socrates63

On Black Friday, I drove nearly two hours to visit a game store owned by members of the greater Seattle retro gaming group. I've been wanting to visit the store for the past few years, and finally made it out. I sold a duplicate game from my collection to the store owner and decided to deliver it to him. While there, I bought some stuff 🙂 Of all the retro gaming stores that I've visited in the greater Seattle area, this store had the most amount of Atari stuff. There was also a healthy amount of Intellivision and a smattering of other systems like the ColecoVision and even C64. There was a Commodore 128, Atari 130XE with 1050, two 2600 Jr in excellent condition. I was sorely tempted to pick up a 2600 Jr and the 130XE. If they're still there the next time I visit 🙂 I may have to pick them up. In my excitement over seeing one of my favorite A8 games in the wild, I bought an XEGS copy of Necromancer not realizing that I already had it in my collection 🤦‍♂️ I was super stoked to find a copy of CIB Porky's in excellent condition.

I ❤️ Beamrider. I only found out about this game a few years ago when I played for a high score challenge. It's a top 10 game for me. I actually think the 2600 version looks better than the 5200 version.

💥 day-um @RickR great score! 🕹️

Total Annihilation! I remember that one from back in the day. It's supposed to be very good. I still haven't played it, but it's there somewhere in my backlog. I had a lot of fun with Missile Command Recharged on my iPad. I need to revisit that.

Incube8 Games publishes homebrews for the Game Boy. They're running a Black Friday sale -- 50% of all digital only games. If you buy a boxed game then you get a free digital game of your choice as a bonus. Discount code is automatically applied. I just purchased all the ROMs of their released games.

@Sabertooth thanks! That VCS set with speaker hat looks to be even cheaper than when I bought it during the Memorial Day sale earlier this year. I just ordered a spare classic joystick and modern controller. For those who buy movies and shows on physical media, check out https://www.blu-ray.com/deals/#1. Amazon has some nice prices going. I finally picked up Twilight Zone and Big Bang Theory complete series on blu-ray, Super Mario Bros. 4K movie, and a few others.

Yesterday, I met up with a member of a local retro computer society and made a trade (something I rarely do). He was offering the Lego 2600 set. He said he didn't get any joy from it sitting on the shelf and had more fun assembling it. I'm totally the opposite 🙂 Assembling stuff is not my favorite pastime anymore, so being able to get one fully assembled was a bonus. He did include the manual if I wanted to take it apart and put it together myself though 😂 I traded my spare heavy sixer. In my mind, I traded one display piece for another. The Lego 2600 has heft and it feels about as heavy as a real 2600. I am very impressed by the quality. If only it was cheaper (around $75), I probably would have bought it new, but there was no way I was going to buy a display piece for what this set costs at retail. Having said that, it is a marvel and $200 doesn't seem unreasonable.

@RickR I usually buy from https://retroprotection.com. Dan the owner sometimes sells through ebay but buying directly from his website is a tad cheaper. I've also bought from other sellers on Etsy and Ebay when Dan was out of stock. Nice collection there!

I've been keeping an eye on No Man's Sky. It supposed to be so good now. I read the other day that on the PS4, it supports the PSVR (which I have). In general, I don't spend a ton of time playing games unfortunately due to other obligations and such. I don't think that'll ever change until I retire from my current line of work. Having said that, I do spend time here and there with more modern games. My most recent games played on the Steam Deck: Apotheon -- lovely game done in the art style of the ancient Greeks! I've only put in 30 minutes, but will continue. Bang Bang Racing -- only played one race and it was very fun. The top down view and driving style reminded me of an old arcade game that I can't remember the name of. I intend to play more. Another Bar Game -- I picked this game up because the dev was plugging it in a FB group, and it was on sale. It was a fun diversion. I put in around 2.5 hours. I even helped the dev suggestions to make it more playable on the Steam Deck (he didn't have a Steam Deck). Between Steam, GOG, and all my consoles, I have a huge backlog as most of you probably do too. I do want to get into a more meatier game but haven't picked one out yet. I had a lot of fun with Drakengard on the PS2 not too long ago, so I've been thinking of an action RPG or action adventure game--something I can button mash through that is story driven. @RickR You started your Xbox 360 career with a banger. Hydro Thunder is considered one of the top Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) games. It's probably the XBLA game that I put in the most time on. I believe it's a port of a Dreamcast game.

It sure does get hairy and very quickly. When the swirl does a double move, that's what gets me. I've been playing the past couple of days and 166k was the highest I've gotten.

