Topics

[Off-Topic / RIP, EGM.]

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21759

Regardless of what you think/thought of their journalistic integrity, this is a sad day. The magazine that introduced many of us to 16 bit gaming is gone. 

Now the oldest surviving gaming magazine is Gamepro. Yech! 

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Duo reliability poll]

Is one type of duo more reliable than others? let's find out.

(if you had a duo of the type specified that broke, or has problems, and you have not had it repaired, assume you did anyway.)

[Off-Topic / RIP Majel Barrett Roddenberry]

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11263728?nclick_check=1

Majel Barrett Roddenberry, dead of leukemia, age 76.

[General Gaming / modern console avatar showdown!]

http://www.gamesradar.com/f/all-console-avatar-showdown/a-20081209123154147083

 

[Off-Topic / On the auto bailout]

I feel like I've asked this question before. oh well.

Are PCFXers as Japanophiliac with their vehicles as they are with their videogames?

(if there's any question about where the car really comes from, go by the guts, not the badge.)

[Off-Topic / Dumb question for you AV heads]

What does a VESA mount look like? how can I tell if my screen has one?

[Off-Topic / bizzare electrical question]

So there are some appliances that require more than the usual household current. Some houses have special high voltage sockets for such appliances. Sometimes these deliver 208 volts, sometimes 240.

Assuming the socket actually delivers 240 volts, could you connect a European console (which wants anywhere from 220 to 260 volts) and have it work? or is it different somehow because it's in two phases?

[Off-Topic / Seeking information]

If you did any business with Nintega, please get in touch with either Sinistron or me.

[General Gaming / the newest front on the war on terra]

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/11/05/new-york-times-al-qa.html

they've killed 4000 of our soldiers and 3000 people on 9/11, BUT NOW THEY'VE GONE TOO FAR. 

 




;)

[Off-Topic / Election day poll]

It's election day! Who are you voting for in this presidential election?

If you need any help deciding, I hear McCain wants to ban importing Japanese videogames.

[PC-FX Discussion / How much did you pay for your FX?]

Just trying to get an idea of what an FX is worth.

[Off-Topic / A Transformers: The movie poll]

  The first movie (that I remember) that made me cry. Did it you? 

[Off-Topic / The end of the VCR]

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1971328/

the last of the big name electronics makers leaves the VCR market. the funeral is in the planning stages.

[Off-Topic / That other thing you use the TV for]

Where do PCEFXers get their TV fix from? Inquiring minds want to know!

[Off-Topic / The Unofficial PCEFX junk box thread!]

So I've gone and done something silly. I gathered up a bunch of junk I don't use anymore, and sent it to another PCFXer... specifically, Keranu.

The idea is that some of us can get rid of things we don't need, and maybe get some stuff we like. or at least some electronic parts. and also to generate some discussion.

DA RULEZ

1) if you are interested in having your turn with the box, post your interest in this thread. ONLY ONCE. Ultimately, it is up to the person sending it to decide who gets it. no whining.

2) only send it to PCEFXers. we don't need no 'ferners mucking up our system. prefferably, send it to someone you've had good trades with before.

3) DO NOT ask for the box if you can't/wont send it on to the next person. When I sent it out, the box weighed
20 pounds, 15.8 oz. (~9.5 kilos); it cost 21.78 to ship domestically with the cheapest option. if you can't handle that, don't ask for it.

4) you may discuss or take pictures of what you pulled out of the box, but DO NOT take pictures or discuss what is still in it, or what you put into it. it should be a surprise.

5) in the box is a manifest. write down what you take, and what you put in, and who you sent it to, in the manifest. Do not take the manifest.

6) no touchbacks. you may not send it to the person who sent it to you. you may send it to anyone else, however, including people who have had it before.

7) don't put anything in it that is illegal to mail, or which is illegal for the recipient to receive. I shouldn't have to say this, but if somebody does something stupid and traces it back to me...

Anyway, have fun and good luck!

[General Gaming / Sega Vision!]

Hot on the heels of the DSi, Sega announces their first new hardware since the Dreamcast:
the Vision.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/10/03/sega_vision/

No tech specs yet, but the blurb claims it does, in order:
watch tv
play movies
play music
take pictures
takes videos
plays games
read books
record voice

note that playing games ranks 3rd to last.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Final Lap Twin = Pole Position 4?]

this video claims that Final Lap is 'basically pole position 3'.
So does that make Final Lap Twin, Pole Position 4?

