Player One - Adventures in Silicon Valley

SM CCG = $$$

2012-01-10T18:19:00.000-08:00

Running down auctions for a customizable / collectible card game that went out of production in like 2002 is not a good thing to be obsessed with right now. Unfortunately I was right on with predicting the trend that the Sailor Moon CCG would shoot up in desire and price with the re-release of the translated manga. Two years ago you could get sealed cases of the premiere booster packs for $20 - $30. Now days they hit $60 without even trying. I'd love to complete my premiere set (only missing two foils) and go after the hard to find Past & Future expansion set and the even harder to find "unlimited" version of the base set. Basically to fill up the rest of the Past & Future expansion packs, the original premiere set (except for like two cards that were starter box exclusives and the foils) was reprinted as "unlimited" with a different logo in the corner and the rarity listing on each card. "Unlimited" was kind of a mistake to call the set though since far fewer of them (and the Past & Future expansion which was very hard to find outside of starter decks) were produced than the premiere edition.

Anyway, while I only need two foils for my premiere set, I would still like to go through another entire sealed box just because it's fun. Some of my foils came from another sealed booster box a few years ago but most came from small lots of random cards purchased on eBay. I won one such lot this morning and another (no foils but more damage counter beads) ends in an hour or so. I figure after another premiere box then I can focus on the random cheap auctions and really zeroing in on the missing Past & Future expansion cards. And in case anyone is wondering, yes I know how to and actually play the game. I'm not tying to get one of every card and stop, I have boxes and boxes of Sailor Moon CCG cards used to make decks.

I really should have bought all I needed last year but it's good to see Sailor Moon becoming popular again. Even if it makes the items that became really cheap over the years expensive again. Let's hope a new DVD release makes the series affordable for everyone once again.

Links

2011-12-15T18:45:00.000-08:00

Sticking some links here I'll need later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9cCqV2ZYHA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es56Uj2Fv80
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDnMSmATeYU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB4U633mq8E

The Backlog - 10/30/2011

2011-10-30T22:54:00.000-07:00

Listed in order of urgency.

Immediate Backlog:
PS2 - Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (Dark Ruins)
PS2 - Beyond Good and Evil (after completion of first assignment) - RESTARTING THIS ONE AT A LATER DATE

Recently Completed:
TurboGrafx-16 - Bonk's Adventure
TurboGrafx-16 - Final Lap Twin (Quest Mode)

The two TG-16 completions will be review candidates eventually. Man did I get a laugh at the name of the world champion at the end of Final Lap Twin's Quest Mode.

Son, Be A Deeennntiiist...

2011-10-23T22:36:00.000-07:00

I'm really trying to get back into the swing of updating the site with content. However, as I am well aware, things rarely go as planned. Currently I'm fighting one hell of a toothache that has nearly incapacitated me over the past few days. Well that's really not entirely true, I'm still able to get on with the daily grind but it has a tenancy of sacking me right when I get ready to do something outside of routine. One of those things would be creating site content.

My commitment is still to DVGI and classicplastic.net - always has been. However I may miss my RTM column(s) this time around due to not being able to finish them off due to the pain. Even writing this isn't being accomplished under the best conditions.

What I can say is that I'm changing some of my collecting priorities and getting back into the TurboGrafx-16. I regretted selling my TurboDuo the same week it left my hands, same goes for the last straight TG-16 lot that I had. So I'm building it back up, enjoying the games, realizing how the prices have been on a steady increase and don't seem to be leveling off. I've got a TG-16 system (AV modded it within the first hour of it showing up at my door), TurboTap, a second TurboPad on the way and some of my favorite games. The big one being Final Lap Twin which regardless of what anyone may say about it, it's my favorite game on the system.

Also have Dungeon Explorer, Vigilante, Victory Run and a few other of the more common classics of the system. The Legendary Axe, Bonk's Adventure and more are on the way. I'm going for HuCARDs only right now although I did keep a few CD games when I got rid of everything else a couple years ago. I'll probably end up region modding my system within the year since I also kept a couple PC Engine games (I think Bari Bari Densetsu is fun, I'm serious). Right now though it's all about HuCARD games, trying to make sure the titles I get are game / case / booklet - I don't care to go for boxes. For games that were box / plastic tray and didn't come in cases, then game / booklet is fine by me.

I'm going to keep my spending on it controlled, buy what I like when the price is right, and just really enjoy playing one of my all time favorite consoles (right there with the NES and Vectrex).

Pat The NES Punk Second Annual NES Marathon for Child's Play Charity

2011-10-22T20:09:00.000-07:00

Check out thepunkeffect.com to follow Pat and Ian (no relation to the ClassicPlastic.net Ian) as they play NES games to raise money for Child's Play, a great charity.

