Messages

16

Modern Video Games / Re: 2017 In Gaming

« on: December 13, 2016, 10:48:35 pm »

I'm looking forward to several games. Should be a good year for SEGA and looking forward to a quiet year for Blizzard (they released a lot I'm trying to catch up with). Other than those two companies, I tend to only play old games from steam sales. Very little on release date.

Yakuza 0 and Kiwami - One of the greatest series currently.

Shenmue 3 - 'nuff said.

Sonic Mania and Project Sonic - Mania looks good and Project Sonic looks like generations 2. And I liked Generations.

ToeJam and Earl: Back in the Groove. - Looks promising.


I did end up picking up a PS4 for my wife (wanted to play the sword art games) This gives me a good reason to play most of these and catch up on a few Sony releases.

17

Classic Video Games / Re: What failed 90s console do you think had the most potential?

« on: November 30, 2016, 07:07:31 pm »

I would not count any of the big 3 as failures for a more interesting answer. For that, I would pick the 3DO. It was one of the first multimedia consoles. Kind of the forerunner to what the PS2 ushered. It would have been interesting to see this started more successfully by a multi-manufacturer system such as the 3DO. Would the new entrants of Sony and Microsoft opted to become 3DO manufacturers instead of new ones. Microsoft probably wouldn't. They were building up direct X. But Sony would be interesting. 

18

Modern Video Games / Re: Do you think Nintendo will ever become a 3rd party publisher like Sega?

« on: September 29, 2016, 06:30:16 pm »

I suspect they will be out of the console business. Consoles are making less and less sense. I think both Sony and Microsoft are looking for exit strategies as well in a way. The Xbox is being treated like a home entertainment PC. Cross platform support between Windows and Xbox is being emphasized. And I think Sony is flirting with integrating into their televisions with playstation tv.

I think Nintendo has enough IP to run a business of that and licensing. Kind of like Disney.

19

General / Re: Game Room Pics

« on: September 29, 2016, 06:23:57 pm »

It's official, I'll be moving into a new place this December which means that I will be setting up an all new game room! The space where the room is going will be much bigger than the current small room it is in. However, I've decided that I do not want to actually take picks or do a tour vid until I reach the 2000 game milestone. I feel like one thing I've done is do tour vids too often when not too much has changed. Would rather wait another year or so to shoot that tour.

That was quick. Doesn't seem that long ago you stated you were slowing down to save for the mortgage. Congrats!

20

Off Topic / Re: how the hell do you pick a career??

« on: September 09, 2016, 05:07:21 pm »

I'd say the trying stuff out and seeing what sticks works the best. In my experience, it is not the job that makes the career but the people and company. Find a place that will let you move and transition into what you are best at. And the thing about that is there is no way to know without trying different things.

My whole path was a lot of not knowing.

2003-2005 - Worked in a toy store. Retail. Damn good at it. Was in high school. Worked my way to management and went to the 2005 toy fair in New York to do purchasing. Quit to go to college.
2005-2009 - Physics research at CU-Boulder and Stanford. Decent at it. Published two papers. But middle of the road for the "smart" kids. Also, had too much student loan debt to defer through grad school. Left Academia.
2009-2009 - Actuary at Milliman. Worst job I've ever had. I was a human calculator stuck in a closet.
2009-2010 - Customer Service at ATT. Damn good at it. Not much to it. However, Went to a special cases department just out of training. I was in a call center and hardly ever took a phone call due to being moved to the other department. I moved on because I thought I should be doing more.
2010 - 2013 - Teaching Math in high school. Liked teaching. Hated everything else. I was mediocre at it.
2013- present - Customer sales in a biotech company. Manage distributor accounts. Love it and good at it. And I make the most money I every have.

All of the above is meant to illustrate that I tried several things. The one thing I was really good at is sales and customer service. I honestly never wanted to be in customer sales and management. But I'm good at it and happier with it. I work 8 hour days and get to come home and forget work. And because I am good at it, I make more than I did as an actuary (which surprises me). Find the thing you are naturally good at. Honestly, money will follow. If you are among the best in a field, there are opportunities for money. Good people are hard to find. You may also have to try a few companies to find one that can see it. You may also have to try a few jobs to see what you are "really" good at. It's easy to fool ourselves.

21

Modern Video Games / Re: Do you focus on Achievements/Trophies?

« on: September 09, 2016, 04:20:51 pm »

I like achievements a lot. I generally do not care about the global achievement score. However, I really enjoy it in individual games I like. For lack of a better term, it is almost an RPG aspect to games. I always did this on 8 bit RPGs. I have to collect all 150 pokemon, collect every hidden item, and do every trainer battle. In Phantasy Star, I have to buy the best weapon and armor. I will spend pointless time grinding for that stuff when it is not needed to beat the game.

That's what achievements are to me. If I like the game, I don't want to just beat it. I want to make sure every rating or power meter is at its highest. Achievements are just the next progression of career modes introduced in 16-bit gaming.

Now, if I don't like the game, I won't even get the achievement for beating the game. Because, again, I don't care too much for the global score. It's kinda neat. But nothing big.

22

General / Re: What are you playing?

