Video: Rescuing a Windows 98 Gaming Computer

Found last week on the side of the road in several pieces, this video follows the journey of myself getting it running back to 100%!

Video: Carmageddon for PC Review

Ever see the movie Death Race 2000? If so, then this might be the game for you. Do you also enjoy running over pedestrians and cows? If that's the case, then you're a sadist - but this also might be the game for you.

Retro Scan: Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare (PSone, PC, DC, GBC)

A slightly crumpled scan today as it comes from the back page of a Prima branded Driver 2 strategy guide (a well-used one at that, too). Regardless as to what you think about Prima today and the price they expect for their products (when online playthroughs are free and so readily available) Prima certainly had its day in the sun once upon a time. I should add that I only played a dollar for that guide too – so there’s that.

I certainly got my money’s worth for a dollar since I’ve probably played Driver 2 three or four times, but even more so now since I realised the other day it has useable retro scan material within.

This scan is for Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare (also known as Alone in the Dark 4) which was released in 2001. The PSone box is prominent in the advert, but it was also released on the Dreamcast, PC and even the Game Boy Color. Later on, it was also exclusively released on the PS2 in Europe. 

Retro Scan: c1995 Dick Smith PC Advert

Following on from that Harvey Norman scan I posted a little while ago, here's a scan from it's major competitor (at the time anyway), Dick Smith!

Sadly, Dick Smith isn't doing so well these days having gone into receivership and all - but putting aside the negative aspect of this business in its current state I think it's important to remember just what a fantastic company it used to be. I always loved going to my local Dick Smith as a young boy; so much so, in fact, that it eventually led to me working there for four years! Those days are behind me now and sadly so are the glory days of DSE, but it left a legacy which I think is important to remember.

Taking a look at this particular advert, we're shown the 'Computer Easy Customer Care Plan'. This offers such incentives to get into computing such as free installation, free training and a whole heap of other cool stuff (like 12 months of free bulletin board access).

A lot of the popular brands at the time are mentioned too, such as IBM, Compaq, HP, Microsoft and DSX. I googled around and wasn't able to find much about DSX, but I'm assuming it's a part of Dick Smith's home brand considering the use of DS. Who knows, though, that just could be a coincidence.

Video: My Retro Gaming PC Setup

Following on from a video where I guide a tour of my retro games room (scroll down to the bottom of that post to see the video) I've created a tour of my retro PC gaming setup. While the games room tour was filmed on my smartphone, I decided not to be a lazy piece of shit this time and actually introduce a few production values. This video is actually filmed on a camera, using a tripod. Wowee.

I have a dedicated PC for retro gaming, and this video talks about the specifications it reps as well as how I integrate the machine into my modern PC setup.

Video: Red Faction for PC Review

Today with my second ever retro PC review, we're jet-setting off to Mars. I hear it's lovely this time of year! What isn't so lovely, though is the evil Ultor Corporation. They suck! Time to liberate Mars with the Red Faction!

Retro Scan: c1995 Harvey Norman PC Advert

I found one of those family PC magazines under my bed a few weeks ago, dating to somewhere within 1995. It's one of those "finally a computer magazine you can understand" type deals. While the writing and articles are not entertaining in the slightest, since it was a free edition it's full of so many adverts. This is quite okay with me since I have a Retro Scan section to uphold. I didn't add a quick access button under the RGO logo for nothing, you know. 

For those not in Australia or (so I found out on holiday) Singapore (or according to Wikipedia also New Zealand, Slovenia, Ireland, North Ireland, Malaysia AND Croatia) Harvey Norman is one of those places you go to buy furniture, white goods and computers/electronics if you don't like holding onto your money.

Okay, I'll try my best to keep my bias aside about the company for the sake of looking at mid-1990's computers, but hot damn. Every time I'm buying something I price check across all the local stores, and Harvey Norman comes dead last every single time. But that's enough ridicule - let's look at these computers.

Clickey to look closer...

Not much under two grand and that's how Gerry likes it (I'll stop now, I swear). 

While there is the range of computers you'd expect from brands such as Apple, IBM and Compaq before HP guttered them, there are a few brands I'd honestly never heard of. AST were acquired by Samsung in 1996, Olivetti stopped manufacturing computers in 1997 and supposedly Bondwell also stopped in 1993 - so I guess that Notebook is a few years out of date if Wikipedia is to be trusted. Probably explains why it's $800 off, though.