I was actually able to help out this year (other than donating) as I made a comment to help them start the PowerPad game Super Team Games (you start on pads 5-6 / 7-8 instead of 1-2 / 3-4). How many man hours I spent as a kid playing Super Team Games will not be disclosed.

Clean Up, Aisle 4

2011-05-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

Just did some housekeeping here at the blog, removing a lot of old posts and getting things aligned for the type of content I'd like to have remain here.

Placeholder

2011-05-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

Just a placeholder for some links I'm going to need in a week...

http://screwattack.com/shows/Talking-Classics

http://www.themeparkreview.com/spain2007/
http://www.themeparkreview.com/aussietour/
http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=998997#p998997

An Open Comment to De Anza College, Community College Network CCN1

2011-03-09T20:27:00.000-08:00

This morning Space Shuttle Discovery returned to Earth from its final mission, completing a lifetime flight record of over 365 days in space. The broadcast can always be watched on NASA TV over at nasa.gov but NASA also offers free HD broadcast for any television network that chooses to carry it. Occasionally the local Community College Network channel (CCN1 De Anza) will show the NASA TV stream when they don't have anything else going on - sometimes. You'd think it would be a perfect program to take up dead air when no distance learning classes are being broadcast but many times there's absolutely nothing being aired.

Amazingly a few nights ago they broadcast the entire launch of the Taurus rocket for the Glory satellite project, which ended in failure due to a failed launch separation. However the entire time I was watching it I was full on expecting the broadcast to cut away. That didn't happen, no, they decided to wait for something more momentous for that.

I got up for work early so that I could watch the NASA broadcast from the time that Discovery began its deorbit burn until eventual landing and wheel stop. Basically I wanted to watch the final operational moments of my favorite of NASA's orbiters. Deorbit burn was scheduled for 7:52am PST but I was up about an hour before that and began to watch on CCN1. I was kind of shocked that they were actually showing it but I figured that since it was such an important moment in American spaceflight, De Anza realized they had a duty to provide the free service of the broadcast to the general public.

Then the clock struck 7:45 and the broadcast ended. Instead of continuing to show the final operational moments of STS-133, De Anza elected to run their usual crap broadcast that can be aired at any time. Of course I simply went over to my computer and pulled up NASA TV online and proceeded to watch the rest of the landing activities until I had to leave for work a few minutes after touchdown. However I'm sure someone that may have been simply flipping channels in the morning and came across the Shuttle return, only to have it disappear in its final moments, wouldn't think anything of it.

This is one of the fundamental problems with spaceflight and the general public. NASA providing a free HD stream for any station to broadcast is a tremendous asset to increase public awareness and involvement but only if the networks that elect to carry it actually pay attention to what is being shown. I think the final recovery of the most traveled orbital vehicle in human history can trump whatever general broadcasting that was planned for that morning. I'm sure no one would care, and if anything applaud the act, if the normal scheduled programming was delayed for the less than hour's time that remained until Discovery touched down. I'm pretty disappointed to say the least in how CCN1 handles their broadcast of NASA TV.

The bigger issue is that more channels should carry NASA TV during their downtime and pay some attention to what is being shown. It's just not programming that should be used for toss away filler, it's some of the most important things that we are doing as humans. And it's your tax dollars at work to benefit the quality and convenience of life for all of humanity.

The Backlog - 01/23/2011

2011-01-23T17:52:00.000-08:00

The Backlog - 12/11/2010

2010-12-11T16:33:00.001-08:00

The Backlog - 12/05/2010

2010-12-05T23:59:00.000-08:00

Listed in order of urgency.

Immediate Backlog:
PS2 - Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (Kingdom of Argonia)
PS2 - Beyond Good and Evil (after completion of first assignment)
PS2 - Gallop Racer 2003: A New Breed (ongoing)

Recently Completed:
NES - BattleToads (reviewed at DVGI)
GB - BurgerTime Deluxe (reviewed at DVGI)

Communist Bloc+k

2010-12-05T23:53:00.000-08:00

Advance Warning: My mind is just kinda drifting as I type this. Don't read too far into it.

For quite awhile now I've been in a bit of a writing slump. I don't seem to want to write for my own site or for the other outlets that I am obligated to do so for. Then of course, are the blogs, which see maybe a post a year - at best. I'll be honest when I say it, I really haven't felt like writing for Retrogaming Times Monthly in a long time. I'm looking for a way to freshen up my duties there to inject it with some new energy but to me it just feels like a bit of a dark / slow time for the newsletter. (if it is or isn't) Of course I'm not helping it any by not contributing.

