HDN's (Game)Room!

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Man.  You remind me of myself when I was 16, except I had moved on to the NES, SMS and 7800.  You have a very impressive collection for your age (no pun intended).  Even 16 year old me would have been wowed by your collection.  I'm 46, have an impressive collection myself, but am amazed at how a 16 year old is that into the old Atari stuff.  And into vinyl, too?  

You mention being able to talk us older gen folk that lived through it.  You do realize that you are also living through it?  Even if it is used stuff, the ambition and passion is there.  You are really no different than the rest of us who did get to experience it.  

[HDN]

7 hours ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:

Man.  You remind me of myself when I was 16, except I had moved on to the NES, SMS and 7800. 

One thing I've found out about myself over the years is that I don't really move on from stuff like that. I started noticing this around 2018 or so when I got my Switch. I realized that though I did play my Switch a lot, I oftentimes found myself going back to games on the Wii U and 3DS. So I guess I don't really move on from playing systems, I just add more systems into the mix.

7 hours ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:

You have a very impressive collection for your age (no pun intended).  Even 16 year old me would have been wowed by your collection.  I'm 46, have an impressive collection myself, but am amazed at how a 16 year old is that into the old Atari stuff. 

Thanks for the compliment, but I can't take credit for the whole thing myself! Though these days I would consider them part of my collection, but as I have said previously they're family heirlooms! Many of these were collected by my dad's cousin back in the early 1980's and have since made their way into my collection. I would say about 70 to 80 percent of my 2600 games are from him.

What I would like to do in the future is buy a ton of duplicates and re-gift some of his games (and his old Woody). He's got a young kid now (maybe 3 or 4) and I think that maybe he'd enjoy them as well. You know, buy some Pac-Mans and Combats and Space Invaderses, make a nice "starter set" and give him back his old stuff. I do plan on keeping the boxes and manuals though!

As for the 7800 stuff, that's all mine. The 7800 is unique among my systems. Not only is it one of the few retro systems that don't have a family heritage, but to me it holds a strong connection to everyone here in the online Atari community. I mean, I only have three games for the thing I didn't get from AtariAge or the I/O. It reminds me of all of the new friends I've made here online. I mean, without you guys I wouldn't have the darn thing! I really enjoy the system so far, and I would go as far as to say it's in my top five systems of all time.

7 hours ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:

And into vinyl, too?  

Yup. I will have to snap a picture of those sometime. The fun thing about vinyl is just watching it spin for me. Using songs I have downloaded on my DSi is far more convenient, but not as fun. Listening to my vinyl is an event, and collecting it is fun and easy, too. Goodwill and other thrift stores oftentimes have good things in them. I've found singles galore, the John Denver Muppet Christmas album, the Fiddler on  the Roof OST, The Best of Peter and Gordon, a double LP Glen Miller memorial album, and an alternate variant of Introducing the Beatles (I now have both versions), all for just a dollar or two. Ironically, the only thing I can think of of the ones I have named were a few Beatles singles (Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane, and If I Fell/And I Love Her) that cost me $2. A lot of my vinyl is second-hand from my parents' family and friends, though unlike with the video games, it's almost all from my mom's side.

And I'm glad you brought up vinyl as I wanted to mention this but didn't know where to post it. Remember back in Young's Activision Patch Scores thread where I tried for the Private Eye patch? I believe it was @RickR who posted it (I could be wrong), but someone posted the Private Eyes music video? Well, turns out I own the LP! It was in my mystical "Blue Crate of Records I don't Listen to Often". I actually have a catalog of all that stuff in there so I don't have to dig it all out. I noticed the LP was listed in my little book when I was looking for more K-Tel records for @Atari 5200 Guy.

7 hours ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:

You mention being able to talk us older gen folk that lived through it.  You do realize that you are also living through it?  Even if it is used stuff, the ambition and passion is there.  You are really no different than the rest of us who did get to experience it.  

I guess. I mean, I technically did grow up with the stuff as well, same as the lot of you. I guess what I was referring to was that when you all played it back in the day, you didn't know what would happen next. I mean, I know what happened to Atari, what games came out for it, what their failures are, etc. You didn't know for sure what was going to happen. I read in an old (1982 I believe) Atari 2600 catalog about some "upcoming games" once. I remember some obvious teasers in there, like when they said "We'll have a series of adventure games based off of blah, blah, blah," (SwordQuest), or "We'll have a series of the most realistic video sports games you ever did see," (RealSports). Stuff like that. There was also a teaser for "A sequel to Combat", which as we all know never saw the light of day. I'm fairly certain Combat II's prototype surfaced, or maybe it's just a homebrew. My point is, back in 1982 no one knew this game would be shelved. No one knew about the crash. No one knew what hot arcade games would come out for the system. No one knew about ET (until later that year, I guess. Bad example). In this day and age, I know about all that stuff and starting playing the games long after they had lost relevance. There were no schoolyard rumors, or fights with Intellivison or Odyssey 2 owners, or anything of the sort.

