HoshiChiri

LRG said their E3 showcase will include the full lineup of their remaining vita games. No idea for anyone else, though.

Ah yes, the wonderful world of ridiculous ways to show videogames on TV. I'm used to handhelds with no games in them, but apparently the advent of clone systems has opened us up to a new level of silliness. And as always, there's no cord coming out of the back of that thing. I didn't know retrons could stream wirelessly. Take that, Stadia!

No, BUT- a museum by nature is assumed to be a master of preserving its relics, and most often makes said relics & storage techniques publicly available (if for no other reason than to promote interest & gain more donations.) Furthermore, most museums DO allow access by request to the entirety of their collection (as per the legal definition Flo brought up.) Therefore, a ROM known to be kept by a museum or two is one less people will be concerned about being publicly dumped, as its 'preserved' status is a known positive. A game, ROM or otherwise, in the hand of one random gamer who hasn't made their preservation plans clear will stir far more trepidation. We've all known at least one so-called collector who was more likely to destroy a game in their possession than anything else. Basically, what I'm getting at is: if you've got a one-of-a-kind game, tell people what you've done to preserve it. Lest the armchair vigilantes of the world decide they need to 'save' it & mess with your stuff.

I disagree- a private individual doesn't have public hours where literally anyone can come in to look over their rare thing. It's also difficult to impossible for the public to know the conditions the rare thing is being kept in, and what (if any) measures are taken to preserve or back up the rare thing. This is where that communication bit comes in- someone who says "Look! I have a rare thing but I won't share it!" is going to look bad to the public, regardless of how he's actually handling it, becuase we don't know how he's handling it. Someone who says "Look! I have a rare thing! I don't want everyone to have it, but these 3 museums have copies, so if you ask them you can at least see it" will come off far more reasonably. They'll always be someone mad that everything isn't free for everyone always, but most people will be happy that the rare thing is knowably preserved, and accessible to those willing to make the effort.

It is possible to find replacement batteries for PS3 controllers (I was considering that option as well). If both your cable & your controller are good for charging, when you hold down the PS button, the resulting menu should show a battery symbol with an X over it- that indicates a battery problem. If the system doesn't acknowledge the controller at all, even with the cable plugged in, you could have a controller issue- assuming it's not your cable! When I was using the wrong ones, there was zero reaction of any kind, but as soon as I got a good one everything was fine. Unless you're 110% sure you're using your original PS3 cables, I'd recommend spending 6 bucks on an Amazon Basics cable first. Or, if possible, find someone with a known good controller & try your cable on theirs.

I think you've hit on the one legitimate concern owners of rare games can have with ROM dumping- fear of damage. You don't want to entrust your one of a kind chips to the dumper of some fly-by-night enthusiast who watched half a youtube video on the process, so they totally know what they're doing. By grabbing a ROM without permission, you rob the owner of being aware of who & what is being done to their game, which is less than ideal. It's why I'm inclined to think this story is not as it seems- I would imagine otherwise, the guy would have been called out to warn other high-end collectors not to trust the fellow. As far as the entitlement angle on our part- I think visibility is a big deal with preventing it (to as much of an extent as it can be). Simply put- just becuase the owner made a backup for themselves, doesn't mean it's safely stored. I have 3 copies of my digital photo collection (one set of prints, the files on my laptop, and a set of thumb drives). Thing is, I typically have all 3 in the same room. So, while I'm safe from everyday concerns like the dog eating the photo album or the computer dying- if something major happens, like a housefire? Goodbye photos. Marble Man is a good example here- one of the owners did have it dumped, and gave it to the online archivists, but with the caveat that it wasn't released. And- more importantly- we know about it. We know the game's data is in the archives, safe from any catastrophe that may befall the physical media, and from stupid archiving on the part of the owner. Ironically, if the owner(s) of Akka Arrh had come forward, and stated in plain terms what they had done to preserve the game, this may have never happened. At the very least, they'd have a lot more support in this situation. As it is, the general public had to reason to believe the game data was safe. Pirates gonna pirate when they can get away with it- and a lot more people will let them get away with it when people aren't worried about gaming history disappearing becuase one douche got all stingy with a game.

It's not the money that makes the collection- it's the PASSION. If someone tells you "I got a copy of Rarezor 3: Valubabel! It cost me like, 3 months salary, you know? But it's worth it. So, what do you have?" That's not gonna be a guy you really want to talk to. Now, if you plop down for a panel at a con, and the guy next to you starts gushing "I'm sorry man, but I'm just so excited- I found Rarezor 3! My wife's gonna kill me for buying it, but I LOVED this game as a kid! Me and my friends used to rent it from this mom n' pop shop owned by a guy with one eye, and we'd fight over who got to take it home for the weekend. Then one day, it's gone- somebody didn't return the rental. I haven't played it since! I've been looking for YEARS, man! This is the best! Did you know it's directed by the same guy who did Platform Pete & the Fakies? The company was so happy with his early demos that..." The second guy is rambling, but I'm probably gonna listen to him, becuase it's clear he cares about the actual games. First guy's just fishing for compliments & validation based on his wallet. He probably picked games becuase it's cheaper than designer clothes or cars or something.

7. Katamari Forever (PS3) I just love the Katamari games, y'know? Probably my favorite series.

I agree- especially since at those events (at least the ones I went to), it was literally just sitting on a table- no glass, no velvet rope. You wanna touch it? Come touch it! Come play Street Fighter 2! I think that's the right attitude- games are meant to be played. A game hoarded to one's self might as well not exist.

