Blog Update 12/7/2012

I did do this a few days ago, but I've now implemented the Labels system fully. I've tried to do this in the past but usually given up. It was a tedious job, but now all 80 posts on this blog (this is the 80th actually) have labels!
Check to you right, below the blog archive section. There you will see all the posts organised by categories, where you can do searches by console, make and whatever else. For example this post is labelled 'Update.' Clicking that word either at the end of this post, or in the labels section will display all the blog updates I've ever done (exciting reading, I know).
That's all the updates for now though, all though I'll probably be replacing the header soon; it shits me.

Retro Unrelated: Olympus Trip 35

Welcome to a new category of posts I'm starting today called Retro Unrelated. In these we're still keeping with the general theme of retro, but instead taking quick breaks from gaming and looking at other goodlyness in retroness (yes, I did just write that).
Today, we look at the all mighty Olympus Trip 35:

First released in 1967 as the ultimate holiday camera, it enjoyed quite a healthy run until 1984, ten million units later. It had many appeals as a camera to take on a trip. For example, it didn't run off any batteries. This is a mix of the fact that it has no internal flash, and that the metering system is powered by solar cells surrounding the lens.
Another plus is how tough it is. This isn't an official feature or anything, so I wouldn't go flinging it at walls for the joy of it. I know this because of various stories around the web and the fact that my Dad once left this on top of his car as he drove off. It fell of course, but it shrugged it off like the champ it is.

This camera has a huge cult following most probably to do with the amazing four-element Tessar lens it carries. There are blogs and Flickr groups all over the net devoted to it, containing many people who collect and actively use them because of the awesome photos they produce.
I found mine in my cupboard. Well, the box anyway. This was a big enough tease as it was since the camera was nowhere to be seen, but my Dad eventually found it buried in his draw. He had purchased it in the early 80's from a duty free shop on the way to Kuala Lumpur. The receipt is still in the box and he paid $59.90 Australian for it, as well as buying duty free booze and smokes (because that's what people did in the early 80's).



While not offering fully in-depth manual settings, it does give you a fair amount of control for the price at the time. It has a range of aperture settings, from f2.8 to f22. It also has an automatic setting just in case you don't know what all that means. From there you could determine how far away the subjects were either in feet or meters, and what the ISO was (or ASA).
Since the camera has no inbuilt flash, there is a hotshoe for an add-on and a Prontor-Compur. The box I found for this also included an even smaller box inside for a Sunpak SP140 flash. Unlike the camera though, the actual unit is still at large.



I haven't had a chance to test it out yet as I'm still awaiting on some film to arrive. The film wasn't hard to find though since it of course runs on 35mm. In the future if all goes well with the camera I'll endeavour to find were I can buy it locally instead of online.

It's only once I've used up all the film and gotten it developed I can truly find out if it's working or not.
From what I cant tell without taking photos, it seems in tip top shape except for one small thing. When the camera perceives that there isn't enough light, a red indicator is suppose to pop up warning you that it is too dark. When I cover up the lens with my hand and press down the shutter, this indicator doesn't show. It seems to be a common problem with the actual indicator being stuck to the insides once the internal grease becomes sticky. This however, is also suppose to effect the lens opening and shutting correctly. If that is the problem the lens opening and shutting would be shoddy and non fluent, but this does not seem the case for me. It opens and shuts quite quickly like it should.
This may mean I would only be able to use the manual aperture settings, but that really isn't a problem for me. I'm willing to do that. If I don't have to open it up and clean and replace the grease, I won't. There are a lot of delicate and small objects inside (for example ball bearings) which I just don't want my fat fingers touching if I don't have to.

Stay tuned to my other blog as I'll probably post the pictures from this camera there when they do eventually get taken and processed. I'll also leave a quick note on this one, as who knows when that could be.

Video: Famicom Game Unboxing!

Been a while since I've created a video, so I decided to make one on that Famicom Japanese Economics game. It's an unboxing video really, I don't understand them so I mock them.

PS: Watch in HD :D

Max Payne Released For Android

Today there was happiness, laughter and dancing in the street as Max Payne was released for Android. Being the Rockstar fanboy I am (just check the games section of this blog to see my GTA collection) I pounced right on this since it actually works on my phone. Plus it being only $3 didn't hurt my wallet in the slightest for a classic such as this.

