Messages

31

Classic Video Games / Re: Cartridge Console Wars

« on: July 11, 2017, 12:51:27 am »

Make love not war man...
I never really understood console wars, I loved them all. In the 70s we only had a Pong console. In the 80s I had an Odyessey2, Atari 2600, and a Coleco Adam. The 90s started with my NES and ended with a Jaguar and an N64. But through it all I played and still bought games for, all of them. In 1992 when they finally discontinued the 2600 (it had shared the shelves with SNES, Genesis, TG16 etc...) I still bought a soccer game for the old Atari despite having an NES and was still on the hunt for Colecovision and Odyessey2 games through video game specialized mail-order catalogs of the time.

Friends would fight over the Sega/Nintendo nonsense. I just made note of who had what and made sure I had a chance to play them all.

32

Classic Video Games / Re: What games do you remember playing at sleepovers?

« on: July 11, 2017, 12:29:06 am »

I never did many sleep-overs, that was more a thing my sisters did. My friends and I usually arranged to have our parties at arcades or Lazer Tag centers. We would spend hours playing Atari, Colecovision, Odyessey2, C64, NES etc... but we did that during the day for the most part.

I do remember one sleep-over, it happened sometime during Junior High. Games on tap that night were things like:
Leisure Suit Larry and the Land of the Lounge Lizards (DOS) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE04uq6UUdo
Bar Games (DOS) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQucoc2w-W0
He also had an NES with both the Power Pad and R.O.B. I don't remember specific games as we very heavily traded NES carts and no single game stands out in my memory, just that it was the only time we were able to talk him into letting us use the robot or the pad, we soon understood why.

There was another I remember during High School, same friend's house (I think he was the only one of us that ever did these). He had a SNES this time with the newly released Star Fox (so it was apparently early 1993.) I thought Star Fox looked terrible compared to even the original NES games or even most Atari 2600 games. Jaggy polygons with dull solid colors, no thank you. I had no interest in it at all. If polygons were going to do that to games, give me sprites any day. Sure they are great now but the 90s were an ugly, very ugly, time for 3D games.

33

Classic Video Games / Re: Why didn't pong carry over into modern era?

« on: May 23, 2017, 01:27:15 am »

Pong is great. The biggest problem is it is a two player game and most people play online now. Single player is possible but with AI it is not the same and without AI you get BreakOut/Arkanoid etc...

Another problem is the lack of paddle controllers. Pong sucks with a joystick. No ifs ands or buts about it. Analog sticks are slightly better but the twitchy ones we have these days are not up to the task, the 5200 was the only analog stick that could almost pull it off.

Many people think that if you want simulated tennis/ping pong you should just render full environments and play the proper game... but Pong was something else. It wasn't a true simulation it was abstract to the point of becoming its own thing.

The other day I introduced my 18 year old nephew to paddle controllers and pong, video Olympics, Circus Atari, Warlords, Kaboom... we had a blast, for hours. Once he bought in to it he didn't mind the primitive graphics and saw the beauty of a proper paddle controller for these games despite having no idea what it was when I handed it to him. So these games still have appeal and value. It's a matter of presentation and control.

Pong translates poorly to phones and other small screens, your finger covers too much of the screen and forget two players. Playing online dies due to lag.

Pong however plays beautifully on a Microsoft Surface or other mid to large sized tablet. They are big enough to play two players and also big enough to still see the paddle under your finger. I have a version on my tablets at all times, just in case. I have had many takers over the years and they all enjoyed it.

That is also another problem with Pong. It's so simple that it can be used to teach beginning game programming and few are going to pay for a game that could easily be knocked out in a few lines of code. Heck even BASIC for Atari 3600 had a pong game as a lesson and that was input using the keyboard controllers in just a few minutes.

Pong tournaments though... it marketed right or done trivia night style at bars could find a niche following.

34

Classic Video Games / Re: Will we see another "Atari" or "Nintendo?"

