For people that need to be "off topic"

[onmode-ky]

On 1/31/2021 at 4:31 PM, AXM said:

Probably the quickest way to check if you can actually notice the difference is by playing one of those countless "showcase" 4K videos on Youtube (of the space kind, underwater kind, nature kind, the like) and quickly switching from 1080p to 4K and viceversa.

We did the same as soon as we bought it and we couldn't believe our eyes. Sure was tough going back to our 1080p-only consoles for a day or two.

 

I've watched some 4K YouTube videos on the TV, like PS4 game footage, trailers of films like Blade Runner 2049 and Oblivion, etc., and flipping between 4K and 1080p revealed perceptible difference in only one instance, in which very thin parallel lines were in a shot; they were blurry (though still distinguishable as thin parallel lines) in 1080p, clear in 4K.  Other than that, I haven't been able to easily distinguish between 4K and 1080p on that TV.

 

On 2/16/2021 at 2:00 PM, Atariboy said:

(The third one named Gracie took an immediate dislike to her so they're not on friendly terms; But at least she fights back).

 

Maybe if you'd named the newcomer "George," then Gracie would get along with her. ;) And yes, you can name a female "George."

 

On 2/23/2021 at 3:10 AM, JeremyR said:

Shadow is probably 15 lbs. 

 

Shadow, huh?  If you'd named him "Clyde," he probably would just wander around the house all the time and never find that exit.

 

A few weeks ago, I got two Jeopardy! answers that, at the start of the clues, I'd thought I wouldn't know.  One gave a few words from a line of a poem and asked for the next word, and the second half of the clue noted that the complete sentence was used as the title of an Original Series Star Trek episode.  With that, I easily deduced that the word to complete "Is There in Truth No" was "Beauty." :) I've known that title for decades, but I had never known that it came from a poem.  The other clue asked for the name of a star whose name translated to "rival of the Greek god of war."  I thought, "What?  There's a star whose name means, 'against, uh, Ares'?"  There was a pause, as it hit me, and then I thought, "Oh, I get it!  'Anti-Ares' = Antares!"  Again, the answer was something I'd known for decades, but without knowledge of its origin.

 

There's an interesting mecha anime of sorts that's been airing on Toonami for the last few weeks, SSSS.Gridman, originally aired in Japan in late 2018.  It's apparently an anime remake of a live-action 1993 Tsuburaya (of Ultraman fame) tokusatsu series, Denkou Choujin Gridman.  The anime remake has a bunch of references to other works (more on that later), but I'd like to start with what I think was a reference that was probably lost on most viewers--certainly, I haven't seen any mention of this reference (or coincidence?) anywhere online.  One of the characters in SSSS.Gridman is a girl named "Akane," which is a pretty common Japanese girls' name (heck, I personally had a friend by that name in college).  However, in terms of historically memorable anime characters, there is one Akane who stands out, the one in early '90s comedy classic Ranma 1/2.  I have a particular memory from seeing some of the show back around 20 years ago, in which another character on the show, Shampoo, who is Chinese (and therefore speaks with poor Japanese/English grammar, depending on the audio language), says, "Akane always such a violent girl" (I was seeing the English dub at the time).  And now, many years later, after SSSS.Gridman Akane throws a fit, an adjacent character says something about her being "such a violent girl."  Is it a Ranma reference, or mere coincidence?  I'm curious.

 

And now about the high degree of allusions to other works in SSSS.Gridman, my discovery of this stemmed from the fact that one of the characters, a girl named "Hass," inexplicably always wears a face mask.  Remember, this show was made pre-COVID-19, so it's got nothing to do with the pandemic. ;) I looked up data on Hass and discovered that her character design is based on a Transformer, specifically the Shattered Glass version of Soundwave.  In fact, "[v]arious characters have designs that are based on Transformers, mostly being Decepticons from the Shattered Glass storyline," as stated at https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/edg0ry/references_and_fun_facts_in_ssssgridman/ .  That Reddit post is quite a dense packing of data on the show's homages, and not just the big list of how just about every character has looks derived from a Transformer.  For example, here's another fun fact about Hass: "The names of Rikka Takarada, Namiko, and Hass are referencing companies that made Transformers toys which are Takara, Bandai Namco, and Hasbro respectively."  And, of course, with the show being derived from the makers of Ultraman, there are quite a lot of Ultraman references.  That Reddit page is worth a glance even just for novelty value.