A slightly different kind of non-gaming pick-up here... 🐔 🦃 There's Chicken Run the claymation movie from 2000 which I love (I heard there's a sequel in the works), and then there's my Chick Run 2023. My mission was to secure 10 Costco rotisserie chicken for the annual church Thanksgiving lunch (another 10 to be secured by someone else). A few years ago, the church decided to switch to Costco's rotisserie chicken after too many years of dry roasted turkey from those-who-shall-not-be-named-here. I started waiting in the Costco parking lot around 9:15am yesterday in the hopes that it would open early. I often see it opening around 9:30am although the posted sign has 10am as the opening time. This time, the door opened at 9:52am. I dashed as quickly as I could with my bad back and all, and I saw one lady making a beeline for the chicken. Oh no! See beat to it, but luckily, she only took a measly one. Whew! There were around thirty available, but I wasn't sure how many she was going to grab as she could have been another Chicken Run competitor. Why else head directly to the rotisserie chicken section from the entrance if not to grab a dozen more for a party? My car smelled like rotisserie chicken all day. Coffee or fake pine tree scent I could take, but rotisserie chicken smell in the car is a bit much for me. I am hoping the smell is out by now, but with it raining off and on, I didn't leave the car windows open. And for the astute observers out there, yes, I got 12 and not 10. Having more than enough is what it means to have "enough" in my book.

Great scores @TrekMD and @RickR! I've been playing Berzerk Recharged on the VCS the past couple of weeks and need to get back to some Yars fun.

Dream computer as a kid? Hmm... that's a good question. Well, I think I got my dream computer as a kid with the Atari 800, my first home computer. If I dreamed about anything, it was getting a disk drive and a 1702 monitor. I eventually got both. The 1702 was a huge upgrade over the 14" family TV (or whatever size it was) that over scanned and was a bit fuzzy with the RF connection. I went on to having computers from the XL and XE lines and eventually got an ST and all that. However, I don't remember thinking of a dream computer during those days. That didn't happen until the early 1990s when I wanted a Macintosh IIci. I decided to switch over from the ST to something else, and the Macintosh Iici was what I drooled over. Having been spoiled using a GUI with the ST, I really didn't want to get a PC as it felt like I was going backwards in computer tech with the horrendous CGA graphics and sound and equally hideous pre-3.0 versions of Windows. However, I ended up getting a decked out Northgate 386/33 mainly due to being pressured by family and friends who already had a PC (I'm the tech support in my social circle).

yeah, I just put one in the cart and wanted to see if they charged WA sales tax, and no they don't, so it's $100 shipped -- as much as I'd like one, I'm not gonna do it 😂 Where did this sense of fiscal responsibility suddenly come from???

I've been staying away from all these mini cabs from various companies, but I really love what New Wave has done.

This is the wildlife calendar. It's the only design available. In previous years, there were always a couple designs.

I think you only need a Microsoft account. I believe the Xbox gamer account and Microsoft account have been merged. That should set you up to make eshop purchases. I think the 360 store is still operational. If you want to play online multiplayer then you have to have a Game Pass subscription. Factory resetting should be fine. Looking at the screen shot, it doesn't look to have been hacked or anything, so I don't think you'll lose anything.

Steve, are you the client that Jesse was referring to? Looks cool. Besides Super Breakout, what other games are good with the 5200 paddle?

You never had an Xbox 360, Rick? Awesome! I became a full time console gamer starting with the 360. You have the final iteration of the 360, the E model. I believe it is considered the most reliable one. Here's an article that briefly covers the console iterations. The controllers are wireless and run on two AA batteries unless you have the rechargeable battery packs. I use AA rechargeable batteries. Yes that gizmo goes with a game. I'm not sure whether that's the accessory for the Skylander game series or it's for something else. You should probably consider adding an external USB HD. You're going to run out of space soon when you start installing games. I love the 360. It's a great console with a lot of good games, and the games are cheap and plentiful. I believe as a general rule of thumb, games run better on the 360 than the PS3, so it's the choice platform for most multi-platform games.

I had been buying a desk calendar from Modern Printed Matter (Etsy) every year since seven years ago, but with all my health and personal issues the past couple of years, I neglected to get one. Now that I got one for 2024 (and with my health in a better place), I feel a sense of normalcy and look forward to the upcoming new year and reclaiming one personal ritual at a time 🙂

I really loved the Jack Tramiel video. I made a couple replies on YouTube. Suffice to say, whether you love him or hate him, JT’s contributions and the role of Atari Corp deserve recognition in the annals of Atari history. That’s what I took away from watching the video and thinking about Jon’s arguments presented in the video.

Yars Recharged is a twin stick shooter?!? I'm behind 😛 I've only played Asteroids and Missile Command (on the iPad) from the Recharged series. I love the Recharged series and the attempt to the re-interpret classic games.

wow 6-digit scores from members of the I/O! After reading this thread, I just bought it and played a few rounds before my next meeting in five minutes. My current high score is 19k and change. When I read "twin-stick shooter," I thought it was going to feel more like Robotron. It doesn't feel anything like Robotron, and that's a good thing in my book if this game was going to maintain any of the feel of the original game. As far as the feeling of Berzerk is concerned, the movement and animation in this game definitely remind me of the original. My one gripe is finding myself get stuck too often rounding corners and such. I was never a big fan of the original, and for a casual Berzerk fan like me, this one looks and feels like a Berzerk game (a positive). So far, I like it.

Cool, glad there was a happy resolution, Jesse. It's also great that the code didn't expire after all these years. When I went to active Humble Bundle Steam codes that I bought years ago, I found that some had expired or some had redemption windows that I forgot about and missed.

That's a bummer, Jesse. It's unfortunate that 3D Realms doesn't offer an economical solution to get the DLC for folks who bought the base game in physical form.