This Week’s Game Ads A-Go-Go: Bad Game Ad Puns
Thursday, May 11th, 2006
This week’s Game Ads A-Go-Go on GameSetWatch is dedicated to bad video game advertisement puns.
Ach! Back to moving.
Archive for 2006
Update: Moving a Mountain / New Mac Shelf
Wednesday, May 10th, 2006
For those of you who didn’t know or don’t remember, the reason why VC&G has been quiet lately is because I’m in the middle of moving to a new house. After I’m settled, things will be back to normal (I also got married on May 1st. So you can imagine that I’ve been quite busy). Until then, I’ve got a few pictures for you. The first picture (above) is of the first computer I set up in my new house. It’s a Mac Color Classic that I’m currently slowly playing The Secret of Monkey Island on (great game, by the way). I set it up in a little dormer nook in an otherwise empty room upstairs. In lieu of proper furniture, it gets the next best thing: the floor. When the hustle and bustle of all the moving gets to me, I can retreat to my “Mac room” and relax. But not for very long, of course, because there are plenty more computers to move! Chop chop!
Remember my “Compact Mac Shelf?” Well, I’ve had to leave that luxury behind. The closest I can get to that in my new place is what you see here. The previous owners left this wall-mounted TV stand in the kitchen, and upon first seeing it, I didn’t think “TV.” I thought…well, you can tell what I thought, because the picture illustrates it quite vividly. Anyway, if the wife lets me, I might rig up some sort of useless-but-fun interactive Mac art installation. Then again, it’s likely that we’ll actually just put a color TV up there (if we ever get one that size). Still, I thought the new “Mac Shelf” was worth a picture.
That’s all for now. I’ll still be chatting some in the VC&G Forums before I get back up to full steam again, so join in the fun (Haven’t joined yet? Why not?). And don’t worry — more interesting and original VC&G articles are definitely on the way.
Retro Scan of the Week: “Permanent Video Game Instructions”
Monday, May 8th, 2006
Wow — these instructions are so permanent that they have outlived the rugged plastic case they were grafted onto! The instructions in question are actually stuck like a sticker on the flip side of the piece you see here. I bet if a set of Permastruct (TM) instructions got caught in a nuclear blast, you’d inspect the site later to find only a smoldering pile of radioactive gravel and, of course, a concise guide on how to play Bionic Commando.
Of particular note is the presumed Permastruct (TM) mascot– we’ll call him Permaman — with his back to the camera, throwing an awkward, off-balance punch at absolutely nothing while shouting vague sardonic threats at the Permastruct (TM) logo. Tony the Tiger would get committed if found pulling a similar stunt on a box of Frosted Flakes. But then again, Tony’s not permanent. Permaman ain’t gotta take no crap from nobody.
Retro Scan of the Week: “10 Megabyte Hard Disk: $3,495”
Monday, May 1st, 2006
Before you get excited about the low, low price for ~10,000,000 bytes of random-access magnetic data storage, make sure you read the fine print. Turns out the $3,495 price is for a refurbished unit only. The new 10 megabyte hard disk retails for a whopping $4,495. Oh, and there’s another catch: the price is in 1980 dollars (US). Adjusted to 2005 dollars, that comes to around $11,415.77. Ouch.
And this isn’t one of your 3.5″, half-height 5 1/4″ or even full-height 5 1/4″ hard drives either. No; it’s a hulking, old-school, non-Winchester jobbie that takes interchangeable disk cartridges.
I want one.
Moving a Mountain (One Computer at a Time)
Friday, April 28th, 2006
On an unusually personal note for VC&G, I thought I’d let you guys know why I’ve been so quiet recently. The answer is completely on-topic and has a lot to do with what is pictured on the right: computers. You see, I’m about to move. Moving is no simple operation for anyone, but it becomes exponentially more complicated when your house is filled with over one thousand cubic feet (wild estimate, maybe more) of bulky computers, their accessories, and video game systems. I’ve not even actually started moving yet, but I’ve spent the last few weeks packing things up and getting things ready for the big haul. Phew. Next Wednesday the actual move begins, and I’m planning on renting a big truck to move as much as I can in as few loads as possible. I’ll probably take some pictures to show you later.
To all our readers, and to all the people who have emailed me something that I haven’t replied to / published yet, I want to say thank you for your exceptional patience. Once I’m up and running in my new office, I’ll be pumping out new VC&G features like never before. That should be in a couple weeks at the most. I’ve got tons of cool stuff in the pipeline (including an account of my recent adventure to a local hamfest that resulted in some excellent finds), so stay tuned! Subscribe to VC&G articles via RSS and you’ll know automatically when we’re back in action.