 

My Asia-region PSN account hit a milestone on February 17th: everyone on the friends list who is not just me in another region became listed as having had "2 or more years" since their last login (which actually means "any amount of time greater than twenty-five 31-day periods"; also, these are PS3, maybe PSV as well, logins only, since PS3s apparently don't get data about logins on newer consoles).  My Japan- and North America-region accounts still have at least a couple of friends who aren't "2 or more years" yet.  Still, as if the arrival of the PS5 hadn't signaled it, it felt like the end of an era.

 

A few days ago, I caught part of the movie The Blues Brothers on TV.  After the scene where they perform the theme from Rawhide, I happened to check the channel program guide, and in a bizarre coincidence, it showed that at the exact same time, on the next channel up, there was an episode of Rawhide playing. :O

 

Hmm.  Maybe I should have reinstated the old forum's Movie Suggestions and Show Suggestions topics for some of the things I brought up in this post.

 

onmode-ky

[JeremyR]

On 3/1/2021 at 6:23 PM, onmode-ky said:

And yes, you can name a female "George."

 

Are you by chance a Nancy Drew fan? I actually have a couple of her PC games

[onmode-ky]

On 3/5/2021 at 12:13 AM, JeremyR said:

Are you by chance a Nancy Drew fan? I actually have a couple of her PC games

 

Er, no, at least not specifically.  I'm not sure if I've ever read even one of the books.  I definitely have not seen any of the Nancy Drew TV series that's on CW these days, and I haven't played (or owned) any of the PC games, either, though I know there are quite a few.  At any rate, what does the name "George" have to do with your question?  Does Nancy have a friend who is a female George?

 

With the apparent closures in a few months of the PS3, PSP, and PSV PS Stores, when I came across a 4-pack of $25 PSN cards for $90 at a Costco recently, I stared long and hard at it.  However, I didn't get it (at least not yet) because a) I'm not actually sure I have $100 worth of PSN content that I want to get, either now or after the closures (keep in mind, I don't have any newer PlayStation systems--or any newer game systems from any company--than those three); and b) the Costco member paying would not be me, so I'd have to engage in diplomacy.  Also, something I brought up in the PSPMinis Discord channels, I'd really like to see, in the eventual official statement, specifics about what is closing.  Is it a closure only along the same lines as the PSP's earlier Store closure (i.e., the Store is still accessible, but can't be browsed, though the search functionality still works, and games can be bought once you find them via search)?  Or is it a total removal of all PSN functionality, like no more download lists, no more online multiplayer, no more Trophy synching, no more account switching on PSPs and PSVs (which would kill my Japanese DLC, for example)?  That would be major.  Or is it somewhere in between?

 

I have not been properly keeping up with plug-n-play news for the last year. : ( For the first time since, like, 2003, I'm out of date with the sector.  Hopefully, I'll manage to catch back up at some point.

 

onmode-ky

[Atariboy]

With AtGames focused on their higher end arcade systems, I think you'll find that there's not much plug and play news to catch up on. Has been a pretty quiet segment since the TurboGrafx-16 Mini hit. 

 

The only two that have even caught my eye have been Sega's Astro City Mini and the AtGames Legends Core. The former though is a bit too pricey for my taste. I'd prefer to not have the built-in controls and screen, with just the HDMI output and USB controller input retained. So I decided to skip it even though I see Limited Run Games is bringing it out over here. I do intend though to order the AtGames system since the price is fair and it sounds like a capable successor to their Legends Flashback arcade plug and play console. Otherwise, I can only think of the Blast! style plug and plays from Arcade1Up that came out last year.

 

Here's my list for a last round of PSN purchases. 

