EricBall

Yep, that's kinda the thing Manuel did, but the sort wasn't a complete sort, but just one pass. (Or maybe two, one in each direction.) The idea was to keep the number of cycles required down while still achieving a decent result.

1. Source material Something which was recorded from broadcast on VHS-LP (and probably digitized via the composite output) is going to look a lot worse than something pulled from the original half inch tapes (via S-Video). 2. Compression / Recompression / bitrate / resolution Who did the compression and what compressor & options did they use? Did YouTube recompress it (both after upload and since it was first uploaded)?

Yeah, comparing NASCAR and WRC is like comparing apples and kumquats. But whether it be NASCAR, WRC, the Dakar, or even things like the Tour d'France, it's amazing how close the top racers are after such great distances. And yes, in NASCAR there are tactics which mean the racers aren't going flat-out. Sometimes they pay off, sometimes they don't. At the most recent race there was a late caution and the leaders (who had been there for most of the race) took four tires. However, some of the midfield cars decided to only take two tires to gain a better position (and Mark Martin went to the front by not pitting). The ex-leaders discovered that the advantage of fresh rubber wasn't enough to get back to the front in the remaining laps. (And Mark Martin managed to hold on to second place.)

IIRC Manuel (Cybergoth) did a unique semi-intelligent flicker routine for Star Fire which used a partial bubble sort. There's probably even stuff in the Stellalist archives. I did something similar for my (unfinished) Lode Runner style Supercharger game (although it's been a long time since I've looked at the code, and it used a RAM bitmap for the player sprites).

Two tenths, pshaw. The NASCAR race at Talledega this year was decided by two thousandths of a second. The top 8 cars all crossed the finish line in two tenths. Eight cars in a four wide, three car length pack. And I'd say that Ogier deserved to win. Racing is about going as fast as you can, not sandbagging to gain a tactical advantage. (Hmm... although a few of those top 8 cars at 'dega spent most of the time at the back of the field, which could be considered a similar strategy.)

Don't discount table lookups. Skeleton(+) was table lookup driven, including the maze, the 3-D view, the Skeleton, the score digits and the title & end screens. Yes, the table can take up a chunk of ROM, but they are dead simple and typically code efficient.

I've finished off the first person game. Although it got better, I still don't think it was as good, as "tight", as P1. I'm now working my way through the first person game for a second time to listen to the commentary. Unfortunately, unlike P1, you can't save with the commentary on. So if you die (not impossible, even though I finished the game once) you get "sent back" some distance and you can't save & resume so someone else can use the TV. However, I think taking time to "stop and smell the flowers" improves the game. Valve spent a lot of time creating the environments, not just the puzzles.

Yes, video games did significant damage to pinball. But the real killer was home consoles & PCs which killed the arcades. However, Stern still puts out a new pinball or two each year. There's still a decent commercial market (bars, movie theaters, other entertainment complexes, Chuck E. Cheese/Dave & Buster's, etc.) and a home/collector market.

Stern has announced that their next pinball will be TRON Legacy. I'd really like to get one, but spending $5K (+tax) on a game is a little more than I can justify.

Note: I don't use VC as I already have enough new & old games to fill my free time. If you don't want to give Nintendo your credit card info, just buy the cards at your local video game store. According to Wikipedia there are new (2011) releases for VC, although it's slowed down a lot. And yes, there are IP owners (e.g. Vectrex) who have released games as free to use. But other companies (e.g. Nintendo) are still very protective of their IP, no matter how old it is. And although you might not believe your creations are worth protecting, I think you would be surprised if you tried. Although the license for Skeleton+ allows people to play the game using an emulator or to make a cartridge for their own use, AA & PackRatVG have sold 100+ cartridges. Not enough to live on, but enough mad money for me to spend on other hobbies.

While others may have different opinions, in general, playing games using an emulator is illegal. The license for the original cartridge doesn't permit playing the game any other way. If you bought the cartridge (new or used) and played it on an NES, that's okay. If the copyright owners provide a different method of playing the game (e.g. Activision Anthology), then that's okay. And Nintendo does care. You can buy & play SMB via the Wii Virtual Console. You downloading the ROM and playing it on your PC deprives Nintendo of that revenue. Yes, AA does host ROMs. However, you will notice that there are no Activision ROMs, because Activision still claims ownership. And although the original companies may no longer exist, ownership of the copyright may have been transferred. And you should also care. You hold the copyright to all of the games & music you have created. How would you feel if your creations were distributed freely without your consent?

Super Mario 64 is one of my all time favorite games. I did get all 120 stars, although there were a couple of levels that took a lot of tries. If you return to one of the Bowser levels after defeating Bowser, he's still there. The third Bowser was tough 'cause he broke away a lot of the platform, leaving you with just a star. The trick with Bowser is to pick him up, line up with a star, then throw him closer to the star (without spinning), until you're close to the edge. Then the spin throw is much easier. One of the cool thing about replaying SM64 is using the long jump & back flip to take short cuts. I think I completed Sunshine, although I don't believe I finished everything & got all of the Shines. The most annoying thing for me were some of the Dark Mario levels you had to travel to, then if you died (or was it just exited) you had to go all the way back to the start of the world. I think I also completed Galaxy, but I know I didn't finish everything (nor will I, some of those levels are tough). I've got Galaxy 2, but I haven't completed it yet and I suspect I won't finish it either.

