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Happy Birthday

I don't think game pass hurts but I think Microsoft's limited acceptance in Japan coupled with ticking off a large portion of their fan base during the infancy of the xbox one negates a ton of that advantage. There's also that small percentage of the base that's the game collector. Thanks to YouTube, limited editions, and companies like Limited Run Games this group is getting harder to ignore.

It's still an advantage and is a heck of a value for the gamer that just wants to play a bunch of different games. It seems like all the xbox only type of games will always be there but xbox has the lesser of the big three's exclusives. Third party games will rotate out and for a really casual gamer or one that likes to enjoy a game for a long period of time there's less value here.

Lastly I'm starting to be weary of the subscription service model. Holy crap there's a lot of these now and while 10 bucks here, 15 there, 40 there, etc. seems small, these things start to add up. I think I pay more a month in subscriptions than I do for my car. I'm sure there's a saturation point and some time in the future we'll see the equivalent of cable cutting (de-subbing, sub stopping?).

I finished outerworlds (freaking great game) so I've started adding to the backlog again...

Steambot Chronicles - I've wanted this for years. I've watched eBay auctions on and off and this game goes 80 plus easy. Someone had an ebay auction for one that was in the low 50's so with about 9 seconds left I bid 77 bucks. The game ran up to 91. BINs on decent copies get listed for 90 to 120. a day later I found an $80 BIN that looked immaculate. I bought it. it's freaking the nicest game I have in my ps2 collection now. I'm thinking someone has had the book and cover reproduced because its shape for its age is too good. I'll have to research but I don't care, the disc alone can go for 80.

Lesser value but still awesome games I also picked up are Mario Maker for the wii u (I've got a copy but this one was in great shape for just a few dollars) The Witch and the Hundred Knight - Revival Edition (I really have a soft spot for Atlus games), Suikoden 4, The Gran Stream Saga, Kingdom Hearts, Grandia 1, 2, xenosaga episode 2, metal gear solid 3, and dawn of mana.

I've really been looking for a reason to refurb an old ps2 and maybe nows my chance. I've kept tons of ide drives and bought network adapters and fat ps2s every time I've seen them out so maybe I can play around with hd loader and skip out on some load times. I faintly remember someone figuring out how to get 1080i out of one but if that doesn't work out I've got a hd link cable that'll do 720p.

I didn't get a computer until the tandy 286 radio shack sold...

At one point I can remember really wanting an Atari xl and a commodore 64 but at the time they were just so far out of reach. I didn't even get the Tandy retail, I mowed yards for an engineer as a kid and he'd bought a 386 with a really early version of windows and gave me his old computer.

Do it. it'll be like watching two lord of the rings movies!

I like Ed Norton better, I like Ruffalo's hulk better (writing probably has more to do with it than actor).

I can't unsee Jennifer Connley's last scene in Requiem for a Dream so whenever I see her in anything else its distracting.. Overall the movie was enjoyable but it does seem like an afterthought.

It'd have to a top 10 favorite before I'd shell out 120 for something like that... Looking for Shadowrun LRG...

The Limited Run Games release of windjammers on the Switch didn't seem to sell well... I saw a stock of that at Best Buy for a long time. Other than two copies of Golf Story (great game btw) I've not seen any more LRG stuff in a retail store. From that I assumed it didn't have quite the following it seems to have. I must be wrong, people talk about it very fondly.

Windjammers seems like Jager-Dew... Mixing cool stuff together doesn't always beget more cool stuff!

Not to discount anyone who loves tekken air hockey pong frisbee, its just not for me at the same time.

Jager-Dew was gross BUT Turkey-Dew is awesome! it's basically tang, wild turkey and mountain dew. Come to think of it, equal parts vodka, beer and some powered lemonaid mix makes a pretty killer drink too....

Mind changed weird crap mixed together works quite often, waiting for the preorder!

yeah, it seems the handheld stuff has been holding its value a little better, at least the good games.

the retro stuff is online only, going into a brick and mortar isn't going to turn up anything before ps3

Gamestop has had some killer disc only ps2 games in their retro section lately. I've picked up a lot of the suikoden games, .hack games, grandia games, and just about every other sub 20 dollar RPG in their retro section. That's led me to the purchase of a HD link cable for the ps2 and now that everything came in I can't find my dang ps2. I really wanna try the link cable out, but I have a feeling once I find the ps2 i'll have to do a lot of cleaning / refurbishing to the system and controllers. i'm sure it's in rough shape.

I finished the my first play through of Outerworlds yesterday. I'm sad it's over with... Fantastic game for anyone looking for a 20 hour distraction

Christmas took me down the 80's rabbit hole again thanks to my daughter asking for a skate board...

I bought trucks, bearings, wheels, grip tape, and several decks and her and I put together a few. In looking for parts I stumbled upon some Vision decks inspired by some iconic 80's designs. I found the Psycho Stick and the MG on Amazon for 70 each. It took everything I had not to buy them both if for nothing else but to hang on the wall in my office.

This of course reminded me of my old psycho stick as well as the slew of bmx bikes I had, starting with an Invader (I think my iteration was a Murry or Magna made for Western Auto (branded Western Flyer I think) and the pogo bal. I freaking loved the pogo bal. we'd jump off the deck of my tree house with those stupid things.

oh the 80s had some of the best toys

People really liked Diablo 3 on the switch but I was so used to the computer version I didn't give it enough time. The control scheme seemed like it'd work but it felt wrong so I moved on.