It's a nice glimpse into what the Australian dollar could buy in 1995 none the less. $3895 would pay for a Compaq Presario 833 with a 486, a 270MB hard drive, 8MB of RAM along with the monitor, speakers, keyboard and mouse as well as a ton of software. Whether this was a good deal or not at the time I have no idea, since my life with likely revolving around Lego at that point.

I really want that five grand colour media Texas Instruments notebook, though. It's nice.

Video Catch-Up: Sonic R / Buck Bumble / Heart of Darkness / Vortex / Game Room Tour

Holy Hell. I haven't posted any of my videos here since Micro Machines on the Mega Drive/Genesis. I released that back in July! What's going on? Isn't YouTube half of the Retro Game On's conglomerate machine?
Whoops, well anyway; let's have a catch-up post, ordered from oldest to newest.

Sonic R for PC Review

I'm especially surprised I forgot this - since it was the first of my PC reviews that I said I was going to do probably over a year ago now. I have no idea why I choose Sonic R of all games, but here it is none the less.



Buck Bumble for N64 Review

In Buck Bumble, I play as a cyborg bumble bee who's saving the world from a group of evil and radiated insects. Hot damn, I love retro games.



Heart of Darkness for PSone Review

After swooning over it and the cheap price I paid for it - I then went and reviewed it. Reminded me of Limbo in many ways. I thought it was brilliant.



Vortex for SNES Review

An interesting 3D mech shooter that utilised the Super FX chip. This was bought from the Retro Levels store in Perth.



Game Room Tour 2015

After a request from a viewer, I made this updated tour of my retro games room. It's been two years since I last did this, so a reasonable amount has changed.

The Games I Bought While Being Dead to the World

As alluded to at the end of my most recent review, Vortex for the SNES, I mentioned Retro Game On had died a little during the exam period:

An ACTUAL Snapchat from the period

All that is behind me now, as study is finished for few a months with nothing to do in the meantime except make videos and write about video games on the internet. I'm basically going to try and treat it like a full-time job, except without the stress, responsibility and well... money. I would love to do this as my job if it was ever feasible, but for now I'll just keep creating and treating it like the involved hobby it is.
Because of the exams, assessments and just general study though, I wasn't able to buy much during that period. I did buy a few things though, and I actually went op-shopping the other day which felt great. This is what I bought.

First off, I cleared out the Salvation Army store in the Perth CBD actually during exams. I had a two or three-hour gap between exams, so I trained into the city and wasted some time.
Should I have been studying during that period? Probably. But it's yet to be seen since I don't have all my results yet. Anyway, the Salvo's in the city is a bit of a golden egg. It probably gets quite a few interesting bits of stock flowing through its doors thanks to its location, but on top of that also plenty of customers all likely wanting to nab up 15-year-old games at a bargain price before I do.
That visit was my lucky day though, as I exited with all this:

PC gaming galore right there. Probably my favourite purchase out of the bunch is the big-boxed copy of Red Faction. I've always loved the Red Faction series, and even though I already own it on PS2 I had to grab that box, especially when it's only $8.25.
I was quite happy to find The Movies too, since I remember wanting that game when I was younger. That was only $3.25, along with Sim City 3000, Sim City 2000 and Half-Life Opposing Force.
Do not ask me why I bought Sim City 2000 when I already own it in a big ole' box, but for whatever reason I now own it twice. Sim City 3000 is nice to have though, and will likely withdraw hours of my life like 2000 did.
Sadly it seems I cannot play Opposing Force since I don't own the original Half-Life on PC, but I'm sure I'll come across it sooner or later.

A few days ago I actually went proper op-shopping, and god did it just feel so right. I only visited two stores, so the haul was smaller than what I've come home with in the past but it was nice none the less.

First stop was a Salvos where I bought those three PSone games for $3.25 each. What is it with Salvo's ending every price in 25? It's eerie.
Anyway, Everybody's Golf is a true PlayStation classic so that was welcomed into my collection with wide-open arms (even though I suck at golf games). Austin Powers is groovy as all heck, and seemed surprisingly fun for what it is. Who knows though, it might just be charming me too much with all the catchphrases thrown in as you play. You're a tiiiiiger! 
I was surprised by the Xevious compilation (at least, that's what I think it is) since it's labelled as a NTSC-J region disc. What surprised me even more though when I got home was when I discovered it was a pirated copy (the horror!). I don't know what my Japanese PlayStation was trying to tell me when I played the disc, but it was likely saying it wasn't compatible. I really should have noticed it was pirated since the printing job of the disc inserts are a bit shoddy. Oh well.
Lastly, I went into a Good Sammy's and came out with a big-boxed copy of Ghost Recon. That was $5.
I played this game quite a bit when I was younger, since my Dad bought a stupidly cheap Big Bytes version (remember those!?) from EB Games back in the day. It's going to be great to play it again.

