Martin_H

This is definitely something I'd like to see in the more budget friendly arena, but the market seemed to go towards more power. Another cool feature would be a rotatable screen for Tate play.

I'm intrigued to see how the Gamesir x Hyperkin controller pans out. Coupled with my tablet that could be a sweet spot.

What happen?
Somebody set up us the bomb!
Main screen turn on!
All your base are belong to us.

No AI needed in that shoddy translation 😀

@Sketcz I've got the t-shirt, poster, and placard campaign ready to go: T&A is A-OK!

Back in the day I had a Competition Pro for the Beeb (in beeb colours!). It was a shame that so few games I had actually supported a joystick, and those that did (Revs, Elite, Aviator) were expecting an analogue input rather than digital.

I thoroughly enjoyed Shining in the Darkness back in the day. I would replay it, but I don't think I have the stamina anymore and I don't really feel the need.

Shining Force was an interesting one, which I came to much later when I first got into emulation. I never completed it... I lost interest after realising that you can't really restore MP except via a priest. It spoiled it for me.

I have played Shining Force 2, but only for about an hour and never went back.

I almost bought Shining Force CD in the late 90s from Cash Converters (I think they wanted a couple of quid). Not sure why I didn't go for it, except I was more into PS1 and PC gaming at the time, and my main "collecting" focus was expanding my Master System library.

I might try Shining Force III - hopefully a modern emulator makes the graphics a bit more tolerable.

To my great regret I never visited a CEX back in the legendary days as the shops were too far away. Mind you I had little enough money back then I probably couldn't have bought much anyway.

We did have a few good independents locally, but they had mostly gone by the mid 2000s, leaving only the chains.

I really miss those days. There was something special about walking into a shop and talking to people about games and taking something physical home that online can't replace. It's the same with music, film, and other media. Getting a recommendation from somebody who's passionate about the subject is far superior to algorithmic suggestions and "5 stars! All the wheels fell off, but it came quickly" reviews

That's a somewhat, um, unfortunate title given current events.

Sounds like a good cause to me.

Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine is probably my most played Mega Drive game, although I'm not sure it did much for me cognitively! I did manage - quite by fluke - once to get an absolutely massive combo chain worth somewhere north of 400,000 points. Otherwise I pretty much stick to staircase building.

@Shaw_Brothers I think they'll be ok. As far as I understand the emulator is a "clean room" effort, meaning there's no copyrighted Sony owned material included. This is what scuppered the Switch emulators - they included Nintendo owned code.

As you say, though, Sony have so far seemed to not really care about emulation, so hopefully it never comes to anything anyway.

RPCS3 really is a phenomenal effort. If you had asked me 10 years ago I'd have said it would be unlikely the PS3 could ever be emulated well.

I had to give Kula World a download to try. What's weird is I'm sure I've played it before, but I don't ever remember buying it. Did it come on a demo disc or was it a NetYaroze title?

I'm very interested in this. The TrimUI Smart Pro (and now the S variant) is by far my most used handheld. I hope they get the controls right.

@Sketcz I think part of problem was that Microsoft (and Sony?) made cheevos mandatory for games, leading developers to shoehorn them in when they weren't necessary or appropriate. However lots of developers embraced the concept and came up with decent sets of achievements which extended the games in meaningful ways. I found this particularly true with XBLA titles - I spent ages unlocking Pacifist on Geometry Wars Retro Evolved!

I'm going to checkout Retro Achievements, if for nothing else than looking for new games to try.

Ok, here's my submission*... ready?

3'55"521

Believe it or not, that represents progress. At the start of the week I could barely make it on to lap 3, now I'm starting to hook up sequences of corners... but still bumping too many walls. I think if I had more time to play during the week I'd have improved even more.

*Not sure if it counts: I played the NTSC iso via Duckstation. I didn't record a video, but can provide a screenshot of fastest laps if required.

@retrogamer1 Good shout, thanks for the info!

@BulkSlash I was going to submit my own time... but I don't think I'll bother now!

Very handy. I bought Heart of China a few years back, but never got around to making a DosBox for it. Now I don't have to!

