The end of the game.com

[DeathAdderSF]

Howdy, y'all.

 

This has been in the works for far too long and today, I'm nauseous to announce that:

 

“The end of the game.com” rides again.

www.diskman.com/presents/gamecom

 

Yep. My formerly threadbare website about a handheld game system that's even less enjoyable than the Supervision [!!]... is back. Now bloated with far more information than you'll ever care to know, to experience it is a grand adventure in masochism. (Though still less painful than actually playing game.com games.)

 

If you're wondering why I've wasted so much time building a virtual shrine to such a useless piece of plastic stuffed with shoddy electrical components, it's simple: I did it because I knew no one else would. Amen.

 

So come on by and relive all your game.com favorites!

(I'd say, "You'll be glad you did," but we both know you'll regret it.)

Edited January 4, 2020 by DeathAdderSF

[CatPix]

Very interesting that your got an interview with John Young. There is in fact not much to say, apparently, but it's a nice dedication from your side.

Maybe, just so we can have an idea (especially for younger audiences and foreigners like me) you could put the price of a Game Boy system and carts in addition to the Game.com prices so we can see if it was even, less or more pricey than the "real deal" because franckly I have absolutely no idea what is $29.99 for 1996 (?) (I just noticed you don't have any date on the system info page, not even a year) for me in 2020, that's not even the price of a handhled game, and here it's the price of the pocket system.

Edited January 4, 2020 by CatPix

[+atari2600land]

I also made a website for the game.com. I need to work on it some more. You can see what I have here.

[dj_convoy]

Thank you for your sacrifice!

[+atari2600land]

I have an issue of Game Informer that has an article called "A Brief History of Handheld Gaming" (July 1995, issue 147) that mentions the game.com. I was just wondering whether Deathaddersf would be interested in it or joining the game.com brotherhood (as mentioned in my signature.) I have a complete game.com collection (yes, even WoF2.) All the cartridges fit into one little bin. I wish more games or homebrew games could be made for it.

[+chicgamer]

2 hours ago, atari2600land said:

I have an issue of Game Informer that has an article called "A Brief History of Handheld Gaming" (July 1995, issue 147) that mentions the game.com. I was just wondering whether Deathaddersf would be interested in it or joining the game.com brotherhood (as mentioned in my signature.) I have a complete game.com collection (yes, even WoF2.) All the cartridges fit into one little bin. I wish more games or homebrew games could be made for it.

Just curious—what do you use to store your Game.com carts?

 

I currently have mine lined up on a shelf, but they fall over so easily that they drive me nuts. 

 

Also, does anyone know of a good display stand for the Game.com? I use the Rose Colored Gaming acrylic stands for most of my portables, but one isn't offered for the Game.com.

 

Hmm ... maybe I'll try to learn how to design one and 3-D print it.

[+atari2600land]

Just your basic little plastic container. Nothing special.

 

[CatPix]

19 hours ago, chicgamer said:

Also, does anyone know of a good display stand for the Game.com? I use the Rose Colored Gaming acrylic stands for most of my portables, but one isn't offered for the Game.com.

For most systems I use your run-of-the-mill cheapos decorative plate stand. It's not a pretty or perfect fit, but for the price you can always cut the plastic to your needs and it's sturdy enough for our game systems.

 

Edited January 5, 2020 by CatPix

[high voltage]

So I still have the only cib Tiger game.com modem in the world?

 

[+atari2600land]

Cool! Can you find out if that works?

[DeathAdderSF]

Today's update:

 

Added some details and screenshots for Holyfield Boxing, NBA Live '99, and Small Soldiers to the rumored games page. This info was mostly scooped from the archived website of developer Handheld Games.

 

game.com rumored games page

[fred]

I wonder if the game.com could be modded with an lcd? Not that you would want to.

The McWill lcd’s work for the Lynx, Game Gear, and Game Boy....

[+chicgamer]

My guess would be that it would be difficult to replace the resistive touchscreen. Of course, if someone found a way to mod the Game.com with a better screen (you know, one you could actually see), I'd be more than happy to give up the touch controls.

[fred]

Right, I had a game.com years ago and forgot it was touchscreen. Don’t they make small touch screens for raspberry pi’s and arduinos? The system may not suck as much of you could actually see enough to play the games.

