RARusk

And still no "Chronicles of Riddick".....

"It's not pink, it's lightish red".....

If the drive tray noise bothers you so much then why not track down a flip top mod? Should solve that problem. I prefer the SCPH-30001 units myself. With the service manual in hand I can do nice RGB Analog video modifications plus I can use a hard drive (getting a copy of HDLoader is something I need to do - and get a decent hard drive). For DVD movies I just use my Mac Mini so that's not an issue (although I managed to disable half of the MacroVision signal in my latest PS2 RGB mod - can't figure out where the extra sync pulses are coming from as of yet).

"but damn.. thast a lot of weight to lose from a game." I've actually read some stuff about people losing lots of weight from constantly playing DDR. Some people have actually gone as far as buying full arcade versions of DDR to use as weight loss equipment.

"I personally have never heard of a blowjob killing an NES for example, in fact they tend to last well beyond their expected life due to that.( in the case of Nintendo, faulty design, not the blowjob is to blame for the problems)" Blowjobs and NES's. Oh, the mental pictures one can paint with that.....

"I'm glad rumble is gone. In most games it was just annoying. Now I don't have to hunt through the option menu just to turn it off." With my favorite PS2 controller I opened it up, gave each plastic part a good cleaning, and simply removed the rumble motors from the motherboard before I reassembled the joypad. Feels better without all of the extra weight.

And "The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay". I would love to add some Xbox 360 data into my COR:EFBB guide that I have posted at GameFAQs.

Interesting. How much did you have to pay for them and how good are they? Oh, and what part numbers did you get? I'm curious since I decided not to go through them. By the way, I haven't played T2K since I completed the controller. I have been busy finishing an RGB hack to one of my PS2's using info I gleaned from a service manual I downloaded and getting ready to get back into FAQ writing mode with the imminent release of "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories" (PS2) in March. I'll see if I can squeeze in a game or two of T2K and give the controller a good run through.

"Well allow me to thank you for making me feel terribly old, having been born in 1970!" Then I must feel older. I turn 40 in April. First game I learned how to beat was SeaWolf back in the mid-70's.

Yes. It is for the 30001, 30002, 30003, and 30004 models.

In my quest to know more about the PS2's video, and hopefully trick it into doing Progressive Scan without the aid of a boot disc like the Xploder HDTV, I googled around and found this page: http://www.eserviceinfo.com/download.php?fileid=27755 It is here that you can download, in PDF form, a complete service manual (with a secondary manual included) for the SCPH-30000 model of the PlayStation 2. It contains detailed schematic and circuit board information complete with parts lists. The secondary manual shows you how to properly disassemble a SCPH-30000 (Version 4) PS2. An awesome find for those interested in knowing more about the PS2 (so they can hack it up, of course). The manual is in multi-part form and you need to download all four parts before decompressing.

"What really pisses me off about Texas is that we have almost no Jaguar games in the wild. I get so mad because it seems that up north it easy to find Jaguar games...not the case here. I went to seven(!) game stores over the last 6 months looking and only found Cybermorph!" If you're willing to do some driving I suggest driving down to Austin. There are two places that I know of there that carry some Jag stuff. Not much but they might have something you're looking for. The places are: GameFellas (in Northcross Mall) and Game Over (in a strip mall just east of Northcross Mall - where Anderson Lane meets up with Lamar).

After several months I finally sat down to try to fix this damn thing up. After conversing with CUI I found that it takes a month to get one of their encoders because they have to be built for you and tested. Didn't feel like waiting that long. I did an autopsy on the little board that had the sensors. I found that one of the signals was coming from the emitter and another was coming from the transmitter. The emitter had four pins and the collector had three pins. I hadn't seen any optical related parts that were like that before and I couldn't find any replacements here (nor did I ever find another Wingman Warrior joystick). So I decided to abandon the optical board and look around for standard encoder replacements. I found two solid candidates: a TV/VCR remote control and a Hewlett Packard keyboard (both I picked up from flea markets and thrift stores). The encoder from the keyboard (which was used for volume control) had about 24 poles but after testing I found that it would not work for the controller. My controller was designed to be spun faster than Tempest's controllers because of the weights and I found that if you spun this encoder too fast it would essentially stop moving - because it was getting too much information too fast. The encoder from the remote control had fewer poles (about eight) but it performed much better. As a matter of fact it was almost perfect. So I cut away the section where the encoder would come through on the remote and grafted it to my controller. I also had to do some rewiring to the plug and cable. The first three pins ( 1, 2, 3 ) on the top row are Keypad Columns 1, 2, and 3 respectively and the first three pins on the bottom row ( 6, 7, 8 ) are Keypad Rows 2, 3, and 4 respectively. The only downside is that the spinner itself doesn't spin nowhere near as fast as it was when it was still using the optical board. That's because it is attached to a regular style encoder and you can't have that loose style spin. But once one gets used to it I think it will be fine. The major upside to this encoder is that I no longer have any joypad interference. When the spinner is at rest it settles into one of the notches within the encoder (which you can't really feel through the spinner shaft) and turns it "off". This allows me to use the keypad during gameplay, something I couldn't do with the optical board. So I am pretty much finished. I will try to use my device to beat the game at a later date. Now for some pictures: This one is the new encoder in place. I took the dial that was attached to the encoder and glued it to the weights on the bottom of the spinner shaft after drilling a hole through the center of the dial and cut the pole that the light wheel was on. This is the remote control I acquired the encoder from. There are other remote controls that use a similar encoder so these should be fairly common.

