game_player_s

Sorry for reviving such a massively old topic. Am also curious about Andrew Krieg. I have a much older version of his file than the one @Atari8bitCarts has referenced. One I have is Rev 3.8 dated January 31st, 2000. Andrew Krieg's website appears to no longer exist at this point. Does anyone know where I can find the newer version of the file at?

I had a customer two nights ago that had some manner of interactive smart credit card with a built-in 1" square laminated "eInk" display. Seemed like something straight out of a science fiction movie. Had his picture displayed by default, but press one of the three capacitive touch buttons under the display and he could pull up contact information for card holder services, the security code that on a normal card is imprinted on the back side, and other interesting bits of info, it was honestly just a teeny bit creepy considering I have no clue how it was powered.

Not even saying there are any for certain, but I worked for a privately owned company for eight years where the "owner" worked in his office almost daily. Not even employee's who had been there for years long than I had were aware until the company "owner" made it none during a meeting that he had been slowly buying up all of the shares in the company for over a decade. My point is even a privately owned company can have privately issued and held shares. A privately owned/held company isn't required to publicly acknowledge shares and holders exist to anyone other than the IRS. What I'm suggesting is that could be the case with Imagic, and Microsoft/Activision may have acquired enough shares in the original defunct company that they can do as they please with the entire Imagic game library.

Been poking around the internet, seems that the rather obvious from the diagram chart "Pin 02", which is presently the center pin, and guess I will try it paired with "Pin 13". May be a day or two before i have the time to try this.

Could also be a situation where Activision owns a significant percentage of the shares and therefore asserts a right of ownership.

Considering the technology and power requirements of the Microvision, instead of a backlit LCD panel you should consider a digital paper display. Current digital paper is monochromatic only, has a more than fast enough refresh rate for the Microvision, and uses almost no power at all.

Good news! I found my Fluke meter this morning and made some rather fascinating discoveries about that Video output box. First discovery, only have continuity from the computer port plug to the center pin of the RCA composite video output. No continuity to the outside of the RCA plug, this definitely explains the garbled video output from both computers. Second discovery, opened up the box to verify if continuity was good on the video cable to the termination points, and it was. And this lead to the discovery of what the odd ribbon cable is likely for. Found that not all of the wires from the Stereo A/V cabling meet up with with the input cable inside of the project box! Some are jumpered or wired to same termination points, but not all. I now firmly believe having examined this that the connector on the end of the ribbon cable was used for a security key. Without a termination key plugged into the blade socket, the audio and video wiring lines are incomplete, crazy! So all the original owner had to do to secure his computer from unwanted snooping when he wasn't around was pull out the security key and no one could hear or see output from the connected computer! This person went to a lot of trouble to have made something like this. So what I now need is the wiring pin-out from the Mega ST2 Video Port so I can rig this up to work. (found) Also have discovered another item I bought from the same sale is a accessory for the ST series computers, and not some sort of Apple computer attachment as first thought. Haven't taken pictures of it yet, but the device in question is a "Spectre GCR". Which two pins should the wires for the RCA composite be connected to?

If I had to chance a guess, I'd say the video box is possibly at fault for the screen garble. But I have no other cabling to test them with, so who knows... oh idea. Actually... I could put the Fluke on the video box to make sure there isn't signal crossover coming from one of the other input pins. Shall have to try that out late.

Pretty sure it was for a Flux Capacitor add-on. Here are the long awaited images of what I am now 100% positive is some manner of homemade video output box with a strange ribbon cable pass-through. Realized it was a typical old school Radio Shack type aluminum project box held together by friction so opened it up. Someone put some effort into making this is all I can say.

Neither computer worked. Both turned on, and both output a virtually identical looking black screen with random red and green garble. Also have suffered the misfortune of having the memory card in my camera totally failing when attempting to pull the images from it this afternoon. Neither the camera nor my computer now recognize the card, so lost the pictures of the screen garble, and the video cable box thing. Will see about retaking the pictures of the video box tomorrow, but I'd already repacked away the TV used for testing. Lost my IR eclipse pictures too, grrrr.

