This is the Goldstar 3DO. The 3DO came out in 1993 and cost a measly $699.95. I got mine for $20 at the thrift store last year. Sadly, the 3DO only lasted 3 years, being discontinued in 1996. The exorbitant price and small game library factored heavily in this. The 3DO only has one controller port, but the studious eye will detect the presence of a second port on the top of the controller. Strange place to put that. The controller also has a headphone jack, which actually works quite well.

The console uses standard composite cables; no special ones like for the SNES, and can even use r/f or s-video. That's pretty impressive right there. Perhaps my favorite thing though, is the screen that shows up when you open the disk drawer. It is a picture of the console, with a CD being placed into the tray. Why does the system have to tell me to put a disk in? I guess I can oblige.

Demolition Man is your average arcade type shooter. You are stationary, and a few enemies pop out of predetermined locations. You use the d-pad to move cross hairs, but it is very difficult. The cross hairs never want to go where you want them, and when they do, you are usually too late. It's not bad, but it's old hat. The FMV is pretty impressive, until it shows a scene that isn't mostly black. Then it becomes grainy, and makes Stallone look like he was the victim of a bad Photoshop job. Everything gets grainy, and the pixilation is pretty bad. The levels are designed poorly, and the enemies are real pictures of people that pop up like cardboard cutouts. There are even some cut scenes with what look like a badly animated Stallone, but is probably just a badly rendered FMV. In all, it's not a bad game, but it isn't anything to look forward to owning.

Quarantine boasted a really cheesy "music video" opening with some kid waking up in, and driving a Taxi. Apparently he has a whole bunch of guns, and at one point, he starts shooting people out the window, after having already hit 3 people, using a MAC-10. The game itself plays like the crappiest version of Crazy Taxi I have ever seen, with a slight Twisted Metal vibe to it. The graphics are terrible. You can hardly tell what anything is at all. The "Music Video" had some pretty decent graphics though. I can't figure out what the hell to do in this game, so I'm going to keep it short. Basically, you are some kid in a city that was quarantined because of astoundingly high crime. You have to pick up fares, and drop them off, though I can't figure out how. You can shoot headlight-mounted machine guns, and drive around the city. That's all I could figure out. I'd have to say that this game is bad. I would not buy it unless you are a hard-core collector. Even then, save the money for something better.

Total Eclipse is a space shooter, and a half way decent one at that. There is some stupid back-story about some alien that looks like Davey Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean that wants to annihilate the human race, or blow up our sun, or who knows. It's hard to follow. The graphics are very basic Windows 95 looking garbage, but they look good in a, "I wasn't expecting much" sort of way. You start the game, and you are piloting a space ship, trying to destroy missile silos while also killing the enemy ships that are attacking you. The controls are pretty good, but the first level is hard. I haven't been able to beat it. I'd say get it if you like space shooters, but pass if you see something else, anything else.

This is just three of the games that I have. I'll be doing more so don't worry. I can't play all of my cards at once, now can I? I hope you've enjoyed it.

The holiday season has come and gone, and now I'm left an empty shell of a man, with a full roster of games to play. As if I didn't have enough games to play before, I've expanded my system count by two. I picked up a 25th aniversary Wii for Christmas, and I'm really enjoying it. It came with New Super Mario Bros. and Wii Sports. NSMB is pretty good for what little I've played, and Wii sports is actually very good. I like playing it with my girlfriend, because it is quite fun for two players.

As if a Wii weren't enough, I picked up a PS2 Slim about a week ago. I have a pretty decent library of PS2 games, as well as PS1 games, so it was a great deal at $20 at the thrift store. I've been wanting one of those again for a while, and I'm glad I finally got another.

To top it all off, the icing on the cake as it were, I picked up som pretty decent games the other day. I got Parasite Eve 1 and 2 for $5 each, MediEvil for $3, Clock Tower 2 for $3, BloodRayne for $4, and RE Code Veronica X for $4. They are all Playstation versions. I did pretty well that day, no?

Not it is time to play some damn games. Tomorrow night it begins anew. The first game I'm playing is Mike Tyson's Punch Out for NES. A good friend of mine got it for me for Christmas, and I've been wanting to play it since then. 70 hour work weeks didn't help much, but they did help with the Wii!

For now, I bid thee well, for I must slumber. Happy gaming!