« on: May 23, 2017, 01:06:02 am »

But as for the masses calling a console by a blanket term, i don't think it will ever happen again.  But i think i would add Gameboy in your list.  When gameboy came out.  No matter if you had a gameboy color, gameboy pocket, gameboy light,  gameboy sp.    If you had a handheld in your pocket.  Most kids would say "Field trip tommarow,  bring your gameboy.  let's play gameboy."   it was synonymous with portable gaming for a while  .   

Good call.

I all but missed out on the original Gameboy, my best friend had one and I played a game or two on it but I had Tiger LCDs to hold me over as I lusted after the Atari Lynx which never came home (until 2015 and was well worth the wait). I never even owned a cartridge based handheld prior to the Sega Nomad. The Gameboy just never did much for me growing up.

I have an original now (technically it's my wife's) and have found a new respect for how they reimagined popular games to be played on the far inferior hardware. While Lynx, Turbo Express and Game Gear buried it technologically, and in most every other category other than battery life, the gameplay they pulled off with the system made it worthy of the achieving that status.

I didn't think of it because I didn't experience it first hand (Tiger LCDs don't reach the exalted status of even Grandmothers calling them a GameBoy) and because to me it was still a Nintendo product, but I can see how to most I could see them being distinct and possibly even viewed as unrelated. I do remember the name being tossed around liberally.

35

Classic Video Games / Will we see another "Atari" or "Nintendo?"

« on: May 20, 2017, 01:45:20 am »

Through elementary school if someone asked if you wanted to play a video game they wouldn't say video game, they would say Atari. Virtually everyone had one and the brand so dominated the market it was synonymous with video game. By "Atari: they implied the 2600 despite the 5200, 400 and 800 also being on the market not to mention competitors like the Intellivision, Colecovision, Odyssey 2 and countless others.

In Jr. High and High School it was "Nintendo" as in: "Do you want to play Nintendo?" "I'm going to Johnny's to play Nintendo." "Them kids these days seem to always be on the Nintendo..." It didn't matter if it was the rare case where the console was actually a Sega Master System or Atari 7800.

When the 16 bit consoles came along this died away as there were a lot of Sega systems out there, but not enough to become the go to name for the industry. N64/PlayStation same thing. While Sony has been strong the last few generations, and in spite of using the "PlayStation" brand for all of them, rarely is PlayStation used as a generic term for video games (I doubt Sony would be the term as they manufactures tons of different products).

So will we see another Atari or Nintendo? Or is the market too diverse? Or, god forbid, will console gaming dwindle to cultural insignificance before another brand emerges to be the next Atari or Nintendo? Or heck... is "PlayStation" it already and I just don't hear it other than in the very occasional movie or show?

Generation:
1 - "Pong" (Generic term despite being an Atari brand)
2 - "Atari"
3 - "Nintendo"
4 - ?
5 - ?
6 - ?
7 - ?
8 - ?

36

Classic Video Games / Re: Your Choice Of Sony Console Or Other Video Game Product

« on: May 20, 2017, 12:55:45 am »

1. PSP
2. there is no 2

The PlayStation consoles never did much for me. We have a PS2 and a PS4, both have under 5 hours of play time on them total. I despise the feel of the controllers and the graphics always seem a bit off in my opinion. It's hard to describe other than unnaturally hard edged and with a weird floaty feeling to them that always make it seem like whatever the player controlled character/vehicle/whatever is was poorly edited in on top of the actual thing and is just slightly off from the rest of the game.

However, the PSP hit the right note for me. Better graphics than the DS (like that's hard) and more titles that appealed to me. The graphics are still a bit off but the small screen seems to help minimize the effect and it's less off putting than the home consoles. I spent a lot of hours on this unit but ultimately things moved on, Sony botched the GO (Good unit but the end of the line was in sight and no way to convert or exchange UMDs for digital) and the Vita (a touch pad on the back... really) and now I carry a 3DS (and Atari flashback portable) instead.

