CrossBow

My grandmother had a satellite dish like this in the mid 80s. Her husband at the time made really good money so they had the means to afford it back then. The only things I really remember is that I broke it the first time I visited after they had gotten it because my grandmother never told me about the limits of the dish's rotation. So I ended up turning it beyond where it was supposed to and the motor seized up or something. Her husband was not very happy about that... In fact I want to say it was at least a year maybe two before he would trust me with the remote to control the dish by myself again after that. I also remember the first disk was a white all opaque model that wasn't meshed. That was the one I fried the motor on. They replaced it a few years later when it was struck by lightning and took out their electronics in the house connected to it. The new dish was a mesh style like shown in the thumbnail. I have no idea how long that dish was kept because they still had it the last time I visited them while they were married. That was sometime likely around 89 - 90 would be my guess.
Oh, something that video didn't mention correctly. Far as I know, channels like HBO, Playboy, Cinemax...etc. Their signals were always scrambled from the get go because my grandparents weren't able to get those stations. Those would come in all goofy like a smeared mess of color on the screen. But other stations like the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon I could watch without issue. But, I did have to follow a magazine guide they had so I knew where to adjust the dish to see that station depending on the time of day. You had to adjust two different angles as I recall (Zenith & Azmuth?). Wild stuff but it was fun and pretty cool! I do remember being able to watch NASA live feeds and it was about the coolest thing ever.
 

My grandmother had a satellite dish like this in the mid 80s. Her husband at the time made really good money so they had the means to afford it back then. The only things I really remember is that I broke it the first time I visited after they had gotten it because my grandmother never told me about the limits of the dish's rotation. So I ended up turning it beyond where it was supposed to and the motor seized up or something. Her husband was not very happy about that... In fact I want to say it was at least a year maybe two before he would trust me with the remote to control the dish by myself again after that. I also remember the first disk was a white all opaque model that wasn't meshed. That was the one I fried the motor on. They replaced it a few years later when it was struck by lightning and took out their electronics in the house connected to it. The new dish was a mesh style like shown in the thumbnail. I have no idea how long that dish was kept because they still had it the last time I visited them while they were married. That was sometime likely around 89 - 90 would be my guess.
Oh, something that video didn't mention correctly. Far as I know, channels like HBO, Playboy, Cinemax...etc. Their signals were always scrambled from the get go because my grandparents weren't able to get those stations. Those would come in all goofy like a smeared mess of color on the screen. But other stations like the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon I could watch without issue. But, I did have to follow a magazine guide they had so I knew where to adjust the dish to see that station depending on the time of day. You had to adjust two different angles as I recall (Zenith & Azmuth?). Wild stuff but it was fun and pretty cool! I do remember being able to watch NASA live feeds and it was about the coolest thing ever.
 

I've not used McAfee in many years. My wife and I are dedicated lifetime account holders using Malware Bytes pro on each of our PCs. It isn't very resource intensive and seems to do a good job. 
Also... @- Ω -... 
Holy crap that is a lot of storage?! I only have about 4TB total in my PC spread out between 5 drives and only 4TB in my NAS. I'm only using about 50% of the storage space on any of my storage and try to keep it that way.
 