 

• Fast Draw Showdown (PS3)
• HAL 21 (PSP Mini)
• House of the Dead 4 (PS3)
• Mad Dog McCree (PS3)
• Mad Dog 2: The Lost Gold (PS3)
• Marvin's Maze (PSP Mini)
• Mega Man 1 (PS1 Classics)
• Mega Man 2 (PS1 Classics)
• Mega Man 3 (PS1 Classics)
• Mega Man 4 (PS1 Classics)
• Ridge Racer (PSP)
• The Next Space (PSP Mini)

 

Not sure how expensive it will be since I can't just go look these up at my PC anymore thanks to the store changes from last Fall, but I recall these mostly being $3-$6 games with Ridge Racer the most expensive of the bunch (Around $15 or so). Shouldn't be too costly of a finale for me. Maybe $75, which I can spread across the next few months.

Edited March 27, 2021 by Atariboy

[Atariboy]

Will be a bit more than that. Looks like $84 before tax. 

 

I was thinking the three Mad Dog McCree games were $5 each. But two are actually $8 and the third is $10. I bet I'll regret it, but I always wanted to check these out.

Edited March 28, 2021 by Atariboy

[Atariboy]

Jeremy, did you watch Bristol?

 

Wasn't a classic, but it was great to see the NASCAR Cup series racing on the dirt again after a half century absence. 

[onmode-ky]

I didn't watch Bristol, but after the fact, I did notice it on the TV schedule and thought it odd that network television would have live broadcasted a dirt race . . . because I thought they were talking about dirt buggies (or whatever they're called) and not full-on NASCAR stock cars.  I don't think I knew there had ever been dirt races using them before.

 

Thanks for the update on plug-n-play.  I was in the middle of collecting data on the games in the TG16 Mini when things got back-burnered.  The Astro City Mini is something I've been aware of, as well.  I've made no decision to get either one myself, incidentally, though in the unlikely event that I do go for the former sometime soon, I think it would be the PC Engine variant, since that's still available at MSRP from Amazon Japan, rather than the pumped up third-party prices for the TG16 Mini.

 

On 3/27/2021 at 4:08 PM, Atariboy said:

• Fast Draw Showdown (PS3)
• HAL 21 (PSP Mini)
• House of the Dead 4 (PS3)
• Mad Dog McCree (PS3)
• Mad Dog 2: The Lost Gold (PS3)
• Marvin's Maze (PSP Mini)
• Mega Man 1 (PS1 Classics)
• Mega Man 2 (PS1 Classics)
• Mega Man 3 (PS1 Classics)
• Mega Man 4 (PS1 Classics)
• Ridge Racer (PSP)
• The Next Space (PSP Mini)

 

From your list, I already have HAL 21, The Next Space, and Marvin's Maze (and have had the first two since they released), and I consider them worthwhile buys.  If I remember correctly, The Next Space is a little cryptic, though, with its weird upgrade system.  I never did get any sort of light gun game for my PS3, even though I have a PS Move setup.  I do enjoy those types of games (consider that I do own Star Wars: Blaster Strike, the 2015 standalone light gun system made by Jakks Pacific and HotGen), but none of what we got released on the PS3 ever really caught my eye.

 

I haven't sat down and compiled a list of what I'll get from the PS Store before the PS3/PSP/PSV Store closures yet, but here's a list of maybes that I've had for a while:

 

- The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC (PSP/PSV; still not sure if I should instead get the PC edition at GOG)

- Generation of Chaos: Pandora's Reflection (PSP/PSV; not actually a maybe, as I'll definitely get this at some point)

- the three Invizimals PSP games (PSP/PSV; cheap and unique, but huge footprints)

- Secret of Mana (PSV)

- Super Hydorah (PSV)

- Vasara Collection (PSV)

- Super Life of Pixel (PSV; from Super Icon, once a frequent Minis and PSM developer)

- Emerald Shores (PSV; from Fordesoft, who started on PSM with Super Blackout, the native PSV version of which I already have)

- Scram Kitty DX (PSV; from Dakko Dakko, who developed a couple of Minis)

 

I've also wondered if I ought to finally buy some Japanese PSN voucher codes (always at a disappointing exchange rate) so I can get some games from the Japanese PS Store, like maybe the following:

 

- Thunder Force V: Perfect System (PS1 Game Archives)

- Starblade alpha (PS1 Game Archives)

- Galaxian3 (PS1 Game Archives)

- Star Soldier (PSP)

 

I never fully explored the 800+ titles of the Japanese PS Store's Game Archives (Classics, in North America) catalog, but the PS1 games above are some that have caught my eye.  Star Soldier, one of the PSP's first scrolling shooter releases, is a game whose UMD edition I wanted a long time ago, but it never got cheap enough for me . . . and now it's really expensive, so no-go there, but in the Store, it's fairly cheap.  Anyone have any thoughts on the titles I've listed?

