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RetroAdvisoryBoard

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Moonsweeper

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  1. I'm enjoying the Evercade, haven't had the issues some are reporting, find it's been a very good spend for me. I'm looking forward to the two collections - imagine it'll mostly be Action and Space Network games, a mix of latter arcade-types. With the number pad mapping several would need some retooling, but the Evercade has four add'l buttons to work with, you could cheat with a couple combos if you had to, so some room to maneuver. And everything is inherently single-player. Still, they got up to 25 on the modern plug-n-play controllers in the 2000s, it's not impossible. I'm hoping they can sneak in a couple home-brews, or a later Intellivision home-brew cartridge is announced. Something of an "Indievision" cartridge.
  2. The outtakes were brilliant... that audible distancing had all the professional touch of a man who clearly wasn't yelling at his first wall. A very humble thank you for the channel shoutout, that just made my week. Might be something of a 2nd to getting that shoutout on Romper Room's magic mirror segment, but it's up there. I mean, it's Romper Room. The playground cred. "Daniel, go get a surname." ?
  3. Submitting this to the Vatican as a bonafide miracle. Bravo!
  4. Going to leave the technology discussion to the rest of you as my knowledge there is more rudimentary.. but wouldn't the technology in the 1950s have more likely been vacuum tubes and an oscilloscope, rather than transistors? Making integration into commercially-sold television sets more prohibitive? Intrigued by how video games would have evolved had their genesis been in the 1950s rather than the late 60s/early 70s. University students and young professionals of 1955 weren't nearly so guided by the space race - Computer Space, and space as a broader theme for so much of early video games probably doesn't emerge front-and-center. Perhaps the first great theme in video games is Western-themed. Perhaps early game designers are less eccentric, they're certainly not computer programmers who've spent years learning how to program and tinker with computers to perform tasks and address variables. Instead they're electrical engineers learning how to best manipulate an object on monitor. I look at the Fairchild library and the Magnavox Odyssey games library or the RCA Studio II library. Those aren't video games developed by programmers to apply rules of play within the bounds of a defined game environment - they're emulating and applying known concepts. Decidedly logical games - the creative aspect seems stunted and unexplored. The mid 1950s are that much closer to Prohibition-era bans on gambling and pinball being a vice, so larger television manufacturers would probably refuse to put these "games of chance" on their sets, and development is stunted. Perhaps video games as a concept dies a temporary death as a fad concerned with manipulating a pulsating blur on a low-resolution television; the integrated circuit and microprocessor still decades away. Seldom is anything developed in a vacuum - video games emerged as costs to manufacture the components neared feasibility, as computer programs were increasing in complexity and affordability at universities, and - I think maybe a factor - as baby boomers were a little more willing to splurge on fancy gadgets aimed at the kids or the family.. I think in the 50s those parents (those returning from the war, the Greatest Generation) would've balked at a $200 or $400 blip-on-a-screen game. "Now, now, Jimmy. You go on outside and play with some fine sticks with the neighbor kids, and don't come back till dinner, you hear?". It wasn't really in their DNA to get a super pricey toy. The Baby Boomers and those raising their kids after Dr. Spock and the social changes of the late 50s, 60s and 70s? They were a bit more willing to question how they were parenting, to get involved at school, take interest in the kids' activities, Little League and such. Not attempting to critique one generation of parents over another - just different eras, and different reception. The earlier era I really don't think would've been at all receptive to a pricey gadget that was geared toward children and families playing. In that market Baer sells hundreds. Maybe 1000s. But not hundreds of thousands. Maybe in that era the rather expensive video game tv console device would've been marketed to the hard-working dad who needed some leisure time in his study. And games evolve as more of a gentleman's activity.
  5. Also in the market for one! Have been checking in on the LTO Flash! site for the last few months.. if my rudimentary count is accurate, that's 16 expressing interest on this board alone. I wonder if a survey on the Intellivision Invasion FB group, the Intellivisionaries podcast, here in the forum, and a 'request form' on the site (along with inquiries in other vintage console groups) may better gauge what the present market is? I know not everybody frequents every outlet. And I know an "I want to buy one" doesn't equate to a definite sale, but hoping the commitment rate is 60%+ Thanks for creating these in any case!
  6. Galaga and Pac-Man have recent phone app enhanced versions that play well and look very modern, so I didn't select those. Street Fighter is getting a lot of love from Digital Eclipse's Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection and Street Fighter IV Alpha and other recent entries. Utopia I think can use a reboot, something with a bit more bells and whistles, complexity, but not the gate-keeping level of complexity a Sim-Earth brought or other nation-building games bring, where you need a few hours to get your bearings and figure out if you're doing things successfully or not. Karateka or Kung-Fu would make excellent upgrades, Microsurgeon could have a very modern look and the simple premise expanded to something much more familiar as an Innerspace experience. Treasure of Tarmin - sure, an easy to navigate RPG would be a blast, an unlicensed D&D fantasy adventure that doesn't get caught up in submenus and abilities - which I may like, but the general consumer, perhaps not. Marble Madness would be a great title to upgrade and launch, it has an easy premise and the controller/gyroscope may make it even more entertaining. A lot of fun was to be had on the Wii with Marble Saga Kororinpa and Mercury Meltdown Revolution - both gyroscopic guide-the-marble/guide-the-puddle games through obstacles. Obscure, but if the Wii wasn't oversaturated with shovelware, I think could've stood out. Finally Dracula I think is a great title, a cartoonish vampire cruising the streets is a fun premise, one the public could adopt. Others I think have been updated fairly recently, fairly often (Frogger), or just less familiar/could be a later wave of reimagined classics.
  7. I bought a Wii U at the very end of its life-cycle - early 2017, just after the Switch launched. Had been awaiting a price drop that just didn't happen, then through 2016 and 2017 they were really rare to find in stores. Bought a second-hand system with a dozen games for about $175 and have had a blast. It's easily my favorite system of the last decade. Bought a system and 15 games for my dad for Christmas who's spent the last few months sending me regular updates on his Zelda: Breath of the Wild status. Splatoon, Mario Kart, Captain Toad, Bayonetta, Pikmin 3, Batman Arkham Armored, Deus Ex, Shantae, DuckTales, Monster Hunter, Yoshi's Wooly World, Shovel Knight, Lego City Undercover, Xenoblade X, Giana Sisters, Wonderful 101 Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze... too many to name. This thing has given me waaaaaaay more than the ~$400 in systems and games I've put into mine. My collection's now just over 80 titles and it's been a blast to play them. Happy to get the Switch and see these great games given an extension to a larger audience, but I won't be rebuying Wii U ported titles for a couple years I think. Bought two extra Wii U consoles w/tablets in trying to piece together a collection over the years; going to mod one of those. So many thanks for the guidance earlier in the thread!
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