eric_ruck

I think a lot of the ratings are out of whack. For instance, Atari Karts could be had for just cold hard cash, no real looking required, and you don't even have to snipe an auction. By that definition Aircars is certainly rarer. I have complete collections for the Jag, Lynx, Vectrex and 7800...I guess at this point then I would consider my largest rare collection for the 7800 and Vectrex, because some of those games are getting really hard to find. I wish I did have a boxed 5200 Zaxxon. I think the rarest piece of software I have would be the "Answering Service" proto cart for the Atari 1400XL. Doesn't seem to do anything besides put a logo on the screen, but then I haven't really explored it too deeply. Eric

Actually, even cooler that Minter is working with Lionheart, that should be a cool collaboration. Eric

By the way, the site speaks. Actually, paying for playing isn't really a bad idea. I mean, how many people rent games from Blockbuster. Say I've got a weekend to kill (yeah, right) and I want to try a game before I buy it. Or I want to play a game but I'm pretty sure that I can finish it in a weekend, or a month. OK, say I signed up for Yahoo Games on Demand. For (I think) $5 I could play 3 games all I wanted for the month. If I tend to finish games that quickly (which a lot of people do), $5 is a lot cheaper than $50 for one game, or $150 for three. But the PC on the set, well, I already hate how noisy the PS2 and XBox are, and how big they are. And any PC that would fit in a settop box and play decent games is going to cost too much. That part, I don't think will play in Peoria. Eric

Rampage is even better on the Lynx. Eric

If you ever get down to Maryland there's a store in the Owings Mills Mall that has a few of them. Don't remember the name of the store, though -- I don't get to those parts often. They are kinda expensive, though.

I have a ton of Vectrex games for sale/trade. If you're handy I have a Vectrex that's almost perfect -- the vertical hold seems to be off by more than the internel knob will adjust. I've been told that it's probably a capacitor that needs replacing, but it's strictly as-is. Let me know if you're interested. I thought about keeping it around as a spare for my good Vectrex, but the reality is that I don't have space for it, and it is unlikely that I will ever fix it/get it fixed myself. Eric

Enjoyment factor is first. New games take too damn much time. I want something I can play for 15 minutes and then shut it off. As a side note, that explains pretty much the only game I play on modern consoles: Project Gotham Racing. Love it or hate it, 15 minutes equals about 4 races, if I don't get frustrated and start them over in the middle. Eric

You're not alone. XBox just surpassed the GameCube in Europe. Eric

So what do you all think of this? Infinium Labs I think it's a set top PC that will shrivel before it actually sees the top of a real live set. But I was just curious to throw it out there. Eric

The games are really very different. The 7800 version is a fun, lightweight if unimpressive platform game. I enjoyed it but it's not something I go back to very often. I like the Lynx version better, I think this game is much more competitive with its contemporaries than the 7800 version. But really they're different experiences. It has been awhile since I played the 7800 version and I don't recall any in jokes -- do tell.

Another vote for Hyperforce. My only criticism is that it's a little easy, but for me that's ok since real life is frustrating enough. Eric

Hyperforce is a great 2D game! By the way, I don't think anyone is aiming high enough for Jag games, even from the hobbiest community. Heck, most of the titles mentioned would be doable on the Lynx. Eric

Since you didn't specifically mention it, I can guess what the answer is, but I don't suppose you have the box, docs and/or an adapter for the Sears C380? I have that unit but none of the extras that go with it. Thanks, Eric

Just an observation at FYI in Arundle Mills, MD... They're XBox section was better stocked than their PS2 section, and much better stocked than their GameCube and GBA section. And about 2/3 of the customers on a busy weekend night were shopping XBox. One more XBox observation, some of the release titles which are really pretty good are now available cheap almost everywhere. I've seen new $19.99 titles at FYE and CompUSA of all places. Eric

I agree with the teeming hordes, both Pitfall TMA and Syndicate are fun games that take a bit of getting used to. And you will need the instructions for Syndicate. Wolfenstein has to go on my "I didn't think I'd like it but I did for some plain old stupid old school fun." Two games I tend to turn on my Jaguar for are Defender 2000 and Hyperforce. One game I used to turn my Jag on until it crashed on an advanced level is Baldies. Eric

I don't know what kind of polygon rendering claims the Jaguar ever made (I'm sure plenty of people here do) but it's not really a good measure of anything, least of all not a good measure of how the games will turn out. My favorite case in point is the Dreamcast. I always wondered why, if the PS2 claims about double or so the poly pushing power of the DC, did DC games tend to look better? Turns out that polygon rendering tests only test a machines ability to render polygons, and not a machines ability to render polygons while reading a joystick, playing back a soundtrack, overlaying sound effects and calculating game logic. Hence why many DC games look better than the PS2. When you realize that the PS2's main processor (EE) can communicate with the IO processor (IOP) *or* the graphics processor (GS) *or* a vector processor (V1/V2), and the communications channel is relatively slow, well, that's one problem for starters. There are other system issues as well, like the fact that the vector processors are difficult to use so hardly anyone does. The point being, how the unit works as a system and the ability of the programmers to access the power in an economical way is much more important that any raw numbers. Eric

If you're a fix it type I have a Jaguar with a loose cartridge connection, i.e. if you jiggle the cart while you're playing the power will cut out. I think I also have a few games for it around here somewhere (I think they are Dino Dudes, Iron Soldier and Syndicate but don't hold me to that just yet). Willing to trade or sell -- a working 5200 stick is always a good option. Eric

Thanks, I'm home and recovered from Adventures in Business on the Left Coast. Check your PM... Eric

No apologies for web skills. I actually can make a decent looking web page, but for my own personal stuff I rarely spend the time. But I'm really writing to say, I loooove what you've done with the bathroom. I wonder if my wife would let me do that when we finish the basement. Eric PS: If there's any HTML you find useful in the personal page above (as if), feel free to grab it.

I never could get the version built with GCC to work, so I made some small changes to get it to compile under M$ Visual C++. At least that's what I think I did. If anyone is interested I could just .zip up my development environment and send it to you. If I remember correctly when you build with GCC there was something wierd about the way environment variables worked, such that I couldn't get it to behave satisfactorily in my development environment (W2K/XP Pro). Don't remember exactly what the issue was. My dev environment still requires cygwin in order to run all of the other components, including make. I use Textpad as an editor, and actually code sprites by hand, in hex. Eric

Welcome and enjoy. In addition to trading, common Lynx games can be had pretty cheaply from eBay as well as from some online sellers, including: The GOAT Store Good Deal Games There are other fine, trustworthy vendors, often with better stock, but these folks tend to have better prices on common games. Eric

Is that a socketed EPROM I see in the pic? Wasn't someone just looking for one of those? Eric

It may be no fun to play but it's a lot faster to develop. I can only imagine what Lynx games would be like if the original developers could have worked using Handy and a P4-2Ghz. Eric

Thanks, sorry to keep everyone waiting...duty calls...

Eastern Front (Atari 800)