Granted I did write a review of BurgerTime Deluxe for DVGI back on November 7th of this year. That actually felt really good to do. I had been playing the game for quite awhile but basically sat down, played it for a couple hours, then wrote a review. Lock, stock and barrel - that was it. I recently forced myself to complete Battletoads and I plan on writing a review of it shortly... man how I hate that game, but that can wait. Shorter, faster reviews are what I'm aiming for now. I suppose the problem I have is that I always tried to make my reviews REALLY long. Lately the descriptions run long and then the breakdowns (graphics, sound, etc.) are far shorter but perhaps that flows better in the end anyway. We'll see how the Battletoads review works out. I really should buckle down and write that one this Tuesday.

The visual novel I was working on has essentially been canceled so I can move onto a bigger and more interesting game. However I don't have much more than a basic outline right now and it's really not something I wish to tackle while in such a slump. Garbage in, garbage out I suppose.

It is a little scary to think that my best writing over the past five years has been on forum posts but that's exactly how I feel. Not all the time, but when I think back to when the ideas were just bleeding out of my fingertips, that's where most of the best stuff ended up.

I've been playing Dragon Quest VIII again and I'll continue to say that I'm really enjoying it. I'm not having as good a time as I did with Steambot Chronicles but damn if it isn't fun and engaging. I've never been a fan of the meat and potatoes grind RPG - like ever. How people can suffer through RPG games on the NES is beyond my understanding. Hell, how people can suffer through many RPG games post NES / Famicom is beyond my understanding. Yes, I've played through many RPG games. My favorite in the genre is the original Grandia, which many will tell you is an incredible masterpiece. I've tried my hand at a few NES and Famicom RPG's but often give up about 1/4 the way in. I've played many of the so called SNES "classics" and found myself falling asleep. (Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, etc. do not apply - those are great) There have been PS1 RPG's that I gladly spent hours playing (Final Fantasy VII and VIII do not apply - those not so much great) and a few PS2 RPG's that weren't bad at all (namely Grandia III which was a refreshing change after the "don't give a crap about these characters" Grandia II on the Dreamcast). I've given other Dragon Quest / Dragon Warrior games a chance in years previous but Dragon Quest VIII is the first one I actually want to play and keep playing, which is saying a lot. It's just flat out a ton of fun with a very realized world - feels both old and new, kinda like Steambot Chronicles.

Now I do have a back catalog, I always have a back catalog. However it's nice to actually be playing some games again. I suppose if anything will get me out of this slump, that's probably what it will be. Next blog post will start something new, an update of my immediate back catalog as well as games I've completed that I should write a review of. Two birds with one stone!

Gunpei Yokoi's Invention Was Just That Good

2010-09-03T20:48:00.000-07:00

So today I was taking a couple pictures for my site, things for title graphics, and I wanted to have my Game Boy in the picture. So I unzip the carrying case and everything is covered in black dots. First reaction "damn, did bugs get in here or something?" Thankfully the black dots were simply from the foam padding inside the case - after twenty years it had finally degraded. The Game Boy in the case is just a little older, it's my original Game Boy from Christmas of 1989 and it still works 100%. I must have logged thousands of hours with it over the years. It was the summer game platform of choice while I was away from home. It also underwent a bit of a renaissance when I was between gaming platforms - the void between the Super Nintendo and PlayStation when I didn't buy many console games.

I also have an old original Game Boy AC adapter / battery pack, although that was picked from a knot of miscellaneous cables at a flea market within the past five years. Amazingly it still holds a charge. In fact I just let it charge for a little while and then fired up Tetris on my old brick friend. 141 lines and around 98,000 points, not bad for having not played that version in almost ten years.

I'll be honest to say that I'm fairly interested in the upcoming Nintendo 3DS, and I haven't bought a handheld since the original Game Boy Advance (which I later Afterburner modded). The GBA SP's I've picked up for small cash and trades in the years since don't count since they were acquired used - and the GP2X doesn't count either.

David's Video Game Insanity!! Version 6.0 Goes Live

2010-05-23T16:07:00.000-07:00

This is an official announcement that David's Video Game Insanity Version 6.0 has been launched. There aren't any big changes really, everything has to do with behind the scenes updates that do not effect normal browsing of the site. Essentially the main difference is how each page is titled. As DVGI is a site that is heavily dependent on its frames, I never intended any of the pages to be accessed away from the main index. However, as we all know, that's not how search engines work. Because of this nearly every page that was not part of the main index was titled "Get outta here!" - what CLU tells his Bit at the beginning of TRON after his Game Tank is disabled. (I'm sure most browsing this site will get the reference) Years ago I added a pair of links at the bottom of each page that acts as top index to each section. The links provide access to the main DVGI index as well as access to the main ClassicPlastic.net index, along with some text pointing out that if the page was accessed through an external source, it is actually part of a much larger site. Yet gaining access to the information at DVGI via a search engine, unless searching for specific terms, was still greatly hampered by the pages not having unique titles. That's primarily what the new version addresses, every page has been given a proper title just in case they are accessed outside of the main index and their frames. I hope it will continue to boost traffic and get the information here into the hands of the people who would like to read it.

