MrBlackCat

A co-workers parent saw two in a WalMart here today... he wasn't aware of all the drama/saga. He called his son to ask about them and by the time he got back they were gone. Still trickling them in maybe? I hope a wave of them crashes ashore soon. I also hope the New 3DS (not XL) get back in stock soon... they are sold out everywhere here. MrBlackCat

Thanks for the PinOut... was this by chance an above average quality shielded/coax type audio cable you tested with? I tried this with a couple of Stereo cables, which I verified to match my original cable electrically, but there seems to be more to it than that. As you say, it looked terrible... unplayable when I used a Stereo cable... must be a signal/interference issue. The video might be micro coax as in typical video cable. The two stereo cables I had are not usable for an A/V Cable though. Even if the cable/unit had two Audio Out plugs via a splitter, but there isn't stereo on an Atari 2600 as the signal generated is mono. MrBlackCat

I did for 15 years... our mail used to get stolen quite often, AND the local post office driver refused to drive up our driveway for packages, by his own choosing. This put us at the post office two or three times a week anyway. I reported it different ways, several times early on... as far as the theft, they don't investigate stolen mail except for businesses here... not for individuals. Quote "If we ran out to investigate every report of stolen mail in the district, we would need 50 agents!" We have two investigators in this "mail district". You can call the police or sheriffs department, but they are only interested if you have it filmed and know who it is. This was some years ago and I really didn't have the tech, money or time. I mentioned putting a paint bomb or something like that in the box to catch them... like after the mail person delivered each day... almost went to jail for that statement... hmm... what is wrong with this picture? The only solution is to rent a post office box... yep. Not allowed to defend yourself in any way that wasn't "nice". It shouldn't be that way, I agree, but we live in the "How it is" world, and not in the "Should be" world... I am a very hard-headed fighter also... because of all the things I WAS able to do, to try to get things like home delivery of packages resolved, they retaliated for years at the local post office in many ways. Didn't end until all of those employees who had knowledge of the situation or knew us by name were gone, did this stop. Our mail is no longer stolen than I know of and I am glad all that is mostly in the past, but I still have all important mail sent to the post office box anyway. Now that we have home delivery of packages, I could cancel the P.O. Box probably, but then I would have to change all the addresses for everything important and that in itself is often a nightmare. MrBlackCat

Not really terrible if you look at pure odds. I would expect higher odds of issues with anything refurbished over new retail of course. If you look at only the Wii U's in the feedback only 13 of the Negatives and Neutrals are Wii U's... of 3603 sold. That is a bit more than anyone would prefer I am sure... 1 in very 277 units. Is it worth the risk? I guess that is up to the purchaser. Personally though, I think that is a LOT of money for any refurbished console. MrBlackCat

Accurate prediction... You do realize the Nintendo has been offering on eBay the Wii U factory refurbished units for $200 by the thousands, right? I almost got one, but decided on other stuff for now. This is Nintendo on eBay... over 3,500 sold just on this listing. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-Wii-U-32GB-Deluxe-Nintendo-Land-FACTORY-REFURBISHED-BY-NINTENDO-/112237169726 MrBlackCat

Well, 16 working days is over three weeks... and that is the average on items under $20 for my own purchases over 4 years. So not a big difference. I understand not wanting to wait however... I enjoy the length of time it takes in a way. With my memory, I forget anything I bought more than two weeks back, so I get surprises from Asia every week! MrBlackCat

I just looked in my spreadsheet for sales from China/Hong Kong through eBay... I average 1.18 packages a week from these locations and the average time is 12.1 working days. There are a couple of spikes of long times like the one you mention. This sort is all items, from $1 to $360. Even if I isolate from $1 to $19 it only goes up to 16.0 working days... which I did because as you stated, the low price is going to ship the lowest cost way, which is usually slower. This is from Jan-01-2012 to Jan-01-2016 MrBlackCat

How about even cheaper! Felt rather than foam... Crown Royal bags do have draw-strings you know... Ok... you have to get the asteroids separately I suppose... but here. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Protective-Soft-Bag-Carry-Pouch-Case-Strap-For-Sony-PSP-1000-2000-3000-Black-/161725529180 MrBlackCat

Sure... I suppose it depends on what look you are seeking though... if you want a tailored case, it isn't likely, but PS Vita cases almost all work. Because the PS Vita is larger than the Atari Portable and Sega Genesis Portable, the more form fitted Vita cases are a closer fit and the more compact it will be, if that matters to you. 3DS XL/LL cases will work fine but are also on the large side mostly because of the depth difference but many of them have specific card storage also. Like these for soft cases... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MQPF0QK/ref=as_li_ss_tl?psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=atariage&linkId=d1c1882c6f2536f9e8183d307cdb1243 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Y824ZZ2/ref=as_li_ss_tl?psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=atariage&linkId=29f9298f324626de8e6f8ad737ab1f41 https://www.amazon.com/Austor-Travel-Carrying-Case-Nintendo-New/dp/B01KUP6K3U/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=atariage&linkId=b77af7bc7b97b1aa6ff59f2c4b70c0f9 Like these for hard cases... https://www.amazon.com/ADVcer-Waterproof-Protective-Carrying-Detachable-Nintendo/dp/B01M8QTJQ2/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=atariage&linkId=06769273f71ef27074baf98e207f5e6d http://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-Hard-Travel-Pouch-EVA-Case-Carrying-Bag-For-Sony-PS-Vita-PSV-/381907257042 Should be easy to find and not necessarily expensive. This is true... PSP Cases fit quite well for the AtGames portables, but I didn't mention this as they don't have SD Card slots as they are UMD Based systems. If SD Sized Card Slots don't matter, then nothing fits better than a PSP Case. MrBlackCat

