Curmudgeon Gamer
28 April 2007
A bridge (of adapters) too far
When I mentioned that I could play light gun games with my one good hand I forgot an essential fact: I can't play traditional light gun games on the LCD HDTV I bought a couple of months ago. Oops.
There are newer guns that work with LCDs and plasma sets -- the RGT G1 and the LCD TopGun are two -- but they don't appear to work with older systems since they both use USB. (Aside: I'm told the RGT G1 is not very good. Their pages say there is a new model due soon, during Q2 2007.) Working with USB means that older systems like the Dreamcast and PSOne aren't really in the mix. Unless, of course, there is a way to hack together an adapter.
So here's my idea of how I might be able to play something like House of the Dead 2 on the Dreamcast using this newer gun:
LCD TopGun -> USB to PS/2 adapter -> Total Control 2 -> Dreamcast
That's PS/2 -- the keyboard and mouse interface -- not PS2 as in PlayStation 2. Anyone have ideas about whether this would work or not? Even better, anyone in a position to try it out?
Then again, I should be able to pick up a cheap CRT TV in a year or so as they're pushed out of the market, so maybe I should just wait.
There are newer guns that work with LCDs and plasma sets -- the RGT G1 and the LCD TopGun are two -- but they don't appear to work with older systems since they both use USB. (Aside: I'm told the RGT G1 is not very good. Their pages say there is a new model due soon, during Q2 2007.) Working with USB means that older systems like the Dreamcast and PSOne aren't really in the mix. Unless, of course, there is a way to hack together an adapter.
So here's my idea of how I might be able to play something like House of the Dead 2 on the Dreamcast using this newer gun:
LCD TopGun -> USB to PS/2 adapter -> Total Control 2 -> Dreamcast
That's PS/2 -- the keyboard and mouse interface -- not PS2 as in PlayStation 2. Anyone have ideas about whether this would work or not? Even better, anyone in a position to try it out?
Then again, I should be able to pick up a cheap CRT TV in a year or so as they're pushed out of the market, so maybe I should just wait.
--jvm at 22:19
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[ 4 ]
22 April 2007
Typing of the Dead...2
So Sega has announced that The Typing of the Dead 2 is coming out this summer, which is exciting news (if you speak/type Japanese). Regrettably, there is no news about an English version, nor is there any report that it will play on anything but a Windows XP or Vista machine. But, with USB standard on every current console, I'm going to hold out hope that it will show up on a PlayStation 3 at some point. If it were on the PlayStation 3, in English, sometime this year I'd start planning my PS3 purchase as soon as possible...
Just for kicks, here's one of my favorite moments from the original The Typing of the Dead, where you get to see the absurd keyboard and Dreamcast-backpack gear that the protagonists are using to type down the zombies.
Just for kicks, here's one of my favorite moments from the original The Typing of the Dead, where you get to see the absurd keyboard and Dreamcast-backpack gear that the protagonists are using to type down the zombies.
--jvm at 22:57
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[ 2 ]
17 January 2007
Rhino Redeemed
I've given zealous Rhino Games employees a hard time in the past, so it's only fair that when I have a particularly good experience that I should write about it. Regrettably, Rhino will soon be no more, as it's getting absorbed into the EB Games/GameStop collective.
Which is, in part, why I was at Rhino Games in the first place. They've got all their older stuff on clearance: NES, Genesis, SNES, N64, Dreamcast, and PSOne. Note that the prices aren't as nice as that link would have you believe. And some games that aren't in the GameStop system are considered to be priced at the last Rhino sticker price. Which means that I still don't own Bubble Bobble for the PSOne. Stupid $40 price tag.
Anyway, as I'm walking around the store just seeing what's on the shelves the employees announce to everyone in the store that the clearance sale is in effect. Moreover, they encourage us to just bring stuff to the counter to find the real prices. Now that's the kind of attention I can appreciate.
So I took about a dozen games up to the counter and they dutifully went through the computer to find the prices for me. (If the price was in the computer system. Grumble Bobble.) They apologized for the length of time it took them to find the prices, but I was in no hurry, so we just chatted about the move. Apparently they're still getting used to the GameStop computer system that's been foisted on them, so checking everyone out today was a chore. They'll use that system all this week and next Monday they'll officially get a training session. Nice.
I ended up only selecting four of the games after I saw the prices, most of which were reduced but not cheapskate-level. Of those four games one wasn't actually in stock once they looked for it in the back. Then I declined to buy one of the remaining three which appeared to have been mistaken for a sanding disc. (Where do people put their games to make them look like that? Seriously.) So I ended up with a $3 game and a $4 game (both with manuals and pristine discs), but they rang up as a $4 total, due to some unexpected buy-one-get-one-free deal. Them employees were a bit surprised to see that -- apparently it had been ringing up buy-two-get-one free earlier.
While I'm standing there checking out the guy next to me is buying a Dreamcast. It rings up as $15, so I ask if they have any more and the guy brings me two complete systems which I also buy. I'm hoping one of them plays homebrew code so Ruffin can finally try it out. Regardless, I thought it was a pretty good haul for the day.
Thanks, Rhino guys. Hope the the new bosses work out for you.
Which is, in part, why I was at Rhino Games in the first place. They've got all their older stuff on clearance: NES, Genesis, SNES, N64, Dreamcast, and PSOne. Note that the prices aren't as nice as that link would have you believe. And some games that aren't in the GameStop system are considered to be priced at the last Rhino sticker price. Which means that I still don't own Bubble Bobble for the PSOne. Stupid $40 price tag.
Anyway, as I'm walking around the store just seeing what's on the shelves the employees announce to everyone in the store that the clearance sale is in effect. Moreover, they encourage us to just bring stuff to the counter to find the real prices. Now that's the kind of attention I can appreciate.
So I took about a dozen games up to the counter and they dutifully went through the computer to find the prices for me. (If the price was in the computer system. Grumble Bobble.) They apologized for the length of time it took them to find the prices, but I was in no hurry, so we just chatted about the move. Apparently they're still getting used to the GameStop computer system that's been foisted on them, so checking everyone out today was a chore. They'll use that system all this week and next Monday they'll officially get a training session. Nice.
I ended up only selecting four of the games after I saw the prices, most of which were reduced but not cheapskate-level. Of those four games one wasn't actually in stock once they looked for it in the back. Then I declined to buy one of the remaining three which appeared to have been mistaken for a sanding disc. (Where do people put their games to make them look like that? Seriously.) So I ended up with a $3 game and a $4 game (both with manuals and pristine discs), but they rang up as a $4 total, due to some unexpected buy-one-get-one-free deal. Them employees were a bit surprised to see that -- apparently it had been ringing up buy-two-get-one free earlier.
While I'm standing there checking out the guy next to me is buying a Dreamcast. It rings up as $15, so I ask if they have any more and the guy brings me two complete systems which I also buy. I'm hoping one of them plays homebrew code so Ruffin can finally try it out. Regardless, I thought it was a pretty good haul for the day.
Thanks, Rhino guys. Hope the the new bosses work out for you.
Labels: dreamcast, game stores, psone
--jvm at 22:08
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