The second change has to do with ALT and TITLE tags for mouse over text on images. For years and years I used ALT to provide popup text when the mouse pointer is left over an image. Of course this is an incorrect way to do things but as nearly every browser continued to support it, many of us never changed. When a couple years ago most modern browsers finally cut away using ALT tags in that way, instead wanting the proper TITLE tag for the popup text. I've gone through the entire site and changed all the tags on the pages where they actually matter. I know there are still some ALT tags on the RTM archive pages but they serve no purpose so I'm not going to bother.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the 80's...

2010-02-05T15:50:00.000-08:00

Check this out!

-As reported at Digital Press forums.

Coco A Go-Go

2010-01-15T23:11:00.000-08:00

Keep up to date on all things Conan...

Link here.

Hopefully it all works out but seriously I don't see Conan staying on NBC, regardless of anything, it's just not going to happen. However I sincerely hope that when Conan's next show starts up that he will have the full creative control that he deserves and that most if not all of his cast and crew make the move with him. Conan is a stand up guy and he won't make a deal without his staff being taken care of.

So I suppose after the Olympics that's the end of NBC for me for awhile. Now the moment Jeff Zucker is no longer associated with NBC the ban will be lifted. However I'm done with Jay Leno, it truly is a shame that one of the greatest comedians of his era is going to sour himself so heavily with this act of simply being an asshole.

I suppose Conan, Andy and Max all back together on The Tonight Show was simply too much of a dream come true to really last. Those who know me know that there was nothing more that I was looking forward to for the next decade than Conan and company being on late night TV. I'll follow wherever they go, please make it quick - the time between Late Night and The Tonight Show with no Conan was hell.

Give It A Rest

2010-01-15T10:30:00.000-08:00

Thought all would find this entertaining, Jimmy Kimmel blasting Leno on his own show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axwO6BkCtIo

I say there are about four weeks until I quit watching NBC.

Jupiter Crystal Power... Maaaaaaaaaaaake UP!

2009-11-09T18:12:00.000-08:00

After many, many, many... many, many years. My Sailor Moon site, Sailor Senshi Sanctuary, is back. It was a long time coming but it's finally back how it was when it disappeared over eight years ago. So now, just in time for its ten year anniversary, the site can be browsed just as it would have been back in 2001. A restoration rather than a remake, SSS sports a retro look and feel. Check it out!

Damn Mountain Dew

2009-11-07T00:41:00.000-08:00

Okay, just a bit of a rant this time. Most who know me know I have a Klax arcade cabinet in my kitchen, across from the refrigerator. Beautiful shape (could use a new control panel overlay, cigarette burns from its past), works great, tons of fun, was one of the machines I had been wanting for a long time. Anyway, when I take a soda from the refrigerator I usually open it in the kitchen before exiting or doing whatever else needs to be done. The last, maybe, five cans of Mountain Dew I've opened have been so overfilled they've shot everywhere. They're not shaken up or frozen or anything, just under too much pressure in the can from being overfilled. I would go ahead and say the whole case has been like that but the first ones out didn't have the same problem. Of course the couple streaks of soda usually end up on the Klax cabinet. I just clean it up and no damage occurs or anything like that but still - technically I've been spilling soda all over the cabinet this week. ...And that pisses me off.

Stupid perhaps, still annoying just the same. In other news - big announcement coming up soon about a new addition to classicplastic.net!

The Cel Market

2009-10-15T23:42:00.000-07:00

Anime cel collecting just isn't what it used to be. Then again, I suppose it was never huge and along those lines I never amassed a large or exceedingly valuable collection. But damn, it was a lot of fun. In fact anime cels really were my last big connection to anime. Most people that know me know I really don't watch much these days. I have what I like, and most of what I like is the anime of the 1980's and 1990's. Particularly Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon, Super Dimension Century Orguss, and one off things like Robot Carnival and Project A-ko. Yeah, I'm stuck in the past.

However one used to be able to find hundreds of great cels at really decent prices. But that's really not the case anymore. And honestly there are only about four or five dealers that have what I want and put it out for sale on a regular basis - and even with them there's not much there anymore and what is there is very expensive. I mean, decent non main character Sailor Moon cels used to drop in the $20-$30 range on a weekly basis. EVERY WEEK. For YEARS. And there was frenzied interest too! But people simply knew they could wait and eventually something else would come along. Hell, I let the eBay auction for my prized Mome cel (from Orguss) drop off and be relisted three times before finally bidding - and it was only $30.00 each and every time, unchallenged. Robot Carnival was the same way, hundreds of cels out there all the time, no more than $25 for most of them, many as low as $8 flat. Not anymore.