Big Boxed PC Games are Cool (and so are Mega Drive Games)

I've mentioned Lazy Game Reviews a few times before as being one of my favourite YouTube channels and a personal inspiration - and I can assure you that this has not changed.
Since watching his channel, which is mostly based around vintage PC gaming, my game collection for computer systems of the good 'ole days has certainly gone from nothing to something.
However, what's even cooler about PC collecting are the titles you can find in the big, shiny boxes. Sure, you'll get the same game even if you only find it in a disc case - but the big boxes just make them so much more collectable. It's kind of like collecting vinyl records compared to CD's in a way.

Clint from LGR is a fanatic about big boxed games; just check out his lair in this Facebook album. It's so freaking insane, and I'm completely and utterly disgusted at how jealous I am.
So, it's for that reason that I'm proud to have found some more big boxed games for my own collection. My stack of PC games just in plastic cases is a fairly impressive size for sure - if it fell on you, you'd probably be slightly disgruntled. A sharp edge of one might even uncomfortably poke into your arm - but expanding my big boxed collection is just so much more satisfying. They look so much better for one, and they make me feel like I'm playing in the big boys club. What's even better is how stupidly cheap I keep finding them too:

After finding Sim City 2000 in immaculate condition and Carmageddon in, well... for $5 each last September, I've been keeping a boxed shaped eye out. A weekend ago or so (who has the time to exactly remember things these days?) I was doing some light grocery shopping. It was a Saturday morning, slowly turning into afternoon, so I was put into the mood for checking out the op-shops super close to my house; all two of them.
The Salvo's was a bust, but there is a church that operates as an op-shop too. What I keep forgetting, though, is that this op-shop closes at noon. While that's a little hardcore for my tastes as op-shopping has always been a mid-afternoon affair for me (for some reason) I walked in anyway not realising they were closing up. That was my (accidental) dick move number one.
I went straight to the games shelf and found actually quite a bit of stuff, but what really caught my eye was Syndicate Wars, M1 Tank Platoon II and the one and only, Deus Ex. All were boxed and looking as great as ever.
None were listed with prices, which leads to my (accidental) dick move number two. The lady seemed a bit shocked I was there as she didn't see me walk in, but since I had the items in-hand she let me buy them. Being a non-for-profit op-shop attached to a church, though, they did not have Eftpos. She deemed the games to be worth $5 each which is super reasonable, obviously, but I only had $13.40 in cash. She accepted, since it was too late to (even) sprint to an ATM, on the promise that I come back soon and pay back the rest. I guess I must have looked fairly pathetic, as the next time the op-shop was going to be open was the following Saturday when I would have been working.

Thank you, kind volunteer. I will be back with the money I owe soon.

I'm going to list and explain these purchases from eh, to da' best. I hope that rhymed to you as you read it.
I'm going to start with M1 Tank Platoon II. The box is in a fantastic condition (which has an embossed logo and opens up at the front) and still has the cardboard holders within, a wire binded instruction manual (I kid you not) and even a fold-out keyboard quick reference chart that is printed on plastic. Why have I listed this as 'eh' you may wonder? Because it's missing the disk. Yes, it's missing the actual game.
Having said that, though, the serial for the game is still stuck on the box. I'm not saying I would download it and burn it to a disk and then use that serial - but I totally could.  
Next up (in-between eh and da' best) is Syndicate Wars. This comes with several instruction manuals, quite a few inserts and luckily the disk. The box is a bit worn, though, but oh well.
Last but not least, Deus Ex takes the much sort after title of da' best. It does only come with an instruction manual and the disk, so it might be missing some inserts AND that box is as worn as Syndicate Wars - but c'mon. It's Deus fucking Ex.
I actually already own this on PC and played it many years ago, but that was in some gross greatest hits like DVD case. This is way cooler. I like this one more.

And hey, did I mention Mega Drive games in the title of the post? Yes, I believe I did:

Micro Machines, Altered Beast and Afterburner II all for, uh, cheap. I can't actually remember how much I paid for these, but I assume they were cheap or I guess I wouldn't have bought them.
I purchased these from a pawn store I don't really like that much to be honest, but these were actually listed on Gumtree for cheap as they had so many. The store literally had a few hundred cartridges for sale. It was a cool sight.
A few have stickers from a video store, so I guess they were ex-rentals bought cheaply from someone's storage locker. Either way, I now have a few more of the 'essential' Mega Drive games in my collection and buying them cheaply makes it all the better.
Expect a video review of Micro Machines shortly.

