Obtuse

Very little to report at my local thrifts...did see an Odyssey 2 w/no games in dubious condition at one (didn't buy it..but it's gone now), and a very abused Colecovision driving module at another. Otherwise it's mostly common NES and Genesis stuff showing up lately. Did make one purchase....found a lonely 2600 Starmaster cart for 43 cents. Nice to get a game I didn't have for so cheap.

I'm partial to Panasonic CRT's. For regular TV they have excellent picture quality (especially good at reproducing black), and seem to hold up well. At work we had several 27 inch monitors that were on 24/7. Installed in 1997, most were working just fine after 8 years. My 1999 27" Panasonic at home works great as well. Brands I would think twice about are RCA, GE, and Zenith. They used to make sets that would last forever, now they are among the least reliable...though there has been some recent improvement on higher-end sets. I have an 8 year old 27" GE that I could never get more than a so-so picture out of, but it does continue to function. Overall, avoid the bargain basement/no-name stuff and you should be OK. If you see one and say to yourself "I didn't know they made TV's", you'd most likely be better off with another set. (Polaroid, Westinghouse and Memorex come to mind....) The best value, however, may be just to find a good used set. There's loads of them around now that people are starting to upgrade to HDTV en masse.

Most wanted: Death Race 2000 Least wanted: My Dinner With Andre

[pedantic] You mean homonym, not synonym. They sound the same, but they don't mean the same thing. [/pedantic] Damn nit-pickers. 950375[/snapback] Oops, my bad. So I'm obviously not the only one who notices these trivial things.....

My fave PC car based game is a classic: Carmageddon!

LA Rush=Craptacular They've manage to remove almost every shred of what made the previous Rush games great. I wanted roof jumping, stunt flying, arcade madness. Instead I got a Need For Speed: Underground clone with an even worse soundtrack. They blew a great franchise on this one. Maybe they can get Bill Cosby to re-introduce "Rush Classic" (as he did with Coca- Cola Classic after the New Coke fiasco......) 'Til then guess I'll have to dig out the N64.

OK...here's the spoiler. Check "Save Mary"..... .....Barnaby just blew up the nearby damn causing the canyon to rapidly fill with water. The damn what? I can see how this was missed by spellcheck, as it is the correctly spelled synonym for "dam". Still an awesome product...I can't put the dam....err..... damn thing down!

It's in the Skill and Action Zone if you haven't found it...but I'm sure you have, as everyone always reads the instructions in their entirety before using a product .

Nada this week, the same common carts I passed on last week: Goodwill (2600 Missle Command, Asteroids, Quadrun.....er I mean Home Run). Goodwill #2 Nothing....just a few common NES and Genesis games. Thrift #1- Intellivision Skiing and 2600 Barnstorming carts. Left 'em. Thrift #2- 2600 Armor Ambush and Enduro (I left those last week). Flea Market-A few consoles scattered about (Dreamcast, Genesis, NES). Nothing of note game-wise (mostly common NES stuff).

My local (Tampa Bay Area) Target now has them...Quadrun! Quardun! enabled. Mine will be cart modded very soon.

Check your Flashback 2 instruction manual....it's in one of the game descriptions.

TuzenTCA, I used to have one of those in my office at work...green line and all. Was a 13" 1980 model. Currently I use a 1984 RCA 13"....10 bucks at a Garage Sale! This one's got knobs, though.

I go back and forth...currently playing mostly old-school (2600 4-switch and MAME). Also have NES and N64 I haven't touched in ages. The PS2 (with HD Advance....for backup purposes only ) has seen a bit of use lately (Burnout Revenge), but once I'm through the game will most likely sit idle.

I currently swap between a 7 year old 27" GE and a $10 garage sale 1984 RCA 13" (for that authentic experience). Wish I still had my 1982 RCA XL100 19" which gave up the ghost after giving 3 generations of my family 23 years of reliable service . Seems them old 70's/early 80's (pre-Thompson) RCA's and Zeniths last nearly forever. Lots of still working examples in the thrift shops. Too bad I don't have room for a floor model woodgrain console......now that's authentic!

Last week's thrift finds: Goodwill #1 Bunch of loose 2600 carts in great shape (except for the nearly impossible to remove price stickers, half of which were stuck to the game labels ). Mostly commons, I picked up Kaboom!, Seaquest (my fave of the bunch so far), Barnstorming, Epyx Summer Games, Enduro, Haunted House, River Raid & a couple others. Goodwill #2 Picked up 2 minty 2600 Wico Command Controllers and a spare Sega Genesis controller. Left a Genesis with no power or AV cables and a couple games on the shelf. Grungy thrift shop: A few 2600 games for a buck each. Venture (Red Label), Activision Boxing, Burgertime, A mystery (no label) M Network cart (turned out to be Frogs and Flies). Left a well used NES where it lay. Flea Market: Saw a filthy 4 switcher and Dodge Em cart with a very crushed box (there was another super common cart too, but the name escapes me). Left 'em. No shortage of NES stuff, though. Other thrift store: Picked up another lonely, beat up Genesis controller, may use it for parts. Not a thrift, but: Blockbuster Video clearance bin: a slightly used Genesis controller for 2.99 (with a 30 day guarantee, no less). Salvation Army: nuttin'....never have anything. Overall, Goodwill is best for the 2600 stuff around here.