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Mayor of Riyadh Opens 'FoodSphere' as Part of Riyadh Oases

Spanning 11,000 m², FoodSphere features three indoor zones - SPA
Spanning 11,000 m², FoodSphere features three indoor zones - SPA
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Mayor of Riyadh Opens 'FoodSphere' as Part of Riyadh Oases

Spanning 11,000 m², FoodSphere features three indoor zones - SPA
Spanning 11,000 m², FoodSphere features three indoor zones - SPA

Mayor of Riyadh Prince Faisal bin Abdulaziz bin Ayyaf inaugurated on Wednesday "FoodSphere," a pioneering first phase of the Riyadh Oases project. This collaborative initiative between Riyadh Holding and the Riyadh Region Municipality aims to create vibrant, interactive community spaces centered on food, heritage, and sustainability.
Located on Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Street, FoodSphere offers unique, immersive experiences that explore the future of nutrition while celebrating Saudi culinary heritage. Visitors can discover the interconnectedness of food, culture, and environmental responsibility through engaging exhibits and activities, SPA reported.
Spanning 11,000 m², FoodSphere features three indoor zones: The Apiary, The Biosphere, and The Oasis. Outdoor areas include beautifully landscaped gardens, cafes, restaurants, and walk courses.
Riyadh Oases is designed as an edutainment center, making science accessible and engaging for all community members. It fosters partnerships with various entities to develop and showcase practical, innovative models.
This project aligns with the Quality of Life Program, a main pillar of Saudi Vision 2030, demonstrating Riyadh's commitment to cultural preservation and future-forward development.
FoodSphere is the first of eight planned oases, which will be strategically located throughout Riyadh in the coming years. It welcomes visitors on February 26 and 27 from 10 am to 10 pm. Ramadan hours are from 8:30 pm to 2:30 am.

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Nostalgia Fuels UK Boom in Vintage Video Game Repairs

Retro video games and consoles are displayed at the headquarters of RetroSix in Stoke-on-Trent, England on April 1, 2025. (AFP)
Retro video games and consoles are displayed at the headquarters of RetroSix in Stoke-on-Trent, England on April 1, 2025. (AFP)
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Nostalgia Fuels UK Boom in Vintage Video Game Repairs

Retro video games and consoles are displayed at the headquarters of RetroSix in Stoke-on-Trent, England on April 1, 2025. (AFP)
Retro video games and consoles are displayed at the headquarters of RetroSix in Stoke-on-Trent, England on April 1, 2025. (AFP)

The shelves lining Luke Malpass's home workshop are a gamer's treasure trove stretching back decades, with components of vintage Game Boys, Sega Mega Drives and Nintendos jostling for space and awaiting repair.

Parcels from gamers seeking help arrive from around the world at RetroSix, Malpass's Aladdin's cave.

He has turned a lifelong passion for gaming into a full-time job, answering the common question of what to do with old and worn machines and their parts.

"I think it can be partly nostalgic," said Malpass, 38, as he surveyed the electronics stacked at his home in the central English city of Stoke-on-Trent.

He said the huge revival in retro games and consoles is not just a passing phase.

"Personally, I think it is the tactile experience. Getting a box off the shelf, physically inserting a game into the console... it makes you play it more and enjoy it more."

Electronic devices and accessories, some dating back to the 1980s and the dawn of the gaming revolution, await to be lovingly restored to life.

Malpass has between 50 to 150 consoles needing attention at any one time, at a cost of between £60 ($78) and several hundred pounds.

It's not just nostalgia for a long-lost childhood.

He believes it's also a way to disconnect, unlike most online games which are now multi-player and require skills honed over long hours of practice to reach a good level.

"Retro gaming -- just pick it up, turn it on, have an hour, have 10 minutes. It doesn't matter. It's instant, it's there, and it's pleasurable," he told AFP.

With vintage one-player games "there's no one you're competing against and there's nothing that's making you miserable or angry".

Malpass, who is a fan of such games as "Resident Evil" and "Jurassic Park", even goes so far as to buy old televisions with cathode-ray tubes to replicate more faithfully his experience of playing video games as a kid.

Video clips he films of his game play, which he publishes to his YouTube channel, have won him tens of thousands of followers.

"I think people are always going to have a natural passion for things that they grew up with as a child.

"So I think we'll always have work. It'll evolve. And it won't be, probably, Game Boys," Malpass said.

"There's always going to be something that's retro."

This week a survey organized by BAFTA, the British association that honors films, television, and video games, voted the 1999 action game "Shenmue" as the most influential video game of all time.

"Doom", launched in 1993, and "Super Mario Bros.", in which Mario first started trying to rescue Princess Peach way back in 1985, came in second and third place.

And on Wednesday, Nintendo unveiled details of its long-awaited Switch 2 console.

It includes new versions of beloved favorites from the Japanese giant -- "Mario Kart World" and "Donkey Kong Bonanza".

Held every four months, the London Gaming Market, dedicated to vintage video games, has been attracting growing numbers of fans.

"I'm a huge 'Sonic the Hedgehog' fan... You never know what you're going to find when you're out here so I'm just always on the lookout," said Adrian, a visitor wearing a T-shirt with a Sonic image.

Collectors and gamers sifted carefully through stacks of CD discs and old consoles hoping to find hidden treasures.

For Andy Brown, managing director of Replay Events and organizer of the London event which is now in its 10th year, the Covid-19 pandemic marked an upturn in the return to vintage games.

"I think people were stuck at home, wanting things to do that made them remember better times because it was a lot of doom and gloom around Covid," he told AFP.

A study earlier this year by the US association Consumer Reports found 14 percent of Americans play on consoles made before 2000.

And in September, Italian customs busted a gang smuggling counterfeit vintage video games, seizing 12,000 machines containing some of the most popular games of the 1980s and 1990s.