Monday, April 21, 2008
After a couple of weeks playing the game, and after reading several reviews online and in magazines, I believe it's time I brought you my very own review of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.I may do something similar for Mario Kart Wii in the near future...or I may not. We'll see how things pan out.
Labels: consoles, games, gran turismo, PS3
Steve 2:14 AM [+] (0) comments
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is out now for PS3.I've been playing it a bit tonight, being off work with a bitch of a virus.
It's mostly pretty familiar stuff, just with prettier graphics... but for one big bonus... online multi-player.
Here's a very poor quality video clip I shot this evening of me playing online.
My apologies for the burp near the start... I was drinking coke. Also apologies for the poor lighting and bad focus... my good camera has a flat battery, and the one I used just doesn't like recording tv footage.
Labels: consoles, games, gran turismo, PS3
Steve 4:13 AM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I'd started ripping my DVD collection and converting it to play as video files on my PS3.Initially, I used a piece of software to rip the DVDs, and then used DIVX converter to create the playable video files. However, I soon ran into problems, as DIVX converter insisted on converting to 29 frames per second, when the DVDs were only 25fps... causing huge audio sync problems. The films were ultimately unwatchable.
Anyway, after an amount of research into alternative solutions, I settled on a piece of software called Handbrake. I spent a couple of weeks ripping and converting, and then checking the conversions on my PC, just to be sure they'd come out okay.
Big mistake. I'd tested the very first one on my PS3, and it was fine, but for later conversions, I used a higher image resolution, and only much later did I find that this wouldn't play back on my PS3.
Doh!!!
So, after much research on various forums, looking for optimum settings, I realised that really, no-one who had anything to say, actually knew. Solution? Find out myself, through trial and error, and then write an article/tutorial on the subject.
And here it is....
Handbrake Settings For Converting DVD to mpeg4 for Sony PS3
Steve 2:59 PM [+] (0) comments
Sunday, February 17, 2008
The last week has been rather difficult.My computer died... not sure if it was a hardware issue, a virus, or just generally corrupted system files, but whatever the case, it was mostly non-functional.
Anyone who knows me will know just how much time I spend on my pc, and so will understand just how distressing this was.
So... I bought a nice big 750gig external hard drive, and with the computer in safe mode, backed up all of my doccuments and transferable software.
Next I disconnected all non-vital hardware, ie card readers, webcam and gfx cards, and did a full reinstall of windows.
This worked just fine, right up to the point that I tried to re-fit my gfx cards. I have 2... one rather better than the other, but neither would install for reasons that fail me.
What this meant was that while I could have a perfectly functional workhorse of a computer, games were now out of the question.
Oh well.
On the upside though, now that everything was backed up, and my OS installation was fairly minimal, I could take the risk of repartitioning the hard drive, and setting the whole thing up as a dual-boot system.
So now I have a nice clean installation of Windows XP on one partition, and a very funky, not to mention quirky, copy of Ubuntu Linux on the other.
I'm finding this Linux malarky quite fascinating, having never used it before.
It seems to me that modern Linux OS's have something of a split personality.
On the one hand, they can be quite intuitive and very clever, allowing you to automatically install software from a huge list of compatible programs, without even having to launch a browser to find it.
On the other hand, installing things like drivers, which don't appear to be installed automatically, is like going back in time, to at least MSDOS era computing.
Very very odd.
This external hard drive thing is a cool piece of kit.
I'd been planning to buy one some time soon anyway, so the pc failure just prompted me to get the thing a little sooner.
The thing is... it can be accessed by my PS3.
Why does this matter?
Because the PS3 can play mp4 and DIVX video.
So think about it.... PS3 plugged into a 32 inch TV, with a massive hard drive containging my entire DVD (and later, VHS) collection.
No more searching for the right disk or tape... it'll be all right there, available at the touch of a button, not to mention being viewable all round the house (and garden) from my PSP, via wifi streaming.
And there's more....
For Valentines day, Andrea and I bought each other presents.
I gave her a Swarovsky crystal bracelet, which she seems very pleased with.
What she gave me pleased me no end.