 

onmode-ky

[Atariboy]

The Wii U port of Life of Pixel was a lot of fun. 

 

I came very close to buying Galaxian3 and Starblade Alpha when I made a big buy (By my standards) of Japanese PSN games last Fall before the PC storefront dropped PS3/PSP/Vita games. Ended up buying I believe four of the Sega Ages PS2 games, Xevious 3D/G (PS1), Mega Man 5 and 6 (PS1), and a PC Engine CD game. 

 

Ultimately though, I decided to skip those two since it was getting expensive. And while it won't be happening anytime soon, I definitely want to get a Playstation optical disc emulator like the X-Station one of these days. And in the meantime, I still have my Playstation Classic that I bought primarily with hacking in mind. So one of these days I should have an easy way to play the many interesting PS1 games that I don't own (Many of which sadly are expensive).

 

I've added another game to my wishlist, pushing me almost to $100 after tax (The Last Bounty Hunter, another FMV western light gun shooter from the Mad Dog McCree developer). Sadly though, it seems like people are getting errors when attempting to download games in recent days on the PS3 (Unsure about Vita/PSTV). I hope Sony manages to fix it, but I'll probably be cautious and maybe buy one game at a time just in case I get stuck and can't actually download something.

 

Then the worst that could happen is I have maybe one useless purchase, and can just redirect my remaining PSN credit to PS4 stuff. 

Edited April 6, 2021 by Atariboy

[Atariboy]

Henry my groundhog has left hibernation and is eating snacks on my shed roof right now (I think I've mentioned him before). Glad to see he made it through winter fine. 

[JeremyR]

On 3/29/2021 at 7:03 PM, Atariboy said:

Jeremy, did you watch Bristol?

 

Wasn't a classic, but it was great to see the NASCAR Cup series racing on the dirt again after a half century absence. 

 

No, I've been working on weekends again so I missed it. 

 

Honestly, I'd probably enjoy watching sprint car races these days than NASCAR. Even thing has gotten so bland

 

I think ground hogs have the right idea of handling winter. It's a shame we can't hibernate

[JeremyR]

On 3/26/2021 at 6:17 PM, onmode-ky said:

Er, no, at least not specifically.  I'm not sure if I've ever read even one of the books.  I definitely have not seen any of the Nancy Drew TV series that's on CW these days, and I haven't played (or owned) any of the PC games, either, though I know there are quite a few.  At any rate, what does the name "George" have to do with your question?  Does Nancy have a friend who is a female George?

 

George is her best friend (along with Bess). It was something of a fad in the 1920s-1930s for girls to have male names (usually nicknames, but not always, as in George's case)

Edited April 9, 2021 by JeremyR

[JeremyR]

I got the Moderna shot on Friday and it didn't bother me Friday night, it really wiped me out Saturday and most of today. 

[Atariboy]

I get my 2nd shot of it tomorrow. Will you need the second shot, given that you've gone through COVID-19 last year (Not sure what the rules are, but I have read at least speculation in the media that people that have already had this might only need one of the two shots)? 

 

The 1st round of Moderna made me feel sick later that day for a few hours. Felt sore, had chills, etc. Forced myself to get up after taking a nap for a couple of hours and quickly felt better and woke up fine the next day. But your body has already fought this off, so it makes sense you're really feeling the first shot. 

 

Not too sure about tomorrow. Given that I did have minor side effects from the first shot and everyone talks about the 2nd shot being much worse, I figure I'll be feeling like you are by tomorrow evening. Yet my mom has arranged a dinner at my grandmother's for Wednesday afternoon (First time I'll be seeing my grandmother in over a year), even though she knows I'm getting my last shot tomorrow and quite possibly will feel pretty lousy Wednesday (I think she forgot, but I wish she had checked with me before arranging it all).

