jhd
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Posts posted by jhd
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On 7/17/2019 at 6:56 PM, Gunstar said:Why the need of the title and description if the item number is given?
I have never ordered from Best (nor do I ever anticipate doing so, for reasons entirely unrelated to the limited customer service), but I do understand the requirement to provide an item description as well as the catalogue number.
I once worked for an organization that, among other things, sold photographs. There were more than a million different images in our inventory. The photo numbers were assigned in sequence, so they had no relationship to the image's subject matter. It was not uncommon for someone to mis-type the photo number in their order, and so receive something very different from what they wanted. This wasted both our time and the customer's.
Having even a brief description acted as a check -- if there was a mis-match between the catalogue number and the description, we would contact the customer to clarify before processing the order.
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I had a Coco from 1983 through 1989. I am trying to recall if there were any games on cassette tape that were "multi-load". I understand that a few such titles exist for e.g. the Atari 8-bit, but I am struggling to think of any for the Coco.
I vaguely recall some text adventure games (from Rainbow magazine?) with multiple parts, but I do not remember how variables were passed from Part 1 to Part 2, etc.
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On 7/13/2019 at 6:52 PM, Blazing Lazers said:It just arrived, from a seller based out of Arizona, who obtained it and copies of most of the games at an auction. I can only wonder at how a Canadian Studio II ended up in Arizona, but I'm sure glad it did
Speaking as a long-time Canadian video game collector, it is very common for us to purchase games (and systems) in the US. Even allowing for the exchange rate difference, prices are generally better and the selection is FAR better. I assume that there some drift in the other direction as American consumers take advantage of a favorable exchange rate (and, especially in this case, a deeply discounted clearance price).
Thank-you for documenting this rather rare item. I have never seen a Studio II at retail here in Canada.
Other RCA products were readily available here in Canada. Circa 1980, my Mother won a ~26" RCA colour TV in some contest. We were still using it when they sold the house in 2001.
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On 6/22/2019 at 12:17 PM, Turbo-Torch said:I wish there was a copyright date at the end of this video.
It looks like Leisure Time Electronics was active in about 1983...
I'm a bit late to this party, but I found:
Joseph CASSIOPPI v. Ross John DAMICO (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1988)
536 So.2d 938Damico agreed to purchase certain game tables and game machines (hereinafter referred to as “games”) from Leisure Time Electronics, Inc.
Leisure Time represented to Damico that if, within 18 months from the date of purchase, the games did not yield a 100% return of the initial investment, they could be returned and Damico would be reimbursed the difference between the initial purchase price and the earnings up to the date of the return of the games. The games did not yield a 100% return within the time promised, and Leisure Time refused to repurchase the games as it had agreed to do. Damico sued Leisure Time, alleging breach of contract and fraud. Subsequently, he amended his complaint to add as defendants Cassioppi, who was president of Leisure Time, and Challenge Electronics, Inc. All assets, equipment, fixtures, and inventory of Leisure Time had been transferred to Cassioppi and Challenge Electronics. All defendants filed a motion to dismiss, with supporting affidavit, which was overruled on January 31, 1984.Despite the fact that published court decisions are freely available public records (albeit not online), most people are unaware of them. Lots of interesting things can be found.
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Is the expansion set even usable by itself without having first installed the original Word of Warcraft?
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On 7/9/2019 at 4:15 AM, Austin said:It's not really recommended you use XP as a primary OS these days though. The security holes alone in that one and all its unsupported software is crazy, I bet.
It is perfectly fine to run Windows XP, as long as one takes reasonable precautions. My desktop PC currently runs Windows XP sp2, but it has not been online since dial-up was still viable.
I primarily use it for writing, photo editing, and maintaining my website. All online activities (and game playing) are handled via a much newer platform. File transfer is handled via a flash drive.
I have never used Steam (on any platform), so I have no opinion on its support for Windows XP.
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21 hours ago, MrMaddog said:That's pretty much close to how I classify gaming eras...
This is a good solution; the biggest problem with organizing or classifying systems by year is the longevity of some systems, e.g. the 2600 was first released in 1977 and it received at least minimal support through the early-1990s. Chronologically, it crossed several generations and it was (at least technically) competing in the marketplace with everything from the the Studio II and Channel F through the Genesis and the SNES.