Hopefully they release the sequel soon as I doubt it will take me very long to beat it. 

I adore the shit out of this game; I literally fan gasm'd when I read it had been released. As I said it even works on my phone, being that it only runs on a single core I find it quite impressive really.
There isn't too much lag (compared to GTA 3 for Android anyway) and the touch controls are actually quite solid. Having said that though you can connect an external controller if you have fat fingers, but I feel this kind of spoils the portable idea. You mind as well just play it on PS2.

Either way I'm quite impressed by this port and feel that Rockstar need to give themselves a pat on their back. You can't go wrong for $3, especially when it's a game of this magnitude.

[Max Payne for Android]

Something Kinda Sorta Related

Since I won't shut up about my new camera on my other blog, I thought I mind as well carry on the mindless dribble to this one.
I've spent a bit too much time over at The Photo Extremest (sometimes instead of eating) and I'm trying my hand at certain photographic techniques. For instance this one involves retro goodlyness, so I thought I mind as well post it here:

We were all too lazy to clean the room up a bit more.

As you can see I'm winning and being a jerk about it. Me's thinks I'm an asshole.
I wonder what I'm playing? Probably THPS2, I kick ass at that on N64 and I will beat you... and then proceed to be a dick about it.  

Operation 'Console Shelf' Has Been Delayed...

Why you ask? Because of this bastard:

Everytime I'm free, and actually want to work on this thing, it's always pissing down. Always.
Take for instance today. I'm home, and don't have really anything else to do and that's what the sky currently looks like. There is a puddle the size of Tasmania in my driveway, and everything else is wet. It wasn't raining when I took that picture of course, but as soon as I set everything up, I bet it will. Weather hates me, and I hate it. Usually I love the rain, but then again I'm not really an outside person and I wouldn't usually give two shits about what's happening out in the wilderness. When I actually do want to go outside and do stuff, it messes with me. It's like an immature child.
Over that everytime I look outside I see this, looking sad and neglected:

Sorry!

Here is a check-list of what I've done and what is yet to be done (with comical ticks and crosses!):

✔Initial planning

✔Designing woodwork sheets

✔Purchasing materials

✔Marking wood

✔Cutting wood

✘ Sanding the wood

✘ Assembling the wood

✘ Applying varnish

One other thing that was stopping me from the next step was a working sander. I now have one, and that is currently also looking sad and neglected on the table next to the cut wood. What an overall sad sight.

I will get this done soon, I promise. But right now Mother Nature is being cruel. Once she sorts her self out, operation 'Console Shelf' can be a go once again. 

Is Collecting Sealed Games A Real Hobby?

Jet Set Radioooooooooooooo!

Greetings. This post was suppose to be posted about half a month ago, but assignments seemed to to keep coming in and I kept on buying cheap, shit games. So in-between playing cheap, shit games (DNF isn't that bad to be honest) and doing assignments, I forgot to write this post. Over that the object you see in the above picture took about three weeks more than it should have to arrive, further postponing it. When it did finally come I was too busy screaming at my TV because of how crap Homefront was, but how it had an awesome story and I didn't want to stop because of it.  
It's kind of hard to see in the above picture because of the flash, but that copy of Jet Set Radio is still factory sealed. Going on Ebay while slightly intoxicated is never a good idea (repeat with me, never) and next thing I knew I had spent roughly $10AUS on this. Good deal really, so I don't feel too bad. That's just roughly two Red Bulls I've missed out on.
Sealed Dreamcast games are quite common because the console (in terms of console life spans) isn't really that old. I think because of how quickly Sega pulled the plug on it, lots of games were probably forgotten about. It seems to be quite common when a box of still sealed games is found in a warehouse somewhere, and that was probably the case for this copy. The sales page said more than 10 were available, so I guess the seller got them in bulk.
A lot of people will probably be like; "Hell yeah sealed Dreamcast game, it's just like Christmas 1999 again" and then they would proceed to play their favourite Smashmouth album while taking the seal off. But I can't seem to get myself to open it. I love the game and I've played it, but for some reason I rather keep it sealed because of some sort of weird collectors desire.
Games are meant to be played, not imprisoned in clear plastic. Everytime I see images of whole collections that are completely sealed, I feel dirty. More so when the people just keep it so they can sell it later for a profit. I guess I would never sell this (like anyone would buy it anyway) but I feel I should keep it sealed. This is the only sealed game I own, everything else is open and fully playable. Would it be okay to just keep this sealed? And make sure I don't have a whole collection full of sealed games that's only good to look at and brag about on the internet?