So I just realized that it's been over two monthes since my last blog, and that depresses me. I used to like blogging, but my current situation has be preventing me from doing so. You see, I work in retail, and we all now that this time of the year is what we in the retail biz like to call, a royal pain in the rump roast! It doesn't help that I have two retail jobs either. Between the both I've been pullin around 60 to 65 hours a week, and that leaves very little time to play any games, let alone blog about them. This really sucks, but what am I supposed to do, I need the money, so I guess I'll deal with it. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to my old habits after the first of the year. I really miss playing all those games, and pestering you people with all my crazy blogs. Until next time I hope everybody is well.

This is the Nintendo Family Computer, or Famicom. It was released in Japan in 1983 to lackluster reviews and did quite poorly due to poorly designed hardware and widespread failures...kind of like the 360, no? But Microsoft just made us deal with it, and we did. Nintendo quickly recalled the console, re-designed it, and re-released it. The Famicom then went on to become one of the most well known(in any of it's different forms) and most successful consoles of all time, being credited with reviving the gaming industry after the video game crash of 1983. (Kind of funny how the industry died and was resurrected in the same year...I bet the Necronomicon had something to do with it) The initial release of the Famicom was accompanied by three games. They were Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Popeye. Imagine if a system was released with only three games nowadays. Multiple different accessories were released for the Famicom, including the instantly recognizable "Nintendo Zapper" (which was modeled after a revolver in Japan), the Famicom Disk System (which was scrapped in NA because of widespread bootlegging in Japan), and a whole host of other peripherals. The Famicom is the longest lasting console, being discontinued in Japan in 2003 because of shortages of replacement parts. The Famicom made Nintendo what they are today, and is, in my opinion, the greatest video game system of all time (although I don't make a distinction between the Famicom and it's NA counterpart, The Nintendo Entertainment System).

Tune in later when I give my first impressions of the console...it's not all good, BTW.

It is now later, and I will tell you all my first impressions of the Famicom.

I did a lot of research on this thing because I wanted the correct parts to use it, as I'm not a big fan of using parts that arent original, unless I absolutely have to. I found a few original Japanese a/c adapters, but they were around $25, so I wasn't really feeling it. Other than that, they just aren't around. I didn't really feel like waiting forever to find one, so I went with Plan B. I had read a few places that the Genesis model one power supply is of the correct rating and is center negative, which was great. After finding a few different sources that confirmed this, I decided to try it. Supposedly you can't use the Famicom r/f lead either, which didn't bother me much as I don't even have it. The NES r/f works, and I have a few of those. So I pulled out my Gen model 1 power supply, my NES r/f, and plugged it all in. I have also read that you have to tune to channel 95, which took me a few minutes as my TV seemed incapable of such a thing. I finally got it to tune 95 and turned on the Famicom. Unfortunately for me, the power supply I had was bad, so I had to dig out another. After this, I turned it on and there was Super Mario Bros. 3.

The first thing I noticed about the console was that there is no LED to tell you if it is getting power. This annoyed me a little because it took me ten minutes to even think that the power supply could be bad, as I didn't know if I was even tuned to the right channel. (Channel 43, 83, and/or 96 could work as well.) While a bit annoying, it isn't that big of a deal. The next thing, which is pretty bad, is that the controllers (which are hardwired) have such short cords that you practically have to have the console in your lap to play comfortably. This is very, very annoying. I guess being used to the extra long NA cords kind of screwed me on that deal. The controller pads themselves are a bit strange as well. I don't know what it is, but they just feel weird in my hands. I think part of it has to do with the fact that the cord comes out of the side of the first controller rather than the top. It is something that I can probably get used to though.

I really don't have much else to say about it right now as I only played two levels of SMB3 and then put it away. The console itself now has a place of honor on top of my 360. It is a fitting sight, seeing the Famicom U.S. Marine the 360...the Famicom/NES is the better console in my opinion.

One thing I forgot to mention was that I thought it was kind of strange that everything is in english on the console, with little stickers that have Japanese translations on them stuck next to the english. It's just like the Famicom SMB3 with everything in english except for the mushroom houses and the such.

Today was a great day at the flea market. I made a few purchases, and they were good. First I found the parts to fix my brothers DSlite that was featured in my Deconstruction and Reconstruction series. That's a sweet deal, because I got it for $5! It's the entire top/hinge/ button assembly. You can't get better than that. Oh, I also got the tri tip screw driver to take it apart with for a dollar.