Fear & Loathing in Geraldton [Part II]

Ah Christmas. A time of giving, spending time with family but most importantly, buying cheap Xbox's.
It wasn't that long ago that I went to Geraldton for Easter, but in Australia it was another month, so it was time for another public holiday. This time it was for Christmas, where in-between eating cray fish and then throwing it up over the side of a boat (there comes a time in life where you truly become a man, and other times where you learn you can get sea-sick) I managed to make it to one of my favourite op-shops in the state.

The Cogman Recycling facility hasn't changed too much since last April. Just check the image in the above linked post; I'm sure that funky 80's oven is still there, but sadly the great wall of VHS's and mid 2000's DVD players has diminished somewhat. What hasn't changed however, are the bargains. Last time I visited I scored a semi-working PS2, two PS2 games and an Xbox controller for the partly sum of $12. Hoping to match that absolutely ridiculous deal, I somewhat beat it by purchasing two Xbox's for $5 each, and a couple of PC games for $1 each. Later on, my cousin gave me an additional Halo Edition Xbox. They're fun to stack.

Still cheaper than Lego

The question on everyone's lips might be: how well does a $5 Xbox work? The answer turns out to be "quite well", actually. One of them works flawlessly, with not a problem in sight. It even has all the previous owners crappy music still on it.
The other Xbox boots up, and appears to have a fully functioning hard drive but the disk drive is a bit dicky. It wouldn't open-up on its own (it did try to though, I'll give it that) so I cracked it open and chucked a disk inside to find that the laser is still thankfully functional. The weird thing though, is that the disk drive would then function (and open) once the disk was inside, but would no longer open once the disk was removed. The disk seems to set something in place to get it working, but a lot of staring later on my behalf and it's still a mystery.

The Halo edition, or most of what I have of one, is a special case. As you can see in the photo, its missing its disk drive, but also the HDD. The cool thing about this unit though (apart from the exterior case) is that the motherboard and PSU are still alive and kicking, but the MOBO has a modchip soldered to it. I can confirm that the unit boots up, so sometime in the future I'm thinking of transplanting the HDD and disk drive from my usual unit and have the Halo Edition plus its modchip as my daily driver. Spare time is at a premium lately though, so expect it done sometime during my retirement (where I'll also probably finally play Skyrim).  

An op-shop visit wouldn't be complete without myself purchasing a rally game however, and this trip was no different. Also bought was Microsoft World of Flight. On purchase I assumed it was a plane game, maybe similar to the recently reviewed Wings 2: Aces High. But nope, it's an educational thingy. Eugh. Learning.
From what I can gather, Microsoft brought out a few like these varying in subject, and this ones all about planes. In a Windows 95 world, the internet as we know it was still in its infancy and apparently lacking in websites about planes. This was the disk to fix that temporary problem.
No doubt I'll still review it one day though.

Retro Game On Does Kalgoorlie

When you think of Kalgoorlie, what do you think of? Gold? Skimpies? The Mining Tax?
If you're not Australian, you're probably thinking "I don't remember playing a Kalgoorlie in the 80's" and that's totally okay. No matter what though, if you're Australian you wouldn't associate it with retro gaming.
If you're still wondering, Kalgoorlie is a mining town in Western Australia. It's known for having the biggest hole in Australia that we scoop gold out of. It's so big, it has 'super' in its name. It is called... The Super Pit. The Super Famicom has 'super' in its name, and that's pretty super, so by default this pit called a Super Pit is actually quite super. It looks like this:

Dale dug a hole.

Pretty super, eh? But why was I there? Am I a miner now? Nah. What about a Mining magnate? Sadly not. I was there for a family event, and thought I would check out some op-shops and do some promotion while I was there. See how promotion was in italics? That was probably me trying to be funny, but stay tuned to find out more.

The first place I went to was a Red Cross, which was in walking distance of my motel which was great since I didn't have my car.
I picked up these two for a couple of dollars each.

