goatdan

Oh, I don't know how good the price is, but if anyone needs one I have a few at the GOAT Store that aren't listed on our site that I could part with for $8.00 before shipping. If anyone wants them, PM me and I'll put them up on the site to purchase I have them on hand as repair parts right now.

A few notes on them: Bending the pins back into place is unfortunately a pretty crummy fix. It only works for a short period before they bend back. New ones are much more strong... at least for a while. If you replace it, don't shove a cart in and out of it to loosen it up. The tightness will go away through time, and it will naturally adjust to the size of the cartridges you own, instead of being forced into a larger size. If you're very careful, one 72 pin connector should last years. I still have managed to keep my original NES one working, but I have probably replaced over 100 of them for the GOAT Store now, and most of them die from people forcing in games. And I fully endorse blowing on the cartridges. I have never had a problem with that

That is pretty odd, for sure. Perhaps they bought out an old company when they moved in and were clearing out some stock. There was a toy store near me (Children's Palace) that closed in the mid '90's and they pulled out TONS of old inventory and blew it out. Even when I was younger, I was really big into collecting video games and Ghostbusters toys. They had sealed semi-rare 2600 games for fifty cents apiece (mostly California Games) and a bunch of 1988-ish released Ghostbuster toys. There was also TONS of old sealed NES stuff (well, not that old at the time) and so on. If only I had more money back then... I also walked into a Wal*Mart in Gurnee, IL a couple years ago and found a TON of NES games still sealed in a clearance bin. The games were in horrible shape (probably from having been lost for years) but they had some interesting titles like the Jetsons, Flintstones II and so on. I did pick up a bunch of those.

Of the approximately 1250 people that attended MGC 2K4, I doubt that more than 300 came from out of state, and our number is skewed because we are within an hour of Chicago, where probably 250-275 of those "out of state" guests came from. The portion of people that come to an event that are willing to travel more than two hours to get there I think is pretty small, and other events happening in different parts of the country do nothing but help raise awareness of other events. From my standpoint, it is all a win-win situation. Unfortunately, I've never been to a PhillyClassic and if it moves to October, I probably never will be (I run a haunted house, and there is Pinball Expo in Chicago at the same time), but I don't think that the move would hurt the event much if at all. It has always been a quality event, and I expect that to continue. My guess is that if the organizers moved it back, there is a really good reason behind it.

