The Thread of Gaming Randomness

[ReddMcKnight]

[img width=577 height=796]https://i.imgur.com/fquQQf7.png[/img]

Awesome.

[SirPsycho]

Everybody's talking about reading old magazines and I've been cutting good ads out of ones I've been looking through.

[img width=700 height=893]https://i.imgur.com/Bo3dZxl.png[/img]

[img width=676 height=895]https://i.imgur.com/CyOUaAt.png[/img]

Forgot this one.

[img width=576 height=788]https://i.imgur.com/64qwatt.png[/img]

[Sirgin]

Is this real? I had no idea you could do that. A couple of my old CDs stopped working and I was kind of pissed off because I thought I have to buy those games again to play them.

Yes it is. I managed to add the following games through this method:

• Bioshock 2 (Steam also gave me the "remastered" edition for free)
• Dungeon Siege III
• Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
• Prey
• Rome: Total War
• Supreme Commander (Steam also gave me the Forged Alliance expansion for free)
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II

I can install them via Steam, get achievements, etc... it's pretty neat, you should give it a try with some of your old PC games.

and it also works with some of the Blizzard games with their Battlenet client (I have Diablo 2 and Warcraft III registered that way).

Are you sure about that? I tried my older Blizzard games (Diablo II, Warcraft II, Starcraft, ...) and they didn't work. As Blizzard has Battle.net for their games, it wouldn't make sense for them to make their games available on other platforms. You probably added them as a "non-Steam game" in Steam, which would simply create a shortcut in Steam, forwarding you to Battle.net when clicked on.

[MetalFRO]

[img width=700 height=525]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/EmQAAOSwWxNY1kXv/s-l1600.jpg[/img]

Found this on ebay.  I don't have the money currently, but what is basically is a an AV Booster for the PC Engine (or Turbografx-16 with a slight mod to the back) that outputs component.  Peripherally, it also passes RGBS signals (via the RCA jacks) through out either component.  Thought it might get some love.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/...40c3b8:g:EmQAAOSwWxNY1kXv

VERY INTERESTING!  I've seen S-Video boards like this, and there's even one that's made to connect to the 2 sets of 4 pins at either end of the pin-set on the back of the TG.  There's also this, however:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/...e4d972:g:UtQAAOxyaRZR2X4C

This would be a viable option, along with a SCART converter, which would allow you to pair it with a Framemeister or OSSC to jump to HDMI.  I'm seriously considering an 8-port SCART switcher and SCART-to-HDMI converter so I can get some of my older consoles to HDMI.  I have a buddy in South Carolina who did that with his Saturn, and he swears by it.

[mumboking]

I'm excited.

[Link41]

Holy crap that Nintendo Direct had some solid showings. South Park, Okami, a massive DLC pack for Splatoon 2. Luigi's Mansion remake for 3DS.

[bombatomba]

Looking through the Game Informer top 300 games of all time.  Obviously I can't take this seriously, mainly because I think 300 is just too high of a number for the list to make sense.  Smaller numbers are always better.  Anyway, I'm getting some warm fuzzies while going through the list.  You know, I completely forgot about Advance Wars?  Easily one of my favorite series of all time, and it just drops off the map without a peep.  I know there are other strat series, but nothing as light-hearted or with a comparable art style (or with a modern-based units).

[MetalFRO]

Looking through the Game Informer top 300 games of all time.  Obviously I can't take this seriously, mainly because I think 300 is just too high of a number for the list to make sense.  Smaller numbers are always better.  Anyway, I'm getting some warm fuzzies while going through the list.  You know, I completely forgot about Advance Wars?  Easily one of my favorite series of all time, and it just drops off the map without a peep.  I know there are other strat series, but nothing as light-hearted or with a comparable art style (or with a modern-based units).

I went through the list last night, since I got the mag yesterday in the mail, and I feel like the list is too heavy with titles from the last 3-5 years.  Not that there haven't been some stellar games to come out in that time, but it feels weird to see Horizon Zero Dawn there so fast, or even Breath of the Wild, as brilliant as it is, in the top 100 already.  Also, not a single traditional shmup in there.  Asteroids and Defender don't count.  It was probably too much to hope for, but even something as well regarded as Ikaruga couldn't crack the top 300 list.  Bah, humbug!

[bombatomba]

Looking through the Game Informer top 300 games of all time.  Obviously I can't take this seriously, mainly because I think 300 is just too high of a number for the list to make sense.  Smaller numbers are always better.  Anyway, I'm getting some warm fuzzies while going through the list.  You know, I completely forgot about Advance Wars?  Easily one of my favorite series of all time, and it just drops off the map without a peep.  I know there are other strat series, but nothing as light-hearted or with a comparable art style (or with a modern-based units).

I went through the list last night, since I got the mag yesterday in the mail, and I feel like the list is too heavy with titles from the last 3-5 years.  Not that there haven't been some stellar games to come out in that time, but it feels weird to see Horizon Zero Dawn there so fast, or even Breath of the Wild, as brilliant as it is, in the top 100 already.  Also, not a single traditional shmup in there.  Asteroids and Defender don't count.  It was probably too much to hope for, but even something as well regarded as Ikaruga couldn't crack the top 300 list.  Bah, humbug!

Yeah, I get that.  I like "top" gaming lists, but really only for either the nostalgia the games give me, finding out about games I haven't heard of (that happens a lot), or for the the peek into the personalities that compile the lists.  You ever listen to the GiantBomb Cast Game of the Year podcasts that happen at the end of each year?  If not, they basically spend several multi-hour podcasts arguing about what is the best for the feature on their website.  I didn't listen this year, but it typically a highlight for me, as I have found it very entertaining.  That is me in a nutshell, I guess; not looking for validation of my entertainment, just looking to be entertained.

