RIP-Felix

Yeah, I must have liked it when I played it. I finished it 100% with all characters. I don't think I've played through it since then though, besides a few minutes during testing and etc. Well I decided to play through Blue Stinger again and I can say that it kept me entertained for the last 12 hours (didn't have work today). I first played it on 9/9/99 release day, and finishing it again 20 years later seemed fitting. I enjoy this game, despite it's flaws. A fitting 20 year anniversary. I was going to get into Skies of Arcadia, but had a me a hankering for a monster masher. EDIT: I went back and played through it a second time managing 4:49:23 this time. Doing this allows you to save and restart the games, but with all of Eliot's weapons in my inventory from the start of the game, including the elusive Ray Gun. On the first play through it's out of stock at the gun stores and can't be found. You have to be awarded it by beating the game in under 8 hours. My first attempt was just over 10 hours and I only received 100 or so small and large Hasseys (they refill your life meter). So having a save starting the game with all the weapons and full ammo is a nice save to have. That's one I think I'll have to export to my PC and keep on file.

Tonight's the night, tomorrow's coming. According to my VMU saves, the first DC game I ever played was "Blue Stinger". I actually really like this game. But yes the voice acting was pretty bad, with needless swearing and some sexist objectivization of the female character. It's kind of like watching 50s TV, with abusive husbands, homemaking wives, and their gender segregated roles in the family. You can watch with hindsight being 20/20 and be bitch about the customs of the past, or you can try and see it in historical context. I prefer the latter, mainly because I'm not a trolling dick. It's a more enjoyable lifestyle to forgive the erring ways of the past and move on. The gameplay was fun and still is, when taken for what it is, and not for what it isn't. What was the first game you played on Dreamcast?

This one's epic!

Dam it! That looks amazing. But Disney+ ? ...maybe, IDK.

These are fun a listen (each is a good length for a shift at work, doing yard work, or a long drive): We need more radio dramas of movies and other stories. I think it's great that Mark Hamill did these. I imagine it was good practice, but I don't know if these were produced before or after the theatrical performances. Either way, one was good practice for the next. They also provide interesting backstory that may or may not challenge "official" cannon.

Lol...I can't even remember the name. Shows how much I'm anticipating the release, huh? Okay, then. Rey is Luke's daughter. She defeats Kylo, returns democracy to the senate, and they dissolves the Empire. Then Rey rebuilds the Jedi order. The following trilogy will take place later, with one of her Padawans, and we repeat the Jar-Jar debacle all over again. Or perhaps it will be a remake of the prequel trilogy to try and replace those films from the cannon?

You should read Armada, Earnest Cline's other book. This is specifically mentioned and the idea of using video games as a top secret military training program is a central theme. Ever heard of Polybius? Do you really think noting was gained from the MK-Ultra experiments and that the program wasn't continued under another top-secret code name? The truith is out there my friend. The question is, do you really want to know the answers? Seriously though, I don't think Armada deserves the hate it gets. It shares many of the same lines and ideas from Ready Player One, but isn't the same book at all. Derivitive? Perhaps, but more like written by the same novelist. It's fun in it's own right and IMO has an endless path for sequels, unlike Ready Player One. He could build a universe out of Armada, it would just be very different. That might be exciting to write and read. Or it could be total crap..lol!

Youtube. The games been out for so long and I hadn't played that save in 2 years, been busy modding my consoles I guess! Anyway, I just came across a guide about the best/most broken weapons in Skyrim and decided to pick it back up. Yeah, it's pretty easy to level up quickly using Sneak attacks. Activate the thief stone for an extra 20% experience boost when Sneaking, sleep in a an owned bed (your house or an inn) for another "well rested" 10% boost, Grab a dagger, turn up the difficulty to legendary, find an NPC that can't die, sneak behind and whack away (boosts sneak and one handed at the same time). Shoot arrows in sneak. Use an restoration spell to keep the NPC alive and your restoration will go up as well. Sneak will level to 100 in minutes and you can reset it to legendary to keep going. The trick is to get the sneak perks that do more damage, because you earn more experience based on how much damage you deal. A better weapon/enchantment combo, the faster too. You can create a character pretty quickly doing this. Named weapons, who's enchantment scales based on your level when you obtain it, won't be useless until you can remove the enchantment (requires a level 100 smiting perk). Just get your character's level above 46 first. Then complete the quests. All the named weapons will have their max base damage and enchantment. Cheating, sure! I played as far as I wanted before moving on. This gave me renewed interest, so whatever makes it interesting again I guess.

