socrates63

Personal update — I’ve been dealing with back pain for more than a year. Late Monday, I went to the ER and Tuesday morning, I underwent a surgery for a herniated disc. It was diagnosed as a medical emergency. Surgery went well, but I will be in the hospital for another week. I’ve lost some function of my left leg and will be rehabbing in the hospital, and after I’m discharged, I will be returning for more intensive rehab. I am expected to make a full recovery.
In the meantime, should I be worried about my 7800 Asteroids score in the high score challenge? 😂 Game on 🕹️

Personal update — I’ve been dealing with back pain for more than a year. Late Monday, I went to the ER and Tuesday morning, I underwent a surgery for a herniated disc. It was diagnosed as a medical emergency. Surgery went well, but I will be in the hospital for another week. I’ve lost some function of my left leg and will be rehabbing in the hospital, and after I’m discharged, I will be returning for more intensive rehab. I am expected to make a full recovery.
In the meantime, should I be worried about my 7800 Asteroids score in the high score challenge? 😂 Game on 🕹️

Personal update — I’ve been dealing with back pain for more than a year. Late Monday, I went to the ER and Tuesday morning, I underwent a surgery for a herniated disc. It was diagnosed as a medical emergency. Surgery went well, but I will be in the hospital for another week. I’ve lost some function of my left leg and will be rehabbing in the hospital, and after I’m discharged, I will be returning for more intensive rehab. I am expected to make a full recovery.
In the meantime, should I be worried about my 7800 Asteroids score in the high score challenge? 😂 Game on 🕹️

I was shocked and saddened to see that "The Condor" Kevin Mitnick - the legendary hacker and security expert, who I've followed on Instagram and Twitter for years, passed away at the age of 59 from Pancreatic Cancer. I had no idea. He leaves behind a pregnant wife. 😔

Dog sitting -- week one is done and there's three more to go.
Son 2's girlfriend's family left for Taiwan a week ago to visit extended family. We agreed to dog sit Mochi for four weeks.
Having heard from my son, I knew Mochi was not well socialized with people and animals. He was distant from us and only opened up to my son. For such a dog, I expected him to be a bit traumatized having been left in an unknown place with mostly unknown people. When my son went to work, Mochi would lie on his bed in the bedroom and spend hours there. My wife and I were getting a little worried.
After one week, I think we may have turned the corner. He came up to me looking like he wanted something. We ended up playing chase around the house. Eventually he got tired and I got tired, and we sat on the floor. I approached him slowly and gave him some space and started petting him. I think I was stroking him for half an hour and Mochi shifted his body and leaned up against me. I continued to stroke him for a while longer and he fell asleep.
He still doesn't approach too close and maintains his distance, but I think he'll be ok. We were seriously worried for his mental health.

Dog sitting -- week one is done and there's three more to go.
Son 2's girlfriend's family left for Taiwan a week ago to visit extended family. We agreed to dog sit Mochi for four weeks.
Having heard from my son, I knew Mochi was not well socialized with people and animals. He was distant from us and only opened up to my son. For such a dog, I expected him to be a bit traumatized having been left in an unknown place with mostly unknown people. When my son went to work, Mochi would lie on his bed in the bedroom and spend hours there. My wife and I were getting a little worried.
After one week, I think we may have turned the corner. He came up to me looking like he wanted something. We ended up playing chase around the house. Eventually he got tired and I got tired, and we sat on the floor. I approached him slowly and gave him some space and started petting him. I think I was stroking him for half an hour and Mochi shifted his body and leaned up against me. I continued to stroke him for a while longer and he fell asleep.
He still doesn't approach too close and maintains his distance, but I think he'll be ok. We were seriously worried for his mental health.

My house is empty again and I get my gaming room back!  VCS challenges are back in play!!!

The MLB All-Star game returned to Seattle for only the second time (first time in 2001). I took the family to the fan fest, and while on our way to the stadium, we passed through Pioneer Square area which is adjacent to the stadium. In the middle of the square, there was an arcade set up, and it was free to play. We stopped and spent a bit of time playing the various games.
Check out my score on Missile Command. Is that a decent score? The shooting reticle (x) was slow to move so it got difficult in later stages. That Asteroids was hard! I couldn't even crack 10k. The joystick on Burger Time was horrible. My wife and kids had fun with Galaga.



 

The MLB All-Star game returned to Seattle for only the second time (first time in 2001). I took the family to the fan fest, and while on our way to the stadium, we passed through Pioneer Square area which is adjacent to the stadium. In the middle of the square, there was an arcade set up, and it was free to play. We stopped and spent a bit of time playing the various games.
Check out my score on Missile Command. Is that a decent score? The shooting reticle (x) was slow to move so it got difficult in later stages. That Asteroids was hard! I couldn't even crack 10k. The joystick on Burger Time was horrible. My wife and kids had fun with Galaga.



 

My 10 seconds of fame and in the limelight! 😎😆🤣
At the end of Metal Jesus Rocks' video that came out today, I got a shout out because I lent him two games that he needed to make the video.
Last Saturday, he posted his request in the local gamer Facebook group. I met him an hour later and gave him the games. We chatted a bit, and I asked him to sign his album that I brought with me. He was shocked and honored (his word) that I had it. I guess it didn't sell well? I forgot to get a photo with him, so will do that when we meet up again to get my games back.
I'm a big fan of MJR because it was his videos that got me started in retro gaming. One day, the YouTube gods put his video in my feed. I didn't even know that there was this thing called retro gaming back in 2015 (or was that 2016?). Always came off as a nice dude in the videos and in person.
 