 

I'm willing to endure it Wednesday if I feel awful, but I doubt my relatives will want to be around someone feeling sick. Yet I'm my mom's ride there and the entire plan will be scuttled if I back out. I wish she had just made it for next week, but maybe I'll wake up Wednesday with nothing worse than a sore arm.

 

Here's a low res picture of my backyard groundhog, Henry. He likes to eat snacks on the roof of my dilapidated backyard shed (Especially peanuts) and lives under it. 

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by Atariboy

[Atariboy]

No side effects from my 2nd shot. Just a slightly sore arm near the injection site.

[JeremyR]

I probably don't need a second shot, based on studies I've read, but I've got one scheduled, so might as well get it. 

 

You should see if Henry likes Kenny Loggins

[Atariboy]

Just made my big PS3/PSTV purchase. Downloading my games now.

[Atariboy]

Thought I was done with Vita questions a few years ago, but I'm back with more as I try to fill up my PSTV memory card. Do any of you guys happen to own Vanguard or The Next Space (Both are PSP Minis from SNK/G1M2), along with a Playstation TV?

 

I thought that I attempted a PS3 to PSTV transfer on Vanguard a few years ago and failed. But I see that The Next Space also isn't eligible for direct download, which is peculiar when all my other SNK Minis can be directly downloaded. Curious if it's worth looking up how to do transfers again to attempt to get both on there or if one of you know for sure they're incompatible. Compatibility lists are no help since some show both as working and I found another that says Vanguard doesn't, but The Next Space does. 

 

And as I try to fill my last bit of space on here, I vaguely recall one of you saying that Sly Cooper Thieves in Time on physical PS3 disc was cross-buy (So I gave one of our PSP Minis crowd the digital code for it that came with my PSTV). I've fired it up before on my PS3 but it's not showing the Vita digital version in my download list. Is there some special step I need to take?

 

And are there any other disc games that do this? Perhaps the Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper, and Jak & Daxter HD trilogies?

Edited May 9, 2021 by Atariboy

[JeremyR]

Vanguard isn't officially supported on the Vita. It works, but for some reason Sony restricted the PSP content for the Vita. Except for one weekend they mistakenly made all PSP games available for the Vita and I downloaded Vanguard (and Phantasy Star Portable 2) then.

 

I keep hoping Vanguard will show up on the Switch, since most other SNK games have. But I think Vanguard might be a touchy subject since it illegally uses samples of music from Star Trek and Flash Gordon.

Edited May 10, 2021 by JeremyR

[Atariboy]

Vanguard actually is on the Switch with all the music intact.

 

It's on a compilation called SNK 40th Anniversary Collection (Physical and digital). Has a lot of what came out on the Minis line, a few additional arcade classics, and SNK's NES lineup. Also came out on PS4 (I own the physical release) and XB1 (The latter is a digital exclusive with NES Baseball Stars added). It's only missing a handful of the Minis (Off the top of my head, it's missing Vanguard 2, The Next Space, Marvin's Maze, HAL 21, and the football game). 

 

And all the rotary stick games like the Ikari Warriors trilogy are actually playable on it. These rotary stick arcade games (You'd twist the stick to aim in the arcade) have aiming mapped to the right stick and essentially play like they're twin stick shooters like Smash TV. Much much better than the rotate left and rotate right buttons that the Minis (And SNK Arcade Classics Volume 0) used.

 

Hamster has overlapped this lineup quite a bit, so perhaps Vanguard will also be joining the Arcade Archives line eventually if you're only interested in that one.

Edited May 12, 2021 by Atariboy

[JeremyR]

That's on the Switch? I did not know that. I'm going to have to get it

 

I have it on PC (got it cheap) and I've played Vanguard there. 

Edited May 28, 2021 by JeremyR

[JeremyR]

Buster (my cat) was sick for a couple days, not eating anything and sleeping pretty much constantly (which he doesn't do, he normally almost never sleeps, which is odd for a cat). So I took him to the Vet who couldn't find anything wrong with him but gave him an IV and some antibiotics.

 

I guess that did it, since he's now eating again (if somewhat picky) and he's run off outside several times (though not going far).