I was very late to the original Horizon game as I didn't even purchase my PS4 Pro until but a few years ago and Horizon was not one of the original games I picked to play until the complete edition was released I think back in like 2019? Anyway, I ended up totally enjoying the game and still consider it to be the PS4 killer app game for that console. 
So naturally I was completely on board when I found out about a sequel being worked on not long after I beat the original game back in 2019. But was sad to learn it would be for the PS5 exclusively. At that time this was true... but that takes us to now.
I was elated when I learned that the game would in fact have a PS4 port as well and bought it on release day to play on my PS4. I've been playing it nearly every night for a few hours since and still haven't beaten the main storyline of the game just yet. Although I know I'm pretty much just one final mission away now.
So... I'm curious if anyone else is playing the game? I've a few things I wanted to mention but would need to preface that it would be SPOILERS!!!!
With that out of the way... lets discuss...
I want to start mainly with some technical issues I have with this game...
- The new Vista locations are both stupid easy and more frustrating than they were in the previous game. Whenever you come across an old decrepit cell tower it was easy to know you were about to start the Vista hunt fun. Luckily I found most of them quite easy to do since all you needed to do was find the remnants of a platform nearby with a broken guard rail and you were pretty much where you needed to be. But then the pixel point accuracy needed to line up everything was a bit much I felt. The last Vista point I think I needed to get was very frustrating to get lined up from ontop of the large tower.
- graphical glitches abound... Now I will state upfront that this game might very well be the best looking console game I've ever set eyes upon. But it does come with a cost and that cost has been for me, weird graphical glitches. The biggest issue has been collision detection issues with Aloy being able to pass through stuff sometimes, or seeing NPCs and monsters glitch in and out of existence before my eyes. The machine monsters are especially annoying because I have had several battle with large machines where I'm running and dodging to save my life and slowly wittling them down on their health and then all of a sudden... they just Poof! Are gone! The music subsides and there is no machine body to be found or even the parts I stripped off during combat have all disappeared?! Another instance I was battling some rebels and machines at a rebel base and the last machine (A scortcher) took a power hit from me and just ended up stuck under the map?! So now I couldn't complete the damn mission because the last machine was stuck under the map out of the way of my weapons. I knew where it was because I could see it under the map ground with my scanner. I ended up reloading from the last save to do this all over.
- What needs to be done and how to do it... is not made very clear. This goes back to several things you do through out the game but here is a great example. Remember the Vista issue I mentioned earlier? Well, that last one you specifically cannot do until towards the very end of the game. There is a tall neck that you encounter pretty much very early on in the game that you also find out later that you cannot do until near the end. I find this frustrating because it means we discover things in a way where you can literally waste hours trying to figure out how to go about completing such a task and then find out much later that you purposely couldn't achieve this task until near the end of the game?! I think it would have been best that they left these out or made them non discover-able until which time you could actually achieve them. 
- Another odd thing that was NOT explained to me was that during one of the Vista hunts I was told by our in game character that I would need to come back later. And then the game pulled up text on the screen showing me how to switch out between the Vista view and normal scanner mode. So I switched over to normal scanner and continued to play. However, when the time came that I could now achieve this Vista hunt I attempted to try and get the Vista mode to come back up on my scanner pressing the direction button that the game told me earlier to use to switch modes...but... it would not switch over?! I ended up going online to see if this was a bug only to discover that to reactivate the Vista mode on my scanner required me to press the Square button on the controller while having my cursor over the Vista marker in the map screen to Activate it?! This is not made clear at all within the game text, especially when you were told previously by the game to use a direction key on the controller to switch modes and that is how you switched over between them earlier.
- Patches... Patches and more patches. This game has received no less than 5 updates since I bought it including a zero day patch. Now, I know this is quite normal for modern releases but it seems to me that each time they patch this game, it screws up something else for me? The first couple of patches didn't seem to cause me any issues but the last few is when many of the above items I've mentioned started to happen with the graphical glitches etc. The irony to this is that each patch mostly has been released to deal with graphical issues others have noticed. Although the ONLY issues I noticed originally besides what I've mentioned was pop in (Pretty standard given the graphics and scale of this game), and areas that aren't lit properly and show up black in shadow that also effect Aloy when she enters them. But those are not nearly as game breaking as what I've mentioned above.
Now what about the rest of the game? I've been enjoying myself playing it despite these issues. But as fine tuned as the original game was, it is frustrating to have all these little things that really detract from the experience as a whole. The story is just as engaging in this sequel as it was in the original and I really like the fact that this sequel is a true sequel in that you have to be pretty familiar with events from the first game and people you met to understand everything in this game that is taking place. They do rehash some of this in places but not nearly with enough detail for someone who hasn't played the first game to fully understand.
I really am impressed with the character animations in this game. Many of those you interact with are some of the best facial and movement animations I've seen in a game to date. The Mocap work here is very impressive! 
The amount of detail in the machines is also staggering. As an example, when some of the larger machines open their mouths (Likely to spew objects at you), you will see gear work that is actually animated and moving! This is something you would only spot for a split second during game play and combat, but that level of detail is there. Other amazing detail is how foliage will move as you walk and sneak your way through in a very convincing manner. Even tracks you leave behind in sand and snow is believable. The only detail I find lacking is actually in the weather as that portion actually feels more tacked on than anything?
The amount of exploration is stupid impressive as well. But it can also lead to some of that frustration I mentioned earlier. Here is an example. There is a side quest you are given where you need to retrieve some items from a fallen soldier. To do this requires you to access an area on the map that is very high up. But again, this is given to you roughly midway through the game. So doing as I always do, I go to that area and explore the crap out of the area. Sure enough I figured out how to get up on a ledge higher up and glide my way to the part of the map where this quest takes place. However, the quest items were nowhere to be found? Confused I reloaded my game to try again in case it glitched up. But still no quest items. I look online and find out that the quest items ONLY appear if you access the area via very specific means and by that, it isn't something you can do until near the very end of the game?! So once again I've been given a task wherein I find a way to accomplish said task only to find out I'm not technically supposed to do this yet but ... you aren't told this in the game. So I'm left stuck wondering what the heck? So yeah... you explore in all kinds of places and I've found many areas that are off map where there are hidden machines to battle and fight and even discovered that those locations were supposed to be off limits to me until the near end of the game. Yet, I found ways to jump and explore to access those areas well in advance. 
So overall..what are my thoughts?
I think the story is excellent, the graphics are amazing and the overall game is a TON of fun to play. But these issues I've spoken of detract greatly in many ways and make this sequel a lot of fun, but it isn't on the same level pedestal as the first game. But I know I will purchase the DLC that I'm sure will come available over the course of this year because I really can't stop playing the game.
 