It's a watch, but not just any old watch. This watch is also an mp3 player, and better yet... a video player.
It comes with software to convert your typical digital video file into 128x128 SMV video files. These are fairly tiny... 35meg, compared to a 150meg avi, and with the screen being so tiny, you don't notice the lack of quality.
So, I can fit my entire collection of Invader Zim videos into it's 2gig storage capacity, still have room for a load of tunes, and have the whole lot strapped to my wrist wherever I go.
Yay!
Labels: computers, consoles, gadgets, video
Steve 8:11 PM [+] (0) comments
Sunday, February 10, 2008
The big project has taken a sideline already. There's a surprise.A more enjoyable and easier distraction has captured my attention for the moment.
I have a video on YouTube of my retro games and consoles collection, and a few people have asked if I would upload videos of the games I have for my many machines.
Well... this is something of a mammoth task, but today, I made a start. I figure I can embed the video footage on my website, making the whole computer collection section more interesting.
Anyway, rather than embed the vids here, if you're at all interested, go take a peek at the clips on my youtube videos page.
Steve 9:32 PM [+] (0) comments
Friday, October 26, 2007
Time has been taken up between work, which had been becoming quite infuriating, up untill yesterday, when I confronted my supervisor with a particular grievance.... and Warhawk on PS3.Now I don't care to talk about work on here, as you never know who is reading, so... Warhawk.
Ever played Battlefield 2 on PC? Or know what it's about/like?
Same thing... only futuristic, and more fun.
For those who don't know, its an entirely online, multiplayer, team based, first person shootemup, featuring infantry, jeeps, tanks, turrets/gun emplacements, and Warhawks, which are vertical takeoff/landing jet fighters.
My initial experiences, having not even read the instructions were 'Jump into warhawk, take off, get shot down. Respawn, jump into warhawk, take off, get shot down... etc.'
After reading the instructions, I got my ratio to 1 kill per 2 deaths of my own. Not very impressive.
Last night I read several tactical advice webpages on the subject, and a brief half hour playing before work this afternoon yielded much better results. Maybe I just got lucky and found a bunch of rookies on the server, or maybe I'm just a little better than I was.
We'll see tomorrow.
Steve 4:48 AM [+] (0) comments
Sunday, October 14, 2007
So while we were out shopping in Doncaster this afternoon, I bought a 60Gig PS3, with Resistance: Fall Of Man, and Heavenly Sword bundled with it.The price of this pack has dropped from £425 to £350, and as the 60gig machine is backwardly compatible with the PS2, while the new £300 40gig machine (with no game) isn't... it seemed far and away the better pack to buy. Considering the 60gig backwardly compatible machine will be discontinued when stocks run out, it's something of a no-brainer to get this model.
So, what's it like then?
Well.... I started out playing Resistance: Fall Of Man, as 1st Person shootemups are something I'm familiar with, and first impressions were that given the display limitations of the tv I have it plgged into, it's on a par with good PC games of that genre.
Pretty good then.
Next I downloaded the free Gran Turismo HD demo thingie from the Sony site, and had a play on that. Visually breathtaking, it makes Test Drive Unlimited on my PC look a bit silly. It's not much of a game though... but then it's only supposed to be a taster.
So, Heavenly Sword then.
I left this one till last, coz to be honest, I figured it wasn't the kind of game I'd like... the duffer in the software bundle, if you like.
Duh!!!
How wrong could I be?
Up till now, the games have been impressive, but this... this is something else entirely.
This is the game to buy a PS3 for.
This is the game to show to you friends when they ask "So how much better than an X-Box360 is it then?"
This is the game to play when you just want to go "wow".... and keep going "wow", and not be able to turn the machine off, untill it's stupid o'clock in the morning, and you suddenly remember you have to be up for work.
Think you know what next gen gaming looks like?
If you haven't seen Heavenly Sword, you have no idea.
And remember... this is still the first generation of PS3 games. Remember how much better PS1 and PS2 games got over time.
5 years from now is really going to be something.
