Saturn Memories

Back then, in this part of the planet the Saturn pretty much went unnoticed (it was PSX and N64). It wasn't until the late 90's when I read about it (and got interested in the machine) and it wasn't until sometime in the early 00's when I got to experience some its games thanks to emulation.

Time went by and about 5 years ago I picked up a real Saturn and truly appreciated the system. Just like with the PCE, on the JP side of things, there are plenty of great games, but in my opinion the machine's specialty are Fighting and Shooters.

Some of my favorite games include Vampire Savior, Sega Rally, Daytona, Saturn Bomberman, Guardian Heroes, Sonic 3D (yes, seriously), Sonic R (yes, also that one), Thunder Force V, Radiant, Dracula X, etc

Continuing with the unthinkable

Recently I got a few more games for my recently acquired PS3. I got them form Play Asia.

I've been playing a lot of Initial D lately. It may not be the most acurate or visual appealing racing game ever but I certainly like it, it's been fun.

Pachi para 16 is a pachinko game. I admit I haven't even unwrapped it. I'll get to it soon.

Last night I just fired up "The Last of Us". So far it is one of the best games I ever played, not only on the PS3 but on any console. (If you don't already own one) I highly recommend getting a PS3 to play this an other exclusives.

I thought it was one of those highly overrated. You know, when a product gets high praise form the critics, the so called journalists and gets multiple prices I tend to be a bit exceptical (just a little bit). However, regular users comments and the low price convinced me of giving it a shot.

It's been a while since I had this feeling of, "I can't wait to get home to keep playing".

Regarding the PS4 sales

These days a lot more people buy stuff just because they can. Even with the recent recessions consumerism seems to be at its highest.

What happened with Wii on the past gen is understandable. It was the toy to have. The trend was over and these toys ended up collecting dust, without consuming content.

PS4 is a promising platform, but it's not the time to go get one. No at it's current price point, nor with its current (exclusive) catalog.

As per the other functions, these can be done with other devices, including the (almighty) PC.

Just recently I got me a PS3. With the exclusives released so far there is fun to be had for a while.

Heck, the PS2 has a lot (and I mean a lot) of gems waiting to be discovered.

I did the unthinkable

Yesterday I did the unthinkable. I got a PS3 game. Don't take me wrong, I have nothing against the Playstation brand, I have a PS2 and I love playing PS1 and PS2 games.

Back in 06 I decided to go with the X360 because of the great experience I had with the original Xbox and also because of availability. Down the road I didn't decide on a PS3 mainly because most games were available on both platforms.

Well, reason I decided to get this particular PS3 game (2014 World Cup) was because I couldn't find it for X360.

Also, at this point in time (2014) there are a number of PS3 exclusives I'm interested in playing:

- Gran Turismo 5

- Gran Turismo 6

- Initial D

- Los juegos de Saint Seiya
- Playstation Battle Royale (o como se llame el clon del Smash Bros)

- Metal Gear Solid 4 (igual convendria conseguir la legacy collection)

- Ridge Racer 7

- Little big planet

- Twisted metal

- Motostorm

To name a few. Through history PS3 consoles don't seem to fail as much as the X360, so I'm not sure what model to get. PS2 backwards compatiblity is not an issue since I have a PS2. I guess as long as it is close to a 100 bucks it'll be fine.

My Sonic memories

I got into Sonic thanks to a buddy of mine who invited me to his house to "play Sega". He got Montana sports talk football and we were playing for hours. Later that evening I saw a box with a "cat" (I thought that was a cat at the time). I asked my buddy and he said, "oh yeah, that's Sonic the Hedgehog, wanna play?" I said "sure, why not".

Since that day, my life was changed and history was rewritten. Instead of saving for a SNES for Christmas, I got the Genesis and Sonic. All the awesomeness and for a lower price.

Retro gaming PC project

It's been quite a while since I wrote anything here (nah, really?). 

The retro gaming PC is a project I've been working for sometime since last year when I recovered an old PC I assembled back in 02. The current system specs are:

- Mobo: ECS K7SEM

- CPU: (integrated) AMD Duron 1300 (about 1 ghz)

- Ram: 512 MB PC133 (Kingston and Markvision)

- Sound Card: SB Audigy Digital Studio (LA Edition) 

- Capture Card: Avermedia AverTV

- 2 x 40 GB IDE HDD (Seagate and Maxtor)

- Gravis gamepad pro

- Windows 98 SE

I've tried the following games with satisfactory results (I mean, why they wouldn't work?):

- Fifa 98 (sometimes sounds bad, I don't know why)

- 4x4 Evo

- Monster Truck Madness 1 and 2

- Midtown Madness 1 and 2

- Need for Sped 2 SE

- Chesmaster 8000

- Roadrash

- Sonic 3D (I have to run it from a physical CD to get music)

- Sonic CD (still have to switch to 256 colors, also a physical CD is required for music))

Some of this games work on Windows 7, however, since I no longer run it at home (all migrated to Ubuntu) this PC is the way to go.

After finding some software discs and hardware I expanded the scope of this system beyond gaming. Some productivity (and not so much) stuff I added:

- Canon LPT1 scanner and software (works lke day one)

- Office 97 (ust the way I remeber it)

- Cool edit Pro (awesome audio editor)

- MS Plus (collection of themes and games)

- IMGBurn (the latest version works!)

- Daemon tools (older version which works on Win98)

The only thing that this PC is no good at is the internet. Most sites won't load correctly with the version of Firefox I installed, forget about IE6. 

My first experience with the WiiU

December 7th was when I got me a WiiU plus a handful of games. However, it wasn't until last night when I hooked up the system. 

Having the Wii I knew it wasn't going to be a breeze to hook it up but at the same time it wasn't rocket science etiher.

One of the first things I dind't like is the glossy finish on the main unit, it is big finger print collector. I had to clean it when I decied where to put it (on top of the X360).

I like the fact, every single basic cable is included (namely the HDMI cable). I already had Wii remotes laying around, although I ultimately decided to get a candy orange control which will be dedicated to the WiiU.

After I hooked up everything, I had to remove the Wii U gamepad form the craddle and hook it up directly to the AC adapter since it was completely dry. The first thing I had to do was to sync up the Wii U tablet, after syncing the controller I set up the WiFi connection, the TV remote (very easy to pair with my Samsung TV and my Dish receiver) and then the dreaded update. It took like an hour or so, I don't since I abandoned the console and went to the living room to watch the soccer final (León Campeón yay!!!).

After the update finished, my controller was also fully charged. I hooked up the craddle the way it is supossed to be. I spent some time creating a Mii and a Nintendo Network account, and then finally I went on to play some Super Mario 3D World. I played a couple levels (I love what I'm seeing).

Also, I popped in Ducktales remastered. Some people may feel anoyed by the cutscenes, in my opinion, I like them. I like how they created a backstory and how the story develops during the game, it feels almost like watching a Ducktales episode. I just played the Transyvania level.

Al the time I played using the tablet and it felt comfortable, perhaps a bit bulky at times but comfortable overall. Next session I'll give the wii remote + classic controller pro a try. 

That's all I have for now. Until next time...