[General Gaming / Peter Moore Dreamcast interview]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2008/sep/11/gamesinterviews.microsoft1?gusrc=rss&feed=technology
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2008/sep/11/playstation.microsoft

So, basically, the Dreamcast was selling like gangbusters, but a combination of previous debt on Segas part and FUD from sony killed it. We've heard this story before, just not from this source.

[Off-Topic / Best TV Live-action Hero(es) of the 80s]

Action shows of the 80's, roughly in order of airing. Pick the best one!

Hint: the correct answer is MacGyver.

[Off-Topic / an age and politics poll, all in one!]

Discuss!

[General Gaming / One NES per child?]

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9111759

  

[General Gaming / The Panther, and why it never came out of the jungle]

I remember back in the day, reading a lot about an alleged new console from Atari called the 'panther'. it was supposed to beat the pants off of everything ever, including the SNES, and was supposed to come out around the same time. but then it got delayed, and delayed again, and then they started talking about the Jaguar, and the panther was quickly forgotten. (I remember friends of mine telling me I made the story up. read a gaming mag, ya jerks!)

Nowadays the internet sez 'the Panther was abandoned because the Jaguar project was moving faster'.
I don't think that was the case, and I think I know the real reason. However, this is all speculation depending on the accuracy of specs that do not match up exactly from place to place.

let's look at the alleged specs of the Panther:

Processor: Moto 68000 @ 16mhz

'32 bit' grfx proc. running at 32mhz

'29 bit' DSP

ram: 32k "fast static";

sound: 25 'voices' (wiki claims 32)

res: 320X200

colors: 7,860 from 262,144 possible (wiki sez 8,192/262,144)

(32 colors per line)

25 'voices' (wiki claims 32 'sound channels')

2000 sprites on screen at a time (wiki claims '65,535 sprites of any size simultaneously'); either may be unrealistic due to 'tearing'

(sources: http://ultimateconsoledatabase.com/unreleased/atari_panther.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Panther; I'll let you decide which is more trustworthy)

Now let's look at some real hardware stats:

SNK Neo Geo

Processor: Motorola 68000 running at 12 MHz

Co-Processor: Zilog Z80 running at 4 MHz. This is also used as an audio controller.

Sound chip: Yamaha YM2610 15 Sound Channels. 7 Digital, 4 FM synthesis, 3 PSG, and 1 Noise Channel.

Memory:

Main Memory (used directly by 68K): 64 KB

Main Video memory : 74 KB

Video Memory: 64 KB (redundant?)

Palette Memory : 8 KB

Fast Video RAM : 2 KB

Sound Memory (used directly by Z80): 2 KB

Display:

Display resolution: 320x224

Color Palette: 65,536

Maximum Colors On-Screen: 4,096

Maximum Sprites On-Screen: 380

Minimum Sprite Size: 1x2

Maximum Sprite Size: 16x512

Maximum Sprites per scanline: 96

Sound:

Sound CPU: Z80 at 4 MHz

Sound hardware: YM2610 at 8 MHz, stereo sounds up to 56 kHz

4 channels FM (4 operators + LFO), 3 PSG, 1 noise

Daring to compare:

main CPU is 4mhz faster on panther
[advantage:panther]
secondary CPU: 4mhz Z80 on neo, 32mhz 'gfx processor' & DSP on panther
[advantage:panther]
ram: 148k on Neo, 32k on panther (less than 1/4th)
[advantage:neo geo]
colors possible: 65,000 neo vs. 262,000 panther
[advantage:panther]
colors on screen: 4,096 neo vs 7,860(maybe 8,192) panther
[advantage:panther]
sprites on screen: 380 Neo vs 2000(maybe 65,535) panther
[advantage:panther]
resolution: 320X224 neo, 320X200 panther
[advantage:neo geo]
sound: 25 'voices' for panther, 3 psg, 4 fm, 7 digital, 1 noise neo (15 'voices?')
[advantage:panther, i think]
Cartridge size: (unknown for panther. I'll be 'generous' and give this category to the Neo Geo.  )

So the Panther has the Neo Geo beat in 6 out of 9 categories, and is close in a 7th.