Which leads me to another thing. All of my Harry-aged friends didn't share my love of retro games. Later, when I got into high school, I met a couple retro fans, but they were more 4th or 5th generation to modern, not so much the older stuff. I don't think I have ever mentioned this, but until I got into the ninth grade, I went to a small private school. There were only about 18 or so kids in my graduating class. I tried my best to make friends and stuff there, and we got along fine. But I was much different. Basically, 17 of those people had the same personality; SPOOOOOOOORRRRTSSS! I just wasn't interested in the same stuff as they were. I wasn't the weird, antisocial kid or anything; quite the contrary. I was definitely weird, no question, but I hung out and talked to them and stuff. I just barely got to talk about the stuff I wanted to talk about. Not to mention, whenever a new cool game came out that EVERYONE was playing, I was always the one out. They all had PS4s or XBOX Ones, but I was the weird Nintendo kid. We joked about it and such, no hard feelings. But I was the only real Nintendo fan in my class at the time. All the "cool games" went to the other consoles and PC while the Wii U was almost always left in the dust.

I hung out with those people, we had our fun, but I don't really talk to them anymore. I have found my people in high school, and I wish I had left for the public school sooner. Plus, I've found other people online to talk to about things, which is really nice.

So anyways, what was I saying? Oh, yeah, my point was that nobody really cared about retro stuff for a long time. I'd always felt somewhat alone in my retro game playing, but now with new people in my life, I feel like there is more of a community. I'm glad to be a part of all of these online forums, especially Atari I/O. Thanks for being so welcoming to a "kiddo" like myself.

 

On an unrelated note, here's a Holiday Room Update!

I have put my record player off to the side in favor of my tree for the time being. I'm still not sure where I'll put the turntable. The tree is decorated and all, and I've even wrapped some "presents" and put them under the tree! They're fake, of course, with one exception. I have a package sent from @socrates63 that I'm not supposed to open yet, so that's sitting there. 

Last year, I got some bubble lights for Christmas from my grandparents. They went to a year-round Christmas store earlier in the year and got a set for their own tree. I thought that they were so cool. I was so happy to get some for Christmas, even though they could only go up in my room for a few days. Last year, they went on the tree, but I'm thinking of putting them on a wreath this year. I think I'll take down my 3DS cases and put a wreath there. I love these lights so much!

I think my room will be completely ready by the end of the week!

[RickR]

Those bubble lights are awesome.  I don't see those often.  Do they make a bubbly noise at all?

[HDN]

Just now, RickR said:

Those bubble lights are awesome.  I don't see those often.  Do they make a bubbly noise at all?

If I remember correctly, no. I think they make more of a humming sound if I'm not mistaken. I'll update you when I get them set up.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

To be quite honest...I like XBOX.  I have original XBOX, two 360 models, and a XBOX One.  They are nice to have but just look at everything you have to have just to use them.  Both the 360 and One rely on the internet.  Xbox One can't even be setup without the internet.  Any digital games bought, using either machine, will either not play or revert back to demo mode if they can't contact XBOX Live to verify ownership.  I understand why to a point but its also a headache.

With an Atari or older machine that has no internet abilities its a whole lot easier.  Simply plug and play.  If you own a copy of a game title you can play it, if not then you can't.  And that's saying a lot from me because I do like Xbox, especially the original Xbox, but I don't like the added monthly expense that comes with them just to use them.

[MaliciousCarp]

On 11/3/2020 at 11:04 AM, RickR said:

I see.  Well, you could always hang that tree upside down from the ceiling

I was always told that the upside down tree was an Eastern European thing.  It was kind of a trend here a few years back too.

[nosweargamer]

Decorating the tree can be so much fun!

[MaliciousCarp]

I haven't had a lot of time to be in the forums lately (Halloween goings on and busy at work) - I love this thread!

@HDN - you have a great collection there!  I am always thrilled to see younger people take an interest in this hobby!  

 

[MaliciousCarp]

Oh - I just saw the post about the bubble lights- I'm a huge fan of those!

My family decided to put up a halloween tree this year (because, why not?) and my wife found these for it:

they are awesome, but you have to be really careful to get them mounted on the tree so that they are vertical and don't move around too much.

[HDN]

22 minutes ago, MaliciousCarp said:

Oh - I just saw the post about the bubble lights- I'm a huge fan of those!

My family decided to put up a halloween tree this year (because, why not?) and my wife found these for it:

they are awesome, but you have to be really careful to get them mounted on the tree so that they are vertical and don't move around too much.

Wow! Those are really cool. I tried doing a year-round tree once, but I had to take it down for some reason. I didn't have space for it anymore at some point. I'm not sure what ended up "replacing it" or when. But it's up now and it's all that matters.

You're right about the lights. They are a pain to set up, but worth it. I still have to tweak mine. They keep wanting to go crooked.

31 minutes ago, MaliciousCarp said:

@HDN - you have a great collection there!  I am always thrilled to see younger people take an interest in this hobby!

Thank you! I'll have to show y'all the games downstairs sometime.

[HDN]

Here’s what I ended up doing with the tree. I’m still not sure where to put the turntable. There is a speaker there, however. That’s hooked up to the stereo system downstairs. We basically have only used it for Christmas music the past few years.

Here is what the shelf of things looks like nowadays. My boxed 2600 games and mini arcades have been replaced by a festive winter village and nativity scene. My DS/3DS/Switch cases have been replaced as well. That streetlight painting you see was painted by 11 year old me. It’s horrible! I could do so much better nowadays.

[HDN]

Some pictures of the finished product. It took a while! Hope you enjoy them. I hope to post some more later.