Hey Everyone, I sort of did this before, but some people only replied on message boards and didn't email me. This post is a modified version of the email that was sent to everyone that did email me. Because I don't want to miss anyone that is interested in helping to bring the Midwest Gaming Classic 2005 to life and improve it, here is an important message: Hello, I'm writing this message to anyone who is interested in helping to organize the Midwest Gaming Classic 2005. As of right now, the future of the Midwest Gaming Classic is still completely up in the air. The reason why the event is up in the air is simple -- there were only four main organizers, and with the amount of work that it took to put the Midwest Gaming Classic together, especially the 2004 event, we have recognized that we are not able to continue to put forth the same amount of time every year in the future. Last year's Midwest Gaming Classic took hours upon hours to put together and run, and with only four people organizing it the task was overwhelming. There wasa period of approximately a month where I was working a job for 40 hours a week, working on the Midwest Gaming Classic for 50 hours a week and trying to keep up with the GOAT Store for another 10 hours a week. With that amount of time commitment, I didn't have much time for myself, and I know that I speak for the other organizers when I say that none of us want to end up in that situation. To fix the time commitment problem, we have come up with a few things -- the most important of which is the involvement of yourself and others. Each of the tasks in themselves are not too big, and if we could have a few people that worked together on them each, we could put together the event so that it is much better than what the smaller team put together, and it would be more manageable. If you are interested in helping to organize the possible 2005 Midwest Gaming Classic, please email me at [email protected] with the subject line of "Re: Midwest Gaming Classic 2005 Help Request" and answer the questions that I have below. Once we have collected these for a week or two, I will write another email to everyone who replies titled "Midwest Gaming Classic 2005 Update." In that email, I will be updating everyone with how the response has been so far. If the response is strong, we will make a judgement call on how to best move forward. This may or may not mean that the event will occur -- there are some more hurdles to overcome such as funding first -- but it would be a major step in the right direction. If you do not reply to either email, I will not contact you again. Midwest Gaming Classic 2005 Organizer help survey: Name: Address: City: State/Country: Zip/Postal Code: I have attended (check those which apply): - Jagfest 2K1: Beyond Tempest - Midwest Classic 2002 - Midwest Classic 2003 - Midwest Gaming Classic 2004 - Pinball Expo (any years) - PhillyClassic (any years) - Classic Gaming Expo (any years) - Austin Gaming Expo - Other electronic gaming event (please name any others): I am most interested in (check those which apply): - Arcade Games - Computers - Home Video Games - Pinball - Other - please explain: Would you be interested in being a team leader? Yes / No (Note: If the project moves forward, people would be organized into teams with one team leader. The team leader would be the person to divide up the tasks for the group and report progress to Gary and I, who would oversee the entire project. Team leaders should be people who want to lend a bigger hand to the organizing. You do not have to live nearby or even attend the event to be a team leader, but it is preferable. Depending on interest, for some teams, there may be co-team leaders.) Which of the following teams would you be interested in being a part of. If you see a team that you might be interested in doing a little bit of work for but not a lot, please still mark them. (check all that apply, a short description follows. If you wouldn't mind being a team leader for any particular team, please put a T by it.): - Sponsorship / Fundraising team - this is the most important team. This team would be responsible for helping to sell sponsorships to corporate sponsors, working to presell tickets and tables and so on. If you are willing to help at all with any part of this, we encourage you to sign up for this. - Advertising / Promotion team - this team would make judgement calls about how to best promote the MGC. This would include writing articles for publications, asking Web sites to link to the event's Web site, creating new banner advertisements for the Web site, creating and distributing fliers, and other aspects related to promoting the event. - Web site - the Midwest Gaming Classic Web site was a huge task to put together, and it could still use some major updates. This team would update the Web site regularly with news, graphics, links and so on. - Arcade team - the arcade team would work hand in hand with the pinball team to bring a full compliment of upright machines to the event. This would include contacting developers, contacting distributors, selling tables, asking individual collectors to bring games to the event and so on. This team would also work on any tournament ideas or special areas. - Pinball team - same idea as the arcade team, but with pinball. - Computer team - same idea as the arcade team, but with pinball. This team would also work with companies to attempt to bring a LAN back to the Midwest Gaming Classic. There are certain limitations on who may be contacted about this. - Video game team - same idea as all of the other teams, but with home consoles. - Classic Gaming and Computing Museum Team - this team would work on creating a unique museum area of the event. - Speakers and special events team - this team would work hand in hand with all of the other teams to figure out who would speak, when they would speak and so on. They would also contact people who have spoke in the past and who could speak at the event. - Location team - this team would assist in picking the location of the event, as well as doing any special preparation work that may need to be done. Due to problems with the Brookfield Sheraton for the 2004 event, we are leaning toward not using them again. The members of this team must be located near Milwaukee. - Set up and tear down team - this team would work on figuring out the logistics for setting up the event and helping to disassemble the event when it was over. - Operation team - this team would work on assembling a team to help run ticket sales, security, tournaments and so on. - Miscellanious team - this team would do odd jobs that popped up from time to time. This could include helping out various teams on big tasks. Thanks in advance for your response, and we hope that you consider joining the team! Dan Loosen The GOAT Store, LLC http://www.goatstore.com/ email: [email protected]

Ah, the DCEmulation site is one of the best sites to get all things DC. Actually, you are right and I question the FAQ. The "reason" that the DC shouldn't be used to play burned games, according to people during the Dreamcast's lifespan is that it had to use the laser at a stronger setting and would therefore burn out quicker. If that was the case though, the most damaging thing that you could do is play a CD on your Dreamcast... but they are made to do that. The "little bit of damage" that you could do is the same as running a regular program. I have a Dreamcast that sits beside me at my computer and has been on continously doing playtesting on upcoming releases (burned onto CD-Rs) and there has never been a problem. At the least, I have played 500+ hours of burned discs on this particular system. It still works wonderfully. In no way am I advocating piracy, but I definitely enjoy the emulators that have been made, as well as the new releases. The system is pretty darn sturdy in my opinion. I have about 20 of them, and I used some to play music at a haunted house I run this year, so they sat in an environment with lots of heat and fog machines, and they still run just fine Supposedly, there were a few consoles that were released without the support to play CD-Rs. Sega was working on a revision of the hardware that would have locked it out due to the piracy that was ongoing during the DC's lifespan. There were only a handful of these systems released, and I have yet to run into any of them. The new releases that I have been working on all play on professionally pressed CD-Rs that would also be locked out if these systems existed. So far, we have sold well over 1000 copies of our first game Feet of Fury, and we have never received one complaint. I would really be curious, as I would happily trade one of my DCs for one with this "problem."

