128bytes

I'm against eBay not allowing Google Checkout. However, I hate to say it, but t's totally within eBay's rights to restrict the rights of payment methods. This can be a dangerous strategy for eBay, though - if Google Checkout can't be placed on eBay, it may give the deep pockets at Google more incentive to starting "gBay". It certainly would not be technically difficult for Google to do it. And, as Curt said, if Google could beat Yahoo! in search (who in turn had beat AltaVista), then why can't Google take on eBay? As for why eBay can say "no Google Checkout" - think of it this way... The consignment shop near my house takes Visa and Mastercard, but not American Express. If I give them some of my stuff to sell, I may not like that they don't take all kinds of credit cards, but I would have to live by their rules if I listed there.

I am still enjoying my PSP for emulation and sports games, though I use my Game Boy Micro more than my PSP (I don't own a DS - still enjoying the cheaper GBA games too much). I think the DS is a fantastic machine, though. With the price drops, and a user willing to change out their firmware, you can't beat the PSP as an emulation machine. For pure no-hassle gaming fun, with the incredible first party Nintendo games, you can't beat the DS. By the way, if you think Nintendo first party games are for kids, it may be a sign that you aren't fully comfortable with being an adult yet warning - non gaming related... I think the PSP would really benefit from a touchscreen for web surfing and email via wifi (though I have no complaints about the PSP's fantastic, huge screen!) warning - non gaming related: I still have visions, whenever I open my Logitech PlayGear case holding my PSP, that I will find a full mini keyboard inside, and be able to check my email (or post to AtariAge ) with instant-on over wifi. Has anyone tried PSPoste yet? I noticed that they just (as in today) updated PSPoste to beta 6.1, with full support for the Targus Universal irda keyboard.

On the Atari 2600 - original versions only - Q*Bert is the clear winner. Q*Bert 2600, like in the arcade, gets harder the further you go along, and is truly harder with the difficulty switches set on "A". I was bitterly disappointed when Pac-Man came out on the 2600, and pleasantly surprised when Q*Bert came out - I couldn't believe they figured out a way to make such a diagonal game come out great on the system known for jagged edged graphics.

Thanks for publishing the source file - I hope it encourages the 7800 homebrew community. Beef Drop is a very impressive game!

Agreed, but I would add the Cuttle Cart II for the third. To me the most special thing about the 7800 that hasn't been mentioned is the two-player simultaneous modes of arcade favorites. Centipede and Asteroids are great fun in two player simultaneous mode -- especially team play, where the last player standing can bring the other player back to life if he earns the next extra life target. I also enjoy playing Robotron with 2 players -- one controls the movement and the other controls the firing cannon. Great fun!

Sony's hardware strategy since the PS1 has been to release hardware that is cutting edge, so that in 5 years it is state of the art at the same time as the programmers have learned how to program it to maximize the potential of the hardware. Worked brilliantly with the PS1 and PS2 - not looking as good with the PSP (and PS3), thanks to Nintendo's brilliant counter-strategy, though we haven't hit the sweet spot yet for the PSP in Sony's eyes.

I never really had a regular Gameboy growing up, but I think the controls on a Gameboy Color are fine. Your fingers kinda overlap on the back of it, but such is the bane of all vertical handhelds. The screen looks great in just about any light. And yes, the Gameboy Advance does support older Gameboy games, but for some reason they display MUCH darker than on a Color. It's hardly noticable if you run non-Color games using the B&W palette, but any other palette, or Color games, will be uncomfortably dark, especially on a non-SP. I don't remember how good Pockets were. I remember them being better than the old huge ones, but I don't remember to what scale. I remember them being smaller than GBCs, and more angular, so possibly less comfortable. I think they take AAA batteries, too, but I can't recall. I'd pick a Color over a Pocket, just for the exclusive games, like the Dragon Warrior remixes Sounds like the Gameboy Color is the way to go. I hated the GBA screen.. So much glare, and yes, it is very dark. The GB Pocket is too damn small. I'm guessing the micro will be too, but I only want GB games, not advance. I had an SP, but it was pretty uncomftorble to hold, and the screen wasnt that impresive. The micro screen is awesome, but small. I may have to pick up a GB Color if I can find one for decent price. Can you play game boy color games on a regular gameboy? Sounds like a Game Boy Color with a worm light is the best bet for you. You may want to check out the latest GBA SP (the one with "now with brighter screen" on the cover), usually called the GBA SP II in discussions. Awesome backlit screen, and fully backwards compatible all the way back to the original Game Boy, including all Game Boy Color games. If I could have only *one* portable system, I would take the GBA SP II in a heartbeat over the Micro, Color, or Pocket. I would rather have a Color than a standard GBA, though, because of the aforementioned color palette issues.