Edited January 10, 2020 by fred

[CatPix]

Touch screen and LCd are different things. You may be able to peel the old touch screen and put it over a new LCD.

[DeathAdderSF]

16 hours ago, fred said:

The system may not suck as much of you could actually see enough to play the games.

 

Seeing the games more clearly won't reprogram them to be good. You're still not going to want to play them.

 

According to Dave Nelson, the kind chap who "upgraded" my game.com so I could make peoper audio recordings (i.e. fixed Tiger's SUPER STATIC producing hardware), it's an absolute nightmare to work on this machine. So even if you CAN replace the screen, by the time you remove the many, many, MANY screws from the system + very carefully avoid nicking any of the poorly soldered or glued wiring, et cetera, and trying to put it all back together without catching any of said wires in the casing...

 

Yeah. You're really barking up the wrong tree here. No offense. Just trying to save you a lot of grief over a crap console.

 

Edited January 10, 2020 by DeathAdderSF

[DeathAdderSF]

3 hours ago, DeathAdderSF said:

peoper

 

*proper

 

(Didn't notice it until after the post editing time limit had expired. How careless of me.)

Edited January 11, 2020 by DeathAdderSF

[Tanooki]

2 hours ago, DeathAdderSF said:

 

*proper

 

(Didn't notice it until after the post editing time limit had expired. How careless of me.)

Careless or ironic?  Kind of fits with the game.com motif.  That said, the site is pretty interesting at a basic level, but it would be nice to have more detail into the games even if they are mostly bad.

[dkml]

Thanks for doing this.  I think this might be a good topic for someone like the Gaming Historian.

[Austin]

Waiting for a random single poster to pop in with a, "Yeah, the Game.Com. It's pretty good."

[DeathAdderSF]

8 hours ago, dkml said:

Thanks for doing this.

 

Sure, you're welcome. I enjoy doing the research, and sharing what I learn.

 

6 hours ago, Austin said:

Waiting for a random single poster to pop in with a, "Yeah, the Game.Com. It's pretty good."

 

There's one of them in every forum. Don't encourage 'em.

 

I'm all for underdog machines, obviously. But there's a big difference between fun, cool, impressive ones with good games, like the Lynx, and absolute dreck like the game.com and Supervision. And there's nothing wrong with freely admitting that; you're not going to hurt the system's feelings after all.

 

(Somewhere, a game.com is shedding a virtual tear. A buggy virtual tear.)

Edited January 11, 2020 by DeathAdderSF

[DeathAdderSF]

On 1/4/2020 at 6:53 AM, CatPix said:

Very interesting that your got an interview with John Young. There is in fact not much to say, apparently, but it's a nice dedication from your side.

 

Thanks! I love that commercial he's in. It's so ridiculous and over the top, and it served its marketing purpose because it sucked me in back then. If I'd have had the fundage to buy a game.com as a teen, I would have. (Eww.)

 

Anyway it was cool of John to participate. He seems to be a pretty nice guy, though I admit it would have been awesome if he'd answered one of my queries with, "IDIOT! NEXT QUESTION!"

Edited January 12, 2020 by DeathAdderSF

[DeathAdderSF]

Today's update:

 

When I discovered that the UK version of the game.com Internet package featured a slightly different box, manual, and cartridge label than the US version, not to mention additional inserts, my initial reaction was, “No. NO! NOOOOO!!” I bought it anyway, knowing full well I'd have to scan everything. Yuck. But now the dirty deed is done, and the downloads are waiting for you over on the scans page.

[godslabrat]

I wonder if Analoge will make a game.com adapter for the Pocket?

[high voltage]

18 hours ago, DeathAdderSF said:

Today's update:

 

When I discovered that the UK version of the game.com Internet package featured a slightly different box, manual, and cartridge label than the US version, not to mention additional inserts, my initial reaction was, “No. NO! NOOOOO!!” I bought it anyway, knowing full well I'd have to scan everything. Yuck. But now the dirty deed is done, and the downloads are waiting for you over on the scans page.

Having the UK version, I've never seen the US box. Guess you could've seen the UK version on my game.com site

Edited July 16, 2020 by high voltage