Knight Guy is excellent! I was a tester for it some I'm very familiar with that one! 
I'm most excited to see everyone's reactions once E.X.O. finally gets released! The game is essentially done already but it requires the Pokey/Hokey solution and the current HOKEY apparently doesn't play well with the game causing the delay there.
I'm also pretty excited for that new Mario Bros port! It looks great!
The new Keystone Kapers port is really fun as well and I'm curious to see what Lewis's next project is that he has been hinting to us testers about hehe.
 

I can get on board with that line of thinking. After all while they might be Cartridge only... my MUSHA and Crusader of Centy I bought back in the early aughts only cost me about $8 and $10 respectively at that time and I felt they were great prices back then and especially what they go for now!

Knight Guy is excellent! I was a tester for it some I'm very familiar with that one! 
I'm most excited to see everyone's reactions once E.X.O. finally gets released! The game is essentially done already but it requires the Pokey/Hokey solution and the current HOKEY apparently doesn't play well with the game causing the delay there.
I'm also pretty excited for that new Mario Bros port! It looks great!
The new Keystone Kapers port is really fun as well and I'm curious to see what Lewis's next project is that he has been hinting to us testers about hehe.
 

Knight Guy is excellent! I was a tester for it some I'm very familiar with that one! 
I'm most excited to see everyone's reactions once E.X.O. finally gets released! The game is essentially done already but it requires the Pokey/Hokey solution and the current HOKEY apparently doesn't play well with the game causing the delay there.
I'm also pretty excited for that new Mario Bros port! It looks great!
The new Keystone Kapers port is really fun as well and I'm curious to see what Lewis's next project is that he has been hinting to us testers about hehe.
 

I paid $250 for my Magic Knight Rayearth for the Saturn. Disc in excellent condition, case also in good condition with the sticker sheet it came with fully intact etc. First time my wife thought I was a little crazy. But I bought it about 4 or 5 years ago at that price and it is still the most I've paid for any single used game in my collection. Looking at how much that game goes for now, I feel I made the right call to buy it when I did. 
And really that is the takeaway from all of this. If you are wanting to collect the games to keep and play, then you are better off buying what you can and want now vs tomorrow. I still kick myself in the butt for not being willing to spend $100 - 200 for Snatcher for the Sega CD 15 - 20 years ago. Now I'm not likely to ever own an original of that game at this point given what it goes for.
 