Steve 4:49 AM [+] (2) comments
Friday, September 14, 2007
Busy busy busy, work work work, etc etc....So, it was my birthday a week or so ago, and among other cool pressies, I recieved a Sega Nomad (handheld genesis) from Andrea, which is incredibly cool, and in the uk at least, rather rare.
In other news, after much messing around with another supplier, resulting in a cancelled order, I placed an order for a new camera... a Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ50. It should arrive tomorrow, or monday.... certainly no later than tuesday.
Impatient? Me?
Never!
I want it!
Is it here yet?
Also, I've been messing around a little with last.fm, and found I can do this...
Benway Radio Mk II, or something. All the tunes this thing plays are ones in my collection, if I'm not mistaken, so no randomly chosen rubbish that I didn't select.
Enjoy.
Labels: camera, consoles, photos
Steve 11:09 PM [+] (0) comments
Saturday, April 28, 2007
I've been spending quite a lot of time playing Test Drive Unlimited on my PSP.To be honest, if it weren't for the custom (hacked) firmwares from Dark_Alex, allowing me to play around with emulators and old PS1 games, I'd probably have pretty much abandoned the PSP by now. Something about the games for the Sony handheld just doesn't hit the spot... they're so... wooden.
Anyways... Test Drive Unlimited sorts that out quite effectively. The controls are still clunky, and the graphics... well... they lack detail compared with PS2, but the draw distance is excellent.
What works well though is the shear scope of the game. A whole Hawiian island to romp around on and behave like an idiot to your heart's content.
When you get bored with challenge races to win points, and money to buy new cars, you can just tear down whatever road you like, find some other human player, and either challenge them to a one on one race, or do like I and some others do... slam into them at full speed and then hoon around like a deranged gibbon on speed, just for the fun of it.
So, if you're a PSP owner, and you play Test Drive Unlimited online.... if you should find some maniac in a bright red Lambourghini Countach slamming into you, head on, at 200mph, check out their player name. Is it Benway68?
That'll be me then :D
Steve 7:12 PM [+] (0) comments
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Just finished writing the article for the Nintendo Virtual Boy in my computers and consoles collection section.Labels: consoles
Steve 6:51 AM [+] (0) comments
Friday, April 06, 2007
Some video footage of my computer and games console collection.Labels: computers, consoles, video
Steve 1:24 PM [+] (0) comments
Work on the laminate floor was completed a few days ago, and shelf units constructed and promptly filled with consoles and computers.
So, what was once a rather chaotic bedroom is now...
..."The Games Room".
Labels: computers, consoles, photos
Steve 6:11 AM [+] (0) comments
Friday, March 30, 2007
Floor laying progresses... almost done, in fact. I just have to lay one stupidly small strip along the wall by the door.Next comes putting together a set of book shelves for displaying my computer and console collection... and dragging a bloody great sofa upstairs. That's gonna be fun... or something.
Speaking of my collection, I've just finished writing a piece on the Nintendo SNES, for the collection section of this site.
Steve 4:15 AM [+] (0) comments
Friday, January 26, 2007
There is a god and his name is Dark_Alex.Some of you will know that some time back I began messing around with running homebrew and emulators on my PSP, using a thing called the eloader by Fanjita and Ditlew.
Well... that was a hack that made use of exploits to get past security features in the PSP firmware. It worked fairly well too.
Now, this chap called Dark_Alex has gone a huge step further. He's entirely hacked the firmware, and created a custom version of the latest firmware, while incorporating the ability of much earlier firmware.
What this means is, as well as being able to run all the latest commercial games, run all the emulators and homebrew I had already been using, I can now use the PS1 emulator that's built into the latest firmware.
More than that... the PS1 emulator in the standard Sony release only allows you to play the PS1 games that they drip feed to users, and which you have to pay for... even though you probably already own the original. So... the new custom firmware totally bypasses all the Sony bullshit, and with a little messing around with conversion utilities, allows you to play whatever PS1 games you like.
So I now have Gran Turismo 2 up and running on my PSP. Yay!!! :D
Truth is, I've been getting more and more pissed off at Sony, as the months have gone by.
