Retro Game On's Newest Member: The Atari 2600 Jr

You know what Retro Game On is lacking? Corporate sponsorship, hurr, just joking, I'm talking about 8 bit consoles! Yes, before that the only 8 bit representation were my Famicoms. Those don't get as much credit as they deserve either since I only have two games, but it mostly comes down to the fact that I can't figure out the tuning for them on my television. Even when it was tuned into my old TV, it had no sound and the picture was incredibly grainy. That's a Japanese console in Australia for ya, I guess.
I did buy an Atari 2600 nearly two years ago, but that turned out to be a dud. I think I know how to fix it, but in all honesty I've had no time to try, in-between Sega Game Gears. Since I had all the necessary cables, controllers and even a few games from the last one, it occurred to me that I should just buy the console without anything for a discount. Atari's are hellishly expensive online, so I've been putting it off for a while.

I came across this console on eBay for $30, which is plainly unheard of for an advertised working console. I know at that price that something must be wrong with it, but the seller had a 100% feedback rating over 2000 and something sales. I know 2000 is pretty small fry for an eBay shop, but that's still 2000 happy customers no matter how you look at it. I'm always into helping the smaller fish, and they were Australian too which seasoned the deal for me.

The games I have so far are Pole Position, Asteroids, Missile Command and Outlaw. I bought these all for $5 each on the sole basis that they were cheap. Well, cheap for the shop I found them in anyway. I don't know if that is a rational reason for purchasing them, but I did it non the less. After that I bought that broken console and it just went from there. Refer to those links above if you're interested in that particular story.

Since I just got it, I haven't had a chance to play those games I've had for two years, and I suck at them very muchly. It's sad to say since I consider myself a retro gamer, but I just haven't worked my head around that Atari 2600 joystick after years of buttons and dual sticks. I have all the time in the world now to learn though (well, until I die anyway) and I plan to get good.
Either way, my suckiness was a good excuse to create this short video with my friend after one, or, er, nine beers. We thought it was pretty funny at the time.

Video: Repairing A Dreamcast that Randomly Restarts

You asked for it. Well, you didn't, but lets just presume you did. What? Please? Maybe pretend you're presuming? For me? Okay.
In a detailed post not too long ago, I wrote about how to repair a randomly repairing Dreamcast. Not content with the quality of most other tutorial videos out there, I stated I would create my own. So, here that is, I suppose. Enjoy.

Awesome Stuffs

Yesterday, two awesome things happened. On the very low end, I bought two great games for less than the price of a Happy Meal. That's great, and is a good start. But with both of those games, there were both physically and nostalgically extra awesome aspects. Lets inspect those now.
For starters, I bought The Getaway on PS2 for $1.

One dollar for this game is absolutely fantastic just by its self, even if it is a damned Platinum edition. What really got me though, and really turned out to be the bee's knees when it revealed its self was what I found when I opened it up:

The sequel, Black Monday was also in the case! Not only did I get a fantastic game for a dollar, I also got it's sibling. What a bargain! I never say bargain, especially with an exclamation mark!
It also came with both instruction manuals and a poster for Black Monday. It's like the gift that just kept on giving, all for a dollar. That same day, I was at McDonald's and bought a small chips. That also cost me a dollar. For the price of some greasy fried bits of potato, I got all this! I just can't contain my excitement and my exclamation marks!

My second find was just as great in its own way, which is why nostalgically is the only way I could think of describing it. You see, when I was a young boy (about 8), all I had to game on was a Game Boy Colour, a console I still own and love to this day. I didn't own very many games for it, but one I did was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I played this intensely, which is not a dramatic way of explaining it. I lived and breathed that game for months. That is why I'm very pleased to have picked up this for $5:

  

The sequel, which is the unintentional theme for this blog post. 

I first saw it in a thrift store a couple of weeks ago, and found it amusing. Later on I regretted not buying it though, as the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to play it. Luckily, I seem to be the only one who buys games from the local thrift stores which I visit, so it was still there when I went in yesterday.
Five dollars and it was mine, plus the instruction manual, which was a nice touch. 

Video: Quake 2 Review for N64

I'm running out of things to write every time I post a video, except for the fact that this is the first video to use my new lighting. Other than that, you'll just have to be lured in by the mysterious 'Quick Announcements' note added into the title. Hmm yes, how very mysterious indeed.

Updates to the Film Set: New Lighting

Heh, film set. What a funny way to say it. It may not be up to a Hollywood's or even a top-grade YouTube personalties standard, but it's getting there. You may have read before, if you were paying attention, that my lighting set-up was if anything, ghetto. It was definitely better than no lighting at all, but I was winging it. It consisted of a Target bought floor lamp, and a reading lamp on a bookshelf, both pointing at me from left and right directions as I recorded my videos. It was basic for sure, but it got the job done even if the lighting consistency was off and the colour balance was something to be desired.

I don't know if it was me reaching 150 subscribers on YouTube, or me putting off servicing my car for another paycheck, but last week I decided to take the plunge and purchase some proper lighting. I'm really glad I did too.
For one, it's not all that expensive. $70 bought me a kit that comprises of two stands, two globe holders, two globes and two softboxes.
The image quality improvement is immediately apparent, like some wizard has done something... wizard-like. The lighting is now way more consistent, the colour balance becomes awesome and now because of the softboxes I don't have to stare into those damn bulbs, which burn the shit out of my retinas.
The best part is how much brighter they are. Before I would have to have an ISO of about about 1600 on my DSLR set to make the lighting watchable, but with the new lighting only has to be around 200. This means that the picture is way less grainer, and more natural looking.

The only issues I have so far is that after one day, one of the bulbs blew. Not a mayor issues since the seller said that they would send me a replacement gratis, but now I have to wait for that to arrive for my next video review. No way in hell can I go back to my old ways now.