Comments 312

Re: "I Still Think The Virtual Boy Was Probably Just Too Ahead Of Its Time" - Japanese Developers On Nintendo's Most Infamous Flop

JJtheTexan

I am one of the lucky few to have received a Virtual Boy as a gift the year it came out, and I still have it (and it works, though I had to have it "refurbished" by an expert). I can attest that, yes, as a 15-year-old, I did prefer to play while lying on my back, with the unit resting on my face. No, it wasn't comfortable, but it was much better than the horrible neck / back strain caused by trying to play it as intended, on a tabletop.

I did experience some mild eye strain back then, but I still enjoyed it to some degree. The last time I tried using it, about a year ago, I got a headache almost immediately, and the eye strain was so severe I had to stop after about five minutes.

Still, I am a Virtual Boy sicko and I will be purchasing the Nintendo Switch VB dock thing ASAP and look forward to wrecking my 45-year-old neck, back, and eyes further in February 2026.

Re: Poll: How Do You Pronounce "Amiga"?

JJtheTexan

It's like the old joke about the British guy who tells a friend he took his wife to a large Caribbean island.

The friend asks, "Jamaica?"

The Brit replies, "Nah mate, she came of her own accord"

(See also: Led Zeppelin song title D'yer Mak'er)

Re: This Man Is Buying Commodore

JJtheTexan

Worth mentioning Mr. Simpson is one of the designers of the Commander X16, a Commodore-inspired DIY / hobby microcomputer he helped create with fellow YouTuber The 8-Bit Guy. The original backers got theirs a couple of years ago, but as far as I can tell it's no longer available for purchase.

Re: Anniversary: The Atari ST, Everyone's Second Favourite 16-bit Home Computer, Turns 40

JJtheTexan

One of my elementary school friends had an Atari ST at home, and I was regularly invited to visit and play games on it. He only had a few titles: Star Raiders, Buggy Boy, and Time Bandit. I had never played games on anything other than my NES at the time, and I was enthralled by the superior graphics and gameplay on just those three games.

I remain very fond of the system's keyboard-and-case design, especially those rhombus-shaped function keys, and the charming Windows-like OS with a "busy bee" replacing the mouse cursor whenever it needed a moment to launch something.

Re: Xbox Creator "Not Impressed" By "Your Fancy Chess AI"

JJtheTexan

The thing about "AI" chess models is that they are already obsolete. The IBM supercomputer Deep Blue beat a grandmaster in 1997. Modern dedicated chess engines can calculate tens of thousands of possible moves in seconds and are effectively unbeatable by humans.