Archive for Consoles

Project Rescue

chrisandthetopher / August 16, 2011 / No comments

I rescued this poor thing from a restaurant liquidation on the weekend….it doesn’t look like much yet….but I will be restoring it over the next few weeks and hope it will make a nice addition to my game room:

Arcade Side 1

Arcade Side 2

Unlike my last machine, this one is a Jamma machine instead of a PC….for those who are interested here is the official explanation of what Jamma means from Jammaboards.com

“The JAMMA standard was invented in 1985; any game older than this will not be JAMMA. JAMMA (Japan Arcade Machine Manufacturers’ Association) is a standard 56-way connector used on many arcade boards to simplify conversion of cabinets from one game to another. The majority of newer games use a subset of this pinout. Some games (i.e., Street Fighter) which need extra buttons have extra connectors for these additional controls. The JAMMA connector has a .156″ pin spacing edge connector (male on the game board).”

Yeah….it’s gonna be a little bit of work.

Here are just a few photos of the internals of this thing:

Internals 1

Internals 2

Internals 3

Internals 4

Category: Consoles, Video Games / Tags: ,

Games Consoles (have and want)

chrisandthetopher / August 12, 2011 / No comments

I have been collecting games consoles for the last few years and will be doing reviews on this site in the near future…I just wanted to list the ones I currently have and the ones I still need (by generation according to Wikipedia):

Have:


Generation 1 & 2 (1972 – 1982)

  • Atari 2600

    • Atari 2600

  • Commodore 64

    • Commodore 64

  • Intellivision

    • Intellivision

  • Colecovision

    • Colecovision

  • Vectrex (non working)

    • Vectrex

Generation 3 (1980 – 1989)

  • Nintendo Gameboy

    • Nintendo Gameboy

  • ZX Spectrum +2

    • ZX Spectrum

  • Sega Gamegear

    • Sega Gamegear

  • Atari 7800

    • Atari 7800

  • Turbografx 16

    • Turbografx 16

  • Sega Mastersystem

    • Sega Mastersystem

  • Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

    • Nintendo Entertainment System

  • Amstrad GX4000

    • Amstrad GX4000

Generation 4 (1989 – 1994)

  • Sega Megadrive / Genesis

    • Sega Megadrive 1

  • Sega Megadrive / Genesis 2

    • Sega Megadrive 2

  • Mega-CD / Sega-CD

    • Sega CD

  • Sega 32x

    • Sega 32x

  • Amiga 1200

    • Amiga 1200

  • Atari Lynx 2

    • Atari Lynx 2

  • Super Nintendo

    • Super Nintendo

  • Phillips CDi

    • Phillips CDi

Generation 5 (1993 – 1998)

  • Nintendo Virtualboy

    • Nintendo Virtualboy

  • Atari Jaguar

    • Atari Jaguar

  • Sony Playstation 1

    • Sony Playstation 1

  • Sega Saturn

    • Sega Saturn

  • Panasonic 3DO

    • Panasonic 3DO

  • Amiga CD32

    • Amiga CD32

  • Game.com

    • Game.com

  • Gameboy Colour

    • Nintendo Gameboy Colour

  • Nintendo 64

    • Nintendo 64

Generation 6 (1998 – 2004)

  • Atari Flashback

    • Atari Flashback

  • Sega Dreamcast

    • Sega Dreamcast

  • N-Gage

    • Nokia N-Gage

  • Nintendo Gamecube

    • Nintendo Gamecube

  • Sony Playstation 2

    • Sony Playstation 2

  • Bandai Wonderswan

    • Bandai Wonderswan

  • Bandai Wonderswan Colour

    • Bandai Wonderswan Colour

  • Microsoft Xbox

    • Microsoft Xbox

Generation 7 (2004 – 2010)

  • Gizmondo

    • Gizmondo

  • Nintendo DS Lite

    • Nintendo DS

  • Pandora

    • Pandora

  • Sony Playstation 3

    • Sony Playstation 3

  • Sony Playstation Portable

    • Sony PSP

  • Nintendo Wii

    • Nintendo Wii

  • Microsoft Xbox 360

    • Microsoft Xbox 360

  • Apple iPhone

    • Apple iPhone

Generation 8 (2011 – Present)

  • None as of yet

Want:


Generation 1 & 2 (1972 – 1982)

  • Magnavox Odyssey 1

    • Magnavox Odyssey

  • Magnavox Odyssey 2

    • Magnavox Odyssey 2

  • Intellivision II

    • Intellivision 2

  • Atari 5200

    • Atari 5200

  • Vectrex (working)

    • Vectrex

Generation 3 (1980 – 1989)

  • PC-Engine

    • PC Engine

  • Nintendo Famicon

    • Nintendo Famicon

  • Sony MSX

    • Sony MSX

Generation 4 (1989 – 1994)

  • Atari Lynx 1

    • Atari Lynx

  • TurboGrafx-CD

    • Turbo CD

  • TurboExpress

    • Turbo Express

  • Neo-Geo

    • NeoGeo

  • Neo-Geo CD or CDZ

    • NeoGeo CD

  • Watara Supervision

    • Watara Supervision

  • Mega Duck / Cougar Boy

    • Mega Duck / Cougar Boy

  • Pioneer LaserActive

    • Pioneer Laseractive

Generation 5 (1993 – 1998)