I respect what Sony did by fighting their way into, and then leading, a fairly mature market. But for whatever reason, they have not been for me other than with the PSP.

37

Classic Video Games / Re: Favorite Dragon in video games?

« on: May 19, 2017, 02:07:29 am »

Easy one for me. Singe from Dragon's Lair. When dragons in video games went from Adventure's ducks of doom to a Disney quality dragon overnight it left an indelible impression on me.

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General / Re: Describe Your Taste in Games Using Only 5 Titles!

« on: May 19, 2017, 01:55:24 am »

Halo: Alien Warlords Combat Adventure 

(I may have taken the thread title a little too literally)

39

General / Re: Which do you play more of? Modern games or Retro Games?

« on: May 04, 2017, 01:15:05 am »

Retro.

My PS4 has been used once, by my wife, I never liked Sony systems and have never been tempted to bother with it. My Xbox One has pretty much become a media center that can also play the occasional game of Dig Dug, Pac-Man, Missile Command, etc... It did have a good run with Fall Out 4 and a Transformers game, who's title escapes me at the moment, for a time. I never did hook the 360 up again after the last tournament it was used for. Meanwhile the retro systems see regular use.

Racing games were one of the driving forces in getting the latest console, micro-transactions, DLC that should have been in the game from day one, and using the cop out of other players "Ghosts" rather than coming up with a decent AI or fun objectives killed any interest I have in modern racing games.

Between the nickel and diming of micro-transactions/DLC and the numerous pointless achievements (Turned on the game - 50 points) (Didn't set yourself on fire - 250 points) (Spent 16,000 hours clicking on ants while wearing a blue hat - 5 points) in modern games have kind of turned me off on this generation, which is sad since I have been at the front of the line for every generation. other than the 4th (Held a grudge against the SNES displacing the NES so soon).

40

Classic Video Games / Re: Were Early PC Games Fun To Play( Back IN) the 1990's Or A Complete Pain?

« on: May 04, 2017, 12:34:47 am »

They weren't a pain at all (nor were they "early" PC games by the 90s, early 3D maybe) They were excuses to get the latest Rage 3D card or Sound Blaster. I loved figuring out new ways to get the most out of the hardware. DIP switches to individually set IRQ & DMA values, then feeding that information into each game. Running multiple config.sys and autoexec.bat configurations based on which programs and features I would want for that session. High Memory, Expanded Memory, RAM drives, TSRs and all that jazz. Being a PC gamer during that era lead to a career due to having to know virtually every aspect of each and every component in your machine and what worked and didn't work with what and why. No complaints here, it was the most fun, hands on, job skills training I could imagine.

41

Classic Video Games / Re: Best looking console of all time?

« on: April 22, 2017, 05:41:12 pm »

It was completely impractical and ridiculous but the original X shaped prototype Xbox was definitely eye-catching.

42

Classic Video Games / Re: How Many Play Atari 2600 Games In Any Way

« on: April 22, 2017, 05:23:40 pm »

Many nights I will run through about a dozen cartridges before going to sleep at night. I try to cycle through different parts of the collection but I have a few regular go to games.

A few favorites:
Asteroids
Berzerk
California Games
Circus Atari
Defender
Dig Dug
Donkey Kong
Frogger
Kaboom
Missile Command
Pac-Man
Pitfall!
Joust (Flying Eggs FTW)
Jungle Hunt
Space Invaders
Phoenix
River Raid
Spy Hunter
Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back
Warlords
Yar's Revenge

I also carry an Atari Flashback Portable in my jacket pocket most days. Many games can be played in a couple minutes per session making it a perfect device for killing time when standing in line or waiting on something, the phone can stay in the pocket.

