HawgWyld

Yeah. OK. Great. Like I wasn't excited enough about the Amico already. I honestly can't wait for this system to debut and haven't been this interested in a console in some time. Gotta get one. Heck, why not grab two? Make mine snazzy woodgrain and GTO red (or, is that Tallarico Ferrari red?)

I agree with you 100 percent. I play this with my son (who is in the Navy and stationed halfway across the country from me) and an old friend of mine and we love it. I know the media coverage has been negative so far, but this is an absolute hoot to play with a group. Oh, and GT = ecnobles for anyone wanting to join us scurvy dogs...

I run a news blog over at FirstArkansasNews.net and have started a retrograming category featuring various classic consoles. Why? For the hell of it (just like everything else we do over there). Ah, but there's a problem -- I'm only writing about consoles I've actually owned. There are a lot of them, to be sure, but I need some people who are familiar with other consoles to submit articles talking about them. Here are the systems I'm not familiar enough with to write about competently: Fairchild Channel "F" Intellivision RCA Studio II Arcadia 2001 Atari 5200 Turbografx-16 Vectrex Sega Master System Neo Geo Philips CD-I 3DO Virtual Boy Sega Saturn What do you get out of this should you participate? Well, you can plug whatever you want on a site that averages about 16,000 unique hits per month and is growing. Also, you can crow about being an expert (who wouldn't want that?) Interested? Send me a message through AtariAge or send an email to [email protected] Thanks, and let me know if you have any comments, questions, etc.

Heh. I didn't think it was that bad. But, indeed, typos do pop up from time to time -- it all depends on how tired I am when editing posts from other writers on the site (and posting my own, of course). Self editing is a bad, bad habit and one that I'd love to avoid (solid editing from people paid to do such a thing has made me look good through careers in journalism and public relations). Truth be told, I've spent what little time I can devote to the site (a full time job in public relations and a regular freelancing gig for a newspaper in the area do keep me busy) to dealing with finding solid Wordpress plugins, customizing my theme, etc. Hopefully, I'll have more time for good old editing once we get the site more established. Ah, that Dustin Diamond. What a man...

The "HDTV" problem has driven me nuts for months -- got some advice from the famed Video Game Critic: http://firstarkansasnews.net/2010/05/help-my-hdtv-hates-my-classic-video-game-console/

Barbie? Seriously?

Did some research and found out the SCART "mod" for the Genny. I think I'll use that and see how it goes. Meanwhile, I've already ordered the VGA box for my Dreamcast. Hell, I even picked up some component cables for that worthless Wii. Hopefully, things will get back to normal soon

My Wii is rock solid. If you test it out and it works fine, the chances are good you've got a console that will last awhile. In a hardware sense, the Wii is pretty darned solid. I wouldn't read to much into the $140 price. The "used market" for those things is relatively flooded around here and I'll assume the story is the same elsewhere.

I'll give that a look as soon as I get home then and I do appreciate the tip. I haven't gotten the composite cables for the Wii yet as (obviously) I believe I've spent enough on that thing. Still, if it can be used as an emulator the cables will certainly be worth it. One question -- are you using the remote or the "classic controller" for emulation? Depends on the system. SNES and systems need the classic controller. I want to clarify also that I'm using a hacked Wii with the homebrew channel launching emulators for the NES, SNES, Genny, 2600, 7800 etc...not just the virtual console. Hmm. Hacked with the Homebrew channel? Heh. I haven't gotten any Wiiware that way I'll give it a shot tonight. I'll clear a bunch of that Wiiware off my internal memory (even at the low, low cost of free, most of those games were too expensive, anyway -- no big loss) and see about emulation. I ordered that composite video cable a bit ago. Ah, we'll just see how it goes...

I figure that's happening all over the place. Irritating, huh?

I'll give that a look as soon as I get home then and I do appreciate the tip. I haven't gotten the composite cables for the Wii yet as (obviously) I believe I've spent enough on that thing. $5 for component cables at DealExtreme. I would imagine most people use a gamecube controller for emulation, but i could be mistaken(my Wii is not modded). Have you tried working with your tv settings at all? Most HDTV's can scale classic games decent enough.. big thing I'd look at is seeing if it lets you set the aspect ratio so your games aren't stretched. I still prefer a CRT though. I'll take a look at the component cables you mentioned -- what's another $5 after the hundreds I've wasted on that thing? I've got Game Cube controllers to spare, so I'll give that a shot after I get a game or two. I've set the aspect ratio to 4:3 for the classics -- still looks very pixelated. I've fooled with sharpness, contrast -- everything else I can mess with. Driving me nuts. Considering the aggravation that seems inherent in getting those old consoles to work on HDTV sets, I can't help but think a lot of people are just abandoning their old systems in favor of the new ones out there. That's a shame.