Nothing too out of the ordinary, right? You would think the case labelled "Sony PlayStation Catalogue" would be a demo disk wouldn't you? Well, the booklet inside is, talking about games and accessories but if there was a demo disk, its long gone.
I had an idea when I first looked what the game actually was, but I had to wait until I got home to confirm it. It wasn't labelled with a game name, but it was plastered with the logos advertising 3D Realms and GT Interactive. It wasn't black with simple white text like virtually every other PSone demo disk I've ever seen, but instead looked like a nuclear warning symbol. You've probably already figured out what it is, but for those still scratching their heads, it was none other than the PSone version of Duke Nukem 3D. Come get some! This was a nice surprise to say the least, as it sure beats paying money for demos. The booklet will make a nice retro scan blogpost one day though.

Besides from that, there is also Jack Nicklaus Golf, which is a DOS game. Honestly, I just bought this so I would reach the Eftpos minimum as I had no cash. Who knows though, it might be a laugh one day for a review; if/when I finally get around to doing PC reviews, anyway. Otherwise I'm sure it will make a great coaster.

In-between gallivanting around Op-Shops, I also saw a few other tourist attractions like the Broad Arrow Tavern:

This unique son-of-a-gun, is the only remaining pub of a ghost town. While that's cool in its self, at this pub you can write on walls. In fact, every square inch is covered in messages like "Davo was ere '07" or "Brad is lamo'o '94 ahaha". As humorous as they all were, I noticed a distinct lack of website promotion, so I of course fixed that.

On a XXXX Gold sign, no less.

Obviously, I don't think my target market drinks at this pub and since there is so much writing everything it will basically be drowned out. But none the less, Retro Game On is now a rebel. Graffiti on a wall; wearing a leather jacket and riding a motorbike. Watch out, hide your daughters. Who knows what this rebel without a cause will do next.

Well, if you're still wondering... he went to another op-shop.

This was also two dollars, but is a lot better than another damn golf game. Its actually one of those games I've been after for a little while too, so I was happy to find it in a Salvation Army that was also in walking distance from the motel.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to visit another op-shop while in Kalgoorlie, but I did check one out in the town of Southern Cross on the drive home. This was an independent, and while the lady thought there was a box of computer games available, they were nowhere to be seen. Oh well, it was at that point there were some people having a yelling match in the street, so I ate some surprisingly good nachos at the roadhouse and then hightailed it back to civilisation. Back to a stable internet connection, anyway.

Boxed Retro Goods Show Retro Game On the Love

Boxed games, from 1990's PC, Nintendo and SEGA systems specifically have always alluded me. I was that kid who kept all the boxes for his GBC games, and always wondered why others threw there's out. From a collectors stand-point, throwing out those pieces of cardboard is borderline sacrilege. But for the commoner, they're a hindrances more than anything. They take up lots room, eventually warp out of shape and the cartridges easily hold they're own out of the box while the big boxed PC CD-ROM's always have their own plastic case within. Why would the average person keep it? As if it's in there interest to keep some weird smelling collector happy 15-20 years down the line.
This is why I was eternally grateful to find that lot above, in two different op-shops today and earlier this week.

I came across Carmageddon and Sim City 2000 in the same shop for five dollars each. Unfortunately Carmegeddon was missing everything but the disk and the box was a bit squashed, but hey, I'm not going to complain for that price. I've been wanting to check it out for a while now.
Sim City 2000 on the other-hand is a poster-child example of why op-shopping is so great. It was the same price as Carmageddon, yet the box is in near brand-new condition including multiple novel-sized instruction manuals. It even has the original cardboard inserts keeping everything together. You gotta love that flat pricing.
I know I say this for a lot of things and never do it, but I think that will be my first PC review.
Stranger things have happened.

Last but not least in this boxed frenzy is a complete copy of Banjo-Kazooie, including a colour manual, consumer information booklet (always riveting reading), a N64/Game Boy promotional poster and the cardboard inserts all for an eye-watering price of $20.
Yes, I know I already own it; I even reviewed it but how could I pass this up? It was just sitting there, staring at me. Next thing I knew I had blinked, I had payed for it and was already driving home with it sitting comfortably on my passenger seat. Not my fault, I swear.

Honestly, I'd love all my games to be boxed, how good would that shit look on my shelf? The thing is though, just having the game usually does it for me; cartridges lined up on a shelf looks quite bling'n also and the price increase for some cardboard and paper usually puts me off. At the end of the day, if the game is playable and fun: who cares? Having said that though, if I come across more for comparative prices I definitely won't be turning them down.

