What are you playing? (games)

[selfdestroyer]

Picked up No Man's Sky after hearing how much it has improved in its latest update.

Honestly? Its not bad. The interface and menus are an utter mess, but if you enjoy slower more sedate game play it may have something for you. Only if its on sale, mind, no way is it a 60$ game yet.

But I can enjoy methodically collecting, crafting, repeating my way through a story.

Its still a fun game in an inebriated state.. can be a pretty chill game.

[somnif]

Picked up No Man's Sky after hearing how much it has improved in its latest update.

Honestly? Its not bad. The interface and menus are an utter mess, but if you enjoy slower more sedate game play it may have something for you. Only if its on sale, mind, no way is it a 60$ game yet.

But I can enjoy methodically collecting, crafting, repeating my way through a story.

Its still a fun game in an inebriated state.. can be a pretty chill game.

I'm also really digging the post-rock soundtrack.

[juansolo]

I bought it a while back (pre the NEXT thing). It was oddly soothing to play for a while. Then I stopped as I struggled to find a point in it beyond that.

[chromesphere]

So, my current neo geo aes controller is annoying me.  A few reasons, its heavy, uncomfortable and the cable doesnt make a solid connection with the DB15 plug.  So i decided to make a new one, similar to the james Qbert controller.  They are never "perfect" (my trademark), Im not the best with wood, but its small, comfortable and has the usual awesome sanwa joystick and buttons i usually use. A big upgrade!

[juansolo]

Making your own Neo stick is part of the Neo experience I built mine in a 1550G and love it. Really need to get around to making a PC-Engine adapter so I can use it on that too... Had the bits in for weeks now to do it, just need to get off my arse.

[chromesphere]

Yeah, i had a diy neo geo controller but it wasnt cutting it so this is version 2. 
Theres a group shot.  Top one is for mame (wireless keyboard encoder).  qbert is james (zero delay keyboard encoder) and the new mame controller.  The JLW is very clicky...might have to swap that for a JLF at some point.

[alanp]

KING OF FIGHTERS.

That game is AWESOME.

Terry Bogard.

Iori Yagami

Mature.

Vice.

Man, so many great characters!

[mjg]

It's a game.  It's a watch.  It's... a Nintendo Game&Watch.  1 bit graphics!  5 frames per second! 

Found this in my junk pile in the garage - a 1981 Nintendo 'Octopus' game.  It had stopped working some 30 years ago, and new batteries didn't help, so it got thrown in the pile. 

Pulled it apart on the weekend, and found the issue.  The green capacitor in the left corner should have been put into the little space.  Instead, it was bent up and being crushed by the back case.  Desoldered, bent it back into place and added some fresh solder, and hey, it fired right up!





None of the buttons worked - all the contacts had oxidised or had some sort of gunk on them, so I scraped them off and everything worked again.  Also discovered that the tiny little metal buttons come out, and will fall on the floor. Searching with a torch for 5 minutes found one underneath a nearby stereo, and another about a metre away behind some storage bins.

Seeing as I got it working, I thought I could clean it up a bit. The front panel has a bit of damage, so not much can be done there. The screen is pretty scratched up, and it looks like younger me must have decided to paint the octopus' eyes at some point. The plastic front of the screen comes out easily, so I pulled it all apart a 2nd time, cut a nice clean piece of plastic to replace the dirty one, and the put it back together again.



Of course, now it stopped working completely. #$*!!!

Back to troubleshooting for about half an hour, but nothing seemed to be working.  Eventually I noticed that there was something on the screen, if I looked at it on a funny angle with the light just right. Waaaaiiiit a minute. LCD screens. They have some sort of polarising filter. I knew that. AAARRRGGHHH.

The dirty piece of plastic that I'd removed and replaced was actually a polarising filter, that the LCD needs to be visible.   



Put the dirty plastic back in, and hey, it is all working again.



It's all now working great, and I was able to sit down and play it for what must be the first time in about 30? years. Score of 304 straight off, which was hilarious, as my 11 year old had a go and got a total of 4. At last, a video game that I can beat him at!

[midwayfair]

That's awesome.

[stringsthings]

Found this in my junk pile in the garage

junk is in the eyes of the beholder

[mjg]

"Junk" as in "stuff that doesn't work but I'll never throw out because I'm a hoarder".

One day I might need the last 5 bike lights that stopped working.  You never know.   

[chromesphere]

Cool repair Matt!  This was my sisters game (octopus), but i really liked it as a kid. 

I still have it in my game cupboard.  "you can have it back if you want..?? no? ok" 

[stringsthings]

I'll probably never throw away my stock of components.    If I have kids, they can buy them from me! 

[oip]

oh man that game and watch restore is awesome!  deep in the nostalgia banks.  turtle bridge was my jam

[stringsthings]

oh man that game and watch restore is awesome!  deep in the nostalgia banks.  turtle bridge was my jam

excerpt from a review of "Turtle Bridge" that I found on the interwebz:

"... Sound is the customary beeps and tones that featured with Game and Watch titles, but with the games having less processing power than a pocket calculator, the playability and "one more go" factor that this game offers cannot be ignored.  And even now, with the likes of the DS and PSP on offer, these games still offer hours of fun... "

I'm  still waiting for  Turtle Bridge 2.  It's supposed to be released next summer!   

bonus joke: 

Q: Why did the turtle cross the bridge? 
A:  Because the bridge was full of chickens!