Did you mod those things at all? Which systems?

Unfortunately, there is cause for concern. I mean, the games are certainly playable, but the graphics are very blocky -- the resolution is just too low to reproduce. I haven't hooked up the Atari yet as I'd hate to see what video pumped through an RF box would look like and you just know the Colecovision would have the same problem. Fortunately, I've got a CRT television in the bedroom, but that doesn't help much when the wife is asleep and I want to crank that wonderful Sirius satellite radio and play some old school games. I'm starting to think I should have just ignored the whole HDTV thing and picked out the biggest SDTV tube television I could find.

I'll give that a look as soon as I get home then and I do appreciate the tip. I haven't gotten the composite cables for the Wii yet as (obviously) I believe I've spent enough on that thing. Still, if it can be used as an emulator the cables will certainly be worth it. One question -- are you using the remote or the "classic controller" for emulation?

S-video on the SNES still doesn't look great -- a bit better than the picture coming from the RCA plugs on the Genesis and NES, but still not great. If my wife and kids didn't love the Wii so much, I would have put it and the crappy games I have for it on eBay already. I might look into emulation with the Wii, but I'm not expecting much -- that system has been a complete waste of time and money so I tend to stay away from it so as to avoid frustration.

A couple of weeks ago, our trusted RCA CRT television gave up the ghost. It was a sad day, indeed. A fresh wave of sadness hit after I plugged my NES, SNES, Genesis (S-Video for the SNES, RCA plugs for the NES and Genesis) up to the shiny, new 42" LCD, 1080p we bought to replace the old RCA. The games, frankly, look like crap due (I suppose) to the fact the 240p signal sent out by those beloved old systems doesn't convert well. I dread to think what my beloved Atari will look like on the new television. At any rate, I wound up plugging my Nintendo Wii in for the first time in about six months. It still pales compared to the classic systems. So, I'm stuck with the prospect of dragging my old systems to the CRT television in the bedroom (an option I don't like), trying to find something fun to do with my Wii (an option I like even less) or dealing with the funky, pixelated images displayed by the new television. I'm wondering then -- are a lot of you folks choosing to go with newer systems rather than deal with the confounding problem of trying to convert a signal from a "legacy console" to HDTV so it looks halfway decent? It would be a lot less trouble to run out and buy a Wii, PS3 or XBox 360 then fool with that. I can't help but think a lot of people are choosing that option -- something that doesn't bode well for classic gaming.

Got a keen-o Retro Duo in today (red and gold = snazzy). So far, so good. The controllers are a bit lighter than I'd like, but they are accurate and solid. So far, the sound has held up well. The NES slot rather bugs me as the thing is just too tight. I doubt it's going to rip any pins out, however. I paid $45 for the thing and that wasn't a bad deal. I picked one up because my top loader NES has only RF output -- that sucks on a "normal" television set and will look dreadful on the HDTV I'm buying this weekend. The retro duo has both RCA plugs and S-Video (I've had a problem with black and white output through S-Video on certain games, however). I've only fooled with it for a few hours, but it appears to be a solid unit so far. Time will tell though, right?

Ah, heck. It's kind of funny to watch, if you think about it. My favorite thing about the new round of consoles is that it has become cheaper to feed my Game Cube. Besides, I'm still happy with my old Atari, so no lines for me.

Damn, damn, damn. And, damn. I'm going to miss the big show this year. We just bought a house and my wife has me working all blasted weekend. Typical.

I had just about lost all interest in modern systems and figured the GameCube would be the last "new" machine I'd buy. The 360 and PS3 look rather like upgrades rather than anything revolutionary, after all. But, that Wii looks pretty damn good.

Mine showed up in the mail today. Great, great game! Anyone who doesn't have it is missing out on something truly fantastic.

Just ordered it. Yay!

Yeah, there's one I need to pick up for sure. I missed it last time around and I won't make that mistake again...