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TPA5

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Posts posted by TPA5

  1. Posted

    Fuji is awesome! I purchased a GB Color from him, and it was an excellent experience. It came packaged with the utmost care, better even than some large-scale businesses I have purchased from. Would not hesitate to purchase from Fuji again, it was a genuine pleasure.

  2. Posted

    Sure it is. Unless the op would care to rephrase his position in fewer than twelve paragraphs, I'm sticking with my comment. Not all modern games are 100% OP-Modern.

     

    Nah, not really.

     

     

    It was more of a rant anyway. Sure, some modern games are exceptions in my eyes. But triple-A gaming certainly strikes me as stale. Not that I think enjoying a modern game is a sin. I made the post on a day when I felt that many games barely try to innovate beyond throwing more particle effects and bigger set-pieces around. That being said, I don't claim to be smart, analytical of the games industry, or even a voice anyone should take very seriously. Just a dude at a keyboard.

  4. Posted

    TPA5 - Do you still have your old Walkman that doesn't work?

     

    Not sure, it died before I moved, so I'd have to see if I packed it up. I don't recall seeing it when I was unpacking boxes.

     

     

    It sounds like garage sales and flea markets are the way to go for the good ones, rather than eBay.

     

    Yeah it looks like you're going to be on the money there. I'll just have to keep a sharp lookout at my local thrift store.

  6. Posted · Edited by TPA5

    Expect to do some maintenance on them too, once you get one. Chances are any belts and idler tires will need to be replaced. I've passively been on the lookout for a metal bodied Walkman myself. Something that can handle chrome/metal and Dolby NR. All very stupidly priced when you do finally find one. :(

     

    Thanks for the heads-up! I don't mind turning a screwdriver if need be, it's always a nice way to pass some time (especially with colder months on the horizon).

     

     

    I just came across one that is Vintage from the attic. I didn't test it - it's missing the battery door. I think I put it away again in an easy to find place, PM me, and I'll post a pic.

     

    Sent you a PM! Thanks.

  7. Posted

    I've been on the lookout for a portable Sony Walkman as well...and I can assure you that they are becoming seriously collectable! It's crazy cuz only a few years ago you couldn't give them away at garage sales!

     

    Wow, I had no idea! I definitely can remember them essentially being thrown out not that long ago. Guess I'll have to do some hunting!

  8. Posted

    Hey folks,

     

     

    I'm on the hunt for a Sony Walkman, not ultra picky about the model itself, just wanting to be able to listen to my cassettes on the go again. My Walkman finally passed on, and eBay has it's traditionally stupid prices on Walkman's so I thought I would check here first.

     

     

    Thanks!

  9. Posted · Edited by TPA5

    This didn't used to be the case. It was typical for Mac owners to hang on to their machines over twice as long as PC owners, and often used as a reason why the initial higher price of a Mac was over time less expensive than a PC. I knew many Mac owners who held onto their machines for at least 5 years, often even longer. I'm not seeing nearly as much of that these days...

     

    I used my iMac for just over 5 years before the main-board quit, and if that hadn't happened I had planned to use it longer. But I think the general culture is one of "upgrade whenever the commercials tell you to".

     

    (I know I'm quoting a very old post but I just thought I'd throw that out there)

     

    Back on topic, there's an observatory about 2 hours from where I live that uses an Apple II to run their telescope. I haven't personally seen it, but a friend of mine has been there.

  12. Posted

    The few times I have shipped out valuable items, I affixed one of these to the box: http://www.shockwatch.co.uk/sw_labels_clips_tubes.htm

     

     

    Basically it senses when shock is applied to the package, and if it exceeds the amount the label is capable of handling, it breaks. Warns the person receiving the package that the post office cocked it up before they ever open it. I don't know how much they cost, I used to get them from my old job. We often sent sensitive farming equipment like electronic barn controllers and such and used these on the boxes.

  14. Posted

    I'd open a claim before leaving neg feedback. Sure, the sellers a goof but a claim allows you to settle things before going straight for acerbic feedback. At the very least, you take the road higher than the seller, and if the seller gets nasty in the claim than you can leave feedback that scorches the earth.

     

    Besides, the seller needs to understand why you want to leave neg feedback. Perhaps you can help someone else experience the same issue with this seller in the future.

  16. Posted · Edited by TPA5

    It can be a complete waste to physically destroy hard drives, when there is no need to. This shows a complete disregard for the recycle - reuse motto. If you apply the same mindset to everything else - no wonder this material world has gone so mad in it's destruction of this earth and it's resources, etc etc. To be so self-centred and focused on the individual, and not see the greater picture, we all are part of.