People are just simply out. The huge stacks of acetate that were all over the place are finally starting to sell down and most of the dealers just don't have them anymore. The collectors that had tons from the days of bargain prices have also sold off their excesses at this point. It's a strange spot to be in for people such as myself that still want Sailor Moon MOTD (Monster of the Day) cels for $20, or to have a large choice of scenes from a Robot Carnival short.

The last time I really got into one of those old bidding wars over a cel was for a particular Sailormoon SuperS cel of Makoto Kino and Tiger's Eye dancing together. This is a well known episode due to Makoto's rose dress. Most of the other bidders were collectors / occasional dealers I had done business with before. It was cool to see some old familiar names come out of the woodwork (back when eBay actually let you see stuff like that, really made the community). And still, bidding didn't get much over the $30 mark.

The last cel I sold was of Sailor Moon from an early season 1 episode that was unaired in the USA. Not many bids and it sold for around $20 - I still kick myself for letting it go. It actually was part of a three cel lot that I purchased (actually, from someone that would be bidding against me for that previously mentioned SuperS cel) for one specific cel. I kept that one, sold the Sailor Moon one, and have the other sitting in the closet. That three cel auction ended at something like $25 shipped. We're talking like $35 after framing and for some reason I felt compelled to sell the Sailor Moon early episode one to "make my money back." Pure stupidity! But then again, that's just the era of cel collecting that I came up with - and really, really miss. I can also understand that people really don't care as much about Sailor Moon these days as they did then. Part of that is due to the limited availably of the whole franchise these days. However with the show returning to Japanese networks, hopefully some interest will return.

Granted I guess I'm not a true collector. I buy cels to hang on the wall, out in the open, fully exposed to the harshness of the world. My displaying is killing them, slowly. No cel books in darkened closets for me, I buy cels to display as what they are - unique art. Regardless of how I protect them, being out on display will cause them to continue to fade - much like the memories of the era of collecting I wish I could go back to.

What really gets me down is that I was never able to obtain a cel of my all time favorite Sailor Moon MOTD, Toden. She was a Daimon created from a streetcar, in one of my favorite episodes of my favorite Sailor Moon series, Sailormoon S. I would pay near anything for a good cel of Toden. I post this here at the end in hopes that one day, someone reminiscing about cel collecting, Sailor Moon, or both (as in my case) will come upon this post, have a Toden cel they'd like to sell and get into contact with me. To that person, I await your e-mail.

The current cel collection can be found at my anime page here.

You Have A Call On Line 1...

2009-10-15T00:29:00.000-07:00

Electronics, this is David, how can I help you today?

No, we sold out of Uncharted 2 about two hours after we opened yesterday, and I was limiting it to one copy per person. No, we sold out of Brutal Legend on the '360 yesterday as well. I have two copies of it for the PS3. No, I won't hold any of the new release games. No, we haven't received Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition yet, it'll probably be either Friday afternoon or the top of next week. No, we haven't received Demon Souls, we're probably not going to carry it since we haven't gotten in any display cards. No, we've been out of NBA 2K10 on both platforms since last week. I have no idea when a reorder will occur since the company had no idea it would sell as fast as it did. No, there are no rainchecks. No, you cannot buy one game here and another game elsewhere to take advantage of the buy 2 get the 3rd free promotion. Sure, you can attempt to buy random titles right now and then return them next week in exchange for the games we're out of, but understand that you may have to return all three games you purchased for the return to work. I honestly wouldn't try it at this store, technically your free game has no value so all that will more than likely be done is an even exchange in the case of a defective copy.

No problem, thanks for calling.

You people really need to take a long, hard look at yourselves and how you go about carrying yourselves when it comes to doing business. Especially concerning how you feel so wholly entitled to special treatment when acting like total morons. Thanks, bye. =]

Sammy Davis City

2009-09-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

Guitar Slinger was Brian Setzer's best album with the Orchestra... seriously. No, seriously, go listen to it sometime, it was the perfect balance between old rock / country, modern rockabilly, and big band. Uh.. anyway...

I'm hoping to bring a new era to David's Video Game Insanity today. I actually beat a game over this past week. Then today I sat down and wrote a review of it. And, well, it was pretty damn smooth. I actually enjoyed doing it. This is a pretty big change over how it's been over the past two years, especially this past year. I don't know when it began but playing games started to take a back seat to writing about them, and then I got to the point where I really didn't want to do either. That's pretty damn sad. I also wrote an editorial over at DVGI today that explains how I think this came to be. The important thing is that I think it's no longer an issue. I also got in touch with Retrogaming Times Monthly and let them know what was up, that once again I'd be missing an issue but in November I should be back full force. That was a nice feeling as well. If you're super interested I suggest reading the editorial, it puts it better than I can put it down again.

