GRay Defender

Nice... I was there Sunday.  Never seen so many machines in one place...

My son and I just got back from a three day event in Southern California called the Arcade Expo 3.0.  What a blast we had playing tons of arcade and pinball games all on free play.  Really great event, everyone that worked it was very friendly and the vibe was good all around.  This was one of those great bonding moments, really felt like a win regarding father son time - we'll do it again for sure next year. 
Below are some of the pics I took, a lot to take in... and watch my kid at the same time so not a lot of picture time. 
 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/519858548078322/permalink/1340030559394446/
 
"Michael Thomasson
2 hrs Okay, I can finally spill the beans on this project. AtGames is releasing a second Intellivision Flashback this fall and it will have the games you want by Data East (Burgertime, Lock 'n Chase, Bump 'n Jump, etc.) as well as the TRON games, and more!  "
 
 
 
 
 

That was great, thanks for sharing...

That was great, thanks for sharing...

Hey,
I'm _aterw but if that's too silly you can just call me Andrew. I'm a kid out of Union City, Pennsylvania - a Junior in High School anyways - and I've been doing a whole lot of stuff for my life.
 
To start off, well, I'll start with the whole Atari bit. I got introduced to what Atari even was from one of my best friends (I think he goes by BurritoBeans online?) a couple years back when I had went over to his place and he had a 2600 with some games and controllers that he said he ordered off of eBay or something. After an afternoon of Pitfall, Warlords, Combat, and Tennis I ended up really liking the things and bought a 4-switch of my own probably a week after from a local game shop and have just been buying cartridges as I can find them. (Erie seems dead for Atari stuff, I can't find any anywhere!) I don't own any Atari apart from that 2600, but hey, it's a fun system so I can't complain. With Beans, I ended up also getting into a lot of other game stuff and collect some old computers and systems that I've been able to find at his workplace and other game shops in the general area.
 
For things I enjoy, I really like to do a couple main things - games, collecting albums, playing guitar, and movies. For games other than the Atari and all that, I remember my first system was a Nintendo Gamecube when they were new and it was so cool to me for about two weeks then I got bored and went back to playing outside while my brothers were all over it - I don't think I really played much until we got out Xbox 360 MW2 Elite, and even then I only played for a couple years before I got bored.
 
With the music stuff, records have always been a thing in my life as my dad kept all his stuff from high school/college so we have his old record player and albums. I always thought they were cool so I started buying records myself, and I have good memories of sitting around listening to bands like Genesis, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Toto, Dire Straits, Men At Work, and The B52s playing on the record player. This stuff was also why I got into playing music - I play Contralto Clarinet, Paperclip Contrabass Clarinet, and Bassoon for the school band while also playing drums both on my own time and for a little band which friends and I put together a few years back. I love to play, but we don't play many shows so apart from a couple a year it's just the concert band stuff for school and orchestra for the school musical if they have a part for any of my instruments.
 
Finally with moves, well I've been watching the things forever - again with dads old stuff we had the DVD player and Laserdisc player which got used a lot on weekends, and I've been buying the things since I was about 12. I haven't got that big of a collection of movies anymore as I sold off a lot of what I had when I was getting my car but  I kept what I like and some odds and ends which I received from people and I still enjoy them to this day.
 
I do work which is the reason why I don't game all too much. For the past almost three years of my life I've been a farmhand working out in fields doing whatever I'm needed for in the summer and helping with animals in the winter. Compared to my friends I'm not doing too great job-wise as it's not the best pay in the world, but I get a free meal and some cash in hand at the end of the day so I'm not complaining.
 
So that's about it for me. I don't know a ton for games, but as I'm getting a bit more into them I'm hoping maybe I'll learn some stuff on here and be able to maybe contribute here and there.
Thanks for reading.

So I did another Mt. Rushmore video, this time covering the best pack-in video games of all time.
Please note, these are not necessarily my favorites, but rather the games that I thought did the best job of selling their systems.
 
So, what four pack-in games do you think did the best job of selling their systems?

The "Gray Defender" effect, lol.  Hopefully they will comeback into stock soon!

Nice review.  Seems these are out of stock right now, though.