Personally, I think it's worth it. I have a complete US collection of DC games, have a bunch of imports and am actually working with some developers to continue releasing new games. For that price too (and it's the Sega Sports edition, which was black by the way), with all the extras, I would probably say go for it. A Sega Sports DC is probably worth $30-40 boxed, and each game is probably worth at least a couple bucks. If you get it, I can dig up a list of games that I love for the system

I don't know... Towers II just seemed to work against me. I played it for a few hours and kept dieing and not getting anywhere, so I finally gave up. I have no desire to return to it. I didn't think the FPS-ish view worked well, I didn't think the puzzles were laid out well and I wasn't impressed by much of anything. Highlander on the other hand -- I actually like the controls. Yes, it takes a little while after you hit the punch button to land a punch, but if you go to punch someone in real life, if you want power you have to move in such a way to get it. I thought the graphics were great excepting the enemies which were acceptable, and the puzzles were well done. I also really liked how the game combined the cartoon and the game itself. It was also far from perfect, but in my opinion it was a lot more fun.

Yeah, i know :wink: The thing is, i'm an RPG nut who's been after this one (& only Jag RPG) for a LONG time - i'm dying to play it! Whenever it's been on ebay (CIB only of course ) i always seem to miss out because i couldn't make it to the net. Then, as i'm about to place an order with Telegames US a few months back, i get a sign telling me they don't sell Jag stuff anymore. Now this... So please, now that you have it, do me a big favor and ENJOY it! For me, ok?!... Honestly... You're not missing that much. Towers II is in most people's opinions not a very good game. I'd put Highlander CD into the mix as an RPGish game, and I think that is about a million and three times better than Towers II, even with it's horrid control.

Space Invaders and Mario Bros. for the 2600 are incredible. I still pull both of those out with friends from time to time

Really? After getting mine, I'd have to say it was the most easy to use controller I ever bought. Fits my hand perfectly, and the 6 buttons underneath are layed out so that I could actually use all of them. Just my thoughts Why didn't you like yours?

That's insane. If I had a slim PS2, I'd happily trade if for a functional original PS2 straight across. The new PS2 is a downgrade. I'm glad I got one of the fatties. I agree. I think the fat (phat?) PS2 is a lot better. At the least, they are equals. I'm just always floored by how goofy the general public is about stuff, and I really think that part of the drive is for people to pick up the new Sony system.

I think its normal to lose interest in a system -- after all, each progression has brought us something new so that people move up. You now have a ton of different gaming options to check out at a time. Personally, I have a much lower interest in my Jaguar since Jagfest 2K1 ended. I still like it and get stuff rarely for it, but I don't play anything much at all. My Dreamcast, while I also still love it, has been in the same rut. I have been playing a lot of Xbox stuff lately, but the only DC stuff I've been playing are games that I'm testing for the GOAT Store. I haven't been pulling out games to play though there are a good number I really want to check out. I have a SNES, 3DO and 2600 all in storage. My NES is out, but only because it is attached to my TV. Some systems I know I won't go back too, and then I sell them after I feel that I have played everything I will for them. The 32X, Saturn and Turbografx all fell into that category. On the other hand, there are a few systems I keep around for just a handful of games. My 3DO I only have two games for, and I doubt I'll ever get more. I only actively collect for the Jaguar and Dreamcast. All my other consoles I tend to not necessarily lose interest in, but I just don't game on them as much as the others. I have bought probably 10 NES games, 5 SNES games and no N64 games since those systems stopped being supported. I *adore* the games that I have and wouldn't sell them for anything, but I don't find new games that interest me like the ones that I have. My collections are rather modest. Lastly, I get weird on certain gaming systems that I find that are rare. I have a nearly-complete Action Max set. I am actively attempting to collect for the A'Can. I know that I won't be playing games on either of those systems if I can get them, but I also know that I'm not collecting those to play, but I am collecting those to collect for those.

No idea. I wasnt defending them, just pointing out the real story thats all. I think it stinks as much as you, although I dont know how id react if a big corporate started making money illegally from my intellectual proprty. Ive never really taken much notice of internet cafe culture as ive never really needed one, so i dont know how many people will go there to check games out? Valve probably think that because the Half Life brand is so stupendously huge, if they do piss a few people off it wont really matter. They will still make gazillions..... especially since they dont have pay fees to the publishers for all the copies sold via Steam (as im led to believe) - that last point about the publishers fees is very strange though, i cant remember where I read it, but considering publishers will be responsible for almost all marketing, Valve will benefit greatly from it and not pay fees for the privelage. if its true of course. Didn't want to quote the whole thing, but I don't really know where to start. I agree with you... The thing is that if Vivendi was illegally giving the game to Internet Cafe owners, then Valve could have (and should have) sued Vivendi for lost fees. The didn't need to shut down those copies of the game too. If I was purchasing a game as a store owner, and I wanted a copy, purchasing it from the publisher would be what I did. If suddenly my games didn't work, I'd be angry. And if it was because the maker was angry at the producer, it would seem like I was just getting hit in the crossfire. Dumb idea. The biggest reason for Internet Cafe's, at least from what I've seen is to go there with a group of friends to play games that you might not all own. The Internet Cafe that I knew (iColiseum, currently "in limbo" last I heard) had powerful gaming PCs and a bunch of games -- Warcraft III, Half Life, Battlefield 1942, Battlefield Vietnam, Halo, etc. People would go there to play against their friends in all of these games. You paid for a few hours of play, and then did whatever, so if you came only knowing Halo, you would probably play other first person shooters too. Shannon, I agree with you mostly. I do feel badly for companies that lose money to pirates if those companies take a fair measure to stop piracy and it is cracked. I don't feel that Valve did something fair. As I said before -- we've all probably used a GameShark, Game Genie or some type of code at some point when playing a game. That doesn't mean that Valve should have any right to take away the game from you.