    We get to be recycled as human beings - seeing that reincarnation makes more sense than any other concept/idea - so why not computer tech?

     

    Harvey

     

    Well, I can't speak for others but I generally do a good job reusing and recycling. The few rare times I simply did not need a hard drive and wanted to dispose of it, yes I did destroy it instead of sending it off to recycle. However, considering I often manage to find a use for old motherboards, graphics cards, CD drives, floppy drives, RAM sticks, and other electronic sundry items. So, I don't necessarily agree that I am a self-centered and focused individual for destroying one relatively specific item. Maybe if I disposed of hundreds a year, that would make me wasteful.

     

     

    I know who to blame when the only SCSI drive I can find is a 2 gig for 200 bucks on the bay,all cause some housewives grocery budget from 1996 is on there heh

     

    Oh no, SCSI drives are gold I'd never doom one of those.

     

     

     

    I feel as if I should make a clarification, as to avoid offending others. I am not suggesting that I destroy hundreds of drives a year, or even necessarily that destroying a hard drive is the ticket. As others smarter than myself have mentioned, certain wipe techniques will make the data practically inaccessible for all intents and purposes. Still, due to my personal strong sense of paranoia whenever I do need to dispose of a drive, I would still physically render it useless. However that is just my personal preference.

  17. Posted · Edited by TPA5

     

    Oh man...that nes-bartop thing is awesome. I kind of have gone the other way and made an all in one TV stand based on the nes (and my 7800 one is pretty much done as well):

     

    http://atariage.com/forums/topic/219073-i-built-an-all-in-one-nes-stand-please-take-a-look/

     

    But now I want one of those counter top units as well! Plus I always waned a neo geo cab....maybe someday!!!!

     

    The Neo Geo cabs were always so cool, a tabletop Neo Geo could help you kill 2 arcade birds with one stone.

     

    There's a fellow in America that CNC's cabs and sends them flatpack for a really reasonable price. I can dig up a link if you're interested. It's a pretty slick way to have a bar-top cab, but without all the wood working (for folks like me, who measure 300 times and cut once... and still end up wrong).

  18. Posted · Edited by TPA5

    I picked up an old arcade shell and have been working on getting it put together as a MAME cabinet. My last big hurdle is getting the metal control panel drilled for the buttons, and then wiring everything. After that, it's just minor finishing work!

     

    That setup is sweet, GoldenWheels, that's a really smart idea to put that together! It gives you the perfect arcade feel, without having a large cabinet looming in the room.

     

    I always encourage people that are interested in retro gaming or arcade gaming to give an arcade cabinet a shot. Even if it's just a bar-top build. If you're careful it doesn't cost very much money, and they're fun as all heck to play.

     

    My next project is probably going to be a NES bar-top 'cade. It's as simple as finding a NES, de-casing in and ripping apart a controller to re-wire it to arcade buttons. The result looks awesome. You can either have a hinged back to swap games, or if you're bold you can wire out the connecter to sit somewhere else on the machine for carts. Personally, I'd go Neo-Geo style and just open the back up to swap games.

     

    Be careful though, the arcade world is like a black hole. If you start one, you want them all.

    post-27351-0-34081100-1407417658_thumb.jpg

    • Like 2

  19. Posted

     

    Well I took a photo, but every time I tried to upload it I got these errors.

    So the heck with it.

    WHAT THE HELL IS AN ERROR 500?

     

    Perhaps it's because the files totaled more than 25mb? Try uploading one photo and see if it still gives you the same error.

     

     

    I have good photography equipment, so you can all just send your computers over to me and I'll take pictures of them, and then totally give them back right away ;)

  20. Posted

    Great responses, guys!

     

     

    It's true, wiping a hard drive with the right method makes the data inaccessible. But it's so fun to destroy hard drives :-D

     

    My personal favorite was opening up a hard drive, putting in behind a shield and pouring molten lead onto it. Although I must admit it did feel akin to torturing the poor thing.

     

    I had wondered about the theft aspect of it, although foolishly I did not consider it a possibility until after I had wiped the drive. Now I must admit I feel somewhat badly, that I did not think it may have been stolen.

    • Like 1

  21. Posted · Edited by TPA5

    It's always good to have a reminder why it's important to physically destroy hard drives you are done with, before throwing them away.

     

    It started when my friend and I were strolling through town to get some ice cream. We're both adults, but you're never too old for ice cream.

     

    We passed by the local thrift store, and I always check by the back door because they put stuff they can't sell there. It's usually junk, but every now and then they put something interesting out. Today, it was an older HP computer. Not really cool, but I cracked the case and swiped a floppy drive and card reader. Call me a vulture.

     

    I also noticed an 80gb IDE hard drive. I figure, could be useful to have another spare kicking around for my old builds.