Excellent choice! My Micro is my second-favorite system of all time behind my Atari 7800 with Cuttle Cart 2. It's that good. You sound like someone who would really like the WarioWare series on the GB Micro (I safely say that because I have yet to find a classic gamer who doesn't like WarioWare on the Game Boy) - check out WarioWare Mini Microgames or WarioWare Twisted.

Story Land is a top notch place to bring kids - have fun. Not gaming related (but food related...) the Red Parka Pub, halfway between Story Land and Attitash, is very good. Horsefeathers in the center of North Conway is also a good choice. The food at Story Land itself is very reasonable considering you are inside a theme park. One final tip - if you go to Story Land after 3 pm, you get to go again the next day for free.

Are you replying in a different topic than what you're reading? I don't see a connection. Nobody here said that it could. You might as well have written, "I wasn't aware the PC Jr. could run Deep Blue", as that has a better connection to water-themed games. I thought it was a funny joke, and I don't even use a Mac. The "aqua theme" was a codename for the user interface of Mac OS X.

No, it doesn't. Snow, night and fog, yes, but no rain -- at least not on the 2600 version, which is the only one I'm familiar with. ok, you got me, but a scan of the manual confirms that Enduro does have ice, which is frozen water. Does that count?

California Games - surfing Summer Games - swimming Pitfall II - swimming Vague aqua themes: Kaboom! has water in the buckets Fire Fighter fights fires with water Robot Tank has rain Enduro has rain Smurfs: RIGC has a jump over a river Pitfall has a jump over a lake Frostbite has many jumps over water Seawolf is currently my favorite 2600 aqua game.

Yeah, the DS is just fine as a name. Watch out, though...the Wii has been so successful that they could always come out with the Wee Wii

You are 100% right. Before the DS became a hit, with all the "third pillar" talk, I was hoping that a next generation Game Boy would appear at a price under $100. I would like to see the GBA die a slow death, with the current GBASP2 kept at a low price as a small kids' machine. I still prefer the pocketable, smaller form factors of the GBASP and Micro to the DS Lite. By the way, if anyone sees clearance pricing for the Micro or the GBASP2, let us know!

It doesn't look like we will be able to post about the GBA (the greatest portable gaming system of all time in my opinion) in "Modern Gaming" for much longer. link to article A snippet:

I would love to play Kaboom! on a Wii where I would be moving the buckets left or right by moving the controller. Also, some of the games in Wario Ware Twisted! for the GBA have a paddle-like feel to them.

So is your girlfriend going to have a QVC trademeet, featuring flannel sheets

Turns out the patent referred to in my first post was for the iPhone, which as we know (all to well) was released today. As the price point drops for the iPhone, it could certainly become an exciting gaming platform, as it appears that the touchscreen logic is intelligent enough to handle multiple simultaneous finger movements.

Thanks, PacManPlus - you now "rock" in 3 ways - as a cool guy, a musician, and an Asteroids enhancer! By the way, are the CC2 settings the same as for regular 7800 Asteroids?

Nice find! Here's a snippet:

Wow! Very impressive looking. Love the regular size orange fire button!

Let me know if it's missing anything or something is wrong. Looks like Demons to Diamonds is still missing in your list.

I thought the micro's screen was smaller Of course the GBA micro screen is smaller in physical size. 2" for the Micro; 2.9" for the GBASP per the wikipedia entry Resolution of all GBA screens is 240 x 160 pixels. GBA micro screen appears to be higher quality because of the higher refresh rate and closer-packed-in pixels, but this is offset, of course, by the smaller physical size of the screen.

2nd place - nothing beats the Radica Space Invaders joystick hacked into a 7800 joystick.

Get it. It is the best built, most durable handheld system I have ever used. It rarely leaves my pocket. The screen is great, and it is really comfortable to play. Screen has never scratched - I use the pouch it came with. Even if it scratches, the faceplates are replacealbe. Aluminum construction is excellent. Screen brightness is great - and although it is smaller, it is better quality than the sp2 screen - it runs at 60 mhz, unlike 50 mhz of the SP2..