I got a Wii-injury!

[I got a Wii-injury!]

She Who Must Be Obeyed smacked herself in the chin whilst playing one of the Super Monkey Ball Mini-games last night, I don’t know which injury was worse, her bruise of my cramp from laughing so hard!

 

We have recorded injuries from Sports from friends who come over to play during parties, usually sore shoulders from playing Baseball and sore thighs from Bowling.

[Wii Play]

Gee, here in Oz it was available on Wii release day back in December, so we finally got a title (and in PAL) before you guys......

 

We have only played with Wii Play once as it really did not grab us, I am interested in your views as maybe we missed something and should persevere.

[Will there ever be a PAL Flashback 2 ?]

According to Curt, no, but I'm running a US FB2 though my PAL/NTSC TV and using a step-down voltage transformer fine, as MIMO suggests.

[Guitar Hero III]

That is great news, GH is one of the few games that made me consider buying a PS2 and one that should work really well on the Wii.

[Best way to store your controllers?]

I tired of curling cords and the inevitable tangles so I hang my loose controllers off hooks on the back of doors.

 

When I finally get around to completing the fit out of The Cave, I'm going to put up a slotted rack along one wall where the controllers will hang by their plugs.

[GBC games you would consider classics? In keeping w/ "GB Classics" thread]

Bomberman Colour is the only GBC game I still play to this day.

[What games have/had caused you to use a bit of colorful language?]

Most.

 

I'm really just not that good at playing games and my obsession with them is sort of like a catholic self-flagellation thing.

[Are there any games in your collection for systems you don't own?]

I've just found some Commodore C16 cassettes in a drawer and that's a system I have never owned nor probably ever will.

[PC to TI99/4A interface?]

I am most impressed, you have some great games there that I have not seen on the TI since it was selling in the shops.

 

I'm very envious of Congo Bongo, Moon Patrol and Miner 2049er.

[Collectors From Australia UNITE]

Jaycar, I saw them in a Jaycar agent just last week and they are a current (joke) line in their catalogue.

 

You can order from them on-line as well.

[What computer did you learn to program BASIC language on?]

TRS-80 Model 1 at school and then Apple IIe at home followed by all of the variants on Vic-20, C64, TI99/4A, ZX-80, ZX-81 and the Spectrum.

 

Ah the days of programming the Apple IIe to draw a "drop net" graphics design and then waiting for 4 hours for it to draw it before crashing with the inevitable "Syntax Error".

[What's the latest Atari related thing(s) you've bought on ebay?]

I get on there looking for just a hard drive and end up walking away from my computer with multiple hard drives (figuring I can just re-sell the extras ), a dozen DVDs, several books, some Matrix collectibles, a digital camera, an Robert Dinero autographed photo - which is probably fake, another Atari lot I don't need - but couldn't resist, some virtual items - that only exist electronically, a couple of domain names and a watch list filled to 100 for me to bid on the next week!

 

 

Now that is an impressive display of "getting carried away". I did a similar thing two years ago, jumped on eBay whilst waiting for the birth of my son and all of a sudden I was back into collecting video games again after a 5 year or so hiatus.

 

I'm envious of course.

[Best looking classic computers?]

It's the TI99/4A at the top of the list for me, followed by the Apple IIc (with monitor on the original stand) and then the BBC Micro as it looked so chunky and tough with the Eprom slot on the side of the keyboard.

 

Mind you, all three have pretty bad keyboard ergonomics.

[What's your favorite "Resident Evil" game?]

RE4 on the Cube for me, closely followed by Code: Veronica on the DC.

 

RE4 is just an outright shootfest and with the zombies fighting back, just more ass-whoopin' fun than the others, if not quite as deep.

[Some classic game stores are getting just plain greedy]

Boxed Conker's for $10 is a pretty good price all the same, even if he was a complete tosser.

[Collectors From Australia UNITE]

The video cable is the same as for the 2600 (and anything with a splitter box, it's the cable from the box to the TV). The stepdown transformer should be fine.

[Now that you have a Wii, your thoughts & games?]

Further evidence on how easy and fun the Wii is to use, we had a party Friday night with a couple of families over and one lot of parents had never played video games, even though their kids have a PS2, and they had a ball playing tennis and bowling and even set up their own Mii's.

 

If nothing else, Wii may be the modern replacement for Twister (although naked Wii probably is not as much fun as naked Twister)

[PC to TI99/4A interface?]

 

Well, I can tell you that having the equivalent of a PE box, a 32K expander card, a disk controller card, and three floppy drives (which are essentially hard drives) all in that tiny little thing plugged into the side of your TI is AWESOME!

 

Now that's just blatant gloating

 

Does anyone know why these things are only available on eBay and not through a vendor or direct?

[What was the last computer you punted to the garbage can?]

In one day, CoCo II, Mac Classic and a PII PC. The former were just dirty, low-end units with nothing worth salvaging and I have at least 2 of each still in the Cave, the latter was a busted PC, which happens over time and multiple re-builds.

[Leaving discs in your Wii = bad?]

How much power is the unit drawing when in stand by?

 

I support the go Game Cube games suggestion until more, better suited to the Wii games come out. With the low price point and a heap of games we have not played before (did not own a Cube until this year) we have been using our Wii more as a Cube than a Wii.

[Collectors From Australia UNITE]

Sorry to take so long to get back but I went away for the weekend.

 

No luck - the power supply is going to be a bitch to get, you may need to investigate Best Electronics in the States or try to lay your hands on a non-working unit with power supply. The output is 5V 1W with a unique plug. Mine states that it is for PAL 7800 although I shouldn't think it would be any different for a NTSC unit (apart from voltage in). I run my NTSC systems with US adaptors through a 240V to 110V step down transformer without any hassles.

 

Maybe you should post an appeal for an adaptor and get the questions answered on the 7800 thread?

 

As for the video cable, it is a generic RCA-type male plug at one end and a Co-Axial at the other, you can get those cheap at any Jaycar, Dick Smith, Tandy and I have even seen them at the larger "Bargain" department stores such as Trev's or Go Lo.

[What is your favorite "Pitfall" game?]

The original is the best for me, it was the first game I ever played that held my attention for hours and had just the right mix of skill and playability.

[Some classic game stores are getting just plain greedy]

Don't you love those mizers on Ebay who try to jack you with 5 dollar shipping for a freakin Atari 2600 game. And they list each of their 70 games separately.

 

That is certainly the trend on eBay.Oz. Some time ago eBay did put out an announcement that they were going to crack down on outrageous post & pack charges but either their interpretation of too high a charge and mine differs greatly or nothing ever happened.

[Collectors From Australia UNITE]

I'll check my stuff out over the weekend and let you know what I find.

[Some classic game stores are getting just plain greedy]

Second hand game stores in Oz are expensive but with the stupid prices things are going for on eBay plus the out of control packaging and postal charges the sellers rip you off with often what seems like a high price in a store is about the same as the total on eBay, but at least you can inspect the game before you buy.