Random Gaming Thoughts

[Syndicate]

...so a week after SEGE, I figured I'd finally get around to putting some thoughts down. So SEGE aside, Greenville is a really nice place, other than the heat, but that's the South during the summer. There's lots to do when you're not at the con and definitely lots of great local eats. On to the con, it was a great time, the only negatives being the line to get in Saturday for pre-purchased passes was insane if you didn't go the VIP route. Standing in the convention center in a seemingly never ending line w/4-kids isn't a fun time. The guy who runs the con though was nice enough to at least apologize and explain the situation, so I'm guessing this won't happen next time around.

...once in the convention though it was nothing but fun times, it's a huge show and there was a lot to check out. I ended up flying solo a bit while my family went off on a Pokemon plush hunt. This gave me time to go from vendor to seeing what's what and even met up w/bmoc for a little bit which was really cool. There was just tons to see, do and buy...if anyone is into some of the YouTube gaming personalities odds are good you could run into them there too. I made a few pick ups Saturday and even came back Sunday for a second run through before getting on the road that morning (ran into bmoc at booth then too , I think we both found some interesting things that weekend) to see if there was anything else that stood out.

...SEGE is an awesome con, definitely worth the drive from VA w/a car full of kids . If you're in the area or don't mind the drive, SEGE is good times and well worth checking out, it's a pretty quick and cheap flight from points north from what I understand as well (a friend of mine flew down that Friday while I was trekking down I85). I've already started making plans to go back next year and make more of a family vacation out of it.

[bmoc]

I've already started making plans to go back next year and make more of a family vacation out of it.

I'm hoping that I can attend next year as well. I hear it is going to be 3 days instead of 2. I'm not sure I can do 3 days though. If I do multiple days again, I'll have to pace myself much better. Hope to run into you again at SEGE 2025!

[opa]

I used to rock a monitor stand in the office when I used two monitors. I had one vertical as I felt with a lot of web pages and docs that benefited from that layout.

The issue was that the monitors were TN displays so while the viewing angle was fine, it wasn’t the best vertically.

May I ask what display tech you have? IPS?

It's an older TN, I believe. Like literally old. A 10 year old Samsung monitor.

Basically it was about to be thrown out and I was like "hey, I can find a use for it." Now I'm playing pinball on a spare PC used for games.

[Anapan]

The biggest SD CRT I ever found is set up as a cocktail arcade cab. It has 3 side buttons set up on the sides for triggers and launch. Visual Pinball is still my favorite emulator. Frequent updates make the recreations better. Despite being 4x3, when in the horizontal configuration and at the optimum height, it works great as a vertical monitor. Even better if you sit and hunch from a slightly lower bar chair. I will eventually make the height adjustable (I say as it sits untouched after 7 years). Just setting a flat-screen 16x9 LCD face-up on a stand set up in tate with a couple of grip controllers can make a convincing pinball experience. I tried it, it's actually great.
it's kinda scary, but the emulator backend allows force-feedback and has the ability to sense accelerometer movement too. On PC these can be USB dongles. Crazy how a decent virtual pinball table can be put together from a $25 LCD from a pawn-shop, a Walmart plastic table, $15 of buttons and wires, $7 in usb sensors and your parent's old windows XP PC.
I actually didn't fully build this dream-machine, but one of my early test-beds for emulation on old PC hardware wasn't far off.
The 36" Trinitron is still hooked up to an old intel i3 running Windows 7 with EmulationStation and a roller-ball for a mouse. It isn't lacking as it runs all the games I want at 60FPS with no lag and generates modelines for weird resolutions on-the-fly in RGB.

[ZRofel]

Random question: A while back, someone, I think it might have been Raging Justice, mentioned about The Simpsons arcade game getting unofficially ported to Dreamcast, and said individual linked to a store (maybe an Etsy store) where a guy was selling very nice looking, very inexpensive repros and physical versions of various homebrews and ports for the Dreamcast and Saturn. I was really intrigued, but like a goof, I didn't bookmark it. And now I can't find that post. Anyone have that link?

[Ziggy]

That was the TR thread!

viewtopic.php?t=54125

Do I remember reading someone saying that, because it's an emulator running on the DC, the gameplay wasn't the smoothest? Or am I imagining that?

[ZRofel]

That was the TR thread!

viewtopic.php?t=54125

Do I remember reading someone saying that, because it's an emulator running on the DC, the gameplay wasn't the smoothest? Or am I imagining that?

That's the one! Thanks!

Yeah, I've seen some footage, and it doesn't run great. But, this guy is selling stuff really cheaply, and I thought it might (emphasis on "might") be worth a novelty purchase.

[Note]

lol I’ve been having tees and shorts. I hate the heat! First moment it’s in the 60s, I start making the switch. I started putting up the AC window boxes yesterday.

Loll. I finally purchased tickets to the LI Retro Gaming Expo this weekend. Keep me posted if you're still planning on going, maybe we can meet up. I'm gonna go Friday with my girlfriend, and Saturday I think I'll head there solo.

If anyone else on the forum is planning on checking it out, feel free to shoot me a DM.

[Gucci]

lol I’ve been having tees and shorts. I hate the heat! First moment it’s in the 60s, I start making the switch. I started putting up the AC window boxes yesterday.

Loll. I finally purchased tickets to the LI Retro Gaming Expo this weekend. Keep me posted if you're still planning on going, maybe we can meet up. I'm gonna go Friday with my girlfriend, and Saturday I think I'll head there solo.

If anyone else on the forum is planning on checking it out, feel free to shoot me a DM.

I feel like an asshole. I completely forgot about this. I will not be going unfortunately. Hopefully, if things are more stable, I’ll go next year.

[Note]

No worries, Gucci. Hope things are alright on your end.

It'll be my first game convention actually, I'll keep everyone posted on how it turns out.