A few rows down the line and I saw a Sega Game Gear. I figured that the people would want a lgood buck, but asked anyway. They said they wanted $7, so I looked at it(so as to not make it seem like too low of a price), and took it. It came with two Power Ranger games. When I got it home and tested it, I discovered that the speaker worked as well. Sweet deal!

The next thing I found was a newer system. The guy wanted $60, but when I tried top turn it on, it wouldn't, and he said it wasn't charged. I offered $50, which he accepted, and I was then the proud owner of a PSP-1000. A few minutes later I got a plastic protective case for it for $2, which I was glad about.

the next, and last, thing I bought was a lonely little Nintendo Famicom with no hookups. It cost me $10, and with how hard they are to find in the States at all, I figured it was worth it. I looked it up, and apparently all I need is the a/c adapter and a US r/f switch and I'll be good. I have the r/f, but the a/c should prove a bit elusive. When I get it working I'll post pictures and talk more about it. Oh, and it is the hardwired controller type.

On a sad note, I almost gor an Atari Lynx today, but I didn't want to pay the $30 the guy was asking. Why, you ask, would I not want to pay a measly $30 for an expensive piece of hardware like that? It would seem that someone had scratched a big "X" in the screen. I'm not talking an x, I'm talking corner to corner gouging scratches in the form of an X. The guy said he could get $100 for it on ebay, so I told him to go ahead and do that. I'm kind of glad that he was a jerk, cause even if I could have gotten it for $20, I still wouldn't have been happy with it. I just feel bad for that poor Lynx.

So that wraps up my gaming finds for the day. I think I did pretty good, and am very happy with my purchases. Good luck to all of you in the future!

So I decided that the next logical step for me, being the complete wack job that I am, is to learn Assembly language. Why on earth would anybody in their right mind want to learn Assembly language? (one of the books I have actually has that as the first sentence of the introduction) I have decided that this is a new goal of mine, as I would one day like to program NES games, and Assembly is what they used to do it. 6502 Assembly to be exact, but the exact processor isn't of any consequence.

So the first thing I am learning is how to convert binary to decimal...now that's excitement!

110101 is a number in binary. You could use the scientific calculator in windows to convert it in a snap, or you could use this formula.

110101

1X2^0 + 0X2^1 + 1X2^2 + 0X2^3 + 1X2^4 + 1X2^5

1 + 0 + 4 + 0 + 16 + 32 = 53

110101 in binary = 53 in decimal

(you always work the number in binary backwards and multiply by 2. The exponents start at 0 and go up from there.)

That is how you convert binary to decimal. It's not very hard once you get the hang of it.I know...I have absolutely no life!

"How do you kill that which has no life?" Where is this quote from? Answer right, and I'll show you how to convert hex to bin.

For todays blog I reviewed a few of the Game Gear games that I have in my collection.

Click on the picture to view the review.

I hope you like the reviws, and hopefully I can think of something else to post for Game Gear Week.

Finally GlitchSpot has fixed their image uploading problem, and Game Gear week is back in business! I may extend it a few days to make up for the technical difficulties.

Game Gear Week lives on in this exciting blog about how to output your NES to the screen on your Game Gear! This is pretty basic stuff, but you will need some uncommon parts to pull it off.

Firstly we have the coaxial cable to 3.5 mm headphone jack adapter. This isn't actually a headphone jack, but that is exactly what it looks like. These can be found at Radio Shack or other electronics stores that have a sizable selection of electronics adapters and such. This is also a must have if you would like to use your DTV converter box with your Game Gear to watch TV with it again.

This is the top of the Game Gear TV Tuner. You will notice that there is an input on the left that says A/V IN. This is for inputting RCA type cables, via a special adapter that I do not have. In the middle you will see the UHF/VHF switch. This is for selecting the frequency range that you want the TV Tuner to search. For this project, you want it set to VHF, which it is not in this picture. On the right you will see the EXT. ANT input. This is the input that we want to put the coax to 3.5 mm adapter in. After you have done this, you simply hook up your NES R/F adapter to the coax end and turn on both the Game Gear and the NES. You may have to set the frequency with the TUNING dial on the left in the above picture. When you are done, you should have something like this…

This is when all of your hard work has come to fruition. Remember though, that you still have to use the NES gamepad and not the controls on the Game Gear. It is easy to forget the first time. I know we all thought that Sonic would never end up on a Nintendo system, but did you ever think you would see Mario on a Sega system? It is very strange, no?