I think it's just that people often times don't really look at stuff, they just decide if it is different. Last year, the amusement park I used to work at painted one of the coasters (Batman) yellow from black. While *nothing* else about the ride changed except the cleaning up of a bit of theming, a lot of poeple figured that Great America had built a totally new ride "but it's just like the old Batman." A different look to the PStwo? It must be something I need to get. My PS2 is obviously obsolete.

I think part of it too is that people are "upgrading" their old consoles. I was at a GameStop this week and a bunch of people came in with their PS2's to trade in, looking for the "new Playstation console" that just came out. With the PSone, I remember Sony advertising the fact that is was the PSX with a different case design. I wonder if people realize it is the same system this time around?

There is a lot of Xbox 3rd party controllers that are decent and cheap. i currently don't have any myself, but I know some people who do and they have said they are better than the MS ones. If you do want a Microsoft one, you can get the original (BIG) controller used at GameStop brick and mortar stores for $13.00 I think. I have only heard good things about the GameStop Pelican controllers too.

I've only got an Xbox... Until the GameStop buy-two, get-one-free sale this week, I have had about 10 Xbox games. More if you count the holiday packs as two (I have both of the past two ones). Thanks to the sale, I finally picked up a bunch of games I had been waiting for price drops on, and I'm quite suddenly sitting at about 25 games (and I spent less than $80 for those 15 games!). I honestly can't name one more game for the system that I'm even remotely interested in getting now. But I'm rather happy with what I've got

ThurstMaster FireStorm Dual Analog with or without Force Feedback from here is GREAT. http://www.compgeeks.com/products.asp?cat=JOY Computer Geeks is a GREAT company. I've probably spent $400.00 there in the last month, and they stand behind EVERYTHING that they sell. And even though it has nothing to do with a controller, check this out too: http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invti...-CASE-N&cat=CAR That is a slick deal if you have a lot of CDs sitting around...

I *finally* got it. After looking for exactly one month now... Damn this game is hard to find. It's good. I haven't gotten too much of a feel for it yet, but as an avid pinball player I have noticed some things that the machines fail to do correctly, and the oddest thing happened to me on Tee'd Off -- the ball got stuck on the playfield and no amount of shaking would get it out. The game was Tilted. I then changed camera angles, and the ball came right out. What the heck? I can't complain much though. So far, it looks like the best console pinball game since Pinbot and High Speed, and the best ever when it comes to history.

Whoa... I just checked out GameFAQs about it, and the four reviews there ranked it 8, 10, 9 and 9. I'll probably be heading back to that Best Buy within the next couple days. I've had horrible luck snagging things that were $9.99 that I go back for, but if they have it I could pick you up a copy if your BB doesn't have it I think I might end up with one too

My wife at one time was absolutely stellar at Wolfenstien 3D. This was back before we had met. Apparently, she could get 100% on every level and complete the game under the time limit. I tried getting her to prove it to me, but she said that she wouldn't play it again because for over a week she had dreams (nightmares) about running around and having to kill tons of German soldiers in real life. Of course, they were also attempting to kill her, all in the W3D setting.

NICE snag. Time Pilot is one of the games that I'd like to add to my gameroom. First, I need to get a house and make a gameroom though. My apartment isn't big enough, and my parents already don't like the fact they're holding onto four of my games...

Yager is $9.99 at Best Buy. But I haven't tried it, sorry.

Question -- does the ball act differently on the EM tables versus the SS tables? The physics problems that I have heard is that the ball is "floaty," but that tends to be how a lot of EM games play -- the flippers weren't as strong as the "modern" flippers, and therefore the ball moves a lot slower. The pop bumpers didn't strike with as much force, so again -- the ball moves a lot slower. Personally, I really like that about EM games and I was really hoping that it would act in such a way