In other news, I'll have a Vectrex home arcade system heading my way next week. A great little piece of early 1980's technology. Once it's in my hands (or on my table I should say) I'd love to do some solid reviews, since there really aren't a lot out there.

I Begin Video Game Development Once Again Today

2009-09-14T23:35:00.000-07:00

After many, many, many false starts over the past ten or so years, I'm finally getting back into game design. This time I'm going to do most of it myself and the outsource a little talent here and there for the things I know I flat out can't do (illustration for example). Originally I planned on having a team of at least five people work on the project but after sitting down and looking over how it all works, I think I can do most all of it on my own. Which is great, because with the history I've had on projects like this, even one other person not totally committed tends to kill the whole smash.

As Pedro Cerrano said in Major League:

I stick it up for you Jobu. You no help me now...I say fuck you Jobu. I do it myself.

I don't want to release too many details but the game is a visual novel. It will not be hentai based nor a dating sim, just a straight visual novel with branching aspects. Actually, I think it'll be something that a lot of people can relate to, especially those that play these type of games. I hope to have something of a proof of concept internal demo wrapped up in about three weeks. I said internal, that's because it will not be released to the public, instead it will be used to possibly bring a couple other select individuals on board. I know I can do all but the character graphics on my own, as well as most of the writing, scenario design, game design, character design, and all of the Foley work. Character design and music are the only places I really need look elsewhere and I have my music person in mind already. A lot of the basic framework will be set up this weekend and into next week. Although most say to start small, I'm aiming for this to be at least a 2-3 hour game when it's all said and done.

Wish me luck.

Updates

2009-09-06T16:30:00.001-07:00

Considering that for the past couple years I've been the only person posting in a general topic blog myself and a couple friends once used, I figured I'd instead put those thoughts here. Granted I do eventually hope to change a few things around and get Zeroeleven.blog back to something of how it once was. A big problem with me posting and writing stuff online lately is that I really don't enjoy using the computer I currently have. I miss my old rig that didn't survive moving a little over a year ago. While the computer I've been using since is quite decent, I'm once again in the technology rut. Although the previous computer was old, it still never held me back from running the applications that I wanted to. This one is different. Same goes with the frequent lockups. Although it's faster, it's simply not as stable. Because of this I'm in the market for a replacement and have begun socking a little cash away every now and then.

Now the reason for posting this. As some may notice, the title of this blog has changed a little. Going forward all my general postings will appear here rather than at Z11 until I get Z11 back to how it was. I usually post about things I just enjoy in general. Most are still industry or tech related so they should fit in fine here.

The End of An Era: Saying Farewell to Late Night with Conan O'Brien

2009-02-18T23:38:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've logged into Blogger and posted anything but I think that will be changing soon. However all that can wait for another post, this one is far more important and really made me think about contributing my ideas online again. This post is mirrored at the two blogs I post at, Zeroeleven.blog and Player One, the post content at both is exactly the same.

As many know, Conan O'Brien will be taking over hosting duties for The Tonight Show starting this summer. Jay Leno will move to an earlier time slot (10:00pm) and Jimmy Fallon will pick up Late Night. Formats will change, of course, but most of Leno's big skits will move over with him and Late Night will be completely reworked. Also as many know, this week marks the last week of episodes of Late Night with Conan O'Brien... ever.

It's an odd feeling, thinking that Conan O'Brien won't be hosting Late Night after this week. To me Conan has always been a constant, something that was always there, outstanding humor in the middle of the night. This last week of shows so far has consisted mainly of clips, with Conan going over some of his favorite moments from the past sixteen years. It's very bittersweet and to me it feels like high school graduation in a way. Stay with me here, think of your last week of high school. You're moving ahead, more opportunities are being presented to you, you've worked hard and accomplished so much... Yet at the same time, you know you're leaving behind a world that has been a part of you for a good portion of your life up to that point. You're leaving behind a quarter of a lifetime's worth of memories, emotions, challenges, and successes. Again, it's very bittersweet.