« on: September 09, 2016, 04:11:44 pm »

I'm mainly playing World of Warcraft Legion. Enjoying it a lot. See how many more weeks or months of playtime I can put in this expansion.

23

General / Re: Collection Achievements thread

« on: September 09, 2016, 04:10:16 pm »

Working on adding the last of my PC games to the database, but once I am done I should have passed the 3500 games threshold, and I just recently broke through to less than 100 games left to complete my OG Xbox collection.

Oh, wow. Going for a complete set, eh? At least looks that way based on your collection. I've been tempted by that on the Xbox. It's a great time for it.

24

Classic Video Games / Re: Most Nostalgic Time-Period of Gaming

« on: September 09, 2016, 03:56:43 pm »

Early 80s Atari/Magnavox Odyessey2 at home and Arcade machines everywhere. Hours spent in front of the living room television playing games with the whole family. Using butter knives to attach the RF switch box to a little 8" B&W TV in the kitchen. Begging and borrowing quarters every time I passed an arcade machine which could be anywhere from a full fledged arcade to a diner, convenience store or even somewhere mundane like a dry cleaner or tire store, they were virtually as plentiful as slot machines in Vegas. Cartoons of popular games on TV, songs about them on the radio, if you were not there I doubt you can conceive the impact video games had on popular culture 1978 to about 1984.

Runner up would be the late 80s/early 90s when I had my NES and my friends and I traded games, rented games, and can neither confirm or deny copying a floppy or two. This period was fun but I got my NES shortly before the SNES came along and ruined the fun. I had my Atari for a decade before getting the NES, no way I could replace it a mere 2 years later, Nintendo must have thought we were made of money or something. I ditched consoles for several years after this, besides that I had a PC and access to BBSs by then so who needed Nintendo? I eventually got over it but that soured me on console gaming for a long time and is what makes the NES era less nostalgic than it should be.

This is a period of gaming that I wish I was around for. I've owned an atari 2600 twice, but never when the Atari 2600 was active. I was born in 1986. Thus, I never really got on with the the Atari consoles. However, it has some of the best arcade games. I would really liked to have more nostalgia for "Have you played Atari today?" Atari has some of the best history. Corporate Atari is mind-blowing. The book "Chasing the Beam" is great. The blog "All in Color for a Quarter" is one of the best things on the internet. Also, I highly suggest anyone to listen to the Owen Rubin episodes of the podcast Arcade Outsiders.

But alas, it's tough to have nostalgia for stuff you were either too young or not alive during. But that is where respect takes over I guess.

25

Classic Video Games / Re: Panzer Dragoon Saga: is it REALLY worth $500+?

« on: September 05, 2016, 09:53:22 pm »

Off topic: Can a game not be reverse engineered to get the source code?  I'm asking because really don't know.

It can. However, the Saturn hardware is a pain in the ass to understand. There is still not a good emulator. YABAUSE has made some progress but still pretty bad. And understanding the hardware is where reverse engineering is made possible.

For well understood hardware, source code is reverse engineered. Still not always easy, so it is usually just the popular games. The source code for the sonic games are readily found with a google search for instance.

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Classic Video Games / Re: Most Nostalgic Time-Period of Gaming

« on: September 01, 2016, 07:16:20 pm »

1993

It was then a gentle waning of enthusiasm until the Dreamcast and arcades finally took their last breath. I still play a lot. But it is mainly stuff from that era along with the Blizzard trinity of Warcraft, starcraft and Diablo.

27

General / Re: What is The Rarest Game You Own?

« on: August 22, 2016, 10:48:03 pm »

I don't own any super rare games. Mine are probably a toss up of the below.

Sega GaGa - Dreamcast
Blackthorne, World Series Baseball, and Pitfall - 32x
Any of the SG-1000 games.

Nothing too standout. But I have all of the rare 32X games minus Spiderman for the NA set. Then Sega GaGa and the SG-1000 games are readily found on eBay. But I don't think many exist.

28

Off Topic / Re: Music thread

« on: August 20, 2016, 09:44:43 pm »

Picked up Daft Punk's Discovery again. God that is a great album.

29

General / Re: Sony or Nintendo all time?

« on: August 16, 2016, 05:35:48 pm »

I can completely skip the PS1/N64 Era

  dem's fightin' words!

Haha, I've always heard that was the golden age - not your sort of thing?

But then again, I run with folks who are big into RPGs, and I know RPGs were very strong on the PS1/N64 front.

It'd be hard to choose for me. Can I say Sony for home consoles and Nintendo for portables? My biggest collections are in PS2 and NDS...

That's when I fell out with RPG's.  The forced 3D on everything looks like ass.  Symphony of the Night is the only reason to have a PS1.  I said it.  Write it down.   
If I had to pick one, I'd go with the N64 just for Mario Kart and the THQ wrestling games.

I agree with you a lot on this one. I would only add Robotron 64 and Killer Instinct Gold to my collection to your previous list.

30

General / Re: Sony or Nintendo all time?

« on: August 16, 2016, 05:34:07 pm »

Sega.

If that were an option. Every Sega system released, arcade port brought over I would be perfectly fine playing for the rest of my life. New games built around open-world are not for me. I am not a fan of realistic graphics, or cinema-style story telling of modern era.

I was going to say that. But thought it would be too expected.