I bought the PSP with the intention of playing Gran Turismo on it, but they've delayed it, and delayed it, and delayed it some more.
Then they release the PS1 emulator, but you can only play what they want you to play in it... and worse, you have to have a PS3 to do that.
Dumbasses.
So, no more waiting and no more being screwed. I can do all the things the PSP was actually designed to be able to do, but that Sony are too all controlling to let us do.
Labels: consoles, emulators, games, gran turismo
Steve 10:35 AM [+] (0) comments
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Two new articles in my Computers and Consoles section.This time, it's the Atari 7800, and the Atari Jaguar.
Labels: consoles
Steve 9:27 PM [+] (0) comments
Monday, January 15, 2007
I've been busy beavering away at my computer and consoles collection webpages.All the links from the photos on the index page now point to pages with bigger photos, and I've completed the details on the Atari 2600 VCS page.
I have to admit... I'm rather pleased with it.
Labels: consoles
Steve 11:33 PM [+] (0) comments
Friday, January 12, 2007
I finally got all the photos taken, and have uploaded the index page for my computer and console collection webpage.I never realised quite how many machines I had, till I photographed this little lot.
Steve 2:38 AM [+] (0) comments
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
So today I was intending to start taking photographs of my retro computer and console collection to put on my website.Unfortunately, I had a little 'help' from two small furry animals.
Cat started helping by climbing up my legs and onto my shoulders... claws all the way. I figured this would be easilly sorted by shutting him in the shower room with some food for a while.
And so it was.
Trouble is, Milo, who doesn't have that climbing up people tendency, decided he was going to help too. His method was considerably less painful, but no less effective.
Kittens continually swiping at the legs of a camera tripod are quite wonderful if you have a liking for blurred photos, but not so good if you want crystal clear shots to put on a website.
I'll try again tomorrow, but this time, I'll do the shots downstairs in the living room.
It'll mean a lot more toing and froing with assorted consoles and computers, but provided I keep Max out of there, I should suffer from a lot less animal interference.
Labels: animals, cats, computers, consoles, photos
Steve 5:07 PM [+] (0) comments
Thursday, April 27, 2006
So just how great is Andrea?To answer that question, you have to ask another question.
Just how great is a woman who not only tolerates her boyfriend's obsessions, but encourages them to the point of obtaining rare and exotic games systems, when he fails to obtain them himself?
The answer to this question is very *VERY* great :D
What on earth am I talking about?
*****THIS****
"And just what exactly is that?" I hear you ask.
It's a Nintendo Virtual Boy. Never sold in the UK, and a complete flop in America and Japan too, so.... rare as hens teeth, especially over here.
But that's not even what makes it so special.
It's 3D, and by that, I don't mean 3D like a playstation game, I mean like... actual depth perception... and vastly better than using silly coloured glasses.
It's odd, playing it, coz... it doesn't have colour gfx (it's shades of red and black), and it doesn't have 3D graphics in the traditional gaming sense. but the moment you play it, it makes absolute sense, and you wind up asking yourself why all games aren't like that.
So is it good?
It's absolutely bloody fantastic.
It's criminally insane that this thing wasn't a hit. It impresses like nothing else, even after 10 or so years since it was axed.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to play Mario Tennis like you've never seen it before.
Steve 9:50 AM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
dRUNKOops.
Havent forgotten I need to blog our holiday, just havent been bothered.. lazy, and all that.
Been playing pong on an authentic 30 year old binatone tv game.
The collection grows. Got a ZX81 too.
The things you can find in small sleepy village fleamarkets in sussex is amazing.
Steve 3:06 AM [+] (0) comments
Friday, March 31, 2006
Posts here being as erratic as they are these days, it's unlikely anyone would notice my absence over the coming week, but anyway...Regardless of it being *very* early in the year, Andrea and I are off on holiday.
We're going to split the journey into two, going as far as Milton Keynes tomorrow, where we'll stop off at the Broughton Hotel, and then on sunday we're off down to Brighton, where we're spending 5 days at the White Horse hotel in Rottingdean.
Expect a large influx of photos into my flickr album when we return.