I began watching Conan when I was eleven years old or so, over the summers and on Friday nights back around his second season. I don't know why but his humor just clicked with me. Childish? Yeah, sometimes, of course but it was always of solid quality. I continued to watch Conan as the years rolled on. If you watched Conan you "got" me pretty much, my sense of humor, that the world is full of such funny things, such common haliarious things that most people pay no attention to. Once I entered high school Late Night, in my mind, was hitting it's high point - the late 1990's. The Christmas season would always bring some of the best skits, flat out gut busting routines. Since school would be on break during this time both myself and my younger brother would be able to stay up late into the night, never missing a moment. The same was true during the summer. Whatever else was going on, wherever we may have been going, if you were in the pool or playing video games, out with friends, any of that - as soon as 12:35 was starting to get near, it was time to drop everything, make sure you were home and watching Conan. When friends in high school would ask "Letterman or Leno?" I would always reply "Conan." Maybe that's why I link these last few episodes to the end of high school, the two seem to be intertwined with me. Late Night was always a show where anything would go, and nothing was off limits in the spirit of good fun. A giant late night party where everyone was invited, and no problem if things got out of hand... no one's watching anyway.

In the ten (gulp) years since high school I've always made time to watch Late Night. And in those years, and the few before, people have been watching. It had become the popular thing to do, watch Conan. Some say the quality of comedy has increased over the years - I say people were just wising up to how things have always been at Late Night, superb. How many wonderful years all of them missed. When CNBC would rerun the previous night's Late Night during the next afternoon, now that was truly a great point in time. If for some unthinkable reason you missed Conan the previous night, you were still covered. If you wanted to watch an episode again, there it was. And most importantly, you could not only tell someone about the previous night's episode - they could watch it the next day for themselves. Late Night on CNBC allowed everyone to be able to never miss an episode, even those who would have other obligations during the normal time slot.

I have a couple old VHS tapes, one of them is extremely old. I started to record my favorite Late Night moments years ago, starting somewhere back in 1996 or so, I don't know why it took me so long to think of doing so. The big problem is the first tape I was using was about ten years old when I began those recordings, so the quality has progressively gotten worse, not that it was stellar to begin with. Couple that with constant viewings and I'm sure it doesn't have much longer on it. I need to master it over digitally and get it archived. There's lots of good stuff on there, almost all the public service announcements, all the President In Crisis stuff, the first Central Time Zone New Year's Countdown (probably my favorite bit of them all), hours and hours of comedic gold. I love Late Night with Conan O'Brien, anyone that knows me knows that, and these tapes are the proof. Sadly, soon these tapes will be all the proof I have. That's why I have to preserve them, like scrapbook memories of times passed.

So Conan will close out his era on Late Night this Friday, and his set will be removed. Reruns will be shown for a couple weeks until Jimmy Fallon's Late Night begins, and Conan won't return to TV until this summer after Jay Leno closes out his run as host of The Tonight Show. At this time it's unknown (at least to final confirmations / denials, I won't believe things either way until I hear them from Conan himself) if Max and The Max Weinberg 7 will be joining Conan on The Tonight Show. Same with Joel Godard, Late Night's announcer and frequent skit actor. I doubt Joel will be making the move since last night's episode had a montage of clips from the past 17 years, a "best of Joel" if you would - excellent stuff. I suppose "the sweet release of death" (one of his running gags) may finally be upon him, at least with Late Night anyway (we love ya Joel, all the best!). Not to mention all the actors and writers that contribute and create the halarious antics that take place every night.

And I suppose that's where the sadness comes in. Things are changing, people are leaving, places are shifting. In a few months Conan will be back but things may be very different. Max may be there, some of the staff may be there, but it will be different. I'm sure the show will be great fun and I'm sure Conan will do very well with The Tonight Show - it's a post he has earned. Heck, I may like it more than the years at Late Night. However, it's the feeling of looking over your shoulder and knowing something is gone, that there's something there you spent so much time with that you can't go back to once more. It's high school graduation. It's a big jump. Let us hope everything goes smoothly. No matter how these writings may come across, I'm sure things will be just fine.

So this Friday I will be back in the central valley, back at my parent's place where most of my Conan watching took place during the "peak" years. (not to say the show has declined really, or that I haven't been watching constantly since 1994 or so, but to me 1997-2000 was the ultimate) So I'll sit there in that living room at the stroke of 12:35 and my brother and I will watch Conan run out on stage, hit his mark, and greet his Late Night fans one last time. I hope Buffalo has some quarters for the bus station TV. (you'll get it if you've watched for a long time)

I wish Conan and staff a prosperous and successful future... all the way to the year 2000.

EDIT: Conan has stated himself on his third to last episode that Max and the entire Max Weinberg 7 will be making the move to The Tonight Show with him - excellent news.

Also from that same episode, check out this video of Nathan Lane serenading Conan with a farewell song, touching clip.

Pirate multicarts - NES libraries in your pocket

2008-09-28T22:35:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm back in Silicon Valley I have access to my favorite video game seller's full inventory. It also means that I have first choice at stuff as it comes in since it seems his family all gets together here as their base of operations. Today in fact he had boxes of new stuff that had just come in from other flea markets. Yes, it's nice to be here where the source is rather than down a ways when he would get to the Tuesday flea market back in the central valley. Don't get me wrong, I got great stuff from him there and I'm sure there are things I miss that he picks up on the way there or while there - but as things go, being here gives me a better chance at the best stuff and to further forge a better friendship.