I don't know what RAM prices were like in 1991, but unless that was the primary factor in the cost of the Neo Geo, the Panther would have been comparable in price to the SNK machine.

So the real reason, IMHO, that the Panther was canceled was the ridiculous cost of the hardware. Atari would have had to take massive losses on the hardware to compete with the SNES and Genny; and they wouldn't have been able to compete on the Neo Geo's level, due to the fact that Panther hardware wasn't used in the arcades, and the Atari name was far more tarnished than SNKs at this time.

Hindsight being 20/20, I'd have preferred to see Atari go out on an ambitious, overpowered machine like the Panther, than the kludgy, cheapass Jaguar.

[General Gaming / Final Fantasy 13 on Xbox 360]

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168716

That sound you just heard was the hope of a million ps3 fanboys shattering in unison. There was a chance (ever so small) that FF13 could've brought ps3 sales out of the gutter, but that hope is gone now.

Contratulations, ps3 owners - you own the modern equivalent of a Saturn. (Not that that's a bad thing, but it's a nice comeuppance.)

[Off-Topic / the lynch mob thread]

[Tue 09:24] <Mithos> this might sound like blasphomy to you zeon but I actually like a lot of n64 games more then I like my turbo games

[Off-Topic / The web that could have been]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/science/17mund.html?_r=2&ref=science&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

(may require login, I dunno, I have Bugmenot)

The internet a few decades too early.

[Off-Topic / Sapphire @ Otaku Omaha!]

hey! i'm staffing at Otaku Omaha right now, so don't expect too any replies to this, but:

Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire is up and running in Otaku Omaha's game room!

I know Necromancer is in Omaha, so he should check this out, and so should any of you lurkers.

anyway, that's all i have to say, see you here!

[General Gaming / Bomberman Wii]

This looks encouraging.

http://kotaku.com/5013316/bomberman-wii-screens-are-simple-joyous

[Off-Topic / gaming gloves]

http://vintagecomputing.com/ is awesome. I remember being intrigued by these gloves, which they just posted about.

either my thumbs got tougher or I started playing less, but my thumbs don't bother me much anymore when playing.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / If you were a 3rd party...]

If you went back in time to run a videogame publisher, what games would you publish?

remember, you're small fry, so you can't:
afford games from the big guys (like Hudson, Konami, Capcom, or Namco).
publish more than 5 games a year (even less if those games require a lot of translating and voice acting).
publish games that eventually got released in the US IRL.
only games released in the previous year on pce

What games would you have brought over?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / The bomberman games]

As far as I knew, there were only 3 bomberman games for the PCE: the original, '93, and '94.

turns out there's also:
'93 special version
'94 taikenban
Bomberman Users Battle

What can you tell me about these?

[Off-Topic / Memorial day weekend]

What did you do with your memorial day weekend?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Best PC Engine game of all time?]

some of you are going to look at the choices and go WTF? 
Unlike the TG16 poll, there were a lot of ties, and some of the winners got as few as 3 votes.
(and no, that wasn't Kato & Ken I was referring to.)

Stats:

6 are HuCards and 8 are CDs of some kind.
Of the CDs, 2 are original CDROM2s, 5 are Super CDs, and 1 is an Arcade CD.
One is a SuperGrafx game, the rest are ...not.

Number of these games that were released in the US: 8.

Number of FINAL TURBO SHOWDOWN games that made it to this list: 2.
(https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=4945.0)
[incidentally, I've locked that poll. The crown of 'best turbo game ever' shall be shared by Lords of Thunder and Ys I & II.]


May the best game win!

[General Gaming / Favorite sega systems?]

Vote for your sega system order of preference.

Yeah, the Game Gear isn't included, and neither are the Genesis add ons. Would have made the poll an order of magnitude harder. Treat them as if they are their parent systems.

[Off-Topic / thoughts on Ölevia]

So I'm about ready to spring for a TV. So far, I'm liking this one:

http://www.olevia.com/en-us/Products/2Series/242TFHDLCDHDTV.aspx

I managed to test out a few old videogames on it, and I didn't see any problems. All the functionality seemed to be accessible from the front panel (a pet peeve of mine - I hate it when TVs make you use the remote.)