[slackur]

I suppose this is the best place to put this...

Had a fascinating dream last night.  In said dream I found a retro mom-n-pop game store about an hour away that I had never seen before.  I went inside, and while chatting with fellow customers I discovered one of them was a person I knew from RFG!  This person introduced me to (hard to remember after waking, I think it was two) other RFG folks in the store, and we thought it was amazing that we all lived so close and never knew.  Someone asked if I knew about *another* person from RFG and how they were having a tough time.  So later we all (dream logic, time fast-forwarded) got together with that person at my place and hung out and played video games all weekend and got to relax and become IRL friends.

It was one of those dreams that you wake up from and are saddened when you realize it was just a dream.  Not all of mine are "hey, that could plausibly happen" scenarios, but when you think back and realize no-one spontaneously became a fish-headed dragon and ate everyone at the end, you kinda wonder if maybe your subconscious just tapped into a parallel reality or something.

Anyway.  Thought I would share.

[MetalFRO]

@bombatomba - interesting perspective.  I guess, in a way, I operate the same way.  I look at lists like that as mostly arbitrary, and totally subjective.  Circling back to Crabby's article from a few days ago, it's difficult enough to rate and compare games of differing styles, let alone, genres.  How do you definitely rank games of all genres against one another to come up with a definitive list?  There are so many factors (popularity, cultural influence, design ingenuity, fun factor, style vs. substance, difficulty, accessibility, etc.) that can be used to gauge such things that it can make your head spin.  Not that we shouldn't try, but certainly, no such thing as a definitive list can truly be made, because personal tastes and cultural shifts will always inform such processes.

@slackur - sounds like an awesome dream, and one that I'd hit the snooze bar a few times to keep going!

[bombatomba]

@FRO - Yeah, I do agree.  As a fellow adherent to non-subjective truth, I really want to say that there is a list of the best video games of all time, but the more I dwell on this I can't help but think maybe I am wrong.  I recall a conversation with a friend where he was convinced that Head Over Heals was one of the most important games in gaming history, but I just couldn't see it, no matter how hard I tried.  And I still don't get why so many people fawn over Jonathan Blow games.

@slackur- Sounds pleasant and thanks for sharing.  I usually dream about my basement flooding or that I am back on the assembly line at Ford, or my roof leaking comical amounts of water, so I'd trade in a heartbeat.  I always hope for the "find hundreds of games in a garbage can while riding around on my bike in the 1980's" dream, but I rarely get that.  Just the stupid flooded basement.

Anyhoo, have any of you seen one of these:

[img width=462 height=500]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/0xEAAOSwDkVaA1ct/s-l500.jpg[/img]

So weird.  And it appears to be the NES version of the game (from the back of the box).  I'll try to take a pic, as there is one at the Meijer store that I frequent.

[MetalFRO]

That's a pretty cool Double Dragon item.  And I'm in the minority; I actually prefer the NES version to the arcade original.  I feel like the arcade version is janky, and while historically important for pioneering the beat-em-up genre, was quickly surpassed, and not nearly as fun to play now as it was in 1986.

[bombatomba]

And I'm in the minority; I actually prefer the NES version to the arcade original.

Lol, me too.  I even wrote the review on the NES version that I own (within the database).

You know, I long for the day when Star Citizen is affordable to the every-man.

I get regular updates via email from the Dev, Roberts Space Industry, and have managed to ignore them for years.  This year is different.  This year I made the mistake of watching a number of videos (read: all of them) about the ships.  What a mistake on my part.  So I open up the latest letter mainly because it talks about new ships with discounts.  The one that catches my eye is the Anvil Terrapin, which is great ship for those looking to get into pure in-game exploration.  The cost: $220 USD, but with the temporary "Warbond" discount it is $195 USD.  Now, in my wildest dreams, I might be able to swing that price (given the time of the year, the arrival of my regular yearly bonus), but you can't just buy the ship and jump into the game, no.  NO.  First you must buy a game "package" to play the game.  As of this post, there are thirteen packages (one single player and the rest multplayer).  The prices range from $45 USD to $795 (!) USD.  After jumping in you can now purchase your ship.  I grant that there are two ships in the $45 USD range (one fighter and one meat and potatoes), and once can also earn in game credits to buy ships with, but from what I have read this is a terrible grind (much like sweat farming in Entropia).

http://www.youtube.com/embed/jtIK0BuYm0U?rel=0

I don't want to put out there that I have anything against Star Citizen or don't want to play it.  I would love to get into the game and just tool around, much like I wanted to do when I first got into the space sim subgenre, but cost is everything for me.  Maybe one day the game will come out of Alpha and prices come down, but then again maybe they won't.  Those that played Chris Roberts' back the day can tell you the high cost of entry (in computer upgrades) for Wing Commander games.

Well, glad to have that off my chest.  How is everyone doing?

[Ikariniku]

I get the music from StarTropics stuck in my head without realizing it.

Anyhoo, have any of you seen one of these:

[img width=462 height=500]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/0xEAAOSwDkVaA1ct/s-l500.jpg[/img]

So weird.  And it appears to be the NES version of the game (from the back of the box).  I'll try to take a pic, as there is one at the Meijer store that I frequent.

Yup, I have, and there's Mega Man II and Ms. Pac-Man (I think) versions, as well.  They're the NES versions because Nintendo on a chip systems are cheap and plentiful.  If you look at the Rampage mini-arcade that was released recently, it is also the NES version, just patched so that it skips over the player select and character select screens (which you can still see if you're eagle eyed enough).