Hmmm, I've never looked at play through videos in the context of them being a form of visual walkthrough/guide. I rather see your point on that matter, you've made a very compelling analogy by comparing such with the traditional written and typed walkthrough. I will personally never regard a written walkthrough as being obsolete, but will agree with your point that it could offer a struggling player of a game the chance to see what it is they've been missing to get beyond certain points. Rather interesting. And, I wasn't knocking side-by-side comparison videos of games that appear on multiple platforms. Those tend to be interesting to see, especially when shopping for such a title and wondering which version would be the best to get. As Tanooki said though, there are those people who make gameplay, non-review, videos and end up yammering away about stuff unrelated to to game at hand and those are highly annoying. For a long time I would pull up QIII, UT, and CS matches to have running on the screen at work while doing other things just to keep the monitor from going to sleep. The players who added no audio, or talked in-game strategy I had no issue with, but the morons who would go off on tirades over their personal life issues and in-game guild issues got skipped over for viewing really quick. Collecting videos are one thing, I believe I effectively conveyed my discord for those "flippers" who go out and buy games cheap for the explicit purpose of reselling them, typically while bragging about how much profit they're going to make and telling you go check their Ebay store. Those people drive me nuts, moreso since I tend to run into at least one every Saturday that I go out to see the local yard sales. In contrast to the actual collector's who go make "hunting" videos that while still brag about their finds are genuinely ecstatic about adding to their collection, those I actually do like watching from time to time. Also do occasionally watch game review videos, LE/CE box opening videos, collection show off videos, and "how to" videos on troubleshooting and repairing issues with the systems and accessories. System and game launch videos where they film the lines waiting to get the whatever at midnight releases tend to be interesting to watch to. I even did a couple Switch launch videos myself, nothing fancy, just to be able to say I'd done it once in my life. So let me be very clear about the "passion" aspect itself. There are many different kinds of "passion". Many a YouTuber has gone into making videos not because they are passionate about their chosen video topicality but rather out of a passionate desire for fame and potential fortune. Others are evolved forms of forum trolls 100% passionate about being as big of a disruption to the gaming community as trollingly possible. And the aforementioned flippers tend to be purely "passionate" about their revenue, both from flipping games and YT channel views. And this is why I specified, but apparently wasn't very clear previously, when I said "There are many YouTubers I have watched that I feel are passionate about the games and the collecting hobby". So to clarify I didn't mean to imply all the YouTubers who make videos aren't necessarily passionate about their videos, they just aren't all passionate for the same reasons.

There was a gaming convention held where I live for only the second time ever yesterday, first time they did it was last year but they failed to advertise so I didn't know of it then. So anyway, it's the first time I have ever had the opportunity to even attend a gaming convention, so I gladly paid the $5 door fee to get in to the meager convention hall at the area Hilton Hotel, which I had never been in before as I live in the area so why would I? The dealer hall and vendor tables were both sights to experience, mostly to chuckle at the ridiculous prices of some items that made Ebay look like some sort of discount store. Still managed to spend $75. Was rather disappointed no one was interested in the items I had brought to try to sell or trade, but then most of the fellow attendees were either to young to remember what a NeoGeo Pocket Color was or didn't care because it wasn't made by Nintendo... ouch, and likewise for the WonderSwan Color. To my utter dismay there was no gaming industry presence at the con whatsoever, all of the sponsors were privately owned shops from three different states. And the panels being held were equally disappointing as they were all being run by YouTubers I'd never heard of who were all in their twenties on topics very uninteresting to say the least. Only one panel was held that even really seemed fitting to have at a gaming convention, that having been the first of the day; "Intro to Speed Running". The rest of the panels actually had nothing to do with video games or the gaming industry at all. Kinda made me think that whoever dreamed up this convention hadn't thought of having panelists until the last minute and then just searched out local YouTubers to send random invites to. Two of the "vendors" in the dealer hall were also YouTubers/collector's, again never heard of either of the fellows. I did buy from one of them, they had interesting stuff for sale, but I think this is a really weird trend to see people setting up shop as "YouTube Channel X" instead of the convention typical "business name" or the ever so common business licensed vendor with no business name displayed for which there were more than a couple of present as well. But I digress, one of said YouTube Vendors actually had on his sign that he's a "video game historian"... but he said something rather stupid when I was checking out some of the rather out of place games for a rather obscure gaming platform which he had on his table that made me realize his knowledge was evidently confined to only the recent years since he implied lack of knowledge and lack of interest in whatever said games were for. Might note they were the only games on his table which pre-dated the year 2000 for when they had been released. I did acquire two of said games from him at the very reasonable pricing of $5 each. But that is still nagging at me he was a self-proclaimed "historian", I would have felt better about it had he engaged in conversation to inquire at least some interest in learning a little about that which he clearly lacked knowledge of as any good student of history would have done, but he didn't! The other YouTube vendor had nearly a third of his table covered in stacks of VHS tapes and DVDs he admitted he was just trying to purge from his own collection, and not moving them as one could imagine since one doesn't attend a gaming convention and go to the dealer hall expecting to find VHS tapes, unless they're for the Action Maxx or the like which his were not. He didn't have prices on anything! Instead you asked how much and he had to look up the going rate of said title using his smart phone, and from the glimpse I caught believe he was using Amazon.com as his point of reference for "current going rates", needless to say he was exceptionally overpriced on everything! His Turbo Grafx 16 games, as prime example, started at $100... while I do not argue that some of said platform game titles he had do actually go for that on Ebay when complete, he only had one game present that was complete, and I was quoted $150 on it... which I have confirmed is the happy median a complete copy goes for on Ebay, but still, the rest of the games were overpriced. So I'm not going to flat out say that YouTuber's ruined the convention, but I will say the convention planners poorly chose their panelists. If they wanted to bring in YouTubers as panelists they should have at least asked their candidates to submit proposals on the topicality of what their panels would be on before selecting them. As it was I felt like I paid a $5 entry fee to go to a flea market targeted at video game collector's, again not that I'm complaining as I did find and purchase a few things that made it worth my trouble. Even so, the local annual anime con, which so far has never gotten any industry endorsements or famous guests or panelists, tends to be a better overall experience as far as my convention experience goes. But back to the original topic of this discussion, I have a mixed feeling about this matter. There are many YouTubers I have watched that I feel are passionate about the games and the collecting hobby and pricing discussion and play-through videos are not things they engage in doing, these folk I don't believe harm retro gaming in any way aside from possibly drawing attention to scarce titles from time to time. But then you have the play-through folk who literally record the entire game play experience from start to end and in many cases spoil the game for the viewer to the point they're unlikely to ever play it for themselves. Then you have the flippers and the hunter dealers. who have to show off their recent finds, discuss what they paid and how much profit they're going to resell for, those guys have just about destroyed the ability for actual players and collectors to find retro games in the wild. I know all of us who collect end up with loads of dupes over the coarse of time that we end up selling or trading off through various means, but the vast majority of us like for that side of the collecting equation to remain a private factor, not something of public record that we plaster video of ourselves online bragging about for all the world to see.