I'd be more excited to visit the new star wars sections of Disneyland/world than seeing this movie. Who is the the last Skywalker? Unless they reveal Luke is Rey's father (and that would be character assassination...Luke, you a-hole, How can you abandon your own daughter?)...then Leia is the only Skywalker left, right? It's not like they can spring another one out of the woodwork on us! Although, lets be real. Are we supposed to believe that Luke remained celibate all these years and never had kids? The galaxy could be teeming with Skywalkers for all we know. It's too late to introduce a new character now though. In empire, Yoda referred to Leia as the other Skywalker. If she's really dead, and they don't try to CGI her in or something, maybe they're loosely referring to Kylo as the last Skywalker, since he disowned the Solo name when he killed Han? Maybe he has a change of heart and hooks up with Rey. They rule the galaxy together - a Disney fairy tale ending. But then he would have redeemed his name and become a solo again. And let's get real again, no-one will forgive him for killing Han Solo! So that's the worst case scenario! So maybe Rey goes evil and joins Kylo and the rule the galaxy together. Same end result, more believable. She does have a bit of an anger problem, like him. They both have daddy issues...what am I saying? Kylo has to die! NO FORGIVENESS YOU PATRICIDAL MANIAC! Here's what will really happen: PREDICTION: Rey tries to bring Kylo back from the dark side, he dies in the battle despite her efforts to save him. Rey is Luke's daughter. Disney follows the plot line of Return of the Jedi to the T, we're all annoyed, but expected nothing less!

You tell me, is there any hint of awesomeness inside from just looking at the outside? The mods in this thing have really brought this console back to life. A total overhaul. Here's a recap of the build: New Optical drive emulator to replace the aging GDROM with an SD Card reader that not only lasts longer and runs silent, but loads games faster (slightly). The GDEMU's SD card port is extended to the CD drive tray as if it were meant to be there. The GDROM port is filled, and not just a big hole! I'm thinking of wiring an LED to the Disc change button. It's printed in a translucent Blue that should glow nicely. Digital to Digital HDMI output added, bypassing the analog DAC and it's noise. Nothing but a crystal clear VGA 480p DTV signal that gets line doubled to 960p in a black 1080p frame for compatibility with modern TVs. Perfect compatibility, perfect upscale, and it's even got HQ2x filter to smooth out the jaggies without smoothing the whole image. Looks amazing! New power supply to remove the heat generating components to an external AC/DC adapter. This doubles as a 4-port Bluetooth receiver for the DreamConn+ wireless controllers. This way they don't need a dongle to block a physical port on the console. Those still function as normal and can have a keyboard, lightgun, and wired controllers hooked up simultaneously without issue. Moreover it allows the console to be wirelessly powered on/off like a modern console. I have it hooked up to an HDMI switch. When I press the start button the TV automatically switches to the Dreamcast. When I hold it down for 3 seconds the console shuts off and the TV goes back to the previous HDMI input. Awesome! Although heat is not as big of a concern now, I installed a Noctua fan mod. This 40mm fan is basically silent and pushes more air than the stock fan. The 3D printed fan shroud adapts it to the mount and directs the air out the vent nicely. Another use for the printer! Not only will the console run quieter, it will run cooler! This should keep it running longer and increase my enjoyment. Then there are the Wireless controller and lightgun. Expensive, but a nice luxury! As fot the lightgun's range limitation, I've been e-mailing Chris about that. He says he's been able to decrease the minimum distance by ~50% using a simple wide angle lens, like the ones used for cell phone cameras. So I'm looking into that for my gun. The controller is great as is. The added lag is fine for most games, but I can just plug a wired controller when it matters, like fighting games, a genre the DC excels at. I think that's a good summary. I just need to tie up one loose end before I call this a successfully concluded project. Solve the lightgun's range limitation. So that's the last step. I'm on a time crunch now! Just 19 days left! 9/9/19 - Mark your calendars (Play a DC game to Honor a great console's 20 year anniversary)