I really like the phrase "Transitional" to describe the Playstation (and similar systems); they are not really Retro, but they are certainly not Modern, either.
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On 6/27/2019 at 6:12 AM, Flojomojo said:You won’t be able to sell them back to GameStop
Is this a new policy? Some years ago, back when original PlayStation games were still available, I found a PAL-format sports game at my local EB Games. The case was very obviously different from the NTSC releases, so it's not like they made a mistake.
I remember being surprised that they would be selling something that was not playable by the vast majority of their customers.
Slightly O/T, but I have twice found imported games at a thrift shop -- a bootleg(?) Famicom game and some Japanese PS 2 games. Bizarrely, the PS 2 games were in a shop in a small, mostly Francophone community in New Brunswick. The shop clerk had no idea where they had come from.
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Those are remarkably fluid graphics for a Coco BASIC program!
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A seasoned and discerning collector may only acquire a few things a year.
Strongly agreed! My main collecting interest is not video games, and I am now finding it hard to acquire new items for my collection as I already have acquired most of what is out there (barring the very expensive and/or extremely hard-to-find items that I will never see).
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They are not hard to find, at least around here -- prices have not dropped significantly, and stores still have piles of them on the shelf.
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I found a fat ps2 at goodwill for 28 dollars 2 and a half years ago.
Did it include the network adapter (just not the HD)?
Final Fantasy 11 was clearanced cheaply by Radio Shack here in Canada, so some of the systems making their way to thrift shops should have a network adapter/hard drive, but (sadly) I'm not seeing any.
By the time that I pay shipping and considering the exchange rate on the Canadian currency, buying online is not an appealing option for me.
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Another option, if you're willing to do it, is to get a PS2 Fatty, a Network Adapter, a hard drive, and learn how to install games to it and avoid the use of the DVD-ROM drive altogether.
Sadly, I have yet to find a fat PS 2 with the hard drive installed; I check every one that I see for sale, but I have yet to find a hard drive.
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I have amassed a fairly large collection of PS 2 games, especially classic game compilations and RPGs.
Unfortunately, I am having difficulty with the hardware. The PS 2 slim console that I bought new in 2008 is no longer reading disks (despite a cleaning). I recently purchased another slim at a local thrift shop (first I've seen in a very long time) and that too does not read disks.
I can continue to purchase used consoles until I find one that works, but I fear that it is only a matter of time before I run out of affordable hardware.
So, are there any PS 2 emulators that can read the original disks?
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I'm curious to what extent video-game collections have become an asset class. Are there big buyers out there strategically acquiring collections for purposes of investing? Is a collection no different than a Picasso painting?
I would be very surprised if anyone is holding a large collection purely as an "investment". Among other reasons, unlike other, more typical investments, the market infrastructure is not there. If I wish to invest in art, for example, I can deal with reputable galleries and learn from knowledgeable experts about what artists to collect. There is no equivalent information available in the gaming sector (at least not in the same, systematic and organized fashion). Likewise, there are established dealers for art (or securities or classic cars), whereas for video games, most are sold online by random people or the occasional find at thrift shops and specialist stores.
Buying games in the hope that they will rise in value is rather more speculative since the market is so much more volatile. As there are no publicly available auction or catalogue sales records (eBay does not count) as there are for art, there is no way to really assess value. There is no information on long-term market trends (e.g. x game has risen in price 15% per year over the past decade; y game has remained flat or even declined over the same time).
I suppose that someone could buy random pieces of "art" from unknown artists at a thrift shop and hope that they will rise in value, but that would be a very poor investment "strategy".
Then again, am I overvaluing game collections? I just don't know. Maybe museums just buy them, or libraries.I am aware of one very modest academic library collection of video games and a few museums with representative pieces of gaming hardware, but, for the most part, museums and libraries do not have either the budget or the mandate to purchase large collections of anything. They may accept a donation, but not pay cash outright. Building a major collection with the hope of ultimately selling it to a public institution is also not a great investment "strategy".
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I must have had some from the grey market or I'm just mis-remembering cause I swear I had some Sears titles back in the day. My parents would have bought them from Sears I assume as there was only so many stores in my City. I live in SE Ontario right off the boarder to NY.