@Razieluigi I always thought the SVP version played a lot better than the 32x version, even if it didn't look as good.

Mind you, I don't think either was particularly good value for money on release.

Are we about to see a schism in the industry, where we see the rise of hand built artisan games versus an AI driven mainstream?

Is there going to be room for the equivalent £100 cheese pizza versus the £1.99 Iceland special?

Answers on a postcard to the usual address. If you send a stamped, addressed envelope I'll send you a free copy of my newsletter.

Calling the PSP a failure is... well... just plain wrong. Great console, lots of amazing games, easy to hack.

The Vita is a different story. Great device, wrong place and time and too little support. Getting one now, however, is something I highly recommend, not least because it's a perfect PSP once modded.

I've always liked handheld/mobile gaming, going all the way back to the early 80s. When the DS and PSP came out, it was a no brainer for me to get both. Same with the 3DS and Vita.

@The_Nintendo_Expat

Did Bob's work use other artist's work, before the accident, uncredited? I'd argue yes. As Ecclesiastes tells us, "there is nothing new under the sun".

I keep thinking about an episode of Star Trek TNG called "When the bough breaks"*. In the episode children use devices that stimulate creativity. One child is shown using the device to "carve" a fish/dolphin without knowing how to work with wood or other materials. The device unlocks that creative potential.

It got me wondering. Suppose you had a very talented artist. We'll call him Bob. People love his stuff, he's well celebrated. One day Bob is involved in a serious accident. He survives, but loses the use of his arms and legs. He can, however, prompt an AI to help him create his artistics visions.

Is Bob's art less valid, due to the tools he uses?

*I used AI to lookup the name - I simply fed it what I could remember of the episode, and it found it straight away.

Blimey, these recomps are coming thick and fast!

@romanista Fair point, I think there will always be a place for specialist devices. However these tend to sell fewer units to a more specialist market.

I think we'll know for sure if Sony ever release another handheld device whether or not there is still mass market appeal.

I had Fable for Windows (I must still have Fable for Windows, somewhere), which I bought on a recommendation. I went through the tutorial level and found a bug where I had this big fireball in my hand which I couldn't get rid of which then prevented me from completing the tutorial.

I've never been back.

@cawley1 I think that's true, but I think Campbell was also arguing about the types of experience people would want from mobile gaming. So for example, if you're waiting for a bus do you want to play a multi-hour rpg or would you be satisfied with a quick go on something simpler and more focused, like Fruit Ninja?

Adding physical controls to phones can be done, though. I was rummaging in the cupboard of forgotten tech the other week and found my iControlPad which was released in 2011. A very early attempt to add physical controls to phones with a number of flaws. Now of course you can get your GameSirs and Abxylutes and away you go.

This may well be anecdotal, but I get a lot of public transport. Planes, trains, busses, trams, ferries, you name it. Very rarely do I see people with Switches or any sort of handheld console. I don't think think I've ever seen anybody with a phone controller. But I'm always seeing people with their phones playing games.

I can understand why Nintendo (and Sony, with its Vita) wanted to cram as much technology as possible into the 3DS, given at the time the big disruptor to mobile gaming was the iPhone.

Stu Campbell wrote an excellent article on his blog just before the Vita released, where he argued that the iPhone replaces the need to carry around separate devices (phone, mp3 player, camera, movie player, computer for browsing etc etc.) so why would you want to carry around another device to play games?

I do wonder how many more units 3DS and Vita would have sold had the iPhone (and smartphones more generally) didn't have games.

@The_Nintendo_Expat I think it's a combination of competition, the way these companies source parts, and the (comparatively) low productions runs.

I think there's also the factor that none of these companies actually make games, so they're either locked in an arms race to provide the best bang for buck, designing to a given price, or hoping that some novel feature pays off.

@Guru_Larry Shiny Dave Perry it is, then!

@Guru_Larry was that bandana Dave Perry or Shiny Dave Perry?

@AnonUser thanks, I'll check it out!

Excellent news! I'll be sticking the Linux version on my Steam Deck - widescreen Mario 64, with boosted resolution, at 60 FPS, on the go. What's not to like?

