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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.

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Varieties

Moon Race: How China is Challenging the US

China is challenging the United States' supremacy in spaceflight. Pedro Pardo / AFP/File
China is challenging the United States' supremacy in spaceflight. Pedro Pardo / AFP/File
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Moon Race: How China is Challenging the US

China is challenging the United States' supremacy in spaceflight. Pedro Pardo / AFP/File
China is challenging the United States' supremacy in spaceflight. Pedro Pardo / AFP/File

Walking on the Moon by 2030, building a lunar base, and then perhaps on to Mars: after 30 years of honing its expertise, China is challenging the United States' supremacy in spaceflight.

As US space agency NASA prepares for its crewed lunar flyby mission, Artemis II, we take a look at China's ambitions in space:

- What is China's crewed program? -

China's crewed space program -- known as Project 921 -- was launched on September 21, 1992, aiming to develop its own expertise and space station.

The program has conducted around 15 crewed missions since the first flight of a Chinese astronaut, Yang Liwei, in 2003.

Blocked from the International Space Station (ISS) in 2011 by the United States, China built its own orbital hub.

The Tiangong, or "Heavenly Palace", space station welcomed its first occupants in 2021.

Three Chinese astronauts -- known as "taikonauts" -- are currently staying there.

The station allows China to accumulate crucial experience in spacewalks, docking, maintenance and effects on the body.

None of China's crewed launches have been fatal, and the program is following a long-term roadmap rather than a series of isolated projects.

"This effectiveness stems from strong political commitment at the highest level of the state, stable funding... and the integration of the entire industrial chain into the project," said Richard de Grijs, professor of physics and astronomy at Australia's Macquarie University.

"Compared to the Western, and particularly US, approach, where priorities can shift with each political cycle, this model offers clear advantages in terms of predictability and risk management," he told AFP.

While China's space program has been historically slower, "it won't change course at the whim of its leadership either".

- When will Chinese astronauts land on the Moon? -

The Chinese space agency (CNSA) hopes to put astronauts on the Moon by 2030.

China has already sent several robots to the Moon and brought back lunar samples.

But a crewed mission requires different equipment, which is currently being tested.

China is set to conduct a test flight of its new Mengzhou ("Dream Ship") spacecraft in 2026. Replacing the ageing Shenzhou, it will carry astronauts into lunar orbit.

Engineers are also developing a new ultra-powerful rocket around 90-metres (295-feet) long -- the Long March-10, essential for propelling the spacecraft to the Moon. It made its first low-altitude flight on February 11.

The Lanyue ("Seize the Moon") lander, which will transport the astronauts from orbit to the lunar surface, could also make its maiden flight between 2028 and 2029.

- Does China want a lunar base? -

China hopes to build a basic version of a crewed scientific base, called the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), by 2035.

The base will be built near the Moon's south pole, where water in the form of ice is believed to be present.

China is collaborating with Russia on the project.

The base is expected to be built with bricks made on-site from lunar soil using 3D printers. Tested on Earth and on Tiangong, the technique is to be tested on the Moon during the uncrewed Chang'e-8 mission, scheduled for around 2028.

The CNSA says it wants to carry out archaeological research into the origin of the Moon, achieve breakthroughs in strategic technologies and exploit lunar resources.

An expanded version of the base is planned for around 2040.

China is also developing a constellation of relay satellites around the Moon to communicate between its far side and Earth.

- Is this a race with the United States? -

China never talks about a "Moon race" or competition with the United States.

"They are ambitious for the future of their program and see the Moon as the logical next step, for its own sake, not for any rivalry. I don't think it would change anything for them if America wasn't going," said Jonathan McDowell, astrophysicist and space analyst.

"Having said that," he added, "the establishment of a lunar base by China would be a real challenge to America's ability to establish such a base -- there's only a small amount of suitable area near the lunar south pole."

For now, China lags behind the United States in terms of crewed flights, according to Chen Lan, a specialist in the Chinese space program.

NASA's Dragon and Orion spacecraft remain superior compared to China's Shenzhou, he noted.