  • Apple Pippin

    • Apple Pippin

  • Atari Jaguar CD

    • Atari Jaguar CD

  • PC-FX

    • PC-FX

  • Sony PocketStation

    • Sony Pocketstation

  • Net Yaroze

    • Sony Net Yaroze

  • R-Zone

    • Rzone

  • Neo Geo Pocket

    • NeoGeo Pocket

  • Nintendo 64DD (Disk Drive)

    • Nintendo 64 Disk Drive

Generation 6 (1998 – 2004)

  • GP32

    • GP32

  • GameKing

    • GameKing

  • Nokia N-Gage QD

    • Nokia N-gage QD

  • Neo Geo Pocket Color

    • Neogeo Pocket Colour

  • Tapwave Zodiac

    • Tapwave Zodiac

  • XaviXPort

    • Xavixport

Generation 7 (2004 – 2010)

  • EVO Smart Console

    • Evo Smart Console

  • HyperScan

    • Hyperscan

  • OnLive

    • Onlive

Generation 8 (2011 – Present)

  • Nintendo 3DS

    • Nintendo 3DS

  • Playstation Vita

    • Playstation Vita

  • Nintendo Wii U

    • Nintendo Wii U

If anyone has access to any of these and would like to sell them please let me know

*images from Wikipedia

Category: Consoles / Tags: , ,

New Toy

chrisandthetopher / July 23, 2011 / No comments

So I may have splurged slightly and bought a new toy….I haven’t had time to play with it properly yet and will list all the features in the next few days.

Who wants a game day?

My New Baby

My New Baby

Category: Consoles, My Game Room, Video Games / Tags: ,

Nintendo try’s 3D again

chrisandthetopher / May 1, 2011 / No comments

Some may not know this, but the 3DS console is not Nintendo’s first attempt at a 3D game system. Although they don’t like to admit it, in 1995 they released the Virtual boy…thought of by some as Nintendo’s biggest failure.

The Virtual Boy is essentially a pair of glasses on a tripod that uses oscillating mirrors (one for each eye) that vibrate at high speed to create the 3D effect. The problem with this (an the fact that it used only a monochrome red and black display) was that it gave users everything from headaches and eye strain to seizures…meaning that breaks had to be taken every 10-15 mins.

Nintendo also marketed the device as a portable gaming machine, the problem with this was that it weighed almost a kilo, took 6 AA batteries (which only lasted 4 hours) and was too big to fit anywhere except a suitcase…and as Nintendo saw fit to not make a headstrap for the device, you needed a completely flay surface, or to lay on your back to play it (using it in the car was impossible).

The Virtual Boy was phased out in less than 6 months from launch, meaning that: there were only 22 games released for the system, the cable for the expansion port (to link 2 units together) was never released, and that it now goes for ridiculous prices on eBay as there were only 770,000 units sold world wide. Because I am a collector (or an idiot), I happen to have a Virtual Boy, and I can say from experience that it definitly hurts your eyes and gives you headaches. I haven’t had a chance to play with a 3DS yet, but I hope it is not the Virtual Boy v.2.

Below is a picture of the unit:

Virtual Boy

*Image from Wikipedia

Chris Thursfield

Category: Consoles, JPP Articles / Tags: , ,

Pandora Follow Up

chrisandthetopher / March 1, 2011 / No comments

After two and a half years of waiting, it has finally arrived….I am now one of only fifteen hundred or so people on the planet with a Pandora console

After the initial problem of the unit being sent to the wrong address twice, the unit arrived and to my delight had 40% battery, meaning I could use it straight away….at first the joystick didn’t work properly and the stylus was stuck inside the unit, but a software upgrade later and some repeated jiggling of the stylus and these problems were fixed….the unit is very small, about the size of a Nintendo DS, but a bit thicker and can be used in a laptop like position of open all the way. The battery lasts 8-10 hours depending on it’s use and the mouse can either be controlled using the touch screen or the two joysticks.

In the way of external hardware, it has 2 SD card slots, a volume slider, a headphone jack and the power/lock switch on the front, a pop-out stylus on the right hand side, and on the back it has a USB host port, an OTG mini port, TV-out port, power connector and the two gamepad shoulder buttons. When you open the device, you find a full QWERTY keyboard as well as a full gamepad…both the gamepad and keyboard are very nice to use.

The device comes pre-loaded with Linux Kernel 2.6.x and has a custom OS based on Angstrom, it also comes with some basic software such Midori (a web browser), XFCE (a window manager) and office software such as Abiword, Gnumeric and Clawsmail. The best thing about the unit though is as it is open source, software can be developed for it by anyone who knows how to code in the correct language….there are already hundreds of programs out for it, including: opensonic (a fan made sonic game), Pandora panic (a reflex game similar to
Warioware), openbor (a port of Beats of rage, which is a fan made version of Streets of Rage for the Sega Megadrive) and an emulator for virtually every console ever made up until the PlayStation 2 and Dreamcast.

I pre-ordered the Pandora in September 2008, and I think most people would agree that is a long time to wait for anything, and although technology has changed a little since then, the Pandora is still a very powerful and capable little machine and I will definitely be using it as my main portable games machine for the foreseeable future (at least until Sony’s NGP is released).

Below is a picture of the Pandora next to my 10-inch netbook.

Pandora vs. Netbook

Chris Thursfield

Category: Consoles, JPP Articles, Technology / Tags: ,
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