In other news, I picked up Sega's OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast for PSP today.
It's very much like the reviews said it would be. Not a whole lot of depth, but VERY pretty, and great if you just want to pick up and play. I'd probably feel pretty ripped off if I'd bought this for PS2, but on PSP it makes perfect sense.
As an aside, I've been unable to make the internet play feature work so far. My guess would be that the game's so new (released here today), they haven't got the server set up properly yet.
We'll see. I hope they sort it, coz head to head games with real people would be a blast.
Update: I've found why I couldnt connect, and it was nothing to do with their server.
I had to set up port forwarding, to send the signal from the wireless router here to my psp.
So now I've played it online... what's it like?
Great fun, when it works.
It's a little unstable, and I couldn't find a game to join, so started my own. The moment I did, loads of people piled on board. Seems like people are either unsure of how to use the thing, or just plain mean with their bandwidth.
But still... much fun :D
Another update:
The stability issue I was worried about seems to have been a one off, as it's been rock solid since then.
People still don't seem to have got their heads around hosting games themselves, merely lurking and then jumping on board as soon as I host one.
However... now I've gotten used to how it all works, online play is *absolutely magnificent*
It'd be nice to be able to speak to the other players somehow, or have a forum, or *something*, as seeing nothing but a nickname and some very vague details is rather impersonal, but that's really the only gripe I have. Maybe I should set up a dedicated chatroom... but with no way to contact the players, they'd never know about it, unless they actively searched.
Steve 5:22 PM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Deluxe Paint 4 on a PSP?
Bwaaahahahahaha.
I love this thing.
Labels: consoles, emulators, photos
Steve 9:50 AM [+] (0) comments
Monday, February 27, 2006
Yup.... I'm sure no-one cares what systems I'm emulating on my PSP, but I don't care.Here's the updated list.
Sinclair Spectrum
Commodore 64
Nintendo NES
Nintendo Gameboy/Colour/Advance
Nintendo SNES
Sega Megadrive/Genesis
Atari Lynx
Neo Geo CD
Of these, all run at a very playable speed except the GBA, which is a bit ropey still.
What I'd like next is an Atari 2600 and an Amiga emulator.
There's talk of an N64 emulator, but it seems to me that if the PSP struggles to do the GBA, it's got no hope of doing the N64.
There's also talk of doing the PS1... and that's maybe more of a possibility. We'll see. It's just all rather good fun, being able to have nearly every worthwhile retro games machine in your pocket at the same time. (Okay, so it's a big pocket.)
Okay.... update time...
I got an Amiga emulator running on it too now.
Yay!!!
...and
Neo Geo Colour Pocket
PC Engine
Vectrex
Atari 2600
Steve 7:50 AM [+] (0) comments
Friday, February 24, 2006
This evening/morning has been spent installing more emulators onto my psp, and loading them up with the best games I can remember from each format.So now the thing can run Sinclair Spectrum, Atari Lynx, Sega Megadrive, Snes, and Gameboy/GB Colour. I did have a Game Boy Advance emulator on there, but dumped it, coz it was just a smidge too slow to be worth the bother, especially when I have the real thing... which is a damn site easier to carry around.
Steve 6:04 AM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Wahay! I finally got round to buying a sensible size monitor, after making do with a 15inch one since I started using PCs.This one was an absolute bargain. It's a 17" TFT from Suyama. Nope... I've never heard of them either, but at £120, brand new, from ebuyer.com, and great picture quality, I don't care who it's made by.
In other news, Fanjita has updated the eloader for the PSP, used to run homebrew on the psp via the Grand Theft Auto game save exploit.
It's now much more stable, and works every time, instead of one attempt in 10.
The original beta was an impressive proof of concept, but as a useful tool... it just wasn't worth the effort. This update on the other hand, makes running emulators and the like on the psp an entirely more enjoyable experience.
Labels: consoles
Steve 2:07 PM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
In PSP terms, the moment I've been waiting for arrived this week.The hacker, coder, and all round PSP hero Fanjita has again, found a way around the psp firmware's blocking of homebrew programs, and opened the doors to a mass of emulators, home coded games, and utilities.