Pirate Game Boy milticarts are part of that as he is the only person I've ever known that doesn't sell them at insane prices. His Game Boy multicarts used to be $10.00 each but were sold to me for less. These days the price is even lower than it was before and he had a pile of them - which were rotated out the next week, I do plan on buying a ton of them for resale one day. Game Boy Advance multicarts are the sweet spot however as they contain a bunch of NES games with little or no repeats. (GB multicarts are usually six or so games repeated a bunch of times) Of course they're simply the PocketNES emulator hardcoded to a non-flashable chip along with a selection of NES and Famicom ROM dumps. But get a cartridge with the right assortment of games on it and it's the best thing you've ever played. The magic came to a peak when he showed me he had a new version that was a 50 in 1 cartridge. He has a bunch of them, all the same, but the 50 games (49 without repeat) are all top titles. I have other lower assortment multicarts which have a few different games not on other multicarts but if I was to take one multicart with me it would be the 50 in 1.

Since I buy right from his base of operations I can check out the full selection as well. Also, as usual, his regular price isn't bad at all - but my price is amazing. Especially considering one can walk down a few stalls and find similar multicarts selling for over $85.00! Yeah I know they're grey market. Yeah I know it's a slap in the face to those that developed PocketNES. Yeah I know eventually it'll just be cheaper to buy a flash cartridge and do it myself. But for the time being, these cheap NES / Famicom libraries are exactly what I needed to keep my GBA-SP charged and in use.

Repair: Atari 2600 Trak-Ball

2008-09-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

I spent a few minutes tonight rebuilding my Atari 2600 Trak-Balls. I've had a pair of them since back in the heyday of the Atari 2600 Jr. and they've both been in need of a rebuild for quite some time. While there were no true Trak-Ball compatible games on the Atari 2600, there's a switch that allows the Trak-Ball to simulate joystick input. This allows the Trak-Ball to function like a standard joystick and works great for games like Centipede and Millipede. Of course years ago Freeway was the Trak-Ball game of choice, as it made for a great controller to regulate movement of your chicken across the freeway.

I gave them both the usual internal cleaning and lubricated all the bearings. The diagonal bearing on each needs to be replaced eventually due to rust build up on the outside but they all spin freely. With the amount of abuse these controllers got from me as a kid it's amazing that they have held up so well. A true testament to their quality.

Also, I'm going to start writing here more often with little this and thats which don't seem to fit into the rest of the site. I suppose using this blog as an extension of my site is better than just letting it sit.

What's been going on at ClassicPlastic.net

2008-09-01T02:29:00.000-07:00

A quick apology for the lack of updates at David's Video Game Insanity and all of ClassicPlastic.net for that matter. I recently relocated and have just now been able to settle down and work on the site. However new reviews are up and everything is up to date. I recently sold my TurboDuo and most of the games so that'll be the next listing update. It's actually such a big deal to most people that I'll probably write a short editorial about it soon.

So again, updates will continue and content will start to be regular once again.

California Extreme 2008 is TODAY

2008-07-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

If you're in Silicon Valley or any of the surrounding bay area, the California Extreme video game and pinball expo begins in less than two hours. I'll be in attendance both days so stop by, support the collectors who put on this show every year and play some great games and pins.

Here's some mood music.

The April 2008 issue of Retrogaming Times Monthly will be without me

2008-04-03T23:05:00.000-07:00

Figured I'd make a notice here, for if anything to remind me that I missed an issue when I go to post my RTM archives at David's Video Game Insanity. I've been sick in the past week or so, which is why not much of me has been seen outside of a couple game list updates here and there. Because of my illness (nothing serious mind you) I was unable to wrap up my April RTM article in any amount of acceptable time frame. That and well, I really was unhappy with where the article was - which is why I stopped to reevaluate the game. Between that time of stopping to reevaluate the game and the April deadline is when I became sick. So the April issue of Retrogaming Times Monthly will be missing my NES'cade column. It will return in May however possibly along with a second submission and a new (although short run) column. However we'll see about that when next month rolls around. In the meantime I should really finish up that article and get to work on planning some others. While I'm not 100% currently I'm well able to get some work done.

Blog Updates and Changes

2008-03-08T13:19:00.000-08:00

I nearly forgot, I've updated the blog to the new Blogger standards. It seems that the earlier script had comment support dropped during their latest change. Because of this it would return a POSTDATA refresh error when one went to post a comment. The new script conforms with the new Blogger standard and is more streamlined. Over all things look the same but there are some slight differences over the original, just the same the comments are now working once again.