Two more correct answers: I'm waiting for E3 to say anything about the Wii2 - not enough good definitive info out there. However, I will make the prediction that it won't sell 20M units in the first 12 months.

I'm finding the biggest problem with Portal 2 is ... it's a sequel to Portal. Portal was an exceptionally good game because the game play and story worked together. The increasing difficulty level of the puzzles made sense because you were testing/being tested. But as you went along the hints that things "weren't quite right" became bigger, which worked into the story. And the linear world path wasn't a significant issue because it was well hidden after you left the test chambers. But with Portal 2 those crimes hurt the game twofold: 1. GlaDOS is still the enemy, but you're still running the same tests. I almost wonder whether it would have been better to include Portal with Portal 2, and drop the training stuff from P2. It's also not well explained why GlaDOS doesn't simply eliminate you. (Not even a "I want him in the games until he dies playing.") 2. The linear world path is very confining. There are these big areas, but nothing to do but figure out where the exit is and how to get to it. And when you're being lead by the nose it's not even particularly good at making the path obvious by keeping the flashlight one step ahead of you. OTOH this means the couple of times the exit isn't obvious is frustrating because you get used to looking for the exit to figure out what to do next. 3. Each room / puzzle has one solution, and you typically aren't given the option to do anything more than what's required for the solution. In Portal I was always trying to move ahead and the puzzle was an obstacle to be removed. In P2 I find myself working backwards from the exit rather than working forward. I also find myself shooting at walls to find the one that will take a portal, since that one must be required for the solution. This isn't to say I'm not enjoying it. My son is also doing better at the game since I had him play some Portal (1) on his own. But I'm just finding the spark from Portal hasn't carried over to the successor.

I think the first game I bought for my PS3 was the Orange Box - basically to get Portal (although I've played a good chunk of Half Life 2 while my wife wasn't around). So while I'm not a major fanboy, the game is definitely one of my favorites. Anyway, I knew P2 was coming out, had watched some of the videos, but hadn't really thought about getting it until today when ars reminded me that P2 has a co-op mode. Then something clicked - P2 co-op & long weekend. What a better way to spend time with my son? Except he doesn't like it. Actually, I think he's frustrated by the controls. He just hasn't spent enough (any?) time playing FPSs, whereas Dad has played a bunch since Wolf3D kicked off the genre. So while I've never mastered the circle-straffe, dual stick move & look is burned into my reflexes. I don't have to think about how to do what I want to do, it just happens. My son, on the other hand, gets frustrated trying to figure out how to move the controls to accomplish simple tasks. I don't think he's quite figured out the difference between turning and straffing, and he certainly hasn't figured out how to move, turn & look all at the same time. The first person perspective also may be causing him headaches 'cause he's used to playing 2D third person games, with the ability to see more of what's around him. And it's relatively easy to get disoriented in Portal 2, even if you aren't fall-jumping - one junk filled corridor looks like another.

I was reading something recently which talked about using prime numbers for intervals creates effectively long, almost random, patterns. So rather than have thing one happen every 5 seconds and thing two happen every 10 seconds you have thing one happen every 7 seconds and thing two happen every 11 seconds.

Even if you don't try to write a novel in a month, there's lots of hints & tips on the NaNoWriMo site on writing, especially if you don't know where the plot (or lack thereof) will take you. First person - I did it. Second person - You did it. Third person - S/he did it. Tough to write a story in second person. That's more for instruction manuals.

A couple years ago I replaced my inkjet with a color laser (the Dell 1250c is on sale for $180) and haven't regretted it for a minute. The problem with the inkjet is I never used it often it enough to keep the ink from drying and clogging. And laser prints don't run if they get wet. The downside of the laser is the initial cost and the higher cost of replacement cartridges. But each cartridge will do over a thousand pages so they last much longer (especially since they don't dry out). So it's a bigger ouch, but much less frequently.

Your e-less story sounds like something you should save for NaNoWriMo.

That's an impressive amount of graphics. Your creations or from somewhere else?

Using the circuit diagrams as a guide, follow the traces from TIA pins 2,5,7,8 and 9 (TSYNC, TLUM1, TLUM2, TLUM0 and TCOL respectively, see the far right side of the middle of the diagram) and check each component along the way for bad solder joints or other evidence of faults.

I can't remember where I first noticed it, but the PSP sales in Japan are better than you'd think. And with the NGP getting delayed, I guess the PSP will be hanging around for a while longer.

Do you have the tools and ability to make the repairs? (i.e. how are you with a soldering iron and circuit schematics?) If you don't (or don't know someone who does) then your options may be to either live with the problem or buy a replacement. If you are interested in making the repairs, the schematics for the 7800 are in the Atari 7800 Archives.

Do you see similar problems with other 2600 games? The 7800 uses some external circuits to combine the TIA and MARIA video outputs. Maybe you have a bad component or connection somewhere.

Hmm... The top screen of the 3DS is 400x240, while the VirtualBoy was 384x224, so it's certainly possible from that standpoint. Controls might be a little trickier, depending on the game, as the VirtualBoy had dual D-pads. I suspect if Nintendo doesn't the homebrew community will if/when the protection is broken.