So I spent much of yesterday playing megadrive, snes and atari games on my psp. It's an entirely silly thing to want to do with a modern handheld games system, but I like using things in ways they weren't intended.
Labels: consoles
Steve 10:22 AM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Wow.Ages since I posted.
Oh well.
I haven't really known what to write, to be honest. Since quitting college, I don't really know quite where I'm at, and with the distractions of christmas and new year, I'm only this week starting to take stock of where my life might be going.
Anyways, while not thinking about such serious things, I've spent much of my time playing around with my psp.
Last night I upgraded the firmware, and lo and behold, was presented with the wonder of rss feeds for streaming podcasts.
"Do whatnow?"
Er... it's like recorded radio shows in mp3 format that you'd normally download onto an ipod and play later... but on the psp, you stream them.
Streaming is both good and bad, depending on your perspective. You don't have to worry about having enough storage space to keep the podcast on your psp, but you're limited to only being able to play them when you're near your wi-fi connection, or a hotspot.
So, I found this really sick and twisted podcast called Distorted View.
To say the content is 'adult' is putting it mildly... but it's SO funny. The guy sits there reading sick porn, or playing fucked up recordings of god knows what, and then proceeds to take this piss out of them.
Yeah, it's pretty juvenile, but it's way entertaining.
Go take a look... or not. You'll find the mp3s in the archives, so I'd imagine you can play them just fine on a pc.
Labels: consoles
Steve 11:13 AM [+] (0) comments
Monday, May 23, 2005
How cool.I found a program that maps keys on the keyboard to buttons on my joypad, so now I can play Radiant Silvergun in all it's glory, and not keep losing lives through difficulty in controlling the ship.
Now I just die through being crap, and the game being shockingly tough.
Having said that, I can see exactly why this game has such a legendary status on the Saturn, and commands such high priced for the Japanese only copies being sold on ebay.
When you consider that the Saturn is pretty much 10 year old technology, and was widely regarded as inferior to the Play Station, the graphics on this game are quite staggering, and the gameplay very innovative.
Best 2D shootemup ever?
Almost certainly.
Steve 7:26 PM [+] (0) comments
Hah!!!
Emulators are wonderful things.
For ages there were no usable Sega Saturn emulators, and for ages I had no way of playing Radiant Silvergun on my real Saturn without paying around £130 on ebay.
So this morning I found a fully functional Saturn emulator and then managed to make a downloaded copy of Radiant Silvergun work on it.
This isn't a perfect solution, as I'm restricted to using the keyboard to play the thing... far from ideal, but I dare say sooner or later they'll update the emulator to accept keyboard input.
Still... game collecting being what it is, one of these days I'll actually stump up the money to buy the game anyway.
Labels: consoles, emulators, games
Steve 5:57 AM [+] (0) comments
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Back to the eye clinic this afternoon.I SO hope that doctor says it's showing signs of improvement, coz after all the crap I've had to stick in my eye, I'm gonna be waaaaaaaaay pissed off if he doesn't.
It's not just the taking of the drops that gets old, but how they rule your life completely. You have to fit your entire life around them, sleep pattern, etc, and going out is very tricky, coz some of them have to be kept in the fridge, others kept below 25C, but not refridgerated.
Anyways.
Turns out there's a retro gaming shop in Andrea's home town, so she went for a look in there yesterday, and picked me up an Atari Lynx handheld console. This is another largely overlooked piece of impressive hardware that died a quick death due to the dominance of the gameboy.
The collection grows and grows.
I can't tell you what a buzz it gives me, being a total gaming geek, to have a girlfriend who's into gaming too.
But damn, she slaughters me on Mario Kart.
Labels: consoles, iritis, medical
Steve 9:32 AM [+] (0) comments
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Two noteworthy things for this post.First the bad stuff.
I'm having serious problems with my right eye.
I dunno if there's something in it, or if it has an infection, but it's been rather painful for about a week, and then friday eveing it flared up and became extremely bloodshot and sore. There's a very gritty feeling, so it could be that there's something in it.