I got this idea a while back when I was in the thrift store and happened upon the coax to 3.5 mm adapter. The first thing to cross my mind was, 'This might work on the Game Gear TV Tuner…'but that's just because I'm a bit of a nerd. Oh, and did you notice what I paid for it?

I hope you all enjoyed my latest blog for Game Gear Week, and if anybody would like to request something for me to do with the Game Gear for the last blog, I'd be happy to take suggestions. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: This blog should not be read by children, pregnant women, the elderly, or anyone in general. If you have read this blog, call an ambulance or visit an emergency room right away. Do not induce vomiting. In case of accidental ingestion, tie tourniquet around throat to stop the spread of contaminants.

Warning: Do not take the above disclaimer seriously. Doing so could lead to serious injury or death!

Warning: Using your brain could be detrimental to your health! Getting a lobotomy is strongly recommended!

In their constant suppression of free thought and doing cool things with games, Game Spot has interrupted Game Gear Week with their unwillingness to upload my images. This is a personal attack on me, and a blatant middle finger to all of you! I say we stand up for our rights and sit back and deal with it. We have sat back idly long enough that we can continue doing it without much impact! Fight for your rights!

Seriously folks, Game Spot is glitchy again and wont let me upload my pics. I'll post the new blog as soon as I can.

Thanks for your continued support...all like 6 of you.

I have decided that this week shall be Game Gear week! Thank you, thank you, but the applause can be saved for later. I've decided this because I posted that boring as dirt blog about watching South Park yesterday, and I thought to myself…Game Gear week! Without further ado, this is Game Gear Week.

Deconstruction and Reconstruction: Pt. V – The Sega Game Gear

This is a Sega Game Gear. It was released by Sega in 1991, and when it came out I wanted one. My dad said no, and that was the end of it. Fast forward to 2009, I was in the Salvation Army Thrift Store and found this particular one for $8. It is a piece of crap. The plastic screen protector is cracked, and the speaker doesn't work. Oh well, I still like it.

This is the back of the Game Gear. It is very uninteresting. The hole in the cartridge slot is actually for a 4.5 mm game bit screw, but this one had that taken out when I got it. Aside from that, there are six screws that need to come out to take the back off. Two are in the battery wells.

This is where it gets interesting. This is the inside of a Game gear. All of the eight pink arrows point to the screws that need to be removed to take the PCB off the faceplate. The green arrows point to the contrast dial on the left, and the volume knob on the left. Those PCBs in the top part actually come out too, but I was lazy. The three yellow arrows point to the connectors that need to be disconnected to take the back completely off.

This is the inside of the back of the unit. You can see the red on and off switch on the left, the EXT. port next to it, the headphone jack on the right, and the volume dial next to it. There is nothing behind the metal shielding but the empty game slot. The wires on top are for the batteries. I guess that black housing on the left battery well is where the batteries interface with the unit.

This is the back of the main PCB again. You can see the wires that I disconnected dangling free on the top. The big black thing in the center is the game connector, and that weird silver thing with the black things sticking out the sides is the screen. You can take it off, but it says something about high voltage in English and Deutsch. For this reason, I opted to refrain from deconstructing it any further. That screen thing is actually pretty weird though. It is some big bulbous thing that kind of looks like a TV tube…but we all know it isn't.

This is the inside of the faceplate. You can see the speaker on the right, and absolutely nothing the rest of the way through.

This is the front of the PCB. You can see the screen, which is quite obvious. I'm pretty sure that it interfaces with the system itself on the bottom, and the thing on the right side is the power for the backlight. On the left you can see the little gold circles where the d-pad is, and the three rubber pushers where the 1, 2, and start button are on the right.

The screen is actually pretty impressive on this thing. If you have to wipe it for any reason, I would suggest the cloth Oakley sunglass bag, or a very fine micro fiber cloth.

This concludes this edition of Deconstruction and Reconstruction. As always, the reassembly is the exact reverse of the disassembly. I hope you enjoyed it.

Disclaimer: Please do not try this at home. The things outlined in this blog are potentially life threatening. Misuse could result in serious injury or death. Guns are not toys treat them with respect. Reading this blog does not qualify you to take apart your Game Gear. It qualifies you to screw it up…