbon cable to convert the rev5 (soldered) version of the kit so you won't need to do any soldering. However there was a slight issue with the screens that were shipped from the factory. Here's what BennVenn had to say about it...

A slight hiccup.. Please read on

We have an update on the Drop-In Lynx kits. Everything has arrived and we have begun testing and packaging, which is when we encountered a small issue with the batch of LCD's our factory has sent us.

Please see attached photos.

The issue we're seeing is on a black background, white text has a slight dark shadow on the background, we've circled the image so you can see it clearly (Although it is still tricky to spot unless you go looking).

In game this is not visible, full screen colors are as expected, everything else is normal. There's no blur, lag, distortion.

We checked against the sample screens our factory sent and these all work as expected. We're talking with the factory on a way ahead with these as this shipment does not represent the samples they sent us. The factory tells us this is normal... We don't feel it is so we're letting you all know.

What to do now? If this small artifact isn't a problem for you (And honestly, its hundreds of times better than the original display which has this exact same issue too) We can ship immediately. They're here waiting to go.

If this is an issue, we can ship the next batch when they arrive, typically 3-4 weeks, hopefully sooner.

It's over to you, please reply to the email we sent you on a way ahead.

BennVenn sent us additional photos to show the issue and it was very hard to notice the shadows. We do have the new kit on the way with both the new screens and the older screens that didn't have ghosting so once that arrives, we'll have a full review and comparison of both. Lynx1 kits will be available once the pre-orders for Lynx2 have been shipped out.

You can pre-order the kit from BennVenn's shop here - LYNX(II) DROP IN LCD KIT - SOLDERLESS DROP IN - PRE ORDER - REV5

Great news from 8bit-Unity. The 8bit-Hub has been shipped and our's is on the way for testing out...unfortunately it will take 3 months to arrive by boat thanks to COVID-19 😅.

First lot of 8bit-Hubs, on their way to USA, Australia, Netherlands, and Switzerland. We will be able to process a dozen per week from here on I think.You can find info about the Hub and pre-order yours at: http://8bit-unity.com/?page_id=551

Machine from the AtariAge forums has made reproductions of a number of Atari Lynx related stickers and sew-on patches. These include the "Official Lynx Club" and the "Is Your Brain Big Enough" stickers and patches. They look amazing, so grab some while they're around. You can order them from this discussion thread.

Please note that these are not official Atari items, they are fan made reproductions.

The Blast Annual 2020: Volume 1 PDF Book has now been released online and it's jam packed of retro gaming content...

Blast Annual 2020: Volume 1. Retro gaming awesomeness in a 214 page book! It’s the way retro should be. Volume 1 show cases more than 90 games reviews across Amstrad CPC, Atari 2600, Amiga, NES, SMS, BBC, MSX, C64, Plus 4, ZX Spectrum and ZX Spectrum Next. Also included are over 40 feature articles from product reviews, to demo parties, conventions, game dev compos, game dev interviews, coding tutorials and so much more retro goodness!!

There is even Atari Lynx content in there and the next volume with have even more, with an in-depth article from Atari Gamer about running programming contests and the Atari Lynx homebrew scene.

For the small price of $5 this magazine will keep you interested for hours, so go get it!

More new Lynx games announced for Atari Lynx by Songbird Productions and are due to arrive by the end of 2020. A Bug's Trip is an enhanced version of A Bug's Lynx eJagFest 2018 Edition (which you can download and play for free from us) and Quadromania is an enhanced version of Quadromania released by Luchs Soft in 2019.

Here's what Songbird had to say about these games...

Songbird is excited to announce two new Lynx games coming November 2020: A Bug's Trip, developed and enhanced by Fadest over the last few years, and Quadromania, a "lost" game originally developed by RPM Software in 1993! Check out the game previews below.

Both games are part of our Redux branding where we make great games even better! A Bug's Trip is sure to be a hit with fans of Pac-man or Ladybug, while Quadromania puts you in a race to clear the blocks but only if they match the color of your bombs.