The switch has been on Holiday Break. A lot of AAA titles came out this holiday that's got my focus on the ps4

I started up The Outer Worlds a few days ago and am now about 6 hours deep. It's what I've been looking for since Mass Effect.

It was getting compared to Fallout a lot so I originally skipped over it. For whatever reason I wasn't a huge fan of the Fallout series. I'm glad I gave this game a shot, I'm really enjoying it. After I finish I may go back and check out a Fallout game, just to see if I didn't give Fallout the opportunity it deserved.

I've got big chunks of time both days I believe

my experience with AMD is that they do run pretty hot especially compared to intel chips. I've heard that the newer ryzen chips have done a better job getting the heat under control but I've also read that some of the 5 series ryzens have hit mid 90s under load on a stock cooler. In these situations people usually blame the case fans; fans pointed wrong, not enough air flow, etc. - you know, the equivalent of the restart your computer fix tech support always offers.

it could be some voltage settings... more voltage = more heat. If you're idling hot updated chipset drives can sometimes fix whatever it is that's got the voltage wrong, or less optimized. All this is crap you already know, it's just a pain trying to find the fix specific to your build.

Noctuna makes some nice coolers!

I'm good late saturday, 830 pm and later. Earlier will be fine if my plans blow up.

Either way i'll be sure to renew playstation plus prior to this weekend.

I think it applies to both!

The forced cuteness was at least done with some restraint, and a lot more subtly than in star wars IPs passed. Disney can't rule the world without monetizing from all corners AND Star Wars has such a prepubescent boy - comic book store owner demographic / stigma that they've gotta inject something in there to attract the masses, widen that target audience a bit... The Ewoks started this mess but the real train wreck happened with Jar Jar. Disney needed to pump the brakes hard, and I think baby Yoda is a great compromise.

I bought Disney plus just for this one show and so far I've not been disappointed. I do think it'll take more original content to come out to keep me on the Disney plus platform but the Mandalorian was bait enough and I'm satisfied at this point.

Closest Ikea to me is two hours away  , I've always wanted one nearby... kids destroy furniture and Walmart / target furniture sucks

I bought a bunch of stuff that I probably wont get to -

Star wars jedi fallen order
bendy and the ink machine
tom Clancy's the division 2
Anthem (the legendary ? edition was 5 bucks, I know the game sucks)
Starlink (toys were 2 for pilots and 5 for ships, I bought all I could)
The Outer Worlds

My vacation was supposed to start this week and i'd purchased all this crap to fool around with, however my vacation was rescinded or at best truncated. I may be able to go in on Monday, fix a bunch of suff, put on our holiday party, and get the rest of the week to chill... here's hoping

I've started to get disenfranchised with the Star Wars series because the focus of late has been more on recreating the formula while shoe horning in political / social justice considerations instead of really expanding the story. I think Star Wars had a really good handle on diversity to begin with. Lea wasn't a weak female lead, she was a badass. Sure she looked good in a bathing suit but that wasn't the focus of Jedi. As far as race, it's freaking star wars; black, white, brown, blue with gills, green, short whit glowing eyes, reptilian.... diversity was never an issue as far as I'm concerned. I don't care about color, sexual identification / preference, body type; I want the focus on memorable charismatic characters, not Disney checking off boxes.

Enter the Mandalorian. It's different, and even a bit underwhelming on the surface. All the glitz has been stripped out and the desert environment / lack of epic space battles makes for a seemingly cheap production but I think that adds to it. I'll also cop to the weird character development - leaving the Mandalorian in a helmet makes things challenging but I think it's kinda working. Its definatly harder to develop an attachment to a faceless character but emotion is slowly being built through the story.

It's a slow ride, reminiscent of how Game of Thrones started. For my tastes it's different, and I like it. it doesn't follow the space opera, plucky rebellion heros facing insurmountable odds to finally blow something major up formula. Instead its focused on something much smaller.

I love all the Star Wars movies and series (sans those animated droids and ewoks mockeries) and admit many have their faults (jar jar, anikin and amadala's putrid chemistry, formulaic story line, overly heavy social justice inclusion). I think Favreau is aware of these faults and  stepping lightly into his series, finding a really nice balance of new and old. I'll admit the trailer made it look more action packed then it is but when there is action its pretty awesome.

It'll likely be a slow build but I think it's only going to get better and better. The recent developments (i'm only through the first 3 episodes) seems like it could open up a whole new piece of the Jedi puzzle. I'm excited and while it's not what I expected either the Mandalorian is what I've been wanting.

let the long weekend begin!

i'm doubtful until later afternoon. I've got a small job to do after 12 and go by hospice and check on dad.

what is that guitar? it looks a lot like an esp millie petrozza but the cut out near the bridge isn't round...

that's a sweet take on a flying v / double arrow

I get the sound but what about the frame-rate drop you were talking about? Is it significant enough to make the game unplayable?

Not really making the trip to Indy but I'll join from afar!

60 bucks for tank wars...

I hope you can figure it out (or a patch is released) so we can all get on.