I'm on PS4, but yeah it's not the end of the world. It's just really annoying that I have to go back and clear all the missions again. Kinda makes me want to start from scratch with a new character class and fast level using exploits, tricks, and whatnot. They cheated me, so why shouldn't I return the insult? Been sneak attacking the Greybeards in High-Hothgar to level up archery, sneaking, and one handed to get my level back up above 46 so I can get Chilrend with it's max enchantment. Before I realized my stuff got wacked I was working on completing the dark brotherhood so the ship with Windshear on it will show up. So I'll have to do that again. Once I have "Windshear" and "Chillrend" the game is broken! 2 handed mayhem is what that is. Then there'll be no problem rehashing the quests I lost. NO ONE CAN STAND AGAINST...Prometh3eus!

Yes I have a house in whiterun, but since I became the archmage after completing mage's guild his quarters became mine. Some websites have the archmage's quarters on the list of safe storage locations, but apparently it's not. I just went back through my saves and found one from 2 years ago that was in the archmages quarter. My stuff was there! My guess is that the only reason it didn't disappear is because I saved in there. So I moved it all back to my house in whiterun. But I was at level 31 in that save and will have to complete a bunch of quests again to get back to where I was, not to mention leveling up my skills and reacquiring unique item i found along the way. What a PITA!

...Wo..oh..that sinking feeling... I've got that sinking felling that it's gone...gone...gone...Oh - god - noooooooooOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Hello and welcome to my Skyrim misery. Long story short, I got wrecked son! I didn't know that my archmage chambers in the college of winterhold weren't a safe place to store all my loot from the game. After a long hiatus from the game I picked it back up and...everything is gone! My archmage robes, dragon bones/scales, magical weapons, armor, potions, ingredients, spells, misc items...everything except what my follower, conjured slave mule, and I had on our persons. DAMN-IT-Bethesda! Now I feel like giving up on this game or starting over from scratch. What a let down...WHAT A FU@%ing DISISTER! I was at Level 48, approximately half-way through the quests, and I strait up got jacked by Bethesda! What the hell is the point now? They lead you to believe these are your quarters after finishing the Mage's Guild quest line, but didn't make the containers there safe? WTF!!! They won't let you carry much, force you to store it, lure you into a false sense of security after you get invested in the game, and then penalize you by leaving such a broken glitch in the game. I get it, saves would be huge if the game remembered every item location and re-loaded it's last position, but the archmage's chambers should be safe ground! The NPC's lead you to think so!, me at least. How could you have expected anyone not to fall for this? Was it done on purpose? HUGE OVERSIGHT! INEXCUSABLE! So, guys. What are your most disappointing moments in video games? I have to say this is near the top of my list.

I'm just referring to this. The PC adapter is the same thing, just red and with different firmware. That's what I had. I just flashed the PSC FW onto it and it works with both now.

I have the 8Bitdo SF30Pro and SN30Pro controllers. Love them! I highly recommend the PC/PSC dongle. They're the same thing, just with different FW. I flashed the PSC firmware to my PC dongle and can use it either way. It's my goto controller for GameEX and Retroarch on my PC now. You can pair a PS3/4 controller if you prefer also. I also got the Phone clip so I can use it as a handheld playing RA on my phone. That's actually my favorite use for it, but yes it's kinda awkward (top heavy). I got used to it though. I use my EMUmovies subscription to DL the artwork and fill in any missing/wrong ones with those found on the web (not google). Also, they need to be PNG for the transfer process to work. Follow this tutorial. Everything you need all in one place!