How did you wrongly assume this? You never said HOW long after Christmas... or even WHICH Christmas for that matter. I think you are covered. They will flood in here soon... do you realize how long those freighters actually take to arrive in the US? It really is several weeks... we don't know when they actually left either though. I think these little things have already become legend. Frankly, I am glad Nintendo made them and I hope they make a LOT of money with them. I really don't think this craze is all that crazy though. I am glad they got all the free press. Today I decided to "make the rounds" and went to more than a dozen stores of many types to look at gaming in general. I didn't expect to find an NES Classic Mini, and didn't. One thing I did notice is the lack of Nintendo consoles and handhelds in general. They are still mostly sold out here. A couple of stores had a couple of Wii U's. Most stores had 3 to 10 3DS XL's, but none had any of the other models... just the Cosmic looking one and another. There were also only a very few 2DS's. I hope they step up production in the future, but selling out is the best thing to do in the short term financial setting... one might argue that this hurts customers not being able to meet demand, but I really doubt that with a name as deeply rooted as Nintendo. MrBlackCat

I have seen some others comment on the limitation of the file handling system as well, which inspires this reply. Approaching this issue as a software engineer... the system card reader will very likely only be used by a tiny fraction of the people who buy this unit. Of that percentage, only a tiny percentage of those would most likely ever exceed 1000 ROMs. Your statement "... and many of us will want to experience the hacks and other variations." this might be true for some Atari Age users, but again, this is an immeasurable percentage in the scope of sales. Scenario... let say I am writing the BIOS for the file system for AtGames. Adding a file structure reader that goes beyond the hard-coded root name of "Game" to handle a hierarchical file system structure would be likely a total veto by my employer when they learn the cost of engineering/testing it. There is some time involved to make that work reliably, it would be barely worth considering on a system twice as expensive, unless the card reader was a primary feature relative to sales. Having worked in IT accounting for most of my life, I can tell you how this would be approached... cost vs benefit to sales... I am guessing the cost of simply having the card reader in the first place is REALLY pushing it in a cost vs benefit to sales situation. I am not saying there is anything wrong with wanting these features you describe, but if you look at it from a business standpoint, I am not even sure how someone convinced them to add the card slot in the first place. That had to be a tough sell, in my experience. Simple fix however... multiple cards. They are extremely inexpensive these days, especially in the sizes required for these tiny Atari ROMs. Besides, these little screens scratch easily and you will likely want to keep it in a case, so keeping a few spare SD cards with it should be no issue compared to the added product cost of a more complex file system reader that will likely benefit on a few dozen people in the world. There are a number of game cases which will fit this unit and contain SD Card slots already. MrBlackCat

The price on eBay is steadily falling, as far as the selling average. It is below $150 now and was $240 two weeks ago. One thing just changed though... the controller price. You can buy long corded (1.5 meter) controllers for the Mini all over eBay, from outside the US, shipped, for under $10. Charge TOO much and someone is going to step up... just like Game Boy Advance SP's and DS Lites you can buy all day long as fully boxed knockoffs from China, that work enough to fool many people even after they receive it. Nintendo better not screw around with this much longer or there will be counterfeits and other scams surrounding these consoles. Remember the Atari Flashback 2's that were completely boxed knockoffs? I purchased on unknowingly in the US. Not sure if anyone remembers how hard it was to get a DS, and later the DS Lite after launch... but I do. There was mass shortages that went on for months. Not as bad in the US as Japan, but still weren't available consistently for a year or so. MrBlackCat

I have formatted SD Cards with Windows 7, Windows XP and Vista and left two new cards unformatted... having tried 5 different cards now, I can't make this thing fail to read the provided archive. Additional notes: I used a Kingston 4GB, Class 4 MicroSD in a MicroSD to SD adapter first. Worked fine. Second I tried (after seeing all the issues) was 2GB Sandisk SD Card. Worked fine. Third I tried a 2GB Sandisk Micro SD card in an adapter. Worked fine. Fourth I tried a Toshiba 1GB SD card. Worked fine. Fifth I got a Kodak 512MB SD card. Worked fine. So then I tried using an alternate external card reader on the original XP PC... worked fine. Then I tried using a USB to SD card adapter... worked fine. So I am thinking... how are all these people having issues? Most likely culprit on PC is going to be Format. If any format was used, I used FAT32. So I decided to try all of these again on two other computers. One with Windows Vista and one with Win7. Formatted all cards with each and unzipped the archive again. No issues. All read fine. Anyway, this has been my experience so far. Excellent. MrBlackCat

