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Bill Loguidice

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Bill Loguidice last won the day on May 17 2023

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About Bill Loguidice

  • Birthday 10/11/1972

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    Armchair Arcade Managing Director
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    Burlington, New Jersey, USA
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    Writing, classic and modern video and computer gaming and collecting, bodybuilding, creative pursuits, etc.

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  1. Neat, but it seems like it would have been less intrusive/easier just to get or make a removable adapter, no? Most controller ports are PC Engine ports anyway.
  2. The Switch obviously doesn't have more adult games than Steam, but I don't think that was the point. And by the way, the adult games ARE moderated (to a degree) when they're digital on Switch, but not when they're physical, i.e., they can show more without censoring, e.g., not just topless. I've long pointed out the availability of said content on just about all platforms, especially for those who say the Switch is the most family-friendly or best for kids in terms of content. It's not. No platform inherently is. That's exactly what parental controls are for. It's the same with any other form of media. Don't restrict stuff appearing on the platform, and, if someone is genuinely concerned, they use the parental controls. Pretty simple. And obviously it's something of a double-standard with violence versus "sexy," especially in America.
  3. I generally agree with your point that it's ultimately the games, but I think there should be a little nuance to "superior." The Jaguar was "superior" in terms of raw specs, but arguably took a step back in terms of controls (3 main face buttons instead of the then standard 6), which was later corrected with the Pro Controller. The SMS generally had better color and sound than the NES, but with helper chips, the NES could certainly match the SMS and then some. The Game Gear was technically superior to the GameBoy, as was the Lynx to both, but both of those color handhelds fell down in terms of portability and battery life in comparison to the GameBoy, the latter often by as much 4x. So certainly there were other factors than just comparative game libraries, which again, I'd agree was definitely at the top. Probably the ultimate native (non-add-on) backwards-compatible console at this point is the Xbox Series X/S, which spans four full iterations over more than 22 active years. I can't think of any others that went past two iterations (e.g., 7800, GBC, 3DS (maybe you could argue three for that one with DS, DSi, 3DS), PS2, PS3 (definitely 3, at least for the one launch model, but that was backtracked over subsequent releases to just 2), etc.).
  4. My theory, at least in regards to the US and US companies, is that Atari 8-bits had too big of a range of RAM, from 16k - 128k. To ensure maximum reach, you didn't really want to go beyond targeting 16k - 48k, though of course Atari had a relatively late 16k base machine with the 600XL. In contrast, the C-64, besides selling really well, was one model with a standard 64k RAM. Easy to support. Similarly, the Apple II, although having a similar RAM range to the Atari 8-bits, had a more affluent user base that upgraded memory more aggressively, so you could more consistently target 64k, and even 128k, and ensure sufficient sales. Now, it's true that non-North American markets were more budget conscious, and thus, less saturated with higher RAM 8-bits, but the Atari 8-bit line didn't have a particularly strong comparative presence elsewhere and was competing against much lower priced, more home grown competition. Few things were in the Atari 8-bit's favor overseas. Although they had their weaknesses, there really was nothing wrong with Atari 8-bit technology, especially considering the relative vintage of its original release. It still lasted just about as long as any other 8-bit platform and was easily in the top tier of sales. It was not a failure by any stretch, it just didn't get the length of top level third party support found on the C-64, Apple II, and PC DOS after roughly 1985 (not that I would count that with the 8-bits, but it still received contemporary support that never ended).
  5. Definitely impressive. And absolutely, every platform can benefit from a remastering or refactoring of just about every classic game from back in the day.
  6. That would be cool, of course, but my first question would be would Fujinet even be able to be run on such low spec hardware? It's only been developed for/ported to computers (and one 16-bit handheld console) that have plenty (relative) of working RAM to this point, among other advantages over something like the Astrocade.
  7. I did the same thing yesterday, i.e., set it up for the first time and updated the firmware. I didn't notice any lag on the monitor I used. I actually liked the joystick, although it's definitely quite a bit stiffer than even the originals. I also set up and did the insane manual update process for the VCS and found it to not be a great console or computer, although it was certainly interesting, especially when using the included joystick (which has some big pluses and minuses - so close to being great).
  8. I would be surprised if that were the case. I'm sure their estimates were modest. It's a niche product designed to play cartridges for a pre-Crash system. Not exactly big numbers possible there, so no reason to optimistically over-produce. Now, with the above in mind, I would instead think it's doing more or less what they expected in sales and pricing is just what happens with these types of products. I'm sure between the 2600+ margins and the production of new cartridges, they have their profits well in hand.
  9. Thanks for this. I just set up a VCS I got a long time ago and of course ran into exactly this issue. What a chore! But at least it works now. Thanks again.
  10. I guess I didn't post it here, but here's my IGN review: https://www.ign.com/articles/polymega-review
  11. No CPU update for me. I don't feel it's necessary. I'll assume they'll smooth out N64 performance through additional software updates.
  12. And I just want to add that this goes both ways. Consumers weren't exactly educated enough as of yet to understand that you didn't necessarily need backwards compatibility. That a new system was a new system. Most people at that point were only through one real console cycle. Consumers evolved along with the the various console generations and associated business practices.
  13. Whether manufactured by the press at the time or not, there was a perception at the time that the reason why the 5200 didn't do better was because it was not backwards compatible, or could be made backwards compatible with the 2600. Of course, we know there were a lot of other factors at play, but certainly, that was one of them. At the same time, there was no proven playbook to go by, so there was really no way of knowing (outside of good market research) that the lack of backwards compatibility would be an issue. It was all still "throw anything and everything at the wall" pre-Crash, which is also why we saw, for example, such a big push for computer add-ons for consoles, a market that never really materialized.
  14. That's always difficult. Even homebrews rarely sell well unless they're based off existing properties. That's probably moreso the case when you're trying to appeal to a more mass market than usual. Maybe when they exhaust most of the "good" original titles they own, they'll do more things like "Mr Run and Jump." It certainly would be nice to get a new 7800 game with POKEY support in the emulator, even if it only uses 1 button.
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