Local Ditch Gaming is now on YouTube. The first project? A walkthrough of the Interstate ’76 Nitro Pack.
Add this to the list of things I probably should’ve done 15 years ago: Local Ditch Gaming finally has a YouTube presence. I wanted to wait to announce it until I at least had something of consequence on there. The first project: a walkthrough for the Interstate ’76 Nitro Pack with video. At this point, I’m about halfway through writing it up, but you can check out the new page here or view the videos here.
For the most part, the plan is to complete the Nitro walkthrough, then try to get some of the other media items (music, video, etc.) on the site uploaded to YouTube. Upcoming Updates
Find a slew of small updates to Local Ditch Gaming, mostly in the Battlezone and Battlezone II pages.
Although I consider the Battlezone and Battlezone II sections as strictly archives at this point, I updated the BZII page so that it’ll show the latest Battlezone-related news on the main page, just like the updated BZ1 section. Also, like the I ’76 and Mechwarrior sections, there’s now a Q&A page for the BZ and BZII. Similar idea: the BZ specific questions will show up. Or, you can to head the main Local Ditch Gaming index and see it all. Full list of updates below.
Site updates:
Battlezone – Codes – Added missing codes
Battlezone – About – Updated
Battlezone – Q&A – New page added
Battlezone II – Updated to match current site name
Battlezone II – About – Updated
Battlezone II – Links – Updated and cleaned broken links
Battlezone II – Demo – Download link fixed
Battlezone II – Patches – Download links fixed
Battlezone II – Message Boards – Updated
Battlezone II – Q&A – New page added
Interstate ’76 – Trivia – Community cameos added.
Mechwarrior – Downloads – Mechwarrior 1 Manual PDF added.
Club Sega has been updated for the first time in almost 17 years. Check out the secrets of the original Virtua Fighter and its development!
Club Sega has been updated for the first time in probably 17 years! A few happenings collided to make it happen: I started to dive into the Neo Geo library (what?), which eventually circled back to playing a fighting game series I understand (Virtua Fighter). Of course, Virtua Fighter Crossroads (VF6) has been formally announced. Oh, and add a little vacation free time to the mix.
Updates:
Club Sega – News on main page
Club Sega – Virtua Fighter – Character origins and unused characters
Club Sega – Fighters Megamix – High-res images added.
A bit of a ramble below and the story of Club Sega at Local Ditch Gaming:
The club story
Q&A: Taking questions and sharing knowledge with the Mechwarrior historian that runs the Art of Battletech archive!
Hi Localditch, I’m so happy to see you are back up and running again. This is by far the best site on the internet regarding knowledge and research on mech games, especially Mechwarrior. My name is Emil and I’m the guy who’s running the Art of Battletech and Mechwarrior archive and doing all of the modding for Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries (and soon this week Clans). I have a very deep interest in the history of the games and your resources have been an absolute godsend over the many years. I also work as an academic and I’m looking to detail the history of mech sim games a bit more. I actually have a research paper being presented in September about the history of the mech sim genre and I will definitely make more use of your work. I can also reveal that I’m embarking on doing a remake of Mechwarrior 2 in MW5 Clans. I already have Silent Thunder up and running (and previously I did Pyre Light as a demo / prototype in MW5 Mercs in case you haven’t seen it). I really want to establish some sort of contact with you and hear more from you or even ask some questions, because you clearly know a whole lot about many things 🙂 I’d love to know more about your background and how you got to know so many things about the games, and if there’s anything I can provide you with – e.g. some of my archived work on the Mechwarrior games that I’ve gathered over the years, including original MW2 and MW3 renders by Scott Goffman and Eric Chadwick that they sent over.
Hey, great to hear from you and thanks for reaching out! The Art of Battletech is frikkin’ awesome. I’m so glad you’re archiving this stuff. I may have nicked an image or two here or there for the site, haha. It’s really cool to hear you’ve got a presentation on mech sims. Feel free to use any info you need off of the Local Ditch. I unfortunately started the site a long time ago, so things are not quite cited as well as they could’ve been, though I try to do better on more recent info and updates. I did see a video of your Mechwarrior 2 level in MW5. Looking forward to the MW5: Clans versions. All us old timers will love it!
As far as my background goes, I’m just a fan running a hobbyist website that’s basically just outlived a lot of others. I started playing MW2 as a kid and would periodically revisit it, usually having to figure out how to get the the thing running again. Some of the old info was common knowledge of the time. Some of it (well, probably a lot) was copying it from sites of people that knew more than me. Some of it was reading a ton of video game magazines and sites, then trying to make a coherent story on all of it (especially the MW2: The Clans info).
Feel free to ask about anything. If you have anything cool that you feel should be on the Local Ditch, send it my way and I’ll put it up!
Also, image courtesy of the Art of Battletech, of course.
The Heavy Gear II section of Local Ditch Gaming has been completely revised, with an install guide, completed walkthrough, downloads, weapons stats, gear details, and more.
Here’s one to add to the list of things I didn’t anticipate for 2025: I replayed Heavy Gear II, got inspired, then decided to rework the Heavy Gear II site.
Every time I replay this game, there’s a huge adjustment period for me. Especially, I think, jumping into it right after Mechwarrior II was a mistake. Gears are not slow and tank-like. Instead, they rely on speed, maneuverability, stealth, and most importantly of all: not getting hit. My first re-playthrough was rough. So, I did it again and it was much more enjoyable the second time around. And with that, I’ve shared all my new and relearned knowledge of Heavy Gear II on the site.
There are tons of updates on the Heavy Gear II section of Local Ditch Gaming; basically every page has been reworked, redone, updated, and filled with new, relevant info.
The install guide, walkthrough, and weapons table are some highlights. Update Specifics
It only took a decade, but the Deus Ex section has been updated to match the rest of the site, plus more info on the Deus Ex literature pages.
Finally, after talking about doing it for 10+(!) years, the Deus Ex portion of the site has been updated to match the site’s current formatting. Mostly, the content is the same, but I’ve added a bit more context to the literature pages of Deus Ex, explaining the stories and theories of the original writings.
Similarly, the long-forgotten System Shock section has been updated, too, as it used the same format as the Deus Ex page. System Shock & Heavy Gear
Updates continue, particular to the Mechwarrior section of Local Ditch Gaming.
As always, I’ve been tweaking the layout of the site a bit. The homepage itself has mostly incremental changes. But, the Mechwarrior and I ’76 sections, a lot of Javascript has been removed and the navigation has been simplified. Hopefully it all translates to a nicer feel. Not to mention, the Mechwarrior 2 mission guide, 3dfx conversion info, music pages, and more are now active.
Hit the jump to see the specifics