Nope I can't see if it has it in there or not. But I'm going to guess it is still very likely. I don't any of the 7800 Froggo carts so I wasn't sure if they used Eproms or not and if they did, whether the inverter chip would be visible or not as it is on activision and absolute games.
 

Hmm.. I've thought about this many times and I still can't quite classify where I fit in with the collecting part of the hobby. When I got back into this just over 20 years ago now, It was first about getting all the stuff I wanted to play back in the day but couldn't afford as a child but could as an adult. As a result I was kinda smart in that I started with the heavier hitters first on some systems. But, I was only actively collecting for those systems that I had experience with when I was younger. So it started off being the Atari 2600, 7800, Genesis, SNES, and NES. But I was never wanting a complete collections. Just the games that I knew I would enjoy or had fond memories of playing. As a result of this mentality I still do NOT have a complete collection for any one system I have. Although my 7800 and 5200 are the closest to meeting such a goal.
Today, I do not really actively go on the hunt to collect these days and stick with what I already have or purchase home brews that I enjoy playing. So I'm still never likely to attain a complete collection for any one system. And honestly with the flash cartridges that I do own, I find myself even less likely to keep collecting going forward. In fact, most of my collection these days is that of the shelf collector variety with nice stuff setup in groups together or on display in some way. While I might still occasionally open up the cases to grab one of the games to pop in and play, it is usually because there is a need for the physical game to be used for testing for instance.
I've thought recently to start minimizing it down to just a few systems to actually keep and 'pass' on to another in the future but neither of my sons really have any interest at all in my old games nor do they seem to even care much for going back to play the games they played when they were younger. 
This is ONLY a theory of mine, but I think what is different now than 20 years ago is how much more mature emulation and emulation/simulation devices have come. There wasn't a decent 7800 emulator 20 years ago. There were good NES emulators but even SNES emulation had some issues. N64 emulation wasn't yet a think and even Sega Genesis emulation also had issues much less the ability to do SegaCD and 32x back then. So there was more of a need for many of us to have the actual hardware and games in hand because it was the only real way to play them properly without issues. But 20 years later and that landscape is very different. There are now multiple ways to play these older games through emulation that are so spot on that over 90% of the general gamer isn't likely to notice or have an issue playing games that way. So I can easily see why the appeal for the classic hardware and games might not be as interesting as it once was. Still, I like being surrounded by these old games and I smile that my child hood dream to have all the games is being met in my eyes.

I still miss the original Gillette Sensor. It was the first razor I bought for myself just before going into the military and it was the best razor and blades I ever have used to this day. I have a Fusion now as well but it doesn't matter how many blades they keep adding, the Sensor was the best a man could get and it sucks they stopped making them and blades for them. I still own a sensor razor and still use it on occasion, but I've not found any blades for it that aren't stupid expensive either.
 

Was that a $750 price tag on that CT?! That is.... I don't have words. Really makes the one I have in my collection that cost me about $30 back in the early '00s that much more of a value!
 

I just couldn't get any timing down for the first level boss and pretty much lose all my lives to her. Couldn't figure out the pattern if there was one. And after that the levels were much more difficult for me at least. Then again, I never really played adventure island as a kid. I guess maybe I just wasn't really able to get into that much to want to keep at it?
 

I own a CDX. I was able to grab mine loose with a power supply for $40 during my 2004 OKGE when Brian Cherry (One of the GameExchange owners in the Oklahoma area) decided to start selling off his personal collection. That collection included a table that had about a half dozen CDX systems on it. I still have it, and the last time I fired it up, it was still working fine. But they are known for having leaky caps and one of these days I need to be brave to open mine up so I can get those replaced out.
The CDX basically uses the SegaCD model 2 BIOS as I recall so it doesn't really have a unique startup to it or anything. It was the first time I found out that there were differences in the CD setups though because the homebrew games Pier Solar and Escape 2042 would not work correctly with their CD music playback on my model 1 SegaCD but did work on my CDX and later on a model 2 SegaCD I now use.
My CDX sits behind glass in a small case in the game room as a show piece item along with a few other things and my Dreamcast game collection.