I'll look into doing that & cleaning the board with alchohol (which is within my means). Thanks for the tip! I'd still like to hear from anyone who might do work for me, just to be on the safe side- especially since the drive does act up. It doesn't like to eject when it hasn't been on for awhile. I don't think it's dying, since you can hear it trying to work & it's fine once it catches. I think there's just an alignment issue.

Whether or not it's a leaking capacitor or trace corrosion, I still don't have the soldering skills or equipment to fix it. If it was just a random Xbox from online, I'd just replace it- but it's my fiance's system so I'm hoping to find someone who can do the repair for me.

When I got out of the shower this morning, my original Xbox was on. I turned it off, hoping I'd simply forgotten to turn it off last night when I took out my Jet Set Radio Future disc. Alas, it's turned back on a couple times today. The internet tells me this is likely due to a leaking capacitor- since I don't have the means to desolder a bad cap even if I could find it, I need some help ASAP. Anybody do work on these- preferably in the Northwest region?

The biggest "issue" these high-end collectors always seem to have with dumping their ROMs is that 'it devalues my investment!'. And That. Is. BULL. What's the most expensive cartridge game ever sold? Why, that would be Nintendo World Championships, sold for $99k in 2014. So, one would reason that after said cart was dumped, the value would plummet… except that's completely untrue, becuase the game was dumped long before this sale! I can't find when it was dumped, but considering AVGN's episode on it released in 2012 & featured a repro cart, we know it was at least 2 years prior to the record setting sale. I would love to see any evidence of any game seeing a permanent drop in price directly after a ROM dump. People care about authenticity. It's the reason why photocopies of celebrity autographs aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Having your game available as a ROM does not make your copy any less real... in fact, it's more likely to increase value by making more people aware of its existence. C'mon, how many times have we seen folks griping over 'hidden gem' videos causing price spikes on the featured games? I'd never heard of Akka Arrh before today. I wouldn't have given a crap walking by the cab at a retro event (if it was there). But now? Now I'd notice. So your 'special rare' game can now get more attention, AND if the board dies, you can put a MAME emulator in there and still get attention for having the original cab/controls. Refusing to dump a ROM for value's sake has nothing to do with money, and everything to do with being a jerk who wants to force people to fawn other them & their special game, and they're deathly afraid if it's available elsewhere people wont put up with their jerkiness. The wife analogy doesn't work- a human being is capable of giving & rescinding permission over copies of their likeness directly. An arcade machine can't, and the owner of the machine likely doesn't own the game data anyway. Furthermore, it is considered culturally inappropriate to share nude photos of anyone, even if they were taken with the explicit intent to share. It's more akin to that monkey that took a selfie, and PETA sued the guy who owned the camera saying it wasn't his photo to sell. Although even that isn't a perfect analogy, becuase software issues are rather unique to our media. This is where I sit- was a crime committed? Probably, assuming the story is even true and the video can be found. Is it a prosecutable crime? Probably not. The owner would have to prove some sort of unauthorized entry into his property- and if the guy was an assigned tech, he had permission to be there. If the maid steals a necklace, she's charged with theft, not breaking & entering. As for the 'theft'- it's not like a necklace. It's a copy of data. The owner would have to prove a material loss from the copied data. Thing is, the data has no value becuase it was never available for sale, AND it doesn't belong to the owner. So, there's nothing to be gained from a trip to court. At best, the owner could go for the tech's reputation- but that involves naming the tech publicly, which opens the owner up for a slander/libel suit unless he can prove he did, in fact, take the ROM without permission. The fact that we don't know the tech's name means either A) the bit about 'checking video' is true & we'll have more info soon, or B) the whole thing is, in fact, made up and there is no tech to name. In the end, the collectors still have their machines (which are still valuable), we can all play the game, and even the techs will be OK becuase collectors, despite possible trust issues, know a broken game is worth nothing & will still have their machines repaired. This is a victimless crime.

Thanks for the info! I'll have to pop it open on my next day off & see what I can do!

Oooo! Door mat or area rug! Door mat or area rug! Or, or- cut open the top part around each number, add in a fabric pocket, and it's a 12-day advent calendar! OR- mount it to a slanted board, attach some short cardboard or plastic tubes over/around the numbers, and it's a cornhole game! Sorry, my crafty side is coming out... I got a busted Vader when I was 13, and if I'd had access to a Dremel then, I'd probably have an Atari desk organizer right now.

I would love a picture, just to make sure I don't go poking the wrong thing on the board. I'll also have to check with my dad to see if he might have a plastic tool I could try (he's an aerospace electrician, so it's not completely out of left field!) Random thought: assuming I can't get a good plastic tool, do you think sticking a water balloon over the screwdriver would be a good way to keep myself from getting fried making a mistake? or am I overthinking this?

So a lil' while back, I picked up Beef Drop for my 7800 (thus completeing my goal of having a release of Burgertime for every possible pre- NES console I own). While it played fine, I immediately noticed the color was quite off- far too green. Ballblazer had the same issue. The internet tells me this isn't uncommon on 7800s and I just need to adjust the color pot. However, I'm not that kind of technical- I don't know what a color pot is, and no one seems to have pictures/video explaining just what I'd need to do! So, two questions: 1) what is a color pot and how do I adjust it, and 2) Should I? Or is this not something an amateur should be handling? I mean, I've considered an AV mod in the past, so if this is best fixed by someone in the know, perhaps sending it somewhere for a refurb & a video mod is best. (In case it's important, I haven't checked to see if 2600 games also have color issues, as I don't use my 7800 to play my 2600 games.)