     

    Turns out, whoever owned this machine before I took the hard drive left every last shred of their existence on it. Thousands of personal photos, financial documents, budgets, contact lists, internet history, music, home movies, if it could go on a computer it was here.

     

    I sighed and shook my head.

     

    I didn't open the documents marked as budgets, contact lists, etc. Not my business.

     

    I wiped the drive clean and it'll go into my box of spare computer parts.

     

    But I wonder if someone other than myself would have gotten this, what they could have done with the information on it. Everything about this fellow is here, and he just gave it to the thrift shop.

     

    It's a good reminder to dispose of old hard drives with extreme prejudice! Open them up, kill the platters, and be done with it. You never know who may find it.

    • Like 1

  24. Posted

     

     

    Nintendo innovating these days is as much a myth as the other guys not innovating. One of the Wii U's list of issues is that Nintendo has lightly rehashed the same games we've been getting since the GameCube days, and, arguably, since the Nintendo 64 days. Certainly there has been innovation here and there, but Nintendo's own longevity is working against them. There is clearly end user fatigue with some of Nintendo's big franchises, and Nintendo is as much to blame as anyone for it. In any case, this has all come to a head on Wii U, where it's majoritively rehashes and remakes.
    Certainly the other guys getting the annual Call of Duty and sports games releases is not exactly refreshing either, but the difference is those are only one small part of the total software spectrum on those platforms so it's less of an issue. On the Wii U, all we really have left is Nintendo, and they're more or less banking on the usual staples to save them, like Mario Kart 8 (which did a bang up job, but now that momentum is gone due to the next big gap between major releases) and Super Smash Bros. The amiibo toys should also help their bottom line, but that's not exactly them leading the way and innovating, is it?

     

     

     

    I would have to gently disagree with you on that point. If nothing else, Nintendo has hardly released any major games for the WiiU as of yet, so it's unfair to claim user-fatigue on Nintendo IP's is what's damaging the WiiU. Poor release support is damaging the WiiU if anything. Plus, Nintendo pushes their IP's in different directions with each release. Some, like Super Smash Bros, are naturally not-conducive to stretching the formula very much due to its genre. However Nintendo has proven with many of their IP releases that they're able to take a classic IP and turn it into a fresh experience. Wind Waker, Skyward Sword, Link Between Worlds, etc all are Zelda games, and they all feel like a Zelda game, but they present unique gameplay in each iteration.

     

    However I do agree when you say the WiiU is Nintendo. Third party support for the WiiU is in the pits, and I doubt it will pick up. For the WiiU to pick up in sales it needs more third-party support, but for more third-party support it needs sales to pick up before developer interest is acquired. A tragic cycle.

     

    The fact is while I don't buy into the doom-reports gaming publications love to file against Nintendo, I do know Nintendo should be careful. Sega proved that no matter how large your company is, you are never too large to fail.

  25. Posted

    If Nintendo would bring some of their games to smartphones I would only be behind it if they did a damn good job of it. Develop them in-house, spend time re-creating the experience to flow on a touchscreen, and for heavens sake do not implement in-app purchases.

     

    On the other hand, I've been hearing doom-and-gloom about Nintendo for almost as long as I can remember.

     

    "What, they're making a hand-held with two screens? Haha, what morons!"

     

    "What, they're making a motion-controller console named the Wii with a phallic-controller? Haha, it'll never sell!"

     

    Everyone points fingers at Nintendo and laughs, and I don't know if I 100% understand it. Is it because they don't have enough games where you can gun down generic terrorists in sandy countries? Or is it because the frothing Call of Duty masses dismiss it as "not a true gamers" console? At the very least Nintendo is actually trying to (gasp) innovate in an industry so stale a metric-tonne of salt wouldn't be able to add the faintest dash of flavor.

     

    Granted, Nintendo tends to play it too safe in the market when it comes to IP's, and everyone tends to trumpet out that they continually release Zelda and Mario over and over. But for goodness sake, they add new elements or twists to them when they do release them. A Zelda game that's cel-shaded and you sail around an ocean on. A Zelda game where to turn paper-thin and interact in a fresh way with the world around you. A Zelda game where you can turn into a wolf. A Mario game where it's a 2D platformer, but you can shift the perspective to 3D. A Mario game that's an RPG with turn-based battles. A Mario game where you run around spherical planets and screw around with the laws of gravity.

     

    It's a damn sight better than Call of Duty: Shoot More Foreign People.

     

    Bah, I rant.

     

    I hope Nintendo can pull themselves out of their slump and get some heavy-hitting WiiU titles. God knows if I had the spare cash I would already have my hands on a WiiU.

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