My 10 seconds of fame and in the limelight! 😎😆🤣
At the end of Metal Jesus Rocks' video that came out today, I got a shout out because I lent him two games that he needed to make the video.
Last Saturday, he posted his request in the local gamer Facebook group. I met him an hour later and gave him the games. We chatted a bit, and I asked him to sign his album that I brought with me. He was shocked and honored (his word) that I had it. I guess it didn't sell well? I forgot to get a photo with him, so will do that when we meet up again to get my games back.
I'm a big fan of MJR because it was his videos that got me started in retro gaming. One day, the YouTube gods put his video in my feed. I didn't even know that there was this thing called retro gaming back in 2015 (or was that 2016?). Always came off as a nice dude in the videos and in person.
 

ICYMI: Polymega and Atari are collaborating on a 2600/7800 module that will be compatible with the VCS. They are also bringing the full functionality of Polymega to the VCS.
Discuss in ClubVCS!
 

Did you see the sweet prize that we're giving away for this series of the Club VCS Recharged Squad Challenge?  It might seem silly, but the Atari Speaker Hats are surprisingly functional! 😉
A winner will be announced between now and mid-August! Series Four kicks off tomorrow and runs through December 31st!

June was quite the year for me lol. I missed posting about my previous episode as a result. So here is the teaser trailer for Episode 107 of Retro With Marco streaming tomorrow night at 9pm ET! I'll feature new retrogaming records, a look at new homebrews for the Ataril XL/XE, plus an update on the MAME Gaming League & Summer Yolympics!
 
 

Busy weekend, I haven't forgotten you guys 🙂

Downsizing sucks, moving sucks, packing sucks and unpacking sucks even more.  Thankfully Atari.io is here to help me unwind.  

Atari50 is on sale now on Steam.  Highly recommended.

 

Some news coming out of this weekend's BIG Festival in Brazil: Atari to demo two previously announced titles...
A new Haunted House and Quantum Recharged!
Quantum: Recharged should be amazing if its anything like the arcade. I love Atari's willingness to mine deep cuts for the Recharged series.
Looking forward to a new Haunted House too!  I wonder if it will be an expansion on Haunted Houses from Atari50 or a whole new game?

Happy Father's Day!
Take some time off, daddy dudes and play a new game for an old system and win some cool prizes! Attack of the Retscii Robots is available for over 15 classic systems, including the Genesis, NES, Atari 7800, Amiga, Commodore 64 and beyond. Bounties are available at Twin Galaxies (dot) com. Get into the game! #attackofthepetsciirobots #the8bitguy #atari7800

https://youtu.be/q1ZKyHCxW8Y

I'm still working on my retro setup. Today, I hooked up my 800XL to the 1702 and powered it up--such a beautiful blue screen 🙂 I also hooked up the Fujinet to it, and it's just amazing that this 40 year old hardware is now connected to the Internet. So much new to learn!
I also got my Genesis working. I tried using the RGB cable the other day and got a blank screen. Turns out I didn't properly seat the cable, so with the connection fixed, the Genesis put out a beautiful display--such clear and crispy colorful pixels.
I pulled out a random cartridge out of the drawer to test the Genesis. Wow! The music was amazing and I was tapping my toes and already hooked on the game before play even started. The game was Streets of Rage 2. This game may make me a Sega Genesis fan.

I'm still working on my retro setup. Today, I hooked up my 800XL to the 1702 and powered it up--such a beautiful blue screen 🙂 I also hooked up the Fujinet to it, and it's just amazing that this 40 year old hardware is now connected to the Internet. So much new to learn!
I also got my Genesis working. I tried using the RGB cable the other day and got a blank screen. Turns out I didn't properly seat the cable, so with the connection fixed, the Genesis put out a beautiful display--such clear and crispy colorful pixels.
I pulled out a random cartridge out of the drawer to test the Genesis. Wow! The music was amazing and I was tapping my toes and already hooked on the game before play even started. The game was Streets of Rage 2. This game may make me a Sega Genesis fan.

The retro setup in my office is coming along--not quite as far as I had hoped to be but still made a lot of progress the past few days. I'm very happy that my Atari consoles are all hooked up for easy access. Only the Jaguar (inside a drawer), Dreamcast, and Core Grafx are not connected. I think I might be able to stack the Jag on top of the PS2.
I even set up the 1702 I picked up a few months ago from the same TV tech that I got my Sony TV from last month. The 800XL setup is in the same corner location where my consoles used to live. Now I need to set up the FujiNet and SD Max that I bought a while ago. I am so close to being able to start typing in code from Compute! and other magazines like I did as a kid.

The retro setup in my office is coming along--not quite as far as I had hoped to be but still made a lot of progress the past few days. I'm very happy that my Atari consoles are all hooked up for easy access. Only the Jaguar (inside a drawer), Dreamcast, and Core Grafx are not connected. I think I might be able to stack the Jag on top of the PS2.
I even set up the 1702 I picked up a few months ago from the same TV tech that I got my Sony TV from last month. The 800XL setup is in the same corner location where my consoles used to live. Now I need to set up the FujiNet and SD Max that I bought a while ago. I am so close to being able to start typing in code from Compute! and other magazines like I did as a kid.

Happy Father’s Day 2023 to my fellow dads and men who are mentoring and bringing up the next generation.

Happy Father’s Day 2023 to my fellow dads and men who are mentoring and bringing up the next generation.

Happy Father’s Day 2023 to my fellow dads and men who are mentoring and bringing up the next generation.