Back in the 1980s, I purchased many video games in the United States (both for the Atari 2600 and, later, the Coco). The selection was significantly better than could be found in Canadian retail stores. Either your family purchased games at Sears in the US, or you bought them at a garage sale or flea market from someone who bought them there.
Despite both having similar names, Simpson's-Sears (Canada) and Sears-Roebuck (United States) were different companies that served different markets and had similar (but different) product lines. For a recent example, look at how Target Canada differed from its American parent.
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I discovered r.g.v.c on Usenet in the early-1990s. A few years later, I purchased a 2600 and a handful of cartridges at a local church rummage sale.
I steadily acquired a decent collection of titles between local sales, a few online purchases, and clearance NIB stock at local retailers.
I have not seen anything Atari 2600-related at a thrift shop in about five years, so my collecting has naturally come to a conclusion. I do not own any homebrew games -- though I would consider buying one if it came up for sale in a local shop at a reasonable price.
Unlike many (most?) others, I never went through a phase of collecting everything gaming-related. Part of that was lack of interest (the Intellivision has no nostalgia value for me) and part was due to unavailability (I have never seen a Colecovision or an Arcadia for sale locally). I do have two Pong systems, a few Famiclones, and some other odds-and-ends, but I am not actively collecting anything.
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What can of worms am I opening if I decide to collect Sears picture labels?
I assume that you are located in the United States. As Sears titles were never "officially" sold here in Canada, they are significantly harder to find around here.
(There were personal and grey-market imports, of course, so stuff does turn-up, but not very often.)
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If memory serves, this was tried in the past in the United States -- some state lottery organization (possibly in the Midwest) tried a test-market of online gambling using a game console. There was widespread public opposition.
And here is the link: https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/27/business/nintendo-and-minnesota-set-a-living-room-lottery-test.html and https://kotaku.com/when-nintendo-wanted-to-bring-gambling-into-american-ho-5838193
If Nintendo failed to make this work, does anyone really expect that the ghost of Atari can do better?
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I love this game!
I only ever saw this game once in the 1980s -- if memory serves, it was on Prince Edward Island, probably not too longer after it was released (i.e. June or July 1982). It was not in an arcade, but in a ferry terminal or an airport.
I endevoured to program my own version for the Coco a few years later. I managed to get a character who could "dig" through the layers, but I did not get to the stage of adding enemies (or any other elements).
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I wonder if the tape may just be too deteriorated to recover after 30+ years in storage in an unknown environment.
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Just to add that as a Canadian collector since the late-1980s, I have never seen any 2600 multi-carts around here. The earliest multi-carts that I have seen were for the NES.
What game is Bi Bi?
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That thing is so cute and utterly impractical!
Back in the early-1980s, there was an official IBM desk "accessory" shaped like an original PC (and monitor) that was about this size. The keyboard pulled out into a drawer (I used it for paperclips), and there was an additional storage cavity inside the monitor (used for pens).
I found it at a yard sale decades ago; I'd post a picture, but it is in a box somewhere.
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Truth is, this particular one could end up going in a similar direction as the BSR Anteater proto. Whereas someone here said the heck with it & made it themselves. Meaning here, I wouldn't be surprised if someone does the same exact thing Waggie did, and sources the rom again.
Yep. People need to remember that the source code is publicly available. It may not be readily accessible (i.e. online), but it is available, and anyone with sufficient skill can (re)create their own version of this cartridge!
While, sadly, my programming skills are insufficient for this task, I think that it is a very clever idea to create one's own "prototype" of unavailable titles -- especially where enough information (such as screenshots and gameplay) exists to make a reasonable facsimile of the original.
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I primarily use it for writing, photo editing, and maintaining my website. All online activities (and game playing) are handled via a much newer platform. File transfer is handled via a flash drive.
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Posted · Edited by jhd
This is an excellent development! While I have no interest in playing these early WIP "games", I love to see how the titles evolved into their final form.
ETA: Is it known how the developer who made these available came to have such a disparate collection of games from different companies? I would be very surprised if professionals shared their unfinished projects with colleagues, especially from other (competing) companies.