"However, I expect when China realizes manned lunar landing by 2030 with the new spaceship and lunar landing vehicle, it will catch up with the US in the human spaceflight field."

- Mars next? -

After 2040, the Chinese lunar base will be used to "validate technology and capabilities for a manned mission to Mars", according to the CNSA.

Chinese space manufacturing companies and scientists have previously pointed to the Red Planet as a potential destination for astronauts.

"But I don't think that there will be serious plans to Mars before completion of the lunar landing and the initial lunar base," Chen said.

Varieties

3-limbed Sea Turtle Being Tracked at Sea by Satellite

An adult female Kemp's ridley sea turtle is seen swimming in a tank at Loggerhead Marinelife Center after a satellite tracking device was attached to its shell in Juno Beach, Fla. on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)
An adult female Kemp's ridley sea turtle is seen swimming in a tank at Loggerhead Marinelife Center after a satellite tracking device was attached to its shell in Juno Beach, Fla. on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)
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3-limbed Sea Turtle Being Tracked at Sea by Satellite

An adult female Kemp's ridley sea turtle is seen swimming in a tank at Loggerhead Marinelife Center after a satellite tracking device was attached to its shell in Juno Beach, Fla. on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)
An adult female Kemp's ridley sea turtle is seen swimming in a tank at Loggerhead Marinelife Center after a satellite tracking device was attached to its shell in Juno Beach, Fla. on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)

The veterinary staff at a Florida sea turtle hospital is getting help from space to monitor the animals they have rehabilitated. They're particularly interested in amputees.

Using satellite tracking devices in a collaboration between the Loggerhead Marinelife Center and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, scientists are learning how well sea turtles can survive in the wild after losing a limb.

Amelie, a Kemp's ridley sea turtle who lost her right forelimb to a predator — most likely a shark, the center said — was taken to the beach on Wednesday for her highly anticipated release. The turtle paused for about 30 seconds, then slowly made her way into the Atlantic Ocean as onlookers cheered.

Amelie had been rescued and brought to the center by the Inwater Research Group in Port St. Lucie, Florida, seven weeks earlier after a traumatic amputation. She underwent surgery to clean and close the wound, and was treated for pneumonia while in a tank at the center.

When veterinarians deemed her healthy enough to return to the sea, they glued a tracking device to her shell.

A rehabilitated adult female Kemp's ridley sea turtle crawls toward the ocean during a release in Juno Beach, Fla. on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)

An ultrasound confirmed that Amelie is developing eggs, giving researchers another reason to track her movements.

Kemp's ridley turtles, the rarest of sea turtle species, are more typically found on Florida's Gulf Coast, so treating Amelie was especially significant, said Andy Dehart, the center's president and CEO.

Amelie is actually the fourth amputee sea turtle being tracked by the enter, Loggerhead research director Sarah Hirsch said. They include a three-limbed turtle named Pyari who has traveled nearly 700 miles since her release in January, her tracker shows.

“We do know that they can be successful in the wild because we have seen them on our nesting beaches, but we really want to understand their dive behaviors, how they’re migrating once they’re back in the wild," The Associated Press quoted Hirsch as saying.

The satellite tags have a saltwater switch that detects when the turtle comes up to the surface to breathe, triggering the transmission of data to the satellites. Their location appears online after a 24-hour delay. To view Amelie and other turtles tracked for various research projects, visit the Loggerhead website.

“They’ve been through a lot," Hirsch said. "They’ve gotten a lot of medical care here, and to see them be able to go back out and contribute to the population is really rewarding.”

Varieties

Genetic Study Identifies Earliest-known Dog, Dating to 15,800 Years Ago

FILE PHOTO: A woman gives her dog a kiss as they watch the sunset at Anchor Bay outside Mellieha, Malta, January 26, 2018. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A woman gives her dog a kiss as they watch the sunset at Anchor Bay outside Mellieha, Malta, January 26, 2018. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi/File Photo
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Genetic Study Identifies Earliest-known Dog, Dating to 15,800 Years Ago

FILE PHOTO: A woman gives her dog a kiss as they watch the sunset at Anchor Bay outside Mellieha, Malta, January 26, 2018. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A woman gives her dog a kiss as they watch the sunset at Anchor Bay outside Mellieha, Malta, January 26, 2018. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi/File Photo

Dogs have been loyal companions to people since we made them our first domesticated animals, descending long ago from gray wolves - though precisely when, where and why have remained unanswered. New genetic research now is offering valuable insight, including identifying the earliest-known dog, dating to 15,800 years ago, Reuters reported.