Hmmm... define collect? I keep most all models available just because as soon as pull one from the cabinet, it has the ONE game I want to play it seems. I would like to believe that by purchasing each of these units, as poor as they are, the message sent will be that more companies should be making these. I would also like to believe that those in a position to produce them would also consider that the units MIGHT sell more if they were of better quality in all areas. With that said, I believe that Nintendo did in fact see the light... and that the dozens of purchases of retro game systems I have made over the last decade helped to raise the bar, and not to cause other companies to react with a "make more low quality Retro systems" way of thinking. I will happily buy a Nintendo Classic Mini as well when it comes down to retail price. MrBlackCat

Then you haven't been looking... in my searching for spare CRT's over the last couple of years, I have seen literally hundreds of CRT's in every brand, made with only a single Coaxial input... made right up until the last months of CRT manufacture. I have always guessed they were for Cable TV only maybe at hotels or something like that. I have seen these in flea markets, junk stores, pawn shops etc. I am far from lazy, but I have no desire to modify original equipment, as in the composite conversion for Atari 2600's. Maintaining some things as original, has value. If it doesn't to you, that doesn't mean someone is lazy. With that said, I don't have that many systems with RF only, but I do have some 16 port Composite Selector units that can isolate well enough to use them with RF signals on the video (yellow) RCA ports. With this setup, I can easily select them into the CRT TV's single Coax port. I also split the signal, amp it, converting it to Composite so the video can be fed to all types of converters and then into any/all of the possible screens in the room. More on Topic... I just realized I have the video cable for my Sega Gopher, and it works on all the AtGames units I have. Been playing my Atari Flashback Portable... on the 30" Sony WEGA. Looks great to me. MrBlackCat

Currently, I can buy CRT's with multiple inputs of Composite, Component, and sometimes S-Video, all day long, for $25... this will come to pass, but for now, I have upgraded all current CRT TV's in use, and have several spares. I am happy with this... when necessary, I will make the move to LCD/Plasma if OLED or another direct display type hasn't taken over by that time. I even play my modern consoles on a CRT TV (WEGA 32") which had an HDMI Port... as well as 6 other independent inputs covering most types. To each his own I suppose. MrBlackCat

Optimized from a production cost stand point, or from a hardware/signal/quality point? Other? Just Curious... MrBlackCat

Have you ever tried "Grips"? I use them most of the time with the systems they are available for. For the GameBoy Advance SP, I use the Yobo models. They are great for my hands, don't scratch the units, as they are spring loaded, not snap in type. Like this... MrBlackCat

I saw Sega Portables at two different WalGreens stores, if you have those near you... Just a couple in each store. MrBlackCat

Thank you for the link... I totally agree with your expectation of new products needing to be perfect... I can live with micro-scratches from handling, but a physical dimension problem would be outside what I would think acceptable. MrBlackCat

I can see where that would bother me as well. I am curious as to where you get this for $99, if you don't mind... I would like to have one. MrBlackCat

What kind of 3DS is that? It looks very small... is this an illusion? (e.g. GBA Micro?) MrBlackCat

I ordered a roll of wood grain adhesive tape to put on mine. MrBlackCat

I wonder if this is automated markup changing due to a change in supplier (Nintendo) price, or maybe a projected volume price drop, as profit per product... or something else. It isn't likely there is ANY need for a competitive price drop after a mass shortage. Maybe they have a supply quantity heads up and it is going to flood soon. All speculation of course. MrBlackCat

That is great... I save everything and try to shelve as many batteries as I can for as many gaming related devices as possible. Yep... I had the same issue. I maintain about 125 "AA" Rechargable batteries in a spreadsheet, some NiCad, some NiMH for all my Handheld games and Plug N Play stuff. I have not had any fail, but I don't leave them in any constant draw device. I have some old G.E. NiCads that are 20 years old that still hold a charge, but performance is degraded. Yes... the shelf life on these seems poor also. I really don't know if this is caused by battery chemistry or manufacturing issues though. I agree with this concept, but this mentality is of no concern for the majority of modern businesses. I am in this club, but this is a very small club, was kind of my point. Not unreasonable, but of no interest to most product makers. Nintendo is not most... their backwards compatibility etc is clear evidence of this... more held to than Sony and Microsoft, in my opinion. This is why I would pay $100 for the NES Classic Mini and own every Nintendo console/handheld I can, new, at full price. Cell phone games are another modern dead end... I have my old game/capable cell phones and no way to access the games anymore due to sim card dependency, though I can still get batteries for the phones. I miss my Duke Nukem Mobile. D: I think we agree on all of this, but it doesn't change the reality of the "disposable world" trend. Once we get a battery identified for the Atari Flashback Portable, (hopefully the same as the Sega Portable) I will try to get a couple of those for the shelf also. MrBlackCat