Wish me luck on moving the mountain. If I get crushed under a PDP-11 in the process, don’t cry for me; at least I will have died moving something I loved. 
This Week’s Game Ads A-Go-Go:
“A Brief Guide to Gaming Diseases”
Thursday, April 27th, 2006
This week in Game Ads A-Go-Go on GameSetWatch, I’ve assembled a brief guide to some particularly nasty video game diseases. Bring a copy of Dr. Mario — you’re gonna need it.
Retro Scan of the Week: Little Timmy and the Arm-length Power Glove
Monday, April 24th, 2006
In this action-packed scan of the NES Power Glove manual cover, we see little Timmy hopping from leg to leg, trying to get in on the finger-bolt-shooting action. “Oooh! Oooh! Lemmie try!” he begs Lighting Finger Man. “Sorry, little Timmy. I think that glove is a little big for you,” LFM replies. “You must also understand that with great Power Gloves comes great responsibility,” he continues, “You are not yet ready to wield the awesome power of this lethal device.”
[Note: The mysterious stains on the manual cover are not mine. For that, you can thank the previous owner.]
New “World’s Largest Video Game Collection” Article in this Month’s Probe Magazine
Wednesday, April 19th, 2006
Probe is an innovative Norwegian Flash-based web-only video game magazine. I recently wrote a new article for it about the “(Possible) World’s Largest Video Game Collection” based on the “Video Game Collector” interviews I published last month on VC&G. The new piece appears on pages 10-13 of the April 2006 issue (#20), which is online now. Check it out.
R&D Automation Taking Pre-orders for v2 Apple II Compact Flash / IDE Interface Card
Tuesday, April 18th, 2006
I’ve never been a huge fan of using emulators for any computer that I actually physically possess. The original hardware is almost always where it’s at — the unique look, the feel, and even the smell of a machine all add to the “authentic” user experience (kinda makes me sound like a wine snob, doesn’t it?). But original hardware breaks over time and sometimes becomes irreplaceable since it’s no longer in production. That’s where people like Rich Dreher step in with modern upgrades for vintage computers (for more on this phenomenon, check out my “New Tech for Old Computers & Game Systems” list).
Rich is now on the second revision of an impressive Apple II hardware add-on card he designed called the “CFFA” that enables any Apple II system to use a compact flash card, IBM MicroDrive, or IDE hard drive for storage. While definitely not the first Apple II IDE interface I’ve seen (or owned), this is a very slick piece of hardware. Here’s a brief rundown of its features, taken from the official site:
- Standard Apple II form factor Card 3″ x 6″ (Usable in any slot, except slot 3 in IIe and later)
- A Compact Flash/IDE Interface for Apple II family of computers (Type II Compact Flash socket — IBM MicroDrives work too)
- Standard 40 pin IDE header connector
- 3 terminal screw type power connection for IDE hard drives
- Support for up to 128 MB (4 drives) or 256MB (8 drives) under ProDOS and GS/OS (without Dave’s GS/OS driver)
- Support for up to 128MB, (four ProDOS 32MB drives) plus two 1GB drives under GS/OS (with Dave Lyons’ GS/OS driver)
- On-board EEPROM for SmartPort firmware
- User jumper to select 1 of 2 versions of the firmware
- Allow booting ProDOS or GS/OS directly from the Interface card (for a floppy-less system)
- Firmware available for 6502 machines (II, II+, IIe) and 65C02 machines (IIe enh, IIe platinum, IIgs ROM1 & ROM3)
Particularly attractive is, of course, the built-in CF socket. I recently read on Rich’s site that there’s even a new utility called “CiderPress” that will let you transfer files to / from the Apple II-formatted CF card when it’s plugged into a Windows machine!
Despite all its neat capabilities, what is actually most important about this card is that it’s actually for sale (currently US $105 plus shipping). Extremely unique short-run hardware doesn’t stay around for very long, so if you’re interested, don’t hesitate to jump on it while you still can. I’ve already got mine on order and am looking forward to running my Platinum IIe from a compact flash card soon.
Retro Scan of the Week: Happy Pac-Man and Floating “Video Wafers”
Monday, April 17th, 2006
Look at the little spud, frozen mid-stride in a moment of pure ghost-running bliss. As a continuation of last week’s Retro Scan, here are two pages from the manual of the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man. The game itself was a terrible translation of the arcade hit (for Pac-Man done right on the 2600, see Ms. Pac-Man). The graphics were so bad that the manual tells you about the “video wafers” (lines, in lieu of pellets) that Pac-Man eats in this game. Also, the bonus fruit have become “vitamins” — because they’re square.
I wonder if Pac-Man would be so happy if he knew that Atari would be burying thousands (if not millions) of copies of his game in a landfill a few years later.
