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Yobo Cheapo — NES clone toploader review

Published on February 6, 2007 by viscountalpha | 0 comments
Categories: Reviews, Retro, NES

Recently in preparation for pax last year I lost nearly all 3 of my front loaders. They died during a connector switchout. One of my chrismas gifts was pinball quest for the nes. I needed to find another nes!

Lo and behold It works and its TINY. Its a tad bit bigger then a nes cart in width and height and is a bit thicker then 2 nes cartriges laying down. Its an NES on a chip so it suffers from some emulation but for 35$ I can’t really complain. I haven’t seen any major issues. Battletoads looked like it had a bit of timing issue but this is going to happen. The intro shows the timing issue as well. But for the most part it seemes decent. I’m sure if you stacked an official toploader next to one of these cheapo ones you would be able to tell.

There is one other thing wrong with it. The cartriged seem really tight when installed. Way way too tight. After around 20-30 cartrige swaps it seems to have loosened a bit to being finally managable.

Overall- Nothing beats a good official toploader but for the price this works pretty well.

http://www.yobogroup.com/

Yobo red/white

Making of a LEGO Brick

Published on January 15, 2007 by Aaron Matthew | 0 comments
Categories: Journal, Chiptune, Retro, Robots, LEGO

While this flash is skimp on content, it makes up for it in overwhelming style. A simple interactive flash walkthrough showing how LEGO bricks are made in the factory complete with videos, cool chiptune background music, and robot noises. Definitely worth 60 seconds of your time if you like LEGOs.

Making of a Brick

A History of Video Games

Published on January 13, 2007 by Aaron Matthew | one comment
Categories: News, History, Arcades, Retro, Game Design, Real Roleplaying, Board Games

Gama-sister-site gamecareerguide.com has started a history of video games as it pertains to game design. It is a very enjoyable read (++ for Coleco, Car Wars, and Go picture for the header) that covers board games, RPGs, and the rise of early consoles up until the home computer.
This is a first installment of many to come, but a must-read for any console or tabletop gaming history fan.

On Game Design: A History of Video Games - GameCareerGuide.com

Video Games Console Evolution

Published on January 10, 2007 by Aaron Matthew | 0 comments
Categories: News, History, Game Platforms, Retro

This is a good use of scrollbar. Video game consoles through the ages with very few left out for once. A quick little pictoral history, and a great source of photoshopping material. I only started into games about 1/3 down the page… I feel soo… ‘new skool’.

It’s Knuttz - Video Games Console Evolution

Hot Flashes: Ivan Drago Justice Enforcer

Published on January 9, 2007 by Tom Mannino | 0 comments
Categories: News, Flash, Retro, Indie Games

Grats to Rog for his awesome work. Between this and the Domokun Angry Smashfest game, he makes magic.

Hot Flashes: Ivan Drago Justice Enforcer - Kotaku

To Protect and Preserve

Published on January 8, 2007 by Aaron Matthew | 0 comments
Categories: News, Arcades, Retro

Now this is a Special Interest Group I can sink my teeth into. The Game Preservation SIG just got started via the good folks at the IGDA. No word about funding yet, but they’re taking volunteers for the positions.

GameSetWatch - IGDA Game Preservation SIG Kickstarted

On a somewhat related note, this article over on Destructoid laments the loss of the classic video game arcade (not exactly a new lament). However, the commenters save the day by flooding information about their local arcades that are still alive. I wonder if there is a global video game arcade index/listing/wiki and if not, what it might take to start one.

Weekend Reading: Arcades, where have you gone?