Back in 1997 or 1998, two of the area Kay-Bee Toy Stores literally received mountains of these systems in and they were dumping them at $19.99 a pop and having extreme difficulty getting rid of them because they had no games to sell with them! I myself, a teenager at that time, passed up on buying one because I wasn't sure how or where I would ever find games for one if I did buy one.... plus didn't help I was going to Kay-Bee to buy booster packs of the Star Trek: Collectible Card Game, lol! <sigh> Needless fast forward to around 2002 and I responded to a classified ad in the local newspaper for someone not two miles from my home selling their Jaguar with games. I got my mom to drive me over and as I'm wrapping up the transaction with a kid no more than ten years old his older brother shows up, slaps him in the face, hands me back my money and explains apologizes for wasting my time as his brother has been trying to sell his stuff out from under him over a argument they'd had the week prior. And that was the last time I encountered a Jaguar in the wild until this week. Local privately owned game store had one with original box, still with the Kay Bee price tag reading $19.99 on it I may note, asking price with no games $200.00. Crazy thing is I actually do have a couple of Jaguar game carts at this point. But the systems themselves have become a thing of legend it seems. Also doesn't help that the regional Goodwill's and Salvation Army Thrift Stores all began a horrible practice a bit over ten years ago where in they literally collect virtually all of the electronics donated to them and sell them it all off as electronics scrap to smelters. Back in the day you could go in and plunder the vast electronics department shelves and bins and find all manner of amazing equipment, game systems, and accessory hardware, but these days it's just the odd VCR and DVD player marked as having been pre-tested at near retail prices. I truly hate to think how many game systems have been sent off to an overseas smelter because of these terrible business practices.

It was a estate sale, so I'm pretty sure the previous owner has returned to the dust of the Earth. I mean you don't normally call in a estate sale company to purge the contents of a house unless the occupant has kicked the proverbial bucket right? And he had a lot of really neat stuff, and as a fellow member of the male gender of the human race I can't imagine parting ways with my stuff without a good reason. Not to say I haven't had to part ways with some fascinating articles of technology over the years, typically to fund car repairs, but this was a whole house and all contents kinda estate sale. And thanks for identifying this upgrade doo-hickey thing-a-mcbobber Moonsweeper. That's a very fascinating read on the upgrade board. If I'm understanding the gist of it correctly this effectively upgrades the Mega ST2 to have, obviously, a twice as fast CPU and the RAM is effectively used as a really huge CPU memory cache, which is a considerably impressive feat for a computer of this era. We think of a 2MB cache on a modern CPU as being a marvelous accomplishment, but this was... twenty-three or more years ago!? Crazy! I also watched a episode of The Computer Chronicles, back when they were first adding the series to Archive.org, where they showed of the Atari "Transputer" , which allowed for slaving via a cable link of same model desktops to achieve parallel CPU processing, which was unquestionably waaaaaaaay ahead of it's time, pity that didn't really catch on back then. Going to have to think hard on this as I have no keyboard. Guess decisions will be easier to make once I've attempted to POST the two computers. Will attempt posting them tomorrow and let y'all know how it goes, with pictures even if it goes well. Also will get the picture taken and up for the funny looking video box I got at the sale as well, it has a ribbon cable coming out of it that I am uncertain if it is some manner of secondary input or output, hopefully someone can help identify that mystery as well as neither of the two era catalogs I got from that same sale show anything like it... and am rather thinking it is something that was custom made.

I got two 3rd party product catalogs at the same estate sale as these two Mega ST2's and have been flipping through them this morning at long last. Closest thing I can find to this odd looking add-on board plugged into the 68000 CPU socket is in "Toad Computers: Product Catalog 3.42" (circa 1994), being a device with just a similar, not identical, illustration called a TT030 RAM Upgrade. There's definitely a 68030 CPU on this board, and definitely it has some manner of SIMM memory, so perhaps that is it? But then the expansion in question on page 36 of the catalog doesn't indicate nor specify inclusion of another CPU, rather the product description merely discusses that the TT RAM is compatible with ST machines.