I own a CDX. I was able to grab mine loose with a power supply for $40 during my 2004 OKGE when Brian Cherry (One of the GameExchange owners in the Oklahoma area) decided to start selling off his personal collection. That collection included a table that had about a half dozen CDX systems on it. I still have it, and the last time I fired it up, it was still working fine. But they are known for having leaky caps and one of these days I need to be brave to open mine up so I can get those replaced out.
The CDX basically uses the SegaCD model 2 BIOS as I recall so it doesn't really have a unique startup to it or anything. It was the first time I found out that there were differences in the CD setups though because the homebrew games Pier Solar and Escape 2042 would not work correctly with their CD music playback on my model 1 SegaCD but did work on my CDX and later on a model 2 SegaCD I now use.
My CDX sits behind glass in a small case in the game room as a show piece item along with a few other things and my Dreamcast game collection.

I own a CDX. I was able to grab mine loose with a power supply for $40 during my 2004 OKGE when Brian Cherry (One of the GameExchange owners in the Oklahoma area) decided to start selling off his personal collection. That collection included a table that had about a half dozen CDX systems on it. I still have it, and the last time I fired it up, it was still working fine. But they are known for having leaky caps and one of these days I need to be brave to open mine up so I can get those replaced out.
The CDX basically uses the SegaCD model 2 BIOS as I recall so it doesn't really have a unique startup to it or anything. It was the first time I found out that there were differences in the CD setups though because the homebrew games Pier Solar and Escape 2042 would not work correctly with their CD music playback on my model 1 SegaCD but did work on my CDX and later on a model 2 SegaCD I now use.
My CDX sits behind glass in a small case in the game room as a show piece item along with a few other things and my Dreamcast game collection.

ITC#81 was not planned by any means as is evident by the less than stellar camera and audio work in this one. But, an oppurtunity came up where I thought it would make for a good quick tech video and so in this one, I go through the troubleshooting steps for yet another Atari 5200 controller issue that was not the fault of the controller, but once again one of the pesky MUX controller chips. Hopefully this proves helpful for others if they should encounter a similar issue with their Atari 5200 and controllers.
 

Oh... a XEGs you say? Hmmm....

Oh... a XEGs you say? Hmmm....

Oh... a XEGs you say? Hmmm....

Not played the XEGS version but I have played the 2600 version. And we will have to agree to disagree on this one. Again with joystick controls I got to be really good at it back in the day because I could exactly place the cursor where it needed to be and just strafe it left and right in most screens to clear away stuff and each scene I had a particular spot where to place the cursor initially and had a pattern for most of the them along with the timings for the enemies being memorized as well back then. I do find the 2600 version to be very impressive graphically given the hardware and I honestly never even knew the 2600 version existed back then. But at the time I owned my 7800 I didn't pay attention to 2600 game releases anymore either and was strictly all in on the 7800 at that time.
 

Not played the XEGS version but I have played the 2600 version. And we will have to agree to disagree on this one. Again with joystick controls I got to be really good at it back in the day because I could exactly place the cursor where it needed to be and just strafe it left and right in most screens to clear away stuff and each scene I had a particular spot where to place the cursor initially and had a pattern for most of the them along with the timings for the enemies being memorized as well back then. I do find the 2600 version to be very impressive graphically given the hardware and I honestly never even knew the 2600 version existed back then. But at the time I owned my 7800 I didn't pay attention to 2600 game releases anymore either and was strictly all in on the 7800 at that time.
 

Yes because I wasn't aware of any others to use back then? I don't remember them being an issue with me when I was younger but I really wouldn't want to use them now since I have other controller options available to me.

Yes because I wasn't aware of any others to use back then? I don't remember them being an issue with me when I was younger but I really wouldn't want to use them now since I have other controller options available to me.