Have any of you had experience with 'em? They used to be called Brillian.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Best Linux PCE emulator?]

So I just got an Eee pc. haven't messed with it much, but it's okay so far.

as you may or may not know, it runs Linux out of the box. I have no plans to change this.

While it comes with a handfull of games, I will soon thirst for more. I want to turn it into a TurboExpress that happens to have a keyboard and web browser. 

'disk' space is limited, so the program's size is a factor. if it happens to run other games too, that's fine, but it must be small.

the ones I'm aware of:

Hu-go!
VirtualPCE
Xe
Yame

Have any of you used these?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Best of the final games]

1996 saw a total of 6 games released for the now ancient PC Engine, and 1997 had 2. This makes it the second oldest console to receive new releases (the oldest: the Atari 2600, which had new first party games as late as 1990, it's 13th year)

Dead of the brain really can't be considered an official release, but it's included for completeness.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / A HuCard is...]

Was watching a youtube video this morning talking about Famicom cartridges; while doing so, it was suggested that PC Engine/Turbografx HuCards are not cartridges.

Are they, or aren't they? And what, exactly, is the definition of a cartridge?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Best selling PC Engine games?]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games

The PCEngine and Turbografx-16 aren't listed.
Anyone know where you might find sales numbers for the PCE?

Also, on this side of the Pacific, did any TG16 games sell a million copies? Did they even sell a million turbos?

[General Gaming / Wiiware is out!]

Wiiware has launched. The availiable games:

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
LostWinds
Defend your Castle
Pop
V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack
TV Show King

Sadly, Dr. Mario is not one of them. That was the one I was looking forward to the most.
My Final Fanboy brother will probably want to download FFCC:MLaaK (what a mouthful), but he'll have to buy his own wii points. :p

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Horrible TTi ad]

http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/452

First off, check out those HuCards. I didn't think they could actually make the design WORSE than the real thing, but they did it.
Second, everyone here should know that Turbo pads never came with cords that long.

 

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Turbo points]

Did you ever redeem any? for what?

[Off-Topic / Best Sitcom of the 80s]

While the Situation Comedy may be a dead genre today, the 80's, IMHO, was the high water mark for the sitcom. What was the best one?

[General Gaming / Best year to be a gamer]

Best year to be a video gamer in the country where you were?

inspired by https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=1350.msg87873#msg87873

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / 1995 PC Engine game of the year]

it's 1995. The PCE is now 8 years old, older than the Atari 2600 at the time of the crash.
it now has the Playstation and Saturn to worry about.

The end is near, but the old HE system keeps cranking out the hits. 37 of 'em to be exact.
Have they saved the best for last?

[General Gaming / New Splatterhouse?]

http://kotaku.com/382837/splatterhouse-returns

Your thoughts?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / 1994 PC Engine game of the year]

1994. The PCE continues to wind down with 77 games this year; but the introduction of the Arcade card injects some new hope into the mix. pick your favorite!

Trivia: in 1994 alone, there were more PCE games released than the 7800 had in its entire lifetime (just over 50).

[General Gaming / Two new shmups for the 7800]

Yes, really. A couple of playable prototypes were unearthed and patched to work on a standard 7800. they are:

http://www.atariprotos.com/7800/software/sirius/sirius.htm

http://www.atariprotos.com/7800/software/plutos/plutos.htm

[General Gaming / How do you pronounce IREM?]

this video got me thinking: what is the usual way to pronounce IREM?
the guy in the video pronounces it the first way; I always pronounced it the second way.
How do you do it?

[Off-Topic / Trash & you]

Pick any of the above that you agree with.

Also, have you ever gotten anything interesting from other people's trash?
We're all familliar with Tatsujin's recent score, but what did _you_ get?

I've gotten an ipod and a USB hard drive, among other things.

edit: I'm a dumbass. Could one of you smart, hardworking mods move it to chit-chat? 

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / 1993 PC Engine game of the year]

Best PC Engine game of 1993. ONLY 83 options this time.

6 years old now, and still going strong...

I think I know how it's gonna go. 

or maybe you'll suprise me again...