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Mikebloke

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Posts posted by Mikebloke

  1. Posted

    I think when people who normally sell clothes second hand for first hand prices, start buying up games it hits this "collector" price. I've noticed it's really common to see that as their other items because it never really screams 'this person likes to play games'. I do wonder how much this is price fixing too. 

  2. Posted

    On 6/9/2020 at 6:42 PM, Atari_Bill said:

    I think we can guarantee it’s going to go for a silly price.  Bargains seem to be non existent lately.  

    You are probably right, I think the whizball situation is comical but will probably be disastrous for those of us wanting to collect. Dread to think what a copy of checkers is going to go for in this mess.

  6. Posted

    Atari announces 500 developer units will be produced

    Atari then announces 500 developer units is about to be produced

    Atari announces 500 developer units is nearly at the point of being produced

    Atari announces that production is on hold due to manufacturing faults

    Atari announces that production of 500 developer units is to start being produced

    Digital trends announces that 500 units will possibly maybe who knows when might maybe be shipped by the end of June

     

    Have I just summed up the last 6 months of updates correctly.

     

    • Like 9

  7. Posted

    Playstation might get away with it if they were really edgy like with their PS1 advertisements (think wipEout and other stuff!)

     

    I feel like Intellivision could be potentially creepy in a socially unexpected way. I mean Night Stalker, there is only a number of ways to interpret a name like that. Maybe Austin Powers meets Westworld, it could go either way!

     

    Maybe Sega could build a miniature park where the seats are designed for ferrets, but still only admit humans into it. Makes perfect business sense.

  9. Posted

    8 hours ago, spacecadet said:

    I mean, "thousands" of Americans wanting to play a game on a piece of hardware that they're producing in Japan doesn't really sound like a winning business proposition to me.

     

    I understand that some people are looking for this to be something it isn't. Instead, look at it for what it is. Which is a Japanese toy. Import it if you want, or don't. It's really not worth getting angry about like some people here seem to be.

    Who said anything about Americans? Also, I mentioned software solutions as well. It doesn't have to mean that these things gets released in the west, they could just add it to their mega drive collection on steam... Just a waste of good IP, that the only thing some of these games are ending up on... is something completely useless. So yes, its frustrating.

  10. Posted

    57 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

    People are treating this as a serious release; it's just a little toy, like Sega and other Japanese makers do all the time. There are dozens of these types of things there from all the major manufacturers in Japan at any given moment.

     

    I wouldn't get worked up about it. The weirdest part to me is all the coverage this is getting. The Game Gear wasn't even particularly popular here.

     

     

    There would literally be thousands of us who would be prepared to pay up to $50 to legally play games like the shining force game gear series on anything playable including steam. 

     

    Hell, many of these games are already on things like the 3ds virtual console! It feels like a massive waste that the only product some of these games is being released on is a joke product. They could literally stick this on the existing collections which already includes some game gear games anyway,and charge us the usual going rate for individual games. 

     

    Its like sega doesn't even want free money. 

  12. Posted

    So we finally get all the shining force game gear games rereleased, and the screen is how small?!? Given they were not all translated, OK there is CD but final conflict never was - it would be curious if it did find itself outside of Japan. 

     

    Its only saving grace would be a TV out cable, hell even if its composite only. The big screen accessory seems an amusing throwback similar to the tower thing for the mega drive... But why micro it that small. 

     

    I mean half the total games are rpgs of some description, how is anyone going to read it? 

     

    So

     

    1) it's too small

    2) many games were never released in English, so chances of western release unlikely 

    3) pushing the big screen accessory likely means no TV out

    4) we would totally pay the price of all four for one version that was readable and had a bigger library, or some way of adding more. It could probably get away with filling it with all the sonic spin off games and anything else sega still owns. 

     

    Shame. English and TV out and I would buy the shining force one. 

  14. Posted

    1 hour ago, roots.genoa said:

    WTF does that mean?? 😑

    More than 0 but less than 500. 

     

    If they've found refinements to the manufacturing process, it means they made one and it didn't work, so now they are fixing it. 

     

    Yet again blaming the Chinese supply chain even though it hasn't been effected for months. 

    • Haha 5

  15. Posted

    Although the games might remain compatable with new consoles. The consoles themselves may reach retro status. There was something the other day about original x box live features being rebuilt to access specific things, and there is already fan operated servers for things like metal gear online even though Konami has killed it long ago. In that sense, some of them have probably already reached specialist status that might be more suited to someone who might be regarded as a vintage collector, as it requires some degree of specialist knowledge to bodge a system to think it's going to Konami.jp when instead it's heading somewhere else. 