43

Classic Video Games / Re: Two questions about your favorite consoles

« on: January 15, 2017, 05:52:18 pm »

Favorite Console: Atari 2600 (Handheld would be Lynx)

It may not be powerful and its games may not have much in the way of story (unless you read the instruction manuals or DC Comic books that came with  them) and often those stories were seemingly unrelated to gameplay. But from a technical standpoint of what developers were able to get out of the console between 1977 and 1991, not to mention modern homebrew, is astounding. Here is a console that was designed to possibly have 20 or so titles over its expected lifetime of a Christmas or two and it had over 700 games made and was in production in three different decades. Entire games that kept me memorized as a kid fit on a 2kb cartridge. Most video game genres and controller styles were developed during this time. It makes a nice snapshot of not just the beginning but also the maturation of home game consoles, even if it wasn't able to fully realize just about any game it attempted to replicate from the arcades.

As for the Lynx, in that you had a handheld with most of the power and capabilities of a the SNES in system that was released a mere month after the original Game Boy and a year (two years in US) ahead of the SNES. With an updated screen the games on this system still look comparable to any 2D handheld from Nintendo. I wanted this system so bad when it came out, instead I got a couple Tiger Electronic handhelds. It wasn't until 2015 that I finally got one and it exceeded expectations.

Most Fun Collecting for: Atari 2600 (and Lynx)

I love walking into a game shop, getting a towering stack of games and being told "that will be $15. Could I get them all in emulation or as ROMs? Sure but where's the fun in that. Getting 40 year old games to run again and introducing them to new generations of gamers is far more fun for me.

As for the Lynx, it has a somewhat limited library and hunting the games down, for a reasonable price (I rarely spend more than $5-$10 for anything on any console that isn't current) is a nice challenge. Plus I love that most clerks have no idea what I'm talking about and the surprise on their faces when I point out that they have what I'm asking for in the store. I've had a few fun discussions about the system with some of those clerks.

With Atari being out of favor with most collectors it makes collecting for the systems that much more fun for me. The games are dirt cheap when I find them, finding them can be a challenge and often takes me out of my local area. Plus more often then not, when I do find something it brings a nostalgic smile to the face of the clerks, be it a game shop, a thrift store or some other random seller as they recognize the Fuji symbol and wax nostalgic about their childhood. This probably won't be the case much longer so I'm enjoying it while I can.

44

Classic Video Games / Re: What is the best deal you have ever gotten in the wild?

« on: November 18, 2016, 10:58:52 pm »

The core of my collection was mostly bought retail at or near release, they are only retro because I'm getting old. Even my best deal kind of falls into this category, although the system involved had already halted production 2-3 years before the purchase was made, so technically it wasn't a current product. But it has turned out to be a highly collectable flop.

I bought my Jaguar a second controller and 5 games for $25, all still factory sealed. Clearance sales at Kay Bee Toys stores were awesome.

At the time my wife thought I had overspent, it was a Jaguar after all and this stock had probably been sitting on their shelves for 5-6 years at this point. But we were newly married, had a young nephew and no game systems at all (My parents still had the NES/Coleco/Atari/Etc... at this point) so she relented and let me get the Jag. I wish I had been able to talk her into the $15 JagCD bundle to go with it but she was already convinced this was a waste, she didn't grow up with any consoles other than a few months with a 2600 and a one time rental of an NES so the value of a game system was not apparent to her yet.

At the time it wasn't much of a deal as Jaguars were not uncommon on clearance shelves but the total for those items today likely makes it the best deal monetarily. Dusting this system off years later and giving it another go is what got me interested in retro gaming so on the sentimental side it wasn't a half bad deal either.

45

General / Re: Is there a game console you have that most people don't?

« on: October 10, 2016, 12:31:19 am »

Nothing too off the wall. Some of these are listed as others have mentioned them despite millions of units existing.

Coleco Adam (Unknown: 95K in 1983, canceled by 1985, high failure/return rate)
Atari Jaguar (<250,000)
Atari Lynx I & II (500K-1 Million depending on source)
Sega Nomad (1 million)
Magnavox Odyssey2 (~2 Million)
Atari 7800 (~3.77 Million)
A working Game Gear (Uncommon) and two that currently don't work (Common) (10.62 Million combined)

Various knock-offs, dedicated systems and such