First off, I should start off by saying I have a good-paying job, but I'm soooooo not rich and am in fact in a heap of debt, but...every Christmas I get myself an expensive Christmas present. A few years ago, for example, I told my loved ones, when asked what I want for birthday/Christmas, I said, "Just Guitar Center gift cards." I amassed a ton and got myself a nice amplifier. Last year I asked the same thing, but Apple Store gift cards...again, amassed a ton and bought a new MacBook Pro (didn't have nearly enough to cover the balance, but it was definitely a good chunk, and I financed the rest and paid it off in just a few months).
 
This year....my expensive Christmas present to myself was actually one of the least expensive "expensive Christmas presents" I got myself: the GPD-XD.
 
if you're not in the know, the GPD-XD is essentially a small quad-core Android tablet rigged up with a video game controller: two (analog?) thumb sticks, a D-pad on the left side, and standard four buttons on the right, as if it were, say, a PSX/Xbox controller. Also contains two shoulder buttons on each side. The unit I got has 32 gigs internal storage, and there's a microSD slot so you can add more. The purpose of its existence is to be a handheld gaming device, and I got it because I wanted some kind of handheld that would emulate a huge variety of systems at full speed and that I could take with me on my commutes to work, flights, etc.
 
I just want to say I hate the Android OS...always did..just so clunky to navigate...but...as a whole, I'm really, really digging this GPD-XD. It comes pre-loaded with a couple of emulators and, I imagine, some ROMs that are either freely distributable or so freaking obscure that nobody would care. Personally, I downloaded MAME4droid, an NES emulator (forgot which one!), an N64 emulator (again, forgot!), a SNES emulator (again, don't remember which one!), and an Atari 2600 emulator (forgot which one again, but there are TONS), all from the Google Play store. I also tried out an Atari 7800 emulator that I couldn't figure out how to get working. :/
 
A few observations:
- I find that I really love the "Kart" games...Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Kart on the N64 are fun and very usable on the device.
- Not the best emulator if you're playing games that depend on a 4-way joystick...like, the Pac-Man games in MAME are a bit touchy; Donkey Kong, too.
- GOOD LORD, THERE ARE SO MANY EFFING MAH JONGG GAMES FOR THE SNES!!! (And some for the N64, which itself has a much smaller library.) And a surprisingly huge number of pachinko games, too!
- The screen is sharp but it's very sensitive to your skin's natural oil. IIRC, the device actually comes with screen protectors; I'll have to look into using 'em. (As it's an Android tablet, it's a touch screen.)
- Only NES game I have on it: the original The Legend of Zelda...which I suck at.
- Really cool -- yet simple -- outer packaging. The front of the box has a drawing of some kid with a caption that has both English and Kanji writing. The English writing says, "When you smile, he's happy. When you laugh, he's scared." (or something....this is from memory so it's not necessarily exact.) I...don't know what that's supposed to mean! And I don't know what the Kanji writing says. Probably the same, but I don't know how to read Kanji, so I can't say for sure!
- Holy cow, this thing gets a BUTT TON of battery life!!!! I've had the thing for, what? two, three weeks? I think I had to fully charge it once.
 
Anyway, yeah...I think I paid $170-ish for it...came with a case and some Mario decals (that I don't plan to use, btw -- if anybody needs Mario decals, just drop me a line and I'll get 'em in the mail for you!) to put on the case...definitely a worthwhile investment!

Some history on High Fructose Corn Syrup replacing Pure Cane Sugar in North America:
 
The cost of sugar in the US started to rise in the late 1970s and 1980s due to government imposed tariffs, prompting soft drink manufacturers to switch to high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as a cheaper alternative to sugar. HFCS has also been shown to create a more addictive product. By the mid-1980s, all of the major soft drink brands switched to HFCS for their North American products. One theory suggests the entire "New Coke" debacle was staged to gloss over Coca-Cola's quiet transition from sugar to HFCS in the Coca-Cola Classic formulation. In most countries, sugar is still used rather than HFCS. By the late 2000s, many soft drink fans wanted a return of sugar in the drinks, citing a slightly sweeter taste, controversies over negative health effects of HFCS, increases in the cost of corn syrup due to increased use of the product for ethanol production, as well as the cost of sugar having since dropped at that time.
 