  16. Posted

    On 5/25/2020 at 2:18 AM, OCAT said:

    Everyone was warned about shysters from the Cleco Chameleon debacle prior, you did not need a "Nosulus Rift" to smell the brown all over this online campaign.

    These guys are insanely slow at bringing this turd to market, Apple is going to release a pair of glasses that projects your phone, meanwhile Atari cant even get a freaking mini-PC to market. None of this has anything to do with quality, it has everything to do with "we blew the money on Hookers, Booze and Casinos so now we need to get investors to pay for the production of the promised units.

    (Allegedly)

    Not only this but if the rumours are true, even sega will get a new console to market before atari does! 

     

    (sega are about to announce something big, and it's already rumoured they might be the name for x box in Japan). 

  17. Posted

    I don't think anything that is normal sized carts have anything special, not even the Parker or imagic games as far as I'm aware. You have the chess module with the big brick that is supposed to sit on top of your machine awkwardly though. Guess the one ozyr mentioned might be the only one. 

     

    I don't think there is anything limiting a dpc+ style system for a new cart, it's just not been developed enough to warrant it. The keyboard capability might make it attractive for some unique features I guess. 

  18. Posted

    I think the definition by culture is also a noteworthy mention, if only to try and avoid it being solidified as a way of classification. Don't get me wrong, I was the sega equivalent to a Nintendoid growing up, and there is plenty of 2600 fan boys here who will gloss over the fact the channel F did most things first, but we are defined largely by nostalgia and our own age or availability. There was an article the other day about a guy who's girlfriend thought she recognised the American snes model "except black" turns out it was a Bulgarian nes clone that looked like a mega drive, but she had the same nostalgia feel  as anyone else gets over their selected nintendo/sega/atari machine. 

     

    I don't think sega or atari fans drown out the rest in the way Nintendo ones do though, I'd trust them more to give an honest account of competitors. So many "history of gaming" series focuses firstly on some atari or arcade classics before juggernauting into hours of nes content. 

     

    I think we'll start to see better recognised categorisation in this decade as we start hitting 50 years. 

  19. Posted

    5 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

    I think the PS2 probably gets some decent use from people who do not have a backwards compatible PS3 but still want to play their PS2 games.

    Ps2 games still make a decent shelf space in high Street shops in the UK that sell games. X box don't get the same love. Interestingly gamecube is starting to downgrade despite (or rather because) high prices. When I was still in the job of selling them, ps2 consoles were a good cheap device to sell people who just want 30 minutes of fun without the hassle of the internet or online gaming. 

    • Like 2

  20. Posted

    Awhile ago I posted this:

    Quote

    Antique: Early pinball, redemption games, pre-WW2 arcade games etc. While not video games as such, and certainly not home systems they represent anything that is considerably rare and old enough to be a specialist purchase. You probably have to go to an expert to get these restored/repaired - or be a strong enthusiast yourself.

    Vintage: Electromechanical arcade machines in the 60's and 70's, and anything that uses RF signal. My logic is this: As a child I knew about tuning in stations to get systems to work, it was just something I needed to do to get it to work, kids these days don't need this, they'd have to have "special" knowledge to get a system working. Vintage systems and machines is not the purchase of the casual user, if you are buying this kind of stuff, you want to keep / play it out of a genuine interest or collection building.

    Retro: My logic for using this word is below. This is for the NES, Master System, Mega Drive, SNES, PS1 and the Turbografx - these have (or about to have) mini/classic versions which is intended as nostalgia. Most people who buy the original consoles too at this point do it for nostalgia (I've sold plenty of consoles to people who aren't collectors, but rather people around my age who wants to play the old games again in the way they remember). Although Saturn / N64 doesn't have classic versions, I think they still fit into this category.

    Pre-Modern: I find it hard to label what PS2 and Dreamcast should be in, its a common problem I think so this category is for them.

    Modern: Last gen and current gen, PS3 and 360 still have some services so I think they should be still counted in this.

     

    My logic on the wording is this:

     

    Antique: Usually left for things that is a 100 years old, its not always so strictly applied. Video games is not 100 years old yet, but early arcade and pinball machines are - and they exist as precursors to the home systems. On wikipedia it is described as: "is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance" and " is usually an item that is collected or desirable because of its age, beauty, rarity, condition, utility, personal emotional connection, and/or other unique features. It is an object that represents a previous era or time period in human history."

     

    Vintage: Immediately after wikipedia's definition of antique it has: "Vintage and collectible are used to describe items that are old, but do not meet the 100-year criteria.". The use of the word vintage for objects is relatively modern, and there is debate about how old something should be before it classifies. Most say at least 20 years, which would easily match the kind of consoles that I included. I think Vintage also helps to suggest that there is some degree of interest / knowledge that is now deemed specialised. Remember, we're all getting older!