This morning it watered like an absolute bitch, and I found some grit in the fluid, so that may be it, but I can't be sure. Right now it still feels gritty and the vision in it is extremely cloudy, though it's not hurting so bad.
I'll give it a couple more hours to see how it goes, and if there's no improvement, I'll have to go to A and E at the hospital, to get it looked at.
Truth is, I almost certainly should have done that 2 days ago, but I have an incredible fear of having my eyes poked at, or anything going near them, stemming back from an experience I've blanked all memory of, when I was a child.
Now the good stuff.
In town yesterday we happened to look in the retro gaming shop, and I had half a mind to pick up a Sega Game Gear. That being a rather unremarkable piece of gaming history, I wasn't really too fussed about it, but since they have one going very cheap, I figured what the heck.
However, in the window they also happened to have one of these...
That's a PC Engine GT handheld... and I absolute*had* to have it.
Why so excited about something that looks like an oversized black gameboy?
The PC Engine GT is the handheld version of the NEC PC Engine... a very successful console in Japan, later released into the US as the GT Express, where it had only very limited success, and never officially imported into the UK or Europe.
To say they're rare in the UK is a major understatement.
The retro gaming magazine I have prices them between £100 and £200, and the only one I found when looking on ebay (uk) yesterday was in spain, selling for the equiv of £160. I picked this one up for £105, with 2 games... one of which is R-Type, *the* game to play on PC Engine.
Very chuffed.
Labels: consoles, iritis, medical, photos
Steve 9:02 AM [+] (0) comments
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
I recieved my first item purchased from ebay today.It's a clone of a 4 in 1 action replay cartridge for the Sega Saturn. It features expanded system memory, expanded game save storage, access to game cheats and cheat codes, and removes region restrictions, allowing me to play japanese and american copies of games.
What that means is, I can now start looking for a copy of the japanese only, and completely legendary Radiant Silvergun.
I've seen 3 copies of this for sale in the last week, all of which had bids of over £60, still with 3 days to go before bidding closed. I'm expecting to have to pay big money to get this game, but I'm very determined to have it.
Labels: consoles
Steve 9:39 AM [+] (0) comments
Sunday, April 10, 2005
It's been a very game related week.Andrea brought me some old consoles from her place which were just sitting unused, to add to my collection.
A Mega Drive (Genesis) with Mega CD, A Nintendo 64, and a SNES. We couldn't tell if the Mega CD was working or not, as it was lacking a psu, but shortly after, I picked up a Mark 2 Mega Drive and Mega CD with all the PSUs and stuff, so we were able to test everything, and it all works. The SNES doesn't appear to work, but again, it may just be a PSU issue. We'll see.
A few days later we went on a game buying spree, picking up 2nd hand stuff for various consoles, including the PS2... mostly head to head stuff, and proceeded to beat, shoot, and crash the hell out of each other.
I've been looking at old computers and consoles on ebay, and found some absolute gems, real collectables, and stuff which people have simply forgotten all about.... so once I've got my paypal account sorted out with the details of my new debit card, I plan to go on a bit of a buying spree.
What I really need though is some shelving units to go in this room, as I'm all out of display space, and that's with half of my collection crammed up in the loft.
All of this has given me an idea for a new website,
Once I get hosting sorted out, I figure I should make a website featuring (among other things) photos and details regarding all of the computers and consoles in my collection.
There's masses of info on the subject already out there, but it'd be nice to draw all of this together and apply it to everything in my collection.
Labels: consoles
Steve 10:10 AM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
After staying awake for waaaaay longer than my body found agreeable, I managed to flip from night to day mode in one night last night. Wasn't easy, but I did it.So today I got up at 5am(ish) and sat around till a reasonable hour to text Andrea.
I'm liking this very much. So we may be 100 and something miles apart, but there's something very nice about being able to have a chat in the morning over breakfast, as opposed to me being fast asleep till the middle of the afternoon.
So after chatting again on the phone while waiting for a bus, I nipped into town to pay the rent, and while in town I chanced upon a new toy... and a bit of a bargain too.