Even though anything to do with sugar isn't especially healthy for you, cane sugar is a natural, pure ingredient. High fructose corn syrup used in many major soft drinks has been linked to obesity and metabolic disorders, addiction, and manufacturing contaminants. 

These are my thoughts on the Atgames Paddles for the Atari consoles and flashbacks 4,5,6,7
 

Thank you for that.  I had written up a nice review where I made that exact point.  I love that we can still purchase new accessories for the Atari nearly 40 years after it's initial release.  When the camera started rolling I forgot to mention that, oops...

Brilliant! Many paddlecontroled games are unknown or underrated. Everyone should own a paddleset!

These are my thoughts on the Atgames Paddles for the Atari consoles and flashbacks 4,5,6,7
 

These are my thoughts on the Atgames Paddles for the Atari consoles and flashbacks 4,5,6,7
 

Nicely done.  It's kind of cool to be able to get brand new paddles, even if they are a little tiny bit different.

These are my thoughts on the Atgames Paddles for the Atari consoles and flashbacks 4,5,6,7
 

These are my thoughts on the Atgames Paddles for the Atari consoles and flashbacks 4,5,6,7
 

Hi,
 
GRay Defender here.  I was born and raised here in San Bernardino, CA.  I played the early games in the arcade growing up and my first real gaming console was the Atari 2600.  From there I moved on to the Commodore 64, but before I let my mom sell off my 2600, I held onto the three games carts that I treasured the most at the time.  They were Adventure, Missile Command and Mountain King.  I fairly recently got back into video games and collecting.  Other than video games & consoles, I also love classic radios with cassette tape players,etc.  I also collect some vintage calculators, something about that phosphorus.
 
I guess last year I started my small youtube channel which goes by my moniker.
 
Looking forward to meeting you all over time,
 
Glenn

Thank you NSG,
 
Yeah the Super Twin 78 is a great controller, I probably would have bought it anyway, and I endorse and recommend the Edladdin products.  By the way Ed Kelly from Edladdin, told me via email he is coming out with a USB joystick, sorry for being short on the details, but it is coming soon.
 
I will definitely consider posting in the youtube section...
 
Thanks again,
 
Glenn

Thank you NSG,
 
Yeah the Super Twin 78 is a great controller, I probably would have bought it anyway, and I endorse and recommend the Edladdin products.  By the way Ed Kelly from Edladdin, told me via email he is coming out with a USB joystick, sorry for being short on the details, but it is coming soon.
 
I will definitely consider posting in the youtube section...
 
Thanks again,
 
Glenn

Thank you guys.  I do not have an atari branded calculator.  I didn't know that was a thing (eyes peeled).  However I do have a few Commodore branded ones and they are sweet.
 
And I picked up this calculator last year: (it takes 4 D cell batteries and had a carrying handle).
 
https://1drv.ms/v/s!AqMAc7hYHgL3zzL-pn2lsCTYTFR6
 
As for Mountain King I had discovered the secret area above the "mountain" and was captivated by it.  I don't remember if I ever completed it back then though..., lol...

Hi,
 
GRay Defender here.  I was born and raised here in San Bernardino, CA.  I played the early games in the arcade growing up and my first real gaming console was the Atari 2600.  From there I moved on to the Commodore 64, but before I let my mom sell off my 2600, I held onto the three games carts that I treasured the most at the time.  They were Adventure, Missile Command and Mountain King.  I fairly recently got back into video games and collecting.  Other than video games & consoles, I also love classic radios with cassette tape players,etc.  I also collect some vintage calculators, something about that phosphorus.
 
I guess last year I started my small youtube channel which goes by my moniker.
 
Looking forward to meeting you all over time,
 
Glenn

Thank you NSG,
 
Yeah the Super Twin 78 is a great controller, I probably would have bought it anyway, and I endorse and recommend the Edladdin products.  By the way Ed Kelly from Edladdin, told me via email he is coming out with a USB joystick, sorry for being short on the details, but it is coming soon.
 
I will definitely consider posting in the youtube section...
 
Thanks again,
 
Glenn