A* hole co-workers made me feel old

[A* hole co-workers made me feel old]

Nah, we aren't old Osgeld. By the way, do they still have Jello at Cici's or was it not Jello day?

[New Aquarius owner]

One of the upgrades I'm considering is an external keyboard interface, so hopefully we'll have better keyboard choices, but that's much further down the road.

 

The hits keep coming. Future computing historians shall refer to you as Jay Snellen, "Adoptive Stepfather of the Aquarius".

[New Aquarius owner]

Congratulation, brother. You are one of us, one of us, one of us.....

[pressure cooker by activision]

I LOVE Pressure Cooker! I dig it so much that I learned the intro music on my electric guitar.

 

I don't believe you! Prove it with a video or mp3!

 

JK. would love to hear that though....

[Sonic the Hedgehog AKA Zippy the Porcupine Demo]

That's what she said right before she got sent to human resources.

More likely scenario: That's what she said, then I laughed at it and I got sent to human resources.

[Art of Atari - book in progress and need help]

Oh boy! I am in for this 100%. Some frameable prints would also sweeten the deal.

[Which P.O.S. TI cartridge would you sacrifice?]

Just going with what I have on the shelf, it would have to be Scholastic Spelling Level 4 or Hangman.

[pressure cooker by activision]

One of my top ten 2600 games. Back when I got it in 1984, all I had was a black and white tv, so the game had another level of challenge determining what shade of grey slot to drop the burger in. One of the catchiest tunes of any 2600 game also.

[[Aquarius] WAV file volume for CLOAD]

Here is a little more info on loading the files, graciously provided by Jay Silverheels a few years back:

 

The BAS is the loader program. Load it first, then type "run" and "enter."

You will be prompted to load the next file. Load the "A" files (for array) in sequentially.

[[Aquarius] WAV file volume for CLOAD]

I can't help you on that, but where can I download one of these Aquarius cassette WAV files? I'm collectin' em.

 

If you download and install the Virtual Aquarius emulator, there is a folder (cassette) full of games in native .CAQ format. Then, in the Tools folder, there is a utility called CAQ2WAV to convert the files to .wavs. See the readme files in each folder for more info.

[[Aquarius] WAV file volume for CLOAD]

I have loaded games from my laptop very successfully, but had to fool around with volume a bit. Try taking the adjustment for headphone output down about halfway to give your self a lower range of adjustment with the main volume. Pick as small a program as you can find to test load with. I will mess with it tonight and see if I can determine an actual db range that works. I suppose it is possible that your cable could be flaky. I also remember having better success loading to a coco by making my headphone output mono, but can't even figure out how to do that on Win7. Also, it is possible for system sounds (email notification, etc) to foul up your load.

[Games Beaten In 2014!]

I know it's not retro, but Borderlands is done! Don't know what to tackle next....

[[AQUARIUS] New Product: Aquarius 32K RAM Module]

Having an inexpensive 32K RAM module available will make it much easier to simply load the unmodified games into RAM, just as if they had been loaded from the cassette, so that's probably the direction I'll take with it.

 

Sounds like a great plan to me!! Excited to hear new movement on the Aquarius front; I think it's high time I pulled the system out again and enjoy some Aquaricart action.

[[AQUARIUS] New Product: Aquarius 32K RAM Module]

I'm in. And I am always up for pretty lights (I'm thinking blue on this one). I don't have any original RAM modules, so this is perfect for me so I can play the cassette games I haven't been able to try yet. Jay, am I imagining things, or had you been thinking of doing a cart with ram expansion on one bank and cassette games on the other? Sign me up.

[Best of the Worst - games that need your vote!]

Tax Avoiders, I put it in my top twenty for sure and not just for nostalgia reasons. It is a terribly boring sounding premise for a game and suffers from RTFM syndrome, but once you know how to play it is a lot of fun. I just played it yesterday and finally broke the $900,000 barrier in my quest to eventually make a million dollars.

[M Network best arcade games]

Bump N Jump. Never played M Network Lock and Chase and just prefer Inty Burgertime so I never play the VCS version. Just played BnJ the other day; good level of challenge.

[FS: Custom Atari COMBAT lamp & Custom Atari Pac-Man lamp (with lampshade)]

Just don't install the wireless spy cams into the lamp like Cebus did. The pervy bastard!

[Games Beaten In 2014!]

I forgot one more that I am sure was this year:

 

#3 - Pokemon Yellow - Gameboy - I have started these games a few time, this is the first one I finished. Now I've been there, done that.

[Games Beaten In 2014!]

Guess I need to catch up here. I know there are more, but...

 

• Gameboy - Mickey Mouse (Japanese version of Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle)
• 2600 - Dodge 'em - finally got a perfect 1080

[Those of you who have found Intellivision stuff at estate sales...]

Actually, I have only had one good Inty find after years of thrifting, a big basket of loose carts at the goodwill; about 20 commons I already had, but also Pac-Man, Centipede, Dracula, Dreadnaught and a few other good ones for $2.99 each. They were all piled up in a small wicker basket, just as if the easter bunny had left them for me.

[Rare game auction back up]

I am sure there will be a run at the end, hang in there. Nice lot.

[Those of you who have found Intellivision stuff at estate sales...]

I don't remember ever finding any video game items at estate sales. It is more common to find them at garage sales, but still usually just the two previous generations of stuff. Now, church rummage sales, those I have done well at, there just aren't as many of those to be found.

[The 10 Worst Atari 2600 Games]

As far as these types of lists go, this is one of the most accurate according to my tastes. I absolutely agree with Firefly as the worst. Sorcerer deserves to be on the list, but at least Mythicon's craptacularity is represented (i just finally picked up Star Fox, and while quite poopy, I don't think it makes the bottom ten). Bugs and Mr.Do Castle are rightful entries as well. The only game on this list I would take exception to is Flag Capture; I never played it in the day, but it is one of my go-to games on the bathroom DS with Atari Greatest Hits.

[Ebay Rant - Don't ship Tutankham and Super Cobra to Brazil]

I have had good luck with my international sales on eBay, within some parameters:

 

I only offer to ship to Canada, UK, Australia, Germany and Japan. Beyond that I take requests but usually decline on anything of real value (over$25 bucks for me). I have also had good luck buying and selling via China, HK and South Korea, but only do it on a case-by-case basis after reviewing the feedback and seeing that the person can communicate with me. It was stressful when I sold my "holy grail" vaccum tube as I opened it up to worldwide, knowing there were heavy hitter collectors in China, Japan and Europe. So , off my $1,500 item went to Hong Kong; I never got a delivery confirmation or feedback, so I waited on pins and needles until the transaction was past the feedback window.

 

I may have to reconsider the Global Ship Program if the reciept in KY would help confirm the shipment. I stopped using it because of horror stories about them repackaging items stateside to and having them get to the buyer damaged.

 

[Most Underrated Game]

Lots of great choices here. Big seconds for ET, Pacman, Mountain King and Towering Inferno. I also want to throw Fathom into the mix, the only 2600 game that caused me to draw a detailed map. Also, Defender gets a lot of bashing but I really couldn't care less that your ship flickers when you fire; the gameplay is great and it's amazing that they managed to pack in almost all the controls with only one button.