PART 4: GOING WIRELESS (DreamPort Update)... I received and have been testing the DreamPort wireless power supply. I have run into some problems getting it to work with my clone GDEMU and am currently in discussions with Chris about it. He wants some photos of my install to help him with diagnosing the issue, but my stupid e-mail won't let me upload the Hi-Rez pics. I was going to share them here anyway, so whatever. To the astute observer, please forgive my blob of hot glue on the 3-pin Fan connector. With all the plugging in/out the right angle on the conn caused shearing force on the solder pads and gradually lifted 2 pads. I had to bodge wire them back together, so the douche goo (as Voultar would say) is just to support the connector to help prevent it from moving so much. A mod that might prevent this would be to replace the right angle conn with a strait one. That way there isn't any shearing forces on the pads while inserting/removing the fan, just pulling out force that the solder fillet will physically resist and pushing force that the PCB will resist. This is one nit picky design flaw I have found on the Dreamcast. So what's the problem? Basically there's weird behavior with the Boot process. It hangs on the BIOS splash screen with the audio in slow motion, taking a few minutes before continuing to the set clock screen. Then there is serious input lag to change the clock. From there it goes to the DC menu, not GDmenu like it's supposed to, and tries to read a disc indefinitely. When I replace the OG power supply, the GDemu works as expected. When I replace the GDemu with the OG GDROM, the DreamPort works as expected. Chris has confirmed that the DreamPort works with the official GDemu. So it's possible that my clone is causing a conflict, or that I got a bad DreamPort. Chris has been forthcoming and responded very quickly to my e-mails. The guy is very pleasant to work with. The price is premium, so it's good to see that the support is premium too. I feel confident he's got my back. We'll see if I've make a mistake getting a clone GDemu or not, time will tell. EDIT: Okay, Chris solved the problem. Here's how he explained it: Here's a Picture of the mod: It's an easy fix and did indeed take care of the problem. I got to say that turning the console on by pressing the start button on the wireless controller is quite convenient! Turning off is easy too, just holding the start button for a few seconds causes the controller to shutdown and then console follows a few seconds later. It's crazy to experience the Dreamcast looking and acting like a PS3. Very cool!

Me too. Casual gamer. I prefer to advance without too much difficulty, unless it makes sense (a final boss or something). Emulation offers rewind and save states that's opened up the library of old game to me. Back then I wasn't good enough, or patient enough to get good. So I just declared the game unfair and moved on. Now I can just rewind and try again (cheat). That allows me to casually play difficult, but awesome games I wouldn't give a chance as a kid. As for FPS/multiplayer games. I do mind micro-transactions and unfair advantages given to those who pay for DLC. There shouldn't be a DLC weapon that's more powerful vs what's available out of the box. I did play a lot of Halo 2 back in the day, but there was only one way to play back then (CRT on OG X-Box), well I guess PC, but who cares. There were no mixing of PC/Console players (PC has a clear advantage with the mouse). Actually Halo 2 shipped with a slightly too powerful handgun. Dual wielding it you could pwn the comp, if you were good enough to keep the crosshairs (circle) on their head for every shot. That took skillz. Otherwise it wasn't that big of an advantage. However, noobs complained of cheating and Bungi fatally crippled it's power in an update over XB live. They were useless after that. Total BS! Today there are varying degrees of lag based on your TV and internet connection. One person may have a banging PC, monitor, gaming mouse & Keyboard that gives them an advantage over someone with a l...a...g...g...y setup. It was just simpler when everyone had CRT's with Zero lag.

If it cost's too much money to make photorealistic games, and that's the reason we're not seeing as many good games being released for new consoles, then why make photorealistic games? If all we can expect is another FPS iteration and MMO, but no Platformers, RPGs, or Single Player Adventuress, then the industry is certainly not going to survive. 3rd party developers are going to have to focus on less difficult/expensive to produce content, like Indie does. Why not return to PS2 era graphics and throw full might into a new Retro title. I wouldn't mind seeing a renaissance of 80/90s/early 00s style video games. 1st party re-released N64s updated with wireless controllers, HDMI, and internet access to DLC? Hell yeah, I'd buy that! PS5? Probably not at this point!