Now I've always liked the idea of handheld games consoles, but have never really been too grabbed by the usual Nintendo thing. So how chuffed was I when the retro gaming shop I often visit had a stock of brand new (though long discontinued) NeoGeo Colour Pocket consoles, boxed, with 6 games for £80?
It's retro, it's fairly exclusive, it's certainly different.... and best of all, among the 6 bundled games... it has Metal Slug. I've been a fan of the Metal Slug series of games since I started playing them on a NeoGeo emulator on my pc a couple of years ago.
Much fun.
I should look and see what the other games are (haven't even bothered to look, coz I've only been interested in Metal Slug)
Pac-Man, King Of The Fighters R2, Fatal Fury: First Contact, Neo Turf Masters and Samurai Showdown 2.
Not bad going for a bundled collection.
Labels: consoles, games, sleep
Steve 11:52 AM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Woohoo!!!So I was out doing a spot of christmas shopping when I happened to walk past the retro gaming shop, and they only had the holy grail of retro gamers for sale in the window.
Needless to say I rushed to the bank, rushed back and bought the thing.
What is it?
It's a Vectrex.
This thing was out at around the same time as the Atari 2600 VCS and Mattel Intellivision, back in the very early 80s, and was only available in the uk for around a year... two years tops. To say examples in full working order in the uk are rare as hens teeth is something of an understatement. I've been looking for one at a sensible price for years.
It's got 9 games with it, including Mine Storm which comes built into the console, so though it wasn't cheap, it was a pretty fair deal (no I'm not telling you what I paid for it).
Steve 5:43 PM [+] (0) comments
Saturday, September 04, 2004
Back in the world of doing stuff for something to do.Not quite retro gaming, so much as recent but defunct gaming.
I picked up a Sega Dreamcast from the same store I got the Saturn from. Interesting contraption, and I can see why it failed to sell.
Sega seem to have concentrated so hard on getting good gfx that they totally forgot about ergonomics. They joypad has to be one of the most horribly uncomfortable controllers I've ever laid my hands on. After using a PS1 and PS2 pad for so long, this thing seems little more than a joke.
The games I picked up with it are an equally curious bunch.
Sega Rally 2: The gfx look great, untill it starts moving, and then you realise it has a worse framerate than Sega Rally on the Saturn, so while it's extremely pretty, it doesn't feel as nice to play.
Sega GT: This wants SO bad to be Gran Turismo, and I guess it isn't bad really... it just isn't Gran Turismo.
Ferrari 355 Challenge: Nice. It's Ferraris... what else can I say?
Crazy Taxi: Hehehehehehe.... yup, I like this a lot. Haven't laughed at a game so much in ages.
The thing I can't help noticing about these games is the overriding Japanese feel of the games... the same as on the Saturn. I dont know why Sega games come out that way, coz Sony are equally Japanese, but they feel entirely different. Maybe it's just Sega's arcade roots seeping into the games.
Steve 2:35 PM [+] (0) comments
Monday, August 16, 2004
Ahhh... retro gaming heaven.Regular readers (I think I have some) may recall not long ago I mentioned trying to run a Sega Saturn emulator on my laptop, and failing miserably. Well, a new retro gaming shop has opened in town... mostly PS1s, Dreamcasts and Nintendo 64s, but just on the offchance, I asked the guy behind the counter of he had any Saturns, and what do you know? They had one, stashed away in the back.
Better yet, it came with a copy of Christmas Nights which turns out to be very collectable as it was a fairly limited release.
Playing games on the machine is quite a peculiar experience. The graphics really do kinda suck, being like sub-standard PS1 gfx, but the gameplay... well... it's Sega, and while they may have a crappy reputation for abandoning their users with unsupported hardware, their games were always second to none (though nintendo may disagree).
So at the moment I have Christmas Nights, Sega Rally, Manx TT Superbike and Clockwork Knight... but with the Saturn games in that shop selling for between 99p and £2.99, you can be pretty sure I'll wind up buying everything they've got in pretty short order. Bet they don't get their hands on any copies of Radiant Silvergun any time soon though.
Steve 6:57 PM [+] (0) comments
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