[Atariboy]

Glad to hear he's doing better.

[JeremyR]

I'm hoping he will stay around more now (he tends to run off for a day or three).  I want to get him fixed, but I can't because I never know when he'll be around, and he always manages to sneak out somehow. 

 

I had thought Vanguard was the music removed in the SNK Classics, but apparently the volume is just really, really low on the PC version. I had to crank up my bluetooth speaker all the way and even then it was faint.

[Atariboy]

It's not that way on the PS4, but the PS4 version does have some problems. I have had the NES emulator crash on me and the rotary stick games like Ikari Warriors have an annoying tendency of the right stick getting stuck in position.

[onmode-ky]

Sorry for the long absence.  I'd love to blame it on the deluge of Brood X cicadas where I live, but it's just a case of not properly making time to post at AtariAge. : (

 

On 4/6/2021 at 3:41 PM, Atariboy said:

Henry my groundhog has left hibernation and is eating snacks on my shed roof right now (I think I've mentioned him before). Glad to see he made it through winter fine. 

 

Why does he do his eating on a roof?  I mean, he's a groundhog.  Did you set up a cafe up there?

 

On 5/8/2021 at 9:56 PM, Atariboy said:

Thought I was done with Vita questions a few years ago, but I'm back with more as I try to fill up my PSTV memory card. Do any of you guys happen to own Vanguard or The Next Space (Both are PSP Minis from SNK/G1M2), along with a Playstation TV?

 

[. . .]

 

And as I try to fill my last bit of space on here, I vaguely recall one of you saying that Sly Cooper Thieves in Time on physical PS3 disc was cross-buy (So I gave one of our PSP Minis crowd the digital code for it that came with my PSTV). I've fired it up before on my PS3 but it's not showing the Vita digital version in my download list. Is there some special step I need to take?

 

While I do have both the Vanguard and The Next Space Minis, and I do own a PS TV, I do not have a PS TV that can connect to either PSN or the game backup libraries on my PS3 and PC Media Go (the PS TV is on an old firmware, as its intended purpose is to be a purely offline PS Mobile machine--though, certainly, it only includes the PS Mobile games of my library that are actually PS TV-compatible). What I can tell you is that my download list includes multiple SNK Minis that cannot be downloaded to my PSV: Vanguard, Sasuke vs. Commander, Chopper I, and The Next Space.

 

As for Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, I don't have easy access to my PS3 disc right now, but I think that the way it worked (don't quote me on this, as I last ran the PS3 disc many years ago) was that, in the XrossMediaBar after you put the disc in, there's an icon for obtaining the PSV version, possibly beneath the icon for starting the PS3 game.  So, you select that, and some stuff happens that gets you the Cross-Buy download.  However . . . maybe this memory simply came from some crazy fever dream. ; )

 

I haven't made any of the game purchases I noted above yet (in no small part because of Sony relenting on their Store shutdown plans).  Two new maybes are in my PS3 shopping cart right now, though, a pair of visual novels published by Sometimes You, who dropped several (all?) of their PSV games' prices to $0.99 recently.  Super Life of Pixel nearly dropped off the list when I discovered a humongous storage footprint listed for it in its entry in the PS3 Store; however, I'm guessing that was either its Cross-Buy total storage footprint or the PS4 version's footprint, because a number of online sources say that the PSV version is roughly 700 MB, not GBs in size.  I'm also still undecided on whether to get even one of the Invizimals PSP games, because none of them are under 1 GB in size.  Space isn't much of an issue on my PSP, where swapping MSPDs is easy, but swapping PSV memory cards is risky (particularly for PS Mobile games; I'm still paranoid that a card swap may kill their activation status) and tedious (at last check, game icons get shifted all over when you switch to another memory card and then put the first one back in).  With Invizimals games being well suited to the PSV's built-in camera, rather than my needing to break out my PSP camera, the PSV's available storage amount becomes a concern.

 

Here's one of the photos I took recently of the cicadas occupying my neck of the woods (just three of the millions (?) flocking around):

 

 

I like how my 2007 Nikon point-and-shoot can still take some crystal clear shots.

 

onmode-ky