Well it took a couple of hours, but yes I have now beaten Turbo Tunnels in Battletoads.

It was definitely a remember-them-up type of level. I reckon I could have done just on reactions in my early 20s, but those days are long gone.

@Sn0w There are of course many serious criticisms of Marx to be made, but you do have to wonder that if Western freedom, democracy, and capitalism is so great... Why is most of the stuff you own made in Communist China?

@jojobar Well unless your TARDIS is parked out back, what we're dealing with here is predictions rather than truth.

My prediction is that this stuff keeps improving and keeps disrupting. Yours is that it has plateaued. We'll have to wait and see... but I get a sense of what's coming down the road, so I'm going to hedge.

As for the technical and financial aspects: Manned flight was thought to be impossible by experts at one point. I will also mention that Amazon - that high-street destroying behemoth - took 7 years to post a profit, and took a full 9 years to record a yearly profit.

I didn't spot that it was created by AI either, not that I'm an expert in detecting such things. However it's only a matter of time - months, if not weeks - before even the experts can't tell the difference.

This technology isn't going away. It's already disrupting entire industries and careers, including my own. I expect to be almost completely redundant by the end of the year.

I'll admit, it's actually quite scary. Not the technology itself, but the pace of change. A couple of years ago I would have expected to be employed doing the same thing until retirement. Not any more.

So for my part, I'm going to adapt and adopt: retrain in something else and integrate AI as much as possible.

The Boaty McBoatface of Metacritic scores!

Apart from that, it's quite an interesting top x list. I was surprised to see how well represented the Heroes of Might & Magic games are in the top 100.

I've never played an Animal Crossing game. My wife, on the other hand, nicked my 3ds and refused to give it back for months to play that infernal game. To make matters worse, she then lent the 3ds and game to her bloody sister!

Eventually I caved in and bought another 3ds

Lots of people mention the lack of an auto map, but that thought never occurred to me back then. I think I was so used to making my own maps having played lots of text adventures and computer RPGs I didn't know it was missing.

@HammerGalladeBro well back when I was collecting it was a buyers market. Master System games were cheap as chips, so I could be a bit choosy.

To each his own, I suppose, although I don't understand how locking the essential essence of a thing away thus preventing it from being that thing gives anybody any pleasure.

That said, when I was assembling my (far from complete) PAL Master System collection many years ago I insisted on CIB in very good to mint condition. So perhaps I just have different standards.

This year I'd like to explore more of the PSPs library. It had so many great games I've never played.

DOS gaming is also on the list, particularly the early to mid 90s. My GOG library has some classics I've yet to play and they have a ton more I'd like to play.

I should probably give my Steam library a bit of attention too. I've got games I don't even remember buying!

Finally, I'm going to curb my retro emulation handheld buying. Unless something truly groundbreaking comes out, I'm done buying new ones!

I've noticed that Vita prices have been steadily creeping up. You used to be able to get a nice boxed example for around £90, now it's more like £120-150.

It's worth picking one up if you've never had one. Very easy to mod, with both the Vita and PSP catalogues "available" to download, plus mods, homebrew, conversions etc.

@h3s Virgin Megastores was the place for Sega in the 80s. I think I'm right in saying Virgin had the distribution rights in the UK.

I thought Analogue said 100% compatible, not 100% accurate.

Electronics is all about tolerances. Take two real N64s and put them side by side and they'll be different, but within the tolerance.

I hope somebody runs with this - I'd love a steam punk themed handheld!

This looks and is specified like a PowKiddy device from 2 years ago.

$70 is way too much for this. I wouldn't recommend it at $30, when there are so many sub $100 options that are far better.

@Sketcz Ah, but classic car collectors will remove rust, repair panels, reupholster, repaint and generally get rid of the patina.

@axelhander I agree. I've been using AI to explore various concepts that I've struggled with in the past and it has been immensely helpful.

The tech around AI isn't bad, but the corporate interests might be. We need to claim it for the many, not the few.

So sad. That's no age at all.

RIP Nick.