Shenmue II

Previously I posted about the original Shenmue, so I guess it's apt to post that I bought the sequel. Did I pay $80 for it this time though? Hell no! I'm no longer a dweeb... I'm more of a fiend these days more than anything.
It's amazing how it's always the least conspicuous places that have the most fantastic finds. This was bought from an op-shop that I'd only been to two times before (one time in pyjama pants, fun day), which is weird in a way considering how close it is to me. All the op-shops and pawn stores close to me have been picked clean by yours truly over my three year collecting career, so it's weird that I hardly go to this shop.

It's an independent like all great op-shops, so the prices are lower than onions. I bought Shenmue II on Xbox, including the DVD and the instruction manual for $3. I also bought a few others for the same price (which I'll get to in a minute) but hot damn, what a bargain. This is a game I've seriously been contemplating buying from eBay for a while now, just because I wanted to play it so much. I'm not a huge fan of buying games on eBay as long as op-shops still keep stocking them, but I very nearly did. It's been a couple of years since I played the original, so the want has been building. It isn't that expensive online, ranging from $20 to $30, but it feels like a victory none the less.

I would of very much liked the sequel on Dreamcast since that's what I played the original on (of course), but hey, I'm not complaining. I have the game now. I've even set my Xbox up in my bedroom hooked up to my widescreen away from the games room so I can accomplish the complete lazing around in my underwear experience this game deserves. It's a big game after all, the type you play until three in the morning.
I've been squeezing in about five hours a week so far, which is a lot less than it deserves, but unfortunately life has to continue smoothly no matter how great a game is. So far, I'm up to Kowloon so I am getting there, although I'm a bit afraid of finishing it. This game famously never had a third title, and the game has been left in limbo ever since. I guess once I do though, I can start being angry about it like the rest of the internet.

While I'm talking about games I've bought, I mind as well talk about games I've bought. And yes, I know; that last sentence is amazing writing on my behalf.
This is all I've claimed since the last time I touched on the topic:

Both those Xbox games were bought from the same op-shop, both three dollars each also. Red Dead Revolver has been a game I've been after for a while in particular too since I've sunk so much of my life into Red Dead Redemption.
The rest is a mixed bag; there are a few games that I bought just because they looked amazingly shit but a few actually look great.
Shit games are great, I've bought so many recently that it's almost getting embarrassing to look at my collection in general. I don't care though, they're fun to make videos about. Those nuggets of turd include Truck Racing on the PSone ($3) and Hot Wheel Extreme Racing also on the PSone ($5) which has alarmingly good graphics and sound design. Although Truck Racing is a whole different ball game; the menus look like they were made in Power Point.
Soviet Strike and V-Rally both on PSone were particularly awesome acquisitions since I didn't pay a penny for those, my awesome as shit girlfriend bought me those while out and about. Not only are they great games, they feel even greater because they're free. She paid five dollars each for those.
I paid more than usual for Syphon Filter 2 coming in at $10 but it was there, complete, and I just couldn't resist. I've been feeling like that sort of game recently, I played the demo heaps when I was a youngin.
Also in there is Actua Tennis for PSone for $5. I don't know why, but I just really love tennis games; I can't explain it. As a general rule, I dislike sports games quite a lot.
Lastly, I bought the original GTA on PC for $3, because... why not? I do own it on PSone also, but for that price I just couldn't resist.  

The Swap Meet At the End of the Earth

Fear & Loathing in... shit, I don't even know where.

It's been over two years since I went to swap meet.
This is because of several reasons: having to work on Sundays when they're usually held (yes, I'm one of those sad individuals), conveniently not having money when they're happening or just because I'm lacking courage to wake-up at 7am.
All the Swap Meet Planets aligned last weekend though as there was one held closeish to where I live. Closeish as in half an hour away, in the direction opposite of civilisation. Usually I wouldn't bother with one that far away on a weekend day where I wasn't working (those days are usually reserved to laying around the house in my boxershorts) but I happened to be going to a party the night before in the local area.

I know what you're thinking: "ahahahaha you're going to a swap meet the night after a party? Fat chance, Pal." (said everyone I told). But I was determined, I needed  to go to one after such a long gap.
I'm not at the age where binge-drinking is cool any more, so I didn't foresee any issues with waking up. What was the problem though, was rain. All night during the party it absolutely pelted down, so I didn't bother setting my alarm thinking the swap meet would be washed away if it did try and go ahead.
I woke up at 8.30am on my own volition and looked outside. Perfectly calm, not a cloud in sight. I cursed the sky for a couple of minutes before chucking on my shoes, getting in my car and onto getting lost in the local area. The phone reception there is out of this world (the same it would be on the Moon) so my smartphone including GPS was more or less useless. After driving around for another half an hour or so finding a garage sale along the way, which had nothing but a $80 fat PS2 and crappy games at $10 each (laughable, the only word I can use) I found it.
The weather was starting to make a turn for the worst at that point, but I was there. It was around 9.10am by that point. Usually I like to arrive between 7.30-8.00am, so I was quite late by my standards, but damn it, I was there.
It's a fair chance that all the good stuff was gone by that point, but I did pick up this gem for $5:

Tim Schafer's masterpiece by Lucas Arts, Grim Fandango. I've been looking for this for a very long time in the wild. It's one of those games that people will charge out of the arse for if they know what it is. For example, at the time of writing, the only non-sealed copy I can find on eBay is listing for $50. Not the kind of money I want to be spending on a single game. 

It's great, finally something decent to play on my newly setup PC for retro gaming. Expect it to be the first PC video review I release. 

Fear & Loathing in Geraldton

I headed up north this Long Easter Weekend to see relatives, drink fine beer and check out op shops and pawn shops. Hunting around was a little bit harder than usual considering it was a holiday period, but I managed to filtrate a few op-shops in town on the Saturday before they closed up at mid-day.

The first place I checked out was a Red Cross, where everything was half price. Unfortunately there wasn't a whole lot gaming wise to make use of the discount, but I did pick up a Zoo Tycoon pack (including three titles from the series) for a dollar. It was suppose to be 50 cents because of the sale, but I'm not a monster. I paid the whole dollar.  

After that I went to a Good Sammy's that was also pretty devoid of gaming related items except for a Finding Nemo PC game for $3. It was developed by Disney Interactive who developed some games I loved in my childhood, so I thought I would give it a shot. All the text on the case is in a middle eastern language though, so it's up for debate whether the game is actually in English or not. I know the story well though, so eh. I'm sure I'll manage. 

The real bargain of the day though, is this:

I went to an Op Shop that is actually at the local tip. Instead of throwing items away, you can instead leave them at the Op-Shop. Great idea really, not like anyone actually wants to trawl through a tip looking for treasure.

The only real downer is how everything is arranged, as in, it's not. Everything is crammed into this shed and it really takes a while to sort through things. Although, this wall of DVD and VHS players was fairly groovy:

Not a 3DO in sight

After fending off flies for a good twenty minutes, I came to the counter with a fat PS2, two PS2 games (WRC 2 and Enter the Matrix) and finally another Xbox controller (including the break off bit). Grand total? $12. No, that is not a typo. The nice lady even let me turn it on before purchasing. 

Hardly anything is labelled, so she just looked at all this 'junk' I had brought up to counter and presumably made a price up on the spot. That, is something I've very okay with.

The PS2 does boot up, yes, and controllers seem to work with it. I haven't been able to play anything yet though as the drive is quite temperamental. It's currently stuck open, so it will need some TLC and the consoles case needs a bit of a clean-up in general. I'll get onto it later though, hopefully the laser is still functional.

After I hopefully get it working to full potential, I might do something naughty like install HD Loader. I also feel it would be cool to use in a LAN since I have my slimline too. 

Updates to the Games Room: 16/04/2014

Here's something different: after years of consoles, The Official Retro Game On Unnecessary Long Named Games Room has a computer. Well, forgetting the Atari St. I totally forgot about that when I first started typing that sentence, and I don't want to start again.

This computer is a bit newer, as in it's only about 12 years old. It was the first computer my family ever owned, and is running XP. In my mind, playing retro PC games is a lot easier on XP than newer OS's. Having a dedicated computer for those is something I've always wanted to do. This fits the build, and also has a floppy drive. Both my current computer and my laptop don't even have a disk drive (the tower did, but I disconnected it so I could have another hard drive) so having dedicated hardware makes everything a million times easier.

I didn't have the room to set it up on its own desk, so integrating it into my current retro setup is really a must. I think this is actually kinda cool though, and I'm happy that I got it working with the TV and sound system.
Luckily the graphics card has an s-video connection, so plugging the video in was as simple as tracking down a s-video to RCA cable. That also gave me an excuse to buy another switchbox:

I've run out of AV ports on the TV, so this switchbox is daisy-chaining off a set of plugs on one of the original switchboxes. This will mean that my Super Famicom gets its own button now, as it was the odd one out last time I overhauled the setup.