Retro Scan: Fossilised Target Gaming Advert

$80 for a PS2 game? A Dragon Ball Z game!? I'm glad these dark days are behind us. 

I found this Target snippet from 2002 while cleaning out my cupboard. Yes, it's been that long since I properly cleaned out my cupboard. It was in a box for the steering wheel you can see at the bottom for $29.95 which is compatible with PS1/2 games. For the record the wheel is absolutely terrible and I have used it about twice since I bought it. I have no idea why I kept the magazine that advertised it, but then again I did the same thing when I bought my PSone. I guess that it was just something I did when I was a kid.  

Operation 'Console Shelf' is a Go

Two posts ago I detailed the plan to construct a shelf type thing for my consoles. Since then I've made up a proper plan (coming to the conclusion that 7cm between shelves is ridiculous), brought the necessary supplies and started building. I was 1cm off at how long I wanted my wood to be, and found some that were nearly 2cm thick and even better at 24cm wide. From there I made this plan:

Probably should have used grid paper. 

I also changed the placement of the middle beams so the weight would be more equally distributed. Also 20cm in-between shelves is a lot more realistic than 7cm.
The building so far is still in it's infant stages, but so far I've marked the wood up and cut out the beams. I have three more cuts to go, which I should get done tomorrow. Hopefully me posting that here won't jinx me and I'll actually get it done.

Some pictures:

Feels weird posting a picture of outside on a gaming blog. I guess this is proof that it does indeed exist. 

All my manly tools. 

After I've cut all the wood I need to sand down the pieces so they're to size to the mil. From there I will drill the holes, actually assemble it and then apply the varnish. After that it will be done, and I'll have to find something else to blog about.

Oh Yeah, My Famicoms Work

The game to Famicom ratio is now 1:1

Several months ago I talked over a few posts about two Famicoms and one Super Famicom which I scored for free. While I did elaborate later about the SF, I never really did post further about the two other Famicoms. I'm not really sure why I didn't, it just got forgotten like the band Hanson. Seriously, they sucked.
In the last post which was focused on a Famicom, I posted about how the LED's lit up on the joystick pad and how this looked assuring until my test game arrived. I never posted after that, but my test game did arrive. The game was suppose to be something fun and cheap, but in the end I purchased Matsumoto Tooru no Kabushiki Hisshougaku. The English text on the box simply says 'Family Computer Business Economics Software, Volume 1.' It's about as exciting as it sounds, cost me $3.83 Australian, complete it box and totally in Japanese. While the game is er, well, about economics, it still has all the original pamphlets in it and could make an interesting video.
Either way, it was bought as a test game and I've used it to that purpose. It proved that my better condition Famicom worked, and that the other one did too after some persuasion. I opened that up to find it full of sawdust. While I'm still trying to think of a scenario where a fully sealed Famicom becomes full of sawdust, after I pulled it all out it now worked as well.
Tuning it to an Australian television has been fairly hard though. While I do have a mostly clear picture (with some static saying hello every now and again) I still haven't mastered the sound. I can hear it slightly, but this is over rid by roaring white noise. Sound isn't really that much of a problem and not totally necessary in 80's games, but it would be nice to hear those 8-bit tunes more clearly.
The other day I received Tetris in the mail after I decided I wanted to play some games on the system which I actually enjoyed. As you can imagine, a totally Japanese economics game gets boring after a while. In fact, I think I got bored of it after about 30 seconds. The Tetris is game is great, but has some small issues like the fact you change the angle of the shapes by pressing down. The amount of times I've pressed it by accident so far has been a little bit annoying, but all well. I'm not even interested in English economics.