First I've heard of it. I haven't even watched the new trek series on CBS all access...because I don't want to pay for CBS all access just for that 1 show. Dude, if you haven't read RPO yet you are in for a treat. Get the audiobook on audible! I have been re-listening to it on a constant loop for over a year. Can't stop. Probably over ten times...I'm a fan boy for sure (of the book, not the movie). The movie makes sense from a time constraint and licensing standpoint, but I'd rather they'd done a limited series to do it more faithfully. And although people don't like Armada as much, I listen to the audiobook often as well. Similar, not as compelling, but I like it more and more each time. It hits me more at home, literally.

It's important to stay grounded to what's real and not to get lost in la-la-land...kind of the moral of RPO actually. But I read and watch Scifi and fantasy all the time and don't have trouble separating fiction from fact. I think every kid learns that cartoon physics isn't the way it really works, just from playing outside. That is a good reason not to allow VR take over reality as our #1 experience from birth, like the matrix. BTW, could the Matrix be in the distant future of the Star Wars universe where Sith Droids had take over? Neo would be the first rediscovered Jedi? Food for thought. The consequences of reality add authenticity and zest to the experience, which VR can't do to the same degree. You have to be genuine because you only get one shot at life. Whereas in VR you can act any way you want. Other people are doing the same and that detracts from interpersonal relationships, because you can't trust anyone. Relationships based on a lie can never be transformed into reality lest the lie be exposed (You might actually be dating a Hairy Guy named Chuck, living in his mom's basement). RPO fleshed this out this fairly well. I'm not going to agree with the "video games make people more violent" hysteria perpetuated by the media in the 90s. The "lets have senate hearings to see if Mortal Kombat it the reason for school shootings." IMO that has nothing to do with video games, and everything to do with people (mental health, agency, morality, guidance and attention, relationships and emotion). I do agree with the outcome of that process, however. Games should have ratings that allow users to tailor their experiance. VR should be the same in that you have the information necessary before entering an area with offensive content. Or perhaps there could be discretionary filters you set, which would "Barbie Dollize" naked NPCs, replace lewd adds/billboards with those commensurate to your selection, mute offensive language, disable blood or change it's color, and etc. The only analog in reality is to avoid offensive places or people as much as possible. But it's naive to think you can completely avoid seeing or hearing something you'd rather not. Developing maturity, then, is a better use of ones time.

We can open this up to the wars universe. I said space travel or VR, not specifically trek. I'm with you Han, wars beats trek any day. Strife, wonder and intrigue. Scarcity and a good old money based economy filled with scoundrels, bounty hunters, force wielding a-holes and heros alike. Actually Star Wars universe may be a better analogy than the trek universe because there is no Holodeck or replicator nonsense. IDK Han, you make a compelling case with the wars universe...but I think I'd have to stick with the RPO fantasy. It's just as convincing as the real thing without the consequences. I may get hit by a stray storm trooper blaster, but at least I won't actually die. And there is even a sector in the OASIS dedicated to the Star Wars Galaxy. It's nestled between the Star Trek and Firefly Sectors (plural)! So when I finally save enough credits to buy my first space faring vessel, I can begin completing quests in "middle earth, vulcan, Pern, Arrkis, Magrathea, Disc-world, Mid-World, Ring-world. Worlds upon worlds." All from the discomfort of my stack. That is if I can avoid my aunt Alice and her perpetually shirtless boyfriend Rick.