The audio was simple as well. A 3.5mm to double RCA jack cable goes from the audio port of the computer to a switchbox. This switchbox divides the connection into the sound system with that and the cables that go into the AV out of the TV. Meaning, without overcomplicating things, I can now switch between the audio of the computer and everything else with a press of a button. This is great, as I didn't want to have to setup up speakers just for the computer.

To control everything, I have a dedicated wireless keyboard and mouse. I can sit on the couch with these on the table, and not have to worry about cables being strewn around or even reaching in the first place.

The computer was in a pretty sorry state when I recovered it. Even though it was wrapped in plastic and in a box, it was still full of dust. So much so, that it wouldn't originally boot up because it couldn't read the RAM (according to the distressed beeps of the motherboard, anyway). Once I cleaned it out using a compressor, I got to work on the software side of things. The OS it's self was quite unstable, crashing and freezing constantly. After a reinstall I had some problems getting it updated, but after much blood and tears everything is up to date. I was even getting the message telling me support for the system ended last week, which is fitting now that it's in my interactive museum of retro gaming devices.

For those that are curious, these are the specs:

• Acer Aspire T300 Standard
• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Service Pack 3 
• Pentium 4 CPU
• 80GB Seagate Hard Drive
• 1024MB of RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce Mx 440 CPU

Retro Scan: Duke Nukem Forever (PC)

Hey, isn't that the game that just came out that got poor reviews?
Why yes it is! The only problem is, I scanned this out of a Hyper magazine dating back to November, 2001.
Duke Nukem was still being developed that far back and even earlier still but it didn't get released until just recently. I think the problem is that twelve years is way too long to build up hype for a game. No wonder so many people were disappointed with it.

Some Crap I Found

I was recently cleaning up the leaning tower of PC disks next to my computer (been there and building for three computers!) and I came across some old crap. Among the millions of scratched up burnt CD-R's (all with legal stuff on it of course) I found some stuff you could probably classify as Retro. Not necessarily gold mine stuff, but I guess it could be rare (LOL). I'm still laughing at the name of 'Future Sports...'

Sorry in advance for the crappyness of the pictures by the way. I should of made use of that big fucking thing in the sky called the Sun, but instead I choose to take the pictures inside when it was dark out. I couldn't use the flash either because that just gave it huge glare, so focusing the pictures was painful. 

Lets start off with Future Sports (hahahahahahaha).
"Overflow with 600 megabytes of sport games!" Oh yay!

This appears to be a collection of sport games. I thought it was a good buy at $2 (the original tag is still on there at $5) from the Salvos years ago. Considering I don't even like sports games I'm surprised I even bought it at all.
The thing that bothers me though is that all the games on there are in fact demos. Why would someone pay $5 for a disk of demos?

The disk graphics are as stylish as the cover...

Not only are the games demos, they're demos of games I've mostly never even heard of.

A closer look...

Following the website address on the back which apparently lead to a 'Cybermall' lead nowhere.
I have no idea when this disk came out but there were some good indicators by looking into franchises I've heard of on the back case. For example there was a demo of NBA Live '95 and Indycar Racing 2 (which also came out in 1995).

The next thing I found was another demo disk (two actually). This time for an Australian magazine called PC PowerPlay, which is actually still going. It probably cost me, I dunno 50 cents? I got it from some markets years ago and have probably put them into a computer about once each.
I can't help but wonder why I bought this when I could have easily bought a brand new issue. Hell this didn't even come with the actual magazine!

There are actually some decent game on there, but of course I always prefer the full versions.

A better look at the 'Utilities.' Doesn't say which version of Adobe Acrobat is on there, hazard a guess its the first one.

Here is none other than the BEST EVER GAME DEMOS disk.

I'm not going to lie, I have no idea when this came out. I do know that it was from issue #28. Other clues include a small message that says "Most game require Win95" and as you can see one of the programs in the Utilities section of the first disk is called IFOX 98. No idea if that is referring to the actual year or not though.

Last but not least... Duke Nukem 3D!!!

"Prepare Yourself for Total Meltdown!"
I think I bought this from a Pawn shop for about 50 cents. I had some change in my wallet so I thought, "hell why not?"
I'm happy I did because I had a blast playing it. I Forgot it was even there in that leaning tower of PC disks.

The back includes ads for other awesome games such as Oddworld, Hexen, Quake, Mortal Kombat 3 and Final Doom.

The disk was in fairly good condition besides from a few scratches, it worked though and since it was only small change it didn't bother me all that much.
By the way those 'bonus games' on there were only demos as well. So much deceit...

The original owner even left some nice decorative art on the booklet for me to admire.