This dog, known from bones found at the Pinarbasi rock shelter site in Türkiye used by ancient human hunter-gatherers, is about 5,000 years older than the previous earliest-known, genetically confirmed canine, the researchers said.

The date of the Pinarbasi dog and several others almost as old identified at other sites in Europe shows that dogs already were widely distributed and an integral part of human culture millennia before the advent of agriculture, they said.

The new findings were presented in two scientific papers published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.

William Marsh, a postdoctoral researcher in the Ancient Genomics Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute in London who was co-lead author of one of the studies, said the DNA evidence suggests dogs were present in various locales in western Eurasia by 18,000 years ago and already ⁠were quite different ⁠genetically from wolves.

"We putatively predict that dog and wolf populations diverged a lot earlier, likely before the last glacial maximum (of the Ice Age), so before 24,000 years ago. Although saying that, there is still a great degree of uncertainty," Marsh said.

The dog, descended from an ancient wolf population separate from modern wolves, was the first animal domesticated by people, with animals such as goats, sheep, cattle and cats coming later.

"Dogs have been by our side as humans underwent major lifestyle transitions and complex societies emerged," said geneticist Anders Bergström of the University of East Anglia in England, lead author of the other study.

"I think it's also interesting that, unlike most ⁠other domesticated animals, dogs do not always have very clearly defined roles or purposes for humans. Perhaps their primary role is often just to provide companionship," Bergström said.

The upper jaw of a domesticated dog from the Kesslerloch cave in Thayngen, Switzerland, dating to about 14,000 years ago, is seen in this photograph from July 2019. Cantonal Archaeological Service of Schaffhausen/Ivan Ivic/Handout via REUTERS

Bergström and his team performed a large-scale search for the early dogs of Europe, using a new method to differentiate genetically between wolves and dogs among 216 ancient remains ranging from 46,000 to 2,000 years old from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and Türkiye. This was the largest study of such remains to date.

The researchers managed to identify 46 dogs and 95 wolves. Because the skeletons of dogs and wolves were so similar in the early stages of canine domestication, genetic studies are needed to distinguish between them in ancient remains.

The oldest of the dogs identified by Bergström's team was one dating to 14,200 years ago from Switzerland's Kesslerloch Cave site. The oldest of the European dogs identified in this study were found to have shared an origin with dogs in Asia and the rest of the world, showing that ⁠these various canine populations did not ⁠arise from separate domestication events.

The Pinarbasi dog, identified in the study Marsh worked on, showed how much dogs were valued by the hunter-gatherers who kept them.

"At Pinarbasi, we have both human and dog burials, with dogs buried alongside humans," Marsh said.

There also was evidence that the people at Pinarbasi fed their dogs fish.

This study identified five dogs dating to between 15,800 and 14,300 years ago, including canine remains from Gough's Cave near Cheddar in England.

"At Gough's Cave, we have butchering and processing of humans after death that included cannibalism, as a funerary behavior akin to burial. Similar post-mortem modification, albeit not definitively for consumption, was found on the dog remains," Marsh said.

The Pinarbasi and Gough's Cave dogs were found to be more closely related to the ancestors of present-day European and Middle Eastern breeds such as boxers and salukis than to Arctic breeds like Siberian huskies.

Beyond companionship, the ancient dogs may have helped people hunt or perhaps served as watchdogs, sort of Ice Age alarm systems, according to the researchers. Unlike the many exotic dog breeds around today, these early dogs still likely closely resembled the wolves from which they descended, they said.

"The questions of when, where and why people domesticated dogs still remain largely unanswered," Bergström said. "We think it probably happened somewhere in Asia, but more precisely remains to be determined."