     

    Retro: The use of the word retro now has many uses, but in most other forms outside video games retro usually means a quite specific style, or use. I think we need to get out of the use of the word retro to mean a broad range of non-modern games as there is certainly a variety and history we can now explore. Retro in the designer / interior world tends to mean anything from 1950's to 1980's, but its more than that - its the idea of it being functional and chosen by design in a modern period. Take the guy in the UK who lives in the 1940s styled house and hosts school trips - he lives retro despite the fact he could clearly have a flatscreen tv, a microwave and wifi. He chooses not to. Similarly, nostalgia is flooding the market with mini/classic machines. This isn't particularly for the collector or enthusiast, we feel its too limited with "only" 20-40-60-100 games, but rather for the casual players or prior gamers who say things like "oh man do you remember sonic the hedgehog!!!".

     

    Pre-Modern: Ahaha, I think this is pretty much the "whatever is left" category. I think I too struggled with the PS2 period, it was quite instrumental time for the gaming industry, not just the PS2 but the other consoles too. Dreamcast had functional internet use, PS2 had DVD playback, X Box had... whatever it had and Gamecube had loads of accessories. I think Wii probably fits here too now, as its services is now completely dead.

     

    Modern: The average user has these, they double up as home entertainment machines. In fact, like mine, they are probably used MORE for watching TV than playing games. PS3 is a cheap blu ray player, X Box One's is for kids playing fortnite, which ever console you have, you or someone else in the house probably use YouTube or amazon or netflix on it.

    I think most of it is still relevant. The only way to get out the use of retro or modern labelling is to create more relevant labels. I still struggle with what ps2 type consoles should come under, but I think they aren't generally used now by anyone but collectors. Maybe the odd person still using them as dvd players. 

    • Like 2

  22. Posted

    Purely speculation but probably money.

     

    Its one of the later numbers, but then you had the 7400 games. You also have the design documents to essentially make a nes(ish, maybe closer to 7800 released games) styled sequel console. There was certainly enough fight in them even at the introduction of intellivision and colecovision to try and stay in the market. 

     

    Being a title people wouldn't normally know about, it might have been dirt cheap to produce. It might also be a simple fact that it was easy to replicate, it fits well with the system. I couldn't imagine donkey kong being produced, the 2600 was far too important not to produce for, but the poor videopac had no chance. 

     

    Maybe it was a test case, if it had done well they might have attempted bigger licences. 

     

    Shame really, despite the graphics being dull as hell, it's enjoyable and one I often pick up and play. 

  23. Posted

    In celebration of the 40th anniversary (can you believe its today!?) of the original Puck/Pac man location testing, on 22nd of May 1980, I am releasing my latest Magnavox Odyssey homebrew

     

    Puck Man!

     

    With everything going on the Odyssey homebrew scene, and myself ordering a set of multicards for the system I hadn't had time to focus on my own projects, but this was one I was inadvertently started recently, thinking about what other games could be done with the limitations of the system. I also wanted to poke a little fun at what kind of game could be multiplayer but potentially socially distancing compliant (an oxymoron?!) The Odyssey controllers have fairly long wires, so you could actually do this... This may also be the first 3 player Odyssey game (quote me if I'm wrong!)

     

    I've attached the ruleset, some overlays (including an enlarged version) and the "accessory" you will need to attach to something so you can use it as a pointer to indicate the position of Puck Man. This is a little bit of fun, so not to be taken too seriously! As this is a licensed franchise of Namco, I will not be selling any copies of this. There is other users who do produce physical copies of homebrew who might be able to make one for you at cost, as long as they make it clear the price is to produce the box and overlay, and not the sale of Namco's owned content. Pac man is a trademark of Namco, blady blah blah etc you get the picture.

     

    * PS: With the above stuff going on and Ramadan still ongoing, I've had to rush some of this. I have also moved from windows 8 to 10 with a new laptop, and switched from openoffice to Office2019 (wow, I feel human again!) I also tried to manually make a maze, but realised it would be better to just use a grid based program to "paint" a maze with objects. This also means I can adapt and include a number of mazes quickly, which I might well do in a few days for some maze variation. Some of what I've uploaded might need tidying up so I will attempt to do that too. I have not tested the sizes yet on a real tv, but followed the same sizing as my other homebrew game. I will check into real sizes another time, but wanted this out before the day was done!

    Puck Man Accessory.png

    Puck Man Overlay enlarged.png

    Puck Man Overlay.png

    Puck Man square image enlarged.png

    Puck Man square image.png

    Puck Man (Odyssey) Demake.odt

    • Like 5
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