These are my specs: A GTX970 should be selling for reasonable by now. It has one HDMI and 3 Display port (which I'm not a fan of). I just use the HDMI out to my HDTV's low latency port. Audio/Video is all passed through the one cable, nothing else needed. No internal cables. No sound card. As for the trigonometry, that was kinda fun to actually put to use. I did skip a few steps in the pictures instead of write out everything, the algebra solving for the angle or distance I wanted. It looks more difficult than it is because of this laziness on my part. My instructor would have marked me down for not showing my steps. Bad Felix...bad! Oh, and I googled to refresh my memory, it's not like I can remember that stuff 6 years after taking the class. LOL. It can actually be simplified a lot. I measured Ø at 23 degrees. This is probably much easier to understand:

So I was just messing around in Retroarch and running the Reicast core to check out how far I could push it. I was running sonic adventure in 4K with all the textures and upscaling to the max with Antialising. Of course my Video card doesn't support 4k60 so I was stuck with 4K30, but DA-AMN does that look ridiculous. It's crazy how sharp and delicious these games can look via emulation. Accuracy is all over the place, but the potential to push the graphics is way higher than on OG hardware. Lol...I'm sitting at $1000 in upgrades to my ULTIMATE DREAMCAST when emulation can do better for nothing. I tell myself it's for compatibility, accuracy, and input lag. It is, but that's a hard sell. Of course you don't need to be crazy like me and spend $1000. Like I said, I've been saving for this for years in anticipation of the 20 year anniversary. The DC is my 3rd favorite console, and isn't as well emulated as many others. So I wanted to update it and keep it front and center for the next 20 years. However, $150 DCHDMI + $80 GDEMU will do the trick. And for many, emulation is good enough.

Imagine you were born on a planet in the neutral zone. Periodic mascaras by the Cardassians, general apathy from the Federation to your plight, and limited access to technology can be just a dystopian for you my friend. Only this time there's no escape to the virtual, because I've outlawed Holodecks...Mwhahaha... I like that most Human factions have settled their differences in the Trek universe, but that seems only to be out of necessity, because of wars with Klingons, Cardassians, Ramulans, the Dominion, the Borg and so on. A "replicator economy" has supplanted a "monetary economy" making technology the main currency. And since Star Fleet is the Federation's Military (Err, "Exploratory") arm, technological advances are more easily "acquired" through trade and treaty with alien cultures. So sometimes they'll abandon their own people for their own benefit - after all, "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few", said the emotionless Vulcan communist. When the Federation abandons their own people in the Neutral Zone, allowing the Cardassians to massacre and displace them, the Maquis form to protect those settlements. What does the Federation do? Help the Cardassians destroy them. So, you're either a slave to the federation (pervasive propaganda has successfully spun it as volunteering!) or you're free to enjoy subjugation in relative comfort. Albeit veiled, the military state that is the the United Federation of Planets can be just as dystopian as the Ready player One universe. It just depend on where you live and how many people stand to benefit from your misery. Also, there has been no shortage of speculation on how "utopian" a post-scarcity economy would actually be. This was pretty interesting. IMO Star Trek is the "what shall I get bored with next?" reality. The only reason to work in such a society is for prestige, position, personal satisfaction, or to fill a void in one's ego. This bring up an interesting point, People with egotistical personality disorders would become even more rampant than they are today. They'd concentrate in positions of power, a difficult job with unhealthy amounts of stress. The only people who would choose these jobs are those either truly compelled by altruism, trying to fill a void in their personality, or are just plain board. So really, the motivation to do anything unpleasant is to stave off boredom. It will require a good imagination and a shift in priorities (from selfish to selfless) in order to be happy in a truly utopian society. It would require that there be no wicked people, or it would devolve into lawlessness and oppression. Assuming there is no God to remove these wicked people, I question how utopian the Trek universe could actually be. As it is I see an extremely boring, morally bankrupt and political dystopia veiled behind the wonders of a post-scarcity economy. Once that novelty wears off, as it would for anyone actually born into it, they'd be forced to find meaning in a world of plenty. Essentially, this is what happens when you get super rich. Once the novelty wears off, if you weren't enough without it, you'll never be enough with it. Your priorities have to change to find meaning, and that's always hard. So, given these alternatives, I would rather live in the RPO universe. All the meaning of a live lived in poverty, with the benefit of escapism to a limitless fantasy! I'm such a good American, aren't I? Please, knock me off my position. I'm eager to hear the rebuttal.