Bah! Screwed up here.....

Mmmmmmm......tacos.....

http://nfggames.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:gamecube_rgb This should answer a lot of questions about what's inside the GameCube Component Video Cable. It is also one of my better hacks and contributions to the GamesX Wiki.

"The only problem with this method is that it involves either modding the CD32 (I'm not sure offhand how difficult a mod it is, but it would definitely require some soldering experience) or buying an expansion module like the SX-1." Although I do not have a CD32 (and I do want one by the way) I did pull up some info on the expansion port. You can tap the necessary RGB signals off of the port so such a modification shouldn't be hard to do. Then it is just a matter of hacking in a 9-pin or 15-pin plug (depending on monitor) into the case near the other video plugs. Of course, if you can find the proper card edge connector, you can probably make your own RGB device without opening up the CD32.

In my 30+ years of gaming the single most frustrating game I ever played is "Stuntman" (PS2). The reason for it's frustration level is lots of design flaws that make the game much more difficult than it needed to be. One time it pissed me off so bad that I pulled the game out if the PS2 and was ready to snap the disc in half. But I quickly cooled down, put the disc in the case, and haven't played it since. I hear that the developers have fixed these flaws for the upcoming "Stuntman 2" (PS3). But I will believe it when I see it (if I had a PS3 that is). As for those having problems with San Andreas' Flight School you can always download a copy of my San Andreas guide from GameFAQs for assistance.....

The JamPack demos are put out by Sony and therefore they have the memory card holder. I used these to replace the shitty cases I usually end up with when I buy used PS2 games. They usually cost between two to four dollars depending on age and where they are sold. I examine the case for damage before purchasing. The only problem is now I have a large stack of demo discs I have no use for.....

I would like to know too. Usually I just go and get cheap JamPack demos at Best Buy (after examining the cases for damage). Of course, finding replacements for original Xbox cases is a little bit harder (and the ones I need most for my large collection).....

I found a black GameCube at a local thrift store for $20. It came by itself, no controller, no power supply. The case was damaged, the logo disc (which sits in the lid) was missing. I could hardly open the lid due to it being stuck shut by juice that had been spilled inside the GameCube. I took it home and took it apart. The handle was cracked and a couple of screw posts were broken off. The lid swtich was broken. There was a lot of dust inside along with the juice which was still sticky. I cleaned out most of the juice and acquired a third party power supply. Not surprisingly, the GameCube didn't work. So I looked over the power board. Then I hooked it back up to the motherboard and used my multi-tester. I found that the power wouldn't go beyond a certain part. This part had wording that looked like a fuse rating so I decided to solder a wire to both ends of the piece. The GameCube worked when I turned it on. I replaced the wire with a wire/ferrite part. I repaired the plastic with Plastic Welder. I replaced the lid switch with new parts. I repainted the sides of the GameCube to cover up scuff marks. I even had to replace the system battery, due to it being shorted out by the juice, using the battery holder from a dead PS2 and popping in a new CR2032. Now it works great. The only thing missing is the logo disc. What I believe happened was that some kid spilled juice into the GameCube which shorted it out. Then it was thrown across the room in anger causing the extensive plastic damage. Then the GameCube was quickly dispatched to the thrift shop, to punish the kid I think, where I was fated to find my new toy. I swear, people just don't know how to take care of electronics anymore..... Anyway, below are some pictures of my GameCube repair: Power board repair. New lid switch. Fit perfectly with minimal work. Repairing the cracked handle. Screw post reattachment. System battery replacement. Finished unit. Note the missing logo disc. I have since added a GameBoy Player and acquired two GameCube Component Video Cables. One is unmodified and the other is RGB modified and I even wrote a detailed page for the GamesX Wiki on how to do the cable hack.

If you get the Wii do you plan to bring it for a show and tell to a future XCSSA metting Bruce? I think it would be cool to show off the Wiimote to everyone and I would like to get a close-up look at the unit, especially the A/V port. Personally, I would like to get a Wii at some point. But I want to see if anybody comes out with an adapter that will allow you to play game cartridges on the Wii through the Virtual Console. Some games will never be availabe through the VC system ("GoldenEye" is the most notable example) and the Wii may help some games play with a decent frame rate (*cough*Perfect Dark*cough*). Besides, if I have the cartridge already, why should I pay for the game again if I want to play it on the VC? In addition, I would like to see an adapter that will allow you to use the original controllers on the VC. Nothing against the classic controller but if I want to play an N64 game on the Wii's VC I would like to have the option to use the original controller if I desire. I don't know if anybody else has had the same problem as me but every time I see the Wii I think "Zip Drive". Maybe that's what I should call it from now on: The Nintendo Zip Drive. Or, maybe better, the Nintendo Zip Drive Revolution. Well, it's certainly got to be better then "wii" don't you think?

I think laptop drives max out at 120GB. Anything with more capacity is going to be too large to fit into the PS3.

I also found this picture of a new hard drive install on the PS3. Yeah, it's going to hang out the side but I am sure that somebody is already designing a PS3 specific hard drive enclosure to prevent this from happening.

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35549 Some guys in Japan got their hands on PS3s and took them apart. Some nice technical info and pictures plus additional links. http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/11/ps3-manu...ry-replacement/ Believe it or not, Sony left instructions on how to change out the PS3s hard drive right in the owners manual. I honestly didn't think they would let you be able to do that. Are they trying to one-up MicroSoft concerning replaceable hard drives or does it have something to do with potential homebrew development?